This, my Friend, is a Cactus. Catch!

An Interview on the Interwebs, Whoda Thunk It?

2007-06-23T19:40:00.000-03:00

For the pages of the Daily Ami:

1. If you could choose 6 superheroes/villains to form a team under your command (like pokemon), who would they be? :D

Hmmm. That's a toughy. I would probably pick heroes that haven't reached their peak potential yet, both so I can help them get there and so that they listen to what I have to say.The actual team would be as follows:

-1 The (new) Blue Beetle because of I like to be ready for anything.
-2 The (new) Atom because, as useful as his powers are, his mind is a much more powerful "weapon."
-3 Though not entirely inexperienced, Power Girl, for the intimidation factor. I would also refer to her as Power Woman, because I find it rolls off the tongue quite well and she deserves it by now.
-4 Dr. Fate, because sometimes the only way out of a bad situation is God Mode, and he looks cooler than Dr. Strange.
-5 Harley Quinn, just for the hell of it.
-6 Captain Mar-Vell, because I love him and he has leadership experience, so just in case.

(Honorable mention goes out to: Big Barda, Ms. Marvel, Raven, Steel, the Thing, Nightcrawler, Angel, Guy Gardener, Huntress, Iron Fist, MacBeth [from Gargoyles] and Jazz [from Transformers] who were all considered, but didn't quite make the cut.)

2. Would you rather join the Teen Titans or the X-Men? :o

Even though it'd be weird for me to hang out with teenagers, I'd join the Teen Titans because they seem to know how to have fun, plus I don't really want to hang out anywhere near Wolverine.

3. Air conditioners or fans?

Despite them making the room smell like a fridge, I prefer Air conditioners because they do a better job cooling the room and usually double as fans anyway.

4. What's your favourite treat for a hot summery day? :3

ICE CWEAM!

5. Which was the first comic book you can remember reading? :D

This is pretty easy. Not counting the numerous Archie Digest comics my lame-o family exposed me to. the first one I remember reading was a "What If?" comic in which both John Jameson and Aunt Mae died in a tragic rocket crash caused by the Chameleon. As a result J. Jonah Jameson adopted Peter Parker while blaming the accident on Spider-Man. (Go figure.) Spider-Man ended up unmasking himself to get J. Jonah Jameson to stop his warpath against Spider-Man which included the creation of the Spider-Slayer robot and the Scorpion, who was actually Flash Thompson, in the end, J.J.J. used the Spider-Slayer to help Spider-Man stop/cure the Scorpion and they formed a heroes-for-hire team, where Spider-Man's mask didn't cover his face nearly as much and J.J.J. still used the Spider-Slayer, only it had the letters "JJJ" on its chest. It was released some time during that whole Onslaught thing, I remember this because I remember reading one where Onslaught blew up New York immediately afterward.

And now the rules of the game:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. (They probably won't be the same ones you see above!)

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Marr Vell

Would You Nerds Shut Up About Venom!

2007-05-14T11:08:00.000-03:00

An apology.

I apologize for not posting more often but I've basically run out of things to say and mostly just use this blogger to comment on the few blogs that I check on now, so don't expect too much more from me in the future.

As you've probably guessed, I recently saw Spider-Man 3 and I didn't like it. I've heard complaints from many a person about it, mostly due to Venom's lack of screen time. Now, I love my comics, but I'm not a Spider-Man fan by any measure, I tried to be one but I just can't bring myself to put up with all the angst, so I went to the movie with Kalinka without the mindset of a fan expecting the movie to be exactly like the comics that I've read for years (which I haven't) so the whole Venom-not-be-in-the-movie-very-long thing didn't bother me as much. Not to mention that when you think of it the script had two choices: One was to have Peter Parker/Spider-man spend most of the movie confronting his own dark side using inner turmoil and to later choose the path of light while the other was to spend most of the movie confronting his own dark side personified as some guy with a giant mouth using his(Peter Parker/Spider-man) fists. If you want (relatively) good story telling, no contest.

What I was expecting to see was almost no Venom content at all, but instead see Eddie Brock get the symbiont at the end and fore shadowing Venom being in the next movie. That would be the only way that Venom could possibly have been a bigger character than he was. Sorry, but any other way wouldn't have saved this movie, they'd've have been better off without him.

But on that note I have to say, despite the fact that I may seem to be defending the movie at first glance. I'm not. I'm just saying that the movie didn't disappoint my expectations, which was a action movie starring Spider-Man. This movie had Peter Parker/Spider-Man as both the title and most featured or "main" character and a lot of happenings were going on (or was it goings on happening?) which is pretty much the definition of action and AND this was a movie, so I pretty much got what I expected. The main point is, Venom wasn't what was wrong with this movie. In fact, with the exception of J. Jonah Jameson, Eddie Brock/Venom was my favourite character in the whole film. Despite his lack of screen time, or maybe because of it, he is the least flawed of the all the characters in the film.

And since if I'm known for anything it's analyzing everything with a fine-toothed comb, I've taken it upon myself to point out all the flaws I've seen.

Be warned, the next few paragraphs contain spoilers, lots of them. If you haven't seen Spider-Man 3 yet, well, don't. But if you still want too, that's cool. Just don't expect to enjoy yourself. Oh, and don't read this then either.

Focusing on the plot of an action movie is a waste of time mostly, you don't go to an action movie expecting art, you expect action. The makers of the movie mostly put together amazing fight/chase/chase-fight scenes and then squeeze in a few thrown together scenes that don't involve explosions to try and explain why the explody scenes are happening and to make themselves feel better. Usually it's not done very well, Spider-Man 3 is no exception. So rather than waste time on plot I'm going to pick apart the characters instead. All of them.

May Parker: Good old Aunt May. What's wrong with her you ask? Her only two purposes were to a) dish out a heaping helping of proverbs and sagely wisdom, and b) gross us all out at the image of her in a swimsuit. *shudders* Then she disappears without even a hint of any development, even when she learns who killed her husband so many years ago, she's still just a stereotypical kindly old lady and nothing else.

Gwen Stacey: I knew she would be in this movie, I don't look up stuff like the cast for upcoming movies or watch movie trailers, that's more of my brother's kind of thing, so other than my own intuition I had nothing to go on that Gwen Stacey would be in this movie, but whatdayaknow, i was right. Anyway, Gwen had one shining scene at the start were answers a probably difficult physics question, but then spends the rest of the movie as just some big airhead who coincidentally gets her life put into mortal danger(this happens a lot to women in Spider-Man's world.), and is then used to make Mary Jane jealous three times, the third being completely intentional and humiliating for both.

J. Jonah Jameson: Is awesome and if you think otherwise he will kill you in your sleep. That is all.

Ms. Brant?: Exists solely to annoy JJJ, then reject Eddie Brock's dorky come ons only to fall for Evil Peter Parker's equally dorky come ons.

That girl what lives across the hall, whatever her name is supposed to be: She's ditzy, submissive, and maybe borderline anorexic. What's not to love?

Peter Parker's Landlord: He's a stereotypical New York landlord with more than just a hint of an Indian background. Yet his daughter doesn't seem Indian in the slightest from my perspective, go figure.

Dr. Connors: He specifically says that he is not (note the word "not") a biologist. Yet he can identify a symbiont that's from an alien planet using only a microscope, and even pronounces "symbiont" like an uptight holier-than-thou-but-not-really-holy-because-I'm-a-man-of-science jerk, which I can buy, maybe during his education he studied some biology, but then he runs further tests? Why did he have to do it? Isn't there any actual biologists at this, evidently, prestigious university? Also, did Dr. Connors not figure out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man from this? I mean c'mon Peter-Parker-gives-you-black-goop + black-goop-makes-you-more-aggressive + new-black-suited-overly-aggressive-Spider-Man = Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Just put two and two together man! Oh wait, Dr. Connors is a physist, and that has nothing to do with math.

Flint Marko/Sandman: Almost pulled this one off, except that they just HAD to tie him into Spider-Man's past by making him the actual person to kill Ben Parker, then he just went downhill. I can't believe that people sympathize with his character, he's been dealt a difficult hand, okay, but that's not an excuse to endanger other lives the way he constantly does. If he isn't such a bad person then why was he hunting Spider-Man down? Someone so irrationally pissed at something you did that he would try to kill you is someone you avoid confrontation with, and then he teams up with Venom?! I know that he doesn't know who Venom is but still, if the guy has a mouth that reaches his ears and it's full of razor sharp teeth and his plan to eliminate Spider-Man involves putting an innocent girl in mortal danger, I'm sorry, but you just don't trust him and if you do, you're not a good person either. Then they do a pretty piss-poor explanation that his murder of Ben Parker was an accident that he turned himself in for and that all the crimes he commits are to pay for medical bills for his sick daughter, so he must be a good person at heart. He ONLY valued the life of his daughter over the lives of two armoured truck drivers, everyone else on the road, Mary Jane Watson, Ben Parker, and Spider-Man enough to risk their lives for money and in Spider-Man's case, actually attempt to murder him.

Harry Osborne/Gobli Jr.: I know that comic book characters wouldn't BE without coincidences, but this is just too much. Harry is coincidentally the son of the Green Goblin from the first movie, coincidentally best friends with Peter Parker, who is coincidentally Spider-Man, Harry's father died coincidentally indirectly because of Spider-Man, Harry then discovers Spider-Man's identity (not-so-coincidentally, though.), coincidentally develops some strange insanity in which he is speaking to his dead father who is coincidentally acting like the crazy evil version rather than the nice loving father that he WANTED to remember, which then coincidentally leads him to the secret room that contained all the equipment necessary to seek swift revenge on Spider-Man. Tell me that's not hard to swallow. Then he loses his "short term memory" after hitting his head, which would make him forget the chase-fight, but not the "murder" of his father or the hatred of Spider-Man that has been festering for years or the knowledge of his identity, all of which should be stored in his long-term memory by now. Oh, and let's talk his ingenious plan to destroy Peter Parker/Spider-Man's spirit, it was almost well executed, almost. Force his girlfriend to break up with him and make him believe that there is another man in her life, then pretend to be that other man, pretty good plan to ruin the life of someone as emo as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. But to end it all by winking then disappearing like that? Man, Harry Osborne/Gobli Jr. did you ever blow it, all you managed to do use make Peter Parker/Spider-Man cry and then blow your face up. Congrats. Though I did find it interesting that Harry Osborne/Gobli Jr. never actually fought Spider-Man, just Peter Parker.

The Symbiont: Not much to say about it, just how is "oh, it just rode in on a meteor an instinctively sought out Peter Parker/Spider-Man" an explanation on how the symbiont is in this movie?

