radio414

Peter gaped at the board state Charlie had just created. He’d comprehended the entire thing, of course -- he figured such a sequence might have been possible -- but it did cause him to realize some earlier mistakes on his part. These were the consequences, after all, and even with Twin Burst’s two attacks, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to punch through unless he - “Why don’t you draw your card first?” His father’s voice interrupted his train of thought. “Your hand’s probably a whole lot different with an extra card in it.” Ah, well. His father hadn’t been wrong, of course. Peter could actually think of a bunch of different cards that could help in his particular situation. One of which could even probably… He took a deep breath. One thing at a time. “I draw,” Peter said, and he looked at the card. It wasn’t perfect -- it wasn’t the card -- but it would do. He forwent shuffling it into his hand, instead slotting it right into his duel disk. “I'll summon Maiden with Eyes of Blue!” Maiden with Eyes of Blue, as an effect monster, didn’t have any flavor text to enhance its description like his trusty Blue-Eyes did, but that didn’t matter. Its name was descriptive enough. A woman -- about the same size as the Sage, maybe shorter -- with silver hair and notably azure eyes materialized herself on the field. She wasn’t on the field for long, though. Peter was already moving to the next step in his plan. He’d forgone his usual playing speed for it, too; he’d sped up significantly as soon as he’d seen the line. “If you’ll remember,” Peter said, “I discarded Master with Eyes of Blue last turn, so it’s in the Graveyard. Now, when it’s in the graveyard, I can send something else -- the Maiden I just summoned, I mean -- to the Graveyard and Master back to the deck to bring back a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.” An image of an older man with the same defining hair and eyes of Peter’s other (humanoid) monsters appeared, though it was significantly more transparent than the other monsters on the field. Behind him was a swirling portal. He offered his hand to the Maiden, who took it, and together they stepped through the threshold before disappearing. The portal remained, though. In fact, it started to grow, larger and larger until it matched Peter’s Twin Burst Dragon, and once it reached its maximum size, out came Blue-Eyes White Dragon again, no worse for wear after having been sent to the graveyard twice already. “You really don’t like to attack, do you?” some audience/club member said. Surely it was directed at Charlie, but Peter felt the need to snark anyway. “Just one more thing, and then I’ll be making some attacks. I activate the card Burst Stream of Destruction! As for what that does, well, I’ll let you see for yourself.” His newly-re-summoned Blue-Eyes started generating a new breath attack. This one was not pure white like the other times Peter had attacked, no, this one was a ball of humming, pulsating energy, and, when it could no longer fit inside the dragon’s mouth, it shot forward towards Charlie’s field, and exploded on impact with the ground, blowing away all of Charlie’s monsters. Peter couldn’t help but grin. “Burst Stream keeps my Blue-Eyes from attacking this turn, but my Twin Burst Dragon over here, well, I can’t help but notice you have a pretty empty board now. “Battle! Twin Burst Dragon, make a direct attack!” The two heads roared and fired up their own beams of energy. Their beams, now that they were only making one attack, looped around each other in a double helix before crashing up against Charlie (Charlie 6200->3200). “That’s it,” Peter said, quite a bit more satisfied than he had been a turn ago. “Your turn.”

“Your majesty,” Leo said. Chris liked the sound of that. It did mean playing dumb to Leo’s sarcasm, though, and he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to pull that off without cracking a smile -- something he wasn’t sure he wanted to do at the moment. The slight was still there, after all, and try as Leo might, Christopher Ellwood wasn’t about to let such things be forgotten. Hector, meanwhile, had moved on. A fair enough action, all things considered, though Chris did note his occasional side-eye like he didn’t trust either Leo or Chris to handle this skirmish like adults (The audacity! He could understand Leo, but himself? Loyal patron Christopher Ellwood?). Still, appealing to him to come back didn’t seem like the right move here. Not with his constantly-dented-yet-still-intact pride on the line. Chris put both hands on the bar and pushed, sliding himself right off of his stool before turning to face his agitator. “Alright, listen,” he said. “I’m not really the type to let this slide? But also I don’t want to ruin the bar this early in the morning, does that make sense? We’re probably not leaving here without a fight, I’m just saying we should probably go outside first.” He looked back at Hector and said, “Hey, I’ll be right back. One of us, at least, knows to pay for their food.”

