Semjaza

Well, hopefully more people have played stuff prior to VII than this is leading me to believe. In my opinion, FFIV was the best. The characters were developed beyond the first three games, but not so much that you're forced into movie-like situations with personalities completely forced on you. There was still so room for imagination, which I liked. The story wasn't all that special, I suppose, but it was adequate and had a nice amount of turns. The battle system was solid, no different than most games before or after it in the series. However, I loved the fact that you learned magic by gaining levels ala Dragon Quest. I hated buying spells prior to that and I am not a fan of leveling up Espers or Materia by comparison. It was a fun game, in any case. VI is a close second for me. After that, I really don't care for most of the other titles enough to call them favorites.

[spoiler]You'd have to be dense to not notice the family name all over all that crap near the end. I saw it about half a dozen times offhand. I'd hope everyone figured that much out, the film isn't vague about it lol.[/spoiler]

[QUOTE=Lrb][SIZE=1]Yup, that was it. Heh, thanks J. You know, this happened to me before I think. Well thanks anyways.[/SIZE] -Lrb[/QUOTE] It was most likely caused thanks to a scroll wheel mouse. If you turn the wheel while holding down CTRL, it'll change the font size.

[spoiler]The skinner was Noah, in my opinion. Other than the Elder's planned scare tactics when Noah was onscreen, it was implied that Noah knew what they really were. I think it's made clear because of his incessant laughing any time the "creatures" actually appear, which I didn't personally attribute to his obvious mental problems. He doesn't act quite like that in any other situation. Mr. Walker doesn't know which Elder did the skinning because none of them actually did it, and so the connection to Noah is made clearer. The kid has a penchant for violence, in any case, and the Elders had ZERO reason to do such things because everyone beyond Noah (and arguably Lucius) was scared of the woods. It has nothing to do with Noah "Making the creatures real." Ivy was brought up with nothing but tales of Those. Even after being shown they were fake, getting rid of that fear doesn't happen instantly. Especially when her father tells her that there were tales of creatures in the woods anyway. Noah only makes the creatures real because he dies. That is it. Nothing to do with the skinning of the animals because no one in the film manages to make that connection. Ivy kills Noah and assumes he's a creature because she doesn't know any better. Mr. Walker makes references to how much of a leader she and Lucius are. People trust her. If she claims to have killed a creature that they all genuinely believe in, it just furthers the myth. And that was the director in the Ranger cabin. He appears in most of his films in some way.[/spoiler] I didn't really like the movie. It was by no means horrible and I liked it more than Signs, but I don't know how much that is saying. I'm wondering what in the world some people here mean by "There's a lot to take in and think about." It's clear as day and hardly complex in even the most basic senses. The concept is interesting, but I don't think it was pulled off that well. I don't know why the director feels some insistance on putting his tales of morality within "scary" films. I put that in quotes because it's not scary in any sense of the word. I feel like he does this just so when people ***** about how unscary his movie since The Sixth Sense are, his fans can just go "You didn't really understand the underlying concept of the film!!" This guy isn't Alfred Hitchcock, people. I left the film with two thoughts: "What was the point of all of that?" and that I thought the girl who played Ivy was pretty. She was the highlight of the fillm in every respect, in my opinion. I honestly couldn't care less for most of the other characters in the movie... especially because most of them beyond Noah, Ivy and Lucius were really hammy. It was well directed, though. I am not usually too big on his writing, but he is a good director overall.

I don't see the big deal. Making it twenty-five lessens the issue of kids coming in claiming they're 21 trying to get drinks. I figure that any of these kids wouldn't be able to pass off as twenty-five, so they wouldn't even try. I don't think it's a big deal. It's a private establishment and there's about a billion other places you can go with a 21 and older rule.

He's not making this movie. It's already made (it's from 2002), he's just helping bring it state side. Yimou Zhang directed it.

