Retribution

"Uggn..." Keiji groaned to himself. He banked in Amatu for another pass on the base, but his wound wasn't even properly medicated, and he wore no shirt. It had been salvaged to banage he and everyone else's wounds. He opened fire upon the base, with countless micro-missiles. Firey cherry blossoms sprouted all over the base, gutting through it's armor. He pushed the throttle forward again, and felt the bandage shift, brushing against the gash. His breathing was jagged, as blood began to roll down his chest painting it red. He gritted his teeth, and gnashed them like an animal. "AARRRHHHH" He screamed, and flew towards the control-tower. He let a few missiles go, blowing off the top to the lightly shielded but vital area. He swooped again, and blew up MechAnimas who weren't activated yet, waiting for a pilot. Better to take them out now than wait for them to actually start fighting. He grimaced again, hoping that he wouldn't agrivate the slice across his stomach. The thought crossed his mind that there might even be glass left in there. He did not dwell on the thought, quickly shoving it out of his mind and gripping the controls tighter.

Shinji felt ugly in front of the Queen. She was as close to perfect as the mortal worlds could come. He remained silent, and did not make eye contact with her, as a sign of respect. When they were dismissed to their chambers, he bowed lowly, and walked backwards so that his back wasn't turned on her. Somehow, it just felt right. Everyone was led to their sleeping chambers by a servant dressed in a clean, white robe. He showed them the rooms for the boys, and the rooms for the girls across the hall. The beds were extremely soft, as it had seemed that the Queen wasn't cheap in her purchases of furniture. "Whoa this is nice." He idly commented, sitting down on a bed, which felt like sitting on a cloud. All the guys agreed, with a few mumbled responses. "But I'm gonna go take a bath. Later." He left the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. The servant led him to the bathing area. The room was huge, nearly as big as a swimming pool. It was made out of marble, and the candles were above the bathing pool on a gold-and-silver chandelier. He opened his eyes wide in surprise at the luxury. There was a magical barrier between the men and women's side, preventing one from walking to the women's side or seeing over. "I see you're interesting in the barrier." The servant said to him calmly. "Yes. Could you explain exactly what it does? It's like ... misty glass. The kind that distorts your image, only magical." "Something like that. However, the women [i]are[/i] allowed to see through it, and even walk through it. They are purer of heart than males." The servant smiled, and Shinji chuckled. "I suppose that's relative. Anyway, thank you." He servant bowed, and left. Looking around, he realized he had no bathing clothes. As if an answer to his thoughts, a light, white robe apparated in midair in front of him. He caught them, took off his regular clothes as, and put the clothes and staff on the side of the marble bath area. The disappeared, but he didn't worry. He knew that when he was done, they would reappear. He sunk into the water, until it reached his neck. He sat there in the water, feeling his troubles bubble away.

I can't remeber the verse, but it says "Love is patient, love is kind." Which is pretty good... but that doesn't really explain [i]what[/i] love exactly is. I believe it's a feeling of deep devotion, respect, and/or a strong affection felt. Of course, these aren't really good defintions, but whatever. To Jung-Woo: 1. No. People live lonely all their lives. 2. Maybe... and yes, "you find love in all the wrong places" I suppose is how it goes. 3. If you believe in fate and destiny. Some people don't.

Well, you already said that the quality is terrible. Heck, I thought that you had pixelated these photos on purpose. That being said, these are good photos of you. Personally, I like the first and third picture because ... they look good? Hm... Lemme try to explain. The first one is very bright, and portrays your look very well. The third one I like because of your eyes, just like you said. The second picture, I suppose is just too dark/dreary/grunge looking for me. It would've been better with a higher quality shot, and an enlarged view. By the way, I love the title name to the thread.

[b]Linkin Park[/b] by my friend Ravi. At first, I didn't like them very much, and their screaming towards the end of the song made me want to shut off the radio. I forgot about these guys for a while, until my friend Sonny reintroduced them to me. At that point, I loved them. I suppose my taste had changed for the better. [b]Lost Prophets, Coldplay, Radiohead, Muse[/b] by my friend Sarah. She drove me to school, and she always ALWAYS played these CDs. I love them now. [b]Eminem[/b] by my friend Mykl. He lent me the CD, and I loved a few tracks, hated a few tracks. Overall though, I liked him.

