Drunk on Wine: A Puppyshipping RP [Private]

[JuokasKurvas]

Seto led the group back to the car and headed toward the hospital. When they arrived they were informed Hirutani was in the middle of a few tests and they'd be able to see him about 30 minutes or so. They were escorted to a private waiting room from which they would be fetched when he was ready. As they were alone, and Seto had enough stake in this hospital to know they weren't under surveilance, he figured they may as well plan their interview. At least initially.

'So what is the gameplan? Do you have a series of questions? Is Jounouchi leading or Futata? Is there anything we don't want to say, reveal or bring up?' Seto asked, trying to cover all possible eventualities for when they were finally along with Hirutani - and he had requested privacy after they were free to see him so they would indeed be alone.

((Haha, well friendships with people in America, and not just CA, are a lot of why I want to go back so I have some selfish motivations too. I really hope to meet you and Karma someday and obviously being in more or less neighbouring states will make it easier to find the time for that. If I hadn't gotten onto my PhD programme going to Arizona was kind of toward the top of what I would have done but guess I've had to push that back a few years. But yea the time distance and the cost of visiting is obviously the worst part of living in the UK and why I don't think I could do this long term. And definitely taking time, I mean if I was 40 maybe I wouldn't want a long engagement but I don't see what the rush is in your twenties. I mean everyone who I watched do the 1 year or less rush to marriage did not enjoy their engagement at all. It was just stressful wedding planning and too many life decisions packed into one year. And I'm 28 (and Tom is 22) so really what is the rush?

With the UK and immigration a lot of it I think is scapegoating. It's a conservative government, their middle class is in worse shape than ours. Cuts are being made to their free healthcare and if the Tories are voted back in they'll probably dismantle the NHS for good. Education costs are on the rise and yet academic staff and resouces are being cut. Unemployment has gone down in one sense, but it ignores that fewer people have full time jobs than before. So more people have gotten jobs since the recession but they haven't gotten back to full time jobs that can support families. At the end of the day, these problems are heavily the result of a government of millionaires who want to make themselves richer (not really different than in the US) but have a people who are much less tolerant to this (e.g. in the US socialism is a dirty word, because obviously not all people have a right to things like education, food, shelter and healthcare. In the UK capitalism at the expense of such services is frowned upon). So you blame Europe, you blame immigration. Immigrants are taking the jobs (but generally still the ones that the British don't actually want), immigrants are a burden on healthcare (actually research shows most immigrants either for reasons of fear or other - in the case of EU citizens many have better healthcare in their own countries and go home rather than use the NHS - don't actually use the NHS), etc. When the NHS collapses the government will blame immigrants rather than their own inefficient spending and policy making. There are as many UK citizens (if not more) taking advantage of free migration across the EU who are not living in the UK as there are other people (EU and non-EU) coming into the country. So it's not a room issue but a mentality and blame issue.

My favourite fantasy book is probably Elantris (though by a man) and while no dragons it is definitely more magic and intrigue and not exactly medieval poverty. McCaffery's Dragons of Pern which is my favourite thing by her is interesting in that it kind of starts Sci-Fi and becomes Fantasy by basis of losing the science. The Dragons are the product of scientific engineering rather than mystical beasts, but as society regresses in a sense that scientific quality of them while still their origin fades from being a facet of the series. The backstory is a colonisation of a distant planet so they come with a lot of hi-tech resources but that really can only last for so many decades before becoming the agrarian culture they knew they were setting out to be. How/Why dragons get in there probably enters spoiler territory so in case you ever decide to read it I'll leave it at that. The one thing I dislike though is that as the series regresses, while McCaffery still writes tons of strong female characters, she also creates a gender divide more typical of a medieval or early culture which is probably one of the things that bothers me most about the series and what keeps it from being a favourite as that is irksome. Particularly as it happens too fast, I don't care if they knew they were coming for a more rural life in the long run. There is no reason women who remembered/had family that remembered a more equal culture, a society propped up by tons of strong female scientists and leaders, would just suddenly fall into less even roles I think. It's like my problem with the Hunger Games. Sure the series takes 74 years into this series of death battles, but honestly how did they even get to year 1? There is no way parents, no matter how bad the odds, just give up and accept sending 12 year olds to their death. It just never would have happened. Tangent aside, if you are interested in sci-fi mixed with fantasy I would probably recommend the first book in the series (chronologically at any rate, I read the books in order of chronological timeline rather than in order written as she writes all over various time periods) if not necessarily the whole series. I really love that book and the one following it but sadly those two are the only ones that exist in the first generation with the settlers. The next generation is 150 years later and all time segments are spaced at about 150 years. McCaffery's son is still writing her world after her death but I doubt he'll go back to origins and I don't really want him too. He's not his mother and the books he's written on his own while featuring some of my favourite characters are just not as good.

Like JK, many other female authors publish under gender neutral names so people are also reading more female written books then they probably realise. It's sad and also I think a bigger problem with the publishing industry than with audiences (though obviously they have a role). Mainstream audiences are very good at reading whatever gets mainstream hype regardless of author gender. So publishers deciding to better hype men or women who aren't presenting themselves as women is definitely not good.))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

"I think I should lead." Sen said, glancing at the others, "If that's okay. I know what questions to ask, and he may be more willing to talk to me since we have no bad blood, or any past history for that matter."

"I wonder how much he'll be willing to tell even you." Jounouchi responded, "Yeah, we made a deal, but that doesn't mean he's just going to bare his whole hand."

((That'd be awesome to meet up someday. It could be especially easier once you're back home because Karma's girlfriend is from Cali, so they go there a lot. Maybe I could tag along sometime. They also might move there once Karma's done with school. And when you say Arizona was toward the top of your list, do you mean to visit or actually move here? o.o I mean, that'd be awesome, but there's so little here compared to in California. I don't think I'd ever want to have a 'planned' wedding on the off chance I ever do get married. The stress just does not sound fun, and the tradition is personally meaningless to me. I'd only do it if it meant a lot to my partner. Otherwise I'd just want to sign the certificate. So trying to do that within a year sounds ridiculous to me. Glad you're taking your time and enjoying every part of it instead.

The UK sounds very much like the US politically. Makes me sad and sickened. We're just more socialized to believe it's right. Ew.

Sci-fi is definitely my least-favorite 'nerdy' genre (in books, movies, and gaming), so a fantasy sci-fi mix doesn't particularly appeal to me. However the idea is creative and interesting, a society settling on a planet and knowing they have to regress. That does really bother me about the gender roles though. And I've always felt the same way about the Hunger Games! Like seriously how did this even start? And I get that it has a deeper political statement behind it, and it's overall a good message, but a subtle statement is less impressive when it's hiding behind a giant ******** game where kids kill each other like oh wow that's so deep I'm impressed that you are pointing out that that's bad!! Ugh.

That makes me sick about the gender-neutral names. I wonder how many people think they've only read male-author books but really haven't. I hope this is something that changes within the book industry, since it already tends to have a better ratio of men to women creators than other pop culture.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

'Well then we'll let you lead and see where we get,' Seto said with a nod toward the priestess. He didn't know if this would prove fruitful but at least it counted toward doing something. He debated removing himself from the group to go back to his research when a nurse came in to tell them they could see Hirutani now.

((I totally forgot that Mokuba is actually here huh? I almost wrote something where Seto called him just to check tabs on the other characters and them remembered nope, that's not right. xd Tabs next time...maybe.

I did think it was convenient when Karma got a CA gf. That definitely would encourage AZ/CA visits. And yea I meant visit rather than move. My living preference is NorCal followed by Washington and Oregon. Nevada might be number 4 but I don't think I'm really ranking states after primarily wanting to be on the west coast (though not really SoCal). Mentality wise I have a lot of love for WA but I do want to be closer to family so if I can afford to live in the Bay then I'm doing it, otherwise maybe up near Sac (the capital) and/or Davis (where I did my undergrad, I do have lots of love for it). But yea I think meeting you and Karma was kind of just top of the list for visits outside of home.

I like the idea of eloping personally and Tom does as well but we'll see. I guess my mom kind of wants a wedding and I know it should be our thing but I also want to give it to her if it is financially not a ridiculous idea (so it'll depend very much on career prospects). But yea, racism kind of kept her from having a wedding. Neither set of friends or family was very supportive about the interracial thing (it's why they left MI and came to CA in the first place) so they just got the certificate. So I think my mom has vicarious wants and she's done tons for me so I think if I can give it to her I will. But that's future plans.

I did like the first two Hunger Games books well enough (the third really derailed for me) but yea, it's never more than okay because the premise just isn't great. I usually don't like to read Sci-Fi, or play it really (I prefer my rpgs medieval and fantastical). It is one of my favourite film genres though, particularly space films (space horror being my all time favourite genre). Pern is probably just straight fantasy after the first few books, but it is a series where I surprisingly prefer it when it has more of the Sci-Fi elements in than after it regresses. Though in total it's a good people series and I do like my characters first, so even books where the plot points wane a bit for me I still tend to enjoy it.

I do hope the publishing industry changes, for many reasons, that of course being a big one.))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

"I guess that's all the planning we're gonna manage." Jounouchi said, "...do you think we should even go in? He might be pissed enough at us that he'd be less willing to talk." he looked to Kaiba.

((Haha, Mokuba and Yuugi have been pretty quiet because frankly... I've never roleplayed them until now so don't have a lot of personal development for them, and they're not really involved in a way right now where they have a lot to say. Jounouchi and Sen I've played and developed a lot more in the past, plus they're more personally involved, so they're doing the majority of my talking right now. XD

A lot of her girlfriend's friends work at Disneyland too, so they get good deals there. Doubly tempts me to baggage along with them sometime. XD And okay, thought you meant visit but wanted to be sure. My first choice is definitely to stay in AZ, and probably will unless I just can't find any graphic design opportunities here (which is unlikely) or am offered a stable position in the comics industry elsewhere (which is even more unlikely). I just have too many friends here, and would have a hard time being apart from my parents and other close family. I probably won't even move out from my parents until they've passed unless I end up with a significant other, as my mom could use the help with her health and we've already discussed that none of us mind the living situation as long as I start paying rent once my job situation is stable. I would definitely consider having a summer house in northern AZ if I had enough money one day though. I'm very much used to the weather here and prefer it over dealing with snow and winds and freezing temperatures, but I still don't like the heat. Otherwise my second choice would be Cali since it's similar but with better weather and a better political scene. Probably near San Diego. Washington I like politically and socially, but it's too far and too cold and rainy. I don't think I could do the east coast. Furthest I'd consider would be Colorado.

I wouldn't make a change in my personal/romantic life for the sake of my parents (my mom really wants me to marry a man and have kids, which will never, ever happen because that is just something I could not handle), but in the situation with your mom, I think I'd make an exception for the wedding. That's just so sad how it happened for her, and for something that means so much for her that doesn't really hurt you, well... that's just a specific case where I think I'd do the actual wedding if I did get married. Not for my mom though. She got her wedding. XD

I'll fully admit I haven't read the Hunger Games and have only seen the first movie, so I'm sure it has great character development, writing, and plot within the initial concept. But that concept is not something that interests me in the least, and I try to treat popular books as I would ones that I just happen to find and read the synopsis of. So if the synopsis does not interest me at all or just sounds outright ridiculous like Hunger Games, I'm not willing to give it a try. I do actually quite enjoy space horror, but that's just because I love horror so much, that the setting does not change my love of the genre. I do still prefer horror in a modern or past setting over sci-fi though. Horror in a fantasy setting could be really interesting, thinking on that, but I've never seen the like. And I also can make an exception for any genre as long as the characters are great and it's written well, but like with Hunger Games, I'm not going to spend my time trying things out in genres that already don't interest me, when there's just as many books with great characters in genres that I love.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

'I'll go in, we have no reason to believe he holds a vendetta against me, and I'm paying for this hospital stay. At least see what we can get from him initially, Seto said, turning to Futata he added, 'I'll stay quiet unless queried and let you handle the discussion.'

