Blayze

[size=1]Yes, I am in a band. We play...I guess you could call it Alternative Rock, but it really encompasses a massive variety of different genres. Rock, Blues, Ska, Reggae, Funk, Progressive, and a lot of other genres you can think of. We are called [b]The Krush[/b], and we have a site on Myspace if you really want to take a look: it's right [url="http://www.myspace.com/thekrushreading"][b]here[/b][/url] We don't have any songs up yet as we haven't had a chance to record any, but hopefully by the time we are in college (next year) we will be able to bung some tracks up on there. Anyway, we currently have 3 finished songs with about 3 more in the pipeline. The very first song we ever wrote was called [b]With Me[/b], and the lyrics kinda sound like we were all on acid when we wrote them, but we honestly weren't. Then we wrote [b]Last Chance[/b], which is kind of a ballad, with a harmonica in it and everything, and our latest song is called [b]Come To The Fair[/b], and it is very tongue-in-cheek, with lines such as: "Try all the rides, and the big ferris wheel [big ferris wheel]" Anyway, I almost forgot. I play bass and give backing vocals. It's pretty cool. If you look at our Myspace page, I'm the one wearing the hat in all the pictures. [/size]

[size=1] [QUOTE][size=2]Originally posted by [b]Retribution [/b][/size] I was cracking up when I got to the "are missing and presumed dead" part.[/QUOTE]Same here. "Missing and presumed dead" is usually a term reserved for humans, not livestock. Did the police send out a state-wide "cattlehunt" for them? I doubt it somehow. But a Dodge Neon? You'd think if it was a pre-orchestrated crime that the thief would have thought of maybe possibly buying a bigger car before trying to fit seven calves in. Because calves are pretty big, depending on how old they are. But I agree with Corey, I'm feeling that I want to try that sometime, just to see if it is actually possible. [/size]

[size=1]Kaboom. You are now a Phoenix. You suddenly realise that Phoenixes are actually mythical creatures, and you are hunted down by insane zoologists and forced to spend the rest of your (really rather lonely) existence in a special phoenix-proof cage, until you die, and then, are reborn and have to start the whole thing over again. I wish other people found me as funny as I find myself. [/size]

[size=1]There was a story on the news here in Britain a while back, which I found absolutely hilarious. There was a radio DJ, who was interviewing a supermodel, and on air he said "I'd leave my wife for you." Big mistake. His wife heard this and went on eBay, putting his sports car, a Lamborghini Diablo, an incredibly sought-after car, up for sale on eBay at the starting price of just £1. It was gone from his driveway by the time he got home. Just goes to show that there really is no fury like a woman scorned. Or that revenge is a dish best served piping hot. Or something like that. And there was another one about a man who had a squirrel problem in his back garden, so he went out and placed a digestive biscuit on the lawn, attached to a piece of dental floss. He reeled out the dental floss, and held the other end, waiting for a squirrel to bite on it. When an unsuspecting squirrel [i]did [/i]bite down on the biscuit, the man began to reel it back in, slowly but surely dragging the squirrel, which didn't have the sense to [i]let go of the biscuit [/i]towards him. And once the length of floss was short enough, he hauled the rodent into the air and began to spin it above his head, slowly letting more and more of the dental floss out, so the squirrel ended up further and further away from the man. Eventually, after tormenting the poor squirrel for almost twenty minutes, he let go of the floss, and let the squirrel fly right across the garden fence and into the garden two doors down. He was found out and prosecuted for cruelty to animals. I just found that rather amusing. [/size]

[size=1]Wow. I really wasn't expecting to get in on this one, but I guess things happen when you least expect them. OK, firstly, nice idea, James, and secondly, a quick question: will the cast list remain 26-strong throughout the game, or will certain characters be, shall we say...eliminated from the game? Because an RP with 26 characters, no matter how strong a writer they are, is going to be massive. And I think the idea of having two separate (is everyone else spelling that wrong or is it just me?) threads is a good one. It will save one thread getting too clogged up, and it kind of splits the action a little, meaning that you don't get 26 people all trying to reply to the same thread at once. [/size]

[size=1]Well, I have a lsight dilemma on my hands. Following the successful run of Stranded, my most recent RP, I have been feeling a little on the empty side on the OB. So I have created two new RPs, but I cannot decide which one to post first. So I have decided to turn to you, the people of the Arena, to help me decide. [u][b]First Idea [/b][/u]An RP named TORCHWOOD. Now, if any of you OBers in Britain have been watching Doctor Who, you may also know that there is a spin-off series coming in the near future, named TORCHWOOD, based around an agency for the investigation and combat of extra-terrestrial threats. This is esentially what the RP would be about, with many different levels to the agency, from field agents to computer researchers. There would be missions set out, but there would be an ongoing plot, which I think is rather interesting. [u][b]Second Idea [/b][/u]This one is a little more conventional, and actually a little bit similar to the other. It is essentially about a group of paranormal investigators (think Angel Investigations from [i]Angel [/i]crossed with [i]Ghostbusters[/i]), who investigate and combat the paranormal. They are very talented individuals, with a lot of knowledge of black magic and so on. But it would not just be about fighting evil, it would have a lot to do with their personal lives as well, with some humour thrown in there as well. To be honest, it wouldn't be the most serious RP out there, it would be a little tongue-in-cheek. That's about it, although there was a third vague idea along the lines of the movie [i]Shaun of the Dead[/i], a zombie comedy set in Britain, but that one is a little more sketchy. Tell me what you like, and hate, about each idea, maybe I can fiddle around with them a little bit and make it more to your styles. More importantly, however, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me which RP you would most like to play. Thank you in advance, I really appreciate the help and opinions of all you OB RPers out there. [/size]

[size=1]I just witnessed the marvel that is X-Men 3 today (no pun intended). I truly enjoyed this movie, from start to finish. Even though some people (cough*Will*cough) had built it up for me a lot over the past few days, it didn't disappoint. The special effects were spectacular, to say the least, and the characters were decently portrayed, even if Daniel Cudmore (aka Colossus) irritated me with his non-Russianness. The fact that Rogue was removed from the story didn't really annoy me so much. It seemed that she had gotten her moment in the sun in the first movie, and I guess a little in the second as well, so it was time for her to step aside and let some other characters (ie Kitty) get a moment in the limelight. The Pyro-Iceman fight, while a little on the short side, did allow Iceman to get out his [spoiler]ice-armour![/spoiler] I've been waiting for that one through all three movies. Although, with my whinge about the fight being on the short side, I'm not sure they could have fleshed it out much more really. As for Professor X [spoiler]coming back from the dead, I find it hard to believe he won't, after I stayed (much to the annoyance of my friend) to the end of the credits to watch the small scene about Charles transferring his consciousness into the body of a comatose man. Even though Patrick Stewart's voice did sound wrong coming out of someone else's mouth.[/spoiler] [spoiler]And the theories about Magneto's powers returning? Well, there was always going to be some doubt about him ever losing his powers in the first place, wasn't there? I mean, uber-powerful mutant like Magneto losing his powers permanently? That was never gonna happen, not if there's a fourth film on the horizon.[/spoiler] [/size][color=teal][size=1][color=#000000][/color][/size][/color] [QUOTE]Originally posted by [b]Jokopoko[/b][color=teal][size=1][color=#000000] [spoiler]Well think about this: Those cure darts all had metal tips right, now who's to say that Magneto didn't stop them seconds before the entered him so they just got stuck in the fabric of his uniform but of course he had to keep up the pretence of being "cured" so he has to lie low for a little bit and was just moving the chess piece as some excersise, heh.[/spoiler][/color] [/size][/color][/QUOTE] [size=1]Wrong.[spoiler]The darts didn't have metal tips. The soldiers were ordered specifically not to have any metal of any sort on them, and I would assume that meant the darts were entirely made of a non-metal substance. Also, if the darts were metal-tipped why didn't Magneto stop them when there was a mahoosive barrage of them coming from that multi-dart sprayer thing that fired out of the rocket launchers? He had to put up a shield made of two pieces of the Golden Gate Bridge instead.[/spoiler] But I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade. I just loved the film, and maybe I'm over-analysing it too much. Or maybe I just want to prove Will wrong ;) But however you look at it, we will always have a great X-Film on the DVD rack in future now. [/size]

