larchive

Goodbye, Grandma.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:39:57 GMT

Today I went to my Grandmother's funeral.

It was mentioned a few times that 'wish we could meet at a better time.'

I do not feel that way. My only regret is that I didn't spend more time with her. I know little about her life beyond it was a full life that I can only hope to do half the life she had.

Ninety-five years old, twelve grandkids, fourteen great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandchild on the way. She was a child in the great depression and a young woman during World War 2.

She will be missed, of that there is no doubt. Her beautiful life ran its course, and her passing was not too soon. Her presence will not be gone from our lives, as it will continue through the memories of the three generations that got to know her and will pass them along to the generations to come.

Goodbye, Grandma. Say 'hi' to Grandpa and Dad for me. Hope to meet you again when my time comes, though I hope that reunion won't be for a long time to come.

Meme fun

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:57:28 GMT

'Borrowed' from everyone else.

Pick a fandom, any fandom I'm in. I will tell you:
1. One True Pairing Ship:
2. Canon Ship:
3. "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork" Ship:
4. "You are one sick puppy" Ship:
5. "I dabble a little" Ship:
6. "It's like a car crash" Ship:
7. "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet" Ship:
8. "Makes no canon sense but why the heck not" Ship:
9. "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it" Ship:

Work and Zendikar

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:13:55 GMT

Thanks to training to be the head manager for the store, I've had little time at all with 60+ hour work weeks, not counting the hour round trip every day of the week. As such, I've barely written anything at all since my last post.

Because of work, I was unable to go on Saturday to the prerelease for Zendikar. Had the decision to not open the store on Sunday, I would've tried to hit the midnight release on Friday despite having a near ten hour day at work. So the plan became try to hit a tournament after work on Saturday and go first thing in the morning Sunday.

I was lucky to show up at the local store on Saturday in time to get in on a draft. First pack I didn't get past the first card: Lotus Cobra. Had no idea what else was in that pack. I devised an effecting red/green stomp and burn deck. Held a fair number of burn spells. Unfortunately my opponent had more than a dozen allies in his deck. I won the first game mostly due to him messing up the build on his deck. The other two games felt like sliver flashback only worse as killing one doesn't weaken the ones already in play.

On Sunday I got to the regional tournament location early and got to be second in line at the door. Due to overwhelming turnout at midnight release and Saturday, they only had enough product to run a 20 person tournament and prerelease promos for half of those players. So, again, I was lucky to get in as if I had arrived after nine o'clock, I would've had nothing.

For the tournament itself I cracked open only one 'money card' in the form of the black/green fetch land. The rest of the rares weren't ones that would likely be in constructed tournaments. In a sealed deck? They were unstoppable bombs. Gigantiform and Terra Stomper for 8/8 trample meanness. Predatory Urge for creature removal. Because of the mana curve and lack of usable allies, I didn't even use Turntimber Ranger I got. While I didn't use the Bloodchief Ascension I also pulled, black was too strong not to use.

I believe my deck list was this: Vampire Nighthawk, Crypt Ripper, Disfigure, Guul Draz Vampire, Heartstabber Mosquito, Marsh Casualties, 2x Quest for the Gravelord, 2x Soul Stair Expedition and Vampire Lacerator for black. Gigantiform, Greenweaver Druid, 2x Harrow, 2x Mold Shambler, Nissa's Chosen, Predatory Urge, Terra Stomper, Territorial Baloth, 2x Vastwood Gorger, and Vines of Vastwood for green. 8 swamps, 8 forests, and Verdant Catacombs for the mana base. I'm not 100% certain as I never played Vampire Lacerator, though I know he was in my pull, while I thought I had a Baloth Woodcrasher, but that could've been the one I got in open play. Even if I did have him, he didn't do anything note worthy.

Hate to say this, but my first round opponent was the most difficult to beat. By the end of the tournament, I had forgotten he forced a game three by getting a faster start in game two. Game one was Crypt Ripper and lots of swamps. Game three was Gigantiform Nissa's Chosen, who got killed, Terra Stomper, who also got killed but Soul Stair Expedition brought him back for the win. In the following three rounds I played, it was simply beat down. With such meanness as Predatory Urge on Terra Stomper (initially done to kill his River Boa because he was tapped out) and another game with Urge on Crypt Ripper. And I got the ultimate smack down combo with Vampire Nighthawk enchanted with Gigantiform, as there's little to stop a black 8/8 flying, deathtouch, lifelink, trample creature.

When I finished with an undefeated record, I got to watch the only person who could also go undefeated get the crap beat out of him as he drew into the common bonus lands which come in play tapped and weren't much help against three power flying along with other creatures. That second game was short and brutal, and altered the prize pull. By defeating the paired down undefeated player, leaving me the only undefeated player, I got 16 packs as prize and the six 3-1 players got 4 packs each. Had the opposite happened, I would've ended up with 8 packs, and there would've been only four 3-1 players who would've gotten 6 packs each.

Now if only someone will buy the Foil Lotus Cobra I pulled from the prizes I have on ebay, my surprisingly lucky weekend of magic will be complete.

Here's hoping I get some time to get back to some writing.

work, sleep, and attempts to have fun

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:36:55 GMT

Well, I went to the Magic 2010 prerelease.

My pull in the sealed deck was strong control but weak on blue creatures. I kept black for it's solid removal, but decided to go white for the flyers, particularly Serra Angel. Ajani certainly factored on the decission. If I was more into control than beat down, I would have gone blue for card drawing (especially Djinn of Wishes), two five-card milling spells, multiple counterspells and a pair of Snapping Drake. My first opponent was both a strong player and had a good pull-- I put up a fight, but he won. Second round had more to deal with missed land drops than anything else. When my deck functioned, I wrecked him. However, that was second game, the first and third were horribly land screwed.

No prizes for being 2-2, I jumped to drafts. First pack pick: Lightning Bolt. The rare sucked, and the uncommons weren't much better. Second pick was Serra Angel, but that ended up being the only white card I got as the third pick was Overrun and I never looked back on a red/green build. It was especially supported with getting a foil Earthquake and the red/green dual-land. Pulling triple Stampeding Rhinos is particularly harsh. First opponent got overwhelmed by my creatures. Second opponent I steam rolled the first game, dropping Overrun on turn six with Llanowar Elf, Awakener Druid and his tree, Mist Leapord and Stampeding Rhino in play. The next two games came down to one turn... if I had one more turn, I would've won. Still, it was a great match against a fun opponent.

Still had time to play so went to another draft. It was mostly a green deck with a splash of white for flying and minor removal. The decission was largely made at the start with Silence out of the first pack. Then I was passed Garruk. At first I thought my friend, who is rather new to the game, didn't really know about planeswalkers; however the card he picked was a foil Twincast. He certainly did right as he is a mostly white/blue player. When I was done with my picks, I felt as if I could lose out without regret with a total of nine rares. My first opponent pulled lots of strong, fast creatures. He, however, did not grab any support for them. Once I have creatures with three toughness, he was done. The fact I pulled Overrun in both games played was overkill. Second opponent was removal happy. He took out my creatures while papercutting me to death. Had I gotten more removal, I could've done better.

Overall, I had a lot of fun. And I certainly can't complain with ending up with seven mythic rares: Vampire Nocturnus prerelease foil, Ajani and Platnium Angel in the sealed, Baneslayer Angel from the bonus pack from the green structure deck I got for open play, passed Garruk in the draft, and got Protean Hydra and Sphinx Ambassador as part of a trade. Got some good rares as well, with Silence, Coat of Arms x2, Planar Cleansing, Djinn of Wishes, foil Earthquake, the new goblin, elf, merfolk and zombie lords, and Rootbound Crag.

Before cracking a box when it's released Friday, I've already got 146 of the 229 cards.

In fanfiction news:
I will be posting a Code Lyoko fict soon. It will either be one or two chapters. The decission will be made when it is finished, which will be soon.