Seto was about to lead to the way toward Hirutani when with a second thought he handed his brother a small electronic device, 'I'll set up the laptop in the room and you'll be able to hear our interview with that. It isn't a two way system so if anyone thinks of anything absolutely pertinent to add to the discussion call my cell. It'll at least avoid having to play catch up later on how it went.'

((I remembered Yuugi was here, I just forgot about Mokuba until I remembered writing about going through the mail. I think the only character I'm rping that I've played in the past atm is Seto, which is probably why I mainly cling to him. In other rps I've been Grandpa, Pegasus and Rex and I think Shizuka is probably hardest for me b/c I've never played a woman that wasn't my own character.

Living in England I think I could handle WA but I would definitely prefer CA. If I moved down south it would be San Diego but I probably wouldn't want to go down south. Santa Cruz is probably about as south as I'm willing to go and that's still fairly north. I do really like WA politically and socially though, so while I prefer somewhere a bit sunnier (I don't really mind cold though, but rain is getting grating especially as I walk everywhere here) it's very appealing to me. I definitely couldn't do east coast. I want to visit NY someday but the parts worth living in are WAY too expensive to live in. I'd have a harder time with the mentality on the east and would probably feel like too much of a minority in a climate where that politically and socially is more of a problem. If the west doesn't work out I'll go to Canada. It's cold but it's socialist, and I dig that. Is AZ big for graphic design and comics, or you just think it's unlikely work will come up in those areas elsewhere? I have several friends doing graphic design work in SF, they seem to imply that's pretty much the center for it in CA but I don't know.

Yea, as long as it's financial viable I'll probably do something small for her, we'll see. It is definitely sad and part of why I don't want to go live in the east, even 30 years later. Some of that mentality is still there.

I only read the Hunger Games because someone handed me the first book (and then the other two). So if I hadn't gotten it as a lend I probably wouldn't have gone after it. I've only watched the films on planes or something though, with nothing better to fill time with. Especially when I heard they were going to make 3 books into 4 movies. I hate how they keep doing that with teen and youth literature now. Like omg, the three part LOTR (though technically one book as well) manged to be 3 movies, why is The Hobbit, written for children, in 3 films as well? 3 okay-ish films that could have easily been one or at the most two good films. Because that's become the trend I'm less likely to pick up teen novels as it's not really a market I want to support. With horror I always prefer Sci-Fi and with few exceptions (e.g. Victorian/Gothic type stuff) don't like horror with a past setting. I've never been very big on most historically set things, and that includes my horror. There is a lot of bad fantasy horror, think monster films about Chimeras, evil Pegasuses and dragons. Some of which properly go for ancient world settings. But I can't think of an example of a good, high budget horror film in the fantasy genre. I am now curious though to see something of the sort.))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

"Alright." Mokuba murmured, taking the device.

"I guess it's just you and me then?" Sen looked to Kaiba, before checking with the others.

"It probably is best if Jounouchi Kun and I don't go in." Yuugi admitted. Jounouchi nodded in agreement.

((Wow I'm surprised you've never played any unoriginal female characters before. You're doing a fine job of Shizuka I think. I love your past characters though, such a mishmash of random side characters and kinda villains. XD

The social climate involving race and minority status is interesting to me when talking east vs west. Like I feel even in conservative Arizona, even though we do not have a lot of minorities who aren't Mexican, subtle as well as outright racism isn't as much of a problem here as what I hear of the east coast. Of course it is still a major problem, but it doesn't seem to be to the same extent. I wonder if it has to do with the amount of minorities present in the area, like if white people react more harshly because they see numbers as more of a threat. Obviously Cali is a lot more diverse than AZ though, so I'm sure a lot of it is just social climate as well. But the east coast tends to be more liberal than the mountain region of the west. It's also interesting to me that you would feel more like a minority there, despite that gigantic melting pot that the area is. Says a lot for how much of a problem racism and microaggressions are. I would also consider Canada as an option if the US just turns into a wasteland of corruption and capitalism. Cold sucks but there are somewhat warmer areas, and they do still have a lot of political problems (tar sands, ugh), but it would still be preferable to a US that becomes the vision of the conservative party. And no, I meant I'd be unlikely to be offered a comic job at all, especially a steady one. XD Comics are not at all big here, so I would probably have to move if I wanted to work in that industry, which I kind of do. For graphic design, it's not that it's huge here, but just that it has such demand overall it'd be unlikely that there wouldn't be something available in pretty much an metropolitan area.

I don't mind the making one book into two movies thing as long as it makes sense. Like with Harry Potter (which I'm pretty sure started the trend), the books were so long, especially for children's lit, that all of the movies from the third onward were too rushed and left a lot of important points out. And then will how long the seventh one was, while not as long as the fifth, it had a lot more going on in it and a lot more important plot points to open up and resolve. So I didn't have a problem when they did it, and I thought it turned out better than it would've. Definitely better than the previous movies that had had to rush so much. For Twilight I never saw it, so don't have an opinion and don't really care. Same with Hunger Games, except never read the book. With Hobbit I definitely had a problem with it. I could see them maybe, *maybe* doing two movies (which I think was the original intent) if they used all of the extended lore that they did, but the three, very long movies was ridiculous, and they dragged on insanely. That was just too obviously a money grab, and by the end the movies had pretty much lost the original theme and intention of the book. So yeah, I disagree that it could be a trend, but it's also something I'm happy with if it makes the movie better and less rushed. All depends on the source material and the necessity of having a double movie to me. As for horror, I love it with a past setting. I think there's a lot to be said for the amount of spiritualism and superstition that existed back then, in virtually any society, and the lack of resources they had available to combat the horror. Like in modern horror, cellphones are often a problem because they could solve so many issues, so they always need to either pretend they don't exist or find an excuse why someone can't use them. That's not an issue at all in past horror. As for fantasy, I wasn't really speaking about movies, as I cannot think of any either (never even heard of the evil pegasus stuff), but more thinking there's gotta be some good books in the genre.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

Seto nodded and led the priestess out of the room toward the private room Hirutani was being kept in, 'I'll conduct introductions and then leave it to you,' Seto said before entering the room.

Noting that Hirutani was awake, albeti clearly confused to see both himself and some woman he didn't know, Seto moved to speak first. 'And how are you doing after the first battery of tests?'

((Yea I had tons of fun, especially with Grandpa who I actually don't like so I thought it wouldn't be fun and yet it ended up being one of the most fun characters I've played. I haven't been in a lot of roleplays that weren't just my own original stories/worlds, and to be fair all have been Yuugioh based group rps (with one being a YGO/Pokemon crossover with the Pokemon universe and YGO characters). As there aren't many women I like in this particular series they aren't characters I fight for. Although I'm now trying to remember if I've ever played Mai, I don't think I have but she's the only (non-card/non Egyptian arc) female I do like so it's possible I would have but I'm pretty certain I haven't.

I do definitely think there is a huge divide that runs east vs west. Part of it is probably historical. The west is made up of newer states and you have less of these 'old families' and 'legacy traditions' in the west as you do in the east. Big political and capital families that reach back several generations are almost always from the east and I think with that older mentality comes more prejudice and more resistance to change and thereby equality. Comics and design both have freelance options, which obviously could be done from anywhere. My friend started a publishing business and moved to Tennessee and I'm not sure why. While there are things she likes it certainly doesn't seem like her mentality and a lot of small mindedness issues seem to constantly plague her. I guess it was cheaper to live there (and buy property there) while trying to establish an unstable business I guess, and maybe self-employment tax laws are better there? That I don't know. But yea, unless you moved for a job (rather than moved hoping to find a job) there probably isn't a point to uprooting for the arts industry with as competitive and unforgiving as it can be.

See I don't agree about HP, I felt the movies were not rushed and the issue was more directors wanting to put in there take/vision/plotlines and that meant actual book plotlines ended up on the cutting room floor. I hated the 7th book (barring a few selections, like Snape's story) so to that end I have always been much more forgiving of the 7th movies but I still think they could have made one good movie and that the filler if somewhat interesting does not justify the split. So for me Harry Potter specifically is an example of poor directing, questionable writing decisions and the effort to make books stand alone from movies. Which as far as I'm concerned if your concern is something that stands alone do something original and don't adapt a book. I mean changes to comic films I think make more sense because they are much bigger and more confusing universes that don't directly lend themself to an unchanged adaption. Childrens books I don't think the same can be said for them. And nobody is adapting a children/teen novel to tell their own story, it's to cash in on a loved franchise. People are coming to see the book they already love, not the director's take on it. It always feels like a money grab because it's always the final books which as you've even said with HP, the final book is not always the longest book or the most detailed. Book 7 had a lot of filler and a lot that didn't lend itself to great cinema effects (but then making more darastic changes there was forgivable for me personally, again b/c not a big fan of that book). Had the split been in book 5, which was arguably the heaviest book in the series in terms of plot, I would have maybe seen them making a justification. Deciding to split the 7th when they were hitting the end of a very profitable series will never look like anything more than a money grab to me and I'm not ever going to be convinced that it made the movie better. The Hobbit I think the first one was pretty good and could stand alone. However 2 and 3 do not stand alone and need each other. 3 had very little plot and character development and was just the very long battle to the end, 2 had minimal action and was very heavy on developing characters. They work, but they would have worked better as one. Hunger Games the third book has the most sitting around and the least action (and is frankly a terrible book), Twilight was always going to produce bad movies as the entire series is inner monologue with minimal action or events of any sort, I have decided not to read the Divergent series but I have a feeling the third book doesn't justify an extra coda anymore than any of the other series did. I think part of what I'm rewarding as a good movie is a movie that managed to deliver one story, that stands alone. Just like with a book, a book can be part of a series but each book should have one overarching story that holds it together as its own thing. These splits thus far have chopped one story in half and I'm not okay with that regardless of if it gives room for more detail. I'm a big fan of deleted scenes and directors cuts and having an extra 30 or so minutes of additonal material for post-cinema viewing is better than failing to deliver a movie. I mean movies are ridiculously expensive these days. Usually DVDs and online streaming services are cheaper than one movie ticket. So my standards are very high and the biggest sin for me is being too lazy or too unskilled to create one good movie. There's a difference for me between a cliffhanger/hook and just clearly cutting something that was one into two.

Oh there's definitely got to be some fantasy horror books, I can't imagine there is not. But I also can't think of any. I don't usually like to read horror though so I wouldn't have looked for it. Superstition/spirt activity are actually pretty low down on my horror list (pretty much only beating creature features though I watch more monster films b/c it's the one horror genre the bf is actually okay with). In the slasher genre logic is always low so I don't need the convenience of a past scenario to make it plausible. Sci-fi/space + the past always ends up pretty camp and terrible. And I guess the big thing is the eras or the aspects of the eras they use aren't always to my taste. Overall though I just can't think of a lot of original set in the past horror films. They are quite often I've seen this before, I know this story, this is predictable. Sci-fi/space is probably my favourite because it has some of the smartest and least predictable offerings (though sure tons of bad stuff too, it is horror). And maybe there is some subconscious part of me that gets a bit annoyed with the white people club (or the stereotypical assignments for ethnic characters like hoodoo priestess). I dunno, I don't want to be annoyed by that but I think I somewhat am, especially these days.

