terra

[b]Name:[/b] Fiona Kahoku [b]Callsign:[/b] Archer [b]Age:[/b] 5 years since activated [b]Appearance:[/b] (Basically, the girl in my avatar.) Long brown hair and green eyes that stare. Of average height and a slim build. Rather beautiful, and rather aware of it, but unwelcome to any approaches about it. [b]Biography:[/b] Fiona was built by a small company specializing in the production of custom Reploids. Her special order was placed by a multi-millionaire named Glenn Archer, from whom she takes her callsign. Glenn purchased Fiona for two reasons; firstly, he was somewhat paranoid, and planned to use Fiona as a state-of-the-art bodyguard. Secondly, Glenn led a somewhat lonely life, and enjoyed the idea of owning a female Reploid. Glenn was deeply involved in the customization of Fiona, and designed her weapons and defensive capability himself (with the help from the company's engineers). He also arranged for her to be designed with little to no free will, though the creators refused or were unable to completely take out the capability for its growth. The engineers were also able to create in Fiona an unwavering loyalty to Glenn himself. (Both these were achieved by arranging her hormonal balance so that she would have childlike feelings of trust and devotion to her first caretaker, in the same way a baby learns to depend on its mother.) Thus, the first four years of Fiona's life were spent in service as a bodyguard. However, at the inception of the Sygnosis 40 virus, Glenn's paranoia resurfaced in a different way. He dismissed Fiona from service immediately, terrified that she would become infected and attack him. Because of the emotions and lack of free will she was built with, Fiona obviously had an extremely hard time dealing with her dismissal. She was basically forced to figure out her own life with the emotional maturity of a child. Fiona quickly learned about the world, being thrown into it in such a way, and grew somewhat bitter, especially towards humans who mistreated her in her first few weeks of freedom. Though her free will and emotions developed quickly, she still retains her original helpless devotion to Glenn Archer. Though she is able to distance herself from the situation and realize his injustice to her, she feels unable to get over her initial programming, even though she realizes that logically she should be able to. Fiona soon found herself at court for maiming a human male attempting to sexually abuse her, thinking she was human. The reviewer of her case happened to be a Reploid himself and felt some pity for her, so he bypassed conventional court procedures and sent her to the Novus Concordia Defense Department to be watched over and taught basic courtesy. However, through a mixup in the paperwork, Fiona was instead assumed to be an army recruit, and she did not correct this mistake. She soon learned of Sygnosis X and through luck and sheer determination, was able to work her way up the ranks and join the elite group. [b]Personality:[/b] Fiona has learned from her experiences how to get what she wanted without considering others' feelings, and she is somewhat cold and distrusting. Though she often feels somewhat jaded with the way the world works, she can also be surprisingly naive due to her limited experiences. (Also see Biography.) [b]Affiliation:[/b] Syngosis X; sub-affiliation, Glenn Archer. [b]Primary Weapon:[/b] Contempo Crossbow. Built into her arm, the crossbow is modeled after the traditional weapon, but can be loaded with rather more up-to-date projectiles. (One example: a bolt with an ultra-fine tip, designed to pierce through even metal, with a small explosive embedded in the bolt.) Of course, she carries a limited supply of projectiles at any given time. [b]Secondary Weapon:[/b] A beam saber for close combat. [b]Defensive Capability:[/b] Impediment Shield. This shield approximately halves the speed of anything within range (its power is proportional to the object's initial speed). Its affects are not limited to attacks, which can be quite annoying (or interesting) if it's turned on at the wrong moment.

