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"It was a weird, creepy book hidden away in my house! I was curious." Hirutani retorted.

Sen didn't feel like they were getting anywhere, "Now now, there's no need to argue..." she looked back and forth at the two boys.

((Guh I'm so sorry life got crazy busy again! I probably will not be able to respond every night as things are going currently, and may have more bouts of poofiness here and there. Just had another influx of work hours, had finals for the summer semester, and we found out my dog had lung cancer. We had to put her down on Thursday. D: It's hit me surprisingly hard, harder than any other dog we've ever had. The only pet that hit me harder was my cat of fourteen years back when I was doing my four-year degree. So yeah, I've been kind of depressed, but at the same time, today has been the first day I at least woke up feeling a bit back to normal.

I can understand the regret over guilt, and regret is a healthier feeling to have over the matter as well. I think most people feel regret or guilt over deaths of people/animals they cared for though. I'm not sure why, maybe it helps us grieve. And it still definitely sucks when we experience it.

I've heard that about Dragon Age II, how rushed it was. That's always frustrating, but at least it's sandwiched between two very wonderful pieces of bread. I absolutely detest how DLC has become these days. I'm hoping it's a bubble that's about to burst. I was okay with coming out with a mini side game a year after the original for $15 or so, but no one wants to pay $8 for costumes! Nintendo is starting to do it too, it disgusts me. DLC ruined Evolve too. It was like they took a fairly completed game, chopped it into pieces, sold one piece for $60 as the "full" game, then sold a bunch of day-one DLC for about $150 total. That really sucks about the points system too. I know Microsoft actually did away with theirs; they do dollar-to-dollar currency now. I'm exactly the same way with horror games, and I have every intention of watching a steam of Isolation eventually.

Haha, for me, though I like Evolution, it was certainly one of my least favorite X-Men representations, and definitely my least-favorite version of Nightcrawler (besides a few from short multiverse comics, and maybe the 90's X-Men one that was in like two episodes), who is most definitely the character I would want to roleplay. Like, I didn't dislike him, but he felt like a different character than the Kurt I love, too goofy. And Kitty in Evolution oh my god she is like my third-favorite female Marvel character but I could not ******** stand her in that series she made me want to claw my eardrums out. So yeah, probably wouldn't be interested in doing an Evo RP. I did finally join Tumblr though, finally about ready to start rolling out an X-Men fancomic, so I'm hoping I'll meet some cool peeps that way and perhaps find a good roleplay partner. If you're at all interested in following, the blog is http://theunsungx-men.tumblr.com/. Right now it only has logo designs and concept art, but I am literally ready to start the first cover page as I type this. I do vaguely remember you talking about a zombie apocalypse fanfic a long time ago, and I remember I wanted to read it then too. XD If you ever feel it's at a place where you'd want to share it, I'd love to read.

Wow, I... I just do not envy you and your thesis. Writing pages upon pages of that just sounds like the equivalent of pulling my own teeth out. I salute you and wish you luck.

Haha nice. Do you remember if our characters know that the Shikigami would be free if Hirutani was killed? If not, I was thinking after getting nowhere with this hospitalization and Sen, Kaiba could just have him quietly assassinated, and made to look like he had a heart attack or something. Maybe Jounouchi could even be in on it. I feel like he's getting to that point where he would be okay with it if he was desperate enough, and somehow with how messed up our boys already are, I feel like plotting to kill someone, while Jounouchi battles with his morals and Kaiba tries to pretend that he doesn't have any to begin with, would help them bond. XD