Mary Jane Watson: What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. Her? I don't care how "in love" you feel at the start of your relationship with anyone, if they are as insensitive, self-centred, and all around deaf to your words and seemingly your words alone, you end it. Seriously, Peter Parker/Spider-Man was probably one of the worst boyfriends of all time even before the symbiont crawls up his ass and afterwards? He cuts a rug with Gwen Stacey specifically to humiliate Mary Jane and make her jealous, then he accidentally backhands her which is somehow worse than the humiliation just previous. Oh, and when she was feeling a little dejected before all that, she practically throws herself at her previous boyfriend who, as I recall from the first movie, wasn't much better during their previous relationship, but who cares about that? Clearly failing miserably to flip an omelet is the epitome of romance. It's like MJ can't not be in a relationship, and sadly this isn't that hard to believe. I've met people like this and it's pretty pathetic.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Oh boy, this one's a stinker. I won't dwell too much on his "worst boyfriend ever" failing as it was already mentioned above but I will say this, if a loved one is distraught about something, you DO NOT try to relate to him/her, chances are you've never experienced anything remotely the same. For example: A super hero doesn't need fans to save lives, he/she may feel unwanted without them, but ultimately he/she doesn't NEED them, an actor, however, is nothing if nobody likes him/her and because actor is his/her choice of career, discovering that he/she is unwanted is potentially destructive to their lives. Big difference. And Peter Parker/Spider-Man really needs to get his priorities straight, after the symbiont attaches to him he does the following and was proud of each one. He: Ruined Eddie Brock's career by exposing him as a vindictive fraud, tried very, very hard to kill Flint Marko/Sandman, blew up the right side of his best friends face in cold blood, and salsa danced with Gwen Stacey right in front of Mary Jane Watson in order to make MJ jealous, simtaneously humiliating them both. And what snaps Peter Parker/Spider-Man out of symbiont-high? He accidentally back hands Mary Jane Watson in the face. Now hitting someone is wrong, especially if you care about that person, but compaired to any of those other things and even moreso all of them combined, accidentally backhanding someone doesn't seem like very much at all. And he had better not get a second chance with Mary Jane Watson, despite what the ending seemed to imply. He has no better defense for his actions than an alcoholic, it was his decision to wear that suit, he knew the risks, he should get no sympathy.

And that is every flaw I found in every character in Spider-Man 3.

Also I do think that the death of Eddie Brock/Venom/the symbiont at the end was best way to stop them as I see it as a portrayal of the inevitable result of addiction.

The spoilers end about here, maybe.

Seriously though, I'm done.

Marr Vell

Ombre and Iris

2007-01-22T20:12:00.000-04:00

You know, about five years ago I created my own comic book universe with my own heroes and villains. Being only 17 at the time I thought that the ideas that I originally came up with were pretty unique and well thought out. As I grew older I kept the characters that I had created in my mind, constantly working and reworking out even the slightest detail on their origins and histories. To this day I'm not entirely satisfied with any of them. Even the one that I started with, "Ombre", had much of his origin scrapped to the point that his powers have little explanation on their source. But what I am satisfied with is his persona, what makes him the way that he is. It's to the point that it doesn't matter how he got his powers anymore. Besides, does anyone really care that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider anymore?

Anyway, thanks to an Internet friend of Kalinka's, (and a little persuasion from Kalinka herself.) I've decided that it's high time I let some more people see into the eyes of two of my most treasured characters: Ombre and Iris. You may remember them from a previous post from, like, August or something.

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Ombre

"They say that you’re the man without fear."

"No, that’s the Green Lantern - or Dare Devil - I forget which. Either way, that’s not me at all. They call me the man that fears nothing."

"You’ve lost me, aren’t those the same thing?"

"Not exactly, no."

"I’m not sure I follow."

"Yeah, most people don’t."

"Well, enlighten me. That’s what this interview is about. The public - I want to understand you better."

"Heh."

"What? What did I say?"

"‘Enlighten me.’ Funny that you should word it like that."

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"Fine, I’ll try and ‘enlighten’ you. I suppose the best way to start is with my name."

"‘Ombre’, French for ‘shadow’. You came up with the name because you morph into a shadow whenever you ‘disappear’, I already know that."

"Yes, and you’ve seen me use that ability how often?"

"Almost never, I know that you can but you never use it unless you absolutely have too. I always kind of wondered why that is."

"It’s because I’m afraid, afraid of nothing."

"I don’t get it, you say that you’re afraid, but then you contradict yourself by saying that your not afraid of anything."

"I didn’t say that, you just heard it. I said, ‘afraid of nothing’ not, ‘not afraid of anything.’"

"Now you’re just arguing semantics, they both mean the same thing."

"No they don’t. Listen just forget it, you don’t understand just like I knew that you wouldn’t."

"I’m sorry, I’m trying my best to understand your meaning, it’s jus–"

"Do you have ANY idea what it’s like for me every single time I use my powers? All you ever see is me melting into the floor or the wall, becoming a pool of black, like a shadow without anything attached. But for me it’s the purest of tortures. Total and complete isolation.

"It’s as if I’m transported to another world. Another world that’s devoid of anything at all. There is no matter, there is no air, there is no light, and sometimes I’m not sure I’m even physically there. All my senses simply shut down and there is nothing. No touch, no taste, no smell, no sound, no sight, nothing. Do you understand now? Nothing is a PRECISE and ACCURATE description of what I fear."

"..."

"I’m sorry. I over-reacted. It’s just...I’m not entirely comfortable talking about it."

"I think that’s enough for now, I think I’ll leave you to yourself for now."

"I think that would be best, goodbye."

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You'll notice that Ombre is actually the origin of the curse that I gave myself in the Lucid Seed stories. There's more to his powers than just being able to morph into a shadow, but those aren't nearly as important to his persona so they aren't mentioned here.

Next is Iris, I wrote this one to tell her origin for two reasons; one is that I actually like her origin, and the other is that I haven't really gotten as much inside her head as I have Ombre.

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Iris

Maria was born in another world that lies parallel to ours. This world was created by wizards and witches of past generations as a safe haven for magic users who were persecuted during the witch-hunts of the various eras on Earth.

Over many generations, the ruling class of this new world taught the idea that the old world was a cesspool of crime. It was with this mindset that Maria grew up. She was an optimistic young girl, she saw that her homeland would be seen as a utopia to the people of our world. She petitioned her father, who was a Governor, to build relations with our world to teach us to improve. Her father refused her offer, as the mis-created education of our world was used, in part, to cover up his own corruption. But Maria was determined, and despite countless warnings and threats of being disowned, she crossed over into our world, giving up her own name in the process, all to save us from a peril that never truly was.

What happened next no one could have anticipated. In her home world, her powers came as natural to her as walking, but here they were a terrible strain on her to even contain, more so to control once released. Her overflowing powers forced her to form barriers within her own psyche to protect everyone around her, weakening herself significantly. Doing so also created an instinctive need for her to release her powers, and with it a second personality which had seemingly complete control of her powers, but little regard for the well-being of others.

After regaining some control over her powers she set out to bring some measure of peace to our "chaotic" world. Much to her surprise, this world, though certainly not perfect, was nowhere near the cesspool she was taught that it was. She also found that protecting this world were various stable governments that saw to the safety and liberty of their people. She also saw that the world did have it share of criminals, but for the most part they were under control thanks to police and military forces.

Seeing that the world didn't need the savior she was expecting to become brought a sense of relief to Maria. Deciding to leave our world and return home, she went about retrieving the materials she needed to open a portal to her world.

Upon leaving a magic shop in search for the required spell components, Maria was drawn to a nearby flower shop because of a police car parked in front. At first she thought that maybe the officers could use some assistance. But when she arrived at the scene it became pretty clear that these policemen were, what she later learned were called, dirty cops. They were extorting the flower shop owner for "protection" money. Maria couldn't let these people get away with their crimes, and she knew this world's legal system well enough to know that these men could go on like this for months before justice could find them. So instead she decided to bring justice to them herself.

After using her magics to disarm the police officers she then used the vines in the shop to tie them from the ceiling until some honest officers could arrive and arrest. Wanting to repay Maria for her help, the flower shop owner offered her a flower as a gift. She said that the flower represented what she saw in Maria's eyes when she helped her. When Maria asked the woman what the flower was, she identified it as an Iris. Maria gladly accepted the Iris and elected to keep it with her and placed it in her hair, using her magically powers to keep the flower alive.

After that experience Maria realized that the system of our world was not infallible and rather than return home she vowed to protect the good people of the world from the persecution of corrupt peoples in stations of power, as well as help in the fight against common crime. The media quickly dubbed her "Iris" as most of the reports of her exploits had the defining trait of an Iris in her hair.

Maria accepted her new identity as Iris lovingly, having chosen not to return home until the corruption in our world is cleansed. Still blissfully unaware of the level of corruption in her home world.

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And there you go, I've put much of my creative thought into these two for the past five years. I'm under no illusions that they are perfect yet, so I'm willing to accept any critique anyone on ye ol' internets has. But remember, they are both very dear to me, so please be kind.

Marr Vell

ToSCA: Sendoff!

2007-01-18T18:29:00.000-04:00

And here it is, as promised, a huge, multi-picture conclusion to the hit "Tales of Symphonia Character Association". Now, some characters are not represented as much as some others here, simply because it's harder to find good pictures of everyone.

Anyway. Here. We. GO!

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And that's the end. It feels good having finally finished this project and also I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

I would also like to take this chance to thank three specific groups of people: The people at Namco for making such a splendid game, the artists at deviantart.com whom I blatantly stole from (and in some cases butchered their work) for having as much imagination as me and like a million more talent, and finally all of you for giving me personalities to poke and prod so's to put this all together.

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 8

2007-01-09T17:32:00.000-04:00

Bet you didn't see this coming, huh? That's right, I updated this already. I hope they sell mittens in Hell, 'cause I'm guessing it's suddenly gotten mighty cold down there.

Anyway, as promised, I have put together a comparison between Colette and a super secret surprise person we all know. I hope you're ready for it.

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Colette Brunel
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 97 lbs
Class: Chosen
Race: Human
Hair: Platinum Blonde/Long Hair
Build: Slender
Weapon: Chakram
Occupation: Student/Chosen

At first I had an idea for just one "person" to compare Colette to. But after a little thought into the subject, I realized that Colette is actually more like a whole group of "people". I am refering, of course, to the non-Blue Kalinkas.

This comparison system will work a little different than the rest: (You'll see how if you scroll down.)

Green) This is easily the natural comparison to be made; Colette is usually a naive, energetic, animal-loving, quirky, somewhat-ditzy girl.
White) Colette temporarily loses the ability to sleep early in the game.

Red) Colette's purpose in the world of the game is the "Chosen" which means that she is fated to die in order to save the world from the steady decay that is threatening to destroy everything. Because of this, Colette is very fixated on death, specifically her own, which she see's as an inevitability

Violet) Because of her predestined demise, as well as other reasons, Colette tends to slip into states of depression throughout the course of the plot. And she would rather suffer in silence than make her friends worry about her.
Black) At one point Colette loses her soul to the gem on her chest, thus robbing her of all her emotions and leaving her with only a sense of self-preservation. Though she lacked Kalinka Black's detailed, calculating intelligence, Colette was essentially action-reaction.

It's actually pretty cool how that worked out. Anyway, more pictures!

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Thus concludes my little indulgance of my insanity. I'll probably look for more pictures to post of the various characters for a final send off. But this is the last comparison I'll be making of Tales of Symphonia characters.

