Retribution

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/sink.jpg[/IMG] Tell me what you think. It's a shot of my sink with some exposure time and blending FX fun.

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]True, people do find it difficult to stop smoking. That's why I said that banning tabacco and marijuana altogether was somewhat unrealistic. However, maybe the bannnig of tabbaco products can be gradual, like slowly removing it from stores untill stores don't sell it anymore. Eventually selling cigarettes can be made illegal. For those who are hooked on tabbaco, offer programs that will help them quit during this time. Future generations won't be exposed to tabbaco products normally, because only drug abusers will be using it. There is no good reason to allow any of these harmful products to be legalized. Like I said before, they can hurt everyone, and the environment. It's not fair to people who don't smoke. You're forcing us to breathe in toxic and dangerous substances second-hand.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] I don't really have much to say concerning mary jane and the legalization/banishment of it. I'm only here to quickly reply to Chabichou's post. No. Sorry. America's not going to [i]ever[/i] ban tobacco. It's too lucrative a business to just cut off the cash from the the Marlboro man and expect him to stay silent. Also, people who are addicted to it already will come and burn down your house if you're trying to ban the stuff. People love their nicotine, and will go to great lengths to make sure they have it. Yes, there is no really good reason to have mary j or cigarettes legal, except for the fact that we live in America. I don't know about you, but I'd be angry if the government all of the sudden told me I couldn't do X and Y. Really, the government should be dictating people's lives, and it pains me to say it, but smoking falls under that banner. Yes, we're breathing in second-hand toxic smoke. What're you going to do about it? All you really can do is stay away from the smokers... and while this is annoying, it's their right. If you're so concerned about protecting the environment from cigarette smoke, drive and electric/hybrid car and plant trees or whatever. Honestly, cars pollute [b]way[/b] more than a joint/cigarette. Like I said above, it [i]isn't[/i] really fair to people who don't smoke, but I can't take away their right to blacken their lungs and help out the economy by wasting thousands on death sticks a year. Sorry. =[

Here's a thread I'm just going to keep posting it with the request of Lady Asphixia. She recommended that I have one thread for my poems. So here's a start. Feel free to comment on mine. I couldn't settle on a fitting rating. Sorry, mods. [B]Not Now[/B] Lay my head down Something snapped today And I can't fix it. The world was on my shoulders And I fell. And the world crumbled too I failed I wasn't strong enough Not now... [b]Heatbreak[/b] You have wounded me Romeo's poison drips From deceitful lips. [B]Obstacles[/B] I've been runnin' for a while now Haven't made progress at all I've been runnin' for a while now But it feels like it's only a crawl. Covered no ground, gone nowhere Can't open the door, turn the corner. Impossible odds, stacked against me, Stopped at a wall I can't hurdle.