[b][size=1][/size][/b][size=1][b]"Come on, boy, you can do better than this!" [/b]shouted Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto, as he put 18-year-old John Allerdyce through his paces. The location for his Brotherhood of Mutants initiation test was an abandoned steel mill in the Monongehela Valley near Pittsburgh. There was an awful lot of heavy machinery in here, and that made John ever so slightly nervous. Especially considering his opponent in this one-on-one spar that Magneto had set up as his training. [b]"You ain't never gonna escape me, boy!" [/b]shouted his opponent, a rather overly large figure, [b]"I'm Fred J. Dukes, and no-one escapes The Blob!" "You can talk the talk, Dukes," [/b]replied John, somewhat sarcastically, flicking his Zippo lighter open and sparking a flame up, [b]"But can you walk the walk? I mean, can you even walk with all that weight? I doubt I could walk if I was that fat!" "Enough talk, child!" [/b]boomed Magneto, [b]"Complete your training! All you have to do is rip off and destroy the three targets placed on Mr Dukes' body and your training is complete!" "Sounds easy enough," [/b]whispered John, smoothing his dark locks of hair from his forehead and unzipping his black leather jacket slightly, [b]"In theory..." [/b]He leapt towards The Blob, running his hand through the flame of his lighter, setting the appendage alight. As he ran, he dropped to the floor, sliding between The Blob's legs and emerging the other side, where one of the targets was placed. He merely placed his hand on the target and it caught light, burning away to ash extremely quickly. [b]"That's somewhere I never wanna go again," [/b]said John with a shiver, referring to the space between Fred Duke's legs. He turned just as The Blob did, and fell victim to a powerful uppercut by Dukes, sending him flying into the air and slamming into a piece of pretty heavy machinery. [b]"You Australians think you're so damn fine," [/b]growled The Blob, towering over John, and grabbing the piece of machinery he had just slammed into, ripping it from the ground, [b]"But you're all just a bunch of pansies!" "Would a pansy be able to do this?" [/b]said John, setting both hands alight and punching straight through the second target placed on Dukes' body, before leaping to his feet and moving, swiftly, out of the way of his attack. As Dukes began to lift more pieces of machinery from the ground, John re-ignited both his hands, and let the flame travel up his forearms until his arms were both entirely engulfed, and, as The Blob hurled a second piece of machinery at the young mutant. John conentrated all his effort into this one attack, and blasted every last ounce of pyrokinetic energy from his body, a huge sheet of flame hurtling towards the machinery. As they met, the flame super-heated the metal of the machine, and the force of the thermal energy hurled the massive chunk of metal back at Dukes, who it smashed into. Now, normally a huge piece of metal smashing into his body wouldn't do anything to The Blob, but when it had been super-heated, and had a rolling inferno of flame behind it, it proved a pretty powerful force, knocking the huge mutant to the floor, and burning away the third target at the same time. [b]"Yes! John Allerdyce: one; big fat guy: zero!" [/b]shouted John, throwing his arms into the air, then falling to the floor from the effort. He hadn't used his powers to this level since they had emerged in public almost four years ago. There had been massive press coverage in his hometown of Melbourned, Australia, but in the end it had been covered up as a spontaneous combustion incident, as John disappeared almost immediately afterwards. He had killed twelve people that day, and Magneto had offered him a way to control his powers, as long as he used them for the Master of Magnetism's own cause, not that of Charles Xavier. [b]"Excellent. He is powerful enough to take down The Blob. There are not many of his age who can claim to do the same," [/b]said Magneto, coming down to stand by John's prone form. [b]"Welcome to the Brotherhood of Mutants, Pyro." OOC: [/b]There you go, Will, I changed a few things since we talked earlier, but I think I included everything you asked for. [/size]

[size=1]Beautiful as always, Lady Ozy *bows in the presence of her mightiness* Much appreciated, thank you. [/size]

[size=1]Simple kind of request for you, nothing too fancy, but I would really appreciate it being done by someone all the same. There is a picture attached to this thread which has the image I would like one of you arty peoples to make me an avatar and banner set from. For the avatar, the Doctor's face will do nicely, with that exact background, so no hard graft for you there. For the banner, the silhouette of the werewolf with the words "This is not my world," that are already printed on the image will also do nicely. So there isn't too much text work for you to do on it, and hopefully it should be fairly easy for all you talented types out there. Thank you very much in advance. [/size]