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 7...FINALLY

2007-01-02T20:57:00.000-04:00

Well, it's about damn time isn't it? I mean you come here every freaking day just to see if I updated my little project and you are disappointed every single time. But it's up now, and you can finally rest easy knowing that I do still care about this and how interested that you all are.

All joking aside, there are good reasons for me not posting for so long. One, I wanted to wait until the tournament ended before I posted this and that took like forever to do. And two, the computer lab that I usually post from was locked up for the holidays until just now.

But you're not here to read my excuses, you're here to see the thrilling conclusion to my project. Which is exactly what you would get, if I didn't recently figure out who I can compare Colette Brunel to. But that will wait until next time.

Anyway, let's just consider this a belated Christmas Gift that I was going to give you anyway even if Christmas wasn't real.

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Kratos Aurion
Gender: Male
Age: 4028
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 172 lbs
Class: Mage/Swordsman
Race: Human
Hair: Dark Brown
Build: Average
Weapon: Double-edged sword
Occupation: Mercenary

I said at the start that I would be saving whoever I compared to myself for last. This would be the final chapter, but I decided otherwise. Anyway, I digress. Kratos is like me. There, I said it.

Of course, I have more reasons to compare myself to Kratos other than just that he's my favourite character:

1) Kratos is the oldest of the playable characters, much like I am the oldest of the members of Lucid Seed. (Though not by THAT much.)
2) Speaking of age, Kratos seems very spry for his age, and (most of you don't know this) but a lot of people mistake my younger brother for being older than me.
3) Kratos, like Regal, is very proper in his speech. And though I sometimess (not a typo, that's for emphasis, Kalinkaa) talk using slang, it's mostly for fun and I usually speak with real words and phrases.
4) Kratos takes on a paternal role in the game (even before it's revealed that he is, in fact, Lloyd's father. Oh yeah, *SPOILER ALERT*) and I've taken on the role of big brother/teacher/father figure in our little club. (I prefer teacher.)
5) Kratos, like Regal again, has had some great tragedy occur in his life, (the same one, in fact. Only the names are changed) but unlike Regal, he doesn't let that be the only thing there is to him. And I WAS cursed, you don't hear me whining about it every day.
6) Even though he is an angel character, he doesn't reveal that fact for a while and even after it's been made known he doesn't make a big deal about it and doesn't use those abilities often. Much like me, if you witnessed my fight against Joneus you would have seen me morph myself into a shadow to turn the tables at one point. I've had that ability all along, it's part of that curse that I mentioned in my story, I just never used it and will probably not use it very often, not to mention the other abilities I have that are top secret. Heh heh heh.
7) Despite being a warrior, Kratos is actually quite wise, though not quite as much as Raine. And who is better at dishing out gems of wisdom of surprising clarity than Marr Vell?
8) This one wasn't really in the game, just in my head. (and the heads of a lot of "Tales of Symphonia" fans out there, evidently) Anyway, I've always pictured Kratos and Raine as a couple when playing the game, they just seemed to click, and I compared Raine to Kalinka. In case you haven't heard, we're getting game married.
9) This one is based entirely on the first picture in the picture party, I think it's self explanatory.
10) Kratos is easily the dreamiest character in "Tales of Symphonia", and what am I if not a hotty? (Okay, I'm just indulging myself now.)
Reasons eight and nine also double as reasons for comparing Kalinka to Raine.

Does this part even need an introduction anymore?

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Part 7 is finally up, but how long must we wait for part 8? If past experience and mathematics serve, it'll probably be up in give or take an eternity, maybe even longer.

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 6

2006-11-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

I know it took forever to get to this part, and you're probably all dead from old age or scurvy or something, but it took soooooo long to find this one picture that I knew existed and needed and even longer to pick just a few pictures to use from the many great ones that I did find. The artists who post on deviantart.com really seem to genuinely like Raine and it made things more difficult than you would expect.

Anyway, the show must go on.

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Raine Sage
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 108 lbs
Class: Mage
Race: Half-Elf
Hair: Silver
Build: Average
Weapon: Staff
Occupation: Teacher

This has pretty much been reduced to process of elimination, with only two left to cover and the last one being me, who could I possibly be comparing Raine too?

Kalinka, duh.

Par for the course, I've come up with real reasons for the comparison:
1) Raine, as the school teacher for three of the other characters at the start of the game, takes on a maternal role throughout the game, specifically towards her younger brother Genis, whom she raised since their abandonment. Much like Kalinka, who has taken on the role of older sister to the rest of Lucid Seed.
2) Raine is the most intelligent character in the entire game, need I say more.
3) Raine and Kalinka are very soft spoken most of the time, moreso guides than an actual commanders, but don't make them mad.
4) Raine has a glaring multiple personality disorder, wherein she spins into an insane "Ruin Mode" whenever exposed to specific stimuli such as tombs, artifacts, and just about anything archeological. Now, replace "tombs" with "cats" and "artifacts" with "steam", what does that make you think of?

I know full well that Kalinka isn't near as serious as Raine is. But that's not a bad thing. I like her better like that.

And, of course, PICTURE ADVENTUUUUUUUUUUURE!

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Okay, Part 6 is finished. Tune in next time for the thilling conclusion: Kratos Aurion!

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 5

2006-10-23T18:55:00.000-03:00

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Sheena Fujibayashi
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 106 lbs
Class: Summoner
Race: Human
Hair: Black
Build: Voluptuous :0
Weapon: Cards infused with magical energy
Occupation: Assassin

Okay, first off: I'm sorry about how Sheena looks and dresses. But I didn't create her, so don't chastise me. It's all Namco's fault, really. (Not just her fashion sense, but this whole project of mine in general.)

She's probably going to kill me for this, but I will be comparing Sheena to Kylaia. *hides in a cactus patch* She'll never think to look here. Heh heh.

There are legitimate reasons for this, I swear:
1) As Sheena starts off in her summoning she's very unsure of herself and doesn't live up to her own potential. But after a few successful attempts she gains confidence and loses her low self-esteem and starts to work harder and can only improve from there. Very much like Kylaia when we first met her, specifically when it came to her writing.
2) Whenever Sheena allows a boy to get close to her emotionally they usually end up screwing the whole thing up by pulling something completely perverted. (Usually Zelos.) This has happened to Kylaia once or twice, lest we forget Harleen Har.
4) Neither Sheena or Kylaia wear a dress unless it's a very special occasion.
5) Sheena's choice of weapon (Enchanted cards) is quite creative and Kylaia has proven to be very creative on many separate occasions.
6) Sheena is, obviously, the "fan-service" character. Meaning that she was designed to be attractive, but she herself is surprisingly defensive about it all. (Despite her wardrobe, which once again is all Namco's fault, not hers.) And Kylaia is herself objective about how the clothing in Runescape is geared toward making the women wear form fitting revealing clothes, while the men do not.

I hope that Kylaia now understands that I meant no harm in comparing her to Sheena and has maybe calmed down enough for me to come out of hiding. *Narrowly ducks under a flying Luna Blade* Guess not. I think I'll camp out here with the cacti for tonight.

Anyway! Pictures for all!

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That all for now, I hope the extra picture helps keep Kylaia from cleaving me in two and I can leave the cacti to post part 6: Raine Sage.

Campo,
Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 4

2006-10-20T17:41:00.000-03:00

Round 4. Fight!

Or rather, post a new comparison. That's what this is really about, right?

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Regal Bryant
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 187 lbs
Class: Fighter
Race: Human
Hair: Blue
Build: Large, fairly muscular
Weapon: Greaves
Occupation: Former aristocrat

I'll say this now, Regal here is almost me. Almost. There are mant similarities between him and I, but there is another character who is much closer. So instead I've connected Regal to Zhilo.

And, of course there are reasons for this:
1) Both Regal and Zhilo are very proper and, well, regal in their speech.
2) Both Regal and Zhilo act overly regretfull of some great tragity in their pasts, to the point that it pretty much becomes their only personality trait.
3) Regal is the only character with no combination attacks with anyone, therefore it can be assumed that he doesn't work well with others or that everyone else doesn't like working with him. If it's the latter, then that's Zhilo alright.
4) Both Regal and Zhilo wear handcuffs all the time. Although it's for different reasons. (Regal wears them as a form of self-punishment, Zhilo wears them because he's into the kinky shit.)

I certainly hope that no one gets the wrong message from this, I'm not like Zhilo. Zhilo is just a weepy, jerky, kinky version of me.

And, of course. PICTURE PARTY!

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That's all for young Zhilo30. He'll never read this, so I felt no restraint when writing it. Take that!

Up next: Sheena Fujibayashi.

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 3

2006-10-13T01:03:00.000-03:00

I'm having entirely too much fun with this. (Despite the insanity driven search system on deviantart.com.) Speaking of, are any of you familiar with the term "Yaoi"? I won't define it here, but let's just say that it's not desired and I have to sift through a lot of it. Particularly with this part.

Anyway, on with the show.

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Genis Sage
Gender: Male
Age: 12
Height: 4'8"
Weight: 64 lbs
Class: Mage
Race: Half-Elf
Hair: Silver
Build: Slender
Weapon: Kendama
Occupation: Student

Let me put this one in simple, yet apt terms.

Genis = Trevirn

Listed below are the reasons for this comparison. (Just like before you silly fop.):
1) Genis is the annoying little brother of another of the characters and we (Kalinka and I and maybe others) do see him as an annoying little brother.
2) Genis tries very hard to gain the favour of the other characters by mimicking them. Trevirn does the same. Both end up making fools of themselves.
3) Genis is incredably intelligent, especially for his age. Trevirn wrote 207 non-fiction books, with all of the research being hands-on, with no reference to any other books, that take an incalcuable level of intelligence.
4) Genis is in love with a young, blond boy that most people don't like (Mithos) and Trevirn is in love with a young blond boy that no one else likes (Yasakura9).

And there you have it, undeniable proof that Trevirn and Genis are one in the same. (Except the part about Trevirn being smart, he's totally not.)

As before, more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

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Part 3: Done. Next on the list is Regal Bryant.

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 2

2006-10-11T22:02:00.000-03:00

This is more fun than I expected. Although the search for good pictures on deviantart.com is time consuming; some of the characters have over 50 pages dedicated to them. (That's including repeats, other characters of the same name, crap pictures, and pictures that have nothing to do with the character at all.)

So any way Part 2!

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Presea Combatir
Gender: Female
Age: Looks around 12
Height: 4'6"
Weight: 53 lbs
Class: Axwoman
Race: Human
Hair: Pink
Build: Typical child's build, but slightly small for her age
Weapon: Ax
Occupation: Woodcutter

I couldn't help but compare Presea here to our resident "drunken demon", Jesse.