"What's this," the teeth half-said, half-hissed. Crystal kept screaming for a few moments until Ben's voice echoed sarcastically in her head, [i]Didn't know you were such a damn girl.[/i] She shut her mouth immediately and glared at him. He smiled back angelically. [i]Knew that would get you to shut up.[/i] She rolled her eyes and addressed the problem more directly at hand, saying the first thing that came to mind -- "I'm Crystal." Aware this was probably not quite enough identification for the Sense Leader she'd heard so much about, she hastened to add on to it: "An eagle clone. I was, er, sent from the Bird Dwelling to see if I could help out down here." The beady black eyes studied her and she felt something she'd never quite experienced before -- as if he was opening her mind, pulling apart the wrinkles of her brain to freely examine what was inside. Even when Ben had read her mind, it had not felt as intrusive as this. [i]Guess he's the sense leader for a reason,[/i] she thought to herself, trying to keep from concentrating on the eeriest feeling she'd ever had. "Capitalize my title when you think of me," the shark-clone said, releasing her. Crystal fell to the ground from the abrupt change of momentum, a small puff of sand rising around her. "Of course, you are lying. You left the Bird Dwelling of your own accord. But that is no matter to me, though the Sight Leader may have something else to say about it." Crystal flinched. "Regardless, you may stay. I see you have been with Ben, and that you are trustworthy, and that is all that matters." The shark-clone approached Ben, apparently no longer concerned with Crystal. "It's quite strange," he murmured, eyes pointing thoughtfully around the cavern. Crystal was sure he was pointing his sensers outward, towards the clones, trying to figure out whatever problem it was they seemed to be having. "I could sense her easily --" "I could as well, sir," Ben said, and Crystal resisted the urge to comment sarcastically. "But all this activity," the Sense Leader continued, "and nothing. Do you know what's going on?" For some reason, both the shark-clone and Ben turned to look at Crystal, who had moved to hug her legs on the floor for a more comfortable sitting position. Crystal shrugged. "I'm just a semi-renegade eagle-clone," she excused herself. "Not much experience with Sensers." They kept staring at her. Moved by the eeriness, Crystal blurted out the only theory she could think of, "Maybe they're not real clones. Robots or something? I have no idea ..."

Name: May Greenville Age: 26 Race: demon Business: Yushi no Yami (decided I'd rather join an existing one, unless you'd prefer I started another one, Wondershot) Weapons: short range -- twin daggers; long range -- shotgun, classical bow and arrow Description: looks like {insert character here}. Oh you didn't want that? ;) Long blonde hair that's usually in a ponytail, but is amazingly straight and untangled. Soft brown eyes that look calm and innocent most of the time, until she's angered ... Tall (about 5'8"), rather thin, and wears stylish outfits that usually consist of a great deal of black leather. Devil Trigger: As a demon, May's blonde hair turns jet black. Her eyes darken to black as well, but the pupils become an inhuman white. Her skin pales dramatically to nearly white. Her canine teeth also slightly elongate, giving them a fang-like appearance, though she's not a vampire by any means. The change in May's eyes actually allows her to see much more clearly and distinctly, and in the dark her visibility becomes as good as a cat's. Her hearing also becomes slightly more sensitive, though it is not as enhanced as her sight. In demon form, May is able to imbue her bullets, arrows, and tips of her dagger with darkness. Under these circumstances, a victim of any of these things experiences trouble beyond the normal physical wounds inflicted; he may also experience problems with sight, delusional visions of shadowy creatures, or hear things that aren't there. These symptoms often linger for a long time, sometimes fading, and once in a while driving a victim insane. May also becomes able to cast darkness with her hands, which blots out light. If she casts darkness onto a person with her hands, it usually does not affect them; she hypothesizes this is because the darkness needs to enter their bloodstream. Bio: May's father, Kahoku, was a demon sent by his family to kidnap a human woman named Fiona, the daughter of a powerful politician whom the demon family planned to use to gain power in his sector. Fiona was heavily trained in martial arts, though, and ready for such attacks, even from demons. The two fought for several minutes until Fiona was holding her shotgun to Kahoku's head; however, she found that she could not pull the trigger, and soon after they eloped. Kahoku and Fiona lived their lives on the run from Kahoku's demon family, the Aitan, who were obviously extremely angered by his change of sides. (Fiona's father was angry as well, but as long as she left him alone, he was able to continue his politician's life and eventually forgave her.) The two gave birth to May, who grew up living the life of a fugitive, being given practical lessons from her parents as they continued fighting and running. When she was 20, her parents were finally trapped and killed by demon assassins from Kahoku's family. At that point, May decided to stop running. Using her parents' weapons (mother's shotgun, father's bow and arrow, and her own daggers), she hunted down Kahoku's killers one by one; they were her first kills. Soon after, she joined Yushi no Yami. Her primary target is still the family of her father, the Aitan, but she has not heard a trace of them since she killed the murderers.