Though I suppose what I have to say next. Red Digivice Diaries 22 is roughly half done and should be the next fict I post after the Code Lyoko one.

April Fool's Fict that didn't quite get finished.

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:42:08 GMT

This was something I was hoping to post for April Fools day as a joke to my Naruto series. See if you can figure out why this is a joke entry.

Gaiden 2 - Fool's Mission

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto and is used without consent. All rights reserved.

-----------------

Inari groaned as he awoke in his bed. He patted the space next to him and did not feel the warm, naked flesh of his lover. It was rare for her to wake up before he did. Even stranger was that her side of the bed had grown cold. Something didn't seem right with that. He crawled out of bed, got dressed, and made his way downstairs. "Have you seen Keiko?"

Suzamiya frowned at the boy. "I thought she was still asleep."

Inari bolted from the house, not liking that answer. Winding his way through the streets, he found no sign of Keiko. In fact he didn't see any ninja of chuunin rank or above. Leaping to the top of a three-story business, Inari looked across much of Konoha. He frowned seeing several ninja converging on the other side of town. This did not bode well, and he was afraid that Keiko was involved.

"Hey, Tazuna!" Hanabi called out.

"That's my grandpa's name! Call me Inari!" the boy shot at her, but did not pause as he raced to the troubled area.

"Byakugan!" Hanabi cried out and was on Inari in an instant. She tried to land a hit on him, but found herself punching water.

"What the hell is with you?" Inari demanded.

"I was tasked to keep you away from the battle." Hanabi smirked cruelly. "I'm going to make sure you can't make it there."

Inari scowled. "You really need to pay more attention to your surroundings."

Hanabi adjusted her feet. "And you should know the fear of facing a Hyuuga on her terms."

"Sorry," Inari called out, before using his jutsu. All the water in a nearby fish tank leapt at Hanabi.

The girl had a moment of confusion before realizing the error of her position too late. She ran away screaming with a half dozen piranhas chewing on her exposed skin.

-----------------

"Deidara, what are you doing?" Kisame chuckled out.

"Just hanging around," Deidara growled angrily, hanging upside down from a tree. "NOW GET ME DOWN!"

"Where is your partner?" Itachi questioned. He did not seem to move, but a shuriken flew from where he stood, severing the rope at the trapped ninja's feet.

"OOF!" Deidara landed on his head. "You could've caught me."

"We could've left you up there too," Kisame sneered.

Itachi glared. "Where is your partner?"

"Tobi spouted something about one of his plans coming to fruition and then attacked me," Diedra spat.

"Konoha," Itachi spat.

-----------------

There was something horribly wrong with what Inari saw. While this was not the main front of the battle as the other ninja were converging two blocks down, the sight of Keiko fighting Kakashi did not sit well with him. Lightning arced between the combatants, to no apparent injury.

That Kakashi would use his Sharigan eye on Keiko would seem to be overkill, yet unbelievably Keiko's eyes also bared the Sharigan spiral.

"What the hell is going on?!" Inari cried out.

"Shit," Kakashi muttered. "Inari, get away from here! If she kills you there'll be no stopping her!"

"Huh?" Inari wondered before instinctively leaping back. Like a lightning strike, Keiko stood with her hand outstretched right where Inari had been. He stared at her in confused disbelief. She would never attack him, and her eyes were both soulless and crying. "What is going on?"

"My father has come to pay Konoha back. And I will help him with your blood on my hands!" Keiko launched forward and plunged her hand into Inari. She had a moment to realize her mistake of striking a water element ninja with a lightning enhanced punch when she saw her lover in two places. She screamed in pain as his water clone sent the electrical charge back at her.

Kakashi took the opportunity that opened up for him. Using a small amount of Earthen jutsu he could perform, he encased his hand in rock before punching the girl in the back of her head, knocking the girl unconscious.

"What is going on?" Inari demanded.

"We'll find out soon enough," Kakashi replied.

-----------------

Shizune frowned as she watched from the Hokage's office as smoke began to bellow in the distance. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."

Tsunade glared at the growing damage. "This was not something we could've foreseen. We were worried about her being a spy for the Mist Ninja, not an unknown Uchiha working for the Akatsuki."

"How is she even an Uchiha?" Shizune wondered.

"An illegitimate child would make the most sense, possibly even Itachi's child. Yet reports have her calling the masked man her father, and it is clear he's not Itachi," Tsunade observed bitterly. "What is going on here? It makes no sense."

"What I don't understand is the method. If this guy really is her father, then he at least had his daughter believe she had been a prostitute and then set her up to have a serious relationship with a boy," Shizune mentioned.

"As ninja we are trained to sacrifice everything for our cause. It would seem this man, assuming he is her father, would even destroy his own daughter's innocence to achieve his gains," Tsunade retorted. "Father of the year, he is not."

-----------------

A masked ninja leapt at his opponent, and went through the robed enemy as if he wasn't even there. Yet the image brought a kunai at ninja's back and ended his life.

"Are we done with sending nameless ninja at me?" Tobi asked in a bored tone.

The road was littered with Anbu ninja corpses, yet the masked Akatsuki didn't even have a smudge on his cloak.

"Why can't we touch him?" Shikamaru wondered in an annoyed tone.

"This isn't some genjutsu. I can see him right there," Neji informed with a growl.

Both of them turned when they heard the screech of a thousand birds.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Don't attack him recklessly!"

Neji held a similar reaction. "Sharigan eyes? Tenten was right?"

Jiro did not attack where people could see Tobi but a space two steps to the left. The Akatsuki leapt to avoid the strike, but the young ninja followed.

"Son of a bitch!" Tobi cursed as his leg was brushed with lightning. "Even leaving you and the wife alone, you still somehow managed to access your eyes. I can't have rouge Uchiha's running around."

"I will protect Konoha and Keiko from you," Jiro vowed grabbing the Akatsuki by his robe.

"The only way you could beat me is if you kill your beloved Naruto, Hinata-chan," Tobi taunted.

Neji had been moving into position, but stumbled when he heard that comment. "Huh?"

"Attack!" Jiro called out.

"Too late!" Tobi chirped and flung Jiro at Neji. He quickly hopped out of the way as a volley of shuriken, devil shuriken and kunai cascaded to where he had stood.

"Damn it!" Tenten spat.

"Useless as always, Dear." Tobi kicked her through a wall and out of the fight.

"He is always two steps away from his image!" Jiro advised.

"Got it!" Rock Lee called out. He landed purposefully where Tobi appeared to be and unleashed a wide spinning kick.

Tobi caught the kick. "I don't think so."

"Initial Lotus!" Rock Lee called out, as he dropped to the ground and kicked up with his other leg with all his might. He immediately jumped up despite his awkward position and managed to grab his semi-invisible target. He sent them both into a dizzying spin that ended with Tobi landing headfirst into the ground.

Rock Lee jumped back defensively while Tobi slowly sat up. "Ow." He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"That was a shadow clone?!" Jiro observed in distress.

"Tch. Where's the real guy?" Shikamaru wondered.

A sinking feeling gripped Jiro. "'Rouge Uchiha?' Shit! Shinobu!" Without another word, the young father leapt toward home, followed by several ninja.

-----------------

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Ai hissed in her most evil of voices.

"Is the little puppy scared of me?" Tobi chided.

Never before had Ai felt the Kyuubi back away from anything, yet she suddenly felt the beast scurry to the back of it's prison. Even in places where a demon would fear to tread, a mother would still go to rescue her baby. "Kage Bunshin!" Several copies of the woman appeared, surrounding the Akatsuki.

Despite being restricted to one hand by holding Shinobu, Tobi easily fended off the multiple clones trying to swarm him. He laughed as he leapt out of the house and went to the rooftops. "Didn't we do this dance once already?"

"He is where you see him," Jiro told the assembled ninja.

"You will not have my daughter!" Hinata vowed, showing that not all of Naruto's influences on her were to the benefit of her ninja skills. She attempted to land a strike on the masked Akatsuki, but her anger clouded her attacks. She disappeared in a puff of smoke as her opponent's hand speared into her chest.