[size=1][b]OOC:[/b] Not at all, Sandy. I was just starting to wrap this up once and for all. You're in for a long post, so buckle up... [b]IC: "Alex?" [/b]whispered Kat as she entered the room, [b]"How did you get here?" [/b]The figure floated until it was upright, facing them. It looked like Alex, but there was something about it that told them it wasn't. Blood dribbled from a small wound just below the hairline, coating the figure's face in blood. [b]You are unwelcome here, [/b]it said in a deep, booming voice that seemed to come from hundreds of places at once, all over the room, [b]You are trespassing. No-one must enter this chamber. "Who are you?" [/b]asked Kat, [b]"Where's Alex?" I do not know of this Alex. I am nothing to you, and yet I am everything. I have been controlling your actions on this island, and yet you should not know me. I am a force of nature, not a person. Truly, I am a God. "There is no God on this island," [/b]said a cold voice from behind the group. They turned around to see Alex, bloodied and bruised, holding a spade with a dubious red stain on the shovel blade, [b]"There is only you, the self-proclaimed Lord of the Island. You sit here and control us, like some sort of puppet master? You're sick. But you are no God. I am going to find out exactly what you are hiding down here, and I am going to find out now!" You are welcome to find out, Alex, [/b]said the Lord of the Island, turning, still floating ethereally, to face Alex, [b]But you must come alone. The others are unnecessary. Only you have a purpose. "Only I have a purpose? I'm sick of taking this kind of crap from you, alright? I'm not taking it any more! These are my friends, and we are going to finish this together! They're coming with me whether you like it or not!" Fine. If that is the way you wish to do this, then so be it. Bring me the injured one, now. [/b]Alex couldn't help but obey. He tried to stop himself, but he seemed to move outside of his own will, walking over to Jane and picking her up from the floor, where blood was still pumping steadily from her leg. He carried her over to the Lord of the Island and set her down gently on the floor in front of him. [b]Excellent. [/b]The Lord of the Island placed his hand gently upon Jane's chest, and suddenly, her back arched up off the floor, and she began to spasm in pain. [b]"No! What are you doing?" [/b]shouted Alex. [b]I am removing her from her pain. She is unnecessary, [/b]said the Lord of the Island calmly, as Jane rose a few inches off the floor, then slammed back down into it, sending a cloud of dust into the air. She stopped moving. Jane was dead. Another casualty... [b]"That's it!" [/b]shouted Alex, grabbing the spade and slamming it into the Lord of the Island's head. The figure fell from the air, slamming into the floor. Alex jumped down and pummeled his body with the spade, raining down blow after blow. [b]"Mike," [/b]he said, out of breath, standing over the Lord's still, prone form, [b]"Hand me that rifle." "Are you going to kill him in cold blood? How does that make you any better than him?" "It's alright, Mike. I've worked it out. I know why we're on this island. Those dreams I was having finally make sense. This is how we get off the island!" [/b]Mike nodded, hearing only what he wanted to hear. They were going to get off the island. Alex took the rifle and aimed it at the Lord's head. He fitted the butt into the crook of his shoulder and rested his finger on the trigger. [b]"We have to be careful. Once I do this, I get the feeling the whole island is going to collapse. We have to be quick, and get further down. Understand? Jane is lost. Leave her body. We need to get out of here!" [/b]He closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger. A deafening gunshot rang out, echoing through the temple, and blood splattered across the floor from the Lord's head. As soon as the Lord of the Island was dead, the whole chamber began to quake. The veined walls began to pulsate a lot quicker than normal, and they seemed to be trying to pump more blood around the chamber. But it was too much. alex could see breaches in the walls that would bring the entire temple down. [b]"Go! Underneath that podium, there should be a trapdoor!" [/b]shouted Alex. Mike and Dash heaved the trapdoor up, and ushered Kat, Avian and Alex down before heading down themselves, and closing the trapdoor behind them. The sounds of the temple collapsing echoed around them. If Alex was right, it wasn't just the temple that was ripping itself apart. It was the entire island. They could be crushed down here if they weren't careful enough. [b]"There!" [/b]shouted Dash, [b]"Right ahead. There's a door or something. That's where we must be headed." "You're right!" [/b]shouted Alex, [b]"We can get through. Then all this will be over!" [/b]He ran down the hall, and threw himself into the door. It flew open, and a bright, golden light flowed out, bathing him in warmth. The others approached him, but as soon as they touched the light, they each cried out in pain. They all dropped to the floor, Kat, Avian, Dash and Mike, and they all began to scream, their flesh burning, smoke rising from them. [b]"No!" [/b]shouted Alex, [b]"What's happening?" This is supposed to happen, Alex. You knew this would happen. Say goodbye to your friends, [/b]said a voice from beyond the door. [b]"I'm so sorry, guys," [/b]said Alex, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes, [b]"I did all this to save you, but...I guess I knew you couldn't be saved after all. I'm so sorry, but...I guess this is goodbye..." "It's ok, Alex," [/b]said Mike, on his knees, smoke curling in wisps from his skin, [b]"It doesn't hurt as much as it looks like. It's been good to know you, man. Good luck." "Thanks for our time together, Alex. It's been...I guess fun isn't the right word, but thanks anyway..." [/b]said Avian with a cough. [b]"Couldn't have done it without you, dude," [/b]said Dash, looking up at Alex with a smile, [b]"It's been a pleasure." "Thank you so much, Alex. You mean so much to me," [/b]said Kat, [b]"And it's always nice to have an other Brit around, in amongst all these Yanks." [/b]Alex laughed, and wiped a tear from his eye. He turned to the door, and took a single step through. It closed behind him, leaving his friends to die, along with the island he had called home for the past month. --- He stepped from the light into an large, white room, with a desk at one end. He blinked in the change of lighting, but he smiled. This was not what he expected to be on the other side of the door. [b]"Ah, Mr Masterton," [/b]said a voice from behind the desk, [b]"Won't you sit down." [/b]He gestured to the chair in front of the desk, opposite himself. Alex did so, shuffling nervously in the seat. [b]"No doubt you'll be wanting to know why you are here, and what has been going on this past month," [/b]Alex nodded, [b]"Well, allow me to enlighten you. I work for, and indeed, head a company called Vitriol. We specialise in using advanced technology to cure various diseases. Now, three months ago today, you came to us with a very specific problem. You had an unusual case, one which we have, in the past, had very little experience dealing with. You were brought to us, with references from your GP, and your psychological counsellor, with all the symptoms of MPD, or Multiple Personality Disorder. Within your mind, there are countless different personalities, all fighting for the dominant position. You were lucky enough to get to us before your condition was too serious, Mr Masterton, and your own personality was still the dominant one. But we struck a problem early on. We did not have equipment to deal with such psychological cases as yourself. So we had to custom-build our own, a very special piece of machinery which would allow us to eliminate your extra personalities. It did this by secreting chemicals into your brain to effectively leave you brain-dead, but in this case you wouldn't actually be dead, merely in a severe comatose state. Whilst you were in this comatose state, the chemicals secreted into your brain forced your subconscious to force you into a situation where you could eliminate your multiple personalities. This was very interesting to observe, as we saw each of your many different personalities use their own strengths and weaknesses to try to become the dominant personality. Soon enough, we found it easier to eliminate these personalities. When "Jane" was at the waterfall, and all those other survivors were ripped apart by a monster, that was us. We had managed to perfect the art of eliminationg personalities. So we wiped out most of them in one go. The ones that were left were the dominant personalities. So we had to refine the method in order to wipe them out as well. It began well, but we ran into some difficulties, namely the man who called himself "Sharpe." Sharpe was not one of your own personalities, not a rogue mindset that was attempting to wipe you out. He was a representation of your own body trying to resist the treatment. But we managed to get past that and wipe out a couple more personalities, as well as when you shot him. That was some fine work, and I congratulate you on that. Resisting your body's own response to the threat? Commendable, even if you were in a coma. So, things pretty much went back to normal, until it turned out that we hadn't managed to destroy Sharpe entirely. Your body was stronger and more resistant than we ever imagined, and he assaulted you on a number of other occasions. So, in order to get rid of Sharpe, we lured you into that Temple. The Temple represented the core of your mind. It was a little dangerous tempting you in to destroy it, but it was the only way we could be certain. Unfortunately, you happened to stumble across your own memory, the room with all the corpses. This threatened to break you out of your coma prematurely, so we forced a chemical agent into your bloodstream to speed up the body's resistance, bringing Sharpe back to life. He tried to stop you, and managed to delay your re-emergence from your vegetative state, but we knew it couldn't last long. We needed a way to eliminate all the remaining personalities, and you led us right into it. The Lord of the Island. He was not a God, you were right. He was the personification of the core of your mind, more powerful than all the personalities put together. We figured he would wipe out the rest of them for us, without us having to bother. But you were even more resistant than we thought. You tried to stop the resistance from within your own mind, just to try and save your other personalities. But, of course, it could never work out, and we had to destroy the personalities any way we could. So we began the destruction of the simulation, drawing you back into the real world, a little prematurely, but the risk was worthwhile. We wiped out every last one of your personalities in one final move, although "Mike" was the hardest to wipe out. He had a strong grip on your mind. A few more days and he would have become the dominant personality, Mr Masterton. You're lucky we got there in time. So, finally, Mr Masterton, it is time for you to wake up. You can go home to your wife and children now. You are cured." [/b]This strange man snapped his fingers, and Alex shut his eyes, then opened them again. He was lying, face-up, in a hospital bed, looking directly at the ceiling. There was a large amount of high-tech equipment and machinery around his bed, and few doctors. There was one doctor who stood next to him, checking his vital signs. He was a young guy, sandy-haired, with a tan. He looked down at Alex and smiled, showing bright white teeth. [b]"Good morning, Mr Masterton," [/b]he said, [b]"You've been asleep for a long time. I've been looking after you the whole while. My name is Doctor Daniel Ashgrove." [/b]He looked around for senior staff... [b]"But most people call me Dash." [/b]--- There you have it. STRANDED is over, and didn't I tell you there was a big twist at the end? I hope you have all enjoyed this long hard slog through the worlds of RP-dom, I know I have. Thank you to all of you for sticking with it so long, some more so than others, and thank you especially to all those people I killed off throughout the story. It was your good-natured response to this that really made this for me. So, thank you, Sandy, Frankie, Starwind, KKC, The Boss, madnessofthecat, vicky and Astdis. I hope to see you all across the Arena very soon. You can post all your thoughts and comments here, or, if the mods aren't smiling on me, then PM them to me. Thank you all once again. Don't become STRANDED too soon... [/size]

