Horendithas

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]Google and Wiki are your best friends Lunar. =P Forgetting the main question and delving into having a tree... as much as I think they're pretty, my allergies do not like them [I]at all.[/I] I can tolerate flocked ones but straight green ones do nothing but give me grief. Net result, it's either flocked of fake when it comes to having a tree. We currently have a flocked one at our apartment. It's pretty enough, but I'm fine without one. Perhaps if they didn't set my allergies off I'd like them more, but since they do... meh. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]Okay, a little delayed but it's finally up. Enjoy Squeaker. =P I really did intend to get it up sooner, but other stuff kept getting in the way. Now to hit SD and then VBO. =P [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][SIZE="1"]It felt like it took days for him to finally regain some semblance of control over his thoughts. They were still more chaotic than he would like and Jared refused to believe that it had been that long, accepting that would mean he really was dead and he wasn?t ready to give up and acknowledge that. He wasn?t as calm as he would like but he forced himself to run through everything he could think of again. He still couldn?t find the solution and now he could feel ugly thoughts he?d rather not have lurking near the surface. He tried to push the feeling down but he could tell it wasn?t successful. Jared knew he had to get out of there, staying in this place? just the thought of being stuck in it was something that sickened him, even though he didn?t fully understand the feeling. He didn?t know when it happened, but somewhere along the process of trying to escape it felt as if even the sensation of breathing was gone. The feeling of drifting became more pronounced and though he could see nothing, it felt as if he was somehow separated from his body. Momentarily distracted by it he realized that it seemed as if there was something further out, it reached and beckoned to him. Without hesitation he stumbled towards it, striving mentally to get there. For what seemed like hours he chased it but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn?t seem to catch it. At first it didn?t matter but then a feeling of dread started to take over. [I]You can?t escape[/I] the feeling seemed to be saying.[I] You know why you?re here. There?s no way out. It?s your fault that you?re here.[/I] [I]NO! [/I] He hadn?t done anything to cause this! [I]Haven?t you?[/I] The feeling seemed to say. He started to protest and then choked back a scream as memories of what he had done started to surface. All the years spent working as an interrogator for the military seemed to fly before his eyes. Only this time it was as if he was watching from the outside. With perfect clarity he saw it all. The pain he had inflicted on others. The misery, the injustice and sadistic methods he had used to break anyone who got in his way. [I]You don?t understand[/I] he howled at the feeling. [I]Don?t I? Do you really think they deserved it? [/I] Jared faltered... [I]They did, didn?t they? [/I]The memories continued, ignoring his protests, his pleas for them to stop. Somehow he knew that what was next was infinitely worse. He had to stop it, but it was as if he was being washed away by a powerful wave. He could no more stop it than end the weeping that followed. It was his own actions that had brought him here, everything he was seeing, he had done. It [I]was[/I] his fault. They hounded him endlessly and pulled him back. They wouldn?t let him go, he was dead and he would be stuck here forever. He didn?t want to accept it, but Jared knew he was finally being punished for what he had done. It didn?t matter that he had finally realized it, it was too late, and there was no going back. He couldn?t undo what had been done. Jared tried to say he was sorry, but no matter how many times he said it, he heard nothing, not even his own crying. He was stuck in this eternal darkness. He shook with the effort to suppress it, to deny what was happening. It didn?t matter what he had done in the past he told himself. It was over. He couldn't change the past. It seemed to work as the feelings of panic started to ebb, though his victory felt hollow and he was still stuck in the darkness. [/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]I suppose it's unavoidable since it is for a junior dictionary. Still the removal of the word sin does make me snerk a bit. Like James said, if they were doing it to full sized dictionaries I'd be concerned, but otherwise, like you said Darren, though not the end of the world, the choices were a little odd.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][quote name='Drizzt Do'urden']I know there are giong to be several people who are say/think. Oh if she loves him and he's willing to work on himself its none of my damn business. But first of all its not fair to the kids, secondally she's working 65 hours a week to pick up his slack. And he's back on coke (yes sadly enough I've seen him do it while I was picking up my neice and nephew (well my fiancee's).[/quote]If this person is back on drugs then it becomes your business since this adversely affects the kids and to be blunt, it affects her too. That kind of behavior can end up being grounds for the state taking her kids from her for endangering their safety and well being.[QUOTE=Drizzt Do'urden]So I guess I need some advice. She's stubborn as a mule and if you start talking about it will just hang up the phone on you. So I need to decide whether to have her family (this is a mutual thing) sort've jump her next time they're all at her mother's house. In front of him if need be. I've also considered calling the police, I know where he hides his "stash" and I've met a couple of his "customers" and they wouldn't be hard to track down. But then I'm afraid she'll know it was me and I won't be able to see the kids (yes she's the kind of person that uses the fact that she has kids to her advantage) anymore. Or worse she would take it out on my fiancee and not allow her to see the kids either....