Rydia was pissed because she'd written a reply and then it was deleted, and she had to start over. Oops. Let me try that again. ----------------------- Rydia glanced out to observe the battle scene, somewhat annoyed. She knew she should be either terrified or pumped full of adrenaline at the surrounding fight, but she'd been ushered unceremoniously into a protected caravan as soon as it had begun, presumably because she was a female armed only with a staff. Though some of the wounded had been brought to her caravan and she'd summoned Mogri to at least ease their pain, she was still feeling summarily useless. Around her the battle was still raging, catapults flinging enchanted objects towards the enemy in what seemed like an effective offensive. She also spotted three chocobos covered in ... battle gear? They were galloping off somewhere, and Rydia recognized the familiar long brown ponytail of Arik and the strict, upright posture of Lieutenant Leo, as well. After a moment of squinting, she realized the third looked a good deal like Clavat. Rydia sighed and was about to resign herself to returning to the caravan when the cheery yellow feathers of a chocobo approached, ridden by a mass of silver and copper-scented red, which turned out to be a badly bleeding knight upon closer inspection. Rydia immediately jumped out and helped him off his steed, recklessly ripping off the hem of her own dress and wrapping it around one of the wounds on his arm to at least slow the bleeding. "Go inside and rest," she insisted, and the Knight reluctantly agreed, realizing himself that he was no longer in much shape to contribute. Rydia was about to follow when she happened to glance over toward the chocobo, still dressed in its battle armor and waiting patiently for a master. She looked around at the chaos and made her decision in an instant. She clawed her way rather ungracefully onto its back, but it didn't seem to mind, turning to look at her in the eyes trustingly. Rydia grinned. "Let's go," she said, and with a flick of the reins, the chocobo was headed in the direction of Leo and the others. Rydia soon realized they were approaching the village somewhat cautiously, and as her chocobo was running at nearly full speed, she caught up to them relatively quickly. Not wishing to reveal that she'd in effect stolen a ride, she slowed her pace and followed them. It appeared that they were hoping to protect the little village from -- [i]Kelost.[/i] A few soldiers came into sight in the village, brandishing torches, with the symbol of the Kelost Empire clearly branded on their uniforms. Rydia watched in shock as one of them deliberately pushed his torch against a house, watching the flames lick slowly up it as a woman frantically ran out into the street, dragging her children with her, a look of desperation on her face. Leo, Arik, and Clavat immediately charged forward, and Rydia followed. As the chocobos dashed, Rydia came to her senses and pointed her staff, bellowing, [i]Shiva![/i] A wisp of a shimmering white dragon emerged from the end of her staff, and a moment later the real one appeared above her in the sky, effervescent wings glinting in the sun. The monster beat its wings easily toward the flaming house, and the woman shrieked in fear, holding her children close to her. But Shiva blew gently at the flames, and her icy breath immediately put them out. Rydia saw Leo and Arik glance back briefly, but she ignored their raised eyebrows and urged her chocobo forward to join them in protecting the village.

Rydia wasn't quite sure what to address first. There was the threat of Namu's father having a desire to kill her, she guessed for her powers as an Elemental. Then there was Namu saying he -- cared for her. [i]Of course he cared for her,[/i] she told herself, scoffing at her jump to conclusions that it was something ... too meaningful. They'd been traveling together for a month now, it was only natural that he'd come to care for her. And she'd come to care for him ... She shook her head and cleared her thoughts. "I'm coming," she said firmly. "You've tried to leave me too many times in the past to have any say in this anymore. I'm coming with you." Namu looked back at her, her gentle face still stained with tears, and knew that he had to give in. He suddenly, fiercely felt the need for a hug, and stepped forward and crushed his arms around her. She molded into them easily, as if she belonged there. They stood there for a few moments. Then Rydia pulled back and looked up at him. "Um, Namu? Where are we going, anyway?"