"Good thing she was just a shadow," Shikamaru muttered. "Oh, and Shadow Bind successful."

Tobi tried to move his outstretched arm to no avail. "I am quite aware of that."

Tenten glared at the enemy as she leapt up to him. "I'll take her now, thank you."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine," Tobi remarked sarcastically as he was forced to hand over the infant.

"Hide her," Ai ordered. "Make sure this bastard can't find Shinobu."

"Kage Bunshin," Jiro called out, and then the clone added, "Henge."

"Huh? Wha?" Neji wondered when Hinata suddenly appeared.

"Long story, Neji-niisan. We have more to worry about," Hinata pointed out.

"Oh, indeed you do." Tobi smirked towards Ai. "Kyuubi, obey your master and unleash your fury upon Konoha once again! I, Madara, command it!"

"Oh, fuck," Shikamaru deadpanned.

Ai clutched at her chest as Kyuubi howled inside her. "Now isn't the time, you stupid beast. I won't let you listen to that shithead."

"Dog pile the asshole!" Kiba cried out, following word with action. Yet he and Akamaru landed face first onto the roof.

"I'm supposed to be the puppet master," Shikamaru growled as he strained to be the one in control of the movements.

"You're supposed to be a smart boy." The masked ninja started to dance like a monkey. "Tell me how I could throw your technique back at you?"

Shikamaru glanced at the girl doubled over with chakra visibly leaking out of her body. "Because you'd really are one of the founders of Konoha."

"Bingo." Madara took a step back and fell backwards as Shikamaru fell off the roof.

While Jiro moved to aid Ai, the rest of them went to fight the lone Akatsuki.

---------------

Note:
That's as far as I got. I may finish it and add it to an omake for the next chapter I release. Which will likely be Inari's story. Though I have yet to start that one. And Not sure when I'll get to it.

Conflux Prerelease

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:31:08 GMT

Finally getting around to relating my experiences for Conflux.

First flight had just shy of seventy players yet only would last four rounds as prizes were to be based on number of wins. I had a completely Naya build from my packs. Six creatures started out with power five or better, including Meglonoth, along with two creatures able to gain more than five power, Voracious Dragon and Knight of the Reliqueary. The deck was sadly light on removal of any kind, but the large number of powerful creatures musceled me through to a 3-1 rating and five packs in prizes. Meglonoth saw play five times-- three times he was killed outright, one opponent conceded as he had no answers and the final opponent top decked Absorb Vis to kill me before Meglonoth could kill him. This is the first deck I used Soul's Might in. With so many automatic targets, it proved to be powerful. However dropping Resounding Roar on a small green creature then using Soul's Might on it won me the third round.

Second flight was still 'Naya' for me but it had a more Bant slant to it. I had few power creatures, but the two big ones were still pretty big: Feral Hydra and Thornling. What served me well in this flight was removal: Soul's Fire, Branching Bolt, Magma Spray, Resounding Silence, Oblivion Ring (foil!), and TWO Path to Exile. Third round had a tough fight where in one game my opponent got to a roaring start and was dropping five powered creatures, and he got me down to five life. Then I hit into my removal and was able to keep him from doing any more damage to me.

Sunday I ran back to prerelease right after work. I showed up and asked 'What am I signing up for?' The reply was, 'Last spot in a draft.' After my last dismal showing in a draft I did not go into it expecting much. I would grab cards I need for set before cards to play. What I got from the Shards pull was nuts: Prince of Thrulls from my pack, then I was passed Archdemon of Unx, and then Ethersworn Canonist, foil Jungle Shrine ninth pull, and then I picked Mindlock Orb as my twelth card. Conflux packs weren't as rare friendly. I only got the ones I pulled, but both were good and in Grixis as well: Blood Tyrant and Nyxathid. Of all the cards I pulled, Nyxathid was the one that got me the most millage. First opponent had a green/black deck that was solidly built. First opponent I lost the first game as I could only draw blue spells and lands that weren't blue, won the second game when he only drew into lands and couldn't deal with my creatures, particularly two Vectis Agents, and the third game came down to him not being able to deal with Nyxathid and making several play mistakes. Second opponent didn't have as solid deck but his goal was to stall long enough for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker to rape. First game against him, and Nicol came out and after nuking my only two Mountains in play, he exploded and left me with an Island. The next two games were extremely similar with both of us playing a lot of the same cards. Nyxathid got me board advantage and then Blood Tyrant came out as the game closer. He didn't see Nicol Bolas either game.

All in all, including an implus buy of a Shards + Future Sight pack for $7 at Target, I spent $90 on magic during the release weekend and ended up with just shy of a box in cards. More than a box if counting by rares and uncommons and ignoring the lost commons from draft and the Jund Intro pack I played with in open dueling. A pretty good showing. Hopefully I can continue with the release tournaments.

Magic Tournaments and Such

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:37:51 GMT

It's been a while since I posted anything.

Part of the reason would be my less than stellar performance with Lowryn/Shadowmore block. Sure I've placed within prizes in all the prereleases and managed a fair showing at the Lowryn release tournament, but my rating went from shy of 1700 to under 1600 by the time Shards came out. Yes, my rating is less than a brand new player in my preferred format.

I've had better performance in Shards. I've been breaking even. Managed to grab second place in the final Prerelease flight for the Detroit area. Not bad when I walked in with only five minutes to register and build the deck, and I wasn't the last one to finish.

Grand Prix Atlanta was a story of a deck the could have gone top 8 out of twelve players, but lost in the final round by mana flooding both games from a deck with a whooping fourteen lands and three obelisks in a fourty-one card deck. That shouldn't have been possible.

PTQ Kyoto November 29th - I left after two rounds. The deck I got was sub-par, with bombs in white, but no support. I tried to use it anyway with blue and black. I should've gone Jund as while there were no bombs in green, it was far more stable. Not using black wasn't an option with Bone Splinters and Executioner's Capsule. Major play errors involving the fetch lands certainly didn't help.

PTQ Kyoto December 6th - Good cards in all colors, particularly in the form of multicolor with Prince of Thrulls, Fire-Fiend Ogre, Rhox War Monk, Woolly Thoctar, Executioner's Capsule, Jund Battlemage, two Sigil's Blessing, foil Resounding Roar, Blightning, Carrion Thrasher being among the best cards. Also had a Titanic Ultimatum that should've been main decked. Failure to do that was one of two major errors in my first lost. The second being forgetting to use Jund Battle Mage one turn. My opponent was at one life when I lost. Even being five colors, the deck played extremely well when I had one Druid, four different Obelisks, two triple lands and three fetch lands. I ended up with a three and three record and could've won any of the rounds I lost had I not made play errors the first lost and cards played out differently in the other two loses. My second loss started off with missing land drops against a third turn Woolly Thoctar, then I returned the favor the second game with my own Woolly backed with a pair of Sigil's Blessings, then was the real game and I got smacked with Battlegrace Angel with Sigil of Distinction. Executioned the angel, but he Naya Charmed her back. My last round loss was against a player who was better at putting together a solid deck than he was as a player. He made a few play errors, including not pumping his Knight of Skyward Eye to save it from lethal damage, but his deck was a solid Naya build with more burn than I had. Overall, I'm still kicking myself over the first loss, since I should have won it. I had fun. Especially with such wins as having a 15/15 Feral Hydra, Fire-Fiend Ogre, Jungle Weaver and a freshly played Rhox War Monk while staring down not one but two Broodmate Dragons with their tokens, and sitting at twelve life. He attacks for sixteen flying, and I play Angelsong and proceed to attack for the kill.