As before I'll list my reasoning behind the comparison:
1) Presea's hair is pink and of all the female characters that's the closest you get to a red-head.
2) She is slightly small for her age, (refer above) yet she is still the strongest character in the game.
3) She is written as the dark character in the game. 'Nuff said really, but there is still more.
4) This is an actual quote from the game. It's the caption for Presea's "Paw Mania" title - "Poke poke poke poke, I can't stop it, Poke poke poke poke, it doesn't stop." Who does that sound like to you?
5) This one is a bit of a spoiler, but I'm writing it anyway, if you want to play the game yourself don't read this one. Presea was used in an experiment (I won't go into the details) that prevented her from aging for 16 years. So essentially Presea is a 28 year-old trapped in the body of a 12 year-old girl and is therefore very mature for her apparent age. It's not exactly the same as it is with Jesse, but Jesse is very mature for her actual age.

And once again, again here are more pictures just because I felt like it.

Part 2 complete. Next up, Genis Sage.

Marr Vell

Tales of Symphonia Character Association Part 1

2006-10-11T03:08:00.000-03:00

Hey everyone! *Waves*

Just making sure that nobody mistakes me for being dead. Despite what Kalinka may say, that is not the case. Silly Kalinka, always greatly exaggerating reports of my demise.

Anyway, I have recently finished my 8th play through of Tales of Symphonia. And, because it's me, I couldn't help but draw parallels between most of the playable characters and people on Runescape.

So I figured, "hey, I haven't posted in like forever. Why not share with everyone the parallels that I drew and give explanations on them. If only as an excuse to post pictures from deviantart.com of the characters." I couldn't refuse a brilliant idea like that. So here it is, part one of my seven (possibly eight) part series that I shall entitle: Tales of Symphonia Character Association.

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I suppose I should start with the obvious choice. No, not me, I'm saving that for last. I'm talking about the main character/"leader" of the party in Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd Irving.

Lloyd Irving
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 128 lbs
Class: Swordsman
Race: Human
Hair: Dark Brown/Short Hair
Build: Average
Weapon: Two single-edged swords
Occupation: Student

Lloyd is easily paralleled with the one, the only, Joneus Gold.

There are reasons for this:
1) Joneus' name in the story is "Llyd", that's one "o" shy of Lloyd.
2) Lloyd has two swords and, as I recall, Joneus was going to register dual swords for the tournament. (Later exchanged for axe skills.)
3) Joneus actually tried to throw a Dwarven Vow at me once, Lloyd was raised by a Dwarf and therefore uses the vows on occasion
4) Though Lloyd is the main character and technically the leader of the party, when it comes down to actual leadership, the rest of the party usually turns to a more mature member.
5) Lloyd is notorious for being a big dork, sorry Joneus, but that's you again.
6) Even though it's not until the end, Lloyd eventually takes on a angel form. And though he's not the only angel character, his wings are the most dramatic. Joneus in a nutshell really.

And because I felt like it. Here are some more pictures.

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And there you have it, part one complete. Also, in case you've played the game, I'll only be doing playable characters. There are nine in total, but I'll probably leave out Colette because I don't really know anyone like her, and I'll definately leave out Zelos because I hate him and if I compare you to him I'm insulting you.

Tune in next time. I'll be comparing Presea Combatir to someone, but who?

Compared,
Marr Vell

Shattered Seed Part 1

2006-09-24T16:42:00.000-03:00

Okay, it's time I got out of just writing my perspective of Joneus' story. I may still do it from time to time, but for now I'm just going to write whatever I please and therefore not feel limited in what I write or fear creating inconsistencies between my side and Joneus'.

I hope this works. This is a story that I wanted told months ago in a really good role-playing event that Kalinka, Joneus and I all tried to coordinate. Unfortunately, the event turned sour and nothing ended up happening. I kept hoping that the event would pick up where it was left off, but that didn't work out.

So now, I'm just going to write the story that I imagined happening. Which is actually better because it eliminates the human factor and I have complete control over everything that goes on.

Which is good, because I'm, admittedly, a control freak.

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You could taste it in the air, the growing fear that everyone in the room saw towards Kalinka. Kalinka our leader, and our friend looked around the room and saw nothing but the cold stares of the people see loved more than her own life.

Some might say that the distrust was justified, afterall, she had just murdered one of our own. Though truthfully, none of us ever truly accepted him, murder is still murder.

She had put forward an idea to aid the less fortunate in a way that did not involve a bloody battle, something peaceful without unnecessary bloodshed. Our companion disagreed with her approach and voted instead to fight for personal glory and threatened to leave us behind and bring others with him.

This angered Kalinka, justifiably so, and she lashed out at him. First with words. Then when those couldn't penetrate his skull, her vines did.

That caught us all off-guard. Before any of us could react, the man we called friend lay dead on the floor. The whole time Kalinka just stood over the lifeless body, smirking as though she had done the world a favour and was proud of herself.

I can't speak for the others, I'm not a mind-reader. But this turn of events had not gone unforeseen by myself. Kalinka had confided in me long ago about the existence of another presence in her mind that fought for control. She came to me for advice, which I volunteered without pause, I myself knew what it's like to fight for control of one's own mind. She asked that I would kill her should she ever lose control completely. I refused then, without even considering what she was capable of. Now I saw it for myself, and still I can't bring myself to lay a finger on her in aggression.

Then Llyd stepped forward, our former leader; the man who trusted Kalinka enough to step down and follow her, and spoke. "What have you done?! You just murdered one of our own! You abyssal demon!" Always with the theatrics. Even after stepping down, there were many of us who still regarded Llyd as the rightful leader, and I could see many of those members rallying behind him.

"Killing him was never my intent. I merely planned to 'fix' his mind. I just got a little over-zealous. He did make me very angry, afterall. And I suppose I do need a little practice with that little trick." She strode over to Llyd. "Now perhaps we can discuss my actions in private." With that she spread seeds across the floor. The seeds sprouted almost instantly, creating a wall of vines, closing the rest of off from their conversation.

Fortunately for me, my sense of hearing had been heightened enough to hear the conversation through the vines. Tuning out the cries of my companions as they desperately tried to cut the vines, which quickly re-grew preventing any progress one their part, they feared for the life of their friend, Llyd.

I knew better, Llyd wasn't in any danger. Despite her actions, this other presence is still Kalinka, and she said that all she wanted was to talk, and that was what she was doing. Within that cage of vines the only one who's life was in danger was Kalinka herself.

Par for the course, Llyd was being bullheaded, and saw no other course of action then to avenge his fallen comrade. And though I saw his logic, I knew that what Kalinka did was wrong, I not only couldn't bring myself to harm Kalinka myself, I couldn't allow harm to come to her at all.

At that moment I heard the familiar sound of a sword being drawn from it's scabbard. I knew I had to make a choice, and I did not hesitate. I quickly drew all the moisture out of the vines to kill them and cut through with one powerful swing. Llyd turned to me, expecting my aid to combat a mutual foe. I begrudgingly had to disappoint. I darted swiftly towards him and held him by his throat.

"Harm a hair on her head and I will kill you where you stand." Knocking his sword aside in his weaken state. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few of the others advancing toward me, weapons ready. I had expected this, I was like a teacher to them all, it hurt to see them hate me like that, but I made my decision and I was not about to change it.

It seemed that a battle was inevitable. I had trained them all how to fight, but only a few of them were willing to learn how not to fight. But then a few of the others stood at my side.

"We will stand behind Lady Kalinka on whatever path she follows." Or at least that's the message they tried to deliver. I wasn't listening to the words they used, just their meaning.

I was lost in my thoughts when the the others began to fight amongst themselves. What's going on? This is not what I intended to happen. I only wanted to protect Kalinka, not spark an internal war. Tossing Llyd aside I jumped between the fights that had broken out and disarmed every single one of my friends.

"Stop this right now!" I ordered, something I never thought that I was capable of. "We're all friends here, what will this fighting get us?" I could tell from their expressions that their minds, like mine, were made up. They were intent on killing each other to decide which side was right. As though that was a good way to decide anything.

Then Llyd stood up and faced me. "You were really ready to kill me just now, weren't you?"

I looked him straight in the eyes, they held the same adamant desire to fight this out as the rest of them. "Yes, I was. I will not let any harm come to Kalinka. I made that promise long ago, and I intend to keep it." I saw the hypocrisy of my words as I said them, but I didn't care.

The rest of my friends stood with the sides they choose to follow, with me in the middle. I looked towards Kalinka, whose eyes held a tragic hatred for all those around her, and I looked to Joneus whose eyes still only held a resolute anger at my betrayal.

"Then go, follow your mistress to hell. Because that is the only destination that her paths can lead to." Said Llyd, as he pointed his sword, Bastian, in Kalinka's direction.

"Yes," said Kalinka, almost emotionlessly, "choose your side."

Kalinka, at least, understood my actions it seemed. "If your 'sides' can think of nothing but fighting one another, then I choose neither."

"Then you are alone," said Llyd, "for you are not welcome among my Grey Knights." That name had not been used since Kalinka took the title of leader all those years ago.

Then both side walked in opposite directions, an unsteady peace between them for now. But when Kalinka's Lucid Seed and Llyd's Grey Knights crossed paths again, a battle would be sure to follow, and with battle there inevitably comes pain and death.

I could not let that happen.

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There you have it. Part one of the epic "Shattered Seed." I hope you liked it. And before anyone asks, I didn't use anyone else's name because I want you to choose your sides for yourselves. I encourage you all to tell your sides of the story, but I already have the skeleton of this story set up in my mind, try and not break it.

Oh, and the one who was killed? That was either a faceless person who never truly existed, or Trevirn. That I leave up to you guys.

Marr Vell

Confessions

2006-09-22T13:39:00.000-03:00

I finally got around to picking up where I left off with that cliffhanger, I apologize to anyone who died of suspence poisoning.

You will be missed.

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"I..." I swallowed, "I'm fine." I got up to try and prove Kalinka that I wasn't lying, but I was still too weak and my movements were far too shaky to be convincing.

"You most certainly are not fine!" Kalinka scolded. "You're clutching at your chest through your armour. C'mon let's get that off of you, I'll see what I can do to help."

"N-no! Don't touch!" I tried to stop Kalinka, but I was too late, she reached out to take off my chest plate and burned her hand on it's hot surface.

"Ah!" She yelped, "it's hot to the touch! How can you possibly wear that?"

I tried to laugh it off, "it's not normally so hot. And it's not the armour that's causing it." But she was right the armour was burning my chest, I had to take it off, or risk permanent damage.

"Fine," I submitted as I carefully removed my chest plate, revealing horribly burned bandages that were falling of my chest, and underneath were the scars of the one moment of my life that I don't care to relive.

"What are those scars on your chest?" Kalinka asked me, naturally. "They're purple, like your eyes, and they look like symbols but I don't recognize them from any of my books."

"They won't be in any book," I responded, "I don't know myself what they really mean, I gave up long ago trying to decipher them. It's not as though it matters what they mean anyway, what matters is what they do."

"Which is?"

"They are the source of my power, my curse."

"Curse? You're cursed?"

"Yes."

"Well that's putting it bluntly, you're feeling better I assume."

"A little, fortunately those moments of pain pass quickly." I got up slowly, "You should get some rest."

"You're very bad at forcing a change of subject, you know that?" She put her hands on her hips in an effort to look imposing.