Elsie’s imagined her eyes lighting right up when she heard Alexandre’s answer. How many people had followed her? Even better, how many people had done so because she had suggested it? It wasn’t even that she’d be able to demonstrate her clear superiority to more of her compatriots -- though once she’d rested up, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d be able to do just that -- it was more that they’d seemed to have acceded to her will in the first place. “The Dragon Slayer,” as Alexandre had called that particular Jaeger (had he introduced himself? She really ought to have kept track…) coming at Elsie’s suggestion especially interested her. Tricky, meanwhile, had come right off the aftermath of his and Elsie’s little skirmish and challenged Alexandre? To kill time? Elsie couldn’t help but gawk, though whether that was because she was impressed at Tricky’s stamina (he was floating, right? So maybe their fight just cost him zero effort?) or his bullheadedness (what was he going to do, shove Alexandre into submission? Looking like that?) she was unsure. Either way, Elsie figured her next course of action was the same. She brought her arms over her head, stretched them out, and tried to get as much air in her lungs with each breath as she could. A few breaths like that, and, well, that was much better, wasn’t it? She didn’t feel like gasping for air at random intervals, at least, so that was nice. She even felt ready, as she picked up and mounted her broom again, to fly up and take in the current and possibly future spars that way. “Are you sure?” Corbin said. “I mean, you’re still coming off throwing a lot of energy around. Flying around at this point definitely isn’t going to help. And if you have to come down or, Hecate-forbid, fall…” “It’ll be fine,” Elsie said. “I’ll be fine, I mean. It’s just up and down and hovering, anyway, which is nothing, and what are the odds the down part’s going to be above something worth avoiding?” She lifted herself up into the air. “Call it a victory lap, at the very least. Allow me that much.” Corbin sighed. “I can’t stop you,” he said. Down below, Prince Alexandre had taken out his claws, and Elsie widened her eyes, eager to see everything from her bird’s eye view.

Christopher knew exactly what Hector was doing. He was trying to play matchmaker with him. A fine game to play -- it wasn’t like Chris didn’t appreciate the attention -- but he still couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Any girl Hector was able to find in this city probably wasn’t going to be worth the trouble when -- not if, but when -- he came home. And if she did have a surname, Hector would have mentioned it. Or he would have heard of her already. Still, thinking about all that allowed him to pass the time as his breakfast was prepared. Chris wondered if that was why Hector did it -- getting his customers to think about anything other than how long their meal was taking. He dismissed the idea, mostly because, well, that didn’t seem like Hector’s style, but he didn’t put it away entirely. There was that primal part of him that did indeed want to see what this girl was all about. The eggs had been prepared just the way Christopher liked them, which was just as well given that he wasn’t sure Hector would have listened if, say, he’d asked for them Benedict or some other fancy method he could recall from his youth. He pondered asking anyway at some point. Not today, though, and especially not with the eggs and toast already in front of him. A voice from the door called out, “Well well, glad to see this place didn’t get shut down while I was gone.” It was not a voice Chris recognized, though Hector seemed to. By the look on his face, too, it wasn’t a very welcome recognition. “Leo,” Hector said his name was, though when Chris glanced over his shoulder to take a look, he didn’t see much in the way of resemblance to his feline namesake. He looked more like a shrew (though “Migale” was probably a worse name. And who knew exactly what animal their kid looked like until they grew up anyway?). “I thought you were in jail,” Hector said. The last word there pricked Chris’ ears a little, alerting him to exactly how close his guess at Leo’s appearance had been. It also got him looking over his shoulder again. He hadn’t been to jail just yet, although a couple of his escapades had been a little too close for comfort. Needless to say, he was pretty happy keeping it that way. It was almost enough to just ignore the bar’s newest customer entirely. Almost. When Leo breached his little cylinder of ignorance, crossing it with fingers and then his whole hand picking apart his breakfast -- his breakfast -- that was where he drew the line. He didn’t stand up just yet, but he did make an open comment. “I assume you’re going to pay for those eggs?” he said. “I dunno, you can pay Hector or you can pay me, but I’d like some reassurance that you’re at least down something in exchange for your meal.”

Congratulations everyone! I do have to admit I'm not sure how I feel losing by one vote a bunch of times but it's not like Skaia hasn't been deserving. Second place to that isn't so bad. Also I've been going around looking at all the award badges. They look great!

