If I do them; I'm not of a mind to stop a decade-long protest against godder-spawned crap. After all, in the books, you don't have to talk about what goes on. I don't see why we should be mandated to in the roleplay. In addition, it's extremely punitive for the roleplayers who don't plan their characters out extensively; I do not do this, ergo, I feel forced to tie my character down in a way that will make her boring to me. But it's moot - I argued it as an admin, and I somehow doubt that arguing it as an average member is going to do me a lick of good. I still maintain to this day that I would not have ever had Raeyn raised if they had been mandatory when I had joined this site... and I stand by that. :)

[[radio edit]] In short - you'll get something that passes muster, but that'll be bending the spirit of the letter as far out of shape as I can manage!

Novice Life requirement done.

<3

Milandra's eyes widened - twenty to thirty years?! Why, she'd be an old lady by then, and a grandmother by most normal standards! She shook off her amazement; no need to punish her sickly companion with more complaining about what should be seen as pure torture. Light, she figured the other girl's lack of apparent shock was more to do with being sick rather than... could she have accepted such a dire thing? Impossible; how could anyone come to terms with giving away that much of their life to be treated like a child. And yet, people had, did, and would continue to; it was definitely something to contemplate.

She had to bite her lip when Kate insisted she was well enough to come down to get food, and almost drew blood trying to not laugh as the poor thing tried to lever herself out of bed. "There's something to be said of her tenacity," she thought admirably as the other girl attempted to feebly rise. Milla couldn't really understand why something as simple as being brought food annoyed Kate, though; she was so used to having servants tend to her that it never occurred that people took pride in their self-reliance. Truth be told, she was slightly miffed that the other woman wasn't grateful, but Milandra wasn't going to let that bother her. Instead, she once again chalked it up to the sickness; Milla knew that she herself tended to be less than gracious to her servants when she was feeling under the weather.

The young woman started questioning the wisdom of her offer as she attempted to find her way to the dining room. She had been given the tour on the way to her room, but not much of it had stuck. "Down is probably a good place to start," she decided firmly, working her way down towards ground level.

And then even finding her destination didn't simplify this question; it was difficult to find someone to assist her. Or, to say, she tried to find assistance, but the most she got was a grunt and a gesture towards a pile of trays. She didn't have the foggiest how to balance a tray so as to not spill broth, so it took her a few tries to just give up and grab some bread for the pair of them. "Bread is no fit meal," she grumbled; her stomach made its protests known too as she attempted to find her way back to the room. But she did make it back eventually, and Light be praised, even found her roommate in her bed, NOT sprawled on the floor in a pile of vomit. She put the tray down and gestured apologetically to it, "It seems I don't know how to carry broth, so it'll just have to be bread... I hope that's okay."

Choice RP done.

<3

Milandra was a furious young woman. Never in her life had she imagined that she was signing up for a life of torture, theft, and slave labour... and yet, here she was. And the worst part of it was that she was so ashamed of her lack of forethought that she couldn't even bring herself to tell her family. Her family, that were so close, yet so far away; for all she had been born and raised in Tar Valon, she wasn't that confident that she could find her parents' estate on her own.

"Still," she thought to herself as she flung herself down in front of her desk in exhaustion, "They let me keep my most important possession." She caressed its leather cover lovingly, taking a moment to pick it up and feel its comforting weight. It was one of many diaries she had filled over the years, and while she had left her old ones in her chambers at her parents' estate, she had her current one to hand. She resisted the urge to torment herself with posts from happier days, and equipped herself with ink and quill to begin recording her trials.

Dear Diary,

I am obviously a very stupid person. I've, apparently, signed myself up to a life of servitude, as my strange little room-mate has so kindly pointed out.

She took a moment to glare at the other girl's prone form before bending back to her scribbling.

I've been nearly vomited upon, forced into manual labor, and haven't learned a thing yet. This seems like quite the scam, and I'm not sure I should put up with it. Still, it would never do for one of my stature to give up so easily... perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

To her dismay, it was some time before she found a moment to write again. Between studies, and chores, she was too exhausted most nights to even consider jotting down anything. She was being broken to this new way of life, and while there was some good to it, so much of it was frightening and strange. And then, a Freeday...