"I'm not getting rid of you that easily, am I?" I chuckled to myself. Why am I so quick to submit to Kalinka? "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Seems that you can be just as blunt as I can, okay I'll tell you the whole story."

It took what remained of the night to tell my story, by the end of it Llyd and the others were packing up to leave.

"Looks like we're on the move again, we should make sure not to be left behind" I said, nudging Kalinka to keep her awake. She stayed attentive for my entire tale, yet now she dozes off. I thought. "Oh, and Kalinka."

"Yes?" She responded, half awake.

"Not a word of this to anyone. Promise?"

Kalinka nodded a barely conscious agreement. Taking it as enough, I replaced the bandages around my chest and changed into my street clothes. Then I carried Kalinka to the horses to get back to our travels.

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Okay, so I kinda gipped the lot of you on what exactly the curse is, but I'm saving those relevations for my upcoming origin story.

Oh shit!

That's supposed to be a secret. Please disregard.

Mysterious. Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooo! *Waves hands around*

Marr Vell

The Cliff

2006-09-14T18:43:00.000-03:00

Okay, first chance I get, I'm getting the hell out of my terrible ass job. I actually wrote this story twice because of my terrible working conditions. GRAR! But anyway, I'm not here to bitch about my job, I'm here to write my story.

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"Won't you please grow up!?" Elsie yelled down at Sam, who had been complaining since they got to the cliff. "It's just a little rock-climbing."

Sam just looked up at her. "You're telling ME to grow up?! I'm not the one who has to put their lives at risk just to get some cheap thrills."

"Cheap? Who said anything about this trip being cheap? I spent thousands of dollars on this equipment, it's all top-of-the-line."

Sam rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Elsie tossed a pebble at Sam, hitting his helmet. "Well duh, It's not my fault that your sarcasm sense is diluted at best. My point is that this equipment is the best that money can buy. You've probably haven't been this safe since your days in your mother's womb."

"Yeah, thanks for that mental image."

"Happy to oblige."

"Now who's sarcasm radar is shot?"

"Still your's, love."

Two hours later the two of them reached the top of the cliff. Sam had to admit, the view was worth the climb. As he thought about it, he began to remove his backpack to set up camp so the two of them could rest up for the hike back down to Elsie's truck.

Elsie stopped him. "Don't take that pack off! Are you crazy?!"

"I was just going to help set up camp for dinner, I'm exhausted and hungry."

"Silly boy, don't you think that your pack is a little light to contain any food at all?"

"I just thought that I was carrying a tent or something, while you had all the food."

Putting on a face of mock shock, Elsie waltzed up to Sam and playfully pushed her index finger into his chest. "What? You thought lil' ol' me had the food? Not a chance, not when I have a big strong man like you to carry it for me."

"C'mon Elsie, quit playing around. You know as well as I do that you're just as, if not more, capable as I am when it comes to carrying stuff around. Now did you bring food with you or not?"

"Well, if you didn't bring any, and I didn't bring any then there's only one place the food could be." Elsie said as she stroled over to the edge of the cliff, and, to Sam's horror, pointed down to her truck at the base of the cliff.

"You're kidding right? We'll never make the climb back down without food. What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking it was time for that surprise that I used to get you here in the first place. You know, you were close when you guessed that your bag contained a tent. They're both made of cloth."

Before Sam could respond, Elsie gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and then leapt of the edge of the cliff. Sam panicked and ran to the edge just in time to see her unfurl her parachute.

"Base-jumping, huh? I guess it would be a surprise were it anyone else. And she tells me to grow up." Sam paused for a second. "Well, I've got to get down somehow, and there's no chance I'm going to let her hog all the food."

With that he jumped off the edge after her.

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And before anyone says anything; I don't know anything about rock-climbing or base-jumping. So if I got anything wrong, it's not my fault.

Marr Vell

MADNESS!

2006-09-14T01:24:00.000-03:00

Not much to say about this that you can't be gleened. Basically, Kalinka and I went insane.

Marr Vell

The Trouble with Life is....

2006-09-12T21:12:00.000-03:00

Surrounded by family,
Surrounded by friends.
I've made my mistakes,
I've accomplished just as much.
I've fought fights,
When I couldn't run.
Avoided more,
Just because.
Many mistakes corrected,
Some just left behind.
I look forward to the next batch,
Maybe I could learn something.
I have my regrets,
Though they are but few.
And I'll not speak of them here,
They're not really for you.
But I digress,
I've but one thing to say.

The trouble with life is...
It ends.

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Just so you're not worried, this isn't really personal. This is just what came to mind when Jesse proposed this Lightning Blog phrase.

Marr Vell

Nouvelle Marr Vell

2006-09-10T01:15:00.000-03:00

Okay, I know "nouvelle" is the feminine version, but "nouveau" doesn't rhyme with "Marr Vell," so there.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen yet. I have a new look! Kylaia says it's not very Marr Vell-ish, so for that reason I'm posting a couple of pictures of the character who inspired it. As well as a picture of the new me.

If this guy doesn't seem Marr Vell-ish, I don't know who does.

Marr Vell

It's been awhile, huh?

2006-09-07T00:59:00.000-03:00

I have finally, with some "persuasion" from Kalinka, gotten back into a write-y mood. So, in that case, Marr Vell presents the continuation of my point of view in the story.

Enjoy.

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Catching up to Llyd proved harder than expected. The spirits of the mountain seemed to really want Llyd's soul for their own. I wasn't sure why, but then again I wasn't about to waste time thinking about it. Kalinka and I climbed as fast as we could, having only Llyd's war cries to guide us.

Upon reaching the crest of the cliff we were set upon by a Will o' the Wisp*. Normally it would recede the moment we began to approach it, but this one was different, it blocked our path almost intent to keep us from reaching Llyd.

"We don't have time for this," I turned to Kalinka, "No one else is here, feel free to use your powers to take care of this one."

With that Kalinka raised here hand to the flames and parted them instantly. But just as we were about to run through the flames were replenished hotter than ever.

At first I thought that Kalinka's concentration was merely broken, but as I turned to look at her I noticed that another Will o' the Wisp had appeared and began attacking Kalinka directly.

I quickly rushed to Kalinka's aid, but the first Will o' the Wisp began attacking me. I shielded my face from the flames and drew out Schicksalflügel. Swinging it's enchanted blade at the Will o' the Wisps I was able to cause them to vanish for a time at least.

Helping Kalinka up, I said, "Let's go, we've still got a hero to save."

Kalinka then parted what remained of the flames just in time for Jesse to appear behind us. "What in the name of the gods?" She stammered, obviously taken aback by Kalinka's powers.

Kalinka panicked for a moment, "H-how much did you see?" She asked Jesse hesitantly.

"I saw enough, when were you two going to let me in on the fact that you had that kind of power?"

"Please, Jesse." I interjected, "we don't mean to keep secrets, it's just that Kalinka is unsure of her powers and she doesn't want to worry anyone. Besides we should hurry, I'd hate to have an argument like this keep us from helping Llyd."

"You're right, let's go." Jesse responded.

"Um..." Kalinka started, "don't tell Llyd, okay?"

"Alright, I won't." Jesse agreed, "I don't like being secretive, but I promise not to tell."

"Thank you."

Just as we began running again we heard an inhuman shriek from a short distance ahead. It definitely wasn't Llyd, what ever it was.

Clearing the fog we saw Llyd standing in a clearing gasping for breath as soldiers stood around him.

Jesse and Kalinka ran up and nearly tackled him out of concern for his safety. I took the opportunity to get his attention.

"What you did was foolish and irresponsible, you're lucky to be in one piece." I scolded him. I thought that maybe I was a little hard on him, afterall, I did the same thing once.

But before I had a chance to apologize, a young woman stepped out in front of him. "How dare you preach to him about being irresponsible," she said, "he just saved me and the others from a Shadow Mouth."

"He did, did he?" I must admit, I was surprised to learn that Llyd's sword was also capable of harming spirits. "Well then, that must be a sword of great proportion if it can harm a Shadow Mouth, we'll have to get it checked out when we get to Valvega."

The woman's eyes seem to light up when I mentioned Valvega. "Valvega is it? What a coincidence we were heading there as well, maybe we can come with you."

Not wanting to endanger anyone else on our journey, I merely shook my head and turned away, wanting to return to our horses before more spectres tried to take us. But then Llyd spoke up. "Um Marr, I promised to teach her how to wield a blade, and as you know one of my honor cannot go back on his word."

Giving up on getting rid of the women or the soldiers for now, I just shrugged and mounted my horse to continue on our trip.

"By the way, Llyd." I said to him as we began again. "Thank you for wasting all the time I had planned to save us by taking this pass. As soon as we exit the mountains we're setting up camp so we can rest and plan the rest of our travels." Then I lightly nudged him in the arm to show him that there were no hard feelings, and told him the story of my first time traveling this path with my old master.

Upon setting up camp in the field Llyd and I quickly took charge of the soldiers, some were sent to collect fire wood, while the others went to catch food. The women, who introduced herself as Rebecca, came to me to ask if she could be of any help.

"You're here so that Llyd can teach you how to use a sword," I told her, "why don't you two get started on that? If you need me, I'll be on the first watch."

A few hours later, while tending to Schicksalflügel, I heard music rising from the camp. I instantly recognized Llyd's flute. But later I heard Kalinka, Jesse and Becca all singing along together. Their voices seemed to surround me as I listened, the song calming my normally tense nerves.

That moment of weakness was all it took. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and arms, and nearly doubled over. It was all I could do to keep from screaming out as the torturous feeling took hold of me again. The pain was great enough to make me black out, but I held it back knowing full well that should I slip into unconsciousness what awaited me was worse than any physical pain I could ever endure.

After a few moments of burning pain, which felt like hours, I was able to regain control again and the pain vanished a quickly as it began. Clutching my chest, I began to breathe heavily, and I tried desperately to regain my composure before anyone noticed.

"Marr...are you okay?" I heard Kalinka's voice behind me.

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Cliffhanger! Ha! Take that!

=P

Marr Vell

*Will o' the Wisp - A fire spirit, normally considered a guide, sometimes a guide to treasure, sometimes a guide to getting lost. It varies, but they are usually not directly harmful. But this is MY story, they'll do what I want.

Holy Carp!

2006-09-01T15:26:00.000-03:00

While being really bored at work today I decided to look up our names on Wikipedia. And here is what I found:

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My first name Marr is one of six committee areas in Aberdeenshire, Scotland bordering Atholl, Badenoch, Gowris, The Mearns Banff and Buchan. It has a population of 34,038 (2001 Census).

Marr is named after Mar, one of the historic districts of Scotland, which comprised the larger portion of Aberdeenshire, extending from north of the Don southward to the Mounth. Like other such districts, it was under the rule of a mormaer during Scotland in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century an earl (the Earl of Mar) took his place, but no definite succession of earls appears till the 12th century, nor is any connection established between them and the mormaers.