Anyhow, I caught up on Agents of Shield and Korra this weekend. Will assume you still are behind on Agents so won't get into that but yes done with Korra. It is good I binged b/c the first few episodes back were really teeth pulling for me (and flashback episode in the final season where the pacing has always been a bit rushed, really guys?) but I did like the end. Varrick and Julie are in conclusion my favourite characters in the series by a landslide. Weirdly Bolan is probably the one I ended up liking the most of the main. Asami is still too boring for me, Mako and Korra too dislikable (though Korra drifting more toward boring which is actually worse for me). I know you like Asami and Korra but they just never managed to interest me. The big part of what allowed Bolan to do so is likely that he spends a lot of time with Varrick and Julie, and for me they make the season so he's very present during parts of the show that make me happy whereas the other characters aren't. And that fight with Mako, Asami and Korra - wtf? Especially given the end of the series where Asami was like of course you don't have to apologise for being gone. Like yea, no she doesn't, she was completely justified I think in taking some time and running off. But then why were you such a d**k Asami when Korra raised a completely valid and not at all accusatory question? The Asami/Korra end works though, for a brief moment I was please don't do another Mako/Korra thing again, I'm going to scream. So I'm glad they went the other way, even if it's a shame that if they were going to go there they just kind of put it in as a coda rather than develop it a bit in the show. I think that would have made both Asami and Korra more interesting as I think all the Mako stuff really kind of developed the worst of them. I think my only other initial comment is I think Zaheer was too much of a 180 and while I did totally like that Zaheer I couldn't reconcile him with the other one. Again, more of a pacing/development issue than something that I don't think worked. In the end there were I think just way too many characters with unresolved plotlines but it ended as strong as I could given that. Oh, did like all the Beifong dramas though, after Varrick/Julie that's probably my favourite part of the season and one of my favourite aspects of the series.

Alright, super essay, sorry. xd ))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

"...fine, I guess." Hirutani said carefully, looking Kaiba over, then to Sen, "...who's that?"

((I can't count the amount of characters I've roleplayed, not even in just Yuugiou alone. I know I've played Jounouchi a lot, and Shizuka quite a bit as well since she's one of my favorites and is almost never claimed beforehand.

Yeah, that makes sense. Part of what I love about the west is how new we are. And of course we still have horrific history in taking lands from natives, but at least we don't have a past in slavery for the most part. I am aware of the freelance options, but they are just so difficult to get into. While I like the idea of being able to choose my own projects, it would honestly just bring me too much anxiety to always have to worry about my next paycheck, no matter how well I was doing. I just don't think that's something I can handle mentally, even if I could manage it from a business perspective. So I would rather be employed by a company permanently.

I can totally see what you're saying about Harry Potter, but simply don't feel the same way. I do agree that there were writing and 'new direction' problems, but I still have always felt the biggest issue was in rushing the movies. I remember I'd seen the third movie before I (was allowed to) read the books, and was so confused near the end when they found out Sirius was a good guy. Like it just went from 'he's trying to kill you' to 'I love you Uncle Siri' like that, and I had no idea how everyone was okay with this and it was all resolved. I didn't fully understand the plot or what happened there until I read the book, and yes, part of it was bad writing, but the biggest thing was that they gave proper pacing to the part with the time travel, but not at all to the rest of the movie before that. And the fourth movie only had time to give a little bit of focus to the underwater and maze challenges, even though those were arguably the two best parts of the book. Yes they chose to spend more time on the dragon challenge because dragons are cool, but that felt like the proper amount of time that each event should've had. And don't even get me started on the mess that was the sixth movie. My perspective is also a bit different on the final films though because I adored the seventh book. I know it was very different from the others, but it was a good different for me, and I was glad they managed to include most of the scenarios where they were gathering the horcruxes and most of the character development. So while I do think it was a cash grab for the seventh movies, rather than compressing them into one, I would've preferred if they had done the same for the other longer books, as a necessity rather than a means of making more money.

For Hobbit I do think the second two movies were too obviously split, and they could've done a far better job making them stand on their own. I agree it's not good when a book made into two movies just feels completely split into two, but I think that's one of the responsibilities writers and directors should take, is making each movie work on their own merit while still dividing the book. So yeah, while I do like when something can stand on its own, a story not being rushed and being able to deliver more details and tie up more plot threads is more important to me, so my ideal for a book that is simply too long being adapted into a movie is the writers tweaking just enough to make each one feel right on its own (beginning, middle, climax, etc), like a series book does. Like the Lord of the Rings movies did. Movies are too expensive, but they are also my primary means of spending time with friends, and since it's still cheaper than going out to eat, I tend to not complain when there is an abundance of movies to see. I can see why you and others have a problem with it though.

I'm kind of tempted to start looking for some of these fantasy horrors now. Ah see I love superstition/spirits. Probably my favorite horror genre. I was into that type of plotline (Yuu Yuu Hakusho and, ugh, Inu Yasha, were kind of gateway series for me getting into horror) even before I was old and brave enough for horror. I even love old ghost stories and such. Or games like Amnesia and Fatal Frame that are in old environments (Fatal Frame is in modern days but always takes place in old, deserted villages). Slasher I despise and don't even like to admit it's true horror, even though I know it is. Monster is above slasher, though not by much since it's a similar concept, and really has to be well-done for me to enjoy it. Like Predator? Hated it. But Alien? Loved it. Managed to make both monster and sci-fi horror good for me, which is extremely applause-worthy. Modern stuff, especially ghost stories, are my staple. When you say white people club, are you thinking on horror in like Medieval Europe? I tend to watch a lot of horror from different countries, so that's not something I considered, but am definitely sick of movies with all white people in general. I also hate ethnic stereotypes, but have not generally found too much of that either. Probably because most of my horror that is in older times is either old Europe (with the white people club) or old Asia. No ethnic stereotypes when everyone's the same ethnicity. That is definitely something worthy of being annoyed with though and you shouldn't try to get yourself to change your mind on that.

For Agents of Shield I've finished the first season and have four or five episodes left before I'm caught up on season two. I'll try to hurry and finish that and let you know when I do, because I'm really loving it now and want to discuss it. The flashback episode in Korra grated on a lot of people, but the creators stated that their budget was completely slashed for that episode, so it was pretty much either that or cut the season an episode short. They said they would rather give their fans something than nothing there, so while I didn't care for it, I can't fault the creators on it. I adore Varrick and Zhu Li. I'm not going to say they're among my favorites, but definitely close to being so. Bolin I just never could attach to like I wanted to. He got more development this season that wasn't just comic relief, and I was happy for that, but it was just too little too late. Korra isn't one of my favorites still, but she's redeemed herself enough where I no longer dislike her. The fight between the three was a little much, but I think they were trying to show that the group needed a period of adjustment before they could just start being team avatar again. It was too much in too short of a timeframe, but once again I think that was the rushed aspect. For Asami I think she was hurt and really missed Korra because she had already developed feelings for her back then, so was expressing her frustration on missing her so much. I don't think that justified how she acted, but I actually am glad they did it, because my biggest gripe with Asami is that she just seems too perfect sometimes. She arguably goes through more hardship than most of the other characters in the series, yet is always the calmest and most compassionate, always supporting others. It made her feel more human to have a moment of just taking out her frustration on someone, even if it was only fleeting. Though I will admit I cannot remember what question Korra asked that you're referring to, just that Asami snapped at her for being gone and being hypocritical when compared to her saying Korra didn't need to apologize. Once again I'm glad they did it; made Asami seem just a little less perfect. I do disagree that they didn't develop Asami/Korra in the show though. I mean, you remember I was already shipping it by the end of season two, and it wasn't a crack ship to me. I saw hints, and they just kept growing and growing. I mean, it got to the point in season three where they were having more heart-to-hearts than Korra was with either Mako or Tenzin, they started touching more, spending more quality time together, Asami was pretty much the one taking care of Korra between her being poisoned and returning to the South Pole, and Asami was the only one Korra would write to when she was recovering. So yeah, I saw it a lot, and as the fourth season was nearing a close, me and pretty much the entire Yuri board on 4Chan were squawking about how it seemed so obvious they would end up together yet we knew it couldn't happen because it was a kid's show. I half-believed it would by the last fourth of the season, and when Korra was having all of her talks at the wedding, I had butterflies in my stomach like, "Okay, you got Mako, didn't get with him that's good because ******** him, got Tenzin, now we just need... yes! There's Asami, c'mon, do it!" And then it happened and it was the most amazing feeling. I mean, Korra just hung out with Mako a bit and played ball with him before she decided she was all into him and asked him out, and he decided he liked her pretty much right after. Hell, Mako and Asami started dating as soon as they met because he thought she was hot and I don't know what she was thinking. Probably excited to try dating some random guy on the street when she'd grown up rich and somewhat sheltered I'd guess. So I feel Korra/Asami got way more development than those two pairings before getting together. The only difference is they couldn't state it as explicitly because of being a cartoon. And that's not even including Bolin and Opal flirting for an episode before getting together, Eska declaring him her boyfriend upon meeting him (though I'll give that one a pass since it was fairly comedic), or Varrick just realizing all at once that he cared for Zhu Li as more than an assistant.

But anyway, regardless of the amount of development, I just cannot express my excitement at Korrasami being canon. I mean, first of all, it's great for me because I ship them and I hate either of them with Mako. XD But also, this is the first time in my life I have shipped a queer pairing that I knew would never happen, and the pairing proved me wrong! Like do you know how many times I've sadly sighed at Jounouchi and Kaiba, rolled my eyes at the queerbaiting with Dean and Castiel, wished that Adventure Time could just admit that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum used to be an item? This is the life of a pansexual shipper, constantly putting characters together regardless of gender, but only ever having a third of them stand a chance. XD This is history for me. I feel validated. Like it isn't some freaky, weird thing to think two same-sex characters (especially in a kid's cartoon!) could end up together. That I'm not just some weirdo who forces my sexuality on characters, who tries to change characters to fit what I want. I don't normally feel that way about myself, but man you sure think back on the fleeting times you have when you finally get that one victory you never thought you'd taste. I remember I went on 4Chan after the last episode and the Korra thread in the Yuri board was all, "...we won? We won! Guys, guess what, we actually won!!" It was magic. And of course that doesn't even cover the tip of the iceberg in terms of what this means for the LGBT community. This is the first time that a major kid's series, outside of like two comedic references, has admitted the existence of a same-sex pairing and shown it as a good and beautiful thing. Excluding gay pairings from cartoons shows kids that they're only 'mature,' 'dirty,' 'adult,' 'abnormal.' Not real love, not safe for kids. And teaching kids that only enhances bullying and hate crimes against LGBT people. They couldn't quite pull off a kiss on screen, but the intention was fully obvious, especially when drawing a parallel to the ending of Avatar when Aang and Katara kissed. And Mike and Bryan have fully said that them beginning a romantic relationship there was their intention and it's completely canon (I love how butthurt the Makorra shippers were with that one). It's just... real. And it still feels fake to me, but it's not, and that just makes me so happy. And though I think the pairing had enough development beforehand to make it plausible, I do agree that I wish there had been more, and less with Mako and the two girls. I think I would've liked Korra more, and adored Asami more in that case. Probably hated Mako less too.