I did a draft after dropping out of the PTQ. 5-2 record got prizes, 4-3 only got bragging rights. I wish I stayed in to improve my sealed rating as the draft was an abomination. Getting a Battlegrace Angel in the first pack supported my thoughts of going for Naya build. I should've noticed white being sucked up like a cheap whore, as I end up with red and green mostly. It wouldn't have been bad if I had any decent cards passed toward me. I should've gone more Jund or Grixis in my grabs. The fact I pulled the rares from my second and third packs as the ninth pulls certainly didn't help me. I ended up rare drafting, but only after passing up a few cards that weren't in my colors but I needed for my sets.

For those following my writing, Between Deception and Truth 14 is almost done in draft form. It should be posted in a week or two. I'm not sure what chapter will be next, whether it's another Deception, Shadow of the Dragon or if I'll finally get started on the next Red Digivice Diaries chapter.

Life... Don't Tell Me About Life...

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:07:03 GMT

Life's a bitch. She keeps asking you for money, kicks you where it hurts, then asks for more.

Why have I barely written anything in the past month?

I broke a temporary tooth, and went to dentist to get it replaced. That was to be a couple hundred bucks I didn't have. After the cleaning and X-rays, I go to see the dentist, and her direct assistant enters and asks 'What are we going to do today?' (Looks at X-rays.) "A tooth extraction?" Not good to hear at all. Tooth was seriously infected. Now I've got dental bills wanting to reach to the thousands if I'm going to have a full smile.

And if that wasn't enough, my car decided it wanted four new tires. One was non-existant, another had a couple weeks to go at most, and the other two had maybe a half-year of life left.

Rather than get my credit card bill down to managable levels, it's now way past the amount I can pay off any time soon. At least it's for things that had to be done, and not 'Ohh, Cardcaptor Sakura cel with Sakura, Syaoran and Kero-chan in it. I have to have it! Oh, and Japanese magic cards? They're on sale?! Gimme those too!'

I shop too much like a girl. I can tell you already, once Holloween is over and bags of Kit-Kat's are less than a buck, I'll be stocking up on them. On sale and chocolate, bad combination for the financially strapped.

Progress of ficts:
Naruto - Between Deception and Truth chapter 6: Vaguely plotted, nothing written.
CCS - Shadow of the Dragon chapter 11: Two scenes written, mostly plotted out.
Harry Potter - untiled - one shot?: Third to half done. Fairly long. Focuses on Vernon and Dudley post series.
CCS - Life's Decisions - 'chapter 1': Roughly half done. Anime-verse, Rika gets an answer that is what she needed, not what she wanted. Can be done as a one-shot, or may become a series fragging canonical couples.
Digimon - War Diaries Movie: Maybe three or four scenes left to go.

Hopefully I can get back to writing soon and drop a bunch of these.

To top things off, here's fanfiction idea for Angelic Layer I hope someone will write as I don't have time to do it myself.

Begins with the end of spring vacation. Misaki is playing Angelic Layer at Piffle Princess and gets asked to play as if Hikaru was Wizard, to which Misaki agrees and does a quick modification to Hikaru and the battle starts seemingly normal yet Hikaru activates Wizard's ability Magic Guard. Next opponent wishes to fight Ranga, and a quick fix on Hikaru, and air pressure attacks are used. Misaki's skill level is so high that she carries a conversation while fighting.

Misaki and Ojiro have had a largely long distance relationship as he goes to school in Kyoto. But with the tournaments gearing up, he's around a lot more often. She wonders where she should draw the line. Shuko and her sister are worried that Misaki might repeat the 'mistake' that led to her birth, though they feel Ojiro would not abandon her as Misaki's father had. (Shuuko had Misaki around the age of 18 either during highschool or the following year.)

Kotaro and Tomayo are functionally dating, even if they're a disfunctional pair. The main problem with them could be summed up in: it's not sexual. They still have sibling issues to deal with. They want to be a couple to maintain their life long friendship, yet have not gotten to the point where they are comfortable wanting to truly be with each other.

Misaki gets caught in an interview in which she unwittingly sheds light on the fact that three of the four semi-finalists in the last National Games were related to the creator and organizer of Angelic Layer in some shape or form, from fiancee and chief playtester, younger brother and secondary playtester, to future step-daughter. This is not such a big deal to the Japanese players, however as Angelic Layer is going international, American tournaments see this as breaking the game and an unfair advantage.

Misaki is registered to fight in the qualifying tournament, only learning after getting to the tournament that she's already seated in the National tournament as the reigning champion. Her mother is also at the tournament. There's a mix of reaction to this. If Misaki qualifies for regionals and wins a seat there as well, she gives herself a bye in the Nationals. But with four seats to regionals up for grabs and Hikaru, Athena and Suzuka all present, several contestants complain that there's only one seat open. Though some of the players like getting a shot at these legendary angels. Per Misaki's request, the top eight qualify to regionals. Other qualifiers (based on attendance) send between top six to eight. Regionals is to have 64 players through this method.

First round Misaki handily trashes her opponent in an extreme mismatch. Second round she faces against a boy who boasts that he knows _Misaki's weakness_. He then lays a bet just as the game begins, winners gets a request from the loser, and he wants a kiss from Misaki. She blushes madly and begins to sputter about not wanting to bet, while the boy has his angel knock Hikaru out of the layer. The boy is promptly booed by the crowd, but he takes his victory. Third round Misaki is a little shaken at her loss, but qualifies it as being 'cheap' and not a real defeat. Ojiro gives Misaki a kiss for luck and warns her that her opponent, Megumi, has picked up the nickname 'Doll Destoyer'. However her opponent has one loss for having faced Suzuka, and seemultiple sclerosis extremely upset at Ojiro at the start of the match. Why this girl is angry eludes Misaki, but the girl's new type angel has a bestial design. Misaki was not ready for the feral attacks that ends when Hikaru's leg is literally ripped off and used to club her head. While the leg is reattached, it remains damaged and Misaki's surpreme confidence is shaken. Losing in the fourth round knocks her out of the tournament. Athena goes undefeated, and Suzuka's only loss is to Athena. Doll Destoryer is also among the qualifiers. The boy failed to make regionals, but in his oppinion came out ahead with phone numbers from girls for helping to open up another seat to be won by them.

The wedding of Shuko and Ichiro moves forward. The date is set for the end of the national games. Misaki is trying to get herself use to calling Icchan 'Dad.' Her loses trouble her greatly, and she gets a lot of encouragement. Misaki wants to face Megumi again, not for revenge, but because she wants to know why the girl is so angry.

Ichiro tries to lay down the growing scandal involving the game's top players, but his employees wonder about the wedding date being il-advised. Attracting more attention to the fact the top three players would soon be related to him by law. Sai and other top players do more to play down the scandal, straight out saying they knew Athena's controller was the head playtester since the first national tournament when she was supposed to only be there for demonstration but got roped into playing out the tournament by demands the players had. They also point out that Hikaru was purely store bought and the stats for Wizard and Athena are publicly known and duplicable by players.

Between qualifiers and regionals Misaki passes out and is revived via CPR performed by a nearby medic. She's taken to the hospital for tests and is diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. Where Shuko may live a fully productive life, Misaki has less than five years to live. As there's scarring on the nerves controlling her heart, she could die at any time. Ichiro is the one there when Misaki learns of why she passed out and that her lack of coordination had been a symptomultiple sclerosis of the disease. Misaki pleads that he keep it a secret, knowing that her mother would blame herself.

Misaki getting all upset. Get's asked what's wrong. Misaki: I accidentally put on Hatoko's shirt. Person: Oh, did you ruin it? Misaki: That's not the problem! Person: Then what is? Misaki: It fit! This is more a symptom of Misaki's anxiety regarding her relationship with Ojiro, and also prompts her to wonder if her multiple sclerosis has retarded her aging somehow.

Shuko knows Misaki has MS, having lived with it herself for many years. She lets her daughter keep it a secret, knowing full well why Misaki wouldn't want her to know about it. However, Shuko doesn't know that her daughter's form of the disease is far more deadly than the one she has.