Yeah, things have really slowed down now... I suppose we need to wait for you (amgoddess) to post what's happening with the Queen. And other than that, a nice, solid plot line would be good so that we have something to work with in case you're out for a few days. And if all the people who signed up were actually active, this RPG would be [b]really[/b] good. All the best!

Shinji was rather unsure of what had happened in the last hour or so. Some knights had rode in, and taken them back to this palace place. "Hey, Dyna, what're we doing here?" She seemed busy, cleaning her weapon, and shrugged him off. "Alright then..." he trailed off in an annoyed tone. He picked up his staff, and twirled it around for a minute, then walked off to the other side of the cavernous hall, and tried more magic. He decided against fire spells and the like, as they were damaging. So, he decided upon flying. "Well, wizards can fly in the movies, right?" He grinned, trying to figure how he should go about flying. He twirled his staff once move, but he didn't catch it well enough, and it fell. However, it didn't clatter to the floor, but just hovered in the air on its side about 3 inches off the ground. "Maybe... I can ... I'll try it!" He whispered to himself. The only trick would be to somehow harness the staff's levitation abilities. After mustering sufficient courage, he climbed up a sharply inclining wall, and jumped off once he got to the ceiling. Falling like a rock, he knew he would die, and the staff would not save him any more. He prepared for death, however, his Flame Rod did manage to make them both hover, and it fed off his his power. He felt extremely tired, fighting for every second of being airborne. He was gliding across the room, and a respectable pace; faster than he could sprint. He turned, flying like superman to and fro. After a while, he could sustain his effort no longer, and thumped to the ground on his stomach frrom about six feet in the air. Letting out an appropriate "oohff." he curled into a ball, feeling happy that he could fly just barely, but in pain. "My staff... I think those orbs allow me to fly..." He said outloud to no one in particular.

So I suppose that we can also create new attacks as well? I mean, if we're low level (like now) chances are we won't have Firaga or Thundaga under our belt. But the item thing is a great idea. I hope everyone becomes active. It'll get REALLY good then.

OOC: It's been a while. I'm glad we're back into the thick of things! And I suppose I'll curse alot in this. It [i]is[/i] rated mature. IC: Sora landed into the cell heavily, and he ran over. "Oh my God, are you okay, Sora?" He didn't answer him in a complete sentence... Something about Blaze saving her. She must be off her knocker, he thought, as she was still in the prision. "Next is you, Bitch Boy." The said to Keiji, roughly taking him by his arms, and clapping his hands in cuffs. "Fuck you, bitches. Go to hell." He said. The shrugged off his insult, and carried him into a room, where they strapped him down. Randal was no longer in there, but a Cylarge woman doctor. She looked very near-human, and looked extremely attractive. "What the hell am I thinking?! She's a CYLARGE!" He shouted outloud, trying to shake himself from his train of thought. "And they're going to torture me!" He yelled. He was strapped down in the chair that reminded him of the dentist's office. Except there were restrainers all over it, and he was strapped down. She walked over to him, holding a syringe, and sat on the arm-rests. Except his arms weren't resting in them. "Helloo.... Pilot of the Hawk. And what am I supposed to do with you? Hmm?" She said. She sat down on his lap, and licked his cheek, whispering in his ear. "Fuck off, you whore." He said, then gritted his teeth. "Ohh.... touchy are we? I'll just give you this shot... and you'll be okay." She told him, sitting back up on his lap. "No! Never..." he said in a grim tone, but she was already walking to the back of the chair to inject whatever that syringe held into his head. "NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Keiji screamed. Amatu synced completely with him, and glass vials flew up around the room. They flew, every which-way, as if by some unseen wind. The smashed into the walls, knocked over shelves, and most importantly, hit the 'doctor' in the neck. "You.... you bitch-human!" She got up, clutching her neck. It had cut her jugular vien. It would kill her in a few seconds... he had to stall. She staggered over to him, and smacked him across the cheek, then picked up a piece of glass, cutting him through his shirt across his chest. The pain was excruciating. "FUCK!" He yelled out-loud. She crawled to the back of the chair, and injected Keiji successfully with the syringe in his spinal column. Then she flopped over, and died. He waited there for a good ten minutes, as he guessed that she was supposed to walk out once she was done with injecting him. The pain increased with the shot, and he lay there in agony for the next ten minutes. Then the cylarges guards came in, punched him in the stomach where he had just been cut, and was bleeding from, and threw him back in his cell. "... accc..kt..." he exhaled in pain when he hit the ground, Sora immediately ripped a part of his shirt, and bandaged up the wound. It wouldn't be fatal. Just painful.