[/QUOTE]If she's that stubborn, going to the police would be best. If she's willing to use her kids to manipulate the rest of you I doubt she's going to just reasonably take your advice or anyone's to put an end to the destructive relationship she has with her newly found love. If she were so inclined to do so, she would have instead of putting you and her family on the spot by using threats of never letting you see the kids again.[QUOTE=Drizzt Do'urden]To explain that a little more, due to a childhood incident. There is a slim chance my fiancee will ever be able to concieve, so she sort've "adopts" her neices and nephews as her own children (in a metaphorical way). And losing them even for a short period of time (we keep them overnight 3-4 times a week) So any advice would be appreciated, I know that in the end its not even my decision to make. But if I can have a positive impact on the situation in any way it would mean so much.[/QUOTE]I hate to sound harsh, but which is better, letting those kids go through hell or being more responsible and turning him in? Sure if you say nothing you'll still get to see the kids, but you'll also have to accept that you contributed to the problem by doing nothing. Don't put your own feelings above doing what's best for the kids. Otherwise you're being selfish. Think about this... How will you feel if something happens to them because nothing was done to get them out of that kind of environment? You'll know that you could have done something and didn't. I've seen firsthand what happens when kids get caught in the crossfire with that kind of crap going on. It's not pretty and if you think losing the right to see them is bad, it's a thousand times worse to see them get hurt because you could have tried to help and did nothing at all. Turn him in. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=#9933ff]And one of you all couldn't tell us first? The nerve of it all. Okay kidding. This is great news. ~snip~ By the way.... still don't exactly know who either of you really are, so don't expect a wedding gift. :animeblus[/color][/QUOTE]Allamorph beat me to it, though to be honest, I wasn't really thinking of posting a thread on it. o_O I was understandably too scatterbrained to think of that since the proposal had just happened a few hours ago when he posted this. As for not knowing who I am... It probably doesn't help that my user name was changed from [B]indifference[/B] to [B]Indi[/B] back in May. =P I still have people going... oh, so that's who you are. lol Anyway, thanks guys, as soon as I know more I'll pass the information along. Right now I do know that it's looking like either late summer or fall as far as the actual wedding goes.^^[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]I can't sleep so I'm giving you more work to do Dessy. =P We don't have a category for [B]Tales of the Abyss[/B] so... Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! [IMG]http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4217/anise01sx6.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Anise [IMG]http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/5030/asch01ua8.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Asch [IMG]http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6122/guy01xd1.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Guy [IMG]http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4521/ion01qe2.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Ion [IMG]http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9149/jade01al8.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Jade [IMG]http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2748/luke01lm5.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Luke [IMG]http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2654/mieu01mr8.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Mieu [IMG]http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3579/natalia01yy6.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Natalia [IMG]http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/8325/tear01mq2.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Tales of the Abyss [B]Name:[/B] Tear[/FONT][/COLOR]

<table width="570" border="0" align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1"><tr><td bgcolor="#4b0082"><table width="100%" border="0" color="#4b0082" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"><tr><td valign="top" bgcolor="#4b0082"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="15"><tr><td valign="top" bgcolor="#bfb9e3"><font color="#4b0082" size="2" face="verdana"> [CENTER][IMG]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h167/Desbreko_Fanclub/VBO/indiavi.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/von%20braun/arthurmostdefinitely.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2357/kathykf5.jpg[/IMG] [/CENTER][SIZE="1"] It was too soon to tell just who was coming down the hallway, but it did sound like only one person, which meant the chances that it was either Samantha or Arthur was high. If it was and they saw his headset� he turned to Natalia to warn her to hide them but she was already putting them on the floor and shoving them back out of sight. When she looked back he nodded in approval. Unless someone was looking or had a portable light, they wouldn�t see them back there. �[B]What should we do?[/B]� Natalia asked, clearly worried. �[B]If its Arthur or Samantha - let me do the talking.[/B]� �[B]Jeff,[/B]� she started to object. �[B]Natalia, I don�t have time to explain. Please, it�s important. You need to say as little as possible. You don�t want to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.