[size=1]Dash led the way into the temple, his flaming torch swung out in front of him, almost as if it were a weapon. The flickering, moving flame cast eery shadows on the hieroglyph-covered walls. Monsters and demons covered the stone walls on either side of the passage, and the sight of them made Alex feel very uneasy. [b]"I don't know if we should be going down here, guys," [/b]he said nervously, stopping in the middle of the dark corridor, [b]"It looks kinda creepy to me." "You were the one who suggested it," [/b]said Dash, [b]"And since when have you been bothered by "creepy"?" "Since Sharpe told me some stuff," [/b]replied Alex, [b]"I think I know what's further in, and I don't think I want to see it." "Well, where else are you going to go? We blocked the exit back there, remember? And Sharpe's back there anyway. You don't want to go back to him after you stuck a knife in his eye." "We just can't go down there, not yet at least," [/b]said Alex, backing away, [b]"I have a really bad feeling." [/b]Suddenly, as if to reinforce Alex's words, something burst through the wall to his left, grabbing him. A pair of hands was now protruding from the stone, grabbing at him. He tried to fight them off, but the hands were too strong, and they grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Pulling quickly inwards, the hands pulled Alex through the wall, and into a dark cavity. [b]"Shit!" [/b]exclaimed Mike, rushing to the wall, but, in all the confusion, somehow the wall had reassembled itself, now in one piece rather than many, [b]"They got Alex! What are we going to do?" "I don't know, but I don't want to stay in this corridor any longer than I have to," [/b]said Kat, pushing the group on to run down the corridor. They ran, as something dark followed them, a great dark cloud of smoke following them as if it had a mind of its own... --- Alex snapped back to consciousness, and felt something warm, wet and sticky running down his face. He strained to look at his cheek and saw that it was blood. He shook his head to try and right himself, and discovered that his shoulders were straining. He looked up. His hands were tied together, and the rope, or cord, was hooked over a pipe, maybe a gas or water pipe, suspending him about two inches off the ground. [i]Wait a minute...[/i] he thought, [i]A water pipe in a temple? That can't be right. Something's going on here... [/i][b]"Nice to see you're back in the land o' the livin', Alex," [/b]said a familiar voice. Sharpe looked up at Alex, his eye now a bloody mess, but it didn't seem to bother him, [b]"'Coz now you're back with us, I can start messin' you up again." [/b]Sharpe picked up a shovel that was leaning against the wall next to him, and smacked the blade of the tool into Alex's stomach, the flat of the blade making excruciating contact. Alex screamed, not being used to physical torture. [b]"That's righ', li'l boy, scream all you like. None o' your friends are even alive to come rescue you." "You're lying," [/b]spluttered Alex, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor, [b]"They're still alive, and they're coming to find me and kick your ass. You're gonna bleed before they're through with you." "Oh, spare me, please. I've heard this a thousand times before, from all you little survivors, pretending you're bigger, stronger and tougher than me, but let's face facts, boy. You're not. I'm stronger, faster and more powerful than you and your little friends combined." "You might be those things," [/b]whispered Alex, forcing Sharpe to come closer to hear what he was saying, [b]"But there's no way in hell you're smarter!" [/b]Alex swung back and landed a kick directly into Sharpe's chest, knocking him back across the room. Alex, with agility he didn't know he had, flipped himself upside down and unhooked the cord from the pipe, and dropped to the floor. Sharpe was still staggering from the blow to the chest, and Alex ducked under one of his blows and grabbed the spade from the floor, slamming the flat of it into Sharpe's head, throwing him to the floor. [b]"This is for all those people you killed," [/b]snarled Alex, rage taking over from rational thought, and he slammed the blade, sharp side down, directly into Sharpe's neck, removing the head from the body, sending the decapitated head rolling across the floor. Alex slumped, exhausted. There was no way Sharpe was going to trouble them any more... [/size]

[center][b][size=1][u]Name:[/u] [/size][/b][size=1]Legato Balokk[/size] [size=1][u][b]Age: [/b][/u] 28[/size] [size=1][b][u]Gender:[/u] [/b]Male[/size] [size=1][b][u]Appearance:[/u] [url="http://hyung-taekim.org/displayimage.php?album=18&pos=12"]Here[/url][/b] just lose the hat. The marks on his hands are his glyphs, and he seldom wears more than he does in the picture.[/size] [size=1][u][b]Weapon Of Choice: [/b][/u]The crossbow pictured is one of his main weapons, but he also carries a pair of long knives at his belt for close-quarters fighting.[/size] [size=1][b][u]Magic:[/u] [/b] Blue Magic - Being a compassionate sort, not one to kill without good reason, Legato has taken on board a knowledge of Blue Magic, allowing him to control water to a certain extent. He usually uses this for defensive means, such as one ability he has, which is to create a powerful sphere of water around himself and others, which can ward off most physical attacks and the occasional weak magical attack. He can also use the wind to breathe life back into people who have suffered from cardiac arrest, however this only works for about five minutes after the death.[/size] [size=1][b][u]Personality:[/u] [/b] will edit[/size] [size=1][b][u]Character Snippet:[/u] [/b]will edit[/size] [size=1][I'll fill in the blanks as soon as I can][/size] [/center]

[size=1]Anything by The Who, as Ozy and Cygnus have said, especially, in my opinion, 5:15 Live from the Quadrophenia tour is incredible, and includes a storming bass solo from John Entwistle. Other than that, there is Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as On Mercury, Around the World and Higher Ground. However, in my opinion, one of the most memorable basslines is that of Money by Pink Floyd. It's one of those songs that, if you start humming it, you will get at least one person in the room to hum it as well. [/size]