Hey everyone! Threads like this one are starting to pop up, and given my status as the forum's only radio, I figured I was obligated to start this one. The idea, I'm sure, is pretty simple: Do you have an artist, album, or even song from this year that stands above its peers? I'd have made this one of those "of the decade" questions, but my music tastes have drastically changed over the past ten years (ten years ago, I was listening to my mom's ABBA CDs, and while those are still fire, it's not really what I listen to anymore) and I assume a lot of yours still have as well. If you do have a definitive artist/album/song "of the decade", feel free to share it, but if that's too broad, well, what new things have you been listening to? I myself have a bunch of album answers for this question. In no particular order: Bill Callahan's Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, a folk album with songs that blend together enough for easy continuous listening while I'm working on something unrelated, while also having some poetic sequences if you do start paying attention. Sample Song: Ballad of the Hulk King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard had two albums come out this year, Fishing for Fishies and Infest the Rat's Nest, and while the fact that this band released two albums of such quality at all is impressive, but the fact that they are in two completely different genres (boogie rock and metal respectively) is, well, if that weren't King Gizz's whole thing, it'd be mindblowing to me. It's still really impressive though. Sample Songs: This Thing and Self-Immolate I just discovered Fat White Family this year, and while their previous albums have not quite hit the sweet-spot for me that Serf's Up! has, that doesn't mean the album isn't really, really good in my eyes. They're labeled as "post-punk" on Wikipedia, and I guess that makes sense? I don't really genres. I just know the album is wall-to-wall bangers and that's enough for me. Sample Song: Kim's Sunsets It wasn't just me, but most of the world that came across Black Midi this year with their debut album Schlagenheim. This is another rock-adjacent album ("math rock," if you care) that admittedly can fall apart sometimes -- some of the vocals are an... acquired taste and we'll leave it at that -- but expresses an energy in the meantime that I and a lot of other people think shows some promise for their next few albums as they develop. Sample song: Ducter Last but certainly not least, Boards of Canada released Peel Session, an old set they played on John Peel's BBC radio show. Boards has been notorious for, well, not releasing songs they've made even on upcoming albums, leaving fans to keep circulating the tapes, so this is a big get and does not disappoint. As for the type of music, I've heard Boards of Canada described as like ambient music, but replacing the nature sounds with synths and a downtempo drumbeat (apparently this is called "Intelligent Dance Music" which seems demeaning to all the other dance musics?). Anyway, it's great. Sample Song: XYZ So that's five (okay, technically six). And that five isn't even counting PUP's new album, or Leafcutter John's. I heard people really liked Tyler the Creator's new album, though I didn't get to that one. Plus King Crimson and Tool both finally released their music on digital storefronts so that's exciting. It's all exciting, really. I guess I'll close all this by asking the same question I started this all with: What have you listened to that stands out this year? If you can (you don't have to), what about this decade?