[/B]� He waited for her to finally nod before turning his attention back to the partially open doors. If it was Samantha, the only reason he could think of that would bring her back would be if she needed one of them. There could be only one basis for that and it was one he�d rather not consider. He was certain that she meant to kill them earlier by locking them in the shuttle. So for her to not kill them now indicated that she was keeping them around on the slight chance that using them as leverage would be necessary. Arthur on the other hand had seemed to want nothing to do with them. But if he was correct in assuming that he was a member of Terra Prime, then why he would leave them unharmed when they knew about it was puzzling him. Arthur had said it himself, that Samantha was right. The only way he would have known what Samantha had said was if he had been nearby when she forced them into the shuttle. With whatever was affecting him, Jeff was certain it would take very little to set him off. He knew all about Terra Prime, he had been fully briefed and prepared before the Von Braun had left Earth. NARSIA had been quite clear in their instructions that he was to protect Samantha from any members of that group should they manage to get onboard. It was a pity they hadn�t warned him about protecting himself from her. A moment later and he had his answer, it was Arthur. He looked even more haggard than he had before as he approached the pair and dropped Jeff's security pass on the floor in front of them. He looked unsteady as if he was about to fall over. Thankfully Natalia was keeping quiet like he had asked. �[B]Your security pass doesn�t work.[/B]� Arthur said simply, he still held his weapon in his hand and for the moment it wasn�t pointed towards them, giving Jeff hope that he had no ill intent towards them as of yet. Arthur's grip on the hilt tightened and his eyes narrowed as he looked at the two of them, it was clear that he expected an answer. Jeff obliged him. �[B]Right before the ship crashed, Samantha forced Natalia and I into one of the shuttles and locked the door.[/B]� Jeff didn�t hesitate; he got the impression that anything less than the truth would be a disaster. �[B]When I tried to leave, the system rejected my security code.[/B]� �[B]I�m sure you know that everything is tied into the main system. If my pass is not working, then she must have revoked my clearance.[/B]� Arthur seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded slightly. �[B]Give me your keys then.[/B]� �[B]I don�t have them.[/B]� Jeff explained. �[B]Samantha took them after she locked us up here.[/B]� For a moment it looked like he wasn�t going to believe them and then he whirled around and stalked off towards the other side of the mysterious deck. �[B]Arthur! Please, don�t leave us here.[/B]� Natalia called out suddenly. Jeff motioned for her to be quiet but she ignored him and continued when Arthur halted, he didn�t turn around. �[B]Whatever happened in the past doesn�t matter. Please release us, I won�t tell anyone that I saw you here if that�s what you wish. All I want to do is get Jeff the medical attention that he needs. If he isn�t treated soon, he�ll bleed to death.[/B]� For a long moment Arthur just stood there, his back to the pair. �[B]It�s not my problem.[/B]� Arthur finally said before he walked off into the semi-darkness of the deck. A moment later and other than the occasional hint of movement on the other side, they couldn�t see what he was up to. �[B]I�m sorry Jeff,[/B]� Natalia said quietly. �[B]I should have listened to you.[/B]� She smiled apologetically and changed the subject. �[B]Do you know what he�s up to?[/B]� �[B]No, I didn�t get a chance to see if there was anything else here.[/B]� Time seemed to drag out slowly as they talked in hushed tones. Every once in a while they could hear movement and see a bit of light and shadows. Neither one knew what Arthur was up to though; he was too far away for them to see clearly. Then a short while later, both of them looked up at the sound of someone running and then flinched and turned away when a brilliant flash assaulted their eyes at the same time a loud boom assaulted their ears. A deep vibration ran through the deck and both looked to the odd source of light that seemed to be coming from the other side of the deck when the shaking had stopped. A dark shadow entered the light and then was gone. It took Jeff a moment to realize that Arthur had used something to blow a hole in the side of the ship, the shadow they had seen was probably Arthur leaving. If there had been any doubt before as to what he was, there was none now. No civilian would know how to create a makeshift bomb like that. At least he was gone, for now. It still didn�t help them any. Especially if no one else had survived the crash.[/SIZE]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table>

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][quote name='Mr. Blonde]I don't know if you have ever watched the "Reelz" network, Indi, but they have good film coverage without the celebrity spin. They cover all the major festivals and premieres from a film stand point. [/QUOTE]No I haven't watched it. I'll have to see if we get it here or not.[QUOTE=Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]People are just now realizing that the media is more marketing "news as entertainment" rather than "news as information"? [/FONT][/QUOTE]I don't know about others, but I've already noticed it. Which is why I found the article so interesting. It mirrors what I've thought for years.[QUOTE=Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]While it may be [I]better[/I'] to talk about the films as they are and their critical acclaims and faults, it's not what you're gonna see from these guys who work those stories. They often spin them in the "bizarre and unusual" news value, trying to see the hidden message, trend or weird attribute of a given story. That's why you'll see all sorts of squee-ing girls being interviewed while waiting in line to see Twilight instead of people actually looking at the film and saying what it is and what it's not. People are more interested in the PHENOMENA that is Twilight, not the actual movie or series of novels it's based on. [/FONT][/quote]Oh I know, I had to actually read Twilight to find out what the deal was. Something I probably wouldn't have even bothered to do if not for getting the book as a well meant gift. If they tried to sell it based on what it is... it has no real merits to stand on. So going the other route of dumbing it down or using the fans makes sense... from a business point of view, which is what we are seeing here. Sadly.[QUOTE=Allamorph][FONT=Arial]And people wonder why I don't read or watch the news anymore. Half of the issue is that, like many other facets of this country, news is now a Business. The primary motivating goal is the making of money. If a company can get more patronage through running 'popular' stories, instead of informative stories, then the popular wins out. This is not a new phenomenon. Colleges are the same way. Insofar as I've taken the science courses required for most students this semester, I have yet to hear one item that was not covered in high school courses. I literally slept during classes, on the front row, because I merely needed to be reminded of what I already knew?and I would wake up to make a counter-point to the professor or provide an alternate view on a particular concept.