[B][SIZE=3]God of Dreams[/SIZE] Chapter 4: As if in a Dream[/B] Morpheus wandered in the white infiniteness, and felt like he was lost. Looking at himself, he realized that he was wearing his usual clothes ? his gray sweater, and black jeans. Touching the back of his neck, he felt smooth, untouched skin. He felt puzzled, to say the least, and was about to accept his journey up to this point as a dream. He turned around several times, and even called out to Naiobi, but she didn?t answer. He frowned, and turned around once more, as if it would solve any of his problems. But it did. There she stood, staring at him, wearing a dark brown trench coat and black sunglasses on. ?Where am I?? He asked, hoping she would tell him. ?You?re in the Construct. Here, we can load anything we need. Weapons, training simulators, libraries, anything we might find necessary on a mission. But we?ll get around to the mission part later. First and foremost, you?re in a program.? Morpheus furrowed his brow, and tried to grasp the meaning of what she had just said. ?You see, Morpheus, at the turn of the century, mankind made an invention we?ll always regret. Artificial Intelligence was such a great thing back then, but it led to humanity?s demise. We made robots manual laborers, and it wasn?t very long until one decided to think for itself. It observed everyone else, and saw that humans could have freedom, but robots could not. The robot decided to share it?s thoughts, and soon all robots had a common goal: freedom.? She said in a very grim tone. Obviously she held contempt for robots now. ?But of course, humans are a very elitist species. We can?t stand having equals. So, what did we do? We denied them their rights. The robots peeled off from the rest of society, and created their own city, which they appropriately named 01. All the while, the United Nations decided to try and blot out the sun to cut the machine?s power. Evidently, it wasn?t a good idea, as humans need sunlight more than machines do. But the machines need power from somewhere. Remember those pink pods you saw, Morpheus? Those were humans being harnessed for energy. Humans ended up losing the war against 01, but the machines weren?t heartless. They offered us the Matrix, which is an illusion for your mind. An illusion created so that we didn?t have to live in reality. Ignorance is bliss, but you?re no longer ignorant, Morpheus.? His eyes widened with shock and horror. He arrived at a bitter understanding that humans had destroyed Earth by themselves. ?Welcome to the desert of the real.? She said, and they were suddenly standing in what looked like post-apocalyptic New York City. All the skyscrapers were collapsing, rusted, and black. The sky was equally pitch, with only flashes of lightening to break the monotonous color. ?That is the surface of the Earth. You see that?? she asked Morpheus. He could only put his hands on top of his head and shake it back and forth. ?I? don?t understand. It can?t be! You?re lying! Take me out! I want to go home? he yelled at her. She shook her head, as the white expanse came back, and New York City zoomed out of view. ?Sorry, Dorothy. We?re not in Kansas anymore. You can?t just click your heels or whatever to make things disappear. This is the truth, Morpheus. You?ve been living a lie all your ?life.? You were born a slave, and you lived in this cold, black prison in chains, staring at what you thought to be real. But trust me. Your ?life? was only a shadow of reality. You have the real McCoy? Tank, terminate.? She was unbending, as if she was beating reality into Morpheus. The white infinity broke apart, with green symbols, letters, and numbers flying around them both. He awoke from the simulation with a start, his body arching in panic at the regained consciousness. Naiobi unplugged him, and whispered something to Tank so low that he couldn?t make out any words. He glanced over at Morpheus as he smiled and nodded at her plan. ?Lets go get something to eat, Morpheus. C?mon.? he beckoned. Morpheus was used to having ?real? meals with several types of food on a plate, as well as a choice of beverages. Therefore when he saw white goop that looked like pureed oatmeal, he was surprised to say the least. The crew looked up from the ?meal? and greeted him with broken phrases of ?hello? or ?hey man.? ?Is? this what you call food?? he asked quite sincerely. He couldn?t imagine eating this for every meal. ?Yeah. Breakfast and dinner. We don?t eat lunch to conserve resources. But you do get some water now and then. Besides, this ?food? provides you with the necessary vitamins and minerals for your body. It doesn?t taste like much, but you?ll live.? Switch said to him without looking up. Morpheus sat down at the last space available, and picked up the spoon next to his bowl, which was already full of the goop. He took a scoop of it, and watched the spoon grab some of the food, and brought it up to his mouth. But before tasting, he smelled it. It didn?t smell like anything but artificial, processed wheat. Dissatisfied, he put the spoon down. ?Don?t get all bitchy now, Morpheus. Better eat that crap or you?ll starve. Yeah, it?s not the best, but when we get leave we get to have real food as you call it. You?ll get used to it.? Cypher said to him, in a sneering tone. ?Fine.? He replied curtly. He picked up the spoon once more to try it, and put it in his mouth. There was no taste, except for extremely bland oatmeal. Oh well?he thought to himself as he continued shoveling the goop into his mouth. Like Cypher had said, it was better than starving to death. After the crew had finished the meal, they all split up to various parts of the ship, and started upon their own work. Cypher had to monitor the Matrix for ?disturbances? where a regular person turned into an Agent, or in-Matrix distress signals. Dozer and Naiobi were piloting the ship back to Zion, Switch and Apoc were both performing below-deck maintenance. It turned out that they were being chased by Sentinels while they were unplugging Morpheus. Several parts to the anti-gravity generators had come loose in flight. Naiobi had a habit of damaging the ships she piloted, especially hers, the Logos. ?So, what am I supposed to do while everyone else moves like clockwork around the Logos?? Morpheus asked Tank, who was smiling fully at him. There was obviously something planned. ?Today? I have so much to teach you. Today?s the big day, man. You ready?? he was jittery with excitement, and led him over to the seat where he was plugged in before. ?Have a seat, and let the training begin!? Morpheus did as he was told, but asked several questions on the way. ?What am I going to learn? Training? What are you talking about?? Tank only shook his head, and put his index finger on Morpheus? lips in a shhhh? gesture. ?Sit down here, and I?ll explain.? Morpheus took a seat, and reclined. Tank sat at the operating chair adjacent to him with several other monitors all hanging around him. Several were for video feeds; others were just blank for now. He walked over to Morpheus, gave him the thumbs up, and then shoved the plug into the back of his head. Morpheus cringed in pain, but stopped once he realized he was in the Construct once again. He examined himself, seeing that he was wearing a gi for karate, and wondered exactly why he had it on. He looked around, and in the distance, he saw a Japanese hilltop coming his way with surprising speed for a hill of all things. Eventually, it got to him, and he was standing on top of the hill, which had a Zen rock garden on it, and a bridge over a small pond. Everything felt peaceful as the wind blew. He tried to enjoy the moment, now knowing it was only an illusion, and data was being sent to his mind that gave him the feeling he was on this imaginary hill. To his surprise, Naiobi walked into view coming up the hill. They met in the rock garden, both in the karate uniform, both barefoot. ?What is this place? The Matrix again?? ?Not really. It?s a version of the Matrix. I thought I told you already that the Construct has the ability to load anything and everything here. This is just a simulation Tank?s prepared. You?re going to learn to fight. Tank, download the information now.? After she had finished saying that, his body shook from the constant barrage of knowledge to absorb. It was if he had had a divine revelation from God, and He had told Morpheus how to use every form of martial arms. One could guess that all that information being sent at once would be slightly painful to grasp, digest, and hold onto. Naiobi watched Morpheus? pain, smirking and nodding her head in approval. At long last, the information stopped rushing to his head like water flowed down a sink and the gushing stream of data slowed to a trickle and then stopped entirely. ?What do you know, Morpheus? Tell me.? ?I know Drunken Boxing, Kung Fu, Karate, Jujitsu, Jeet Kun D?? he was cut short. Morpheus was surprised at everything he had learned in such a relatively short time. He had a slight headache, but he felt satisfied. ?Good. That is enough. There?s plenty more you probably know, but I don?t need to hear it. Fight me? and hit me. If you think you can.? She said to him devilishly, and got into form. Naiobi beckoned Morpheus to attack her with two fingers, and so the fight began. [B][SIZE=3]God of Dreams[/SIZE] Chapter 5: Students Teach the Teachers[/B] Morpheus slid his feet quickly underneath Naiobi in a swift tripping move. She jumped over his foot, and kicked at his head. She connected with a sickening crack. Morpheus stumbled backwards, and shook his head to rid himself of the pain. He forced himself to put his guard back up, as he recalled his martial knowledge. They both circled each other for a time, and this brought them closer to the bridge over the shallow pond. Naiobi lunged at Morpheus? solar plexus, but he parried her hand down forcefully, and threw a punch at her face immediately afterward. She blocked his strong attack with difficultly, but Morpheus wasted no time, and knocked her onto the bridge with a perfectly timed roundhouse kick. ?Good,? she said to him, congratulating him on hitting her. ?You?re a natural. But you need to realize that this is a program, where rules can be bent and even broken. Don?t succumb to the physical limits this program imposes on you. Break away from all that, and really learn to bend the rules. Now come again.? She said, signaling for the fight to begin again. Morpheus didn?t wait for her to get back up from the ground. He jumped in the air, preparing to break her jaw with a knee-drop. Time seemed to slow down around him, but Naiobi eluded his attack once again. She rolled backwards, and jumped onto the handrail. Thinking quickly, he knocked out the support beam to the rail, making it collapse. But it was too late, as she had already jumped off of it and threw a swift succession of punches at his face. Morpheus saw time slow down again, and he moved to block the punches right as they were about to impact on his nose, cheek, and eyes. He caught each individual punch, and grabbed her fist on the last one, and bent it backward powerfully. She gritted her teeth in pain, but did not scream. She sent her left fist into his right cheek, knocking him off the bridge into the pond. Both gasped for breath, and Morpheus stood up in the knee-deep water. He was determined to not lose. Naiobi sprinted off the bridge and jumped at Morpheus. In counter attack, Morpheus jumped high into the air, trying to break the rule of gravity for the moment, to let him go higher. She saw a line of green code stream spout out of the water from where he had jumped. The solitary line was soon followed by many of his brothers, each one zipping out of the water from where Morpheus had taken off, then slowing down as it traced his flight path. The flying water droplets slowed down, each one looking like a crystal hanging in space. Time creaked back from the dead halt into a slow crawl, and the water began to fall down as gravity worked its wonders again. He was nearly ten feet off the ground when time sped up to normal, with his after-image glitching and freezing in midair. Naiobi?s eyes opened wide with surprise at such a feat. But there had been to time for admiration; Morpheus? heel buried itself into her stomach mercilessly. Morpheus gingerly jumped off of Naiobi?s body, and picked her up out of the water where she had landed. He walked back into the stone garden and set her down, sitting cross-legged next to her. She tried to resist Morpheus giving her help, but she was too weak, and instead began to talk. ?That?s what I was talkin? about, Morpheus. Do you understand now? You broke the rules to win, and that?s what humanity needs.? ?I think so. It?s still hard to grasp? when I think about it, am I really breathing air? This all just electric signals sent to my brain, which makes me question, what exactly is real? It?s overwhelming sometimes.? He finished with a sigh, and felt cold again as the wind blew his wet body. ?Yes, it can be confusing, but I think you?ve done a helluva job grasping the truth. But don?t overanalyze too much. You may mix yourself up, and we don?t want that.? She finished, and stood up on her own strength. She wobbled for the first few seconds, and then stabilized herself. ?Program terminate.? She finally said, as the beauty of the Japanese hillside disappeared into oblivion, and he woke up again with a start. He saw everyone looking at the monitors, which currently showed the Construct being disassembled once again, as the program closed. ?Good job man! You know howta throw them thing back!? Dozer exclaimed with glee. The rest of the crew showed him the similar sentiment. Naiobi rubbed her stomach in pain, and then punched him on the shoulder. ?You?ll be a great addition to the crew.? She said thanking him that he wasn?t dead weight that needed to be dropped off in Zion at the next opportunity. He returned everyone?s congratulations merrily. ?Thank everyone. But how did you know what was happening.? ?I can read the code of the Matrix,? Cypher piped up from the back of the crowd of the crewmembers. ?And the rest of us just watched on this monitor. It translates the code into live video feed, which was displayed on these three screens,? Tank motioned to the consoles he had manned. The rest of the crew nodded in agreement. ?In all my time, I?ve never seen someone fight like you, man. How?d you have the Construct spitting out code from the pond like that? It was insane!? Apoc asked exitedly. ?I? I don?t exactly know yet. But I came to a realization that it was all an illusion, and therefore there wasn?t any rules to be followed.? He thought, trying to actually answer the question for himself, as well as the rest of the crew. ?Good stuff. But our ETA to Zion is only about four minutes, so get ready. Dozer, perform all post-flight checks, Switch, you clean up the crates around here, and Apoc, give her some help with that. Morpheus, you can carry our luggage. Move!? She yelled. Everyone scurried about in a hurry to complete what had been asked of them. While picking up Tank?s bags, Switch whispered to him. ?Zion?s amazing. Like nothing you?ve ever seen before ? I guarantee it.? She told him with a smirk. It only make Morpheus all the more interested.