“Fangs,” Charlie had said. Peter resisted the urge to run a finger along his molars. He also resisted the urge to respond to the other part of Charlie’s smart remark with something like, “I’m not your buddy, pal.” That one was much harder. Instead, he focused back up (his mental parents were applauding him for that, at least) and surveyed the board. Charlie had a bevy of spells and/or traps at their disposal and Peter wasn’t entirely sure he could deal with all of them. Their monster, on the other hand, now that it had finished demolishing one of his marquee cards, was that a weak point? “Draw!” Peter called out. This time, he shuffled it into his hand immediately. The plan had already formed in his mind. “First thing’s first. I’ll play The Melody of Awakening Dragon. I discard one more card -- that’ll be the Master I just searched up -- and I get to find two new monsters. One, I suppose, will be another Blue-Eyes to replace the one you just destroyed.” A card popped out of Peter’s duel disk. It spun around in the air, revealing itself to all observers to be the card Peter had just announced. But he wasn’t finished, and his disk whirred in anticipation of Peter’s next decision. “The other one, well, it’s technically a Blue-Eyes, but this one gets a little extra to go with it,” Peter said, and just as he said it, another card popped out. LIke he had described, the card had much the same artwork, but it had that telltale orange-adjacent border revealing itself to be something more. “I’m going to use the first part of that ‘little extra’ right now, actually. If I reveal a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can put this Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon right into play!” Peter said. He slotted the card right into his duel disk and out on the field of play emerged a dragon quite similar to the one Charlie had destroyed just a turn ago. It was as gargantuan in size, its eyes were the same shade of blue, and its metallic scales gleamed as white as white could be. There was definitely something different about it, but exactly what was difficult to place. “Now, let’s talk about the second ‘little extra’ piece Alternative Dragon comes with,” Peter said. “If I forego attacking with it, I can destroy any monster on the field. For example… what about your, ah-” Peter almost said “abomination,” but managed to restrain himself. “What about your Frightfur Leo? What do you have to say about that?” “Oh my, that’s pretty scary…” Charlie said, “but I can’t let him get hurt! In response, I activate De-Fusion!” The lion let out a loud roar before glowing, then splitting into energy that reformed into Owl and Saw in defense positions. “By returning him to the Extra Deck, I can revive his materials!” Peter grimaced. That had not been part of the plan. His dragon even looked silly as it reared up ready to tear the lion to shreds before coming down on nothing but air. It crashed down with a heavy thud, but even such an intimidating noise lost its luster without any frightfur-shredding giving it that extra oomph. He wasn’t done with his turn just yet, though. “I’m not finished with my turn yet,” he said. “I admit it was a setback, but you asked to see more fangs. I’ll activate Return of the Dragon Lords, which will allow me return that Blue-Eyes you so unhelpfully destroyed.” Out popped the card from the Graveyard slot on Peter’s duel disk, which he took and placed right into a Monster Zone. “I think I’ll put him right next to his friend,” he said. Now that the two dragons -- the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and its Alternative counterpart -- were side by side, it was almost comically easy to tell them apart. The Alternative dragon had a chrome-like sheen compared to the other’s dazzling white. Not that people had too much time to compare the two. Peter said, “The final thing Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon can do is act as Blue-Eyes White Dragon. So if I had, say, a Fusion Monster that could be Special Summoned by sending two Blue-Eyes to the Graveyard, I could do that. Well, I just so happen to have one. “I summon Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon!” The two holographic images of Alternative and White roared together and leapt up into the air, where they began to fly in a circle centered around Peter. Each dragon appeared to be constantly chasing the other’s tail, but neither made a move to catch the other. Instead, they flew faster and faster, each matching the other’s speed in a way that, if it hadn’t been a computer simulation, would have been impressive given the synchronicity and teamwork involved. Faster and faster they flew along their ouroboran paths, blurring the lines between one dragon and the next, until down crashed a mighty dragon not dissimilar to either of them, only this one had two heads. Two heads! Twice as many gleaming blue eyes, twice as many teeth, twice as many- “Twin-Burst Dragon gets to attack two monsters a turn,” Peter said. “I can’t help but notice you have exactly that number. “Battle! Blue-Eyes Twin Burst, destroy that Owl and its buzzsaw friend!” Light shone from both of the dragon’s mouths as the dragon rose up until it was hovering several feet off the ground. Its rise had moved it forward some, too, and the staggering height difference between it and its two opponents was made all the more apparent by how close together they all were. The beams of light made quick work this time; the monsters were torn apart by their sheer brilliance, and the Twin Burst dragon landed back on Peter’s side of the field. “Now I’m done,” Peter said. “How was that?”

The one recurring dream Christopher Ellwood had (though this is not to say he always had this dream, nor should it imply that he dreamed very often) was that his entire life ever since, oh, say, around his eighteenth birthday had just been some sort of elaborate fabrication. He was never sure how it would be done -- when he woke up, he always assumed some incomprehensibly complex illusion magic (not that he knew much of anything about magic) was involved -- only that he wanted to wake up will all consequences since then simply erased. Because that’s what this was, right? One giant consequence made up of so, so many smaller consequences. Every day that he spent outside of Ellwood manor, every morning the sun shone past that grotesque wyrm and through his window and right onto his face, that was yet another consequence to add to the whole. But! He was awake now, and being awake, in Chris’ experience, was a good way to sober up from all that nostalgic wistfulness for the past. So too was the retching next door and the rabble outside chatting up a storm; neither were things he’d hear if he was truly waking up back home. And now that he was awake and sobered up, there was really only one thing left to do: Actually get out of bed. How familiar that tavern hall had become! Christopher could imagine drawing it all up on the back of his hand; he could even mark out all the uneven tables and shaky chairs if he thought about it long enough. There weren’t too many buildings he could say the same thing about. The people, too, were just as recognizable, and not just its ever-loyal owner and minder Hector. How many regulars was Chris on a by-name basis with? How many had he done a job for (of course, not all relationships were good relationships -- how many of those jobs had been botched?)? He could probably take a guess at the name of everyone currently present and he’d get more right than not. Rather than do that, though, Chris figured he should start by addressing the person already speaking to him. Hector, gods bless him, was already behind the bar tending to customers, and was gesturing at Chris to sit down. “Did you sleep well, kid?” he said. “I know Donald had a late night. Hope he didn’t wake you. How about you sit down and I’ll grab you a bite to eat?” “Please don’t call me kid,” Christopher said, starting from the top. “I know that’s not gonna get you to stop, but at the same time, that’s not gonna keep me from asking every time either. Anyway, I slept okay.” He took a moment to move over to where Hector was pointing. “Donald didn’t wake me up, at least. I was out working pretty late myself, so when I got back, I just dropped like a rock.” He shrugged. “Work went well enough, though. Breakfast sounds like as good a celebration for that as any. What’s in the kitchen this morning?”