I really like the pictures you're using, especially for the avatars. In the banners the Waluigi one is a little blurry and Mario is a little pixelated, but it's impossible to find good video game pictures, so whatever :). I also love the borders you gave the avatars, they're a really nice touch. For the banners, you might want to see what they look like with different fonts, the current ones don't look like they go as well with the banners as they could. The red on the Luigi's Mansion one also doesn't really look like it fits, maybe you could try a gray or ... eh, I don't know :p. But I think they're really cute, nice job!

I just saw this tonight and didn't think much of it. It was all right ... I didn't object much to the fight scenes, thought they were pretty cool in general. I thought it was really clever when [spoiler]Jackie and some guy both were pointing guns at each other, in classic tense movie-moment style, and then Jackie solved the problem by shooting at the guy's gun.[/spoiler] I've seen that situation a lot in movies, and I thought Jackie's way of ending the moment was pretty original (though I may just have not seen something ...). Anyway, I agree, the plot was pretty ridiculous. Jackie and the woman he was with didn't have very much chemistry, and [spoiler]her slapping him repeatedly[/spoiler] just wasn't very funny at all. And I had serious problems with the ending ... [spoiler]what, are they just going to be invincible and live forever happily ever after together? Seems like they'd have real problems.[/spoiler] I thought generally the plot was pretty random, such as when [spoiler]Watson's wife turned out to be completely ready for an attack. What was she, part of Interpol? no ... Just a really cool wife? Apparently ...[/spoiler] From the outtakes at the end, it looked like they cut out a bunch of scenes, and perhaps in them lies the key plot mechanics :p. Who knows ...

Hey Leh, did you know my real name is Ellie? :smooch: Ahahaha... Anyway. ---------------- [b]Signup:[/b] [img]http://lehjackson27.250free.com/zoe_reynolds.jpg[/img] [b]Name:[/b] Zoe Reynolds [b]Persona:[/b] Working for MI-5 is all Zoe ever wanted. However her confidence and love of the job have taken a battering recently. . And as she watches the toll life at MI-5 is taking on her friends and colleagues, she is starting to realize that there are massive downsides to being a spy. However, Zoe's devilishly good at her job. She can handle any task Tom cares to throw at her. She's charming and quick-witted which makes her a real expert undercover. But she's equally good at analyzing data and getting answers in the office. [b]Aliases:[/b] Jen Marshall, Allie Davidson (occasionally poses as Tom's wife, if that's ok), Audrey Barton, Leigh Marlow, Bridget Kelsey.

"We're just going to leave them?" Crystal said, fluttering down to hover above Ben and Karokku. She decided not to land, due to the hundreds of bat-clones on the ground around them. Although flying wasn't exactly as wonderful as it usually was; she was used to acres of sky above her, not stone and cold cave. "I'm sure they can handle themselves," Ben said. He raised his voice. "Come on, Xythe, let's go to the capital." Xythe let out a piercing noise, and as one, the mass of bat-clones spread their wings and took off from the ground. They formed a black cloud as they soared through the caves, their rustle of wings fading off quickly into the distance. "Hm," Crystal said, left a little speechless from the sight. "Ergh, I think a few of them touched me." Ben set off in the same direction, Karokku and Crystal close behind. "How far is it to the Capital, anyway?" she asked. "Quit whining," Ben said, not looking back. Crystal sputtered. "It was just a question!!" She chose not to speak any longer as they trudged through the caves. As the cave ceiling sloped downward and Crystal had less room to maneuver in, she dropped to the ground and walked with the other two. The walls pulled inward, the cave becoming so narrow for a short while that they had to walk single-file. Then, their path widened dramatically, and the small cave gave way to the massive opening to the Capital.