I suppose I'm a bit of both. In situations where I'm not the best suited to lead, I just sit back, and go with the flow. However, I won't accept people's authority unquestioningly. I always chip in my thoughts, to make the cause better, whatever the cause may be. In other times, when I'm the strongest leader, I can take over quite nicely. I don't boss people too hard, so people will follow me. I'm open to suggestions, allowing for people to voice their opinions. But most of the time, I'm a follower. Whenever there's a group being formed in school, I don't want the responsibility of being the leader of the group.

"Hey, Dyna, I'm gonna go outside for a moment. Okay?" He said to her. Shinji shifted his weight, and took a step backward. "Sure, no problem. I'll wait in the common room for ya. Don't take too long! Later." she said. Shinji turned and walked out the door, and gripped his staff tightly. He looked at his arm, where it said "Granada" and wondered what it was. Surprisingly, it had gotten him a free weapon, and he knew of his ... 'clan.' He jogged over to a bush, which had several green leaves, and was struggling to survive in the desert climate. He wanted to test out the staff. "So... how exactly do I do this? Lemme think..." He had read books about 'wizards' and 'witches' who could cast fire magic. He decided to try one of their words. He raised the staff in the air, with the orb pointing to the sky. "Fira!" He said in a sharp tone. He felt the air displace itself, and the orb began to glow the same cherry red as when he touched it. He staff changed shape, with a piece of the wood growing around the orb in a semi-circle. Then he felt warmth wash over his body. The bush spontaneously combusted, slowly burning from the weak attack. He felt slightly fatigued, as if he had sprinted a few feet, panting lightly. "I wonder if any other words do anything else..." he said thoughtfully. He looked a few feet away from the bush, and saw a tree with a few dead leaves. He turned and faced it, took a deep breath, and said: "Fire Bolt!" Again, the air displaced itself, and he felt warm again. However, the spell casted itself almost as soon as the last word and left his lips. Several arrows of fire shot through all the leaves on the tree, making them all burn. However, the tree itself was unscathed. "Damn. Did I do that?" He looked at his arm again, feeling it become hot again, and he gasped in shock at what he saw. The word 'Granada' wasn't alone anymore. It now said 'Canaas of Granada.' "Who is Canaas? Me?" He said thinking hard. He decided to go back inside the Inn, and go to the common room. He was stopped by the weapons dealer again. "Ey thur, lad! Me saw yer handie werk out thur. Yeh did a good job of it. I'll give you somethin' else, just for the Granada mage. Methinks I shuld bee respectful of yer kind." He finished roughful. "Erm... Thanks. What else do you have?" The dealer stepped to the side, revealing a wall full of items. "Um. How about those floating gems?" "These three? These'll powr up yer staff. Ther' yeh goes. Bee careful now, lad, it'll pack a punch!" "Thank you, sir." He said, and left with three gems, one sapphire, one amber, and one white marble. All of them were nearly weightless. He held them openly in his palm, and they began to hover, slowly revolving in a circle. "Whoa..." He walked into the common room, where a few memebers of the party were already sitting down, talking, and showing each other their weapons. He took a seat on a wooden bench, and set the staff down next to the gems. His jaw dropped, as he saw the staff hover in the air by itself, and the three stones rotate around the staff's red orb. All of them glowed brightly, blinking on and off softly. Then it returned to its regular state, with the spheres revolving around the top of the staff, and their colors back to normal. The flame rod itself stopped floating, and returned to his hand. He leaned his head against the wall, and closed his eyes, wondering what exactly happened.