They're fictional shows. They don't teach me anything unless they happen to be Mr. Wizard. I miss that guy. Oh, and I've learned how to guess the MSRP of random household goods thanks to The Price Is Right. Anyway, none have changed my outlook on life. Just random useless things.

I'm probably going to see it Sunday. The one star review from Ebert doesn't leave me too optimistic though. I've not seem him speak that negatively of a film in quite some time.

The problem with the way a lot of these RPGs are designed is that VERY few have any set goals. Who is to decide what is the final point of these in that case? There's some RPGs with set limits and set ending points, but these are things that I feel usually have to be considered ahead of time. I know that Torment will definitely have an ending, but I've known that since before I even asked people to sign up. (It's coming, I swear!)

When I think about it, the ten most annoying things in the world are probably all internet message boards. Half of those ten most likely involve anime.

I want to add in Jennifer Lewis from Rilo Kiley. She doesn't do all the vocals, but she does a vast majority of them. They're an amazing band. One of my favorites, which is why I'm not sure why I mentioned them in here before. They have a new CD due out soon, so pick it up if you get a chance. Good stuff.

Their music sucks (in my personal opinion), their schtick was tired before they even came into existanceand they're hardly attractive enough to justify all the nonsense. Wow, lesbians!? I've never heard of those before. Who cares, especially when one definitely isn't (she is also pregnant with that guy's baby last I heard, by the way). There's more controversial bands around that actually deserve the attention. When I can watch sitcoms that show men and women making out with their same sex, why would I care what these two do? It's hardly controversial.

[url]http://www2.arnes.si/~sopjsimo/gimp/stable.html[/url] You can get Windows installers for Gimp there. You also have to install GTK+, which is provided on the page. It's a good Photoshop alternative for people who have nothing but Paint.

In front of my local comic shop, they always have bins of free stuff. A few weeks ago it was a bunch of postcards about some piece of work called "Daisy Kutter". I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this. I really like the art style presented on the card and am interested in finding out more. The bottom says "Written and Illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi".

I'd never go to an anime-specific convention... but I'm considering going to Wizard World here in Chicago next month. It's sure to have manga and anime there anyway, but at least there will be Western comics too. I mostly wanted to go to get my Walking Dead comics signed. If anyone involved in Astonishing X-Men is going, I'm definitely bringing one of my Del Toro varient covers too heh. I doubt anyone here is going to that though. I think I'm the only kid here from Chicago.

[QUOTE=Amorphous][color=crimson][size=1] [b]Trent Reznor[/b] of [i][b]Nine Inch Nails[/i][/b]; This choice is a little different, he is one of my favorite because of how much more simplistic his style is, and yet it still hits you right in the face, some of his songs are quite astounding to listen to, especially of his album "The Fragile". Also, his song "The Great Below" is just amazing when being played live on vocals and instruments.[/color][/size][/QUOTE] There's a large sect of people who seemingly hate Trent's writing style because he uses a predictable writing sheme. I don't quite understand it because probably 1 in 3 other musicians do the same thing. To pick on him more than anyone else seems ridiculous, especially when I can name off quite a few songs that really don't have a set pattern at all. Oh well.

I'd not watch any of that stuff listed so far. There are good teen movies. Most of them seem to be from the 80s. The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Canles rock, end of story.

You can always hunt out Gimp. It's comparable to Photoshop and free since it's Open Source. Photoshop isn't all that is out there. Otherwise, these are good considering. If you're going to use them on OB, you should keep in mind that the place doesn't allow any over 500 pixels wide by 100 pixels high. A few of these are over that.

[QUOTE=Shy][size=1]Answer: Gary Oldman. [b]Mystery Men Blow Batman Returns[/b] -Shy[/size][/QUOTE] Answer: Paul Reubens The Lost Boys The Goonies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

There's hypocrites within every group. I don't see why it matters. If people are dense enough to label [i]entire[/i] groups by those sorts of stereotypes, then that's their problem. I don't really think this would be clarifying anything for people with a shred of intelligence, assuming I could even make out most of the first post anyway.