Because it's recommended by me? Because of its emphasis on vocals (Paul and Storm were originally part of an a capella group)? Because it's tangentially related to Christmas? Who can say? This was the other Melissa/Gabby dance song option

[COWCOW] December 25th in the OOC subforum. It’s a place and date I’m certain my guest at this time will not forget. I’m talking about a relatively new yet well-regarded RPer, radio4- [RADIO414] Nothing means nothing! [COWCOW] Noth- [RADIO414] Nothing means nothing, Cow, nope! No more. [COWCOW] “Nothing means nothing.” What do you mean by that? [RADIO414] I’m talking about all the way to the top, yeah. I’m justifiably in a situation I’d rather not be in, but the cream will rise to the top, oh yeah. “Radio silence,” they say, yeah, but I got more to offer than Forum Admin Jack Tormey thinks that I got, yeah, and let me tell you something right now: Cards stacked against radio414 in the RP Awards and let me say it, yeah, let me say it out loud, and let me POINT to the forum admins and mods and members. I, radio414, am not happy with your decisions voting in the RP Awards, yeah, I am the cream of the NCM RP subforum and there is no doubt about it. [COWCOW] Well, wait a minute- [RADIO414] Yeah, you Lord Cowcow, you know that I’m the cream of the crop! [COWCOW] Well, wait a minute, radio, I’ve got to ask you very seriously, do you blame Mr. Jack Tormey, the distinguished Admin of Neo Card Maker, for not being clear frontrunner in any of the RP Award categories? [RADIO414] Yeah I do, yeah. Outside interference. IN MY MOMENT OF GLORY, yeah, and now I’m living in a nightmare. And I am the cream. And now, not only the Best Writer and Most Helpful awards must fall, but the Best RPer award! ‘Cause Skaia, yeah, I am the cream, yeah. The cream of the crop. And there is no one that does it better than the Macho Man Radio Savage! Advance Clause, casual rules, it doesn’t matter, I’m better than you are, yeah. And I’m talking to everyone who participates in the Role-Playing Forums. And I’m even talking to Forum Admin Jack Tormey, yeah. I’m on my way, and nothing is gonna stop me! Nothing’s gonna stop me. [COWCOW] You know, just out of curiosity, radio, and I certainly don’t want to diminish your tremendous, uh, God-given talents, but I’m very curious, you post when you say you will, but that isn’t always very often. [RADIO414] Yeah, sometimes I take a break. Does the number of RPs I’m in affect my post schedule? Yeah? Nothing, zero, pure writer, yeah, and I’ve been, yeah, I’ve been maligned from the top to the bottom and ‘cause they can’t handle the Macho Man Radio Savage: THE CREAM OF THE CROP! Nobody does it better!

(to be listened to on 12/23)