I also agree Zaheer was too 180, even if his reasonings made sense. I am surprised that you didn't bring up Kuvira, since we'd discussed how she had potential as a villain earlier. Though the final battle was amazing to me, I was pretty disappointed with her character arc. She seemed to turn too much into outright villain to me (trying to horrifically murder Zhu Li for betrayal, building a super weapon, willing to destroy Republic City and potentially kill thousands, not only being unwilling to end her cause for her love, but actually trying to kill him when she had plenty of options for saving him while still carrying out her plan), then suddenly seemed to turn into that character we thought shed be at the very end. Like I expected her to be a flawed character with good intentions, but who was power-hungry and a control freak. But too many of the things she did were downright cruel and evil, while not really doing much for her goal. Then suddenly she gets defeated and is all, "Oh, you're right Korra, I'm just scared! I just want to make the world better! But I'm wrong, I'll accept any punishment!" The scene itself was beautiful, but was too contradictory to her previous actions. It would've affected me a lot more if she had actually the slightest hints of fear or regret beforehand, or had been unwilling to commit atrocities that didn't help her bottom line at the very least. I feel like she was at first headed on the path she ended up on, but had gone too far on her way, then suddenly quickly backtracked at the end. I did very much appreciate how Korra was able to end the fight without violence though. I think her character arc needed to culminate in that. It wouldn't have worked any other way.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

'This is Futata Sen, she is a Shinto priestess and a friend of mine,' Seto began, figuring it would be easier to pretend he happened to have already had priestesses in his acquaintance than explain they went and found one, that would be suspicious. 'Prior to finding you we'd already been in discussion about the shikigami that was likely following either Jounouchi or I, we weren't certain. Now that we've found you Futata here had a few questions out of her own intellectual curosity if you think you're up for it?'

((Yea I don't have the mentality to freelance either. So if I wanted to go into editing I would need to find a company to work for. Dedicating myself to writing would only be something I could do if I had comfortable employment that still gave me time to write and/or I had a partner who had stable enough employment that I would not need to worry about starving without a reliable paycheck. I have a lot of friends who freelance but not sure how they get into it. There is also the fact that I am actually not okay living with my family. I couldn't live with my dad permanently period. I love my mom and she's my friend but she's also strongly my parent and I need to live somewhere where I don't have the parent/child bond. Well, at least not one where I am the child. So for me a freelance activity would actually be more of a hobby that happened to end up making me money rather than something I was actually persuing as work. I also don't think I have the business discipline to be my own employer. So definitley with you on wanting to be employed.

I read every book before I saw the movie so I can't say I'll ever be able to ascertain whether I would have found them confusing without my own knowledge. I do agree on pacing, I just think they gave time to things that they easily could have not given time to. Me and the 7th book I felt the first half was too slow and I don't think I felt the main characters developed in new ways for me so it was very status quo for me. There were some aspects I liked and some things I did like about taking it out of Hogwarts and into the world. But there was more I disliked then liked. And then the end was just a mad rush for me and that was the worst part. I didn't mind that she killed off a lot of big characters as much as I was bothered that she just breezed through them. We basically got a list of casualties and then moved on. I mean Snape was great, and that one chapter made the whole book for me. But everyone else. I mean how do you kill of Fred and never ever turn to George again? I just don't like that I had to get the follow up on the characters around the casualties from her extended material rather than the book. So I felt the 7th movie gave me a bit more of what the 7th book left out but still not as much as I would have liked the series to give me. And then the epilogue was just a nail in the coffin for me. But yea I don't think there should be 11 Harry Potter films (12 if you start splitting at 3, 14 if they are all split). I think it would have gotten tedious and the film universe was just not that interesting. So I'm glad they didn't split the others (and the third book actually wasn't much longer than the first 2, it was the 4th book that was the first to actually double in length). The films were bad, well, they were 'okay'. But longer I don't think would have made them better. It would just have given them more time to sexualise Emma Watson (who would've become an adult around the 4th book movies rather than the 6th), confuse the character relations further (which will always be my biggest complaint about the 5th movie is that they actually got relationships and motives wrong, and beyond that their way didn't even make sense) and just be tedious. If they didn't have half the actors quit on them because it was too big of a committment. Some would have stayed, but Watson was pretty heavy on wanting to go off to university and if they made that many films she might very well have left the role. Other actors have already hated that they ended up typecast and they might have quit if they realised they were 'getting old' in these movies. There are few times I've actually liked/preferred a re-cast. They could have made 7 really good Harry Potter films I think, I do not believe that splitting it is what was needed to make them better. I think making better films could still have been achieved without that. Just because they didn't achieve it I don't think justifies a split.

I also don't go out to eat much either. Mostly my friends and I do game nights (like board games, though sometimes we will LAN or something), we're quite cool. razz Probably one of the biggest things about not wanting to live with my parents, I want to be able to 'host' in my own place at whatever hours I feel like without worrying about bothering others. Anyhow, unlike Harry Potter, which isn't an amazing universe that demands cinematic expansion (and I say this as someone who for several years loved no book series more), I think Tolkien's universe is. While I think they could have made The Hobbit (not The Hobbit + the unfinished tale + a made up romance + other random tidbits and expansions on the lives of characters who actually aren't named or expanded in the book, like Alfrid) as one good film, I could also completely see that one meriting several films. That it could produce several very good films. And I think they did produce one very good film, one okay film and one meh film (which combined make a pretty okay film). But yea the framing was off. The second and third films didn't stand alone. The second film actually kind of lost its climax in gearing too heavily toward a cliff hanger, and the third film started after its beginning. Also when you get to the end of The Hobbit almost all the dwarves they made you care about are killed off and you just kinda awkardly wave and walk away. Which in the book was okay b/c they were always all kind of samey (Tolkien is a great builder of universes but Jackson did a much better job of building character than Tolkien ever could of dreamed of, that's what happens when you have stories by an academic who actually thought fiction was a waste of time). So you know what I am actually in a camp where I would have completely been happier with them changing the ending in some way to have been more satisfying for what they did with character. Because the way Jackson did The Hobbit it ends far more depressing than LOTR. The children's book depresses me more than the more expansive novel geared at an adult audience. That's just wrong. And fine, confession, I am in that camp of people who actually dug the romance. I wanted to hate it, I did. When I heard Jackson was introducing a made up hot elf lady I was like ugggggggh. Legolas/hot elf lady romance, that is such crap Jackson. And then that isn't what he did. And I still wanted to hate it but yes it pushes all the right buttons for me. As a biracial child of two parents who defied family and tradition to be together, being handed the inter-species relationship that was always against them and no faction could support made me squee in ways I don't want to ever admit to squeeing. So alright, I have a selfish motive for wanting to change the ending. But still, Jackson you took away all the characters at the end of what was a fun character based experience. How dare you!

I don't think I ever thought of Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha as at all close to horror, which I got into as a child (my parents can't let me have a TV in my room and dictate what I watch, though it's cute that they tried), so while I do like superstition and spirits my favourite elements of these aren't usually in horror. Though I do like old ghost stories. I like Predators (the third one), and Predator is okay but the second one I couldn't stand. I found the Predator as a species interesting (if ugly and not just in an ugly alien way - like Alien is beautiful) but I think the third one has more interesting people. It also took the franchise to the Predator world which I think was a much better movie. I was thinking Victorian rather than Medieval. I guess I do actually like a lot of Asian spirits/supernatural, just not as much in the Western world. And I was thinking about the genre in relation to the past, and I haven't seen a lot of Asian films that are horror and set in the past. I don't want to change my mind but in terms of the past it does technically break immersion of believing it is the 1800s to have a mixed cast socialising, especially if it's set in America. There is obviously a divide but a European set film does allow a bit more mixing without being in the present, but so much of Western horror is made in America and thus set in America.

Well let me know when you catch up on Agents as I definitely won't be able to separate out where I am from where you are. It won't be new again until March though so you've got time. razz

I do remember the budget issue and I definitely don't hold it against the creators. I direct my ire at Nick for that. I get what you mean on Bolin, that's kind of how I feel about Korra. I mean the original main 4 are still all very far down on my list of likes, Bolin just ended up on top in the end. I get the point of the fight it just wasn't handled fantastically, but I think that's a lot of these 4 characters. It's just so bizarre because I think most all the other characters in the show are developed and handled so well. With how the series ended I can go back and impose that was Asami's feelings but yea at the time it was just confusing and unclear. Kind of how you felt about the third HP movie. Like umm, show, I understand what you are doing because you are telling me eventually but not because you are actually pacing or developing correctly so I am confused. I do feel Asami is too nice (though perfect isn't the word I'd use), but yea, she's too nice. But her snapping was too much of an extreme in another direction. I guess in the end that's my issue iwth the main 4, they aren't subtle so they don't work well for me as characters but as types.

Korra asked Asami if she could really trust her dad again. She didn't say it in this harsh accusing way, she just asked and Asami snapped and said she's been gone for 3 years so she had no right to ask that. Where I am like, umm, your dad tried to help attack Korra, Asami, I think she is actually quite entitled to ask that question. Jump down your throat and not respect your decision no, but ask the question yes, yes she was.

I know you were shipping it but female characters having hearts-to-hearts doesn't suggest romance to me. I mean I have a lot of friendships (with females, always only with females) that are similar to the one Korra and Asami had and they aren't romantic so while I don't think it's a leap I don't think it was ever more than potentially hinted at until the final episode. I mean even the letter writing, Mako was her ex and Bolin she never got as close to - especially after the awkward he likes me/I like his brother. I mean in general I'm more likely to be in correspondence with female friends than male friends, even though I have male friends that when we are together in person I'm closer with. As always I'm not on fan forums so I mostly am not influenced by other people's perceptions of relationships but just what the show gives me. While I agree it's not out of nowhere I also don't think the show said it until that final episode. It was the first moment that was explicitly this is romantic rather than a strong female relationship that I can relate to but would never say I had romantic feelings in. But yea it's probably one of the better relationships in the show it's just while you can look back and see the lead up I think that final moment was the only one where they went there. And I know it's because it's a cartoon and frankly if the show hadn't ended it would have become a battle (which is sad). So yea, that's more my thing. The fact that they couldn't really develop it as a relationship and rather just hint at it as a relationship. Because it would have likely been their best relationship. Varrick's probably came out strongest in comparison to a lot of others for all the reasons you said, bam we are together and/or in a crush after just meeting. And it is immediately serious and intense. So you either get that one day bam together or you get the relationship they can't really show because cartoon and the world we live in is still pretty crappy. I just think it would have been nice if we could have had more of the latter. Though, to be fair, in a world where KorraxAsami is okay for TV they probably would have screwed it up like all the other relationships.

Okay so this is the paragraph of yours I read first (as I almost always start with the end of a post for whatever reason) and I read 'I just cannot express my excitement' as 'I just am not able to be excited by' and I was like what? What? And then I finished reading and realised OH I read that with the wrong inner inflection but yea, for a moment I was just absolutely baffled. But yes, ugh, Makorra shippers. How can anyone want to do anything with Mako besides run him over with a bus. But true, if they hadn't made Mako such the (now obviously) clutch for the hetronormative he probably wouldn't be the despisable character that he is.))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

"Yeah, I guess that's not a problem." Hirutani stared at Sen suspiciously.

((Since I play both Sen and Hirutani, do you mind if I just summarize their discussion instead of roleplaying it all out?

It's exactly the same with me. I would love to focus on just making web comics, but that will only happen if I manage to be completely supported in some way. Otherwise it's just a side thing that I almost never seem to have time for. With my parents, we've evolved into a more equal relationship for the most part. I see them as both friends and parents now. The only thing that still feels like me being a kid is having to watch what I watch/have on my computer around them. XD And it's not like they'd make me stop whatever I'm doing, but they would be uncomfortable and not want to see it.