OOC: Whoa. Good post there. But I don't know exactly where this is headed... maybe some guidance from the RPG overlord? xD IC: Rion woke up in a hospital bed again, with his knights by his bedside. They both stood up when they saw him wake up. It felt like nearly no time had elapsed. Maybe it was just a dream, he thought. After all, he [i]had[/i] fallen asleep here, and woken up again in the same bed. The knights were in the same spots too. "My Lord, is there anything we can get you?" one of the knights asked in a worried tone. "Un... just... a cup of tea. Hot. Thank you..." he trailed off again. He turned in the bed, and a lance of pain shot through his back. Agony pierced him, and he gasped and sighed in pain. He felt stiches there, and they were new. This changed his mind. [i]So it wasn't a dream after all?[/i] He went from tired and groggy to worried. [i]What if Daimon heard Lady Ashrel? I tried to contain myself... but she had no restraint whatsoever. Please don't let him know... please![/i] He rolled back flat again, and he saw a red lip mark on the white sheets. He touched his lips, and looked at the fingers, which now had red lipstick on them. [i]Oh god. She might be serious about this.[/i] He called the other knight that wasn't getting him tea, and told him to wash his current sheet, and change it. He also asked for a wet rag to wash his face off. He didn't want to leave any lipstick on his face. In due time, both of his knights had carried out their respective assignments. Finally, he sat in his hospital bed, lying in fresh white sheets, sipping a hot cup of tea. He felt more relaxed than worried now, and tried to think of what had happened during the party. Then it struck him that it must be extremely late. "What bell has rung?" he asked his knights. "The second rang not so long ago." Which meant it was two in the morning. [i]She must've had a field day with me in my submissive position...[/i] he thought to himself. "Extinguish the candles, if you will. Leave me and guard the door. I'm going to sleep." he told his bodyguards. They blew out the candles, and slept on the other side of the hospital-curtain that was around his bed. He needed to rest as much as possible to heal his wound.