The table was quiet as both Melissa and Gabriela finished their respective meals. They’d already had dinner conversation back when they actually had dinner and the “what’s next?” question had already been answered so that -- for lack of a better phrase -- was off the table as well. Besides, after Melissa’s proposal and Gabriela’s confirmation, the hamburgers were merely an afterthought in Melissa’s mind. She idly chewed on hers, but her mind was elsewhere. This was it, after all. The final moments. They both finished soon enough and Melissa collected all the trash and added it to the pile in the corner, which, when all combined, formed a ball just bigger than Melissa’s fist. “Let’s find a trash can first,” Melissa said, repeating her earlier assertion, reminding Gabriela in case she had forgotten and reminding herself because she oh so wanted to just be somewhere else already. The noise blasting from the dance was almost intolerable at that point and the chatter around her, too, seemed more energized than before. Melissa cupped both her hands together, cradling the ball of trash between them, and looked up at Gabriela. “Ready to go?”I want to touch you, but I’ve forgotten how I said I didn’t need you, but look at me nowFinding a trash can was easy. Blue Yonder had so, so many, and they were all evenly spaced out around its campus. It would have been more impressive, actually, if they hadn’t found one. Harder, though, was navigating from that point, but only just. Melissa had told Gabriela she had a few ideas in mind for where they could go but she really only had one, and it was getting to that specific point instead of finding one of many that was the real challenge. This was all mostly alleviated by the truth behind Gabriela’s words. “I shall allow you to lead me,” she had said. She hadn’t been lying; even as Melissa forged ahead, doing things like identifying buildings so she could regain a sense of where she was, she felt no pull behind her. Melissa knew Gabriela was there without having to look behind her, but they moved in synchronicity, linked only by a pair of clasped hands. It was a link Melissa dared not break, but on the other hand, she was never really worried that it would.You can never be sure of the people that you know They don’t want to show you their sadnessThey were close now. Even in the dark, things were starting to look familiar. She almost wanted Gabriela to- no, not yet. It was another too-apropos phrase, but Melissa wanted to keep her date in the dark just a little bit longer. Not that she was hearing any complaints from Gabriela begging to not be. That was what she most appreciated about the moments, actually. The near silence. Their journey had taken them far, far away from Kickoff and not the only noise was the ambient sounds around them. Crickets were chirping. Trees were rustling in a light breeze. Her and her companion’s gentle footfalls. That was all. And yet, It was enough to rejuvenate her and give her the confidence to keep moving forward. She could feel herself subconsciously moving faster, too. Until… Until she stopped. And she turned around. “Alright, Gabriela, I want you to close your eyes,” Melissa said. “It’ll just be for a moment, I promise.” Once she was sure she had done so, she released her grip on Gabriela’s hand and pulled out her phone. A few deft swipes later and Melissa had queued up a song. But before it could play, she looked back up at Gabriela. “This- this isn’t an incredibly special place,” Melissa said. “To most- maybe everyone else, this is just another spot on Blue Yonder’s campus; it’s a couple more steps they have to walk between classes. You wouldn’t have given it a second thought either, and that’s okay. “This is my spot. “It was the start of last year. I was a freshman and, well, if you can believe it, I was kind of a mess my freshman year. One afternoon -- this was in Autumn, um, so just a bit later than this time last year -- I don’t even remember what happened, but I was just going. And I mean not even caring what direction I went in, as long as I was moving. I was that sort of upset. “When I got to here, though, I stopped. Are your eyes still closed?” Melissa checked again to see that they were. “Okay, so I want to try and imagine the scene I found myself in. Just for me. The trees over here? They were explosions of color. Reds, oranges, yellows, if you can think of a Fall leaf color, it was there on one of these trees. The grasses below them? They were kind of long -- maybe it’d been a while since they’d been mowed -- but they were a beautiful deep, verdant green. And the sky above? As if to complete the rainbow, it was as blue as the sky could be. “Nobody else was around to notice any of this. It was just me. And just when I had noticed it all, the wind picked up. The grass, it was long enough that it looked like it was waving at me, moving back and forth in the wind like it did. And the leaves, some of them got caught in the breeze; they let go of their tree and swirled around, chasing each other this way and that, until a whole cluster of them blew right through me. And in that moment, I could feel the worries I had had being blown away too. “I don’t come back here too often, but I do always recognize it when I do pass it. And while it’s never been quite the same as it had that day, I still remember it as vividly as I just described it to you now. She gave a weak, sheepish smile. “You can open your eyes now. Sorry, that was a little self-indulgent of me. Um. Anyway, the last thing- the only thing we missed leaving Kickoff like this was the slow dance. But if you’ll have me, we can do that here, in this spot only you and I will ever know the importance of.” She held out her hand. “Though I guess that means you’ll have to follow me one more time.” Gabriela hesitated. Melissa didn’t blame her, though. She could feel it too, how the silence added emphasis in the magical way that only silence did. If she hadn’t already been talking for so long, Melissa would have wanted to keep quiet too. She wondered how she looked to Gabriela, too, in that punctuating silence. Did she look different? Was there some ephemeral quality of hers that only came out in times like this? Not that any of that mattered. Gabriela took Melissa’s hand again and said, “I think, at least for tonight, I would be happy to follow you anywhere. I place my fate in your hands.” Melissa’s smile improved. “Thank you,” she said. She guided her partner’s hands to her shoulder and placed them there before moving her hands down to Gabriela’s hips. “Start just like this, and then step, step, step, step.” Melissa lead through a few more music-less motions before, satisfied, she said, “Alright, Gabby, here we go,” and pressed play.If you see me passing by Please hold me deep in your heart And just remember, I want to help you I don’t want to hurt you Just remember, I want to help you I don’t want to hurt youYou turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, -Psalm 30:11 (NIV)

