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Description
From Refraction
Rain Thibault / character development.

Loosing her mother at a young age, Rain felt the world collapse around her. She wrapped herself into a cocoon of memories and emotions, abandoning reality.

Her father, Hermes, took the blow with the same intensity but he had to take care of his little girl. He needed to be home now and having high authority within the Vanguard Force, he found a position closer to home, more stable. He would train Vanguard Force recruits in combat and tactics while eyeing contestants for his former SOE (Special Operations Echelon) branch.

Hermes tried to get Rain back into the real world and it wasn't until an old friend of Olevia's came to visit them that he achieved it. The visitor was an old friend which had introduced Buddhism to Rain's mother.

"Here." she said, handing a block of paper to Hermes. She fixed her attention to the quiet Rain. "These are all of your mother's drawings and calligraphy, all done in brush and ink--"
"I don't remember Olevia practicing Buddhism" interrupted Hermes with a tone of disbelief after he grabbed the rice paper stack. Rain quickly snatched them of his hands as if by doing so she would absorb any missed memory or her mother.

"She did not." countered the woman. "However, she did enjoy many of it's philosophy and practices, specially the meditation through writing."

Rain absorbed each of them as if they were the much needed ambrosia she longed for and then she found a particular piece that resonated from within. From the center of the page a black circle of ink emanated like a ripple in a lake. The hairs of the brushed glazed over the textured paper leaving a trail of black emotions behind. It was a perfect circle.

"Oh yes, Rain, she loved that one, she said it reminded her of you. Do you know what it is?"

Rain stared blankly at the stranger, as if someone were trying to communicate via radio signals to a long lost satellite.

"It's called an Ensō, it's to represent infinity, the coming and going of things, what it is and what it is not, the transient path of everything, such as your current sorrow and sadness."
"But she said it reminded her of rain because of how it fell and rose up to the clouds to fall down again, infinitely aware of the transience life. A circle. A cleanse, the letting go of things, washing them away. 'Just like my Rain.' she used to say.

The words triggered a memory, a black and white film playing inside of Rain's consciousness, a movie she'd forever seen in silence and now, slowly the volume of her mothers words broke the silence. Words bringing color to the bleak slumbering spirit in her, tears cleaning her soul.

She understood, even as her mother was gone, she was still watching over her waiting to see her stand up and keep moving, not forward, but flowing like water through every path available, like life, which always finds a way.

Rain smiled.

Years later she got the exact Ensō her mother had drawn inked on her shoulder, she added a view of the galaxy because they both always had their sights to the stars dreaming of some day reaching them. And now, whenever she looked back over her shoulder, she would remember that in solitude and hard times, her mom was always with her and that would always bring a smile.

As for the Litchtenberg figure / electrical trees, that's a story for another time.

Description
From Refraction
Rain Thibault / character development.

Loosing her mother at a young age, Rain felt the world collapse around her. She wrapped herself into a cocoon of memories and emotions, abandoning reality.

Her father, Hermes, took the blow with the same intensity but he had to take care of his little girl. He needed to be home now and having high authority within the Vanguard Force, he found a position closer to home, more stable. He would train Vanguard Force recruits in combat and tactics while eyeing contestants for his former SOE (Special Operations Echelon) branch.

Hermes tried to get Rain back into the real world and it wasn't until an old friend of Olevia's came to visit them that he achieved it. The visitor was an old friend which had introduced Buddhism to Rain's mother.

"Here." she said, handing a block of paper to Hermes. She fixed her attention to the quiet Rain. "These are all of your mother's drawings and calligraphy, all done in brush and ink--"
"I don't remember Olevia practicing Buddhism" interrupted Hermes with a tone of disbelief after he grabbed the rice paper stack. Rain quickly snatched them of his hands as if by doing so she would absorb any missed memory or her mother.

"She did not." countered the woman. "However, she did enjoy many of it's philosophy and practices, specially the meditation through writing."

Rain absorbed each of them as if they were the much needed ambrosia she longed for and then she found a particular piece that resonated from within. From the center of the page a black circle of ink emanated like a ripple in a lake. The hairs of the brushed glazed over the textured paper leaving a trail of black emotions behind. It was a perfect circle.

"Oh yes, Rain, she loved that one, she said it reminded her of you. Do you know what it is?"

Rain stared blankly at the stranger, as if someone were trying to communicate via radio signals to a long lost satellite.

"It's called an Ensō, it's to represent infinity, the coming and going of things, what it is and what it is not, the transient path of everything, such as your current sorrow and sadness."
"But she said it reminded her of rain because of how it fell and rose up to the clouds to fall down again, infinitely aware of the transience life. A circle. A cleanse, the letting go of things, washing them away. 'Just like my Rain.' she used to say.

The words triggered a memory, a black and white film playing inside of Rain's consciousness, a movie she'd forever seen in silence and now, slowly the volume of her mothers words broke the silence. Words bringing color to the bleak slumbering spirit in her, tears cleaning her soul.

She understood, even as her mother was gone, she was still watching over her waiting to see her stand up and keep moving, not forward, but flowing like water through every path available, like life, which always finds a way.

Rain smiled.

Years later she got the exact Ensō her mother had drawn inked on her shoulder, she added a view of the galaxy because they both always had their sights to the stars dreaming of some day reaching them. And now, whenever she looked back over her shoulder, she would remember that in solitude and hard times, her mom was always with her and that would always bring a smile.

As for the Litchtenberg figure / electrical trees, that's a story for another time.