A coin? I suppose it would be money in general

He shuddered in pain. He couldn't move from his present location -- his back had been stabbed too badly. He willed himself not to be seduced, as he knew the penalty that would follow from Daimon. But it was no use... She licked his cheek, and whispered in his ear a sweet nothing, and took of his shirt. All Rion could do was watch her, hoping that by some divine miracle she would stop. But some part of him wanted her to continue. She rubbed her body against his chest, enjoying him squirm around underneath her, and proceeded to take off his pants. "P...please d.don't do this... you know ... hiis... Majesty will k...kill mem...me..." he stuttered in pain. She payed him no attention. "Relax... you worry too much..." she trailed off, as she rubbed his stomach more, and she started moving lower down his body. His chivalrous mind could only resist the tantalization, without response from his body. She definetly knew how to seduce a man. "n..N..nO...no... please...oh..." he tried to get her to stop, but was overcome with a mix of pleasure and pain. He couldn't lift his head to see what she was doing to him, but he had a good idea. He moaned in pleasure, then in pain again. His mind was torn between stopping and letting her finish. Ultamitely,he had no control over her. "Oh! Oh...." she moaned in pleasure as well. He gasped, trying to suppress his moans of agony and pleasure. She rocked the bed so hard, she tore open his cut on his back, with blood going onto the blankets...

XD Now that you mention it, I [i][b]can[/b][/i] decypher 'sex' out of the jumble of words. Funny stuff. And yeah, it was big enough to make into a background/wallpaper thing. Maybe I'll show it to everyone sometime.