Ojiro gets Misaki to tell him about her illness when she tries to seduce him. She tells him she wants to have no regrets when she dies and wants to live to her fullest. Ojiro agrees to be with her, but insists on condomultiple sclerosis. She asks him if he doesn't trust her, but he tells her that it's to make sure there are no regrets. Misaki agrees not wanting to risk leaving a baby in the world without a mother.

Misaki and Tomayo talk about their boyfriends, and Misaki confesses she's not a virgin. This upsets Tomayo because she's been with Kotaro longer and haven't kissed yet. This leads Tomayo to attempt a 'full date' which ends up being an extremely awkward affair. The two kiss and touch each other, but it leads them to acknowledge that they really don't love each other that way.

Misaki goes to the regionals to root for her mother and Hatoko. She talks to Megumi about why she fights like she does. The girl mentions that playing Angelic Layer allows her to be strong when she's otherwise too weak to do anything and that it lets her soul scream out what she wants to. That Misaki had done so well last year because her soul had screamed for her mother, but now that Misaki was living with her mother, her soul no longer needs to scream and thus was weaker. Misaki wonders what the girl means, but is told by other top players that strong emotions can push their dolls beyond their limits. Sai carrying on the memory of her little sister, Kaede's abandonment issues, etc...

Tomayo finds an old world martial arts tournament disc and plays it. Amoung the players is Suzuka, Kotaro and Hatoko's birth mother, before was she married. She died shortly after Hatoko was born. Their father remarried before Misaki met them. Hatoko made her doll in the image and likeness of her birth mother.

Regionals will advance the top four to nationals which will have 32 players, including Misaki. Shuko, Kaede, Hatoko, and Megumi advance to nationals.

Scandal reheats when it's learned that among the possible heirs to Piffle Princess is Hatoko. A few more indirect hints that Hatoko is CCS Tomoyo's grandduaghter without spelling it out.

Misaki tries to live normally, but everyday things begin to take their toll on her. Especially with the summer heat. If not for the heart monitor implanted into her, Misaki could've died from multiple sclerosis causing heart failure. Shoko wonders if her neice is pregnant, and learns the awful truth that she's dying. Ichiro explains to Ogata about how Misaki's multiple sclerosis is different than her mothers. Shuko's illness attacked the nerves leading to the legs, causing them to functionally be paralyzed. Misaki, on the other hand, has her involuntary nerves being attacked: the ones controlling reflexes, heart beat and breathing. Ogata, of course, is forced into a punishment of some sort.

At the national games, Hikaru fights stronger than ever. Second round Misaki faces the Megumi, and while the dolls fight, Megumi talks heatedly and Misaki speaks pationately. Megumi obtusely says her boyfriend is sexually abusing her, treating her as property, and that AL lets her soul free. Megumi screamultiple sclerosis about showing the anger and hate trapped in her soul, and her beastly doll goes to a new level. Misaki has a completely different approach. Even as Megumi's doll is trashing the arena, Hikaru literally dances out of the attacks. Misaki speaks of having fun, that AL is a GAME, and games are supposed to be fun. Asking Megumi about why she started playing in the first place. Misaki goes as far as to admit to be dying, that she, herself, could 'Layer Out' at any time because of what her body was doing. That she could live five or more years if she hid herself in a hospital constantly monitored. Yet that wouldn't be life and she wanted to live life with a smile on her face and have no regrets. Megumi thinks about what Misaki says during the final round of their match. The fight intensifies, and Misaki clutches at her heart. Misaki's head hits the front of the chair lift, and Hikaru continues to fight. With a final kick, Megumi loses. Hikaru collapses bonelessly and all eyes go to Misaki slumped over. People rush to her side and Ojiro begins CPR on her.

The National tournament is put on hold as Misaki has died.

Megumi vows to live by Misaki's words, and finally tells off her boyfriend. He tries to protest that Megumi belongs to him, that girls need strong guys to protect and control them. Tomayo, unable to go to the hospital to see if Misaki was revived and having heard all of this, takes her frustrations and anger out by beating him up (possibly sending him to the hospital).

Ichiro tells everyone to continue the tournament without him as he leaves for the hospital with Shuko and Ojiro.

Shuko is upset at everyone and everything. She breaks up with Ichiro for many reasons, including not telling her that Misaki had the most deadly form multiple sclerosis and her fears that if she was to have another baby, that child would also have multiple sclerosis. Ichiro tries to reason with her, quoting the odds of a single child having multiple sclerosis was less than three percent. That Misaki was just extremely unlucky to not only have multiple sclerosis, but such an aggressive form of it that struck her so young, also giving the odds of Misaki having that as being worse than 0.000015%. Shuko didn't want to hear any of it.

Ichiro gets a call from the stadium. In order to quell the riot, they've postponed the remaining games. The preperations for Ichiro and Shuko's wedding are converted to be for Misaki's funeral. Ojiro and Shuko talk, and they decide to play out the remaining games in honor of their beloved. Ojiro and Shuko were to be the game after Misaki's in the second round. The battle is intense as both play for the memory of Misaki. Ojiro wins, using Magic Guard to block Aura Emission. Shuko admits that her heart was not completely in it, for it was now lost to her.

The opponents who were to face Misaki in the third and fourth round concedes the match, refusing to take the automatic wins.

Tired and warn out, Ojiro puts up a poor fight against Kaede until she reminds him of how much Misaki loved Angelic Layer. Ojiro fights well, but his heart can't be free of sorrow. He losses and Kaede immediately concedes the final round to Misaki.

Misaki is crowned second time National Champion at her funeral.

Misaki left notes for everyone. Telling them her deepest feelings for them. She mentions to Kotaro that he's her first love, and jokes about Tomayo using martial arts on her if she had tried to tell him before she started to date Ojiro. She tells her mother that she doesn't blame her, that she had just been unlucky to be caught in a 'Layer out' situation. Thanking her for taking a chance on having a baby despite the young age. Calls Ichiro father throughout her letter to him.

Shuko moves home to be with her grandparents with the first doll. Ojiro returns to Kyoto, but vows to keep Misaki alive in his heart-- he begins to teach how to play Angelic Layer in classes with Hikaru as his doll. Ichiro is left with only Athena to remind him of how close he had a family. In his grief, he plays at Piffle Princess with Athena and meets Chitose Hibiya there as she tries to close the store. Hatoko continues to play even though international agreement bans her from official tournaments due to her relation to game manufacture. Kotaro and Tomayo try dating other people, vowing to remain friends even if life keeps them apart.

Overall message of the story is living life to your fullest and without regrets. On Misaki's grave marker: 'Misaki in heaven, please guide us with your angel wings.'

This, That and Another Thing

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:17:55 GMT

Naruto - Hiding in Plain Sight chapter 5 should be posted this weekend, while CCS - Shadow of the Dragon chapter 9 will come next week or so. (I might delay Shadow 9 because of the final Harry Potter book coming out. Don't want to 'compete' against that.) Shadow 10 is next on the list to work on, functionally being part two of chapter 9. I had thoughts of working on the Digimon War Diaries 'movie' but I have come up with an outline for Shadow 11 so I might work on that instead. Hiding in Plain Sight chapter 6 is on hold while I decide just what to do with Jiraiya training Ai and Jiro.

Played the Grand Prix Montreal trial in Detroit. The fact I'm mentioning this weeks after said tournament shows how well it went. Eight freaking players, and my red/green aggro deck fell to discard in the first round so I got nothing for it. Jumped into a booster draft after my loss, and got second place in that and pulled Serra Avenger and Akroma both in the same Time Spiral pack as a prize.

Tried my hand at the D&D mini's release tournament for the latest set. I pulled Frost Giant Jarl, Noble Salamander, and Hobgoblin Marshal (also used the Bluespawn Ambusher and Deep Legionair). First round I failed five different imporant roles, roles I SHOULD have easily made. I died horribly. Second game had Jarl verses Jarl which they pretty much killed each other. Which was bad considering he had a halfling scout looting almost the entire game. Tried to kill the halfling, but bad die roles at the wrong time again. Game was close, if halfling had died, I would've won this one easily. Third round was against a little kid. He had the better warband with Lady Vol and the mounted rhino, but his tactics were sorely lacking moving both of them into melee range of Jarl and the Salamander. Fourth round was a fight against a poor pull for a sealed event and her failure to note with Hobgoblin Marshal that she moved her strongest peices into range of Jarl full attacking them after being motivated.