Sirius was definitely more of a frustrating death to me as well. I didn't even get sad or tear up until reading Harry's feewings on the matter, rather than the actual death scene. Bill and Fleur would've at least been more tragic to me (I don't think sadder, since neither of them are favorite characters like Remus was for me) because they actually had relationship development and it actually felt like they were in love instead of just angsting together, but honestly I don't feel like anyone important should've died (despite how unlikely that was during the battle) with Rowling wasn't committed to giving them a proper sendoff. I would have preferred Arthur dying too, not only because I feel it JK would've done a better job on him, but also because it wouldn't be separating twins that are barely into adulthood. I do agree that realistically Remus wouldn't have been too devastated over Sirius' death, I would have at least appreciated something personal from him about it, his own moment of mourning since they were like bestest friends in childhood, and the two "good" Marauders that were able to be reunited. Even better, there could have been a short bit of the two rekindling their friendship as more than just a hug and an "okay cool we're allies now." That might more what I was angry about actually, that there was no moment like that to rekindle their friendship or give it some kind of satisfactory conclusion. I know that's now always how relationships work, but this is a fiction book and I was my favorite characters to have some resolution in their lives. Actually, just remembered that a long time ago someone gave me a PDF to a fan-written version of what The Deathly Hallows "should've" been. I never got to reading it, and I doubt you'd be able to for a while either, but I've heard good things about it. Like it's not really a fanfiction, but an actual full novel rewrite. Here's the link if you do want to give it a try. I still probably will some day: .pdf?dl=0]https://www.dropbox.com/s/dlx8vnyl23l7x5r/Harry_Potter_the_deathly_hallows[1].pdf?dl=0

That used to be the case for me, where I shipped all these characters who hated each other (like Kaiba and Jounouchi) so knew they'd never get together, but I don't know, I've change lately with that. Now I tend to bicycle a lot of characters for shits and giggles, but my otps tend to be either canon or fairly likely to become canon. I think it's because I've grown a bit out of the "they hate each other therefore they must be in wuv" phase. XD So yeah, I shipped Korrasami before it was canon, I shipped the pairing from Steven Universe with the one-sided romance before it was heavily hinted at, and I even kind of shipped Black Widow and Bruce before Age of Ultron. That's a good point about Rowling, I'd never considered that she really had an opportunity to do whatever she wanted before. Now I'm even more disappointed. At least she's gotten better about her support now. Did you hear about the Dumbledore/Gandalf wedding? XD But yeah, if she wants to do Harry Potter stuff, I wish it would be prequels to show Dumbledore's and the Marauders' and Snape's and Lily's childhoods. I would read the hell out of those. Pottermore is one of those things I've wanted to check out, but it just feels like too much of an investment.

I know that's what you meant, I actually typoed in my response, sorry. I meant you were not too far behind on Supernatural. Don't know if you're still on the same episode as when you wrote this, but I'm 90% certain you hadn't gotten to the terrible part yet.