OOC: Yeah, I'll do that for you. ^_^... Here it goes... I'm assuming your vast castle will have some sort of medical wing. Heh. IC: Rion listened to the beautiful music playing in the court, and looked at Daimon who was talking to Ayama. He smiled, contentedly at the night so far, except for killing the man. He wished it hadn't come to blows with him. He was roused from his thoughts from several shouts breaking the music's melody. "I challenge you to a duel!" One man screamed at the other. He challenged accepted, and so began the duel. Rion rushed over, pushing his way through the crowd to get a better look. Two more nobles were fighting for whatever reasons. "Please, sirs! Do not spill any more blood tonight, I beg of you!" He shouted at both the fighters, stepping in between them with his own rapier drawn. "Sheath your swords!" "Never, you insolent whelp! He called my wife a wench while he was drunk himself! This cannot be forgiven." "Well, it's not my fault if she is. She was flirting with many other men tonight! Now defend yourself!" Rion swatted down both rapiers again. "This is the last time. I beg of you, do not fight. I will kill you both if you do. I do not wish to fight... please keep this banquet peaceful." he asked once more. It was the final warning. "Never! Go to hell!" the both shouted at him. The two men double-teamed him, attacking him. Rion parried one rapier, stepping to the side to let the man's temporary ally stab him. But he didn't as they parried each other's accidental blows, but it was just enough to kill one of them. He stabbed one of the men through the abdomen, and pulled it out, facing the next fighter. Several more men bolted from out of the crowd into the combat, trying to hold Rion down for the deathblow. "Knights! Aid me!" He yelled to them, as he stabbed another man through his neck. He had nearly ten people to fight now. The crowd was in panic, with shouts of both jeering and fear ringing out among them. His knights ran over as fast as they could in the heavy armor, and flanked him with their own broadswords. They killed several more men attacking Rion's side, but one man was smart enough to attack from behind. He had a had knife, and stabbed Rion in the back. It was a deep wound, but not fatal. It had missed all organs, be they vital or not. The blade only went into him half an inch. Rion whirled around in pain, and slid the dagger from out of his sleeve, slitting the man's jugular vein in an instant, then collapsed to the ground. " ...uhh..." he sighed in pain, falling on top of several other dead men. His knights ripped off his jacket and looked at his wound, determining it not fatal, they took the cloth off of a nearby dead noble's shirt and wrapped it around his bleeding back. "He needs medical attention immediately. Would your majesty be so kind as to take Lord Marquise in for the night? We would be in your debt, your majesty." The bowed low, hoping he would take him in and stop his bleeding with proper medical help. "Of course! Servant!" He yelled out for aid. He knew it would be a poor show to deny a wounded noble quarters for the night. "Take Sir Marquise to the medical wing, and see to it that he has a [I]comfortable[/I] room..." he trailed off, verbally nudging the butler to bring him woman company. Not that he could use it in his weakened state. "We are thankful beyond words, your majesty. Thank you." They bowed again, accompanying him to the medical wing, sitting next to his bed when a nurse had given him clean bandages and fresh blankets. "Is your wound deep, m'lord?" One asked. "N... no... I'll live. Thank you, my loyal knights for helping me..." he said, and passed out. He would not wake up until later that night... OOC: So was that gory enough for you? I suppose you didn't want all that, as you said 'a couple' fights or something. Oh well.

Yeah, I'd rather be a Pirate. I've loved them all my life, well, not the real ones but the fairy-tales. But really, you can't kid yourself. [b]Robin Hood[/b] is SOOO much cooler. Yeah, I dressed up as him, and had a bow, a cap, and galavanted around my house with my best friend, who also had a bow. We shot at nothing really, but it was fun. Bwhahaha. Go Robin Hood.

Keji landed in the hangar, glancing around as he remembered all the battles that had started from here. He walked over to his old landing-position, and sat down on it, and closed his eyes. He tried to forget all the lives he had taken, how his life had changed that Valentine's day, but he could not. Rising from his meditative state, he walked over to the stadium, where Sora had told him to go. He got there, and saw Sora and Sayne holding each other, and Ajack staring coldly at a crying Lyu. Personally, he didn't really feel sorry for her either. She had just ... ditched Ajack five years ago. It made him mad, just thinking about it. "It's his battle now." He said to himself, consoling his slight anger that was rising. "I'm glad you've made it here, Keiji!" Sora said to him. Sayne grinned, looking at him in the eyes. "At last we meet again, Sayne. I'm glad to see you." "..hn..." he replied quietly, as always. However, it looked as if Sora had opened him up. It did him good to express his true emotions.

This picture started out as a photograph. I took around five or six shots of a Washington Post article in the style section from Tuesday, May 27, 2003. It's strange that it's been around here this long, huh? Anyway, the paper had that old-but-in-good-condition look, so I used it. I uploaded the pictures, and threw out a few, and ended up with three left. I decided to manipulate the image. I have ... three other image files with slight variations I'll post later if anyone wants to see them. Personally, I like this one the best. Tell me what you think ^_^ [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/style.jpg[/IMG]

I like how you did it for the most part. Great job. The abs could be given more shading, and his knee caps looked pretty born too. I think more jagged shadows would work well with this shot. I mean, it's a drawing of a swordsman, so a more rugged feel would ... make it look better. Did that make sense? The background also looks sort of ... running together. I would suggest making it more crisp. You've done an excellent job on the lines, hair, and face. I like it.