I don't want to post this in that PSP vs DS thread because I don't care about what does what better. [url]http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/[/url] Nintendo has redesigned the DS. It's a hell of a lot more attractive looking now and a bit smaller. Looks nice. [url]www.gcadvanced.com[/url] [QUOTE]Nintendo Announces Official Name and New Design for Nintendo DS; More Than 120 Games in Development Worldwide for Nintendo's New Game Platform Today, Nintendo has formally announced the official name of their next handheld, and "third pillar". First there was the Nintendo DS, then we found out about the name the "Nitro". The it was back to the DS again. Nintendo has offically gone on record to say that the new system's name will be Nintendo DS. The name was chosen because it represents the product as "dual-screen" so natively. "The Nintendo DS will change the future of hand-held gaming," says Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. "Dual screens, chat functions, a touch screen, wireless capabilities, voice recognition -- these abilities surpass anything attempted before, and consumers will benefit from the creativity and innovation the new features bring to the world of video games." The hardware announcements that came may also come to make people happy: # Redesigned to sport a slimmer, sharper look. # Features a thinner, black base and an angular platinum flip-top cover # Face buttons and shoulder buttons are larger, and some have been reconfigured for optimum use # Includes a new storage slot for the touch screen's stylus # The speakers now broadcast in stereo sound with or without headphones Nintendo also announced that the developer support list for the DS is now 100 software companies strong. There are over 120 titles currently in development with at least 20 of them coming from Nintendo themselves. "The innovative functions make Nintendo DS a superior game device, while the chat feature and ability to detect other DS units make it a social device as well," says Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "We've figured out the magic of what makes portable game play so attractive to consumers. We've defeated nine challengers and once again we're prepared to win." The launch date, launch price, and launch game line-up at a later date still.[/QUOTE]

Honestly, I've never had any loading problems on your page. Do you have another browser you can try?

I don't think games should be made into movies. I can't think of a single decent videogame movie off the top of my head. Things like Mortal Kombat are generally referred to as the best, but compared to what? Other video game movies? When there's a Super Mario Bros. film with a human Bowser and a Double Dragon film starring Keanu Reeves, there's not much to be proud of in that statement. Games have gotten increasingly cinematic. In many cases, the games that do this most are games I probably like the least. I am not interested in watching a movie more than I play a game. Games offer control that movies don't. Going away from this simply defeats their purpose in my mind. I doubt many people agree, but I think game based movies should be entirely ignored and the money better spent on making good playable games with high quality presentations. I don't love the new Riddick game, but that's a good example of what developers should be going for right now. Tie ins can help, but they're rarely capitalized on effectively.