I was very disappointed with Age of Ultron, not because it was a bad movie I expected to be good, but because it was a good movie I expected to be amazing. I'll fully admit I went in with way-too-high of expectations. Avengers was my favorite movie of all time, and I was expecting AoU to have the "sequel benefit," where it seems like most sequels to superhero films are the best of the franchise (as in the second movie, not future sequels afterwards), plus Ultron is one of the best Avengers villains and had amazing potential for the movieverse, and most of all, Scarlet Witch is my favorite Avengers, and Quicksilver is very high up on the list, so I was so ecstatic they were finally joining in. I also thought they did an excellent job on the previews. I loved how dark it looked and like it was going to go really into character depth, and finally focus on characters besides the big three. Well, Ultron was just very poorly utilized as a villain (I'm really disappointed in Whedon, as he was a comic writer first and was the writer for one of the best X-Men series of all time; he should know what makes Ultron great!), Scarlet Witch was hardly in the movie and skimped on character development, Quicksilver was killed (in the stupidest way someone with super speed could ever die), the movie jumped along from plot point to plot point in order to get to the next action scene, pretty much only having dark character development moments that was already in the previews, and even though other Avengers did get a fair focus for once, it was all things that negatively influenced my perception of the characters. Hawkeye became even more boring and tied-down (plus it ruined his chances with Black Widow, which was one of my big ships), Black Widow became a typical tragic love-sick woman character who wants bebies, Bruce went back to feeling sorry for himself after all the progress he made in the first Avengers, and Hulk also regressed to a more animistic version of himself. Despite all my complaints, I still really loved Age of Ultron, and Scarlet Witch is probably my favorite movieverse character now, even though she didn't hold a candle to her comic counterpart, and I'm ecstatic she's joined the second wave of Avengers. I'd say I still like Avengers, Iron Man, and Winter Soldier more than AoU, but it's still in my top five. I feel like both of the twins did not get anywhere near enough character development. The second time I watched the movie, I noticed each of their names were only said out-loud once they entire film, one of them near the end. I would've been okay with Wanda's weak moment with Hawkeye if she had gotten some better development before then and Whedon hadn't already done it with Black Widow in the first film! It was a lot quicker of a moment, but there was a point where Natasha was struggling in the final battle, and Clint said it was okay if she wanted to quit, because she was a spy, not a soldier. Like asshat you're a sniper not a soldier and you're fine! And like Tony is the character that got PTSD after the first film, and he was perfectly fine during that battle!! Like there was absolutely no reason to show Natasha struggling with the battle for the sake of her characterization (it doesn't even make sense since she was raised as an assassin; she'd be the least likely character to get overwhelmed in that type of situation besides maybe Thor and Cap), but it would've made perfect sense for Tony, forshadowing his PTSD and paranoia! I can only conclude they used Natasha instead because she's a poor scared girly. So yeah, even though I thought the similar moment made sense with Wanda and her history and was a nice moment between her and Clint, I don't like the trend it set with the only two female Avengers. I felt similarly for Vision, though he's always kind of pissed me off anyway (he's more emotional and indignant in comics) so I didn't feel like I lost much with him. The romance was just... yeah. As I already said, I actually kind of shipped Natasha and Bruce in the first movie (not as much as Natasha and Clint or Bruce and Tony, but enough that I was a little excited when I saw their gazing in the previews), so I was prepared for the romance and thought I would like it, but that was just... not only was it way too sudden and rushed, but the two acted completely out of character whenever they were having moments together, especially Natasha. And I hated that they had to make Bruce the "strong" character, that decided he needed to leave to protect her as the woman tragically pines for him. Bruce is not a strong character. He is emotionally and mentally one of the weakest of the main team because of all the s**t he's been through and the constant fear of hurting people. Natasha is good at hiding under a strong shell because she was so destroyed as a child. I am not willing to believe she just tossed that shell aside because she suddenly developed romantic feelings for Bruce. I did really, really love the very beginning and the very end of the movie, but the in-between was too messy and had too many bad parts to it. I'm very pumped for Civil War and Dr. Strange myself, but trying not to get my hopes too far up, especially because I was also a bit disappointed in Ant-Man as well (though I had fairly low expectations to begin with). I do think that AoU did a lot of leading up to future movies though. Vision was important for that, yes, but it also assembled the next main team, and it really, really gave Tony Stark the development he badly needed to make Civil War sensible on his end. It made perfect sense for comic Tony to be pro-registration in the Civil War, but not so much movie Tony. That is one thing I really applaud AoU for, it gave Tony a perfect reason to become more cautious and pro-registration, while also using what was previously established in Iron Man 3 to strengthen that position. Civil War was also foreshadowed when Tony and Steve had their ideological debate over wood-chopping. I was also disappointed by Ultron. He couldn't even keep his plan straight. Like his reign of terror went pretty much like, "Hmm, I don't like Tony Stark. I'll go to this country he happened to be in recently and call on some twins that he fought there? Oh good the twins joined me. They're going to help me save the world by destroying it! But the Avengers are in the way so we need to stop them first. Oh, but not by defeating them, just by making them upset. Then I'm gonna start building something to help the human race evolve, survival of the fittest and all. God I hate humans. But I need to be in a better body for this, I know! I'll make it out of flesh and Vibranium! Nope, body's gone, let's just kidnap someone and scare them with a bigger, non-flesh body. And not kill her because spies can't break out of jail cells. Okay, so I'mma use all this vibranium now to make a country float and then... fall again! Because vibranium can float? And it has to be the country I got the twins from because reasons. And then the world will die, yay! ******** humans!" I still do not know if he was trying to help humans evolve or just kill them all... it should've just been simple and sweet, "My main programming says to maintain peace, but humans bring war, so we need to get rid of humans to bring peace." That's it! That easy! I'm pretty sure Ultron was an actual robot supervillain with attention deficit disorder.