The district was eventually combined into the traditional county of Aberdeenshire during reorganisation due to Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, this Act established a uniform system of county councils and town councils in Scotland and restructured many of Scotland’s counties. (See: History of the local government of Scotland).

To the west, the mountain environment of the Cairngorms National Park sustains a well developed tourist industry based on heritage and outdoor pursuits. Forestry and livestock farming are key industries, particularly in remoter areas. Part of the area has qualified for EU financial assistance. To the east, Marr has experienced population growth due to its strong commuter links with the city of Aberdeen.

Also there was the English guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player and singer from The Smiths, and more recently Modest Mouse, Johnny Marr.

My last name came up with Vells, an indie rock group formed by drummer Jeremiah Green of, once again, Modest Mouse. (Coincidence, really.)

Joneus came up with A little known artist under Hollywood Records, sorry there wasn't anything else.

And finally Kalinka came up with this little gem:

"Kalinka" ("Калинка" in Cyrillic) might be the best-known Russian song of all time. It has been mistaken as being a genuine folksong, but was actually written in 1860 by the composer and folklorist Ivan Petrovich Larionov 1830 -1889 and first performed in Saratov as part of a theatrical entertainment that he had composed. Soon it was added to the repertory of a folk choral group, and the rest is history.

The song celebrates a snowball tree, with a speedy tempo and light-hearted lyrics. Singers and dancers many a time get into a frenzied celebration of song and dance while performing this song.

A Version of the "Kalinka" lyrics
Russian:
Калинка, калинка, калинка моя,
В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя,
Под сосною под зеленою
Спать положите вы меня.

Ах! Сосенушка ты зеленая,
Не шуми же надо мной!
Ах! Красавица, душа девица,
Полюби же ты меня!

And because I'm sure at least most of us couldn't read that.

English translation:
Snowball bush, snowball bush, my snowball bush,
In the garden there's the berry, my raspberry..
Under the pine, under the green pine,
Lay me down to sleep.

Ah, you dear pine, you green pine,
Don't you rustle so loud over me
Ah, beautiful maid, dear maid,
please fall in love with me!

Also, Several clubs and companies have been named Kalinka as well as a breed of show dog, the Kalinka terrier, and a minor character in Mega Man 4.

I also searched for Zhilo, Trevirn and Kylaia and came up with nothing. Sorry guys.

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And there you have it, undeniable proof that I have *way* too much time on my hands at work.

I hope you found it informative, or at least entertaining.

Marr Vell

Howdy!

2006-08-26T22:44:00.000-03:00

Well, I haven't posted in what feels like forever. And this isn't going to be much of a post either. I just wanted to inform everyone of Joneus' new blog. It's to continue the story he started on his old blog, which stopped working for some reason. Anyway I posted a link to the new blog to replace the link to the old one.

Marr Vell

When feelings get in the way.

2006-08-15T23:14:00.000-03:00

There had been rumors since they first made it big. Simply because they were opposite genders everyone assumed that the rock duo were "into each other".

This of course wasn't true, and they denied it up and down, not that anyone would believe them. The rumors persisted.

Every performance they made, they could see it in the eyes of the fans. They heard the questions over and over about when they'd "come clean". They hated every minute of it, but for the sake of their careers and their friendship they continued their tours together. They saw their music as something that trancended emotion.

It got so bad at times that they even began second guessing themselves, thinking that maybe there was something there. Though those moments were few, far between and passed quickly, they still happened and they both remembered.

Tonight was one such moment. Or so they thought, they both prepared to go on stage. they happened to glance into each others eyes and saw something new, that they hadn't seen before. Once again all the hype and drama in the media came flooding back. They thought at first they would just let it pass as always. But this time it was different.

And for the first time the duo kissed.

They were late to start the show. Another first. They never liked to lie to their fans. But to keep appearances they made up a story as to why they were late. They performed, that's what they came to do. But something was different, they could tell. So could the fans.

They were booed off the stage.

Both their relationship and their careers crumbled soon afterward.

This is what happens when feelings get in the way.

Playing Catch-up

2006-08-13T16:57:00.000-03:00

Once again I have proven that the murder of one person (See previous post: Success!) has benefitted us all on a whole. I have decided that it was about time that I finally catch up to Joneus and hopefully I won't fall behind again.

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As we re-entred the inn I began contemplating just what those men wanted with Kalinka. It likely had something to do with her power over nature, but how could they have known about her? Rather than worry the others, I decided to keep that information to myself.

I glanced over to Llyd, he was introducing himself to Jesse. Smart, I thought, get on her good side while you can. I silently chuckled to myself at that thought.

Just then Kalinka jumped up and yelled. "Hey! What's that over there?!" While pointing towards the floor across the room. Her, Jesse and I all went over to check it out, while Llyd stayed behind rubbing his ears, the latest victim of Kalinka's boundless energy and sponteneity. But he too, eventually followed us over.

Kalinka picked up a piece of metal off the floor, I was unmistakably the symbol of the White Helms of Mangard, a red eagle. Had one of those men dropped it? I didn't have time to ask the question of the others. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small blaze making it's way to the barrels of alcohol.

"We have to leave," I said, "Now!"

I pulled the three of them out of the inn as quickly as I could. Almost emmidiately after we left the building the barrels caught fire, and it wasn't long before the whole building was ablaze.

Jesse looked very upset over the fire, mostly fearful that she had lost her father. Llyd did his best to comfort her. Just then a figure leapt out the window of the inn. It was definately Jesse's father, and I saw her face lighten a little at the sight of him walking down the road.

"Okay," I said, "mount up, Kalinka. I've got some questions, and we're going to Gilden to get some answers."

And so we rode off to Gilden. Llyd and Jesse decided to come with us, and I welcomed their company. To save time, I chose to take the Dark Mountain path, not my favourite of places and for good reason.

"Steel yourselves," I warned the others, "The shadows here are very dangerous."

Not one minute after I had spoke those words there cmae a cry for help in the distance. Llyd seemed almost inticed to go to the aid of whoever called. "Llyd!" I called to him, "the mountain makes you hear things that aren't there, don't worry about it." But he still looked as though he would run off and try to be a hero.

"What if there really is someone in danger?" He asked, confirming my presumptions. I knew how he felt. I had riden through this path before, and every time I heard the same voice calling for help. Were there actually someone in that kind of danger here he or she would be long dead by now. It cut to my very soul to ignore it, but my heart knew full well that my logic was sound.

I first tried to bluff him, "Go off if you wish," I said, "I won't be there to save you if your soul is devoured by the spirits of the damned." He stopped for a bit, as though withdrawn into his own thoughts. For almost a second I foolishly thought that I had swayed him.

Then He yelled to his horse an rode headlong toward the source of the cry for help.

"What do you think you're doing?!?" Yelled Kalinka. "You be killed! Get back here this instant!" Llyd just seemed to shrug her warning off. In seconds he was too far away to be seen.

"Should've known better," I said quietly, "it didn't stop me from running off the first time I was here. Why would it work on him?" I looked over to kalinka and Jesse. "C'mon, we're following him."

We rode as fast as we could, only to find a small avalanche had blocked our path. "This was definately the work of the spirits here," said Jesse, "you two go ahead, I'll watch the horses and try to clear the road."

Thanking Jesse for her help, Kalinka and I climbed over the rocks as quickly as we could. After clearing the landslide Kalinka heard Llyd's battle cries dead ahead. So we ran in that direction, praying that we were not too late.

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I hope you enjoy this and that it's not too long.

Marr Vell

P.S. Oh! And Kalinka, if you read this, I posted a thank you comment for your "Cheer up Marr" commets from before. Just incase you haven't seen it yet.

Fight Scenes Are Boring

2006-08-11T09:45:00.000-03:00

Told you my writer's block problem was fixed. Anyway, here is the next chapter to my side of the story, I hope you like it.

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After explaining his view of the events leading up to the brawl, the warrior seemed to back down for Jesse's gaze. Partially out of fear of her retribution, but I could see a distinct sense of awe in his eyes. I chuckled to myself a bit as Jesse told him not to take the blame for the actions of the drunkards in the bar.

Jesse then called to her father to help clear out the instigators of the brawl. I offered my assistance as well. Most of the people bolted out the door, intimidated at the appearance of Jesse, her father and I, the rest flew out the door, after being thrown by one of us. I returned to Kalinka's side to gather my things just to catch the warrior in the middle of a song. I decided to not stick around too long, so I motioned to Kalinka to pack up.

"Aw. I wanted to hear the rest of the song." She complained.

Once again, I found myself unable to deny her whims. So I agreed to stay for the song. But just as I finished my promise the warrior cut his song short. It seemed as though something had interrupted him. I looked to the entrance and noticed five new patrons entre the bar. The five of them were definately soldiers, but from an army that I did not recognize, and the man in front was definately the leader. He had a similar air about him as Jesse, only filled with malice and hatred. He had some demon in him, that was easy enough to tell.

I elected to leave before things turned ugly. I turned to Kalinka, she was looking a little fearful of the leader. She told me, "We should leave now, I don't like the look of these men." I agreed and we began to make our way to the door, instead of participate in an unnecessary battle.

Unfortunately this fight was not so easily avoided. As we reached the door the five men blocked our path. "Excuse me," I asked, "may we please pass through? We wish to leave for the night."

Their leader stepped foward and said, "We have no interest in you, Dragoon, but that girl you travel with is of great importance to us. You may leave, but she stays."

"As if you'd expect a dragoon to back down so easily." I said as I took a defensive stance, and removed the leather wrapping from my sword. "If you want her, you have to go through me first."

The soldiers drew their weapons and prepared for battle. I gauged from their stances that they were well trained, their leader spoke up again, "What I expected was that you would make the smart choice and stand down against such odds, hero."

"Then you've never faced a dragoon before." I retorted. I could take the soldiers easily enough, it was their leader that worried me. I knew enough about the demonic to never underestimate them. But I didn't have time to study his strength. His underlings attacked me without a second thought.

Just as I was about to counter attack, the warrior appeared beside me, sword in hand. "Back away, don't get involved." I told him. I was not used to relying on anyones strength save my own, and I was unsure of the warrior's abilities. Just as the words left my mouth, the leader shot a ball of lightning at the chest of the warrior, causing him to crash into a far table. "You'll regret doing that, demon." I threatened as I charged at the soldiers.

As I battled with the demon's forces the warrior stood up and stood beside me again. I warned him again not to get involved. "I will not, this battle will be even." He responded. "Even if I have to do it myself."

I must say I was impressed, I begrudgingly accepted his aid. We fought side by side, my first experience in fighting along side another since my days of training with my master. In the end the soldiers retreated.

Making sure that the soldiers left, without turning I told the warrior, "My name is Marr Vell, and this is my companion, Kalinka Blue." motioning to Kalinka who waved to the warrior.

"My name," the warrior hesitated for a second, "is Llyd del Caech."

We all decided to re-entre the bar to get better acquainted. All the while I clutched my sword's hilt, it hadn't resonated that badly since the day I met Kalinka.