[size=1]Bassists are, in my opinion, a much over-looked quantity in music. They are often forgotten, but are always there, providing a thumping rhythm line in combination with the drummer. Overlooked for merely having four strings instead of six is unfortunate, and I am here to put right this degredation. Being a bassist myself, I understand how frustrating it is for a key member of the band to be overlooked and forgotten, so this thread is for bassists everywhere. Some of the greatest musicians of all time have, in my opinion, been bassists. From Jack Bruce of [i]Cream, [/i]the lead singer and master blues bassist, to the greatest bass player of all time, Jaco Pastorius of [i]Weather Report, [/i]there have been countless great bassists. However, there are some who are well-known to all, and for these few I am grateful. Flea of the [i]Red Hot Chili Peppers, [/i]John Entwistle of [i]The Who.[/i] These two are among the lucky few who stand out as well as their respective guitarists. Then there are those solo bassists, of whom many people think they are pretentious, arrogant musicians, but it is my belief that anyone should be allowed to solo, whether it is the singer, guitarist, drummer or, in fact, the bassist. Billy Sheehan, Stu Hamm and John Paul Jones, we salute you. So remember, next time you are listening, or watching a band, do not forget the bassist in a haze of guitar-loving passion. Think of these misunderstood musicians who have put their lives into their work, only to be lost in the sands of time... --- Now it is your turn. I have pleaded my case for bassists to be brought further into the limelight, now you plead your case. Whether you play guitar, drums, trumpet, saxophone, mandolin, banjo, french horn or keyboard, I want you to tell us why your people should be remembered. And it doesn't even have to be about a single instrument. You could be pleading your case for why more people should listen to country and western, jazz, folk or funk. I just want to hear the voice of the people. Also, you can reply to this thread simply to give your thoughts on someone else's plea. You can agree, disagree, or simply argue a point. This thread is to hear the voice of musicians. Enjoy. [/size]

[b][size=1]"We should really get moving," [/size][/b][size=1]said Alex, [b]"We have a lot of temple to cover, and, to be honest, I don't want to have to spend any more time in here than is absolutely necessary." "Agreed," [/b]said Mike, who had appeared to completely forget the...unpleasantness of earlier, and now seemed content to side with Alex on his major decisions. Alex stood up and brushed himself down, and then the others moved closer to him. They felt the need to stay close to Alex, as he was the only one with a complete memory. Perhaps they felt it was more likely that they would recover their own memories if they stayed close to him. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, a bullet hammering into Jane's leg. She screamed, and dropped to the floor, her leg giving way from under her. Blood spouted out, and Kat dropped to her knees beside Jane, pulling one of her sleeves off to wrap around the wound. [b]"I've got to stop the bleeding!" [/b]she shouted, [b]"You need to stop whoever it is shooting at us for a minute! Buy us some time!" "Who is this?!" [/b]shouted Alex, stepping between two rows of hanging corpses, [b]"Why do you want us?!" "Oh, I don't want all o' you," [/b]came a voice in reply, one that seemed too big to be coming from one person, [b]"Jus' the one." "Which one do you want?" "I want you, Alexander Masterton," [/b]said the voice again, deep and booming, while at the same time slimy and creepy. [b]"Where are you? You can take me, but leave the others alone. Jane didn't do anything, and you shot her! You've got to leave them alone and take me instead!" [/b]Tears began to well up in the sides of Alex's eyes, but not tears of sorrow, tears of pain and rage. These people who had become his whole world in the past few weeks were being picked off, one by one. He couldn't take it any more. Now he had a chance to confront the man who was killing them all, and he wasn't going to pass it up. [b]"Step forward," [/b]said the voice. Alex took five steps forward, and stopped. He could vaguely see his enemy through the swinging corpses, occasionally managing to catch a glimpse of the man as the bodies swung backwards. [b]"Good boy," [/b]said the man, [b]"Now, finally, you get to see your enemy..." [/b]He stepped through the rows of bodies, and revealed himself to Alex. [b]"Sharpe," [/b]said Alex coldly, realising something he had suspected for a while now. Sharpe wasn't dead. In fact, Alex wasn't even sure if he had ever been alive. Enough strange things were happening on this island, an undead man wouldn't be too much different. [b]"That's right, Alex," [/b]said Sharpe, [b]"I look a little bit different now, don't I?" [/b]He wasn't wrong. The man Alex had once known as Sharpe was almost completely gone. He now had a series of bullet-wounds in his chest, ones that seemed permanent, never allowed to close up. His eyes were filled with dark, ebony blood that was leaking, pouring down his cheeks in thick rivulets. The same thick, dark substance was also pouring from his mouth, but this time it was dried hard, staining his chin. He seemed to be walking with a limp, as well, almost as if one or both of his legs were broken. Blood, both dried and wet, had soaked his body, drenching his clothes, which were ripped and shredded until there was barely anything left. [b]"What do you want from me, Sharpe?" [/b]asked Alex calmly, wiping the tears from his eyes. [b]"You have the one thing I can't stand to see," [/b]Sharpe hissed, [b]"You have your memory. I have been on this island for months, and I haven't regained my memory. You are here for a few weeks and you get yours back? How is that fair?" "That's a lie and you know it, Sharpe. You were never stranded here like us. You've always been on this island, for whatever reason. You don't truly have a memory." "You saw right through me, boy," [/b]snarled Sharpe, [b]"I am the Protector of this island. I was placed here by the Lord himself. I have been on this island for centuries, guarding it against intruders. And no-one has ever gotten this far into the temple, let alone six people at once. You even managed to kill me once. But the Lord smiles upon His servants. He gave me life eternal. I can never die!" "No-one is immortal, Sharpe. You may think God smiles on you now, but if I learnt one thing from Sunday school, it was that justice always comes to those who do wrong." "God? I wasn't talking about God! God is a worthless concept that I rejected many years ago. The Lord that I speak of is the Lord of the Island. Everything that has happened to you on this island in the past few weeks has been because of Him. You've been manipulated, Alex. The Lord always has his way." "The Lord of the Island? Where is this Lord?" "He resides deep within the Temple. At the very centre of this Temple is the Lord, and no-one shall pass into his chamber. That is my job. That's why I drew you away from the Temple to my camp. You were getting close. That's why Clark died. I shot him right in the head, because he felt that there was something in the Temple that needed to be put right. The other people here, they tried to become one with the Temple, they became Wild Men, but they were too naive to truly respect the Lord. I ripped them apart, like I did to everyone at that waterfall. You can't take risks, you know. And the latest casualty. Luther, wasn't it? He wanted to go further into the Temple than you could ever imagine. I couldn't allow that." "And those monsters we saw. The one at the waterfall when we first got here. The ones swarming the Temple when we first visited. The one inside your camp. All those winged monsters that attacked me and Mike. You were controlling them all, weren't you?" "Oh, I wasn't just controlling them. I [i]was [/i]them. I have the essence of a monster deep within me. I was the one who tore everyone on this island apart. I was the leader of the winged creatures that broke up your little knife-fight. I am the beast on this island." "I knew you couldn't be human," [/b]snarled Alex, his grip tightening on the hunting knife in tucked into his belt. He yanked it out and rammed the blade into Sharpe's eye. He screamed and dropped to the floor, and Alex ran as fast as he could, back towards the others. [b]"Run! Sharpe's still alive! We've gotta get further into the Temple!" [/b]shouted Alex as he ran. The others jumped to their feet, Kat picking Jane up and handing her to Mike, who slung her onto his back and ran. The six of them ran as Sharpe followed them, the knife still lodged in his head, more blood pouring from his face, joining the rest of it that stained his clothes. The six survivors dived in through a door, and Mike and Alex pushed a large rock in front of the door, blocking it off from Sharpe. [b]"I guess we gotta go further in, then," [/b]said Dash, taking the torch from Avian. [/size]