I hate... - The female species' hard-to-decypher code. Why don't they just tell me straight? - School work. It's not like my entire life is devoted to school people. I spend a good 7 hours in that hell-hole, I don't want another 7 hours of work. - When I can't write what I mean. Stupid writers block. - Posers. Act the way you truly are, not a phony. - People who keep talking to you when you want peace and solitude. I feel like telling them "Go away. I don't want to talk to you right now. I'm angry/tired/wanting to get away from you." but I can't... because that's rude. - A lack of free time. Nuff said. - Arrogance.

Yay! I've gotten pretty good feedback on this one. Thanks to you, Syk3. Anywho, I was pretty sure that the text was big enough to see. I was wondering what might've been wrong about it. My monitor's resolution is [B]1152 x 864[/B] pixels. Maybe yours is even larger? I just checked the view of the picture on my monitor's higest resolution, which is [B]1280 x 1024 pixels[/B], but I could still read the text. Although, it [i]did[/i] really hurt my eyes.

I like it. It's clean, and clutterless. However, I do think you need to make the image bigger... it's too hard to see. The disclaimer should also be taken out, as it's just annoying/distracting. I suppose it's a simple explaination for a simple avatar.

Rion sat in disbelief, staring at his empty dinner plate. [i]Did he just say what I think he said? Why should I get any maiden of my choice for defending my own honor?[/i] He felt puzzled, and Jonathan did nothing to help the situation. He was silently snickering at him, and so was Joel. They nudged his shoulder and said things like "Who're you going to chose?" but he tried to ignore them as best he could. The servant girl came by the table, and set down a plate of tender salmon, steak, potatoes, and sallad. It was an exquisite feast, one better than the meals he ate at home. The King was definetly well versed in foods, he thought silently. Everyone ate their fill, feeling satisfied from the huge meal, which was immediately followed by deserts of every variety. Rion decided not to eat too much, as it would hinder his fighting skills. [i]But I'm not going to fight... am I?[/i] He thought to himself. [i]Who knows... I suppose I should be prepared. The King isn't known for being peaceful, and Jonathan said I'd have more challenges coming my way.[/i] He left food on his plate, and finished his cup of wine, making sure he was still fully capacitated. Being drunk would only demean him, not bolster his status. The King was probably watching him all the time since he knew about the fight with the Duke. It never hurt to be safe. After a few hours of merry-making and eating, Lady Ashrel called for everyone's attention in a commanding tone. Of course everyone obeyed her. "All guests, please go to the center court immediately." She said, then sat down. Everyone rose from their seats, and began filing out of the dining hall and going towards the center court. Rion looked around the crowd, trying to decided upon a woman he would set free from the King. He knew that he could not force her in good conscience to be his wife, so it would just be a freedom note to her. No one caught his eye. Rion's two knights as well as Joel walked near him and into the center court, awaiting further instructions.

"But the King isn't here. So how could she get attention from him. I can only think if someone where to tell him of what happened." Rion said in an inquiring tone, watching Lady Ashrel walk back to the other nobles. "I have no idea, Rion. Just be careful... some say she is a cruel woman." "Oh, I know so, Sir Joel. The woman must be cruel to love his majesty. Both must be sickly sadistic. However, she does [i]look[/i] wonderful." "Looks can be decieving, as I'm sure you already know." he said firmly. "Indeed they are," Rion answered positively, then perking up to see that wine had been placed on their table. Rion picked up a glass of it, and swirled it around. He smelled the aroma, as he had been taught, then took a small sip of it to taste it. "The king knows what good wine is, that's certain!" Joel exclaimed as he polished off the rest of his glass in instants. [i]He must have a strong stomach to down an entire glass of wine in seconds.[/i] Rion thought to himself. Joel obviously picked up on his thought, and gave him a full smile, confirming his ideas. He laughed, and looked around at the nobles. He could pick out several women gazing at him longingly, but he broke eye contact, hoping that there would be no further engagements. Spilling innocent blood over such a trivial matter was ludicrous. A noble next to him gave him a light nudge with his shoulder. "I'm under the impression you're quite the lady's man..." he said to him. "So I hear... however, I do no wish to jump to such arrogant conclusions." he replied, trying to end the conversation with him as quickly as possible. "Yes, but Lady Ashrel, as well as other ladies in the hall have noticed you. Watch out -- you'll have several challenges coming your way after the dinner. By the way, my name is Jonathan." "And mine is Rion Marquise. Pleased to meet you." he lied, and looked up at the King's podium. Lady Ashrel was looking sternly around the hall at everyone, probably deciding whom to kill, and whom to toy with as she had done with Rion. Daimon looked at his wine disgustedly, and shouted at the servant who had given it to him. "He's never thankful for anything... is he?" Jonathan asked. "So it would seem." Rion replied curtly. The King looked as if he was going to make a speech soon.