Dear Diary,

Today is a so-called Freeday. While I don't have to do any chores or attend any classes, I'm not permitted to leave this prison. I want so badly to see my parents, to tell them of the things I'm learning... but I'm not sure I could find my way to them from here. I've thought about trying to sneak into the Mistress of Novices' storage to get some of my proper clothing and see if I can manage to hire a carriage back to their estate, but I have a feeling that my efforts would fail. These women have eyes in the back of their heads or something, because none of us seem to be able to get away with anything. I'm so tired of being tired, I'm so tired of crying, and I'm so afraid of dying. They go on about how we could kill ourselves on accident; why would any of us want to risk killing ourselves for this power, the Power?!

Grimly she marched, and oh so gingerly, Milandra lowered herself into her chair. She winced, taking a moment to dab at her face again before taking up her quill.

Dear Diary,

I broke down and tried to walk out of here last night. I was right; they DO have eyes in the back of their heads. The Aes Sedai must if they saw me trying to leave; I was very clever about it. The Mistress of Novices beat me to within an inch of my life while prating on about how lucky I am to have this honor. What honor is there in getting beaten and forced to work?! Even servants get paid - we truly are slaves here. I'm apparently especially lucky to not be under guard, supposedly. Why would I be, though? I understand now that I'm a prisoner, and the only way out is to fail miserably, or to try and take all this misery with good grace. I don't know if I'm capable of this... not right now, surely.

Time continued to pass, and Milandra continued to jot her complaints down in her diary. Most were your standard fare - she moaned about chores, she whined about punishments. Several pages were all but illedgible from tear streaking; she was even more indignant about being so upset as to ruin her own words. Many days were noted, at best, with:

Too tired to write. I'm so empty and miserable here. The suffering never ends.

Too tired to write. I'm so empty and miserable here. The suffering never ends.

Too tired to write. I'm so empty and miserable here. The suffering never ends.

Little did she know, it was her own pride and ego that was making the transition so difficult. Like so many of higher upbringing, it was hard to reconcile the noble existence of Aes Sedai with the menial suffering of the rudest servant. Coupled with the fact that, knowing her family were so near by, it made it harder for her to even begin contemplating letting go of the life she had known, to become the person that she must become. It was only in the depth of misery that she was able to surrender to it, much like one learned to surrender to Saidar. Without her even noticing, hints of optimism began to creep into her diary:

Dear Diary,

I was at a seminar given by Carina Sedai today. Apparently, some of the Aes Sedai have recently figured out how to create new ter'angrael! It all seems very dangerous to me; so many sisters have died trying to figure out what some of the old ones were supposed to do. Still, it's neat to see how things can progress so we can improve life. Or those who have the talent for it can, at least; I'm pretty sure I'll never have enough strength in Earth to be of real use there.

and:

Dear Diary,

Apparently, I remember more of the Old Tongue than I thought! Pia Sedai said that I might even be permitted to teach the basic class... when I'm an Accepted. Light, that's so far away, isn't it?

And eventually, even a letter:

Dearest Mother,

I hope that this finds you well. I apologise for not writing sooner; life in the Tower is so busy! I am currently a Novice, which is the first step on the road to becoming an Aes Sedai. Apparently, the training takes many years, but I am working hard and trying to do my best. I was surprised at how much there is to learn, and I have a feeling that I've not more than scratched the surface. I hope to make you and Father proud. I miss you all very much, and while I do not know when I can see you all, I look forward to when I can.

With love,

Milla

It was hard, and would continue to be hard, but at least Milandra was firmly on the pathway now. That didn't mean that she wouldn't slip and scream and want to quit anymore, but she found that as the years past, the childish desires and misconceptions of 'fair' started to slide away. This, the White Tower, was her home now, and all those dwelling beneath its roof were her family too. She could take comfort and that, and did for years to come.

