Yes, but the things I recommend only eat up a couple of hours of time, less than I sometimes spend on private recreation, and that he wouldn't have to be a little embarassed from admitting to watching in front of grown women. Though I haven't seen Symphogears, so who knows, maybe it's hardcore. Hey, can you have Cymoril say hi to Umiko at some point? She's less than confident of her ability to be respectful, and for good reason. So far, she doesn't seem to have noticed Umiko even arrived - with teh shouting and the top half covered only in a bra and blood, she's kind of hard to miss. Ah, i guess it comes down to me anyway; I don't imagine Cymoril has much constructive to say to someone who has historically been so very rude to her.
Yeah, what makes that book so valuable anyway? Does it raise your stats? Is it like that one artefact? Or is it just, like, a book. With words and information? I'm pretty curious right now.
You know, I'm going to get you for that Serafina. It might take a while, but I'll get you for that.
And...I don't think you're stealing my time then. Mine tastes like blackcurrant licorice
And yeah, I thought she might be distracted. Considering that book probably has the connotations of the Bible to her (arguably even more when you take into account its been lost for over a millennia - yeah I'm messing with the Nanoha-verse timeline, bite me) I would be rather surprised if she wasn't.
@Trace, Why the hell would I be embarrassed by the fact that I watch magical girl anime? I have a life I am content with, a partner whom I love, and enough joy - whilst perhaps not all that I could ever wish for - to last a lifetime.
Words are just words, and those aimed to hurt are only flung by those who are hurt themselves. And if being their target helps those behind them heal, then I would let myself be that target for an eternity if it released their firer. Those hurts are fleeting compared to the joy of helping someone free themselves of pain.
Did I mention I'm wanting to go into counselling?
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Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Oh, I don't think it's something to be embarassed about. It's just it's kind of like porn. Everyone watches it at some point, some people quite regularly, and while we may laugh we never feel guilty during it; yet despite universal prevalence, it's not something that is generally the first thing you say when trying to break the ice with some fine looking hen. (ya ken?)
There, with my command of logic, I have now equated the social and personal contexts of magical girl anime and adult entertainment to be similar, though occassionally with reversed roles - as in, people of your own gender, particularly given that it is male, are more likely to empathise with your sexuality, while females might think it's a bit sweet that you're open with your feelings and stuff enough to admit to liking odd cartoons. On the other hand, a grown man saying he likes Cardcaptor Sakura does raise some unfortunate stereotypes...
Is Cymoril from the Nanoha universe? Will I have to go watch that now?
Oh i don't mind you messing with the timeline. It sometimes does feel a bit short - even though that is actually realistic (civilizations don't really last for millennia like you often see in fiction). Just give me pointers and i'll correct any reference i make.
And yeah - it's like the Bible, except that it has actual power and is actually relevant for reality.
Huh, i figured only people who had psychological issues go into counseling...no, seriously, i know a lot who want to, and i'm one of those myself (though currently i have to deal with my own problems first). Though that may be getting a bit too personal for this forum now, don't know.
Huh, i figured only people who had psychological issues go into counseling...no, seriously, i know a lot who want to, and i'm one of those myself (though currently i have to deal with my own problems first). Though that may be getting a bit too personal for this forum now, don't know.
Oh, I don't think mentioning counseling is too personal for anyone. Saying you're attending or looking to attend, or have attended some sort of counselling, psychological or otherwise (I'm not psychologist so I don't know if there even is an 'otherwise') is kind of like saying you got to university, or you're divorced; it's a lot more common in my neck of the woods than it was when my parents were my age and it's done by such a large cross section of the population it tells you basically nothing about them. More people than we think are in 'embarassing conditions', and our embarassment, needless as it is, holds our tongue and only pushes things deeper into unnecessary obscurity. It's part of the problem faced by the LGBT community - it's very common, but no one talks about it in any sort of personal manner - though that comparison depends on wher eyou are and what type of LGBT we're talking (someone actually once said they were expecting me to be G, not expecting T or L). There's nothing wrong with counselling or mentioning it that I can see and I think it takes balls to be casual about it.