OOC: I gotta get my weapon right now... so I'll do that. I can't do much more. Sorry! And thanks for including me thus far. IC: Shinji walked long and hard, drudging through the hot sands. He took a look at himself, seeing he was dressed in a completely black robe, with silver fringe, and everyone else looked different too. Looking at his arm, the word ?Granada? was burned onto his flesh. He raised an eyebrow, but could not waste any more energy. He had to support Dyna, who was leaning against him, with pink hair. Actually, everyone had changed, and he found it strange. They stumbled into an inn, and luckily they were admitted without any payment necessary. The innkeeper must be a nice guy. ?I?m gonna see what there?s to offer down here.? Shinji said to the group, not following them upstairs. By chance, he sat down in front of a weapon?s merchant. ?Nice wares you have here. What?re they for?? ?Hhaha.? The man laughed in a jolly tone. ?They?re for defendin? yerselve. Whaddaya want?? Shinji reached across the counter, to grasp a dagger, and see what it felt like. His sleeve pulled back while he did so, and the man dropped a handful of weaponry he was carrying. ?Is?. Is that the mark of Granada?? ?Erm? I suppose so.? He man leaned in towards him, speaking softly among the din of the inn, so that no one else would hear. ?The mark of Granada is one that is passed on to Black Mages. And particularly gifted ones. There?s no mistaking that. Ya must be a very talented mage, muh boy!? He was patted firmly on the back. ?Heh. I suppose so. But I?ve never ?? he was cut off by the man. ?No, no no. I?d be damned if I didn?t give a Granada mage any of my wares for free. Take yer pick.? Shinji picked up a staff, which was about 3 feet tall, and had a red, orb at the top. The only thing was, it was hovering a few feet above the rest of the staff. He touched the sphere, and it glowed a hot, cherry red, then returned to it?s dull red color. ?I?ll take this.? He said. ?A very fine choice. A flame rod. It will take you far, especially this one. It?s rare. But like I said, you can have it for free.? ?Oh! Thanks! And how much does it cost? you know, if I weren?t a Granada mage?? ?About 200 gil. It?s not that expensive.? ?Thanks again.? Shinji said, and walked upstairs with a flame rod, and a very special one at that. He went into the room, where most everyone was. Dyna was sitting on a bed, and patted the spot next to her. Shinji took a seat, with the staff on his lap.

Well... lemme think. Morpheus came to me in my dreams. He was hovering about 2 feet off the ground. The dream goes as follows. "Hey, you can't do that! That defies the laws of physics! You can't float" I shouted at him. "Yes I can. And so can you. Free your mind. Realize... there are no laws of physics. Break all those rules." I concentrated for a while, and began to float with difficulty at first. Then I could fly without really trying hard. "Very good. You can also control your dreams. They are also illusion. Free your mind." He said mysteriously. He smiled, and then made ninjas come at me from no where to test if what he said was right. "DiE!" I shouted. They just flopped over, and died. I gasped, and looked at my hands. So yeah... Morpheus taught me how to control my dreams. I mean, he [i]is[/i] the God of Dreams, isn't he? Later on, I had another dream: I was in my church... only it looked like a board game. More specifically, Chutes & Ladders. There were chutes in the cielings, and ladders from every which-way... from the walls, ground, mid-air. Everywhere. There was a ground of kids there, being hunted by a vampire. I had a cross-bow, and I made the kids run out of the church. They ran off screaming, and bawling down the street. Then I faced the vampire. He came at me through a chute in the ceiling, and I shot him with my magic-crossbow. T'was an awesome dream.

I would: 1. Buy all the manga I could get my hands on. [$10,000] 2. Buy a new laptop. [$2,000] 3. Better wireless internet. [$100] 4. Better cars for my family. [$75,000] 5. Rennovate my home (it's big enough now). [$50,000] 5. Buy some awesome paintings/photography, and put it all throughout my house. [$50,000] 6. Pay taxes [however much] 7. Save the rest. 8. Oh yeah... charity. I don't feel like adding up all the totals and what not. All I know is that I have a substantial amount of cash left. Can you say early retirement? xD

Yes, the quote "Anything you'd die for, you love" is very true. However, there are exceptions to this 'rule.' I'm sure a child loves their mother, but would they have the courage to die for her? Probably not. And I love my family very, very dearly. But if the time came around for it, I'm not sure if I'd take the bullet instead of them. That's in all seriousness. My mind can't wrap itself the concept of not existing anymore. I can't handle the gravity of that, and the only thing that would make me die for my family is courage. I believe I have a fair deal of it, but I can say what I would do all I want, as I sit comfortable in my chair typing this. But believe me; things change when you're looking down a barrel, decided if you have the guts to save your family or not. But the quote is rather accurate. If you truly love something, your courage should be able to override your fear.