Hm, I remember seeing a Fruits Basket thread open ... but it's probably pretty old. Anyway, to give you some general Fruits Basket info ... If you don't know, the story is about an orphan girl, Tohru Honda, who ends up living with three guys from the Sohma family. The Sohmas have a secret which is central to the plot: [spoiler]whenever a member of the opposite sex hugs them, they turn into an animal of the Chinese zodiac.[/spoiler] The anime ends up being about Tohru and the Sohmas dealing with the secret. FB is a cute, magical-type anime, sort of with an aim towards girls (there are a ton of guy characters, and most of them are pretty cute). It's very light-hearted, and quite funny. There's not really any exaggerated melodrama, but it can still get quite emotional at some points as you get to know the characters better. Most of the characters get pretty well fleshed-out, and are very likable. It's probably my favorite anime. What else ... Oh yeah, I recently also watched Love Hina, and thought the two animes were [i]extremely[/i] similar (except that in Love Hina it's one guy and a bunch of girls, and in FB it's one girl and a bunch of guys). So, if you've ever seen and liked Love Hina, you might like Fruits Basket as well. There's a concise version of my opinion ... if you care to know more, just ask :p.

Mm, there's no question for me, I chose Chopin. All of their music is (obviously) very powerful, but Chopin is the one I've always had the best time playing. Kind of like Drix, the romantics just affect me the greatest. On a slightly more random note, there's a song that really touches me from an anime as well, it's called Romance from Escaflowne. I think it's composed by Hajime Mizoguchi. I haven't watched Escaflowne yet so I have no idea where it comes in ... but I [i]really[/i] love it, especially the first minute or so. It starts with this solo trumpet (I think) and then this piano comes in ... [sigh] it's really nice ...

For the greetings part of theOtaku.com, perhaps you could have an option to list the greetings by theme, as well as by anime. So there could be categories such as "birthday," "get well," ... and whatever other categories there are for greetings :). It might make it easier for people hoping to send a specific kind of card.

Hm, it's hard for me to comment on these because I haven't watched .hack//sign. (Don't kill me! ...) Anyway, so I don't know the background to them. In general though, the poems all seem to have the word "I" in them an awful lot. When I read them, the frequency of the word "I" does sort of stop them from flowing very well, like doukeshi03 said. Also, like OtakuSennen said, they do sort of look like "Who am I?" riddles, mostly because they're all there in a row :D. Generally though, they all get a feeling across very strongly, which gives me an idea about who the characters are even though I haven't seen the show. There is a definite emotion in each one, which is great :)!

Hm, that's some definite hatin' on Nightfire. Well, I won't pretend I have extensive experience with the Bond series overall. I've only played GoldenEye and Nightfire, and mostly only the multiplayer. I can say that in my opinion, Nightfire's multiplayer is better than GoldenEye's. GoldenEye is a total classic, and I personally was extremely reluctant to make the move beyond 64-bit, but Nightfire's multiplayer completely won me over. This is mostly because of improvements in the gaming console; Nightfire had the capability for bots and different kinds of games, Capture the Flag and other stuff, that N64 couldn't handle (as far as I know). I know there are plenty of other PS2/GameCube/X-Box games that have bots and more games (I also loved Timesplitters ... until I played Nightfire at least), but when I just compare Nightfire to GoldenEye, my experience with Nightfire was more fun. GoldenEye aside, if you haven't tried the multiplayer of Nightfire, you should :p.

Like eino89 said, I think in the first two the background sort of takes away from the character. I mean, the background effects are quite cool, but they're a little [i]too[/i] cool ... er, I mean, they're a little too complicated to just have one character standing in front of them. I really like the third one in the first post, the color is great and he looks really cool :). I also like the two in your last post, especially the last one. The backgrounds are simpler, which I think fits the style a little better. The Athena one is a little strange because she sort of looks like she's sitting in thin air. I don't like the font on it that much, either. You could also try putting the text in a little more creative place, I notice you have their names in the upper corner for both Athena and Sogetsu. Maybe behind their heads, or at the bottom? Also, in general I like banners with the left side kind of emptier for icons, that's just a personal preference though. Still, I think they're really cool. I can never make a cool background to fill up the space, and you do that really well :). Really nice job!