"Aes Sedai does mean Servant of All," Kate said pointedly, and Milandra's face fell in response. Even though she was familiar with the Old Tongue (her parents had made sure she learned some of it so she could hobnob with nobility), she hadn't really thought about the meaning of the phrase 'Aes Sedai'. She sighed, and muttered ruefully, "I guess this is what I get before leaping before I look." She shook her head, and offered her hand to Kate, "Thank you. I really should have thought of that before getting into this mess. I just hope that doesn't mean a lifetime of scrubbing floors; they can't be doing that in fancy dresses, you would think."

Kate then went on to explain about channeling sickness. Apparently, her contact with the One Power was what had made her sick. "Does that mean that I'll get sick too?" she asked, horrified at the prospect. "Are you a wilder?" her roommate offered in reply. Milandra had no idea what one of those was, and upon further explanation, was satisfied that she was unlikely to join in the vomit brigade. "I'm here to learn to channel, so I guess as long as I do it right things will be okay, and I won't get sick all over your gorgeous self" Kate added with nearly a leer, but Milla decided to let it slide. She wasn't into girls herself, but that didn't make it wrong by any stretch. "And besides," she thought to herself, "She's sick, so she might not be completely sure of what she's saying right now."

As for sharing the room, she could agree with respecting each others' respective spaces. She was also pleased to see that this girl thought that the dresses were also awful, but not quite why this fact was that hilarious. Prudently, Milla decided to also chalk this up to her illness; being sick did tend to put people out of sorts in many ways. And then she caught sight of her own maligned hands again and queried, "I take it you're off the hook for chores for now, then? I'm only getting to avoid slave labour in the pots because those Aes Sedai in the Infirmary told the Mistress of Novices that I should keep an eye on you." She paused thoughtfully, and asked, "Did you want something to eat? I should probably see about getting us something before the kitchens close until dinner. I don't know much about healing the sick, but everyone knows the body needs food to help recover."

Kate found Milandra sitting in bed, glaring at her hands. Without looking up from said ruined hands, she began to speak to other girl, "I do so hope you're not going to make a habit of falling over and vomiting on things, even if these dresses are ghastly. It's not very proper of you, Kate." She lowered her hands, sighed, and climbed off of her bed to walk over to the other girl. "I'm Milandra... Milla for short," she offered to her roommate, along with her arm.

"Come on, you look dizzy; sit here." Milla murmured, guiding the other girl to her bed. She wasn't feeling particularly charitable, nor fond of the idea of sharing a room with someone potentially so useless, but she didn't see the need to be antagonistic, either. "The Sisters in the infirmary are quite rude, if I do say so myself," she grumbled as she backed herself onto a rudely-constructed stool, "I'm not sure what I did to deserve it, but before I knew it, they were forcing me to sweep and scrub! I don't care what they say, it can't possibly have anything to do with being an Aes Sedai!" She glared down at her hands again, before saying in a confiding tone, "The only reason I've not taken my things and left already is because it would not do for a Basene to give up quite so easily. Though I'm not sure anyone else in my family would put up with this degree of torture, either."

She sighed, eying around the tiny crevice that was supposed to pass as accommodation. "How is one, much less two, supposed to 'live' in this space?" She eyed Kate pointedly, "I mean you no ill, but how is this even fit accommodation for the lowest of servants? You'd think Aes Sedai to be would be treated better."

Always lovely to see you, my darling! <3 Raeyn is away from the Tower again... Matalina's fault, that. I've yet to decide exactly what she's up to. You never knew Lillith, so that's moot. So running around with a Novice who WOULD be joining her roomie as an Accepted if my child quit eating my brain... ;)

Milandra Basene was not impressed. She was not impressed with the horrid clothing they'd shoved her in, she was not impressed with the homely girl in stripes they'd passed her over to ("An Accepted", the Mistress of Novices had offered by way of explanation), and she was not impressed by the theft of her cases. She still didn't understand why, as a student, she had to dress so wretchedly. Oh, she had her theories about it bringing people down to the same level, or so they didn't outshine the Aes Sedai, but none of it made her happy. "I bet this creature here thinks that she's in a ballgown," Milla thought bitterly as she plodded along behind the other girl.