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” -John 6:12 (NIV)Melissa wasn’t sure how to respond to Gabriela’s most recent comments. Her initial impulse was, “Well, you’re welcome to them,” but that didn’t scan well at all in her head. Was she even supposed to respond at all? She took a bite of her hamburger in an attempt to stall for time, but the only thing she could really think of was a nod and an “Mm” in acknowledgment. Because Gabriela was right, it was a shame that people wasted food. Oh, that was something she could say. “We’ll just have to make sure not to waste ours, I guess.” The other big comment Gabriela made was about the dance. “What comes next?” she’d asked. “I’d rather this not end… if I can help it.” Gabriela’s question caught Melissa mid-chew, which fortunately was enough to keep her from immediately blurting out “I don’t want it to either” or something to that effect. She desperately ran through the schedule in her head, but the earlier moments had been the ones she’d had the most down pat. Everything after that… She swallowed, then took a breath to prepare the bad news. “I don’t- I’m not sure what comes next,” she said. “The schedule that got posted was pretty clear on some things -- the duel, um, dancing, obviously, stuff like that, but after dancing it got kind of vague. Maybe there’s a Kickoff Court vote, but, um, I’m sorry, if you wanted me to drum up support for you, I didn’t do any of that.” In her head, Melissa noted that Gabriela probably wouldn’t have beaten Ashley Rendleman or whoever was making a serious effort anyway, but she didn’t say that part out loud. Right as Melissa finished speaking, a large -- or rather, larger than normal -- cheer erupted from the dance hall for reasons Melissa was unable to piece together from the surrounding chatter. Melissa winced. It reminded her too much of the first day of the year. Most social events did, really, but the extra unchecked explosion of social energy made another serious dent in her mental armor. She had to say it, she realized. “If I’m being honest with you, Gabriela, I don’t actually want to find out what the hosts have planned for the rest of the evening. I’ve already- I feel like I’ve done enough already, but I can’t- I can’t keep doing this. We don’t have to go our separate ways -- the night’s still going, I mean, but all that…” Instead of finishing her sentence, Melissa just gestured at the dance hall and hoped Gabriela understood. It took more than a few moments (and more than a few more bites of hamburger) before Melissa spoke again. “We can go somewhere else if you want. I- I might have a few ideas.”