[/FONT][/QUOTE]I don't really watch or read like I use to, since I can quickly scan the papers or sites and get the general gist of what's going on. Instead of wasting my time by bothering to actually watch the news. Seriously. And yes it's not new. [quote name='Allamorph][FONT=Arial]And in parallel with the movie [I]critics[/I], the advertised [I]movies[/I] have also plummeted in in quality. Where were the trailers and promos for [I]A Scanner Darkly[/I]? I learned of its existence a full year and a half ago by seeing it lying on my roommate's desk, and it is one of the single best movies I've ever watched. The movies I do see advertised I barely have to think for. [I]Jumper[/I] was transparent from the first preview; [I]Wanted[/I] was the same; [I]Beowulf[/I] looked so blended with [I]300[/I] that I no longer recognised it; and let's just not get into [I]Indiana Jones and the Screenplay of Fail[/I'].[/FONT][/quote]I no longer trust trailers or other means of reviews for movies. So many of them are simply hyped up instead of being critically looked at. I've lost count of the times I went to something that was supposed to be so well done only for it to be junk.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]It's time for the holiday lolcats and I have just the one to get things rolling. =P [CENTER][IMG]http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/11/28/128723806816964664.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]If you haven't read this yet: [URL="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/11/death_to_film_critics_long_liv.html"][U]Death to film critics! Hail to the CelebCult![/U][/URL] Go and check it out. Beth forwarded the link to it to me and after reading it, I got to thinking about how on some levels, it's so true. As it points out near the end:[quote][FONT="Arial"]The celebrity culture is infantilizing us. We are being trained not to think. It is not about the disappearance of film critics. We are the canaries. It is about the death of an intelligent and curious, readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically. It is about the failure of our educational system. It is not about dumbing-down. It is about snuffing out.[/FONT][/quote]It does seem like our news and information that we get on a daily basis is essentially dumbed down and lacking substance. I'm not saying everything is like this, but sometimes I go to read a review or article and end up going... [I]hunh[/I] at the lack of decent coverage of the topic. A good example of this comes from the article itself here:[quote][FONT="Arial"]Why does the biggest story about "Twilight" involve its [I]fans?[/I] Do we need interviews with 16-year-old girls about Robert Pattinson? When was the last time [I]they[/I] read a paper? Isn't the movie obviously about sexual abstinence and the teen fascination with doomy Goth death-flirtation?[/FONT][/quote]I found that amusing since everything I've read does focus on the fans instead of the movie. I'm sure there are good critiques out there but I would have thought the fan bit would have been an after thought, not the main focus. Anyway, your thoughts? What do you think? Or what examples do you have that are similar or that would indicate otherwise? Are we really dumbing down as it implies? =P[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]The last image on the bottom left is Ginji from the anime GetBackers. The remaining that haven't been identified, I am not familiar with.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]So wrong and yet so funny. People are insane. =P [CENTER][IMG]http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/12/2/128727223571818554.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]This is just awesome. [CENTER] [IMG]http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/political-pictures-tornado-wall-st.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER][/FONT][/COLOR]

[FONT="Arial"][COLOR="Indigo"][QUOTE=Sabrina][FONT="Tahoma"]If I'm right... you are [I]sooooo[/I] dead [COLOR="Indigo"]Indi[/COLOR]. [B]._.[/B][/FONT][/QUOTE][I]*hands Sabrina a pillow and starts running*[/I] :D[/COLOR][/FONT]

[COLOR="Indigo"][SIZE="1"][SIZE="2"][CENTER][B]Sometimes…[/B][/CENTER][/SIZE] It wasn’t the first time someone had realized that he was Marked. And every time it reared its ugly head, Karl either ignored it, or said nothing since usually no one believed that he was free and had been for nearly three thousand years, except for the Shinigami. People would listen to Gavrie saying he was free, but not to him. So he did like he always did, he said nothing as Gavrie interceded on his behalf. He knew it was necessary, but he still hated it. He managed to respond to Isen’s apology but other than to accept that she wouldn’t kill him on sight, he knew perfectly well that she would never trust him. Not that it mattered, he was use to that. He was trying to recover his composure when Nathan mentioned the name of the one behind the organization they were investigating. [I]What the hell? He can’t be alive, he can’t be! [/I] He was barely paying attention when another voice interrupted their meeting. A vampire! [I]Shit![/I] In an instant he was armed and only Nathan’s sudden interference stopped him from launching himself at the intruder. He tried to get his racing heart to slow down as he let his weapons go. [I]What the hell is going on here?[/I] He took a deep breath and let it out, cautiously keeping his distance from both Isen and the intruder. He was too preoccupied to really pay attention though. [CENTER]----------------------------------- [SIZE="2"][B]…I Can’t Breathe[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] There was only the three of them, Karl, Oran and Huy. They didn’t need more to deal with the humans at the outposts for the vampire clan in their area. One to serve as a lookout, in this case Huy, while the other two dealt with the humans inside. They were manned by a group of six to eight humans. “[B]How long do you think it will take them to start re-enforcing their outposts?