Yeah, the thing about double techs in CC is that you never really find out you have them. Basically, if two characters who have a double tech together are powered up to a sufficiently high element, and both of them are ready to fight, then the Double Tech comes up as an option in their element screens. For example, if [spoiler]Serge and Glenn are both powered up to their Level 3 element, and both are ready to fight, their Level 3 Elements instead is named "X Slash," and if you select it it's a combo.[/spoiler] Hm, I just looked them up out of curiosity and apparently there are Triple Techs as well ... Anyway, as far as I know there's nothing in the game that tells you which characters have combos, so unless you want to semi-cheat and look them up I guess you have to try randomly. Perhaps I missed something, though ... Well, here's a [url=http://www.ffextreme.com/cc/combos.php]site with the list of combos[/url] if you're immoral like I am. On another topic, eventually I decided the whole Elements system stopped mattering because my characters were powerful to beat bad guys even at an Element disadvantage :p. Which I also didn't like about the game.

Heh, even though everything has been said already, I can't resist posting in here because I'm a huge Chrono fan. To me, Trigger was undoubtedly the better of the two. I loved the End of Time, for one thing. (I think that's what it was called, anyway ...) I thought it was much better than the two different worlds in Cross, because they looked so darn similar I [i]always[/i] forgot which world I was in. If I went back to Cross after a break of a couple weeks, I was generally rather lost and it took me a while to figure out what to do next. Maybe I just have too simple of a mind or something. I also thought there were way too many characters in Cross. I mean ... it was ridiculous, plus the fact you couldn't get them all in one go. (And, it wasn't interesting enough for me to want to play the game twice in order to get the characters I'd missed.) Generally in RPGs, I like playing all of my characters equally, even if I have a few favorites, but it was impossible in Cross, not to mention the hassle of the Element-switching. I ended up just using four or five of them, which I hate having to do :p. It annoyed me when my favorite characters were the same element color, too, so I didn't want to play them at the same time. The characters in Trigger, on the other hand, were much fewer in number, but more high-quality. The Double and Triple Techs, as previously mentioned, added a [i]ton[/i] to the game. The Double Techs in Cross (or their equivalents, I don't know what they were really called) were pretty much useless! ... at least in my experience with them. Er ... Yeah. Hm, it ended up being a bit of a rant on Chrono Cross. My bad.

Crystal hummed as she walked down the stairs, hearing the mechanical background noise of her father's work as she did so. He'd basically converted the entire first floor of their small house into his garage, leaving only the kitchen intact. The rest of the area was covered with screwdrivers, scraps of metal, cans of spray paint, and other general items required for her father's extensive hobby-turned-career, the building of AC's. Ignoring the clutter, Crystal toasted four pieces of bread in the kitchen, and put two on a plate. She left it by her father, who was shaded by the machine whose underside he was working on. "Thanks, dear," his muffled voice came, as he didn't bother coming out from under the machine. In fact, the only way he'd probably known she was there was from the clicks of her high heels, and the fact they did this nearly every morning. "Bye, Dad," she said in return, and left for Saft's headquarters. Once there, she headed straight for the garage, hoping to avoid as much interaction as she could. Everyone she'd spoken to so far in Saft's army had just been so ... drool-y. She supposed it was partially her fault for constantly wearing tiny shorts and shirts that cut off at her midriff. But hey, it got [i]hot[/i] piloting an AC. She ignored the catcalls of the guys already in the garage and climbed into her AC, using the easy steps her father had built into its side (OOC: impossible? ... well he's a great mechanic!). As she was settling into its seat, she heard the announcement boom out over the HQ -- "Let's get trainin', troops!" Crystal couldn't help but grin as she piloted her AC outside, careful not to hit any of the others eagerly pouring out of the garage. Their first training exercise appeared to be something that looked somewhat like a slalom course, and she could just imagine many of the other pilot's groans. Most of them held firepower much more important than agility, and while Crystal saw their point, she wouldn't have sacrificed the quickness of her AC for much else. "What are you waiting for?" Neelo shouted. "Go!" Ignoring the hesitation of the other AC's, Crystal pushed forward and began the course. For Sarraia, the course was child's play, and Crystal easily navigated through to the end and looked back. Many of the other heavier AC's, particularly the ones with tank bottoms, were having difficulties stumbling through, and a couple of the poles had been knocked over. Crystal rolled her eyes and waited to see what the next training exercise might be. ---------------- Erm ... I had no idea what training might constitute of, that was just my guess. Oh and I posted my custom AC stats in the Recruitment thread if anyone's wondering.