[SIZE=2]?What's it going to be then?? Rays of sunlight randomly burst between the leaves above in the trees, preventing him from focusing on the figures above him. He knew their faces well, but the situation at hand prevented him from remembering much about their appearances. Their silhouettes were menacing enough, making it hard to concentrate on much else; especially when considering the other thoughts racing through his head. Most of their words were just mumbles to him, despite being clearly audible for anyone else in their general vicinity. He reached over to the side of his face, causing his ribs to ache. He rubbed around his ears and brought his hand into his line of vision, allowing his eyes to adjust to the newfound shade from the sun. Liquid dripped from his hand onto his face, some landing in his eyes, stinging them and tinting everything red. ?I said, what's it going to be?? Their voices sounded as though they were in a wind tunnel. Everything felt so far away, yet it was so close. He coughed some, blood spraying out into the surrounding air. Some of the silhouettes were noticeably annoyed, tapping their fingers against objects they were holding. He couldn't even think of what they wanted or why they wanted it. He couldn't think about anything, but still he answered them. It was what they wanted to hear. ?Fine. I'll do it. Just leave me alone.? They tossed a potato sack full of various items at him. It landed on his face, blocking him from seeing the silhouettes as they walked away. He didn't bother removing it. He knew who they were anyway. Everyone there did. Time passed. The temperature dropped some. The sun had begun to set. He got up and shook his shirt loose from his skin, but the blood held most of it in place. Rain began to fall, washing some of the blood out of his shirt and hair. He looked over and saw the other kids running inside, but decided to take his time. Getting wet was the least of his worries. The head of the building stood in the doorway as the children ran in, slapping them if they didn't take their muddy shoes off before making it inside. He looked up at her and she looked back. He could tell by her face that she saw everything that happened, but in her typical fashion showed no interest in fixing the problem. ?Johnny, did you break anything??, she asked coldly as she moved his arms about and felt his ribs. ?No, Mrs. De Lyle,? he replied, although her poking him after being beaten didn't make him feel any better. For a second he thought about telling her what they wanted him to do. After all, it affected her directly. He thought better about it, though. Partly because he didn't want to get in trouble with the kids who beat him up, but partly because he [i]wanted[/i] to do it. Mrs. De Lyle pulled what remained of his shirt off his body and threw it in the trash. He only had two shirts and that was his favorite, but nothing much could be done about it now. She shoved him through the hallway and closed the door behind him. Time for her evening drinking marathon, he thought to himself. Walking over to the bathroom he saw the same silhouettes from earlier watching him. He didn't bother turning his head. He already knew what to do and they knew he'd do it at the risk of even more severe beatings. He kept walking and closed the door behind him. He looked into the bathroom mirror. He saw his own face staring back at him, although it was a bit different. Not because of the blood in his eyes or dripping from his head, but because the glass was cracked in three places and covered in mildew. He washed his hands and tried to wipe some of the scum off the mirror. Instead, the crack in the glass wound up slicing his hand open, creating yet another source of blood to flow from his body. He had already gotten over pain earlier in the day. He managed to black this cut out of his mind like the dozens of others he had already received. The small hand towel lying on the sink was large enough to wrap around his hand to stop the bleeding. He sat on the toilet seat and stared at the blood that had managed to seep through and stain the previously yellow hand towel. It contrasted heavily with the muted brown and rust colors that made up the bathroom's design. At the very least, it's a pretty color. After some time to himself he made his way to the bedroom that most of the boys in the building slept in. There wasn't much space, so no one spent much time in there other than when they were asleep. Aside from the cots they used, everyone had their own little footlocker. They were regularly broken into and most of his stuff had already been stolen. All that remained was a small stuffed rabbit named Carrot. No one bothered taking it in fear of being ridiculed by the other boys. In truth, he was probably too old to sleep with it, but it was all he had to call his own. Being laughed at and teased because of Carrot was not a big concern of his. He had learned to tune most of it out. He was beaten up on a regular basis as it was, a few more because of a stuffed animal wasn't the end of the world. ------------------------------ That night in bed he stared up at the ceiling. As usual, he counted the cracks, losing count