[/B]” Huy whispered, barely louder than the softly falling rain. Karl shrugged. It didn’t matter since even in human form, dealing with eight guards was a simple task. They lacked the strength, agility and power that all werecat’s shared. If there were more, all one had to do was simply up the ante. Karl preferred to stick to human form though; at least when he was where it was possible someone might spot him. A stray human traveling was nothing to worry over, but a stray werecat; that attracted attention they didn’t need. “[B]By the time they think to increase their garrisons, well be long gone so it doesn’t matter.[/B]” he finally answered, “[B]And unless they make them big enough to hold a lot more humans, it’s nothing that can’t be handled.[/B]” Oran snorted, “[B]You mean we can’t handle,[/B]” he corrected, “[B]The others would rather hide in the shadows and let the Shinigami deal with the vampires.[/B]” “[B]And we’ve seen just how effective that is,[/B]” Karl retorted. “[B]They’ve been failing to stop them for what, nearly forty years now?[/B]” He sighed, “[B]How much longer are we going to have to put up with the damn vampires and their attempts to force all free creatures into subjugation and slavery?[/B]” He clenched his fights in anger, pausing only long enough to brush aside some low branches that were in the way. The first hints of the approaching dawn was starting to give definition to the trees, not that Karl needed it. So long as there was some light, he could find his way. “[B]Serving the Shinigami isn’t much better either.[/B]" He added on, almost as an afterthought. “[B]It’s not like the Shinigami are the same though,[/B]” Huy pointed out. “[B]They don’t resort to torture, experimentation and other underhanded means to gain cooperation.[/B]” “[B]You still have to give up your freedom if you become a familiar.[/B]” Oran was unconvinced. “[B]We don’t need their help.[/B]” “[B]You still have a choice in the matter,[/B]” Huy insisted stubbornly. No one disagreed with him since what Huy said was true. But the truth, no matter how much they might hate it, was that only the Shinigami were better equipped to deal with vampires. Unless you were lucky enough to inflict a serious wound, vampires were extremely difficult to kill. Unlike humans they were more like the werecats, stronger, more agile and instead of growing weaker with age, they only grew stronger. In that respect, they were stronger than his kind, though most refused to see that. It didn’t stop them from doing what they always did when the vampires got too close, leave the area. Attacking the outposts, depending on who you asked, either was or wasn’t necessary. Karl knew he wasn’t the only one who wanted to get rid of the damn vampires, but the majority of the clan did not agree. If only they had more silver. Karl reached down and back a bit with his left hand, gripping the hilt of the silver dagger strapped to his waist. It was the one thing that could kill a vampire without fail, provided one could actually get close enough to stab one in the heart with it. One could do so with other weapons, but silver worked the best. It was so effective that they had taken the time to steal it from the humans. Werecats, at least his clan, had never learned how to forge the precious material. They didn’t understand why, but silver was lethal to vampires, even a simple touch was enough to burn their skin and make them recoil in pain and so far, every single vampire he had stabbed in the heart had died almost immediately. “[B]So,[/B]” Huy spoke up as the first hints of shadows for the small tower became visible, “[B]We’ve dealt with three outposts so far, are we going to join up with the others when we’re done here?[/B]” Oran frowned, “[B]Are you kidding? So long as we keep choosing them at random, there’s no reason why we can’t torch a few more before we do that.[/B]” “[B]It’s still only a matter of time until they catch on to what we are doing,[/B]” Huy stopped. [B]“If we’re not careful, we’ll end up with them following the clan for revenge.[/B]” Karl doubted that, unless it was convenient for them the vampires tended to focus more on humans and dealing with the Reapers. The former being much easier prey. The reapers being a much greater threat to their very existence. They had of course heard tales of other clans running into grief with the vampires, but since they had always moved whenever they got too close, they had had very little in the way of conflict. He had heard tales, of horrible things that had happened to those who had tried to push the intruders out, but they spoke of a time before he had been born. And when Karl had tried to learn more, he was always pushed away. He knew that he was still considered young, even though he was nearly twenty years old, but in all the time he could remember, all they had done was run, like cowards. With a start he realized that the others were watching him and Karl raised his left hand, palm facing the others. “[B]How about we discuss it after we’re finished here, fair enough?[/B]” Their answering nods was all he needed, he turned his attention back to the small tower that could be seen through the trees. It was just light enough that he could see the shadow of a human patrolling the top of the building, safely behind the walls that came up to mid-chest. He grinned, at least the human [I]thought [/I]it was safe. There was still too much underbrush for them to see the human who would be patrolling around outside on the ground, but if they listened, they could hear the occasional scuff on rocks or rustle of leaves. Humans, especially ones under a vampire’s control, were very clumsy. Karl looked to Huy and nodded. With a feral grin Huy melted into the trees and vanished. He watched him for a moment, marveling at how well Huy could move without making a sound. It was to be expected, but for a werecat, Huy was massive. Standing at nearly seven feet tall with broad shoulders and a thick mane of black hair, he was menacing even in human form. Oran with his lighter brown hair and slimmer stature wasn’t anywhere as imposing, only coming up to about five and a half feet. Even Karl with his dark chocolate brown hair and medium build, just under six feet tall, was