radio414

For a while, it was Magic: the Gathering lore. Well, it was a lot of things Magic related but the lore was the where a friend of mine said, "You know, if we ever wanted to distract you from something, we could just say, 'So how 'bout that Magic story?' and you'd be off." This isn't true anymore for a couple reasons, mostly that I stopped paying attention to the story just after War of the Spark (the last thing I remember the internet arguing about was why Chandra and Nissa were no longer together (or why Chandra was basically not bi/pan anymore (She likes big strong men like Gideon now! (oh wow is this a paragraph chain)))) but also that, well, I've kind of weaned myself off of Magic for now. Not that I don't still enjoy playing it when I do, mind, just that I play less so I don't talk about it as much. I guess now it's movies? Like, I'm distinctly aware that I'm in danger of becoming "that" (oooh scarequotes) sort of filmgoer, the kind that treats the A24 production logo as a seal of quality and scoffs at the mainstream among other stereotypes, but I do really enjoy the filmgoing experience and I have a couple pretty good theaters near me that I like to support. I like to think of movies as a kind of equalizer; You don't see (or at least I haven't seen) people say "Oh, I don't watch movies" in the same way that someone might say, "Oh, I don't play video games" or even "Oh, I don't really read much" and everyone has some sort of favorite. I try to play my side of those conversations like a recommendation list. "You like documentaries, huh? You should check out The Proposal (2019)!", for example, in an effort to get whoever I'm talking with to at least kind of guide the conversation before I splooge all over them. 4) PB&J Sandwich on Wheat. My childhood lunch growing up, and I have a lot of nostalgia for it. 3) Fried Rice. This was my grandfather's "perfect" dish, as in, he'd spent so long refining his recipe that all we could do was struggle to replicate it. I don't think there was anything special or out of the ordinary about it, just the exact ratios of rice, egg, onions, etcetera. 2) Shrimp & Grits. I don't cook super often just for myself, but when I do, this is one of my go-tos. Super good, except for the one time I mixed up my box of grits with a box of oats. Not a mistake I'll repeat anytime soon, let me tell you. 1) Sushi. Any kind, really. I know there's a difference between the professionally hand-crafted kind and the store-bought varieties, and it's not like I can't tell the difference, but really, as long as the fish doesn't make me sick, it's all valid.

joshua aka another sword user but he has a nice hat

Well, I guess I said I'd do top four, so here's four. 4) Klingon. I went through a conlang phase as a teen that didn't lead to much, but I did get to go to a talk by the guy who created Klingon so that was pretty cool. Not much of a trek fan otherwise, that's why it's number four. 3) German. Not for any particular reason, mind, but I like the words from it that English has borrowed so learning it might lead me to know more of them. 2) Do programming languages count? I'm going to say they count. I don't have a specific one I'd like to learn, but I'd like to have more than just some perfunctory MatLab knowledge. 1) Cantonese. I took some Mandarin classes as a kid (I've forgotten most of it) but a good portion of my dad's family speaks the language so I think it'd be nice to have. Also dim sum restaurants.

“You don’t know what’s really lying beneath the surface,” Alexandre said. He said it like she was supposed to regret provoking him. She didn’t regret it. Of course she didn’t, how could she? What followed really was all she could have hoped for. The Dragon Slayer himself even said, “If it’s flashy training you want…” and then immediately started delivering on that promise. Even if Alexandre expressed his doubts, what did Elsie care? She watched as the fight began anew, first with a shove (okay, maybe the fireworks didn’t start right away), before, well, how could she describe it? The dragon slayer’s ball of energy overwhelmed the senses. It was blinding, deafening, Elsie even experienced some sort of indescribable smell and yet she kept looking with rapt attention. Her mouth was agape, some sort of mix between elation and awe. “At least move up a little,” Corbin said. Whatever. Elsie kept watching on, keeping her broom where it was even as the Dragon Slayer let out a mighty shout and sent the ball careening forward. Oh yes, this was good. This was very good. “Elsie! Up!” “You two, move!” Corbin and Alexandre’s shouts, made practically at the same time, were what finally broke Elsie from her trance. She didn’t even have time to reassess the situation, her reflexes took over and she pulled her broom up, high into the air, out of the way of the “dragon cannon” or whatever he called it and anything else Elsie figured he could throw at- “Wait, where’d he go?” Elsie said. “Shouldn’t he be where that just came from?” It was only after she’d scanned the entire arena floor that Elsie looked up to see the Dragon Slayer on the same horizontal plane as her. He didn’t have a broom, of course, but her eyes widened all the same at the feat, and she started tracking his descent as he came crashing down to earth. Now that she was once again safely out of immediate danger, Elsie took comfort in her position as an onlooker. She looked back down at Alexandre, who from this high up looked oh so small, and said, “I can take care of myself, thanks!” Despite Corbin’s protestations, she also couldn’t help but add, “But you said I don’t know something. You going to keep us in suspense, then, or what?”

(song starts at 1:05 if you don't care about the music video)

Don't think I forgot about this. I'm still finishing up my gift 'cause I'm slow at watching things, but you can expect a review in next week or so.

fine i'll join the top x things thing super late whatever let's go with four. ask me my top four (4) things or anything else, really. this is an ama thread, after all

guess i'm curious now

Chris gawked as Estellise announced herself basically as loudly as possible. That was expected of her, he supposed, though the other thing she did, the wandering off to the bar in search of its tender, caused him to cover his face with his hand. They weren’t even in the dungeon yet and they were already splitting the party. He couldn’t bother tracking her across the room for too long, but he also wasn’t particularly interested in waiting around for her to get back. Besides, Lana had already said something to the rest of the group. “So, uh… plans, guys. Got any?” Nobody immediately spoke up, but Chris didn’t exactly have a plan either. In absence of that, he figured he could state a goal. “I’ve only been to the first floor or two,” he said. “I want to make some progress this time.” He looked back at the bar. Estellise was still talking with Hector about whatever it was she thought was so important, but he allowed himself, instead of immediately returning his attention to the rest of the group, to scan the crowd. The Drooling Dragon was mostly filled with, well, “normal” wasn’t the best word for them, but he still felt like as a group they stood out a bit. That was probably just latent nerves from his encounter with Leo talking, though. Nobody really batted an eye at them as far as he was able to tell. Then his eyes landed on the massive sword, and with it the elven girl clearly trying not to draw attention to herself. The combination of those two factors made a mystery Chris couldn’t help but get caught up in. He gestured to his companions in her general direction, “Probably unrelated, but I also want to know who that is. Have you seen her here before?”

kids bop you say