I do agree that the first half of the seventh book was too slow. I didn't mind too much except for how much the characters kept bitching at each other. I got that it was necessary development for their situation, but it got old pretty quickly. I also would've preferred if she had just put that time into the ending instead. That was the other bad part of the book for me as well, the rushed deaths. And the epilogue. Just ew. But it was those three very specific things that were my complaints (the deaths being the worst of it) on a book I otherwise loved. Like it wasn't just the Snape chapter for me. I loved Harry thinking he needed to die, seeing his parents and godparents (lawl Remus) again with the resurrection stone, I loved how Hermione was pretty much the grown-up that kept them going, I loved the traveling and the hiding from Death Eaters, and the big battle at the end. There were definitely a lot of other issues with the films besides just condensing long books into short movies. I guess what I'm more saying is I prefer split movies if it solves a good enough portion of those issues/allows more details to be included. That if of course no substitute for skilled writers and directors and dedicated actors (which I think the actors had every right not to be dedicated to someone they were essentially put on as children and grew up with, but that does detract from the movies when actors are wanting to leave).

I would love to do more game nights with friends, but there's so many of us who live so far away from each other, movies are always a better middle ground. Otherwise there isn't enough room at a table for board games or enough controllers for video games, and there's no half-way meeting point. Plus I have the issue you were describing, where even though my parents are okay with it, I'm not comfortable hosting too often since we're loud and stay up late. For Hobbit I personally thought all of the films were just okay. They all were too slow-paced, and I don't feel the first one had as good of character development as the second two. Honestly though I think the second two would've been quite a bit less problematic if they had simply done the entire "Smaug arc" in the second film, ending with how the third one began, then focused on the battle for the third film. Still would've been too stretched out, but at least it would've felt like they were each their own film. And yeah, it was sad they only really developed the hot dwarfs, then killed them all so you were only left with the boring, not as hot ones. XD Pfft, I didn't even know there were people that hated the romance. I adored it. I figure if they're trying to lengthen the movies, at least they're doing it with an interesting new character and interesting new character development. And it was one of the most well-done parts of the movies. It was sweet and tragic and even someone believable for how quickly it happened. And though I don't share your personal history to such a romance, and still am a sucker for that kind of story. I love romances that defy the odds and beat social expectations. Probably since I'm queer, so I can relate to it in a different sense. Plus they were pretty much the two most likable characters in the movie. I was so sad that they killed him off, but also didn't really expect it to go any other way.

See I was terrified of horror until around high school, so things that had supernatural elements like Yuu Yuu and Inu Yasha did feel like mild horror to me. Especially the manga, where in Inu Yasha they had blood and scary hair demons and Kagome was a normal girl trying to survive all of this. And then in Yuu Yuu, it was mostly the beginning (of the manga) with Yuusuke as a ghost interacting with other ghosts and demons, and then some of the early demons were kind of scary, like the four great beasts or whatever they were called. Didn't really scare me, but it was the right dose of that 'creepy feeling' to get me interested in the actual horror genre. For older horror, it would be cool if they could find realistic reasons to bring different ethnicities into the movie and not make them stereotypical/side characters. Or what about a horror set in the past of Africa or South America or even North America before colonization? Then it wouldn't be a white club, and as long as it's done in a non-offensive way, it could teach a lot about spiritual belief of other cultures while also humanizing people who are too often just shown as unrelatable tribes people or even 'savages.' Ugh.

A lot of the problems are Nick's fault rather than the creative team. Like the reason it's divided into four arcs is because they thought they only had one short season first, then they found out they had two, then it went from there. They didn't really have a choice. And everything going online was Nick's fault. And just so many other things. But you're right, thinking on it, the 'minor' characters are handled and developed far better than the main four, particularly the older characters. Which is odd since the children were developed far better in Avatar than the adults (except Iroh). I can see how the Korrasami hints are unclear if you don't expect there to be any gay relationships and all the other relationships kind of forcibly push themselves onto you. It was the only one they handled with subtlety and finesse, which makes me kind of thankful they were forced to do so, because it was far less hamfisted than the other relationships. The only other canon one I really like at all is Varrick and Zhu Li. Most of the others I'm just neutral to. So I still think Asami and Korra were developed correctly, particularly because I definitely saw it early on, and if it had been a straight pairing developed the same way, I would've seen it coming a mile away. My own expectations of homophobia kept me very uncertain and mostly believing it wouldn't happen. I was pretty convinced that Mike and Bryan shipped it though and were doing the best they could to give us hints. XD I get that women do tend to form more emotional bonds as friends with one another than men do with either women or other men, but neither Korra nor Asami strike me as those type of women. Asami seemed fairly new to friendship in general, and Korra herself said she'd never had any female friends until Asami. And then Korra is just so proud and self-assured, I don't see her acting that close with someone who's just a friend. Like I know Mako isn't a good example because he's a guy and they had a breakup between them, but she became way less close with him after they were apart than before. And Asami seems very private in her emotions to me, holding anything except empathy back. It's difficult to make my point when they don't have any other close female friends their own age in the series, but you also don't see them forming the same kind of bonds with anyone else in the series, except maybe Tenzin for Korra, which is easy to explain since he's such a father figure towards her. So yeah, I guess it's up to interpretation. I definitely saw it as romantic over close female friendship, but I also don't tend to get that close to any of my friends, regardless of gender. I don't touch people or hug, and reassuring emotional talks are saved for moments of intense insecurity for one of us. So if I see a character acting that way with one person and one person only, it appears to me like they're developing romantic attraction for one another. I do agree that they only showed it point-blank at the very end, but that was very much their intention. It was stated them walking into the portal together was symbolizing them moving on from friendship to a relationship, so it was the actual exact moment they got together (besides the obvious talk they had to have had right before then). It really was friendship before then, and what I saw wasn't a romantic relationship, but two people realizing little by little over time that they were attracted to a good friend. This to me was way less obvious than the other relationships, but also more realistic and more beautiful. As for Asami snapping, it was too extreme and out of character, and I would've preferred if they made her just a little less 'too nice' more subtly and over time, but I still prefer they did it than not at all, because it at least shows the negative emotions she is repressing. I'm really hoping they'll develop that more in comic form, because even at the end, I still feel Asami is holding back her true self with her nice persona. Not saying she isn't nice, but I think she hides her other emotions behind her niceness. And I do like saying 'too nice,' over 'too perfect.' That's a better word I couldn't think of before. And that's right with Korra's question. That makes even more sense to me, because it was the negative emotions Asami was having about her father mixing with the ones she had towards Korra coming out at the same time at one person. I'm not going to fault a reasonable character for one unreasonable moment though, when Korra and Mako have had like fifty each.

Haha, whoops at misread. I don't hate Makorra shippers, but I definitely don't understand them, and I definitely find their tears delicious. I thought it was cute how they tried so hard to redeem Mako at the end with his epic explosion scene and reconciling his friendship with Korra. But like Bolin, it was far too little far too late. Except Bolin I never hated.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

'Great,' Seto replied with a forced smile, moving towards a plush armchair to set up with his laptop. 'I just have some business to attend to while you two talk then, let me know if you need anything,' he told both of them before quickly setting up the programme he would need to let Jounouchi, Yuugi and his brother listen in on the conversation. He made sure his phone was on silent but that the vibration was strong enough that they'd be able to get his attention if necessary.

((That is absolutely fine. I think it'd be okay if as a general rule unless you want to roleplay out diaogue with yourself you summarise any conversation between you and you. razz

My big thing with living with my parents is while I can do whatever I want to do they want to know where I am and when I'll be back. I can stay out all hours of the night but I know my mom won't sleep until I return unless she already knows I'm not coming back (her room is up front so I'd wake her up and potentially frighten her if I just said I wasn't coming back and then did, and just simply suggesting there is a possibility I'll come back puts me back in situation one). So there is just too much worry and concern and while it's appreciated it does feel too hampering for me to do indefinitely even if I was single. Although I would probably move back in when I finished my PhD unless I immediately have a postdoc lined up so I can put my savings towards starting to make loan payments rather than rent until I have a job. I still might if it makes more sense for Tom to stay in the UK a bit longer than I can stay here.

Yea I definitely wish she put some of that expansive beginning into a better ending. I actually was a bit annoyed with the whole Harry martyr thing but I've always hated Harry so obviously the 7th book is great for fans who like the title character, less so for those of us who might not have been so bummed if he died. Though I did love several moments, such as Mrs. Malfoy asking about her son and then protecting Harry, because she could have still betrayed him. Ron (along with Snape, Hermione and Draco) is one of my favourite characters and he was just a mess in that book, even more so than typical Ron so that was disappointing. But I didn't end up hating the 7th book until I finished it, and then the disappointment that that was the end was something I just never could shake and kind of tainted how I felt about the series. I started reading the books sometime after the second book came out and for almost a decade it was my favourite series. So while the pacing of the beginning wasn't something I enjoyed I could definitley have forgiven and forgotten about it if the ending had been better. But I think the one thing I just can't ever get over is a terrible ending. Snape got a great death. But Tonks, Remus, Fred, hell even Colin and Lavendar (the latter I don't think I even realised died until reading character bio stuff years later) had terrible write offs. Which were insulted further I think by that epilogue of excessive cheese. I mean seriously, it's like JK ended her own series with a fanfiction (and omg, there was so much ScoripusxAlbus slash online the day the book came out, like how, how?). So I think it was the bitterness over a terrible end that just tainted the book for me. I've read 1-6 a thousand times, I have only read the 7th book once. I really should re-read it at some point. At this point while I can recall the bitterness I no longer feel it, so it might be good to go back in and give the parts that were good a fairer chance now that I've (mostly) gotten over what really kind of ruined the series for me.

I don't think the 1st one had a great deal of character development but it does better fit the tone of Tolkien's writing style, so to that end it worked well. I agree with Smaug should have just finished the second film, although Botfa I don't think is interesting enough in its own right to be a film. I mean considering Bilbo is unconscious for all of it in the book it is a lot of expanding on something which for Tolkien was a coda. Yay! I'm not the only one who liked the romance. I mean I've found enough fic/art evidence online to support I'm not the only one who likes it, but you are the first person I actually know that likes it. Most people take too much issue with it not being canon (like uhh, there is plenty of sillier stuff that isn't canon in these films) I definitely didn't expect it to go the other way but yea I was hoping a bit. As Tauriel wasn't Tolkien's they totally could have disappeared into the sunset together (well, hopefully something less chessy and cliche) and left the illusion for the other characters that Kili was dead (for universe continuity, not that most of the dwarves from The Hobbit are ever really mentioned again in LOTR except for Balin). But yea, they were some of the best characters so I couldn't not love it.

As I've only recently started reading the manga for YYH and never read the other I could only base any supernatural elements on the anime which seems pretty tame in both cases (on the horror side). The first manga I read was FMA and only b/c Sara bought me the first volume for Christmas (starting a compulsive need to then buy the rest of what would in the end be a 27 volume series, ahh!). But yea I guess because I was already a pretty big horror buff by the time I really started watching anime I've never thought of the elements that way, but I could see how one might. Particularly in reading.