within a few minutes. Unlike ever other night, however, this didn't help him fall asleep. He was more awake than he had been in quite some time. Somewhat scared, but also pretty excited. This was his one chance to get back at Mrs. De Lyle, someone everyone in the building hated with a passion. He couldn't do much against the other, bigger boys that made his daily life a living hell. He couldn't do much about the abusive, drunken whore that owned the building. But he could do something to hurt Mrs. De Lyle in an indirect way. The thought of that made him smile to himself. Mr. Boots was getting what he deserved and the idea was very exciting. He sat up in his cot and pulled off the tattered sheets. Carrot was stuffed into his footlocker, exchanged with the potato sack he was given earlier. Scrounging around in the bag he found mostly useless trinkets and a screwdriver. Phillips, to be exact. It would be sufficient. He tied the bag shut, put it in another kid's footlocker and sneaked out of the room towards the front of the building. Mrs. De Lyle was in the living room. She was busy. The noises of her and ?Mr. De Lyle? made that much obvious. No one knew why Mrs. De Lyle wanted to be called a Mrs. She didn't wear a wedding ring and the man who was supposedly ?Mr. De Lyle? changed on an almost nightly basis. The kids weren't that nave, but she made herself think they were. It made getting paid at night easier. He crept by and made his way into the laundry room. The smelly, noisy part of the house that Mr. Boots called his lair. As usual, the dryer was shaking as clothes flopped around inside of it. Some of the clothes from a nearby basket and fallen out onto the floor. Mr. Boots was fast asleep in the pile they created. He tiptoed towards the cat. Now, a little back story. Boots is old. Boots is mean. Boots did not like children. Boots smelled bad. Boots defecated in their beds and marked his territory on their clothes. No one liked Boots. Mrs. De Lyle loved Boots. Mrs. De Lyle was an abusive, drunken, obnoxious whore. No one liked Mrs. De Lyle. She made the kids refer to the cat with the title of ?Mister?. Repeat this in your head for a half an hour over and over. You'll come to the same conclusion as Johnny: Boots had to die. The next bit of time was mostly a blur. He lifted up his screwdriver above his head. Boots twitched a bit. He was apparently having another one of his dreams that generally ended in him waking up, hissing and biting one of the children. Johnny realized that his eyes were closed. He forced himself to open them. Taking one last deep breath, he plunged the screwdriver into the cat's ribs. Mr. Boots let out an incredibly loud, screeching sound as he struggled against the pain of metal pressing against his vital organs. Johnny removed the sharp object slowly and pressed it in again. And again. And again. Mr. Boots was dead and the clothes he was sleeping on were covered in the proof of it. Johnny didn't feel remorse for what he had just done. It felt good. It felt liberating. He imagined that this must be what it felt like for the other kids who beat up on him. He didn't feel quite as much resentment towards them. For a second, anyway. Mrs. De Lyle was too busy with ?Mr. De Lyle? to hear what had happened. He wiped the screwdriver against the clean part of Mr. Boots's fur and threw it out the nearby window. He calmly walked back to the main bedroom and laid down in his cot. He had since stopped hurting. He had stopped thinking about what he had done mere minutes ago. Johnny feel asleep. The quickest he had fallen asleep since he first arrived there. ------------------------------ It was not a long sleep, however. Johnny was quickly rustled awake by another one of the boys in his room. The building was on fire. All of the kids made it out safely, as did Mrs. De Lyle. ?Mr. De Lyle? had already left hours earlier. He got what he wanted. Everyone stood against a wooden horse that was being used to block the site of the fire. Most of the building was already engulfed in flames. Some kids were screaming about the items they lost. Mrs. De Lyle was yelling hysterically about Mr. Boots. Johnny smiled to himself for a second until he realized that Mrs. De Lyle had never seen his handiwork. She never saw Mr. Boots's still warm corpse lying in her laundry room. She never saw the claw marks in the plastic basket that he had made while trying to fight against the screwdriver. She saw nothing that had been done. All the credit went to the fire. The cat was dead. She was hurt. She was not hurt by Johnny, however, and that made all the difference in the world to him. He thought about the one small tangible possession he had. It was undoubtedly nothing more than a pile of ashes at this point. Johnny didn't need Carrot anymore, though. He found something else that made him feel a lot better. Most of the kids were being pushed into cars and shipped away from the building. Johnny didn't know where they were taking everyone, but it didn't concern him much. On his way over to the cars, he heard someone softly calling for him. It was Margaret. They had never really spoken before, but he knew her. The girls in the building