more imposing than Oran. Still even if he was on the small side for their clan, he was still just as lethal. He grinned at Karl once Huy was gone and then briefly took the lead as they cautiously approached the outpost. The small stone tower was carefully built on a small rise in the area. The first story would have the barracks along the back. The front part would hold the kitchen area and small room for downtime. A set of stairs, the out jutting in the stone clearly visible from where they were crouched, ran up the side and into the second area. Karl couldn’t actually see inside, but so far the layout had been identical in every single outpost they had dealt with. At the top it would have a door leading into the room overlooking the area. He couldn’t quite see into the tower room since the rain made seeing through the glass panels difficult. With one on each side, it made seeing the surrounding countryside easy. The corners were blind spots and to get around that, there was always one human on the top roof patrolling and one on the ground. Oran motioned for him to halt and Karl did so, waiting for Oran as he pulled out a slender reed; yet another invention of the humans. It only took him a moment to take aim and then hit his mark. The human slapped at his neck and then shook his head when he didn’t find anything. Ten minutes later, he pressed his hand to his forehead before slumping down. It was only a substance that would make him sleepy, nothing more. Though it was a sleep he would never wake from. The two of them waited for the human on the ground to be facing the other way before covering the gap quickly. Karl caught his neck from behind and twisted, snapping his neck before the guard could cry out. He lowered him to the ground and then took his keys. They were careful to keep up against the building so those above wouldn’t see them. In another moment they were inside the building, the sound of laughter reaching their ears, telling them that no one had noticed. The small interior room led to another door that was open. Karl looked at Oran and he flashed a grin in return. He would go to the barracks while Karl would handle the lookout. Oran went first, slipping out of the anteroom and then down the hallway towards the doors leading to where the men slept. Karl took the path to the right. The door to the kitchen area was open and a huge pot of soup was hanging over the fire, surprisingly no one was there. He bypassed it and headed for the door to the stairs. With a feral grin Karl was up the stairs swiftly and silently, pausing at the door leading in to the observation room, taking a moment to assess the situation. He was slightly surprised to see six humans instead of the usual two and he wondered if the increase was in response to the outposts they had destroyed in the recent months. Karl thought about retreating to tell the others and then snorted mentally. Humans were weak, and prone to sloppiness; six of them would be no challenge at all. He could deal with this mess and still be back to the others in no time. Decided, he moved to take them out. He had taken only a handful of steps when the faint thuds of something landing behind him coupled with the sound of a sharp twang of something being released from above was heard.[I] Hell![/I] Frantically he whirled, far too slowly. At the same moment he saw the two vampires between him and the door he had just entered, a hefty net landed on him, the weight causing him to stagger back a pace. He pulled the silver dagger free as the humans grabbed the edges of the net and pulled him to the floor. Karl could hear the footsteps of the vampires as they approached. He struggled wildly as he tried to cut his way free. White powder was flung into his face, the attack happened so suddenly that he breathed some of it in before he could stop himself. It burned painfully, making his eyes water. [I]Shit! What the hell![/I] He struggled more violently, terror giving him strength. He tried to shrug the net off but the humans held it down. Another rush of fear and panic hit when an odd haze began to fill his mind, giving him a brief moment of true horror as he realized that his body was not responding like it should; and then - he fell into darkness.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]Well no need for me to repeat what Nathan already said. =P We'll be leaving later this afternoon for Idaho. lolz So since my Thanksgiving plans are already known, I leave you all with this since I won't be back until Saturday afternoon/evening. [CENTER][IMG]http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/funny-pictures-cat-wants-turkey.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] So those of you who celebrate this holiday this week, have a good time. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]And delay strikes again as in I'll be gone until Saturday afternoon/evening. However! Whether someone else has posted or not, I plan on doing so once I return. So there's something for you to look forward to Squeaker. =P And... enjoy the holiday guys. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][quote name='SunfallE][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I love how Nathan's tendency to wear nothing but blue keeps coming up in people's posts. Don't need to know his name, just that he's the one in blue! [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]It's just fun to toy with. Ever since Sabrina did this:[QUOTE=Sabrina][FONT="Tahoma"]Phaidra watched as Lucia opened it to admit two strange individuals, or rather one, a Shinigami who not only was his hair and eyes blue, but every stitch of clothing he wore other than a spot or two was some [B]eye glaring shade of blue[/B'].[/FONT][/quote]It has stuck in my mind. Must poke fun of the blue! [SIZE="1"][I]*is shot*[/I] [/SIZE] Now before I head out since I will be gone until Saturday afternoon/evening... I need to spam the backstage here with two things. [B]First:[/B] Basement Kitteh! [I]Poooooossst! [/I] [B] Second:[/B] [CENTER][IMG]http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/funny-pictures-cat-wants-turkey.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] Enjoy your thanksgiving guys. =P[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]That post just didn't want to work with me. XP Anyway, I indicated elsewhere that I'm going to be gone for the holiday, I leave later this afternoon. So if anyone needs me to tweak something, I'll take care of it when I get back on Saturday. In the mean time, enjoy Thanksgiving you guys. Well those of you who actually celebrate the holiday this week. =P[/FONT][/COLOR]