I kind of have grown a hipster hatred for Harley Quinn because she's become that new character that nerds just love to love and has all this merchandise now. I counted over fifty Harley Quinn cosplayers (all wearing different 'variations' of her costume so they could be special snowflakes) in one day at Phoenix Comicon, and my coworker who I hate is obsessed with her. And I can already tell by the previews that she is going to be the focus of Suicide Squad. I don't even know any of the other characters besides Joker, so I'm just... not interested. I'll probably see it once it's on Netflix or something. The DC movies I'm interested in are Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Kind of the Flash also. I don't really are about the others at all. American Horror Story is stand-alone seasons, so each season is pretty much its own series, just with the same actors and general style. However, the episodes aren't really stand-alone. If you want to try it out, I would suggest just watching the first episode or two of season two, Asylum, because that is easily the best season, and it gives you a taste of the style of the show. Hmm, well Steven Universe is definitely influenced by Adventure Time (SU's creator worked on AT first), but, especially after the first five or ten episodes, it really goes in its own direction and becomes quite different. It's mostly just the humor that's similar. I prefer Steven Universe exponentially over Adventure Time, and honestly, if there was any series I've been talking about that I'd recommend above all others, it'd be SU. It does start mostly about mild adventures with a lot of humor, but then the plot thickens and it's almost like a drama now. With songs! Also it's the first Cartoon Network show with a female creator, it makes me so happy. I also think I've seen The L Word on Netflix before, but it is not a huge priority, mostly because it seemed like it was trying too hard to be badass when I watched it? Like not a bad show, but it didn't blow me away and felt a little forced.

Oh I would love so much to visit you in Wales! I can't believe we've never met in real life, it seems like we should've since we know each other so well. XD Once I graduated and got a decent job, I was planning to save up to go back to Japan, but maybe I'll have to put Europe first on the list if I could get a free place to stay from you, haha. I'm not super into the touristy stuff. Places I want to visit most in Europe are Germany, Scotland, Wales, Italy, and all the Nordic countries. For me I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but just that it was so unlikely to ever yield success that I needed to find a backup. I'm hoping graphic design will work as that backup. I'm enjoying it so far at least. I hope you do find some stability and answers for your future in the coming years. I am in a two-year program (just finished the summer semester so that's a breather for a month at least), but it's only taking me a year and a half since most of my gen-eds transferred from uni.))

"Ka-Kaiba San...!" Sen watched him leave, taking a bit of time to try to smooth things over with Hirutani, before giving up and following Kaiba out.

Jounouchi was still sitting in the waiting room, obviously quite frustrated. "Ghh, I hate that guy so much!" he groaned, running his hands through his hair. He started standing, "I'm just gonna go right in there and-"

"That's not gonna do any good. It's obvious he isn't willing to talk, and starting a fight will probably only succeed in getting us kicked out." Mokuba interrupted.

((No worries, we can just be poofy together. XD

Yeah, I suppose the extra characters and actual game content dlc bothers me more than costumes. I don't want to keep having to spend on the same game just to complete it.

I also agree about Evo. I enjoyed it, but it just does not seem deep enough to really go further with. I'm not sure why, since by all intents and purposes it is X-Men, which is something for which I have dug to the very bottom of the barrel, scraped through the bottom, and found more content in the earth beneath it at this point. XD And thanks, I had to look at my followers and then realized who you were. I've followed you back now.