Still, never been in counselling myself. Never will either - it's clearly just for crazy folk (clear joke given context of previous essay-like paragraph)
I would actually argue that mental health issues (there, I said it!) are even more suppressed and repressed than the LGBT movement. Mental health issues, especially ones that hit you when you're young, are incredibly dangerous. Yet people see it as a taboo, something that you're not ever meant to talk about because admitting that you have issues with your emotions or your brain or anything involving your psyche makes you weak and undeserving. Which is just plain stupid!
I know, from painful experience, how dangerous these things are. I also know, from arguably even more painful experience, how dangerous counselling actually is. You know that kid in school who no one really liked but that you'd never, ever accuse of betraying someone's trust? That was me. I was that person who everyone knew they could trust with anything.
Oh, I was teased to the point of near suicide (never actually caused harm to myself but I came damn close - only thing that stopped me was the knowledge of what it would do to those around me) due to my hair (which was the longest in the school when I left), my actual - and avid - interest in academics, my utter refusal to care about trends, etc. etc.
But my solace, to a point, was helping people. Even those who just watched and did nothing when I was teased and hurt. It didn't matter. They needed help, so I gave it.
It was only after I met a very special person where I live now that I realised that that had actually caused me even more harm than good.
I am highly empathic - to the point that I can scare people sometimes by getting too close to the ball of crushed up and hidden away worries and fears that just about everyone hides from. But my problem was that I wasn't letting go of the pain and the fear that I picked up from people around me. I grabbed it, took it away from them, and left them feeling better at the expense of myself.
Then my friend happened. It took about a year, but eventually she pulled just about all of that out of me - as well as a whole lot of other stuff - and helped me get better, at the same time teaching me how to let go of things myself.
I know I'm not all better. I know I never really will be. But that's the way of things. That's what being human is all about. Pursing perfection is a fool's errand, not just because it's impossible but also because perfection means you stop being human - at least in my eyes.
And when I say I'm not all better, I mean that I'm always taking on more things as I let go of them in a constant stream. Everyone does that - although most just deal with the things that they themselves have (as well as some of their friends in most cases). So yeah, I'll never be all better. But I don't want to be. I don't care what the textbooks say, or the psychologists believe. You need to be able to empathise with the person who's trying to help you help yourself. If they can't or won't let you, then there's no point. They'll just end up hurting you even more - or at best making you lock away your problems until another crisis comes along and everything comes bursting out at once.
Counselling and psychological aid is something so many people run from their entire lives, because it's been turned into something that makes those who need it regard it as a horrible illness that makes them bad people. Are you seeing parallels to the LGBT community? I know I am.
And a lot of those people never really live full lives, because they lock the pieces of themselves that are scared and frightened and screaming through their tears for anyone to help them away in their mind. They lock those pieces behind traps and fears in their psyche that will cause almost anyone to turn back out of fear of harming them. And they convince themselves that they don't have a problem.
That's the hell of it.
And that's what I want to fix. What, if I have my way, I will fix. I might not do it alone, and it might take more than my lifetime for success to come. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that humanity learns to love itself again. And never to lock pieces of who and what they are away again.
We're already flawed. We don't need to make ourselves even more so.
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Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Counseling certainly sounds like the right profession for you.
Just a piece of advice - and the reason why i was so long uncertain whether i would like to do counseling professionally myself:
You have to make sure that other peoples problems don't affect you too much emotionally. If hearing the problems of another person - and maybe how these problems only get worse, not better, no matter what you do - pulls you down emotionally, you have an incredibly high rate of burnout in this field.
It took me years to be certain that that wouldn't happen to me. I know it won't, but it took long to be that certain.
And yes, i definetly agree on mental health issues being not taken seriously. Try telling people that having a severe depression (F32.2) actually means that you are ill, and not just "feeling down" or "being lazy" or "trying to get attention" or "broken". Oh, and then listen to them comparing it to all the time they were feeling down.