She was not a unkind girl by nature, but she was finding the whole situation a shock to the system. Millandra didn't like feeling naive, but realizing that she had been overly idealistic didn't give any comfort to rags and the threat of beatings for not cooperating. "Really, how is any of this civilized?" she mused to herself as her cow guide opened a sun-framed door and dragged her through. "This is my room?!" she gasped as the Accepted explained the premises, "Why, there isn't room for anything in here!" Two squalid little cots were thrust against the walls, faced off by some rickety desks and wardrobes. And then it dawned on her - two. Two sets of furniture, and one already had a few odds and ends on it.

"Wait, I have to share this tiny hole with someone else?!" she shouted hysterically, "There's not room for once, much less two!"

She attempted to storm out to demand better accommodation, but was stopped by the Accepted just outside the door. Before the other woman could do more than draw her lips into a thin slash across her mundane face, another girl stumbled out of the blue. "Wait, this is my room," the new girl growled, trying to stop her forward momentum by, apparently falling. Milla stepped back lest she be trampled, and was rewarded by not being fallen onto, or vomited upon. She turned to the Accepted and stomped her foot, "I hope you don't expect me to clean that up!" she harumphed, wondering if her life could get any more tragic. Her righteous ire was met with silence, and she frowned; her eyes drifted to the creature shaking on the floor. "Shouldn't we at least find someone to tend to her, then? I hope it isn't catching..."

And that was how, on her very first day, Milandra Basene got to meet the Aes Sedai who work in the infirmary.

*smiles* I feel the same way about Raeyn, but she's currently out of the Tower and I have NO idea what I'm going to do with her at current. Lillith, on the other hand, might be a fun one once I dust her off. It's really all moot until I find more time. BUTBUTBUT I will say that seeing another set of sworn enemies would do my heart good - I remember that Cyndrid of the Blues did that with one of the Yellows... Erina, perhaps? Anyways, it was most excellent to see, and I think did a lot more to spice up the roleplay than some of the other things we've seen over the years. :D

Same information, but here actually:

http://drpsw.wikia.com/wiki/Warders

I've not gotten around to taking the wiki install off of my domain 'cause the databases are a bit wonky on the back-end. But it's going down eventually, so better to direct people to the right place. ;)

Good jorb. :)

<3

One Power requirement completed.

<3

Milandra found herself running down the hall tucking her hair into place as best as one could while running. It streamed around her, taunting her attempts to tame it, but she dare not stop and do it properly. She was already late to class, and she didn't fancy another beating because she wasn't able to magically transport herself from one place to the next at a whim. If Saidar was able to do such a thing, you'd think they'd teach it first off, considering that they seemed to expect everyone to be everywhere at once. "Hurry, don't hurry, stop running, you're late!" she muttered to herself. Or, attempted to - it all came out as gasps and grunts. Stopping herself by expedient of running into the wall, she groaned, gave up on her hair, and dragged herself across the threshold, and to her desk.

Apparently, the day was for flowers. Milandra liked flowers as much as the next girl, but she couldn't see what was important about making them bloom. She supposed the concept was neat, but putting it into practice wasn't exactly a bed of roses in and of itself. Earth was nowhere near as easy to raise as Water or Air, and therefore making multiple threads was similarly difficult. Weaving them into the requisite pattern was easier, though she went through more flowers than she cared to admit before Amadine was satisfied. "It will get easier with practice," the Accepted assured her with a smile at one point, but that didn't provide a lot of comfort in the now.

The next task was a tiny bit easier, if only just. Fire was even harder for her to muster than Earth; she struggled to raise even the smallest thread. But once she did, it was an easy affair to apply the pure weave to the candle's virgin wick. It was even easier to snuff it with the prescribed thread of water, though it left the wick a touch damp. "Perhaps it would be better to snuff it with Air, Milla speculated as she pushed the candle to the side of her desk, "At least you're not left with a damp wick, then."

The last bit of the lesson was, apparently, primarily talking. The element of Spirit was apparently the go-to for most of the cool things, as was proven by a demonstration of Warding. Her eyes bulged slightly as Amadine wove; it was in that moment that Milandra realized that she might have a lot more to learn than she realized. The way the older woman made such weaving look easy and mundane was rather impressive... even if the other students' conversation about breakfast wasn't.