They could definitely do something interesting African or South American culture. But most movies I see usually focus on the white characters from usually America (sometimes Europe) travelling to these places, and usually the natives aren't just savages they are actively the bad guys (because of how savage they are), so it gets a bit disappointing. I mean even not doing that you still get a harder time doing mixed diversity with a past setting (the further back you go the harder it is) because realistically it didn't exist. Especially if you are going in the early modern through early 20th century. So you can do a racially blind casting like with Hamerstein's Cinderella (not horror, but first example I can think of), and it works in the fairytale setting so it might work in horror. But then you have people getting really uppity about things like racially blind casting for a superhero film b/c he was 'originally' white. So the big thing is audiences aren't okay with it. Audiences find it wall breaking and you can feel in most films that it is a wall breaking element and so it takes a lot for me to prefer past horror over modern or preferably even future. Which is probably a lot of my preference for sci-fi, an imagined future where bigotry and assholism are behind us, and all sexes, gender identities, sexual identities and races can ban together - because they are already banned together - against whatever horror is thrown at them. So I'd definitely like to see some better culture films, but at the end of the day my preference is always mixed diversity and that didn't exist in the past so I prefer the future (even if irl the future still could totally suck, potentially suck even more, but I don't already know that so I can hope/believe it won't).

I definitely think Asami and Korra were developed correctly, but in what was a strong friendship to romance relationship rather than strictly on a romance path to begin with. I've never been good friends with a boyfriend first, but I've also never dated anyone I didn't have a sort of friend relationship with first. But all of the relationships probably could have gone either way and its in retrospect that I see things as flirting/romantic interest rather than just comfortable friendship (particularly with my first bf who I'd known since we were kids). So even if it was straight I don't think I'd see it coming a mile away, especially as it did not fit the relationship style the show was going with. I think if they had more better developed romantic relationships I might have seen it as a bit more obvious, but as it was so different than the rest of the show (and even in relationships in Avatar) it wasn't something I was expecting here. But yea, again as you describe Korra and Asami while I can see what you are saying that is clearly a personality type I just can't relate to. A personality type that would feel more comfortable with someone they were romantically interested in than otherwise. Because I am much slower at bonding and trusting someone I know I have a romantic interest in then someone I'm purely interested in in a platonic sense. So while I definitely used to be very private with emotions and can relate to that, I can't relate to feeling more comfortable opening up with someone I'd maybe want to be naked with. But yea, they also don't really have friends outside their group (seriously where are all the teenagers in their universe, because in many places you find towns and societies that are heavily old people, middle aged people and children) so that's another reason where it's harder to make comparisons and be able to say 'Ah, of course that is romantic' vs 'I really don't know enough about you as a person or how you relate to people to form an opinion'. Because in the end, Bolin, Mako and Asami all liked Korra, and Korra liked most of them back. And Mako and Asami liked each other. Frankly in conclusion I think I actually have no idea how these people would act like with a 'just friend' if romantic feelings were pretty much there between everyone all along.

I am less generous and I will fault a character for an unresasonable moment. I just fault Korra and Mako fifty times more. xd Again in retrospect I can apply 'ahh it was a confusion of romantic feelings and familial drama' to what happened, its just in the moment I couldn't do that because I didn't really think possible relationship. I think even beyond this series I generally don't assume relationships until they happen, and in a lot of things I also actively hope they don't happen (as I often hate how they are done or hate focus on a relationship, if I wanted relationships I'd probably be more into the romance genre). A lot I accept and at times even like when they do happen, but I don't often look for them outside of yaoi/shonen-ai etc type interests (in which case I'm reading/watching 100% for some sort of relationship).))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

Sen went about interviewing Hirutani, asking about his family history, how he knew about his lineage, who else he knew that was or could be an Ommyouji... she conducted herself completely in an academic sense, taking advantage of Hirutani's current state of mind, as well as his over-confidence, in order to get him to show his hand.

Hirutani, for his part, was still suspicious, avoiding questions, changing the subject, and overall playing dumb. He said he didn't know about his family history, or anyone in his family that had powers, just that he had found the tome in the attic and figured it out himself.

That was unlikely.

((Finally back! I'm so, soooo sorry for how long I took! It was like things just kept piling up and never let up. Even now I'm rushing to do this before work. XP But I only have a couple of summer classes right now, so things are at least a little bit calmer now. How have you been?!

My parents like to know if I will be staying out so they don't wonder where I am, but other than that, there is no rules or worry. My mom usually sleeps on and off all night no matter what because of her fibromyalgia, and she certainly doesn't wait up for me. I am getting to the point where I'd consider getting a roommate once I'm done with school and all that kind of stuff, mostly because I'm tired of walking around my parents and want to try doing something on my own for once.

See, there were many times I hated Harry, and overall I've never really liked him, but I will give that he is a fairly relatable character, and on that martyr scene, I was very much relating to him at the time and feeling all of the pain and fear, yet the desire to also try to be courageous. Even though I didn't care much for the character, it was touching, and I still love Sirius and Remus and think Lilly's pretty tight too. But also, Ron has always been one of my least-favorite characters, so though I thought he was even more ridiculous in the last book, it just reinforced the status-quo for me, while Hermione, one of my favorites and certainly my favorite of the main three, absolutely shined. I also felt Harry was slightly more likable in the seventh book than in, say, the fourth, fifth, and sixth ones. I also think how touched I was by Harry's and Snape's respective martyr scenes was enough for me to not notice how terrible the ending was (besides the epilogue) when I first read it, so it wasn't ruined for me at the time. I was still pissed about the deaths, but it didn't really hit me how sloppy that all was until later. But yeah, that epilogue was totally a fanfiction and I just chose to pretend it didn't exist at the time. XD

Yeah, I'm not saying having the third movie being only the battle would've saved it, just that it would've helped a bit. Since they were taking so many liberties with interpreting the book already, they should've used all that time to make Bilbo more involved, and RESOLVE THAT ******** BATTLE WITH ACTUAL ANSWERS LIKE HOW DID THEY SUDDENLY WIN WHEN ALL THE DWARFS WERE GETTING KILLED OFF??? THEY HAD BEEN LOSING HORRIBLY AND THERE WERE GIANT WORMS!!! Haha, and yeah, now that I think back on that romance it was rushed and kind of stupid how Tauriel fell so quickly in love when she had never loved before, but I liked their personalities and flirtations enough that I was okay with it and enjoyed it. I don't mind the non-canonness at this point since it was already so completely off the cusp.

I guess diversity within an individual movie isn't too important to me as long as it exists within movies as a whole. So I'd be totally cool with a horror movie focusing just on a tribe, with that tribe being the only ethnicity. I'd be okay with a movie only having white people as well if that wasn't already way too many movies. I like diversity within a movie when it's there, and I think it should in general be aspired to, but in a case where it's not realistic, like a movie about ancient Japan or something, then I'm good with one racial group only. I definitely am not okay about the "white guilt" movies about the white guy moving to an "ethnic" place and learning their ways and becoming their leader or some s**t like that. All that is is redoing imperialism in a nice, less-guilty way, pft. I like the idea of a better future for sci-fi where bigotry is done, but my problem with it is that I like nature and athletics and that kind of stuff in my fiction, which is generally absent from sci-fi because it's all about the technology and space. That's also why I still do like sci-fis such as Stargate. Has a lot of nature and the characters don't rely on technology for everything.

I definitely agree that all the other relationships in Korra were poorly developed, so Asami was a surprise, but a pleasant surprise for me. I am not sure if I could relate to being closer with a romantic interest than anyone else, because I've never really gotten that far. Probably though, because I've only ever been attracted to people I was already really close with, and I've never felt the need to hide anything from them. However, I've never gotten to the point with someone where I enjoyed holding their hands or hugging either though, so I don't know. I try to think about individual characters though and how they may react to romantic interests, since I don't really relate well to any romantic interests in the first place, so it requires a bit more thought for me to understand. XD It is kind of stupid that there was at least some kind of romantic thing between Korra and each of her secondary characters. Made it difficult to assess their friendships properly. Maybe they should just be a big ol' foursome, pft.

I'm the opposite. I'm always looking for relationships developing, and I like discovering them rather than the show flat-out telling me. That's why I generally avoid the romance genre, not because I'm not interested in romance, but because I'm interested in romance developing out of meaningful relationships that have something more than attraction to them. Not to say that romance fiction doesn't have meaningful relationships, but it is there to get to an obvious end-point, which often clouds other types of character and relational development in my opinion. I also don't like too much of any one thing. I like a mix of genres, so I like stuff with a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, a bit of action, a bit of horror, a bit of comedy... I don't usually like something that only focuses on that one genre. Horror if the biggest exception, but even that I only like here and there, and is more for the fun than my own intense involvement with the characters.

Oh, and just wanted to note where I am on shows. I'm trying to remember which ones we were both watching. I'm caught up on Agents of Shield and Supernatural, so would love to discuss those if you are as well. I'm also caught up on Gotham and American Horror Story, though don't remember if you watch those. Also, I've gotten really, really into Steven Universe. It's absolutely amazing!))  

[JuokasKurvas]

Seto didn't believe a word Hirutani said, even if some of them were bound to be true by default. This wasn't proving overly useful, at least in his estimation, though he wasn't sure if the priestess was getting anything out of this. It probably would be a bit too suspicious to pull her from the room to confer for a minute before regrouping, and thus far the 3 sitting in the waiting room hadn't passed along any burning insights or queries they wanted tossed into the mix, so he decided there was nothing to lose by chiming in a bit more aggressively on his own.

Looking up from his laptop, attempting to feign as if he'd only listened to parts of the conversation, "Your mother, father, grandparents, and so on all said nothing?" he queried - he wasn't entirely sure who Hirutani had known besides his mother, but he wouldn't be expected to know either way of course - "part of how we found you was looking into families with histories of Ommyouji that knew either myself or Jounouchi, and you seemed the most likely match because you have ancestral connections on both sides of the family. How did you even get into any of this if nobody in your family had even mentioned anything?"

((Honestly 6 months later I don't remember half of these conversations so will probably only vaguely respond to a few things, apologies in advance.

My mom doesn't wait up intentionally she's just a very paranoid person who always expects the worst so can't sleep and that's just too annoying to deal with as an adult. Plus my dad is not exactly fun to live with and is flung about the whole house so there is just no good way to have people over most of the time. I definitely want to feel like it's 'my' house and that's their house. But we'll see when it comes time to figuring out what Tom and I will do living wise whether I might have to go live with them for awhile. Don't want to though. It'd probably be worth getting a roommate if you are able to, just for the experience.

I'd probably have been able to ignore the epilogue if I wasn't still reeling from how poorly the deaths were handled, besides Snape's death. Because yea that was something that hit me immediately and when we were given a fanfiction epilogue after ignoring a proper tribute to characters we'd spent books getting to love, I guess I've never really gotten past that. Ron and Hermione were always two of my favourite characters (in addition to Draco and Snape) and I don't know how I'd feel if I re-approached the series now but they kind of just maintain that status in a frozen in time kind of way. I always think I want to reread the series again but never have time and just don't. I think barring having kids HP is just not a series I'd ever pick up again. It was a lot of fun and I read it because it was fun but in the end it just stopped being enjoyable. And watching JK be unable to move on from the franchise because she's not content writing things that don't sell (I mean after you've made millions that's the best time to write what you want to write) is also a bit off-putting. I think she's a lovely person but her decisions as an author post-HP make me cringe a bit and don't endear me to returning to her work again I guess.

The Hobbit romance arc is rushed and I wish it hadn't been, because I wouldn't have mind it being drawn out though there are people who might have rebelled if they did it more. But if you are going to have a romance at least commit to it. I think Smaug should have ended with the desolation of Smaug film and they should have just done more with the battle as a self-contained narrative. Rather than just Smaug, Smaug the political aftermath which is interrupted by orcs. It was just too messy and again the BofA wasn't a huge part of the book so they really didn't have too much canon to stick to anyhow.