[size=1]To coin a phrase: Interesting, most interesting... Sorry, I've just always wanted to say that. Anyway, it just about sums up this little tale so far. However, my only tiny little niggle is whether or not Red Templar is going to be this cold-hearted killer all the way through, because characters like that kind of annoy me. I like to be able to relate to the central character, and for them to have some basic human flaws and the like. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the brief backstory of the plot. It really seems like the OB is in trouble in your universe. I am eagerly awaiting the next part of this story. (Also, was it intentional that "The Firestorm Directive" was supposed to sound a little like the title of a Robert Ludlum book?) [/size]

[center][b][size=1][u]Name:[/u] [/size][/b][size=1]Malcolm "Mal" Greyson[/size] [size=1][b][u]Age:[/u] [/b]32[/size] [size=1][b][u]Gender:[/u] [/b] Male [/size] [size=1][b][u]Place of Origin: [/u] [/b]Dublin, Republic Of Ireland [/size] [size=1][b][u]Known History:[/u] [/b]Born into an upper-middle class family, Malcolm had the potential to become a spoilt brat. He had it all: all the possessions, friends and money he could ever need in life, but instead of embracing it and forcing his parents to give him more, he wanted to get out of that dip. He wanted to experience the real world, not to be coddled into obscurity by his mother. He wanted to make it on his own, not to piggy-back on his parents' successes.[/size] [size=1]As soon as he was legally able, Malcolm left home and entered university, taking a course in the Media at Cardiff University in Wales. Following his course, he used his parents' connections for the first and only time in his life, to get a career as a reporter for a mainstream Irish newspaper. He enjoyed his time here, but a botched attempt at a cover-up destroyed his career in the media at age 29.[/size] [size=1]The next three years of his life had become a blur, including heavy drinking and ingestion of copious amounts of other substances.[/size] [size=1]Finally, Mal awoke in Paris 2, unaware of how he arrived there... [/size] [size=1][b][u]Personality:[/u] [/b]Once, back in university, one of Malcolm's lecturers described him as "so laid back he is almost horizontal." This just about sums Mal up in one sentence. He is laid back almost to the point of being lazy sometimes, but he is also effortlessly cool and calm. He has almost never been seen to get into a bad temper, but the times he has been seen, it wasn't pretty. He is easy to get on with, but is sometimes arrogant, on the verge of being annoying, due to his laid-back outlook on life. [/size] [size=1][b][u]Appearance:[/u] [url="http://www.canmag.com/images/front/movies20052/nightwatch2.jpg"]Malcolm[/url][/b][/size] [size=1]Not the most attractive or physically alluring man alive, Mal has had his fair share of criticisms about the way he looks. But he doesn't care too much for physical appearances anyway. He wears what he is comfortable in, usually the clothes seen in the picture, but occasionally you will see him wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes a suit. His clothing very much depends on his mood. He rarely takes his dark glasses off, though, for reasons apparent only to him. [/size] [size=1][b][u]Animal Genes: [/u] [/b][i]Atrax robustus, [/i]the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider [/size][size=1][b][u]Hybrid Abilities: [/u] [/b][u]Silk Production:[/u] Malcolm has a number of glands on his body, mainly located on his hands and feet, which can produce a special kind of silk which is, proportionately, as strong as steel. However, he can only produce a limited amount of this silk at any one time, limiting the kind of structures he can create with it. He can create web-lines, small-scale orb webs and occasionally a ball of silk tough enough to break through glass, but this very much depends on how hard he concentrates on creating it. [u]Venom:[/u] Mal can spit the same kind of venom that the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider can produce, which is one of the most deadly venoms that exists on this planet. He produces it in two small glands at the back of his throat, and he can spit this venom short distances from his mouth. This ability also gives him immunity to most kinds of spider venom. [u]Proportional Strength and Speed:[/u] Spiders are one of the world's fastest and strongest animals of their size, and this has been transferred to Mal through his spider genes. He is a lot faster than the average human, and he can lift almost twice as much. This also gives him increased muscle tension in his legs, meaning he can jump a lot further than most humans, often a fair distance up the side of a building. [/size][/center]

[size=1]Alex peered down the hallway, the overwhelming stench of old blood filling his nostrils, assaulting his senses. He took a deep breath and plunged into the gloom, lifting his shirt up over his nose and mouth to filter out some of the air. He moved down, waving the torch in front of him to light the way. The flickering light cast eery shadows across the walls, illuminating the bizarre hieroglyphics that had been carved on the walls. Mike followed close behind him, a rifle aimed in front of Alex. [b]"Hand me a gun," [/b]whispered Alex, feeling the need for some kind of protection. Mike handed over a small but powerful handgun, a revolver of some kind, Alex didn't really know guns. He flicked the safety off and aimed it ahead of him. At the end of the hallway there was a small opening, a miniature door of some kind. Alex ducked to have a look inside. He waved the torch around, trying to find anything that distinguished the new chamber. [b]"Oh dear God," [/b]he gasped, not truly believing what he had seen in that darkened chamber. He stumbled out of the room, and Mike asked: [b]"What? What was in there?" "You really don't want to know," [/b]replied Alex, passing Mike the torch. He ducked inside the room, and saw exactly what Alex had seen. The room was massive, a vast, cavernous room, easily as big as any office block in America, like a skyscraper, definitely too huge to fit inside the temple. And across the entire room, every wall and the ceiling, there were human bodies strung up, dried blood staining the floor. There were literally thousands of them. And the worst part for Alex wasn't that. The worst part was much worse than anything Mike could have imagined... He recognised every single one of the people strung up, dead. They were all people he had met, interacted with and talked to in his life. The memories suddenly came rushing back to him. Every conversations he had had with every one of these people, everything. He knew his name, his age, what he used to do, the fact that he was married. He collapsed to the floor, clutching his head. [b]"Are you alright, Alex?" [/b]asked Kat, crouching down next to him. [b]"I'm...I'm fine...I remember everything...my name is Alex Masterton...I'm 27 years old...from London, England. I have a wife named Eleanor...and two kids named Zack and Isobel. We call Isobel Izzy. She hates her real name. We live in a semi-detatched house just outside London. I've been married for six years. Izzy is four and Zack is only six months. Eleanor and I both wanted kids as soon as we got married. We are in love, and we have been since we first met...It's all come back, Kat. I know who I am!" [/b]he shouted triumphantly, leaping into the air, [b]"I know who I am!" "If you've got your memory back...why haven't we yet?" [/b]asked Avian nervously, from the rear of the group. The rest of them turned to her. [b]"Good question," [/b]said Dash, [b]"How did this happen?" "The room...I know everyone in there...they were all a part of my life," [/b]said Alex. [b]"This is getting weirder by the minute..." [/b]said Mike... --- [i]A dark figure watched them from the darkness of the temple...[/i] [i]You all think you're so damn smart, don't'cha? Bunch o' kids, takin'me out on my island? Well, there's gonna be hell ta pay...and I mean that literally... [/i] [b]OOC: [/b]You can have whatever you like happen in your next posts, the weirder the better, but one very important thing...you do not get your memories back, or not yet at least... [/size]