And, to her surprise... "Congratulation ladies," the Accepted smiled at her students, "this concludes your Introduction to Saidar course..."

She went on, of course, but Milandra barely heard. It was hard realizing that one was woefully unprepared, and only at the beginning of a long road. It was even harder accepting it, but after so many weeks, it was starting to sink in.

Milla walked into the classroom, absurdly grateful for a chance to not be scrubbing floors, or running kettles of water back and forth for the laundry. She knuckled her back, and slid into her accustomed seat grumbling to herself about slave labor, and this being the biggest racket in the world. "They trick you in here by getting you hooked on an addictive substance, promising you more of it, and then put you to work in the kitchens," she grumped, glaring at her mangled hands. And yet, she knew this ire was futile; she'd already made a conscious decision to stay and learn what she could... but this didn't make her like the so-called discipline that sweeping a path was supposed to give her!

A random basket at the front of the room caught her eye, but before she could think futher, Amadine addressed the class, "Today we are going to learn more about the nature of Saidar, and what we can do with it." The Accepted proceeded to explain the relative strengths in elements by gender, as well as commenting on the colors of the elements. Milla took up her pen as instructed, and proceeded to make notes on the colors she saw as Amadine channeled:

Water: Sort of blue-green, like the river

Air: Light blue, a bit like the sky

Spirit: Silvery-white

Earth: Brown

Fire: Red

She had thought she had noticed the hint of color before, so it made her happy to put name to face, as it were.

And then, the basket's purpose was revealed as a multitude of bowls and kerchiefs were unloaded. A simple-seeming demonstration was to be had, a way to dry said kerchief with the One Power. At least, it looked simple; putting what was shown into action was a different story altogether. Milla still wasn't especially adept at taking hold of Saidar, nor at making it do what she wanted it to do. At least water was an easy element to call once she did have a hold on Saidar, though it did take a few tries to get the twisting to work just so.

She was idly wondering if she could use the same weave to remove the bits of water that fell onto the desk when Amadine called the class back to attention. "This time I will use air to lift the handkerchief from the table," she said, before proceeding to demonstrate. This weave looked even easier, as one couldn't even call it a weave; there was only a single strand of Air involved! The young girl surrendered herself to Saidar, and poked at the bit of fabric with a thread of Air. It didn't dance exactly; it fell off the table instead. Looking around quickly, she retrieved it from the floor, placed it back on the desk, and tried again. This time, she managed to get the kerchief into the air. It took a few more false starts before she could keep it up there and make it 'dance', but it took less time and encouragement than she feared that it would.

Milandra was feeling almost cocky after all that success; perhaps learning channelling wouldn't be as difficult as they made it out to be. She still refused to believe that she'd have to spend the next several years at her studies, especially since she almost had it all figured out...

Good skills - I always appreciate someone having the quickosity. I did with my first eleventy million years ago... but not so much these days. :)

*blinks* That was quick-seeming... mega-congrats, Chikara! :)

A Warder,and it's been over a week.

You might want to drop the group's bio checker a private message, just to be on the safe side. It could be that it accidentally ended up in the spam box; this happens on occasion. I'm sure yourself and Devon will figure it out and get it sorted. :)

Nah, he went and joined the military - that's suffering enough. ;)

I don't read the spoiler boards, and I get on the case of any friends I catch spoilering. Even if I HAD read everything available under the sun in advance, it's dead rude to risk ruining it for other people. Anyways, I'm reading other things at current (just finished another ASoIaF read-through, and am now entering a pile of Steampunk), so between that and just being a busy bee... not gonna be that bothered. Outside of slapping people who think spoilering openly is okay.

Congratulations, and good work. :)

Lesson Three is up for those still interested in completing this req

Woo hoo! *adds to do list* Not that it'll likely get done for a few days, but at least it's there. :D

Thankee much, Almond Joy. ;) I've also done as Mat has done, and corrected the links to my requirements to reflect the new urls.

Just amongst the N&As, then?

Handle: Raeyn

Character: Milandra Basene

Rank: Novice

Last RPed: Sep 2010

<3

Bump//first req complete.

<3

[[radio edit]] Links are updated as well.