Sweet, sounds good to me for the RP.

Feewings was totally not a typo. XD I typo a lot, but that was not one of them. It was meant as an exaggeration on how intensely Harry often reacts to things in the books. Haha, I like that both of us have just had this PDF sitting around for years.

I definitely used to like rival pairings just for the sake of them being rival pairings, but as I matured I started wanting the room for respect and common interests as well. At first I desperately searched the KaiJou ship for it, and was able to find some things. Jounouchi tried multiple times to make good with Kaiba; it was pretty much the latter that always kept any form of mutual respect unlikely between the two. But during the Doma arc, there were a few points where Kaiba seemed to show a little bit of begrudging respect for Jounouchi, like being willing to join with him to take down Dartz without protest and helping Honda protect his body a little bit when Jounouchi lost his soul. But that wasn't in the manga, where Puppyshipping is even harder to sell. XD I do feel like the two have a lot in common though, besides their intelligence levels, and, much like with your Dragon Age ship, if they could just get over themselves a bit (especially Kaiba), they could probably get along. Since Kaiba was kind of going on a self-discovery journey and healing from his step father's influence after destroying Alcatraz at the end of the series, I could see him maturing and being maybe a little willing to reevaluate his stance on social interactions. And as Jounouchi grows up, he would mature enough to not seem so absolutely childish to Kaiba. That's where I like to imagine a friendship, and eventually a relationship, developing between the two. But anyway, at this point I've realized how unlikely the pairing is compared to other things I ship, and half the reason I still like it is more for nostalgia than anything. It's nowhere near as important to me as it used to be... that spot has been taken by Logurt now (Wolverine/Nightcrawler). >_>;; For Steven Universe, there is one male character who I could see coming out as gay eventually, and there was a point where Steven fused with a girl and the two looked more female than male and were being hit on by guys, so there's that. XD But since all the Gems besides Steven present as female so far, and they're the main characters, it definitely is a more lesbian-focused show. But you should feel free to write whatever fics you want! Inspiration is valuable and should be utilized whenever you have it!

Though plenty of things would have still bothered me, I agree that AoU would've been way better if Ultron was better. Because if Ultron was better, his plan would've been less stupid, and therefore the plot would've been better, and the characters immersed in the plot would've been better. Pietro very well could be brought back. Coulson, Bucky, Cap, and Fury all came back from "death." In the comics Wanda has the ability to alter reality at her most powerful, and brings Hawkeye back to life at one point. She also gets very mentally unstable at this time though, so I could see the movies doing something like having her become so distraught at Pietro's death, she eventually snaps and brings him back to life, but at the same time becomes a major threat. She's brought Pietro back to life in the comics before too, though that was in an alternate reality that she created, and he was dead for all of two seconds. Gotta love them crazy twins. XD Hmm, not too sure on a lot of non-Marvel films since I'm not much of a movie buff, but I usually find the first sequel to be the best movie in them, because it doesn't take time doing the origin story, but hasn't run out of material yet. Like with the original Spider-Man, X2, Days of Future Past (if you consider it a sequel from First Class), Captain America, and then a few non-Marvel movies I can think of are Aliens, Lord of the Rings, and Mad Max. Obviously that's not always the case (like with Iron Man) and everyone has their own opinion, but most of those series seem to have a fairly solid consensus that the second movie is the best. So yeah, I was going into AoU with that mentality, without considering how much they might be using it as a kick-off to Civil War and Infinity Wars. I think that's what ruined it, is that they were using it as a movie leading up to the already-planned other movies, rather than the typical, "Okay we got a sequel, let's expand on the first movie and make something even better that stands on its own!" Ant-Man was okay. It was entertaining and funny, but it felt very underwhelming for a Marvel movie. I think the biggest thing was none of the characters were very interesting to me, and the plot was fairly standard and low-tier. But no, I'm guessing it was no where near as bad as FF, which even though I was interested in it, I now plant to wait until I can see it for free. XD I'll fully admit I was optimistic about FF when everyone else was hating on it, and that I was dead wrong.