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On a side note, thanks to Kalinka's most recent story, I may be back-tracking a little to our meeting, I haven't decided yet. Thanks alot. :}P

Marr Vell

P.S. I'm not very good at writing battle scenes, so expect all of mine to be "we fought those guys" or something along those lines. The details aren't all that important anyway.

Success!

2006-08-10T11:10:00.000-03:00

Well, I've tracked down and "dealt with" the source of my writer's block. So rest assured, though I hate playing catch-up, I will be writing more often and I wll hopefully never fall behind again.

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As the strange warrior made his way towards us, I began to reach for my sword, Schickalflügel, named so because of the decorative wing-like hilt, which resonated in the presence of some who would make a drastic change in the chosen path of the wielder. And it was shaking like mad in my hand. I considered ordering another stout to help me swallow the events that would likely follow.

Suddenly, the man seemed to snap out of his trance and began to try to cover up that he was walking in our direction. He redirected himself towards a table in the corner and sat down. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to gather my things to leave, the whole time keeping an eye on the mysterious warrior. Then Kalinka noticed me glancing at the warrior and spoke up.

"Hey look," she said, "He's carrying a flute. I hope he plays us something."

With that the whole bar was in a bit of an uproar. They almost demanded that the warrior played them a song. After some coaxing, the warrior got up and sat at the bar, he then pulled out his flute and began playing.

After his performance the crowd began to cheer. I had to admit he was very good, and I responded with a few claps of my own. The cheering contiued until one man decided to heckle the warrior's musical talent, causing the crowd to break out into a brawl.

Rather than get pulled into the fight, Kalinka and I elected to leave the bar peacefully. But on our way to the exit, the upstairs door burst open and out stormed a beautiful young red-head named Jessica Darlington. I've rested for the night at this inn before, so we've met. She had some demon in her, that much I knew, but mostly she was all show, if you're lucky.

"Okay," she whispered, then I braced for what I knew was coming. "WHO ON EARTH STARTED THIS!?" The inn shook a little when she spoke like that, always had.

The warrior had a bit of a fearful look on his face as she strode into the room. He looked around to see if anyone would answer her, and when no one did, he rose his hand and spoke up to take the blame.

I turned to Kalinka and said, "Lets not leave just yet," as a smirk crept onto my face, "this is just about to get interesting."

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In case you're wondering, it was one of my co-workers that caused the writer's block. His name was Josh. *Evil laughter*

*Ahem* In closing, don't get in the way of my writing. There are consequences...Dire consequences. *More Evil laughter*

*Ahem yet again*

Marr Vell

Lookit!

2006-08-07T12:42:00.000-03:00

Check it out, I set up links to everyone else's blogs on mine. Now you can get to everyone's blog from mine!

Marr Vell

Lightning Blog-Post

2006-08-06T20:43:00.000-03:00

"You wanted to see me?" Said Iris as she stepped outside.

Ombre looked back from watching the sunset. "Yeah, I guess," he said, "I don't really know, I don't understand what been happening between us."

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The two had been very close since the...incident. Ombre saved the lives of Iris and all her friends selflessly. But then, for reasons still kept even from Iris, Ombre hunted down and tried to kill the mad-man that imperiled Iris and her friends in the first place.

Iris and her friends could not allow harm to come to anyone, not even this mad-man, so they fought against Ombre. His skills were impressive, to say the least, and coupled with his unique "abilities" he was a very formidable opponent for all of them.

Only Iris seemed to have come up with and effective stratagy to fight him, by imprisonning him with magic she seemed to prevent him from using his powers, and held him captive. For about 20 seconds.

The magical backlash of Ombre breaking free was enough to knock all of Iris' friends unconscious. And Ombre, enraged that his target escaped, mindlessly took out his aggression on Iris, claiming that they knew nothing about what they allowed to escape. But Iris fought back.

The resulting clash of magical energies changed something fundimentally between the two. Both of their souls were fused together. A piece of Ombre's soul connected with Iris', and a piece of Iris' with Ombre's.

Since that night they were inseparable, although it was not there choice. Their new and mysterious connection forced them to stay together. Ombre was accepted among Iris' friends, albeit slowly. And he has proven himself as a valuable ally. And though both Ombre and Iris felt more than the connection of their souls at times, neither would act on their feelings, for fear of the consequences of unleashing their powers like without emotional restraint.

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"Well, if you've got nothing to say, I guess I'll head back in." Said Iris. "I know you rarely sleep, but you should come inside too."

As Iris turn towards the door, Ombre reached his arm toward her. "Until the end of time I..." He said.

Iris turned, "Did you say something?"

"No, nothing." said Ombre.

And with that Iris returned inside, and Ombre continued staring at the sunset. All the while with a look of disappointment written all over each others faces.

So Tired

2006-08-06T17:13:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the lack of a post yet again. I'm just far too tired to write anything worthwhile. And the sheer boredom of working here on a Sunday isn't helping. Going over 24 hours without sleep will do that do you.

Oh well, I'll sleep when I'm dead. Or later tonight, whichever comes first. Hopefully tonight.

-_-
Sleepy Marr Vell

Pulling Out My Own Hair

2006-08-05T18:37:00.000-03:00

Wow it's quiet here at work right now. Now would be a perfect time to write a continuation to my side of the story. Which is exactly what I want to do. Unfortunately someone (probably one of my co-workers) has incased my head in a ten-ton mass of writer's block. So I can't write a story right now, maybe later. No promises.

Marr Vell

Edit: Grar! I wish I had access to a scanner here! You see, in a fit of writer's block induced boredom I decided to draw up a concept of my giant sword. It took an hour to get the blade right. I wish that I could show it to all of you. Describing it doesn't do it justice. But I will tell you it's name: "Schicksalflügel." (German for "Destiny Wing.") It's sooooooooooooo cool, I wish you guys could see it.

Night at the Bar

2006-08-04T14:01:00.000-03:00

Okay, the inspiration bug has finally bitten good ol' Marr Vell. It's about time, I needed to write something or my head would've exploded. Thank God I walk to work, on my own, for an hour, with nothing but my thoughts to entertain me. Anyway, I'd like to thank the lot of you for inspiring me to write something. So here it is:

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"C'mon Marr! Hurry up!" Kalinka called from a ways ahead of me. Her boundless energy always kept her in the lead. "I know you can move faster than that, even despite your sword and armour!" Awhile back I had rescued her from a pack of goblins, she has been following me around ever since. I've given up trying to ditch her. "C'mon I'm curious, I want to try it for myself!"

"There's no need to rush, Kalinka, the inn will still be there if we take our time." I tell her, "I still don't know why you want to try ale for yourself, I told you all there is about it, and it's not a pleasant beverage."

"I know, I know, but still I want to experience everything this world has to offer, good and bad, and I want to form my own opinions." In the short time I've known her, I've quickly learned that I can't argue with her.

"Very well, but I'm only paying for one." I said as we entred the inn. "After that, if you still want more, you'll have buy your own." We walk up to the bar, I order an ale for her and a stout for myself. I lean my sword against the bar, and begin staring at my drink.

Ten minutes later I was still staring at the same full mug of stout. Why did I even order this? I thought. Did I just order it to keep Kalinka company, of sorts. Why would I do that? I hate this stuff. Oh well, I paid for it, bottoms up. I pulled down my scarf and then drank down the bitter-tasting sludge and silently vow to never drink another stout for as long as I live. Then I look over to Kalinka to see how she likes her ale.

What I find is Kalinka retreating towards me on her stool, with a drunken man leaning in towards her spouting come-ons and slurs best not repeated.

I get from my stool to confront the man, "I suggest that you leave my companion alone. Now."

The drunkard drew his sword clumsy and sputtered, "Wutchar you gonna do 'boutit?" And attempted to look menacing.

I took hold of my sword and began pulling the straps off it's leather wrapping, but then hesitated. I noted how sloppy his fighting stance was, even for a drunk.

The man made a wide over-head slash at me. I caught his arm easily with one hand. "I don't give out a second warning, leave now."

In response the man spat at me. Some people say that you can't blame a drunkard for his or her actions. I break his arm in three places. I've never subscribed to that way of thinking. I tip the barkeep handsomely on the condition that he never serve that man again.

I start redoing the leather straps and I ask Kalinka, "What did you think of your ale?" Partially out of genuine curiousity, but mostly to break the mood.

It worked, it brought her out of her state of shock. "Oh, it was bitter and unpleasant, just like you said. And clearly drinking too much makes one an uncouth beast. I don't think I'll be drinking anymore for a long time." With that she started to get ready to leave.

Just then a new patron entred the inn. He had the air of a warrior about him, strong and proud. And the sword he held with him was very well made and likely enchanted. He scanned the room a few times before resting his gaze upon us. I knew not at the time what it was that he wanted but i felt no hostility from him. After a few seconds of staring towards us, the warrior began, though a little like he was being guided, to make his way in our direction.

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There you have it. Kalinka, I hope you don't mind how I invisioned you in this story. And Joneus, I hope you don't mind my story intersecting with yours.

Anyway, until I write again. See you around.

Marr Vell

More of the Same

2006-08-04T00:08:00.001-03:00

The Heavens know no bounds. We've all heard that phrase at one point or another. It's meant to display the endless power of heaven or God.

I think about this phrase alot. It is the single most important phase to me when I try to understand religions and the people who follow them. The idea that something as limitless as God can be understood seems so foreign to me. The Lord works in mysterious ways, true. But to believe that we as a species can ever hope to understand God in any way is pure arrogance.

For example, it is said that God created the world in seven days. But in all honesty, wouldn't you agree that an omnipotent, omniscient, omniprensent ultra-super being might have a slightly different concept of time than our little finite people.

For me, God is Existance and I can never hope to comprehend him. So why, I ask, does everyone else seem to believe that they can? You are insulting the very idea of an almighty God when you try to examine him, so the idea is best left untouched.

Improv Blog-Post Afterschool Special!

2006-08-04T00:08:00.000-03:00

How The Snow Falls Without Wind

a haiku by Marr Vell

In the silent air

Of winter's chill nighttime dark

Snow falls in my hands.

The Heroic Archetypes

2006-08-03T15:35:00.000-03:00

Howdy y'all!

I know that it's been a while since I last posted. But who really cares? I don't, do you? Didn't think so. But I digress.

I've noticed that everyone has been writing stories based on their characters. I think I'll try my hand at that in a while, just as soon as I get some inspiration. But for now I think that I'll give everyone a hand in writing character traits.

This was actually introduced to me about a year ago by a friend of mine. (Her name is Kalinka, perhaps you've heard of her.) Anyway, this is a list of the twelve archetypes of the hero. Every hero ever conceived falls under one of these archetypes in some way. So anyway, here they are:

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Innocent
Quest: To remain in safety.
Fear: Being abandoned.
Dragon: Will deny it or seek outside rescue from it.
Task: To gain fidelity and discernment.
Virtue: Trust and optimism.

Orphan
Quest: To regain safety.
Fear: Being exploited.
Dragon: Will be victimized by it.
Task: To process and feel pain fully.
Virtue: Interdependence and realism.