Although I'm not pro-Bush, I do think the Iraq war was worth the sacrifice. Personally, I wouldnt've gone in there, but now that America is already in it deep up to the neck, it's too late to turn back. Instead of cry about the bad points, I try to dwell on the positive. People have already mentioned here that Sadaam has tortured more than just 1,400 people, and probably would have done even worse things if he had stayed in power. I still have no idea why Bush went over there to fight. There were no weapons of mass destruction, but at least we did [i]something[/i] good overthere. I'm sure the people over there appriciate it, being rid of a dictator. Of course, there are always the few who wish he were still there.

I'd pick the blue ones. For one, I like blue better. And besides, it's clear, and easy on the eyes. The red one is harsh, and poorly done. It's just too hard on the eyes. Blue > Red. That's my opinion.

Yeah, I just made this. I suppose you can decypher my feelings as of now. It's pretty obvious. Tell me what you think, be it in the picture, or it's meaning. Thanks. [B]"Then It's All Gone"[/B] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/dreams.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Afire]I don't think that shame is a good thing at all. Shame is hell. It's not a lack of shame that makes people bad...but a lack of love.[/QUOTE] I have to disagree. Shame isn't all good, or all bad. It's in that middle, grey area. Shame isn't always hell. It can give us a reason to rectify our mistakes, and tells us that we did something wrong. "I feel guilty... I cheated on a test" That guilty feeling might make you think twice about cheating next time. If you didn't have that guilt, you wouldn't think you did anything wrong. Then what kind of person would you be if you had no shame. While shame has its bad points, I think overall it has the potential to be constructive or destructive to a person. If someone feels shame over doing something wrong, they might commit suicide if they had other stressors in their lives. In the same instance, if the person felt shame, they might try to make a better decision; one that doesn't make them feel shameful. All in all, there's a reason why humans feel shame. I'm not sure if everyone believes in evolution, but assuming you do, it was a means of survival. If you felt you did something wrong against another human, you would try to avoid it. With this feeling of doing-right to your fellow-man, you would help the progression of the race if humans worked together, and made positive choices for the good of the group.

Hey! I like it! The only problem I have is that you didn't put enough stuff in there. Thus, the black-space seems overwhelming. The clouds are a complete contrast, and sort of clashed with the black. That wasn't working. The clouds look the same, and so do the stars. Inside the main star, there should've been a different color in the background of it, so that the person inside stands out more. Overall, I really like this one. [B]8.9/10[/B] :)

[B]Warm and generous, enthusiastic and active, these individuals are natural leaders.[/B] Meh. I'm not always enthusiastic or warm, but I can lead. [B]When participating in team sports they are engaged and involved, and use their enthusiasm to build team spirit and to urge their teammates to perform their very best. Many prefer solitary sports, such as cycling and running, that allow them to constantly improve on their own past performance.[/B] Yeah. I'm on my high school's soccer team. I usually don't play solitary sports, but I do enjoy working hard to become better. [B]Sagittarians love travel and exposure to other cultures. [/B] Oh yes. Traveling rawks. I love to go to new places, and see what they're like. Other culture seems foriegn and interesting to me. [B]They can be reckless, abrupt and blunt, and can suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.[/B] Not really. I tend to think my actions through before I do them. But I am blunt with people sometimes, when they need it. [B]Without a cause, this juggernaut bangs around recklessly and ineffectually, but with one, this person is a force to be reckoned with. [/B] Miss. Without a cause, I tend to float around. With a cause, I get things done. I suppose I'm a force to be reckoned with if I have a purpose. Overall, this doesn't describe me, but the daily ones have a way with predicting my day.