I did go to CA once a year ago, but you were in the UK at the time, and I was only in San Diego. Once you are back in CA for a significant enough amount of time that we could plan a visit though, it wouldn't be too horrible of a trip for me. Dulce's girlfriend has friends there as well (not sure what part), so I may even be able to find people to travel with. I'm sure she'd love to meet you too. ^^ I'm glad to hear about your friend in the graphic design field. And thanks for the well-wishes.

Yes, Charlie was the thing. I didn't realize you didn't like her (I don't think I've ever heard of anyone not liking her?) so I guess it's not as sad for you, but she was my favorite female character ever, probably my third-favorite overall. D: And back before the last season, she was generally considered to be 'safe,' since she only did guest appearances and was more of a comic relief character. I did start to get worried when she became more prominent last season, and then devastated when the predictable actually happened. You'd think they'd realize fans don't actually like every single character who's not one of the Big Four dying, you know?

The darkness interests me, but I have a feeling its going to do the usual, "big dramatic ending, then somehow back to status quo thing when next season starts" that Supernatural is famous for. I really, really hate that. It always ruins the ending of the previous season, and then you need to readjust to the new season before it gets good again. I did think it ended beautifully though, with Dean killing Death instead of Sam.

Ah dang, 5th? Well I'm glad you're liking it because 5th is... ergh to me. I like the movement rules, but there is way too little that you can do in it, and they don't even have rules out for half the things it says you can do! I'm a 4th Edition person myself, though most players prefer 3.5 or Pathfinder, which I also play. But yeah in the longest game I ever played, I was a Razorclaw Shifter Rogue in 4th edition. Right now I'm only playing Pathfinder, and I'm also a Sorcerer, though she's a player-created race called a Gelfling, which is pretty much a fairy. Glad you're having fun! I'm sure you'd be able to find another group to play in in the US.))

"But it's not gonna make him talk anymore." Mokuba sighed.

((Yeah, especially since the game (even the digital version) usually goes down in price over time, but the DLC not so much, which is weird. Unless it's a game I'm super stoked for, I usually wait until it goes way down in price and comes out with a complete edition to get it, if it's one that has DLC that is.

Oh, I forgot about non-con. XD I haven't been focusing on that as much lately because Kurt and Logan are just so much of the fluffiest bestest most adorable friends ever, it's hard for me to enjoy it with that pairing. It was much easier with Kaiba and Jounouchi. I still have a thing for non-con too though, and sometimes when I'm in the mood for it I'll go for other Nightcrawler pairings that it would make more sense in, like Kurt with Logan's son, heheh. And I definitely didn't draw random ships just for characters who were pretty together. Everything I ship has at least some sort of characterization reason. I think for me it was just a change in taste and maturity. I became better at analyzing characters to figure out who would have a decent chance of ending up together, rather than just thinking, "They hate each other, therefore they must secretly love each other." And interestingly, even though my ships have been a lot fluffier lately, I don't consider myself a fluff person either. I like mature relationships, and more like... the characters messing with each other and acting like friends instead of just pure cuddling or being adorable (though I enjoy that here and there too).