Thanks :D. Still on the Love Hina kick, I made this background ... It's 87K, just to warn you. This is one of the girliest things I have [i]ever[/i] made, and I'm not even sure I like it, though I'm using it anyway :p. Comments/criticism highly appreciated.

For the Guru quizzes in theOtaku.com, I'd like it if when it gave you your answer ("You're Guymelef from Escaflowne!"), you could see the other possible answers as well ("Other possible mechs ..."). As mentioned in the title, a very small thing, but I thought it'd make the quizzes more fun.

Hm, both college and high school had their points for me. Of course, at the moment I'm rather jaded about college, since I stayed at school this summer taking classes so I can double major. So I'm dreading going back and high school has that pretty pink shade that reminiscing gives it. Just so you know my own biased opinion. Anyway, I went to a tiny high school (40 kids in my grade), and we'd practically all known each other since we were about four years old. Which sounds annoying, and at times it was, but by junior and senior years it was pretty fun. We had some good times and classes were ridiculously easy. Now I'm in a normal-sized university (going into junior year). I definitely love the freedom that comes with college, and also living with my two best friends for the past few years (I've had singles, but they're nearby). But I really don't enjoy classes as much as they say/I feel I should, and it sometimes seems like a waste because I should be studying stuff I enjoy. It makes me feel kind of crappy because I haven't found anything I enjoy studying. Oh, and my college's classes happen to be a hundred or perhaps a thousand times harder than my high school's classes, which doesn't help. So yeah ... it's a tossup. Two very different experiences.

Ginny wondered momentarily what she had done in her previous life to deserve this. Perhaps it was breaking into the shed and stealing Fred and George's brooms to practice Quidditch as a child. Perhaps it was dating whomever she wanted while she herself was at Hogwarts. Then she shook it off and looked back to the class, manufacturing a stern look she hadn't known she had in her. "That will be forty points from Slytherin," she said. As most of the Gryffindor students began to smile, she cut them off by adding, "[i]And[/i] Gryffindor." This shocked the smiles right off the other half of the class, for the second time in the past ... fifteen minutes, Ginny realized with an inner groan. It was well-known that Ginny had been in Gryffindor herself, and generally was a little softer on them than the others. However, if her class was going to be like this ... "Thank you for your attention," Ginny said politely. "Now, if you'll take out your wands and an eraser, please begin practicing [i]Wingardium Leviosa[/i] for the rest of the period." George in Slytherin raised his hand again and spoke before she called on him. "But Professor Weasley, I just told you we all know how to do it." "Unfortunately, none of you have proved to me that you have the maturity to do any charms beyond it," Ginny replied with ice in her tone. "Until I have seen this class demonstrate acceptable maturity, I'm afraid we may be unable to move forward to the much more interesting and advanced charms that fifth-years like yourself [i]should[/i] be learning. You no longer need to bring your pets to class next time, as I'm sure Transfiguration is [i]far[/i] beyonod all of you. Now please practice." With that, she sat down at her desk and prepared a lesson plan for another class. The class grudgingly obeyed, and she saw floating erasers slowly flying up and down for the next hour. Matthew Dumbledore shot his eraser at Kitty, who tossed it back to him with a giggle. At that point, she merely raised her head and looked both of them in the eye. "Anything more out of either of you, and your House points will become dangerously low," she said, her voice calm and quiet. The rest of class was uneventful. Matt and Kitty came up to her after class, as she'd asked. "Both of you students know that pets do [i]not[/i] belong in the classroom, unless given special permission by a teacher," she said, fighting back anger and keeping her voice cool. "If either of you ever bring your pet in this classroom again unless I ask you to, I will automatically deduct points from your House. In addition, I would like to advise you that, though you may think Charms is unexciting, this is the year you learn many of the more important and interesting Charms, not to mention have O.W.L.'s that may determine your future careers. If you behave in this class, you will learn certain hexes and cures that you may find indispensable in the real world, or even when facing your classmates. If you continue to act the way you did today, you will find yourselves experts at Wingardium Leviosa and not much else. "You are dismissed." As Matt and Kitty left, she heard them giggling in the hallway. Ginny sighed. The fifth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors did not look like they were going to be her favorite class. Pity ... their lesson plan had been so interesting ... ---------------- OOC: Sorry it's so long. And sorry for not telling you this started, §corpio, I thought you'd see it :p. I find it a little weird that Gryffindors wouldn't behave better in class though ...