Freedom for All

Thu, 31 May 2007 03:59:41 GMT

I believe in the Constitution of the United States. I believe in the Bill of Rights, due process, and the rule of law. I believe in the fundamental right of all people to express their opinions, free from censorship or fear of reprisal.

I may despise another man's opinion, but if I take away his right to express it, I take away my own rights as well. Freedom and Democracy cannot exist under a mantle of oppression and fear. Wrongdoers must be punished, but not at the expense of citizens whose only crime is to exercise those freedoms set down in writing over 200 years ago.

Yes, it's "only" LJ. It's "only" fanfic. In the scheme of things, perhaps not so important, right? Except that every flood starts with a single raindrop, and the bedrock of our political system is worn away bit by bit every time the rights of ANYONE are denied.

And if you believe too, post this as well

I should be asleep...

Wed, 16 May 2007 06:00:15 GMT

A meme I picked up from others, with the addition of not using any of their picks:

A - Akane Tendo (Ranma 1/2)
B - Bumblebee (Transformers Original series)
C - Caro (Nanoha StrikerS)
D - Dou Maxwell (Gundam Wing)
E - Esteban (The Mysterious Cities of Gold)
F - Fate Testarossa Harlaown (Magical Lyrical Nanoha, Nanoha A's, Nanoha StrikerS)
G - Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter)
H - Hikari Yagami (Digimon)
I - Iori Hida (Digimon)
J - Juri (Digimon Tamers)
K - Kiki (Kiki's Delivery Service)
L - Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)
M - Meiling Li (Card Captor Sakura)
N - Noa Izumi (Patlabor)
O - Optimus Prime (Transformers Original series)
P - Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
Q - Qinglongmon (Digimon)
R - Ruki (Digimon Tamers)
S - Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura)
T - Takeru Takaishi (Digimon)
U - Lady Une (Gundam Wing)
V - Venser (Magic the Gathering Time Spiral saga)
W - Will Robinson (Lost in Space TV series)
X - Xellos (The Slayers)
Y - Yukino (Kare Kano)
Z - Zaphod Beeblebrox (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Delays

Mon, 07 May 2007 13:26:22 GMT

I placed a pre-order for the latest Magic set. With Planar Chaos I received my order Friday of the same week it came out. With Future Sights they didn't get the product until late Wendesday, and UPS picked it up for SECOND-DAY AIR on Friday. It's now Monday, and where is my package? Sitting in a UPS truck in Hawaii. When are they saying I'll be getting my SECOND-DAY AIR package? Wendesday, almost a full week after the box was packaged and ready to be shipped. That isn't SECOND-DAY AIR. Tuesday I can understand, being two-business days. Wendesday is @%^%$&@&%$@&$*$&@$*&$@&%$&^%#@^.

In other news, judging fanficts have helped to delay posting anything new this weekend. At least this contest hasn't had some horrible gems that made me go out-n-out Simon Cowell. I've also worked on solidifying the plot for 'Shadow of the Dragon.' Meanwhile 'Between Truth and Deception' chapter 3 should be posted this weekend.

Magic, Magic, and more Magic

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 02:35:00 GMT

Went to the Future Sight prerelease last week. Why is it that I always seem to have trouble falling asleep before a tournament? Four hours of sleep isn't enough going into tournaments that require lots of strategic thought.

The first flight I entered showed that all to well. I went red/black as I drew a sickening amount of direct damage and creature removal on top of Kaervek the Merciless. First round I trounced my opponent. In the two games we played, I did more damage to myself (six points from Molten Disaster) than he did to me (four points in a single attack from Cutthroat il-Dal). Second round I started making stupid mistakes. Nothing major, but they still cost me the match. Third round, I got owned by a deck I should've destroyed if not for some huge mistakes. Though to be fair, the primary problem came from the deck in that it had too much burn and not enough creatures.

Dropped from that flight, took a break, got some food and orange juice.

Second flight my deck was red/white. Many strong white creatures with red burn for support. My first round was rather similar to the one I had in the first flight, while my opponent put up more of a fight, it was still a rather solid beat down. Especially marked in the second game of the match as I failed to draw Mountains and still defeated him with just the numerous white creatures, primarily Serra Avenger and Knight of Sursi. I think I lost the second round, first game I was able to drop Bogardan Hellkite rather early, only for my opponent to drop Magus of the Abyss with Kher Keep in play and the second one somehow being a complete mana screw. Opening draw had one Plains, New Benalia, and Coalition Relic. I would not see a third land until turn six. I died turn five. Third round my opponent traded away a card from his deck, automatic match win. Still played for fun, and I still beat him. Fourth round was surprisingly easy win. Not surprising with one game starting like this: turn one suspend Knight of Sursi, second turn suspend Knight of Sursi, third turn Coalition Relic, fourth turn first Knight enters play and cast Serra Avenger, fifth turn other Knight enters play and hand ready with burn. Fifth round was a tough fight. First game he burned my creatures and swarmed me. Second game I burned and swarmed him. Third game went tooth and nail, and ended with me at one life point and him with no blockers to stop my attack for the kill. End result 4-1 record and ranking fifth due to tie breakers, winning six packs.

Today I played with fun decks. These aren't tournament decks by any stretch of the imagination. Just decks played for the fun of doing stuff.

My friend is playing with his new Fairie deck and was testing against my. First game against my 'white-not-so-weenie' deck, as most creatures in it pump other creatures. I lost as my cards were a tad more expensive and he hit into various unsummoning cards that took away my large blockers. Second game was against my red/green sliver deck. They were too fast and too cheap for the Fairies to keep up. A Strength in Numbers crushed him. Third game was with my Breeding Pool deck, which is your basic thrull deck. It's narrow focus is usually it's greatest liability, but it had the speed to run over the Fairies for the most part. Game was very close and one more point of damage would've won me the game.

Then there was the three-player games.
Zombie-Elven/Wurm-Simic
I was the Simic player, dropping a load of creatures with graft, while the Elven/Wurm deck drop some beefy monsters. At one point we both had 8/8 tramplers (which we feed to each other). And while the war of the forest was going on, a Sadistic enchanted Soulless One grew to 15/15 and got Fear, who proceeded to rape me. Then the Zombies fell to two all out attacks from the Elven/Wurm deck as he flashbacked Moment's Peace to save himself from the Soulles One.

Black/Red Creature Killer-Myr Artifact.-Kher Keep
Creature Killer couldn't draw anything but land, Myr Artifact couldn't draw blue mana. Kobolds breeding like rats and got huge with two Guantlets of Might, Taskmaster, and Drill Sargent. Then Marton Stromgald joined the party. Kobolds kicked ass!

Fairie-Myr Artifact-Dragon
Myr Artifact couldn't draw creatures, particularly flying ones, and Fairie can't deal with two opponents. Turn four I start dropping flying dragons every turn from that point on. It was a short and bloody afair, which was good considering the gaming store was closing.

Now with my orders for Future Sight are placed, I get just have wait for my two plus boxes to arrive.

The best quotes you've ever said:

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:33:51 GMT

Common sense is an uncommon trait.

I'm sick enough to be miserable, but not sick enough to not work.

You might want to get up. The apartment next door is on fire. (Deadpanned and, in my defense, had been awake for about five minutes.)

Kids are cutest when you have nothing to do with them.

Ugh, brain farting. Will add more when I can remember them/come up with new ones.

Blame Iap for this one:

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:12:47 GMT

Got this from ladyiapetus

First, write down the names of 12 characters. Supposed to use same fandom, but let's flush that down the toilet and harvets some crack. Then read and answer the questions. You can't look at the questions (or click on the cut) until you write down the 12 characters you're going to use.