Gram took one last look at his drawing pad for his newest graffiti project. It would take him all night to finish, but it would be the best he had ever done, and that was saying something. He threw the pad in his backpack, and placed all the spray cans he needed in their separate pouches. "Ma, I'm leavin', I'll be back sometime tonight. There's a party. Call me on my cell. Later." He said curtly to his mother. His mom called amiably in agreement, having no idea he was actually going to spray up some concrete wall. Gram put on his rollerblades, putting his shoes in another pocket in his backpack, and set off for the inner-city. He skated faster after several years of practice, and he knew most of the shortcuts around town. He bladded down hill, grinding on a rail, and jumping off of that onto a parked car. From there, he used his momentum to jump on the wall, his hands grabbing the top ledge. He easily pulled himself up, and continued skating on the roof of apartments which were adjoined for blocks. Soon he made it to the nearest graf. hangout. He saw an eagle, but shrugged it off and laughed. "I can do better than that. These taggers are painting stick figures now or something. They need practice." He made his way down into the alley, where several people already were. Some guy was on the ground, screaming like he was in pain, but he shrugged him off. His crew was tending to him. He skated down the long alley until he looked only to be a child from the other side of the alley. He dropped his backpack on the ground, put on his mp3 player, and took out a can of spray paint. He tossed it in the air, as it spun around, and he caught it, shook it up, and began his preliminary outline in black. He knew black was the priming color, followed then by white, and then other colors. His tag was planned to take up around twelve feet in length, and five feet in height. It would be grand, to say the least. He sprayed with a steady hand and a practiced eye, watching his outline take shape on the red-bricked wall. He stood back once he had finished applying the white and black coats. "The Big Apple is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat you could lose your teeth. Many crews retreat. Nightly news repeat the killings, savages, the NASDAQ averages..." he trailed off, trying to figure out which part of the song to put in... but he listened closer to the song. It had more meaning to him. Something he had seen before [i]"I can't take it, ya'll, my chest's heaving ... sigh before we die like the last train leaving."[/i] He looked at the ground in slight shock, then stared at his mural so far. It was a gray metro train, leaving the platform and a man riddle with bullet holes lying down. It had meaning. It was something had seen before... [b][i]"I told you, get off our turf, bitch." A leader spoke to the other crew. "Fuck you!" An enemy cried out, breaking the silence the of night with gun shots ringing out, and the rest of the crew running away. Even the leader's own crew had abandoned him. The leader shuddered in pain, and then became still, exhaling his last breath as the enemy gang left on the metro train. Gram just stood in disbelief, and ran home, shaking with adrenaline. He couldnt've saved the man anyway.[/i][/b] His mood became very somber, as he finished the piece, spraying a bleeding rose at the bottom of the wall, and signed it: [i]Rest in Peace... to you all. +Gram+[/i]

Mine was rather uneventful, I suppose. I wanted to get a candygram from a girl, even an anonymous one, but alas, I recieved none (candygram is like ... a letter with candy delivered to pepople). I got a ribbon from the girl that sat in front of me in rhetoric. She put it on top of my head while my head was down. But I'm not going to go reading into things too much. She has a boyfriend. Anyway, I don't see why people (like Blanko) hate V-Day so much. So what if girls run up and down the hall squealing? It's supposed to be a happy day, even if you don't have a special-someone.

"One more time. GO!" Keiji yelled, adrenaline coarsing through his veins. He was going at Amatu's top-speed. Only this time, it was with several more thrusters attached to the frame. And they were supposed to be destroying these sentinel pods for training. He leaned forward in his seat, gritting his teeth. He was trying to up their sync-rating again. He flew through the sky, ripping apart the pods with his talons only, perfecting his accuracy and agility. He sliced through another pod, then accelerated to avoid the residual blast. [B][I][ Accuracy rating: 100%, Efficiency ration: 99% ] [Moving to next section... Standby...][/I][/B] Amatu printed out the readings to him on screen. He felt good that he was getting better. Much better. The next section was going to be probes, but they fired back. It would make things more interesting. He pushed the throttle up again, to make himself a hard target to hit. All the guns had to lead his position by several hundred yards for them to have a change at hitting. Most of the shots missed, and he flew back fiercly, destroying some just by passing them with such a vicious air-wake. He had improved astronomically, becoming more machine-like than human. He had spent so much time with Amatu, he felt like a brother to him, not just a MechAnima. [B][I][ Accuracy rating: 99% Efficiency rating: 100%][/I][/B] he read on screen. It seemed as if he had only a bit more training to go before he mastered Amatu. [I][B][ Incoming call. Pick up? ][/B][/I] "Yes." He replied, in his quiet voice. He had spoken less and less over the years. "Hello. Keiji Miyamoto? It's Sora." He furrowed his brow, remembering all the battles the MechAnima pilots had gone through, how much blood he had spilled. He touched his stomach, feeling the rough scar from the Cylarge doctor remaining. He remained silent on the phone. "Keiji? You there? It's Sora!" She insistently said through the line. He moved to hang up the phone. He had no wish to continue his fight. [I][B][ So why do you keep training all the time? For the fun of it? ][/B][/I] He lightened his facial expression upon hearing Amatu's kind, true words. He put the phone back up to his ear to hear Sora keep shouting "Hello?" "Hello, Sora. Are we called to fight again?" "Not really... a tournament for the MechAnima fighters." "I'll be there soon." He hung up the phone again, and began a new segment of his training. He finally finished with it, and redirected new coordinates to Amatu's NAV Computer. He would arrive at the destination on only an hour.