Hey man :) For the Devil May Cry one (even though that was ages ago), I think the borders could be a darker color, and also maybe all a more consistent thickness (the leftmost one looks thicker than the middle one. And the bottom part of the border on the middle on looks thicker than the other parts, ... maybe that's an optical illusion.) Then again this was before you got a decent program so you are excused :). The animated Z.O.E. one is pretty cool. Of course I don't touch animation anymore so I'm easily impressed ;). The area around the text looks a little distorted, though. And the final screen where it says "Wondershot" looks a little corny ... no offense :). Maybe a different font. On the latest one: It sort of looks like you just copy-and-pasted in the images ARTommy supplied you, although I don't know. I personally don't like the look where there are two obviously separate images. I'd rather you cut out the characters and gave them a new background, or made the middle background a similar color, or something that makes them look like they [i]belong[/i] together. Maybe giving them similar borders like you did for the DMC one. I like the text effect, though. Sorry if I'm harsh :) You are just learning on a new program, after all. Keep it up!

I just finished watching the anime series (up to episode 24. I'm really want to find Love Hina Again and the Christmas and Spring specials ...) yesterday or so, and am glad to see this rather old and beaten-up thread brought back ... I want to try and read the manga as well, I'm through the first 1.5 books but got caught up in the anime first :p. Hehe, so I wish I could answer your question sweetreyes, but I haven't read that far yet. Does anyone know when the last manga will be out in the States, by the way? On to some attempted discussion of the series, did anybody else think that Naru didn't deserve Keitaro at all by the end? (I don't think this is really a spoiler since it's pretty apparent they're the main couple from the beginning ...) Maybe it's different in the manga, but I didn't have as much sympathy for Naru as I think the creators probably intended. I would've rather Keitaro ended up really liking someone else ... who actually appreciated him [i]throughout[/i] instead of being selfish and blind to his good traits the entire time ... I really wished he'd end up with Shinobu, even though she was much younger than him. Er ... don't get the wrong idea, Love Hina fans. I loved the series. I mean I watched the entire series over a span of um, three days :p. Still, that was my opinion.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Semjaza Azazel [/i] [B]I've not seen you before, so I dunno heh. Look more asian to me, but I cannot tell for sure heh. I like the design, personally. It looks like you did it in Illustrator? About the iframes... the funny thing was that long ago I thought I'd never use them. If you look around at most blogs, they make use of so many of the damn things that it drives you insane. [/B][/QUOTE] Hehe, yeah, I am Asian ... though my skin isn't that dark anymore. Anyway, I did the picture in Photoshop, manually selecting each piece of the photo with the relatively same color and dying them. Yeah, that took a while. But it was fun :p. Layout was done in Notepad, of course. The first time I saw iframes I thought they were such a cute idea, I immediately wanted to put them in [i]some[/i] website, yet I still haven't found a use for them so far ... Yours fit really well and are functional, so that's good. Unfortunately Hypermart is still down, wrist cutter, I'll try another day :). I did go see LOVE STATION though, it's nice. I've always loved the combination of black and pink.