And my characters of choice are:

1. Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura)
2. Hikari Yagami (Digimon)
3. Nao Izumi (Patlabor)
4. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
5. Sora Takenuchi (Digimon)
6. Syaoran Li (Card Captor Sakura)
7. Kurogane (Tsubasa Chronicles)
8. Tomoyo Daidouji (Card Captor Sakura)
9. Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
10. Kyon (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
11. Ichigo (Bleach)
12. Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto)

1. Have you ever read a Six/Eleven fic? Do you want to?
Thankfully, no. It'd be at best one sided from Syaoran's side. Hihgly doubtful Ichigo swings that way.

2. Do you think Four is hot? How hot?
Maybe if I was a girl, but no.

3. What would happen if Twelve got Eight pregnant?
What sort of jutsu did THAT?! Oh, wait, I am working on a fict that sort of does that. The whole thing would be messed up beyond belief.

4. Can you rec any fic(s) about Nine?
I wish I could. Found a whopping one fanfict out there, period.

5. Would Two and Six make a good couple?
They'd probably do really well, but others would label them the most boring couple in existance.

6. Five/Nine or Five/Ten? Why?
I guess Sora/Kyon as it's het. Sora might be able to be goaded to do stuff with Haruhi, but long term she'd want a man.

7. What would happen if Seven walked in on Two and Twelve having sex?
Kurogane's jaw would hit the floor and he'd have the mother of all nosebleeds. Then probably yell at them for not locking the door.

8. Make up a summary for a Three/Ten fic.
After Haruhi gets bored and wishes there were such things as giant mecha: intro Patlabor and labor crimes. And where Haruhi goes, Kyon is dragged with her into disaster leading to him to meet Noa. Kyon is fed up with Haruhi's hijinks and mixed signals while Noa is upset at Asuma's refusal or inablity to recognize her as his girlfriend leads the two frustrated people into a brief romance.

9. Is there any such thing as One/Eight fluff?
LOTS of one/eight fluff, smut, and whatever else you might want.

10. Suggest a title for a Seven/Twelve hurt/comfort fic.
'Timid Shadow in Rough Darkness'

11. What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted Four to deflower One?
Make Sakura into a keyblade wielder, not hard as she already has a key staff. And as Sakura wanders the worlds destroying Heartless, she emotionally breaks down and Sora offers her comfort.

12. Does anyone on your friends list read Seven slash?
Wouldn't surprise me if anyone did.

13. Does anyone on your friends list read Three het?
It exists? Where? Where?

14. Does anyone on your friends list write or draw Eleven?
Not yet as far as I know. Give it time.

15. Would anyone on your friends list write Two/Four/Five?
With my crack-fict-addict friends? Probably.

16. What might Ten scream at a moment of great passion?
SANITY!

17. If you wrote a song-fic about Eight, which song would you choose?
Through the Glass by Stone Sour. Part literal, looking at her through the glass of her video camera, part symbolism in that Tomoyo knows that Sakura doesn't love the way she wants.

18. If you wrote a One/Six/Twelve fic, what would the warnings be?
Threesome, two girls on guy action, with one universe jumping. OOC-ville for Hinata ever agreeing or being dragged into such a situation.

19. What might be a good pick-up line for Two to use on Ten?
"I can travel to another dimension and my best friend is an alien cat the evolves with my power."

20. When was the last time you read a fic about Five?
Yesterday, while correcting errors on one of my Digimon ficts. If talking about other people's ficts, it's been years as I've stopped reading other peoples digimon ficts.

21. What is Six's super-sekrit kink?
Probably loves anal, both ways. His first love was a guy.

22. Would Eleven shag Nine? Drunk or sober?
Both. Ichigo would have to be drunk. It'd be the only way he could relate to a sober Haruhi. I shudder to think of what that girl would be like drunk.

23. If Three and Seven get together, who tops?
Kurogane. He lays down for no man or woman... unless it's Tomoyo-hime.

24. "One [Sakura] and Nine [Haruhi] are in a happy relationship until Nine [Haruhi] suddenly runs off with Four [Sora]. One [Sakura], broken-hearted, has a hot one-night stand with Eleven [Ichigo] and a brief unhappy affair with Twelve [Hinata], then follows the wise advice of Five [Sora Takenuchi] and finds true love with Three [Noa]."

What title would you give this fic?

Bleeding Hearts Across the Multiverse

Name three people on your friends list who might read it.
Shaun, Tatsu, Izumi Ryu...

Name one person who should write it.
Only Shaun and myself could ever hope to write that much crack and get away with it.

25. How would you feel if Seven/Eight was canon?
I'd like it a whole lot better than where Kurogane is going now with Fye. Still, it may become sort of canon.

Fanfict: Making a House a Home

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:32:34 GMT

Making a House a Home was made for a few different reasons.

The primary reason was to prove that you can write a CCS story that follows canon and yet does not include any reference of magic. The story is about Sakura and Syaoran's love. There is no need to reference the Sakura Cards or her guardians when the only voices that matter are Sakura's and Syaoran's.

To add more canon friendly stories to Cardcaptor Sakura fandom. It annoys me to no end that there are so many so-called 'alternate universe' ficts made for CCS. In most other fandoms the number of continuity to alt universe is 10 to 1, where CCS is 1 to 100. And when asked, authors use flimsy excuses as to why they don't follow canon, including 'I don't want to include magic' or 'it's about romance not magical fights so I changed things to make it an alt universe' and other such nonsense. When the story summary 'Syaoran returns after being away for X years' should be canon compatible, yet most ficts with that are not canon at all. CCS should NOT be a dumping ground for original fiction that is intentionally mislabeled 'alternate universe CCS' just to garner more readers. Sakura would never join a gang, become a prostitute, kill without remorse, be considered shy, be seen as super intelligent, whatever attribute needed to plagiarize the latest romance movie. Syaoran is not a nerd, drug addict, sk8r boi, playboy, or any other nonsense either. Once you change the characters to the point Mary and Bob make more sense than Sakura and Syaoran, you're no longer writing FANfiction. Fans write FOR the story, not steal names FROM the story.

It was also to fill my desire to write a good CCS sexual story series that doesn't degenerate into all kinds of weird fetishes. Besides Sakura and Syaoran, the only other 'safe' existing couples are Chiharu and Takashi along with Yukito and Touya-- if you consider the latter pairing 'safe.' I could not write a scene involving Rika unless I set this when she's at least sixteen and married to him as her beloved is more than twelve years older than her and was her elementary school gym teacher. Tomoyo invokes issues of homosexuality, particularly in the form of three-way with Sakura in the middle-- doable but I wanted Sakura to remain faithful. Naoko's lack of love interest in series brings to issue of how she'd become sexually active, and most means would leave her looking like a slut without enough story to defend herself. Eriol is an ancient sorcerer in a little boy's body, in mind it's not underage but the body is when he's with Kaho. Meiling not only wants her cousin, invoking semi-incest relations, but Syaoran's position with Sakura could very well lead to an orgy if both Sakura and Tomoyo are included as well. To do a large series of sexual stories on CCS would be a virtual field of landmines of pairings and situations most are not comfortable to read, even after aging most of them to fully legal ages would leave uneasy feelings. Even if Rika was eighteen and married in a fict, 'Give it to me, Sensei!' would still sicken some readers.

And with all my CCS ficts, Tomoyo is not shown to like Eriol in any way, shape or form beyond friendship. They weren't even that in canon, just classmates. Tomoyo shared ten times the screen time with Naoko than Eriol, does that mean she's hot for her bespectacled friend as well? And Meiling cried on Tomoyo's lap, that must be a proposal since Tomoyo and Eriol breathing the same air somehow translated to love to so many would be authors. As for Eriol, he's an ancient sorcerer in a boy's body. In his mind, he would be robbing the cradle if he was to date Tomoyo. He's, what? Ten TIMES her age when factoring in Clow's memories. Kaho is a child to him, mentally speaking, as even she has less than a quarter of his experiences. Eriol's body may be a virgin, but his mind would remember his past lovers. Tomoyo is a child; Eriol is only in the body of one. Logically speaking, Eriol/Tomoyo is far more pedophilia than even Terada/Rika.