Similarities to me: had little favourable interaction at school, had long hair both as a result and cause of being singled out (though in my case more out of rebellion)
Difference to me: you may care far too much, I care FAR too little. I've spent my entire adult life trying to shape myself into someone capable of caring about other people. I'm making steady process.
Of course, no psychologist in the world would accept such a simplistic profile on someone as I just gave, but I'm a physical scientist; we let deciding if we're right or wrong up to the people fire the death beams we make.
Never knew you were such an idealist though, snowfire. Good for you!
---
No one has good teen years. No one I'm at all close to anyway. Except maybe my little sister.
Oh, I know the dangers. I've dealt with them before for half a decade - which did a great deal of damage to me on an emotional level. However that at least is all fixed now.
And I won't burn out. I have a support network. And I know it's strong enough.
And believe me, I know that feeling. Without getting into details, I have a friend of mine with severe parental control issues. Of the "my parents are right because they're good parents and so my parents are right" sort. And that's only the start. She won't accept help, because she doesn't accept that she has a problem and she's terrified of the idea of needing psychological aid.
I've tried helping her, but I know I can't do anything more until she really wants that help. So I'll be there whenever I can if she asks, but I won't try to give aid that will just end up hurting me more.
I know those lessons. I caused myself a lot of pain learning them, sure, but I understand now. No matter how hard you try, if someone doesn't want help, there's generally very little you can do except be there for them.
Oh, and pray that they call for help before they stop themselves needing it by the most permanent of methods.
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Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Well, the OOC discussion for our magical girl campaign has taken an odd turn. I wish I could see Selinia, userpay and owrtho's faces if they just stumbled on this last page. I don't blame you for being real though. If you can generate that much text in such a short time then, from experience, i know it's something that must be on your mind quite constantly, so it's good to express yourself. Like playing tennis rather than bounding a ball of the wall, or draining a cist. Wow, I make up the most charming examples.
INCOMING ABRUPT CONVERSATION CHANGE (no but seriously,snow, if you want to keep talking feel free to do it here or PM me, I've discussed heavier stuff before I;m sure though I'm usually the one venting)
Serafina, I must say, I'm not seeing Cymoril as a pervert so far. What exactly is she in to that sets off her pervert-ness? If she was at all into bossy girls with the body of a ballet dancer (which is to say, flat upstairs due to their specific regimen) she missed her chance to get all hot and bothered when Umiko spontaneously whipped her shirt off. Though one supposes her costumed state appeals to the exact opposite end of the spectrum, if Cymoril is interested in women at all. Or is it not so much a presence of perversion, but an absence of innocence.
I have a saying "I stared into the abyss, and we fell in love".
Also, it's always the nerdy ones, and Cymoril is quite nerdy.
As for Cymoril, and without weirding out Selinia, userpay and owrtho and more by providing too much detail (also, spoiler tags if they dont want to read it)
Spoiler
She loves dirty talk. She is also slavishly devoted to her love interest (who, yes, is female, as i have stated several times), if you get my drift. If not, eh, maybe you can learn a thing or two.
Also, seeing a naked body isn't perverted. It's normal and natural after all. Despite her coming from a culture where it isn't.
It does however have good sex education, so you really can't count on her being uninformed or naive.
@Serafina, I swear to you, if you write overt Vivio/Cymoril stuff into this...
Outside of it, no problems, knock yourself out (hell, PM me it, I always like a good read). Just...keep it at least relatively clean in the IC
Also, that saying is awesome. I am stealing it. Forever.
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Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Thanks^^ I must admit that it just came to me like that, and that i tend to cloak such things by saying that they are quotes or sayings. I've gotten better at that though. Also, feel free to steal it
Also, don't worry, i won't write anything but some mushy feelings - at the most - into this.
So I thin this question kind of got lost in the shuffle, but is Cymoril from an existing universe? I heard Nanoha somewhere.