Korra with some sort of romantic tie to everyone was a bit irritating. But I guess for me I feel romantic feelings aren't something that's necessarily obvious from the outside. Like I've had close friendships that really no romantic feelings on either side but I guess if it had gone that way it wouldn't be surprising. All my relationships were friends first, though not super good friends first. But I also feel a lot of people are closer, especially women, to same sex friends and as neither Korra nor Asami ever dated another woman in the series run time it's not something I'd have looked for or thought of their relationship as romantic rather than a strong female friendship. I do like the relationship just wish it was something they did something with rather than put in at the end, especially depending on how early they felt it was going to go that way. Kind of similar to how I felt with when Dumbledore was gay and I just don't know what was the point of announcing it post books, why not put it in the book? It just felt political to do something like that after a major series ends, to have sexuality be a discussion of author interviews vs an element of the books. I guess having cake/eating it too type deal. Didn't want to have the children's books be offensive with a gay relationship (a stance I find offensive though I get it) but still wanted to be socially and politically progressive and topical. Korra handled that much better, and I do think it's more an issue of getting canceled possibly earlier than they'd want to be canceled rather than a shoehorn at the end kind of thing. So with that I'm disappointed they got canceled before they could develop what probably would have been an interesting relationship and having to leave it as a coda.

I'm behind on all shows now, save for Big Bang Theory. I started catching up on Supernatural but I'm about 5 episodes behind now. Will aim to finish before the next season starts. I haven't watched Agents of Shield since it restarted in March/April? Can't remember when exactly but was really sad with where it had ended before the month gap and haven't been able to bring myself to start again. I'll let you know when I get back to stuff. I thought about catching up on Agents before Ultron but figured they were very unlikely to noticeably cross (at least in the film) so I didn't. Supernatural I get behind on because Tom doesn't watch it so that comes down to when I watch TV during the day, and I don't work and watch TV at the same time very well anymore. I mostly got caught up when I was marking exams in April and May but didn't get all the way there, though again would watch Shield with Tom. I don't watch Gotham or American Horror Story and have never even heard of Steven Universe. I started rewatching L Word with Tom and he actually really got into it but after an arc that touched on the topic of cancer I think he needed a break.

I guess I haven't told you as this would have been in April, but around Easter his mum was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. Not necessarily terminal but a rare type and not early stages so it requires aggressive treatment. He was having a really hard time at first and I guess we are mid stage in chemo now and he's okay. But September is probably where it will get hard again because after the end of her normal chemo rounds she'll have to go into hospital for an aggressive 2 week treatment and it's after that where we'll see if she makes it through treatment and if the cancer is gone. But even then she'll be in remission and it could come back but if she's cancer free after 2, 5 and 10 years she would likely be clear. In 10 years she'll be in her 70s though so I think if it came back then she'd not do treatment again. But anyhow right now it's get through September. I think that's the big thing about how I've been that I haven't said in PMs. I think I told you Tom and I got engaged but maybe I didn't, it happened in December but too lazy to scroll back and see if I said, but yea, there's that though that's nothing that particularly changes the day to day. Oh and Tom got a job finally, so I've moved to Cardiff. I guess that's a big thing. He got a job with Jacob's engineering in the Cardiff office, which is an American company (so here's hoping he can transfer from within in a few years as that'd be nice) as a graduate hydrogeologist. So he's finally got employment but we've moved to Wales, which is probably good because we are near his parents now and given the situation I think that's worked out well. Plus while I miss people in Birmingham and it's sometimes annoying to not be able to access the library daily (I can use Cardiff Uni's library but it only has some of what I need) I do definitely prefer Cardiff to Birmingham. We live on the River Taff so it's a nice 25-30 minute walk into the city along the river (or maybe 15-20 on the main road) and at the end of the park is Cardiff Castle which as we are Cardiff residents we paid 5 pounds to get a castle key that entitles us free entry for 3 years. An adult ticket is usually 12 pounds so it's not even the cost of a one day admission for 3 years of entry. This doesn't include special events, so we paid to go to a joust over the weekend, but we did get a free ticket for that from a nice lady who said she had a spare as we were going in as her friend bailed. So that was nice. We did get a discount with the castle card on the ticket we bought. So yea, engaged, moved to Cardiff, struggling with PhD (which I said in the PM) and Tom's mum's illness is I think the big life events for me in the last 6 months.))  

[Kitsune Ketz Kwineight]

Hirutani tensed up, obviously not happy with Kaiba butting in. He glared at the other man, "I already told you, I found the tome in the attic. No one ever mentioned it before."

"It's in Chinese though..." Sen frowned, "How did you read it?"

"I have a friend that helped me translate it." Hirutani replied.

((Haha, no worries. I had to reread a couple posts before I knew what we were talking about.

I think that is the biggest thing for me too, that I want to feel somewhere is "mine."

I'm thinking the deaths also didn't hit me as hard because I had already lost my favorite side characters (Sirius and Dumbledore). Remus was also one of my favorites, but it honestly hit me hardest with Fred. I like the twins a lot, but they were never two of my favorites, yet just the pointlessness of his death and how hard that would be on George, that was what killed me. With Remus, it didn't hurt as much as it should have because of what happened with Tonks. I like her a lot, but I did not like their relationship. It came out of absolutely no where, had no character development between them neither before or when they got together, and I was also a petty Sirius/Remus shipper. XD It had already bothered me how little he seemed to care about Sirius' death in book six, and instead his life suddenly revolved around someone who he had only had the barest of character interaction with. I guess Remus was already kind of dead to me (at least the parts of him I liked, because he also became all angsty suddenly with the Tonks thing) by book seven. I wouldn't mind re-reading the series, but I have way more other book priorities, so probably won't happen. I also agree about Rowling not moving on. It's disappointing.

I don't really have anything else to say on The Hobbit, just that I agree how messy it was.

I can see where you're coming from about romantic relationships, but they just seem so... fictional to me, since I don't understand them as well as most people, that they're interesting and exciting in fiction, and I actively look for and encourage ones for characters that I think go well together. That's what happened with Asami and Korra for me, and I was kind of proud that I managed to see it coming. XD I also wish it hadn't just been at the end, but I read a lot of commentary from Brian and Mike, and apparently they started feeling the two went well together by season two, but didn't think Nick would allow it so just did subtle things for their own benefit. I think near the end of season three, they realized they should at least try asking, because what did they have to lose, and Nick said it was okay as long as it wasn't too strong, like kissing and such. By then they only had one season left to actually make this a real thing, and also probably didn't want to pus their luck on getting it off the air, so decided it was safest to have it happen at the very end. It's sad, but that's where we currently are on LGBT progress for children's shows. It's just barely starting to happen, and everyone is stepping lightly. Like in Adventure Time, the creator has said that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline used to date, but that they can't do more than subtle hints because it would be illegal in some of the countries in which the show airs. They might make it canon in the comics though. I'm sad about that, but also happy that people are at least able to start being inclusive in kid's shows, and it will improve more over time. I agree about Harry Potter as well. I get why she said it outside the book: she didn't want to lose readers or cause a riot while she was still wanting people to buy her books, maybe even the publishers wouldn't allow it, but she still wanted people to know, because it was an important part of Dumbledore's character. It's just sad to me that that's how it was. I would've loved even a little exploration of that part of Dumbledore in the books. Rowling's at least gotten better in the last couple years though, using her Twitter to spread some really good insight about LGBT. XD A fan asked why Dumbledore was gay when he didn't seem that way, and Rowling responded that maybe it was because he was still just like everyone else? The fan actually realized how stupid she was being and became of a fan of Dumbledore/Grindelwald. XD

Oh, so you're not too far on Supernatural. I feel the current season started weak, but it got way better and ends with all the feels. I think it's become one of my favorite seasons, and I'm excited for the next one. I'm just super pissed about one thing from this season and I don't think you're quite there yet, but you'll know when you see it. For Shield, I think the last quarter of season one (during Winter Soldier) was its high point, but it didn't go back down as low as it had been at the beginning. Season two is a good middle ground, though admittedly some of the decisions about characters and their personalities did not sit well with me. Overall I still quite like the show though. Age of Ultron only had a small influence on the show, and there was nothing in Shield that significantly led up to Ultron, so you didn't need to see them together. What did you think of Age of Ultron by the way? American Horror Story is... interesting. I keep going back and forth on if I like it or not, but I still intend to keep watching it. Gotham I only watched because my dad wanted to, and it drew out for a long time, but in about the last third of the first season it got pretty friggin good, even though I don't even like Batman. For Steven Universe, I highly recommend it. It's a fifteen-minute-per-episode cartoon, made by someone who used to work on Adventure Time. It tricks you by making you think it's just a fun show about a kid with super powers doing random stuff with some aliens that raised him, but that show gets intense! It has amazing character development, a really sad history, and a super healthy view of gender and LGBT. The aliens that raised the kid are technically genderless, but they all present as female, and this ten-year-old boy looks up to them and wants so much to be like them. It also has a canon lesbian pairing and they even kissed! And also a so-obvious-it's-practically-canon one-sided lesbian crush that is just tragic and heartbreaking. It's pretty much the best character development I've ever seen in a fifteen-minute cartoon, and the story is really deep and keeps peeling off more layers over time. Even if you don't generally like cartoon network shows, I would make an exception for this one. And since the episodes are so short and it's only just starting season two, it's easy to catch up on. I started when season one was almost done and was able to watch everything in one night and a bit the next day. Here's the opening if you're at all interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfKUdmTq2MI I also watched the first few episodes of the L Word, but it was a friend's DVDs and we never continued. It did interest me though.

That is really terrible about Tom's mom. I wish both of them well. I hope she is able to go into remission and have it last. Please let me know updates. I did know about your engagement, but not about the new job or move. It makes perfect sense that you would be having a hard time with all of that going on. Big life changes, even positive ones, are hard. That sounds awesome about the castle. I would love to visit Wales sometime. I haven't had too many big life events. I've been more in a "settling" stage, where I am working to become content and confident in my sexuality and gender identity. I am kind of at that point where I'm realizing I may never get to the point of having a real romantic/sexual relationship, and I'm becoming okay with that. I'm also slowly preparing myself to enter the workforce, in order to minimize anxiety when I go for it. I still have twinges of anxiety about future careers, but it's not as full-blown as it was the first time I graduated. I hope things will go more smoothly the second time. I'm ready to be financially stable and start being in charge of my own life.))  

[JuokasKurvas]

"You don't seem like you'd have enough educated friends to find someone who could read Chinese," Seto responded, not caring to insult the man if he wasn't going to be helpful, "what motivated you to have it translated in the first place, keen academic interest?"

((Going to respond to both the comments and PM here to just merge convo into one place as nothing I think needs to be in a PM.

Thanks for the condolences about my friend. I guess regret rather than guilt is a better word. I regret that I didn't keep better tabs because now I'll never get to see her again and catch up at a future date. I'm again more in shock than grief I think, a large part because I don't know what happened. I did send her brother condolences on his memorial post and we'll see if I send a more in depth message but I do want to leave some time before that. If I could visit in person I'd do that now but I can't and I feel dealing with messages is not something he'd be up to right now.

