If you're not interested in hearing my thoughts on this piece, you can stop reading now; the story is over. This page is just shameless self-indulgeance and a couple bits of information that didn't fit anyplace else.
The master copy of Dark Calling as well as most of my other work is currently missing a home, but it will always be available by email. It might be updated from time to time, but what you've just read is intended to be the final revision. After all, at some point you have to declare a story done and finished.
At the time of this writing, it's been a little over two years since Dark Calling was first accepted by RPGamer, thanks to a bit of judicious briber-- err, scratch that last. Anyway, it's been a while. It's also since been posted at Fanfiction Paradise (now dead, unfortunately) and probably a couple of other places I don't know about. That would most likely have been the end of it, except eventually I realized that because Dark Calling was originally written in Word, the HTML, web-viewable version of it (made with Word's autoconverter) was quite badly mangled and in places almost unreadable. After dithering around for about a year, I finally went back and corrected this by hand, which was when it was posted at Fanfiction Paradise. A year later (now) I got around to asking the staff at RPGamer to replace their original version with the corrected one. Yes, I'm a lazy bastard. ;-) Since I really don't want to have to impose on them again in future (or anyone else, for that matter) I figured I should do any little tune ups to the script now rather than later. So thought, so done. At least I've painted over the worst of my brain farts.
[Edit 2003: this is now my third attempt to get the clean copy up on RPGamer, largely because I always seem to manage to submit it right before a fanfic department staff change. Go me.]
Anyway. Dark Calling was the third piece I've written, and second in its series; it has its mistakes and imperfections, but on the whole I'm proud of this. Much better characterization than its predecessor, though I still have a rather unpleasant difficulty conjuring believable villains. Dalsher from Shadows of Hatred was just screwed up; not introduced almost to the end, no characterization whatsoever, mysterious background that in retrospect had some serious potential...which was never realized. I suppose since that was my first fic, I'm entitled to a major screw up, though.
Vashin in this work was somewhat better. He actually had a personality. And a little bit of backstory, and actual relationships to other characters. I didn't explore his motives anywhere close to enough, though, and I suppose he doesn't come out to be all that believable a villain. If I had to pick my worst mistake with Dark Calling, it would be that. I could fix it, I suppose, but making major revisions two and a half years after the fact seems just wrong. Oh well. In particular I'm dissatisfied with the scene where Kain tells Edge and Corvin about Caitlin's captive mind and Vashin comes in invisible and makes a random slash. This was pure deus ex machina, designed to set up the duel between Corvin and Vashin. I'm not happy with it.
The only other part I'm dissatisfied with is Ophelia...good character, bad execution. The romance between her and Corvin was a little badly executed and almost as unbelievable as Vashin's villain status, in the not-enough-cause-provided sense.
Keeping Bahamut around was another mistake, though not something I was dissatisfied with per se. He's so overpowered as a character that it made it difficult to conjure situations where the outcome was actually in doubt. In the end I had to keep him out of the final battle for the most part, and added Vor for that purpose. Which I suppose came out okay; his confrontation with Bahamut was fun to write.
On the plus side, I'm quite proud of the way I wrote the twins this time around, (Palom and Porom, not Corvin and Caitlin) and Cid too. And considering that this was my first time working with original major characters, I suppose I'm happy with the way I managed them, too. Even if most of them were Ty's brainchildren rather than my own. ;-)
Also on the plus side, the prose itself is far superior in Dark Calling than it was in Shadows...though nowhere close to perfect, as the aforementioned brain farts painfully demonstrate. Still, I'm improving. This is a good thing. [2003 edit: Having re-read this, I'm not nearly as impressed with myself as I used to be. Even with the edits, I need some serious work...people tell me the fic is still good, though. I'm not sure if they're blind or I'm dumb. Either way I hope I've improved more by now.]
On the strange-but-true side, I realized when I was done that Corvin had somehow managed to become "the" main role. It was originally intended to be Caitlin. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but curious minds might find it interesting.
Ever since Dark Calling was finished I've bandied about ideas for another sequel but never developed the motivation to actually write it. If anyone wants to see one -- or has neat ideas -- feel free to let me know. I don't bite. After all, Calling itself only got written because of Ty getting me started and then blugeoning me over the head repeatedly with a slab of fish meat until I was done. Maybe someone will manage to be in the right place at the right time once again. ;-)
And now for the obligatory copyright BS...all characters in this fic created by Square are property of Square. I don't care if you use them. They might. All characters not created by Square are property of Yours Truly, except those Ty came up with, and I have no idea what the hell their legal status is. ;-P I might let you use them if you ask nicely, and/or if you promise to worship me forever, and/or if I already know you. I am also susceptible to bribery and sexual favors (from pretty women and/or dolphins).
Cheerio, all. Thanks for reading.
Final Thanks
First and foremost, thanks to Ty for sparking my brainbox and then beating me over the head with aforementioned fish meat.
Also thanks to Amber, who I think was the fanfiction editor at the time Dark Calling was accepted at RPGamer.
Also thanks to whoever the editor is at RPGamer when the new version finally makes it up. [2003 edit: Niki Dinner as of this attempt.]
Also thanks to Second Impact, former editor of Fanfiction Paradise, who sought out my work for posting there. If you ever read this, there doesn't happen to be a zip file of FP's old archives hanging around somewhere, is there? I miss that site.
Also thanks to Blademaster Lee, the other editor at the above.
Also thanks to Eric Bakutis, author of Forgotten Messiah (FF7), which originally inspired me to write fanfiction. If you're out there, you've never heard of me, but I still think you rule.
Also thanks to Kain, AKA Matthew Smith, author of the titanic Tale of Kain Aron Highwind among other works, for a number of things, some of which have something to do with this piece, (hence his inclusion here) but most of which don't.
Also thanks to anyone I forgot to thank.
And lastly, thanks to Square, for creating the world I borrowed. You guys can have it back now. I didn't break it, I promise.