(Great a plot bunny of a spell hitting CCS crew making their physical ages match their mental ages. With Eriol turning into a frail, elderly man. Biggest problem with the idea is that it would be too far open to interpretation. Rika and Tomoyo would likely jump to around twenty, while Meiling could potentially grow younger-- causing Meiling fans to complain.)

I ranted enough on this for now.

Planar Chaos Release Tournament

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:31:20 GMT

Decided to make a go at the release tournament for Planar Chaos. As I expected, there was not a large turnout, only twenty-eight people showed for it. However, the pool of players was a higher level than I thought there would be with a few of them with Pro Tour Points and a level four judge competing. We played with five packs of Planar Chaos.

As much as I like PC's red, I barely drew any. What I did draw was two dragons, Oros being ultimately useless as anything other than a 6/6 flyer. Teneb, on the other hand, should've been useful. Should. In the few games I played him, he died fast.

I went primarily black and green, with Mirri, Big Game Hunter, Blightspeaker, three Vampiric Link, two Dash Hopes, Deadly Grub, Melancholy, Harmonize, two Citunal Woodreaders, two Giant Dustwasp, Kavu Predator, three Mire Boa, Uktabi Drake, three Utopia Vow, Essence Warden, along with two white cards helping the white splash for Teneb: Dawn Charm and Aven Riftwatcher. Being mostly cheap spells, I thought my early game was my strength, and the end game weak-- it proved to be the opposite.

First round: My opponent was much more like the level of playing I expected. He made many little mistakes, like failure to pay his Melencholy, that eventually cost him the game.

Second round: My deck had a slow start in the first game. He had me down to around five life, but could never martial a killing blow as the Mire Boa's appeared at first as blockers and then swampwalking pingers when I had enough creatures to stop an attack from damaging me. Second game was much faster, I got land flooded and couldn't draw any spells. Third game went better, with me pulling out a large number of creatures. He never drew a second swamp for his Damnation.

Third round: Hello Akroma, meet Big Game Hunter. I lost the first game by a few life points. Won the second by same margain and is the one I killed Akroma straight up in. Final game, he put Dust Corona on his Giant Dustwasp... and I couldn't draw a second swamp to play Big Game Hunter.

Fourth round: Judge Dave usually runs the PTQs, now he's my opponent. We're fighting a near mirror match. Instead of Teneb, he's got Damnation and Timbermare intead of Mirri. First game we pounded each other to death. He was at two life and I died with life gain on the stack. Second game he cast Damnation while I had two Citunals in hand, and drew into a Harmonize. I had a fast come back, but he mustered enough defense. Being able to replay Timbermare, smacking me for ten points with just that one card ultimately won him that game.

Planar Chaos Prerelease

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:57:21 GMT

I'll be using this LJ account as a means of reflecting on my tournament experiences.

In 2006, I attended many tournaments and walked away with 3/4 box of Time Spiral from Grand Prix Trial New Jersey in which almost half the eleven particpants were either drunk or hung-over, and more than half a box from the Cold Snap prerelease. However, 2006 ended on a bad note for my tournament points with a horrid showing at a PTQ where my deck refused to work and lost the first three matches before I left.

2007 is a new year, and a new experience.

Planar Chaos can be quite a sick set if you get the right pull. Thankfully I did a couple times.

Flight #3 Saturday: 2-2 drop.

I could've tried to play the final round, but I had little hope for a tie-breaker winning me packs IF I won that round. Mirri and Stonebrow were beasts that helped me emmensely. The Dreamer may be a big dragon, but a screw up in rushed deck building made him more liability than a help (forgot he was blue.) ^^;

Did manage one nasty game. Turn two: Kavu Predator. Turn three: Prismatic Lens. Turn four: Stonebrow, Krosan Hero. Turn five: attack with 6/6 trample and 4/4 trample. Opponent conceeded on his next draw.

Flight #11 Saturday: 4-1 second place.

The pull I had was obscene. Red and black had so much burn and creature removal that it was hard for my opponent to do anything. However, if said opponent started pulling out protection black or red stuff, I was fully able to side-board out fourty cards for fourty cards with a white-blue-green beat down featuring the new forest walking Jedit, Gaea's Anthem, Ancestral Knowledge, and an impressive array of protection, flying, and/or shadow creatures.

This flight had my second greatest come from behind win. At one point my opponent's life was at 32 to my 7. Thanks to a shadow creature pinging him, he was at 27 life when I was knocked down to 1 life. A couple turns later I played Jedit. Jedit and shadow weenie, 19 life. Jedit, cat token and shadow, 11 life. He then Enslaved Jedit. Attacked all out, but it was the the two forest walking cat tokens and the shadow beefed with Fortify that killed him.

In the final round, I wanted to insure I got some packs and offered my opponent a draw, he declined. I crushed him in two straight games using the red/black deck in less than ten minutes. He went from gauranteed top 4 to somewhere around 5th or 6th, and I stole second.

Flight #1 Sunday: 3-2 eleventh place- tie-breaker sucked.

My main deck was similar to the red/black deck the night before, however it suffered something that I didn't see with the previous deck: mana screwed. I lost almost a half-dozen games simply because I couldn't draw a third land from a two land opening hand. And don't say 'you should've mulliganed' when half the hand was playable with two lands. It was the big creature that I needed to hurt my opponent with that sat in my hand that killed me. Especially when said creature was Torchling. On a positive note, I did manage to nuke a red Akroma. There were no shortages of her in that flight, at least three players had one and another player had TWO.

Flight #5 Sunday: 0-1 dropped.

I was forced to play white for the simple fact it was the only color with creatures of any real power. Then I had to decided whether to use red or black to nuke opponent's creatures. The pull was a mess. And the first game showed it well. I dropped to play in a draft.

Draft:

Okay, I admit that I entered the draft to pull cards I was missing. Apparently so did my first round opponent, who conceeded and left after drawing the cards. But I wasn't about to walk away as well.

As for what I did on my own pull. The first pack of draft was an absolute mess. I kept taking cards I didn't have over cards that would be useful. When I did go for cards that I'd play, I went black and red as those two colors had served me well over the weekend.

Opening the second pack, I saw Akroma. There was no choice, even if I had two of her already from the prize packs on Saturday and only one of the Magus of Tabernacle. Akroma worked for the colors I was leaning toward and she's worth far more than Magus. While I tried to lean towards red on the pulls, I was being passed Blightspeakers and Big Game Hunters- and I can't say no to that abusive combo.

Then came the third pack. Damnation. I didn't even look at the other cards in the pack before passing it, so I don't know if the timeshifted card was a rare or not. More pulling of power black and red cards.

As a strange note the 'fifteenth pull' of all three rounds was Bog Serpent. I happily included all three in the deck as even a 5/5 wall it would serve me better than a couple other creatures I could've played.

Then came the waiting game. There was no time limit, and proceed to watch one game, not match, GAME go for an hour and a half. The winner of that match would be my opponent. By the time that match was done, the finalist of the other bracket had been determined.

I finally got to play my red/black Akroma/Damnation deck. It was sick and brutal thing to watch. I needed no land walk or flying as I never let my opponent have a creature to block with. Even when I couldn't kill his 5/5 Jedit, I Gone him back to his hand. Then I played Akroma and followed it with Stingscourger. He conceeded before I could attack with Akroma.

Then there was the final match that never was. It was approaching eight o'clock and the place was closing. As drafts aren't 'official,' we could split the packs and just go home. And the judge pushed for it. As I was tired, I accepted. After all, I made my goal for the weekend: I opened a box of Planar Chaos- 24 packs in prizes, 12 packs in sealed deck flights, and a bonus 3 more in drafts.