[CENTER][IMG]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h167/Desbreko_Fanclub/VBO/indiavi.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8936/avatar21crewxq4.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2357/kathykf5.jpg[/IMG] [/CENTER][SIZE="1"] [I]I must be an idiot for letting her come along.[/I] Jeff thought as he hurried down one of the many corridors of the Von Braun. He didn?t give Natalia any slack, moving as quickly as possible. He didn?t dare trust the lifts after a crash like that and even though they were going down, the odd slant and sheer number of stairs had even him feeling a tiny bit winded when they finally got to the main hallway that lead to the sealed deck. He stopped running and paused to catch his breath, and to let his eyes adjust. Only the emergency lighting was working and unlike the other areas of the ship, the hallway was dimly lit. No one ever came down here, normally the door to the stairs was locked, but either Samantha had opened them or the crash had disabled the locks. ?[B]Do you think she?s still here?[/B]? Natalia had taken the moment to sit down and take a breather too. Jeff was a little surprised that she had managed to keep up, most civilians couldn?t. ?[B]If the lifts are working she might have left already,[/B]? He watched the hallway for movement. ?[B]But with the main power out, I doubt it.[/B]? He looked at her briefly; the dim red glow couldn?t hide how frightened she looked. ?[B]You should go back,[/B]? Jeff turned his attention back to the hallway. ?[B]I can?t guarantee your safety.[/B]? For all he knew they were the only one?s alive. They were relatively unharmed, but they had had the benefit of being in the shuttle when the ship crashed. It had taken the brunt of the damage instead of them. It bothered him that he had heard and seen nothing since they had left the shuttle bay and he still couldn?t raise anyone on his headset. Either very few people had survived or the crew had their hands full tending to the passengers. The major should have been in the area if she had survived the crash, if she hadn't left to go and assist passengers that is. Since they hadn?t seen any bodies he was inclined to believe that she had. That didn?t help them any though. With a start he realized that he was looking at open doors at the end of the corridor. [I] Damn.[/I] He looked back at Natalia who was still breathing hard. ?[B]I?m going with you,[/B]? She insisted between breathes as she stood back up. Natalia let go of the railing to the stairs and composed herself. ?[B]You haven?t found any security.[/B]? She pointed out. Jeff just nodded, ?[B]It looks like we were right.[/B]? He said softly, he pointed at the open doors, ?[B]Crash or not they shouldn?t have opened on their own.[/B]? He started down the hallway, treading as quietly as possible. Natalia was right behind him, clinging to his left sleeve without even thinking about it. He could feel her shivering and he stopped to look down at her hand. She uttered a hasty apology and let go. Jeff looked back up and nodded briefly before turning back to continue towards the open doors. He motioned with his free hand for her to stay back while he cautiously surveyed the room, keeping most of his body out of view. Like the hallway, the emergency lights were on, further proving that someone was either in the room or had been. There were massive canisters lying on metal mounts, shaped like a horseshoe, that were fastened to the deck. Each one was easily fifty feet long and approximately thirty feet in diameter. They ran horizontal to the doors, making it impossible to see if anyone was between them as they were all taller than he was. He could see a dozen of them and he could see what looked like end of a bit of letters that ran down the sides of each canister. The rest of the mysterious deck may have well been in darkness as he couldn?t see anything further in with any form of clarity; the lighting was too poor for that. Jeff cautiously moved into the room, angling to the left as he followed the end of the row of canisters, his weapon drawn. A quick glance around the edge showed that no one was there. The letters RSK AMT, DMG CTRL, CBT AVD, PLASURV ran along the side in bright red. ?[B]I wonder if they hold that Shirota Strain she was talking about.[/B]? Natalia said quietly even as she moved down the aisle a bit to take a look at the letters. "[B]Do you know what this stands for?[/B]" Jeff shook his head. ?[B]Stay here.[/B]? He waited for her to nod before moving to check the rest of the mysterious deck. He wanted to see if there was anything further back in the massive room. If they were lucky, Samantha would already be gone. He was almost to the end of row of massive canisters when a shot rang out a split second before something hard slammed into his right shoulder, sending him backwards into the canister behind him. He lost his gun and he heard it as it hit the floor and slid away. He ignored the pain as he looked frantically for her and then froze when he saw her move just enough out of the shadows between the canisters on the other side of the room, her gun trained on him. ?[B]Give me one good reason why I shouldn?t kill you here and now.[/B]? Her eyes narrowed and she continued before he could answer, speaking loud and clear. ?[B]Stop hiding Natalia or I?ll blow his head off next.[/B]? Jeff winced when he heard the sound of Natalia?s footsteps coming up behind him. He could feel blood running down his chest from where Samantha had shot him in the shoulder. He was already feeling a bit faint and he leaned back against the canister for support. ?[B]What?s stopping you[/B]?? Natalia?s voice sounded strained. ?[B]Clearly you don?t give a damn about what happens to anyone on the Von Braun.[/B]? ?[B]Don?t tempt me.[/B]? Samantha snapped, she reached into her pocket and pulled out two sets of metal cuffs. ?[B]Sit down.[/B]? She ordered. ?[B]No.[/B]? Natalia objected. Samantha?s eyes hardened and the gun lifted a tad, Jeff interjected. ?