Sorry for forgetting yoru love interest was female. Human beings have source blindness, but not me. I have CONTENT blindess! And colour blindness, minor. It's that uncomfortable range of not being bad enough to warrant ympathy and not being mild enough to never be noticeable, especially in the lab (I'm convinced half the names epople give to different shades of blue are entirely fabricated)
Cymoril is from the Nanoha-verse in that Serafina used the setting to create her and her backstory.
__________________
Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Right, that Nanoha anime I guess... don't suppose we're going to go there at some point are we? Travelling to an established series setting could be quite the fly in the ointment if you wanted to publish our adventures at some point - there's only so much omitting and renaming one can do in the editing stage. But, eh, once again I'm getting ahead of myself. It's funny - I'll probably finish university before I finish this campaign, but oddly enough the end of this campaign is more in my mind than the end of my course.
No, you won't be travelling there. It will be coming up though
And regarding publishing *shrugs*
I built one universe. I can build another to replace the Nanoha one if I really have to
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Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Like I said before on the publishing, I've been known to plan far too far ahead on things that don't exactly warrant it while being short sighted with my long term concerns. Priorities are an odd thing with me - though intellectually I do know that simply enjoying the campaign is most important part, regardless of some Dragonlance business model.
Is Cymoril with (or lusting after) one of the very 'real' Nanoha characters then?
On explicit content, don't worry. They invented email for a reason, you know? If Umiko gets herself in lusty shenanigans, it will all be off screen... as far as the forum mods need concern themselves. Of course, that statement will probably seem silly in a few hours of bedrest, when I am markedly less aroused. The dark of the night always has that affect on me, I may be a vampire. Still though, she's technically a princess, and an adventurer so she's brimming with opportunity to be whisked off her feet... if one completely ignores her mindset, that is.
Do you have anything big remaining lined up for this episode? That was a lot of exposition, and enough for us to understand the threat and possible essential nature of the Neverwere, so there's only so much exposition dumping we could do. But then, I got a major plot update for my character hook, so I guess we could try and squeeze in one for everyone. It's like bringing candy to class - the teacher always asks you if you have enough for everyone. I think that's what's happening with Cymoril now, right? Why don't you give a two line IC message from Sara giving her explicit permission to borrow the book, or even imediately in the same message delving into its contents on te assumption she begins reading right away, so Cymoril can crack this baby open and see what could be worth an entire planet. Because I don't know of a single holy book I'd even be willing to trade the contents of my room for. Though possessing the Gospel of Jesus that I stole Indiana Jones style from an old crypt in Nazareth may be a contribiting factor to it being kind of a toss up. The comparison to that book being the bible though doesn't quite work, considering that the Bible has a whole bunch of iterations and millions of copies, whereas that book, whatever it is sounds pretty unique.
That reminds me, i should probably look up if the dimensional walkways leading to and from Umiko's world are unique to her own world.
Hopefully, Makoto can move things along a little here - a conversation with the actual in-the-field branch of the magical girls' organization is bound to give us some sort of concrete objective or mission to work towards. Once we get a better idea of what we're doing, we'll have a better idea where to direct our resources. Makoto's thought process right now is essentially
1. We are fighting an enemy whose home cannot be accessed by any tool we currently wield.
2. We are fighting an enemy whose manpower cannot be depleated by any tool we currently wield.
3. We are fighting any enemy fully capable of attacking places utterly unprepared for them.
4. I want to go home.
Makoto is, to put it lightly, terrified right now. The sum total of this research into the Neverwere is basically amounting to 'Sorry kids, they're immune to everything, can strike unexpectedly from anywhere, and they've already trashed one universe quite handily'. So... time to try and look for competent people!
Also, I'd totally forgotten about favored class bonuses in Pathfinder! Makoto apparently has 7 extra skill points to play with, which I've put to use in the scholastic realm. Makoto is a dropout, yes, but she still has some elementary knowledge in the primary subjects (Science, Doctrine, History, etc), augmented by a lot of internet snagged from stolen phones before their owners cut service to them.
On the topic of romance, I will say the following: Makoto has a Soul Mate. Interpret that how you will, because elaborating from me would probably ruin one of Makoto's biggest plot reveals. When I make a character with hidden backstory, I keep it hidden. I'm watching you, Snowfire. Watching.