[size=1]One of the things swooped, claws outstretched, at Mike's exposed back. Alex leapt into action, leapfrogging over Mike and plunging his blade into the beast's head. Hot, thick blood spurted out, all over Alex's hands, and he fell to the floor, the beast's leathery body following. [b]"You saved me," [/b]said Mike. [b]"No time for that now," [/b]said Alex, [b]"Keep running!" [/b]The three of them ran, branches and creepers whipping against any area of bare skin that was available to them. Kat continued to whirl around and blast one of the creatures out of the sky every time they got too close, but there were hundreds more of them plaguing the skies, two replacing every dead one. [b]"We need to get to the temple!" [/b]shouted Alex, his hair plastered to his body from the rain that was now bucketing down, [b]"It's the only safe place we have!" "How do you know these things won't follow us in there?!" [/b]shouted Mike over the thunder. [b]"I don't. I just have a feeling!" "I think you're right, Alex," [/b]said Kat, [b]"Let's get to the temple! Maybe there will be some others there!" [/b]They turned, quickly running in what they thought was the general direction of the valley, and soon enough they were sliding down the mud-slicked walls of the valley down towards the temple. [b]"Quick! Get in!" [/b]shouted Alex, hurrying people inside the temple, and following them, jumping down from the wrecked portion of the plane into the darkened temple. [b]"Hello?" [/b]said a voice. Alex pulled out his Zippo, and sparked it. Surprisingly, it still worked after all this time. He looked around, using the measly spot of light the lighter offered to look deep into the darkness. A face met his gaze, and he jumped. But it was Dash. [b]"Alex," [/b]he said calmly and coldly, [b]"I wasn't expecting to see you here after what you did." "Dash!" [/b]shouted Kat, [b]"He didn't kill Clark! It was Sharpe. I saw everything properly! You have to believe me." "I'm struggling. He was the only one with a gun, and would an innocent man run?" "He would if there was someone pointing a gun at him," [/b]said Mike, [b]"I guess I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion. I mean, he did save my life back there in the jungle." "I don't care what you all think of me!" [/b]shouted Alex, [b]"I didn't kill Clark, and yes, I killed Sharpe, but that was in self-defence. I didn't exactly come out of it too great myself, I mean, he shot me in the back." "How come you don't seem to be having any trouble now?" [/b]asked Kat. Alex stopped. He didn't really know what to say. Since Sharpe had shot him, he had passed out, but when he woke up, it didn't seem to hurt at all. He turned his head as far as he could, and looked at his back. There was blood on his shirt, sure, but there was no bullet-wound underneath it. It had completely healed, in the matter of about an hour. [b]"How the hell did that happen?" [/b]he asked no-one in particular. He sat down, and held his head in his hands. [b]"There's something very strange about this island," [/b]said Alex, [b]"It's not just a normal island. And I plan to find out what the hell is going on." "I'm with you. We need to find out what this island really is," [/b]said Kat, [b]"And I think we need to stick together to find that out. We need to forget anything we might think about each other, and start afresh. What does everybody say?" [/b]The rest nodded, even Jane and Avian, the quiet ones in the group. [b]"I don't think you're right," [/b]said one voice, and Luther emerged into the small pool of light, [b]"I think that this is all some kind of bizarre trick, some group hallucination or something. I'm not sticking with everyone else. You think you're right about everything, but what if you're not? What if this is something completely different? I plan to find that out without you narrow-minded idiots holding me back!" [/b]He stormed off in a rage, disappearing into the darkness. Alex sighed. [b]"We have everyone but one of us now. And there's gonna be no more splitting into groups. We stay as one from now on. We are all going to get some sleep, and in the morning, we are going to find out what the hell is going on on this island," [/b]he said, [b]"Which means going deeper into the temple than we have before. I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe this temple is the key. It is the centre of this island, and we need to find out what is going on deep inside it. Is everyone with me?" [/b]Assorted agreements came, and the group headed to their various locations to try and get some sleep. --- [b][i]"We almost have another erased. That doesn't leave too many," [/i][/b][i]said a cold voice, [b]"We have five left. Well, six, but it will be five very soon." "So how far off is he to total recovery?" "Your husband will hopefully be back with us within the month. But these later stages are the hardest we will encounter. The survivors left are now the most dominant, the most powerful, that's why they weren't wiped out when the others were. But, targeting them one by one will allow us to dispatch them a lot easier. We will now being the process of termination..." [/b][/i]--- Alex woke up, leaping to his feet. [b]"Everybody wake up!" [/b]he shouted, [b]"Is everyone ok?" "We're fine, Alex," [/b]groaned Mike, rolling over, [b]"What is it?" "Someone else is going to die. I know it. We have to find Luther!" [/b]He ran into the darkness, and was confronted with a cold, solid object in his way. He touched it, and, although it was solid, it was also soft to the touch. He dragged it into the small pool of moonlight that was allowed in by the gash in the top of the temple. It was Luther. He was dead. [b]"Shit!"[/b] cried Alex, dropping to his knees, [b]"I knew this would happen! Why didn't I talk him out of it?!" "Oh my God!" [/b]screamed Avian, coming into the moonlight, [b]"Luther's dead! He's dead!" [/b]--- [b]OOC: [/b]Apologies, vicky, but you are the second casualty of STRANDED. Reactions to this unfortunate event in your next posts, everyone. [/size]

[size=1]Some of my favourites that I have perhaps mentioned in other threads: [b]Steve Vai [/b]- Fantastic at fingertapping, some mental guitar solos, and overall just plain full of attitude. His band is also pretty amazing, with Billy Sheehan on bass and some others, but that's beside the point. I truly believe that Steve Vai is one of the best guitarists of this century. [b]Joe Satriani - [/b]I have said this before in the [b]Instrumentals [/b]thread, but he is the god of instrumental rock. His sparing use of effects is fantastic, and his soaring guitar lines never fail to bring a smile to my face. Another solo guitarist with an incredible back-up band behind him, including Stu Hamm, in my opinion, one of the best bassists in the world. [b]John Frusciante - Red Hot Chili Peppers - [/b]Puts so much passion and energy into his playing, it is impossible for him to be overlooked in this thread. Some amazingly funky guitar lines combined with fantastic solos make one hell of a guitarist. And I totally agree with Sky Blu and Dooxy about Herman Li and Yngwie Malmsteen. Both incredible guitarists. [/size]

