Flipside: BtLS and LS

Flipside: BtLS and LS

Hi and good afternoon to you all! This is going to be a Behind the Scenes special about my two recently-posted Shorts, entitled Before the Lightning Strikes and its follow up, Last Resort. Long story made short, both of these were challenges given by Giselle Elaine, who usually gives me challenges to accomplish whenever I want to accomplish something. How vague. Last night, I asked for challenge, and these two were the result of it.

Basically, she asked me to write a prequel to The Shoujo Parallels: Eri. I decided that the events would occur after The Shoujo Parallels: Oddette. So with everything in the middle, I eventually decided to show what was going on in Arzen’s case, and even Eri’s. I thought that it would be good to see them portrayed in a positive light (especially Eri) since they were portrayed as villains in the first prequel (TSP: Celeste) and hardly appeared in the second (TSP: Oddette). Readers would wonder of course, what her story would be like, and Giselle gave me the chance to elaborate on that through writing, well, prequels.

The read more button is there if you’re interested.

Arzen was portrayed as the main antagonist in the first two prequels, as well as Eri in the first. However, Eri hadn’t much appeared in the second prequel, where she was only mentioned here and there. In the upcoming third prequel, The Shoujo Parallels: Eri, people would hopefully see where she was coming from. With not-so-pleasant opinions of her thrown here and there, it would probably be nice to see what really is going on with her over in the Mortal Realm and in her parallel world, Technika.

In the prequel Before the Lightning Strikes (Lightning referring both to Arzen and Eri and Strikes referring to the actual prequel), two classmates of Arzen coax Arzen into telling them what went down with their group. Obviously, she was bothered by it and only spared a few details, then forced a smile and told them that it would probably be better as time would pass. A suspicious Beatrice Amor then takes Arzen away and asks her what happened – to which she replies that they merely wanted to see her wallet.

A bit later, Beatrice notices that Arzen has been ‘blanking out’. The other lies that it was because of the lack of sleep, but Beatrice sees through it and claims that Arzen had been able to get a proper night’s rest. Arzen then says, “It must be Freshman year”. Obviously, Beatrice understand what this means. Finally, the bell rings and they go out to Therese.

It all seems normal until the actual lunch. Here, Beatrice hangs out with Elaine’s group, leaving Arzen and Therese stuck in another table by themselves. Therese notices Arzen’s lack of appetite and starts worrying, to which the other dismisses and eats again (only slightly).

A time skip occurs. Arzen is seen in her club, and an upperclassman asks her if she would become an officer in the next year. She replies a ‘no’, wanting to stay and get used to club duties. The older student then asks her to recruit new members, to which Arzen agrees to do. Later, it is mentioned that Arzen doesn’t like Fridays for a reason – the walk alone.

It is then shown that Arzen doesn’t like being in her own thoughts for some time. The real reason for this is that ever since the group’s fight occurred, she had been stuck in a pit, unable to get out, that pit full of her own thoughts that haunt her as the days pass. To avoid this, she finds comfort with the company of Beatrice and Therese. But every Friday as she walks alone, she finds herself more and more disturbed by those thoughts – and tries to clear them away.

The scene shifts to Technika. Enter Eri, who tells Cissa to start curfew. As the other leaves, Eri can only think to herself and watch as the sky darkens. A feeling in her gut tells her that things wouldn’t be as pleasant in the nearing days. As she then starts patrolling around, Mona Lisa finally catches up to her, and both of them search for Cissa and aim to return back to their headquarters.

Eri is slightly irritated and wonders if ‘she’ is in as much trouble as she herself is.

This doesn’t refer to Cissa or Mona Lisa.

This refers to her human counterpart – Arzen Venura.

Back in the Mortal Realm, Arzen is shown eating with her mother and brother. Her mother makes a comment that she saw Megan’s dad and asks if there has been something going on. Arzen gives the same reply that she gave her classmates – that things would be better in time. Later, lightning strikes – a sign of the nearing of the third prequel.

Much later, in her room, Arzen’s folder falls. Papers spill out. As she gathers and reorganizes them, the sight of a few letters make her stop.

She may have reread them.

But in the end, they just end up where they should – in her desk, shut out until another time. The short ends with the signatures of the ones who sent the letters – Elaine Rivers, Gabrielle Angeles, Megan Alando, and Maxine Ride.

The letters signify the memories she had with the four. Her shutting the letters out is a symbolism of her shutting them out. Yes, these two have a lot of symbolism going on.

Now, we move to the follow-up. This was more emotionally draining.

Beatrice and Therese don’t fail to notice a worn out Arzen. Finally, Therese asks Beatrice to do one favour: to try and make amends. Beatrice refuses, telling Therese that she had tried days before, with Arzen, and resulted in a negative outlash. But Therese tells her to try again. As furious as she is, she knows that Beatrice and Arzen herself want the whole thing to go back to normal. As she leaves, Beatrice is left with the sleeping Arzen, and she swears to at least try for her friend’s sake.

Therese is bothered with Beatrice’s lack of will to try, and is purely convinced that something is wrong with her friend Arzen. She tells herself that if Beatrice fails, then she herself might have to step in, as much as she doesn’t like it.

Back to Technika, with Eri sleeping in her own compound, Cissa and Mona Lisa take notice of the other’s faltering moods and strung-up attitude towards defending Technika. A hesitant Mona Lisa asks Cissa if there was still a chance to bring ‘them’ back, and the maroon-eyed woman replies coldly, asking her not to ask that to Eri, in fear of driving her up the wall even more.

In the Mortal Realm, Beatrice and Arzen are left in their classroom. Beatrice glances at Arzen’s notebook and asks her friend if she would want a pencil, to which Arzen declines. Later, when she leaves, Arzen is stuck between relief and fear once more.

The end is a passage from what she’s writing, hinting that she might not be able to take more of it if the Freshman year ends with all of her friends (and previous friends) still in ‘war’.

Another symbolism bit~

That pen would probably crack under the pressure, making the ink spill out and coat her hand. Her uniform would most likely become a mess, but she knew that the smaller girl would worry more over the notebook instead and the writings that would turn incoherent and unreadable.

The pen symbolises Arzen possibly falling apart under the pressure – the ongoing fight. The ink is her emotional stability. If the uniform were to represent the trivial things in her life, then the notebook itself would represent her life as a whole – blurring and becoming unreadable, eventually leading to her falling apart as a person. The writings would represent her current life being written down word by word, event by event.

So what happens if she breaks and loses herself?

Whew.

Well, this was emotionally draining for a reason. Haha. Well, this is the end to this Behind the Scenes post! God knows what would actually happens during the third prequel, but what the hell. This is all according to /my/ own interpretation, so it may not even have an effect in the third prequel. *evil grin here*

Yes, I think my official Behind the Scenes name is Flipside. I'll take it.