[B]Just do it Natalia.[/B]? ?[B]Yes, listen to him, I won?t repeat myself.[/B]? Jeff had seen that look before; there would be no talking to her at this point. Her plans, whatever they were, had gone wrong. She was even more dangerous than before and he cursed himself for allowing Natalia to come along. He reached over with his left arm and pull Natalia over to sit on the floor next to him. He caught the cuffs with his left hand when Samantha tossed them to him. ?[B]Your keys.[/B]? She held out her left hand, palm up. Jeff didn?t argue, he just reached into his pockets and fished them out before tossing them over. The whole thing made no sense. [I]Why is she bothering with this?[/I] Natalia started to object again and he hushed her, telling her to do as told when ordered to fasten him and then herself to the support. The metal mounts instead of being solid, had small round openings along the outer edge. It took Natalia little time to first fasten his left wrist to the support and then her own right wrist. ?[B]Why?[/B]? Natalia asked in a small voice when she was done. ?[B]Explanation time is over,[/B]? Samantha said coldly. Without another word she walked over to where Jeff?s gun was, bent over and retrieved it. Then she tucked it into her pocket before leaving and closing the doors behind her. "[B]I don't understand, why didn't she kill us?[/B]" Natalia asked once the sound of Samantha's footsteps had faded. Jeff started to shrug and thought better of it. "[B]I'm not sure if I want to know why,[/B]" He grimaced in pain when he tried to shift and get a little more comfortable. Natalia jerked on the cuff with her right hand, the metal rattling as she got up on her knees. "[B]Never mind that, we need to do something about your shoulder.[/B]" She looked around and then finally settled on the lightweight vest she was wearing over her blouse. She shrugged out of one side and then used her free hand to rip the other to get it free. She placed one end in his left hand. "[B]Hold on to this.[/B]" Jeff ignored the jolts of pain caused with each jerk she made as she tore the vest into smaller sections. Then he did his best to help her as she worked on finding a way to bandage him up. Neither one of them voiced the concern that they were possibly the only ones left. Or that if others had survived, they would have no reason to come down to the supposedly sealed deck. [/SIZE]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][quote name='Allamorph][FONT=Arial']Being "emo" has nothing to do with having actual emotional or psychological needs, problems, or stress.[/FONT][/quote]Exactly. It's a self given label and at that point, it has become meaningless in that respect.[QUOTE=James][font=franklin gothic medium]The problem is that depression is a very serious illness and in many cases, depressed people [i]do not[/i] show outward signs of "unhappiness". In fact, it's erroneous to say that depression = unhappiness. The two are not mutually exclusive at all. So more than anything, I think the whole emo thing cheapens the real plight of people with various degrees of [i]actual[/i] depression. Some of the kids who say they have depression are either seeking attention or are simply mistaking other emotional problems for a different illness.[/font][/QUOTE]Most people who suffer from depression hide it instead of openly showcasing it. And like you just said, there's a big difference between true depression and simply being unhappy. One is a serious illness the other a more fleeting deal since the cause is usually far less serious. Your last bit boils down to how I see it, attention seeking kids who think their issues in their lives are more serious than they really are. Not to say that some don't have real issues, but they're usually not the ones dressing up, cutting and declaring they're emo. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][quote name='SunfallE][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][I]*waits for [COLOR="Indigo"]Indi[/COLOR] to rant next*[/I] You know you will. =P[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote]It's their fault for taking a perfectly good book and turning it into crap. Anyway, I watched it and my thoughts here: [URL="http://www.theotaku.com/worlds/indi/view/50736/someone_needs_to_die/"][U]Someone Needs To Die[/U][/URL] sums up what I think of that [I]joke[/I] of a mini series based off the book. I'm in the middle of reading Soul of the Fire and after watching the start of that pathetic TV version, I dropped it in favor of reading the books which so far, have yet to disappoint me in that manner. The books have had a few moments but not enough to turn me off from the series. I watched the TV premiere and then the next week to give it a chance. There's no way in hell they can salvage it, they pretty much shot themselves in the foot from the get go, they [I]can't[/I] get back to what made it so good in the first place. They can't even end it properly without pulling some lame stunt out of their *** It's obvious that they took the name and popularity of the series so they could scream 'best seller' and drag in mindless fans who don't care if they are getting trash or not. But I imagine that most people who read the books are pretty disgusted like I am. Anyway, I already did my rant when I first saw it, and I've washed my hands of that pathetic joke they're now airing each week. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"][QUOTE=Allamorph][FONT=Arial]So, new chapter, at long last, and we are presented with... ....absolutely nothing.[/FONT][/QUOTE]Two weeks for that? Seriously... WTF? It was just that... NOTHING.[quote name='Allamorph][FONT=Arial']Still, Kurogane expressed my sentiments very eloquently. Shut the heck up already. [/FONT][/quote]Agreed. I'm hoping that means they plan on keeping the monologuing down to a minimum since that will drive me absoutely batty otherwise. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Arial"]Although all of them are nicely done, I think SaiyanPrincessX best represented the aspect they chose to work with, my reasoning is similiar to Rach's so I'm not going to detail it out. So my vote this round goes to [B]SaiyanPrincessX[/B]. Oh and like Rach mentioned, I too think a lighter color for the font on yours would make it pop a little better.[/FONT][/COLOR]