That said, I'll toss in a few notes on Makoto's cultural views of romance. On Danghrest, 'correct' romance is a carefully constructed piece of propaganda from the New Unified Government. The NUG, though now a secular organization, still bear enormous influence from the zealous teachings of the Prophetess Akemi, one of the most powerful magical girls the world had seen. Getting into the history of the world's governing body isn't the point here, but suffice to say that the Prophetess was possessed of a fanatical vision of an ideal world, and gave her disciples the means to achieve that. Whether Akemi was a lunatic or genuinely inspired by some divine power, her creation was very real. In six hours, a clandestine organization seized control of every major nation on Danghrest... reducing the global population by nearly thirty percent in the process.
That was well over a century ago (143 years, to be precise), and the NUG likes to think it has civilized itself. Gone are the mass purges, witch hunts, heresy hearings and wholesale destruction of 'unclean' knowledge. Secularism is lauded and encouraged in the halls of government, and new generations see their fanatical forefathers as horrifyingly misguided at best. Most of the morality laws have been lifted over the past several decades, but their cultural aftershock is still particularly strong, particularly where relationships are concerned.
Physical intimacy was long a serious taboo, particularly between girls. Sex was something to be done for reproduction, and even then was distasteful. The Prophetess claimed that magical girls were, in effect, divine beings. All females were reflections of them, and defiling their sacred forms for crude physical pleasure was a vile sin. This... lends weight to the 'Akemi was a brilliant scientist with a lunatic god complex' theory, though bringing that up to a believer is probably a bad idea.
In modern times, you've basically got two cultural extremes - those that still cling to the old ideals, and those that have bounced back like a rubber rand the moment the restrictions were lifted. Much of the media falls into the latter category, and many publicly-released works (cinema, particularly) have embraced the integration of downright pornographic elements into their design.
The interesting thing is that industries went so long with ruthless censors on their work that when sex became something that they could include, they had already build a hearty roster of relationship tropes and tools in which it had no real place. It's inclusion was an edgy gimmick at first, but has now settled into something akin to what cigarettes once were - a sexually active character (even one in a healthy, stable relationship with her partner) is clearly displayed to be edgy, new-wave individual who is hip and up with the times. But in serious romances (rather than brainless crowd pleasers with a relationship tossed in to round out the demographics), the on-screen relationship is still usually completely platonic, maaaybe with the implication that they start a family afterwards. After all, fun as they may be to watch, the edgy character still draws a good measure of scorn from much of the audience for caving so easily to 'base impulses'.
Makoto, consequently, sees 'sex' and 'relationship' as almost entirely separate things, having been in neither and with her greatest exposure to both being The Internet. Courting her with the expectation of 'scoring' at any point would be a bit like running on a treadmill and slowly realizing that you will never, ever actually reach the delicious caramel apple delight dangling in front of you.
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Lovely Rita Mordio avatar by Zefir! Thank you!
Sorry. I'm aware we went slightly insane last night. Also, huzzah for world building!
As a quick note, I'm going to wait until I can get Daina back to the group before continuing. On her return, it'll have been about an hour since you got to the library.
I'll then take us on a skip to Makoto's latest post, placing it a few hours after Daina was returned (if that's all right) and give a quick synopsis of what you found out between you.
That ok for everyone?
__________________
Live life to the full, be happy in yourself and never slow down. We're here for a blink of an eye to the universe. Make the most of it.
Oh, so in that case can you tell me if Umiko finds anythng of what she's looking for in her case? About what Noyoki told her of his task?