Are you sure the image isn't downsized or anything? I can see the image fine. If you hover the mouse over the image long enough, a little box should pop up or something, and then you can click it to make it look bigger. Personally, I think the font is readable, but it is definetly something I'll consider.

OOC: I'm going to have more people come into the dining hall. I suppose some will be NPCs. And Asher can make 'the sign' any signal... Rion will catch on. (read my post to see what I mean) And yeah, I added in some action. yay! IC: "Such horrid manners from a King. I've never seen something like this before." Rion said to himself. His knight on his right side nodded in agreement, and kept walking behind him. "His majesty requests that you go to the dining hall." A butler said to him. It looked like he came out of nowhere, but Rion followed. He was eventually led into a grand hall, adorned with rich metals and cloth. He took a seat at the large table where his name was. The piece of paper said "Rion Marquise." "You may leave me now." He said quietly to his two knights. It meant that they were to stand outside the hall at the door at-arms. They were a body guarding force of sorts, but they knew Rion could take several skilled men at once in combat. He sat in his seat, alone in the vast hall, and his thoughts turned back to the revolution. His right hand man and partner in rebellion, Asher, had not talked to him for a while. Was he alright? When would the plan be put into action. Of course, the signal would be given... but the last time they talked, the rebellion was only in the planning stages. Would it pull through? But he was roused from his thoughts when other guests began to arrive. A fully-armored knight, as well as other nobles and their wives. The women taking a seat glanced at him, and blushed. When their husband asked what the problem was, Rion looked back at his dinner plate, hoping they wouldn't tell. The knight sat across from him, and Rion was intrigued. "If I may ask, how long have you been training to become a knight?" "Several years. And my name is Sir Joel. What is yours?" "I am Rion Marquise, son of James Marquise. Glad to have met you." "Same to you, sir. It looks like you've stirred up trouble already... a dashing young man as yourself." Joel let out a slight snicker, and Rion couldn't help but laught at the joke. But the funniest thing was, the joke was a warning for Rion. "Excuse me, sir, I would ask you not to look at my wife again." A noble with several badges on his vest spat at him. Rion knew better than to defend himself. "I'm quite sorry sir. I did not know it would cause trouble. My sincerest apologies." He stood up from his chair, and bowed. "I desire no apology! I challenge you to a duel!" The man was obviously looking for a fight. Rion would gladly rise to the challenge. "I accept your challenge, sir." He said, and they both bowed to each other. Then, drawing their rapiers, they took up their sides, and started the fight. The nobleman tapped Rion's sword, and thus began the combat. The man thrusted his rapier at Rion's abdomen, which he quickly parried away. He returned an attack, but it was pushed away just as easily. They exchanged several blows in such a fashion, before Rion broket he trend. He twirled his rapier in a small circle, jolted his rapier forward towards the man's left leg, but pulled it back before impact. The man had already moved to parry the faked attack, when Rion stabbed him through the heart. He quickly withdrew his rapier from the man's body, and pulled a white cloth from his pocket. Several people gasped at the death blow, as the nobleman fell down to the ground, with his blood pooling around him. Rion used the cloth to clean the blade of his rapier. "My sincerest apologies, madame." He said to the man's wife, who was weeping uncontrollably. "Now knights, clean this up, and take this man away. I do not wish his majesty to see such a sight at his own banquet." His knights came in from the other room, and mopped up the blood on the ground so that it looked like it had never been bled-upon before. They they hoisted his body into one of their arms, and carried him away. Rion sheathed his sword, and sat back down in his seat, looking at Joel. "I'm sorry about that. Do you think that I will be punished?" he asked the knight with slight worry in his voice. It [i]had[/i] been a just cause. "I'm sure his majesty will forgive you. In any event, here he comes now." Rion looked up, and saw the the hall had been filled, with people in nearly every seat. Daimon was entering the room in his royal procession. The entire hall stood up immediately, waiting for him to speak and sit down.

Yeap, no hard feelings. I knew that Ozy's was better anyway. Good banner, either way. :)

Bwhaha. I like Ozy's banner. Here's mine, just for kicks. [b]Banner[/b] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/ff7.jpg[/IMG] [b]Avatar[/b] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/mechinfinity/cloud.jpg[/IMG]