Shinji walked to school in his loose jeans, grey long sleeve shirt, and black ski jacket. "Man... cold weather [i]again[/i]. This sucks." He said, complaining to himself. He prefered the warm weather, and was probably more suited to life in the Carribean than here. He adjusted his jacket a bit to cover up his neck. He didn't have very far to walk, as he was only a few blocks from the school, but that made all the difference to him in these terrible temperatures. Eventually, he walked into school, and made his way to his locker. "That would've been easier if I had a car. Maybe next year." He grabbed his books, and set off for the library. He didn't have any classes first period. Usually, he slept in and came to school for second period, but he decided he should get a head's start on the day. [b]First Break[/b] Shinji walked into the library, completely walking past several rows of books, and sat down at a computer. He heard light conversaton behind him, and decided to see who it was. Dyna and Sakura, talking. He had had crushes on both of them, at some point in time, but right now, he didn't have thoughts for either in particular. He was a good friend to them both. He stood up, and walked over, seeing what they were talking about. "Hey, Sakura, Dyna. What's up?" Dyna gestured to the book, and Sakura nodded her head in agreement. Shinji decided not to pry further into their conversation. "Hm... Okay. What're you two doing tonight?" "Are you asking us out on a [i]date?[/i] And the both of us? You have some nerve, Shinji." Sakura replied jokingly. "Oh, no! I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I meant in Ivalice. Will you two be on later today?" "Heh... sure Shinji. But yes, I'll be on." Dyna replied, with a grin on her face. Sakura agreed. OOC: I'm not quite sure where this is headed. I don't even know if our characters know about Ivalice. So, amgoddess, if you could post to tell us what's going on, that'd speed things up.

The farthest I've ever been would be to the Virgin Islands. Those are US territories, so therefore, I technically have never been outside of the US. I went there when I was 10 for a family reunion. And it was SO awesome. I went into the water, and I saw small tropical fish swim by, and I could actually see my toes! That's a new experience for me at the beach, because in the States, our water is surprisingly dirty compared to other places.

OOC: I thought it would be boring if there were only us pilots there. So I added in NPCs. IC: "Shit... a ball, huh? That's nice of her." Keiji said with slight nervousness in his voice. "But why should I feel nervous like this? It's not like any girls are gonna dance with me, right?" [i]Get over yourself, Keiji. Just go.[/i] "Fine, if you insist" He replied reluctantly. Walking into his room, he found some of his clothes were there. It seemed as though his family had given them to an officer, who had delievered them. His thoughts harked back to home, where he hadn't been for a while. Sighing deeply, he picked up the navy blue Japanese suit. It looked rather traditional; like something that would've been worn during very important events about 100 years ago. It was pure silk, and felt like heaven to touch it. Gladly, he put on the suit, and made his way to the ballroom. He arrived there after a short walk, which took a considerable amount of time due to his clothes. Opening the door, he was speechless. "... whoa ... It looks awesome." [i]Interesting. I see what you see, since we are still syncrenized. Go talk to someone.[/i] "No problem there! That's my forte!" Keiji said confidently, walking into the crowded ballroom. He mingled with the sizeable crowd, talking to whomever seemed interesting. He caught glimpses of other pilots, but couldn't see what they were doing. He decided against dancing, since he wasn't very eager to ask any girls if they would like to.

The wallpaper isn't your best work. While the drawing is very good, the orb in her hand is obviously a poor lens flare, relatively harsh on the eyes. The dark reddish-blue aura it has around it is very distinct, with no blending at all. There isn't the ethereal feel to the aura. It's too solid. The typo is hard to read, and could have been positioned more effectively with the use of a better font. The background itself is also very simple, looking like a slight gradient of some sort. The first banner is good. It looks like you just cropped an image, and threw in a border, but it is clean and effective nonetheless. All I could recomment is getting a closer picture of the person. The second banner is good as well. I like the image of the two people you used, but the border is rather choppy/jagged. I'm sure you intended it to be like that, but it would be better as a regular, solid one. The text looks like you've cropped them from another image, because it's so streched and grainy. It might do you well to take that part out entirely, and add it in with a new futuristic font.