Warrior
Quest: To win.
Fear: Weakness.
Dragon: Will slay or confront it.
Task: To fight only for what really matters.
Virtue: Courage and discipline.

Caregiver
Quest: To help others.
Fear: Selfishness.
Dragon: Will take care of it and those it harms.
Task: To give without maiming self or others.
Virtue: Compassion and generosity.

Seeker
Quest: To search for a better life.
Fear: Conformity.
Dragon: Will flee from it.
Task: To be true to the deeper self.
Virtue: Autonomy and ambition.

Lover
Quest: To gain bliss.
Fear: Loss of love.
Dragon: Will love it.
Task: To follow bliss.
Virtue: Passion and commitment.

Destroyer
Quest: To metamorphosis.
Fear: Annihilation.
Dragon: Will allow dragon to destroy oneself.
Task: To let go.
Virtue: Humility.

Creator
Quest: To gain identity.
Fear: Of being illusionary.
Dragon: will claim it as part of oneself.
Task: To self-create and self-accept.
Virtue: Individuality and vocation.

Ruler
Quest: To create order.
Fear: Of creating chaos.
Dragon: Will find constructive uses for it.
Task: To take full responsibility.
Virtue: Responsibility and control.

Magician
Quest: To transform.
Fear: Of assuming evil sorcery.
Dragon: Will transform it.
Task: To align self with the cosmos.
Virtue: Personal power.

Sage
Quest: To find truth.
Fear: Deception.
Dragon: To transcend it.
Task: To attain enlightenment.
Virtue: Wisdom and non-attachment.

Fool (The name is a bit misleading, I prefer "Trickster.")
Quest: To enjoy life for its own sake.
Fear: Of being not-alive.
Dragon: Will play tricks on it.
Task: To trust in the process of becoming.
Virtue: Joy and freedom

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Confused? Well I can't really blame you. But that's what I'm here for.

First of all lets get the terms down:

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Quest: A little obvious. This is what the hero set's out to accomplish, when this is completed the story ends. Pretty simple.

Fear: Obvious again. This is what the hero fears, it is the reason that he/she took up the quest.

Dragon: Now it's getting complicated. First of all, the Dragon doesn't have to be a giant, fire-breathing, winged lizard, it is actually the greatest challenge the hero has to face. It can exist physically, or just be some aspect of the hero his/herself that has to be overcome. Additionally, the description isn't of the Dragon itself, but rather the way the hero must challenge the Dragon.

Task: This is the climax of the quest, and is usually sufficient to overcome the Dragon. Succeeding brings the end of the quest, failure can destroy the hero, or turn the hero from his original archetype to its shadow archetype. (More on that later.)

Virtue: These are the rewards of self that the hero gains upon completion of the quest. As well as the physical rewards. (Gold, castle, etc.)

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Now for the fun part: What if the hero fails?

Like I mentioned previously, if the hero fails to complete his/her task he/she can be killed, no surprises there. But additionally, he/she can become his/her greatest fear, his/her shadow archetype.

This doesn't mean that there are twelve villain archetypes, or that a failed hero that doesn't die automatically becomes evil, just that his/her ideals become "inverted" for lack of a better word.

In fact the twelve archetypes can be shortened into six groups of two. Each group being made up of each others shadow archetype. Here is a list of the shadow groups:

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Innocent <-> Orphan
Warrior <-> Caregiver
Seeker <-> Lover
Destroyer <-> Creator
Ruler <-> Magician
Sage <-> Fool

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Now, this doesn't mean that any of the archetypes are evil, it just means that within the groups both archetypes are opposites, in a way.

The transition from one archetype to another happens when the hero fails the quest, either by being defeated by the dragon or failing the final task. At which point the hero will take on the traits of its shadow archetype. (For example: When the Seeker confronts his/her Dragon he/she must try to escape it. If escape proves impossible, he/she will become a Lover and learn to love his/her Dragon.)

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And that's pretty much it. I hope I've helped in some way. But if any of this still confuses you, you are welcome to post a question in the comments section and I'll try to answer as best I can.

Marr Vell

I Should Post More Often

2006-07-23T09:47:00.000-03:00

And if you're wondering why, it's because so much has happened in last three days.

First of all, on Thursday Jesse and Cyy finally had the big wedding. It almost didn't happen because most of the guests didn't log on until late into the night, but it finally happened. It was a beautiful ceremony, Kalinka performed it, and the only ones who couldn't make it were Suta and Holly. Jesse loved the cake I made for her. And to top it all off, something about performing the ceremony helped Kalinka find what she was looking for, I'm still not sure what that is, and she came back to us, green, messy hair and all. So, congratulations Jesse and Cyy, and welcome back Kalinka!

Next on Friday I met Kalinka's new friend Bathory (a.k.a. "Bathy") as well as Kalinka's "sister," Cezaria or whatever, later to be revealed as yet another extra account of Zhilo's. *rolls eyes* But then things got interesting. With my birthday coming up on the 29th (Hint, hint) Kalinka, Becca and Kylaia got a little over-excited and gave me my gifts early. Kalinka got me an amulet of strength, which i had been looking for for awhile, and Becca got me 15,000 gold and an amulet of power. (Totally undermining Kalinka's gift, but don't worry Kalinka I still like you the best.) Becca also gave Kalinka an amulet of power for no good reason, but she is always preaching generosity so she can't really turn down the generosity of others. And finally Kylaia got me a bowl, which doesn't sound like much unless you know me, bowl is my second favourite word of all time. (My favourite is onomatopoeia.) Later we met up with Mizr (Zhilo's in-game Father) and a few of his friends. Mizr had spent the entire day questing to get the rogue's armour or something and when he showed up he totally looked like a ninja. He spent almost the entire time running around assassinating everyone. (Maybe I should introduce him to Great One.) Then in a period of boredom I decided to look up everyone's birthstones. Everyone has four birthstones; two for the month they were born in, (One primary, one secondary) one for their zodiac symbol, and one for the day of the week they were born on. I can't remember everyone's results but mine were kind of funny. The primary July birthstone is ruby, (the secondary is jade but that doesn't really matter) I'm a Leo so my zodiac stone is ruby, (notice a trend yet?) and after some investigation (thank you wikipedia) I discovered that I was born on a Sunday so my birthday stone is ruby. Three times ruby, and I don't even like red that much.

Finally yesterday rolled around. Once again Zhilo logged on with as different account. This time he was "Captain" Draigar. For some reason "Draigar" is personally out to assassinate Kalinka. Jesse and I completely diffused his efforts by claiming that we thought everything he said was a joke and eventually told him that in order for us to respect him, he had to at least respect the rules. Rather than take our advice, he stormed off. I can't say I didn't see that coming. We met up with Bathy again, he was looking to complete the Bone Scepter in the Stronghold of Security but was having no luck with the final piece. I agreed to help out, unfortunately I wasn't any luckier, but I promised that I'd help, so I'll give it another go when I have more food. Later Kalinka decided that we should go through with Jesse's idea of having a costume party. Because it was so sudden, few of us had time to prepare for the party and didn't know what to wear. Fortunately though, we had Kalinka to inspire us all. Kalinka decided that the two of us should go as a pair, she kept her idea a secret for a while, but I figured it out the second she told me to change my shirt to a black jacket. We went as Squall (Me) and Rinoa (Kalinka) from Final Fantasy VIII. I should've seen that coming. Upon arriving at the party (and explaining who we were supposed to be) Jesse and Joneus both decided to be Final Fantasy characters as well. Joneus grabbed a cross-bow and dressed up as everyone's favourite gun-toting, shape-shifting, maybe-vampire Vincent from Final Fantasy VII and, on the advice of the rest of us, Jesse dressed as the top-heavy Kung fu master/bartender Tifa, also from Final Fantasy VII. Later Galanoth showed up and dressed up as the most confusing Final Fantasy character ever, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. (Seriously, what's his deal?) Suta was there too, she didn't change anything so we just called her a green version of Beatrix from Final Fantasy IX. Cyy showed up too, but he refused to play along saying "No I lik me hair" and generally just not being any fun.

So that was the last three days in a nutshell. I'm sure I missed some details, but I'm only human, you've got to give me some credit. From now on I'll post more often to avoid such viciously long posts.

Marr Vell

And the Day Started Out so Nice

2006-07-19T11:57:00.000-03:00

Yesterday was a pretty emotional day for us Grey Knights.

It started out innocently enough, I finally decided that it was about time that I completed the Dragon Slayer quest. Joneus and Galanoth offered a little help as well and after about three hours of tedious retrieval of the map pieces and procuring passage on a ship, I was ready and rarring to take on that dragon.

Then it all went to Hell.

Kalinka left a post on her blog and instructed me to read it, then pass the message on to the rest of the Grey Knights present. The message stated that she felt the need to take a leave of absence from the Grey Knights for an undisclosed period of time, leaving no details as to what it was that prompted this decision.

Needless to say, we were pretty distressed over the news. I saw a side of Joneus I've never seen before, I'll leave it at that. Jesse tried her best to comfort everyone. Kylaia tried to help too, but her choice of methods didn't jive with us and when we asked her to stop she took offence and stormed off. Cyy wasn't effected at all, and I kind of snapped at him a few times for acting the way he was when we were all so distraught.

After about an hour of our bawling and crying, Kalinka came back. She explained that the reason she left was that she felt that she was more of a burden on the rest of us than anything else, and that she wanted some time to herself to find her place amonst us. She decided to give herself a new hair cut to suit her current mood. I almost didn't recognize her at first, I usually identify people by their hair, she went from her usual long, green hair to short and black. I liked it better before, but whatever. I'm just glad she's back.

So anyway, welcome back Kalinka, I'll try not to make you feel so worthless in the future, just as long as you promise not to scare us with aburpt messages like yesterday's.

Also, Kylaia, if I offended you yesterday I must have misspoken and I apologize.

Marr Vell

Hear That Sound?

2006-07-18T14:17:00.000-03:00

Yeah, so I have a blog now. So that sound? That's the sound of hell freezing over.

Marr Vell

They're There for a Reason

2006-07-18T11:02:00.000-03:00

Okay, it's time we got the rules straight. I'm sure that I'm not the only one feeling the fun being sucked out of our role-playing when one or more of the rules is blatantly broken. In an effort to cut to the heart of the problem I'll post them all here for everyone to read.

Rule #1 - No interfering with the history of other players or the lore of Rune Scape.

Rule #2 - No being immortal.

Rule #3 - You are allowed to use only three non-physical attacks, afterwards there is a 45 minute recharge period.

Rule #4 - Demonic possession works similarly to berserking, in that it can only be done in moments of extreme anger, and can be qwelled.

Rule #5 - Any and all newcomers must be a friend of a current member of the Grey Knights and also must be voted on by a justifiable number of other members.

Rule #6 - No instant death attacks on other players.

Rule #7 - When role-playing, set public chat to "friends."

Rule #8 - Your combat level determines how much damage you can take while role-playing.

However, if you have any questions about these rules, feel free to post them here. I'll try and clear up anything that you may have trouble with.

And please, let's try and have fun.

Marr Vell