were kept in separate rooms and played at different times of the day. Meal time was the only part of the day when boys and girls in the building had any direct contact. Even that was minimal. Margaret was older than a Johnny by at least five years. Still not old enough to be considered independent. She was still a ward of the state, just like Johnny. She had long, dirty blond hair and bright blue eyes. Strong for her age, she didn't take much crap from anyone in the building. Johnny had respect for Margaret, but he didn't know why it would be mutual. Margaret calling for him was a bit of a surprise. She took his hand a pulled him through the nearby alley. They decided to stick together. To take care of each other. Margaret already had a place to stay. Illegally, anyway. A rundown, abandoned apartment complex a few blocks north. She dragged him up five floors of stairs to her room. She explained to Johnny that she had been here often the last few months. Sneaking out at night when Mrs. De Lyle was busy to be by herself. She had already furnished a good portion of the room with small, beat-up chairs and a table. There was no electricity, but candles did the job. All of the things she owned in there were stolen from nearby shops and homes. They continued to talk to each other into the night. Talking about their past and where they wanted to go with their lives. Johnny had no real goals. Margaret's were mostly fantasy and she knew it. Being a secret agent, assassin or professional thief were not things nearby businesses were hiring for. Not with a standard application, at least. Her job interests caught Johnny's attention, however, and he decided to tell her about Mr. Boots. He embellished the story a great deal. It was no longer him against a sleeping cat. It was him against the bullies and Mrs. De Lyle and a crazy, naked ?Mr. De Lyle?. Johnny knew Margaret didn't know the true story and never would know anything about it beyond what he told her. It was the first time in his life that he actually felt like he meant something in some small way. He was talking and someone was listening. They continued to talk about such things and discovered that they both had a penchant for violence. It had long laid dormant in Johnny, outside of Mr. Boots, but Margaret had done far worse things. He sat wide eyed as she told him stories about her attempts and thievery. The ones that didn't work out were always the most entertaining. Eventually she started taking him on these excursions and he quickly found out she was not exaggerating. This was how things were in reality and he loved it. Eventually they decided to make their own business of sorts. After all, they were going to need food and clothing. They needed money for both of these, but they had no marketable skills. All they were good at, in their minds, was violence and theft. They had already been doing well enough stealing small amounts of items to fence for money, but they needed something more substantial. There was money money out there. Especially considering how gang ridden the area was. There were jobs that could be done. ------------------------------ Johnny looked across the glass table at the glow of the large, plasma television set. It had been nearly six years since he had run away with Margaret. They were no longer eating crackers with mustard and sleeping on top of layers of old quilts on a tile floor. They were eating expensive meals and sleeping in king sized beds. Persona and Fantoche were well known in the area. Word of them had already spread across the nation and was starting to hit other areas of the globe. Ruthless killings done for a price. Yet nothing could be proven. No one could tie the motives of Persona and Fantoche to any specific people. It was common knowledge that they were hired hands, but that's all that was concrete about the situation. Johnny and Margaret were not well known in the area. In a city such as Chicago, no one questions the origins of your money. If you have it, you're well liked and taken care of. If you're not, you're pushed aside for those that have it. Johnny and Margaret were no exception. Faces weren't important unless they were on green sheets of paper. Not that either of them were unhappy with their anonymity. That's what wearing a mask when you do your job does. Although being an unknown in the flesh was better than getting the death sentence. Things had been going well those last five and half years. Jobs were done, the pay was good, social lives were separated from business. Lately however, frays started to appear. Problems arose. Disagreements were common. Margaret was apparently unhappy with the current setup after years of what he felt was smooth operation. She was unhappy with Persona, but most of all she was unhappy with Johnny. Johnny had become more and more distant over the years. He had no social life outside of contact with employers and the day to day dealings with Margaret herself. He was entranced by his job to the point of obsession. He had begun to refuse jobs that didn't involve a body count, regardless of the fee they're receive. Nearly all of his profits went to new weapons and training. He collected :?trophies?from their various victims, something Margaret was very much against because it was the only real potential evidence against them. Johnny's violent outbreaks often kept her from commenting on these issues, but as of late she had kept less and less to herself. To Johnny, Margaret had become more of an obstacle than a partner. The continued to work together because they were known as a team. The two together interested employers more than just one of them alone, despite the increase in price. People were willing to pay well if it guaranteed fast, effective results. They both knew this. However, the annoyance had built to a fever point for each of them and it was likely to fall apart eventually. On jobs, Persona would set traps with the intention of disposing of both the prey and Fantoche. Razor trip wires and neck level, explosives in areas Persona deemed safe, close calls with Persona's axes despite his legendary control of them in previous jobs. She shrugged most of this off. Despite Margaret's personal problems with Johnny, she trusted him when she was Fantoche and he was Persona. She felt no reason to not trust him. For her there was business and everything else. This was business. To her they were different people in their masks. People with a job to do and nothing more. To Johnny, it wasn't so much about the job as it was about the thrill, the agony on the faces of people in his way and the spilling of their blood. To him, the line between Johnny and Persona was blurring to the point of being erased. Margaret no longer seemed to enjoy their work as much as he once thought she did. To him, this was a problem. It was a threat to his desires and what he believed to be his purpose. The reason he had gone through all he had as a child was so he could be prepared to do what he did now. Then Adam called for the first time. Margaret kept this call to herself. She had no intention of bringing the increasingly erratic Persona along. Johnny, in her mind, had since ceased to exist. He wore his grotesque mask at nearly all times of the day, rarely even taking it off to sleep. This was a big job. The type of job that could give her and Fantoche the boost they needed to go off by themselves, leaving Persona behind for good to delude himself in his own fantasies. The more she heard from Adam during that phone call, the more she realized what she had to do. She'd kill Persona and go off on her own. Leaving him alive would surely result in problems. At the very least, unwanted competition. At the worst, well, she didn't want to think about that, but it definitely wouldn't be desirable. Persona wasn't unaware of the situation, despite what Margaret thought. His paranoia came in handy, leading him to watch her twenty-four hours a day if it was possible. He installed cameras and motion detectors throughout their apartment and wired them all into his computer. He could change between them manually, but otherwise whichever one sensed movement was shifted to become the main camera. Margaret unknowingly had zero privacy in her own home. He knew she had been brining home chemicals from the grocery store that she never previously had bought. He figured out her plans to take over the operation without him and decided to take his attempts at removing her from the picture to the next level. Adam's job was still over a week away and Margaret was quite good at pretending it didn't exist. She accepted jobs for both her and Persona for several different days leading up to the day she planned on killing him. Some even afterwards. Persona had been waiting for a very specific day to kill Margaret. It just so happened that her birthday was two days before she was planning to leave to meet up with Adam. To him, there was no better day to finish her off. A perfect present for both of them. What he didn't plan on, however, was for her to schedule a job on that same day. After pacing about his room, he stopped and glared at his computer monitor. Sunlight from the window was creating glare on the screen, but he could still make out Margaret putting on her suit and mask. She was smoothing out the wrinkles in her black attire. Sheathing her blades and polishing up her pistol. After more pacing, he decided it would be best to slice her apart on the job rather than at home. He didn't want blood to get all over his animated DVD collection. ------------------------------ Most of the room was painted red with blood and entrails. Bodies laid huddled in a corner, the messiest of which was pinned to the ceiling by one of Fantoche's dual blades. Gravity pulled the blood on the ceiling to the floor in a short lived shower, spread out even further by the quickly spinning ceiling fan just next to his corpse. The job was completed. No problems had arisen. Fantoche started to walk out of the room, but Persona stood in place. She turned her neck and stared back at him. He couldn't see her eyes through the yellow sockets on her mask, but he knew what kind of face she was making underneath. ?Let's go. They're not paying us to clean up after ourselves.? She laughed to herself and turned around, at which point she felt wind blow by her face. She heard a small ?ting?and the sound of glass bottle rolling on the floor. She didn't have to look down to realize what had been thrown in her direction. It was the vial of homemade poison she had been making behind Persona's back. Fantoche pulled off her mask and once again became Margaret. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her blade and jammed it into the wooden floor boards. It shook as the sound resonated throughout the room. ?So what is it you're going to do??, she asked him. She scrunched her eyes up hoping to somehow see through the eyes in Persona's mask. All she could see were small, upside down reflections on herself. ?You're going to kill me? Is that it? Do you realize how fucking ironic this is? You shouldn't even be alive right now. I saved you. I brought you out of that dump with me. I got you away from those assholes that beat the hell out of you everyday. I got you away from Mrs. De Lyle. I put an end to the endless parades of possible foster parents that never wanted anything to do with either of us. Even the goddamn kids who beat you were set to leave soon. Even they found people that were willing to take them in. If I hadn't saved you, I wouldn't even be starting at your stupid mask right now. You love this shit and you owe all of it to me. And now you want to kill me?? Persona stood still as a statue. Margaret's rant came off as little more than the whimpering of a rodent caught in the corner by a large cat, knowing that it has no chance of escape. Margaret backed up slowly and tore her blade out of the floorboards, throwing up small splinters of wood. ?I even burnt down that goddamn building to get us out of there. You never once acted happy that that happened. All I've had to listen to for six years is how you regretted Mrs. De Lyle never seeing her damn mess of a cat. Who cares? Who fucking cares? I took care of you as good as any parent would have, Johnny. Typical 'Leave It to Beaver' TV bullshit with a weird twist, but we were happy.? At this point tears were streaming down her face because she was so angry. Her eyes burned and her hands shook, but never let go of her blade. Persona pulled out his axes. Two fire department axes, wooden hilted with a red and silver blade. They were still dirty from the mess he and Fantoche made only a few minutes earlier. Margaret knew at this point that her reasoning was not working with Johnny... No, he wasn't Johnny anymore. He was simply Persona. He was a shell controlled by a mask, caring for nothing but his own thirst for blood. He started to walk towards her. ?At least take your damn mask off. You owe me that much.? Her request was answered by two axes. Before Margaret could react, her leg was on the floor. Her left arm and blade joined it shortly after, blood pouring from the newly made wounds. Her body fell the floor as she began to flop around like a fish out of water in panic. Throughout her entire career, she had never suffered a substantial injury. The last person she thought would give it to her would be him. Eventually she stopped shaking around out of exhaustion. She had lost massive quantities of blood, causing her to become rather light headed. Through her fuzzy vision she could make out Persona's shoes walking towards the vial he had thrown previously. He opened the mouth of one of the dead bodies in the pile and poured it in. Shaking out the last drops, he made his way back over to Margaret's body. He leaned over and caressed her face with his gloved hands. He could sense that she wouldn't last more than a few extra minutes. He filled the empty vial up with her blood that was still leaking out. Margaret grabbed his wrist with her remaining arm and moved it over to her side. She pushed his hand under her jacket and attempted a small smile in his direction. Persona could feel something soft under the leather of her outfit and pulled it out. It was Carrot. A dirty, bloody Carrot... but still him nonetheless. With this, she took her last breath and fell limp. Persona closed her eyes and pulled her mask back over her face. He stood up and looked out the window and sighed. Placing Carrot back in Margaret's inside pocket he made his way out of the building and began thinking about the upcoming jobs she had assigned them to before her untimely demise. There was one call he wanted to make in particular. That call would ultimately lead to his first of many jobs for Adam. It's what he was born to do.[/SIZE] [spoiler]Hopefully this is satisfactory. Being the first post other than James's is a bit intimidating heh.[/spoiler] Special thanks to Ben for alterting me on a problem in the post.

[quote name='natetron46']i was under the impression that in the movies harry would be the hob goblin, but in the comics that is not the way it goes.[/quote] You can't go completely by comics with any comic movie. They're adapted. If they stuck with just the comics instead of worrying about making a comprehendable movie, I think they'd have a problem making decent, succinct films heh. Same reason why they skipped over Gwen Stacy, I imagine... although I wish they hadn't. Anyway, here's Bale in the Batsuit for the new Batman film: [url]http://img70.exs.cx/img70/7304/bale.jpg[/url]