Having read Selinia's post, I must say Umiko is liable to get into quite a few fun adventures if she ever goes to Makoto's world. As in, pursued by local authoroties. I don't suppose Akemi is still around today, is she? If not then her successor or whatever the next best thing is will probably suffice. I just need someone for Umiko to hugely piss off - I mean, she's a magical girl, a princess, and a protagonist out to save the world, yet she's hardly pure or innocent. She kills wild animals for fun, can go for days in the nude if she's not in civilised land, care's little for personal hygiene (only cooking food not ou of fear of food poisoning but because of the satisfying crunch as she bites), and while lakcing any particular kinks (besides liking it rough and on top,as deduced from her day to day personality) she's not afraid to get down and dirty just as a way to waste 20 or so minutes. If we go dimension hopping, I call dibs on becoming an enemy of the state simply for being a walking contradiction of everything Akemi taught her followers was right. Also teh tribe has fertility rituals that make offspring of same sex couples possible, so technically speaking sex isn't even needed for procreation in her case.
Okay, so of the main 5, one is Umiko, two have some sort of long term relationship going on or intended to occur (though fooling around or fancying on Umiko's part wouldn't disrupt that if she happened to spend some downtime acting lovestruck), one has too similar a soul to her for them to really complete each other (Daina), which leaves Temeka. How about it, userpay, what's Temeka's lovelife calling out for?
Sorry I haven't been as active, I've been sucked into games that I haven't played for ages with a really fun group. Anyway in regards to Chisaki I am controlling her but I also gave Snowfire full rights to npc her in part to keep up the slightly random cat nature.
As to Temeka's love interest... Well quite frankly I haven't gotten into Temeka's head nearly as much as any of you have with your own characters. That said its a possibility however you'd have to get through a minor brother complex, a intelligent cat, and Temeka's armor AI.
Hey, uh, I was thinking of finally responding to what Makoto said. Snowfire, could we get a timeline here?
The way I figure it, it goes:
Cymoril reads that fancy book -> bring in Daina again -> complete research -> then Makoto's speech.
For now, I'd just bug Selinia to be ready to move her message into chronological order, and bug you, snowfire, for a message surmising what happens the first time Cymoril is allowed to read the book and what, if anything, Umiko finds in response to her inquiry, as with Temeka Perhaps you could have that magic book Makoto's holding respond to Umiko's questions? I think having a post that you say is so far ahead of where we are now is stifling us entirely, and compounded with our reliance on the currently absent Daina we may have kind of locked ourselves in a bit too much. We just have to power through I think.
You know what we could do with at some point? A trip to the training halls or some other setting taht would give everyone an excuse to lay out their abilities. Umiko is fairly straightforward - all of her power goes into unarmed attacks and a few odd defensive magics (illuminations), but Umiko fancies herself as something of a general (she's a chip of fthe old block, I'm sure Zukri might think, or at least that's what Umiko may hope) so she'd wnat everyone to lay out their abilities, both in an out of combat so sh eknows what she's working with. An initiative I'm sure no one disagrees with.
Speaking of which, have some hilarious conversation that i just had:
Quote:
Well, not an actual relationship yet, but still hillarious:
Context: saying goodnight while chatting Me: But i promise you, if i have a lucid dream, i will raise a Prussian army to conquer France, build a fleet of first-rates and conquer Britain. I will beat both Napoleon and Nelson at their own game, and topple all european monarchies - all in order to liberate you. Her: That...that is incredible hot!
Yeah, we're such nerds :D
Haven't reacted yet to Maktos speech, will either add that tomorrow or in my next IC-post.
deleted half my response to Cymoril's question. It was rambling and answered nothing.
Hmm... reread Selinia's little essay on sexual interactions in her society for ideas. Which, by the way, is incredibly well thought out and, I think, shows a deep understanding of how cultural progresion tends to work, at least as I see it,particularly with such a base form of annoyance as censorship. It seems unlikely that bringing up Umiko's 'experience' would not foster much of a friendship with Makoto. I need some sort of way to get Makoto and Umiko to get on better, any ideas? If Makoto was a little less wound up in that manner, perhaps a little more rebellious than I am presuming her to be, perhaps Umiko would fascinate her with her very anti-traditional-magical-girl activities. As it stands though, I may need a little help collaberating. I got the impression I wasn't to read your backstory, but do you have any idea how to get them to buddy up a little more?
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Re: Light of Amber - Series One