Big fan of the first Dragon Age, Origins is probably one of my favourite games of all times. I found it very immersive even if in many ways your standard fantasy rpg. I think that's probably part of why it's immersive, it world builds but not in so far out of a way that you can't also just get into gameplay and story. I will say I hated the gameplay style at first but have gotten so used to it now that I can't really remember why. I really like fantasy setting in games and I find the character relations to be very good. I didn't dislike Dragon Age II but it definitely has a lot of problems. The big one best summed up by Yahtzee's subtitle discussion of the game, e.g. it could be Dragon Age: Loading Screen. Origins stands on it's own, II does not. It is clearly a rushed out game after the success of Origins, looking forward to something bigger and better when they have more time. There is no real central overarching story. It's split in 3 acts, the first act is the piss around act and yet still has the most to do. The second act offers a narrative but not one that carries into the third act, and the third act basically comes down to tbc, clearly leading into Inquisition. Yet the characters are still fun (though you have less options to interact which is a bummer) and I don't dislike the piddling around, but the game clearly suffers from not really having anywhere of its own to go. It'll be awhile before I play Inquisition, mostly because it's on Origin which with II has not endeared me. My big issue with Dragon Age II only being on Origin is that all the DLC costs more than the base game. Well, mostly b/c I got the base game on sale which is why I caved in the first place, but still. Base game £7.99 normally, all the content DLC £18.00 (there are also 8 stuff packs, jeez!). But my main issue is that it's not actually £ it's Bioware points and one of the DLC games is only 560 (each 800 is £6) and you can't buy a certain allotment of points so I'd pay £18.00 and have 240 points left for what? I guess I could dump it into one stuff pack but why would I? Playstation is the only platform on which the DLC is money vs a points system. I guess with Xbox and Microsoft points there is more you can do with it but I don't need access to a whole Bioware store. Anyhow I'll stop ranting but it's very annoying as points haven't gone on sale since 2011 apparently. Although I did see some article from March that said they might be phased out which would be amazing and I hope it's true. I want the DLC, but I'm not willing to do the point thing for it. The Witcher games I honestly hadn't even heard of until the recent game came out, but yea definitely wouldn't have time right now for a new franchise. I did buy Alien Isolation in the summer sale. Now I don't play horror games usually I like to watch them, I like to spectate my horror not be part. So I bought it so Tom can play and I can watch. Which is funny as he's afraid of horror movies but okay with games. Although he does like the Alien and Aliens films.

I have a friend who wants to roleplay but I don't think we have any series in common atm and I think I should probably get through the PhD before starting something up unless someone has something they want to do that I'd be interested in (kind of how this started) as I wouldn't have the energy during my PhD to be the driving starting person. I have a friend who was very into the X-Men comics (and still is I think) but probably not into roleplaying, but yea more people are into the films. I probably am, actually I'm most into Evo, that was my big X-men love to be fair. Also very not the comics but probably the way I enjoy the characters the most. My fanfiction was Yuugioh, it's Seto and Jounouchi but not a pairing, at least it wasn't when I started several years ago as I hadn't really given the pairing much though then. It's kind of AU, except for the most part it's assumed to just be post-canon but canon probably didn't next go into zombie apocalypse which the story is actually the aftermath of said apocalypse. Will let you know if I ever finish it, I hope to but it might take a decade.

My thesis is on the formation of the literary canon in the seventeenth century. Literary criticism and scholarship marks canon-formation in English literature as a 18th/19th century process and idea so I'm just arguing the notion of an English literary canon was there and is just understood in different ways, and am looking at ways in which the 17th century contributed to our idea of a literary canon. So 4 chapters are genre studies and one is a sole author study. The sole author study I thought would be the easiest part and it's not coming together in the way I want it to, mostly as I can't find any real evidence of some of the arguments I'd like to make. But yea, that's my thesis.

I was hoping Hirutani would die from pretty much when the Shikigami revealed this would free the spirit so yea I'd be all for that but he's your character so wanted to leave that up to you a bit regarding the if/when/how. But yea free reign spirit could definitely be fun.

Okay...that is all from the PM I think. I guess that's where the deaths were different for me. None of my favourites died until the 7th book (and only Snape died), so I went into that book with only characters to lose. I like Sirius and Dumbeldore but definitely nowhere near favourites and Sirius was more of a frustrating death (argh, and now we've finally cleared his name) more than a sad death for me. I liked the twins, but they weren't favourites, but yea the terribleness of Fred's death and how that would have such an impact on George, the kind of impact that would make for some great story telling, was just not touched at all. I don't think I cared about Remus or Tonks relationship but I did also find a new orphan to be another annoyance, probably because yea it was a relationship that didn't do anything for me. Bill and Fleur I think would have been sadder for me but if she was going to be terrible at deaths I'm glad she didn't go with that one (the devastation of two Weasley deaths, both ignored, I couldn't take it). JK has said originally she was going to kill Arthur but didn't b/c he was the only decent father figure in the book. So that's how Fred died, but maybe she would have been a bit more obligated to try harder with Arthur so I wish she had gone that route. But yea, Remus was a likable but not a character I ever really cared about character, so while I didn't really expect to have him hugely impacted by Sirius's death -they had only reunited after 13 years and Remus had really doubted Sirius all that time, and given the circumstances they probably had minimal catch up- the Tonks thing, angst and all, was annoying and completely out of nowhere. But yea ignoring Fred was the big annoyance. Killing Lavendar and Colin (I never liked that kid but I can't believe she just wrote him off) and some of the other students with barely a mention was also irritating. Creating an orphan and deciding the best way to deal with it was a fanfic romance with Bill and Fleur's kid in a s**t epilogue was also just so awful. So yea, I still would probably love books 1-6 and there are a lot of good elements in book 7. But knowing how badly the series feels like it ended it would be hard to want to read toward that again. I don't know if I've ever reread a series where I feel the conclusion was horrible. But yea trying to get through Song of Ice and Fire, I actually have some Dragon Age books I want to read (yea I'm sad), a few stand alone books that I've put off for years, and Tom's parents lent me a book I don't know if I'll read but feel that I should. So HP definitely will be on the back-burner for a long time.

A lot of relationships I like/would like in series don't often actually come to be (I think it's part of why I really do like Ron and Hermione as it's one of the few I've wanted and gotten) so I guess even if I like it and can see it I wouldn't expect to see it coming or look for signs unless they were blatantly obvious this can only be leading to relationship signs. And yea a lot of the time it's because the pairings I like are male/male (though even some female/male have seemed unlikely) and that is the climate that shows, especially for kids stuff, is unlikely to go there. So yea with Korra and Asami there was nothing that couldn't just be friendship, and the only thing looking back that maybe makes more sense with knowing is how angry Asami got at Korra for no fair reason. But I guess if you've never had a close friendship like that then you would be more on guard looking for signs of something deeper, so I get that. I did hear about what JK said to the fan and I do think that's a great response, but yea I feel Rowling had way more freedom than children's television did, especially with a final book. And honestly there is no way a publisher would have dropped her she was too big a sell, so she had an opportunity few authors/television writers would ever have and I guess I'm disappointed she didn't go for it. Maybe today she would have, but it definitely feels like a missed opportunity and yes a bit like a stunt, and I don't want to feel that way but with how she hasn't let go of the series it's hard to not feel that way. She's been a pretty positive LGBT voice so I don't really think it was a stunt, or at least wasn't intentionally so, just another thing that wasn't handled as well. I mean, she's doing nothing but HP spinoff stuff, so you know what, give us the Dumbledore story. Rather than fantastic beasts and every minor thing you can pull out give us the Dumbeldore/Grindelwald youth, back story. Because you know what I've never read anything else she wrote, and I probably won't. However, if she does that, if she writes Dumbeldore's backstory, which I think would be a great thing for LGBT youth everywhere, I will read that. Absolutely. I don't follow Pottermore (way too much announcing, way too long to actually get online, no longer cared by the time it did) but I assume even if she did it there it would be newsworthy. A piece on friggin Dudley was considered newsworthy so even if it was just on her site that would be okay too.

I meant I was 5 from the end of the season on Supernatural, not 5 episodes into the season. Although I did check and I'm wrong I am 7 from the end, but yea I'm at episode 17. I don't think the season had finished when I had started catching up on the season and was only at 21 episodes which is why my brain thought 5 from the end even though I knew it was still going and is usually 22 or 23 episodes. So if what you are pissed about isn't at the end I've probably seen it, the last episode I saw was the suicides (and they had to burn that painting). But yea just in case will ask again after I watch. Might be after my next supervision though which is the 12th of July.

I found Age of Ultron enjoyable but the first movie was a lot better in my opinion (and Winter Soldier is still my favourite, Tom still prefers Guardians). I think it was always likely going to be kind of weak, not the assembling of the first one and obviously can't be as cosmic as Thanos. I liked Quicksilver but Scarlet Witch I was kind of indifferent to and don't know how I feel. Like the moment with her hiding and Hawkeye was kind of a nice moment but it still was also frustrating that they made her the weak girl who needed encouragement and protecting. I also really didn't like Vision, although I do like this comic that has Iron Man being hit in the head with the hammer and turning around to glare to find Thor and Vision pointing at each other. But yea, Vision felt like kind of a dry, last minute OP character who I'm unsure about atm. Umm, and the romance. I like Hulk (as Ruffalo at least) and Black Widow, and the idea of them together is kind of cute but at the same time I feel it's kind of like Remus and Tonks, unnecessarily complicated and sad just to purposely be complicated and sad. So that was frustrating. So yea I guess Ultron is something that I like pieces, and I don't really like other pieces, and on a whole I found it a fun movie to watch but I also didn't find it a great movie overall. Of course going into it I'm looking forward to both Civil War and Ragnarok a lot more so it was always going to be a film to get through while I wait for the inevitable better (hopefully better). I guess that's the other thing, atm other than the creation of Vision I'm not sure I feel there is much in this movie that leads into other films in the way most of the other movies seem to have a connective thread. I get it will spark divides but it just doesn't feel like it had as much spark as it should have. And I really wanted to like Ultron but in the end he was a very disappointing and easily forgotten about villain.

Yea I have never really liked any DC hero, Batman is probably the best of them but that's because he's got great villains (villains can make a hero). To that end I am morbidly curious about Suicide Squad but probably won't watch Gotham. How does American Horror Story go as stand alone episodes? Is it the kind of show you need to watch in a connective order or could I just watch an episode at some point? I don't really have time to pick up a new show now but I'm curious and it kind of feels like episodes could easily stand alone. I'll think about Steven Universe, maybe Tom would like it. I really disliked Adventure Time though so that part isn't a selling point (Tom found Adventure Time okay) I'm afraid. I guess I never was a Cartoon Network person (Adult Swim yes, Cartoon Network no) thinking about it. Nick and Disney was what I watched and Cartoon Network had only a few that I'd maybe watch, mostly b/c my brother liked them (like Powerpuff Girls). Exception, I loved Dexter's Lab, that's the one CN show I really did like. I don't know about American Netflix but if you have Netflix all of L Word is probably on it (UK usually has less stuff and L Word is an unlikely show to only be on UK Netflix) as that's why I started rewatching, it was on Netflix.

Thanks for the well wishes about Tom's mum, I hope so too. Yea we moved in April, Tom started his job the 23rd of March but our old lease was through the end of March and as I was teaching we didn't fully move until the 29th after term ended. But yea Wales is lovely, and the weather has been surprisingly good which is nice. If you do ever find an opportunity to come to Wales in the next couple of years we have a spare room/my office (but it does have a double bed). smile But yea I would highly recommend Wales if you ever do a Europe trip. Personally I prefer Wales and Scotland to England and unless you are really keen on the super touristy stuff of London and Stonehenge and whatnot if it came down to choosing I'd definitely prioritize not England every time. I'm with you on hoping to be financial stable, I just no longer know what I want to/can do with my life, so definitely having a lot more future anxiety but I guess it does help having a more grounded partner who both knows what he wanted to do and is doing it. But I wish you the best of luck with the journey to content, and particularly with anxiety reduction. And of course getting through summer school. How long is your programme, 2 years?))