[size=1]I just went out and bought this album today, and I must say...wow! It's incredible the mix they have of mellowed-out songs that are all really quite beautiful, and then you get into that upbeat, tight funk style the Red Hot Chili Peppers are so very famous for. From [b]Snow ((Hey Oh))[/b], with it's mellow rhythms and extremely pretty-sounding intro, to the manic [b]Hump de Bump[/b], or the extremely funky [b]Charlie[/b], the [b]Jupiter [/b]disc is a fantastic mix. And then you move onto the [b]Mars [/b]disc, which has my almost immediate favourite track on the whole album, [b]Tell Me Baby[/b], with its fantastic funk stylings, and then the funky intro but fairly chilled-out melody of [b]Readymade[/b]. To be honest, I would recommend this album to anyone and everyone, die-hard Chilis fans and newcomers to their sound alike. What do you all think? [/size]

[size=1]Truly the god of instrumental rock is Joe Satriani. I highly recommend any of his tracks to listen to if you like instrumentals. The guitar is powerful, and with Stu Hamm on bass, nothing can go wrong. There are a few videos of him out there on the internet, but one I highly recommend for you to find is "The Crush of Love." This is a truly fantastic instrumental. Also, if you can, try and find Stu Hamm's bass solo. It is made up of a few different parts, firstly "Love Thang," then it goes into "Moonlight Sonata," as Stu Hamm is famous for working classical music into his records, then "Sexually Active," and finally "Country Music," some of the best bass fingertapping you will ever hear. If bass solos are your thing, that is. Also, a lot of stuff by Steve Vai is well worth checking out, although he doesn't always do instrumentals, as he can sing and play guitar at the same time. [/size]

[size=1]Alex dodged, but only just, swinging his knife-blade up, letting the blades of the two weapons clash together, sparks falling from the edges. Something took over him, and he swung the blade towards Mike, who dodged and stabbed his own knife at Alex. A few drops of blood fell from Alex's arm, where a small gash had opened. He smiled, wiped the few drops off, and flicked his knife round in his hand. Something had come over him, something he had never felt before, at least, not to his knowledge. He felt perfectly capable of fighting with the knife, and, in fact, he felt more than capable, he felt like he was close to expert level in knife fighting. From the confused expression on Mike's face, Alex assumed that he was having the same wash of new feelings. Mike turned to face Alex, a devilish smile spreading across his face, and he lunged once more, the blade of the knife just missing Alex's face, as Alex slashed downwards, opening a gash on Mike's leg. [b]"This is interesting," [/b]said Alex, [b]"Did you know you could do this kind of thing?" "I had no idea," [/b]said Mike, ripping off a portion of his shirt to wrap around his leg as a makeshift bandage, [b]"But it looks like we're pretty evenly matched." "Maybe we both learnt from the same teacher," [/b]said Alex thoughtfully, taking Mike's lead and wrapping his own arm in a rag. [b]"Maybe so," [/b]said Mike, tying the bandage off, [b]"But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you get away with what you did." "Please, just stop fighting!" [/b]shouted Kat, [b]"There's no need for this!" "He killed Clark, and he killed Sharpe to cover it up, Kat," [/b]replied Mike, [b]"And he deserves to be dealt with properly." "He's got to get this bloodlust out of his system, Kat, and this is the only way," [/b]said Alex, tying off his own bandage. [b]"But it's almost night. There could be more of those things out there. We need to get somewhere with protection!" "Screw that, Kat," [/b]shouted Mike, [b]"The only thing we need protection from here is Alex! He's the only monster on this island!" "Look out!" [/b]cried Kat, as darkness truly fell. Something swooped down, huge, leathery wings sweeping past the trio. Mike only just ducked to avoid it in time, but Alex was thrown to the floor. [b]"Call a cease-fire?" [/b]Alex asked. [b]"For now," [/b]replied Mike, [b]"But this isn't over!" "Kat! Grab a gun! You need to cover us so we can get to some!" [/b]shouted Alex, and Kat nodded, crawling over to the stash of rifles that Mike had brought with him, as well as the one she had brought and Alex's. By this time, more and more of the winged creatures were gathering, perching on the tree-tops, waiting for their prey... [b]OOC: [/b]I'm gonna let you carry this one on, Bossman. You know what you wanted to happen [/size]

[size=1]Alex ran, as fast as he could, through the jungle, the rain beginning to fall once more, his rifle clutched in his grasp. The weapon was all that stood between him and death at the hands of the others, namely Mike. [b]"Where ya runnin' to, boy?" [/b]came a loud, brash voice, which caused Alex to stop and turn on the spot. It was Sharpe, a rifle in his hand and another on his back. He also had at least three hunting knives on his legs and a handgun in his waistband, [b]"You got somethin' to be runnin' from?" "Sharpe...how did that...thing...get into your camp? I thought you were guarding it!" [/b]sputtered Alex, out of breath. [b]"Well, me and the creature you saw, we have a little deal goin' on. I let it into my camp and give it fresh meat any time I can, and in return it don't kill me. You can't expect no more o' me, I'm jus' lookin' out fer number one, like anybody would." "So you let that thing in to eat us?" "Yeah, it's been a while since it tasted human flesh. A long while, in fact, about six months." "It's been six months since you landed here. You weren't the only one, were you? You just let that thing eat the rest of your crew, or the rest of the survivors, whichever they were. You let it kill them just so you could survive." "It's what anyone would have done in my situation, Alex. You can't blame me. I'm a traitor of circumstance. I only betrayed those people because I had to." "That's exactly what Judas said before he betrayed Jesus. You're no better than that thing you let into the camp, Sharpe." "Well, I can't let you be talkin' to me like that, Alex. You're just gonna have to apologise," [/b]Sharpe snarled, raising his rifle and aiming it at Alex, [b]"And there'd be no point in runnin'. I got more ammunition than you, and I know this island like the back o' my hand. You try to escape me, and you lose." "I'm not planning on running," [/b]said Alex, nuzzling the butt of his rifle into the crook of his shoulder and aiming at Sharpe. [b]"There's no good gonna come o' doin' that now, either. I'm a far better shot than you could ever be. I could kill you before you even think about pullin' the..." [/b]BANG Sharpe looked down at his chest. A drop of blood was slowly flowering into a massive stain across his chest. Alex had shot him directly in the lung. He wasn't going to survive for much longer. He fell to one knee, feeling his lungs begin to fill up with fluid. He gasped, a few rattling breaths escaping. Blood began to seep out of the corner of his mouth. [b]"I'm sorry, Sharpe. I couldn't let you put any of us in any more danger." "You're...a stronger man than I ever...was...Alex..." [/b]gasped Sharpe, [b]"I can accept to be killed by a better man than myself..." [/b]Alex nodded and walked away, his mind wandering. Had he done the right thing? BANG Alex fell to the floor, his shoulder bleeding. Sharpe, in his last few moment of life, had fired a shot at Alex. But the instability of his body caused him to miss anything vital and hit Alex in the shoulder blade. Alex spun round and fired a single shot at Sharpe, killing him outright. Then he collapsed to the ground, slowly losing his consciousness... [b]OOC: [/b]Astdis, if you do post, then please delete your last post beforehand. Anyone is welcome to find Alex, but don't get too involved. I want to keep him pretty isolated. [/size]