Peter looked around like Charlie might have been talking to somebody else, as if the context didn’t immediately make readily apparent who Charlie was challenging. There was some grotesque part of him that was actually glad for the challenge. Charlie hadn’t recognized him, after all, so why not teach the ignoramus a lesson? But also, like, if he’d already crossed one threshold by walking through the gymnasium’s doorway, it felt like this was the second, much more final threshold of actually participating. He could hear his parents whispering in his head. Some of the advice was old; one of the first things they’d ever said to him was, “Always accept a challenge. You’ll never improve if you never play,” but some of it consisted of more recent remarks. “Knock ‘em dead!” Peter heard his dad say. There was nothing for it. “Alright,” Peter said. He walked over to the other side of the gymnasium and powered on his own duel disk. He could already feel his mind zeroing in on the task ahead of him. Just had to beat one of the captains on his first day, right? What could be easier? As the hum of each duel disk aligned, merging together to create the opening harmonies of a new song, both duelists let out that all-too-familiar cry: It's time to duel! “You’re the captain,” Peter said, “so I’ll defer and let you go first.” “Aww, how sweet!” Charlie grinned and drew their starting hand, “Who am I to turn down such a little gentleman? And since you let me go first, I’ll begin this game with Toy Vendor!” As Charlie slid a spell card into their disk, a gachapon machine rose behind them, a good 3 feet taller than their owner, with arms on either side of it waiting to dispense. With a nod, Charlie placed a card from their hand into the graveyard. “You see, once per turn, I can pay Toy Vendor a card, then draw and reveal the top card of my deck. If it’s a Fluffal monster, I can special summon a monster from my hand. So, let’s go, Toy Vendor!” Throwing their hand back, a coin flew from it, growing larger until it fit perfectly fit into the vendor’s slot, causing it to come to life. Cranking itself, it rumbled a bit before a capsule rolled out, popping onto the field in front of Charlie. As it hit the ground, the blue bottom and white top fell apart, revealing a stuffed puppy! The winged dog, barely smaller than Charlie, yipped and wagged its tail as the co-captain giggled. “Aww, I got Dog! Look how cute he is! And it’s such a good puppy, too, letting me find another Fluffal monster from my deck! So I’ll add Fluffal Owl, and I’ll normal summon it right away!” Charlie slapped the card down, and a stuffed owl gently floated down to the field with a hoot, landing right next to the dog. Unlike its fluffy partner, Owl only stood about a foot and a half tall, making soft bird noises. “Owl is also a good cutie, so then I get to add Fusion Substitute from my deck to my hand when it’s summoned! They’re such helpful toys!” Charlie giggled with glee as they set a single card face-down, then held their hand out to Peter. “And I think that’s just about enough for now. Your turn~” “Is every monster in your deck cute or just these ones?” Peter asked. “Of course! I love cuties, and there’s all shapes and kinds in here! After all, you should love what you play, right?” “Hm,” Peter said. Half of the hm was just asserting that he’d heard Charlie at all; the other half was his reaction to looking at his hand again. “What do you do…” he mumbled under his breath. It was a rhetorical question, of course. He knew what all his cards did -- it wasn’t like he had to reread every card that came into his hand -- but he knew he had to impress at least a little bit. “Alright, well, the first part of every turn is the draw step, so I guess I’ll do that,” Peter said. “And then I’ll-” He paused, and looked closer at the card he drew. “Well, I can save that for later, I guess.” His mom’s words echoed in his head. “Table talk! Get to the point!” Right. Peter put the card in with the rest of his hand and pulled out another. “I’ll summon my own searcher, Sage with Eyes of Blue!” The card materialized in front of him and out came a tall -- taller than Peter, at least -- magician, his staff already in hand. Once he had settled into position, he raised his staff above his head and a beam of light stretched out, wrapping itself around the mage once, twice, before materializing into a card. “He finds another level one Light tuner, in this case, Master with Eyes of Blue,” Peter said. He flashed the card to his opponent before adding it in with the rest. Could Charlie actually see it all the way over there? Not that it really mattered, something would have stopped him if he did something wrong, right? Anyway, “Fortunately for me, I have another Sage in my hand, so I can use its second effect. By discarding it and sending the Sage in play to the Graveyard --” the magician in front of him dissolved into holographic light, but it didn’t dissipate “I can summon a, no, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck!” The sage’s light, still strong even though the magician had long left the board started to shift and change shape. It had already been taller than Peter and it was growing even more now. And it was growing wings. And claws. And teeth. What finally emerged from the remnants of Peter's Sage was as magnificent a creature of destruction as described on its flavor text. Peter wasted no time using it. “Battle!” he said. “Blue-Eyes, attack Fluffal Dog!” The dragon roared and raised its head. A point of solid white appeared inside its open mouth, and though it started out small, it only grew. It became larger and larger at a speed that was only increasing, until the entire inside of the Blue-Eyes' mouth was a pure white. Only then did it lower its head again and unleash all that energy in a straight line, and the pure white barrelled towards the dog at quite a speed. (Charlie: 8000 -> 6700) “Oh no!” Charlie cried out as the dog was blasted to fluffy bits, sniffling for a moment, before bursting out a smile. “Well, it’s okay. After all, I activated Fluffal Crane when it was destroyed, adding Dog back to my hand and drawing a card!” “Alright,” Peter said. It wasn’t alright, but he said it all the same. “I’ll just set one card, then, and pass it back to you.”

Best RPer: Skaia Best Host: Chaos Sonic Best Character Design: Hakima (Cheshire Toon) Best World Design: Best Writer: Sethera (Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd) Best Reliable: Cowcow Best Cooperative: rep Best Helpful: Skaia Best in Chat: Blake Best RP: Yugioh! Skies Going into detail takes too long -- I know for a fact I'll get long-winded all up in this post -- but I can provide justifications if you PM me.

what about chinese metal (some variant of black/death idk genres) about the nanking massacre?