Hmm, yeah couldn't think of very good examples from non-superhero movies. I think I'm too obsessed with the genre since it's surprising to me when I realize not all movies follow the same tropes as hero flicks. I should broaden my horizons with movies... But anyway, I hope Marvel's realized with AoU that they're pushing too hard towards the future movies at the cost of the present movies, and that they need to take a step back, breathe, and make sure to love the movies they are currently working on too. Apparently Marvel actually made Whedon include a lot more scenes referring to future movies, like the weird-a** scene with Thor in the magic pool. That helps explain how Whedon did so poorly on this one compared to his usual fair. I do hope they bring Pietro back, and while I'd prefer it to be satisfying, I would take a shitty explanation too if it meant my twins were reunited. What are you currently thinking of Agents of Shield? I think it's still pretty good, but not as good as the end of the first season. I'm already tired of the Inhumans (but I'm also bitter that Marvel is forcibly trying to replace mutants with them, even in the comics), but the plot is still solid. I don't like how much Jemma has changed though. Oh, and I heard about Pirates 5. It's probably gonna suck. I mean Will was the worst part of the other movies, why bring him back? But yeah, I though the second and third Pirates were pretty much trash. I will admit to quite liking the fourth one, mostly because of the tragic priest character. I'm a sucker for priests.

Apparently the recent FF is even worse than the older two. That's just... wow.

Oh, that's too bad. I love Felicia Day because she's one of the few female nerds who's really managed to contribute a lot to geekdom in general, despite how harsh that industry is towards women. She also is a feminist, and at one point a bit of an uprising happened where male nerds were talking about how fake female nerds are, particularly pointing out famous ones, but they would make an exception for Felicia Day and say they weren't talking about her and that she was great. She responded to that bullshit by saying she was tired of being used as some sort of pinnacle to bring other women down. So yeah, I like her roles, I like The Guild, and she's one of the few actors that's done enough outside of acting to earn my respect and admiration as a person, rather than just as an artist. But yeah, hate the status quo thing. I think Supernatural's fallen too far into its own cycles, of never really getting anywhere anymore, and just repeating the same thing with new interesting plots. Not that I don't still enjoy it, because it's built on a great formula, but I am just really sick and frustrated of the constant killing of side characters (especially women), finding a reason to keep Castiel off doing his own thing, characters not knowing what they want in life, and having an amazing, sad, dark epic ending before immediately going back to normal when the next season starts. And I get what you're saying about premiers, but I think with how long the series is at this point, they're more likely to lose fans from the formula getting old than they are to gain fans with an easy start to the season. Besides, most people willing to get into a show that late in the game are going to also be willing to start from the beginning.

The problem with 5th is that it doesn't have a solid idea of what type of DnD game it wants to be, and it almost feels like it's still in beta, with how little they've released for it. See, 3.5 is so loved because it is just huge. It has so many options on everything, so much customization, and so many rules for every little possibility. I think it's an over-strict and convoluted mess because of this, but most RPG fans prefer it. 4th Edition is more streamlined, clean, and balanced at the expense of customization and flexibility. It's also way more forgiving than 3.5. 5th seems like it's trying to go back to the customization of 3.5, but still be simple enough to attract new people. Which seems good in theory, but in practice it's just kind of turned into this confusing mess with more options than it has rules for, less balanced gameplay, and, like in your case, people just having to come up with rules and explanations for things the game doesn't cover. Also, they are just not releasing new material for it at all, and it has nowhere near the technological support that 4th had (character builders, game builders, encounter generators, etc.), so it seems like it's gone backwards in time. But anyway, sorry for the rant. Please don't let my disappointment with the system ruin your enjoyment of it, I'm glad you've gotten introduced to tabletop and are having fun. XD But I'm glad you figured out to level your character's spells. As a new player and the one spellcaster, you definitely want to be communicating with your DM about that. Spellcasters are usually the most difficult classes to play, so you will be needing more help than everyone else, and that's perfectly okay. I'm kind of in the same boat in my game, since I'd never played a spellcaster in Pathfinder before, and everyone else is a lot beefier than me. XD At least in 5th you can hold your own if you level properly. In 3.5 and Pathfinder, you suck so much until like level 5 as a caster.))

Jounouchi agreed with Kaiba. And as the person who knew Hirutani the best of the group, he was doubly sure that the man wouldn't budge at this point. They were at an impasse.

"Until the day he dies..." he muttered under his breath. He met Kaiba's gaze, having a feeling that the other was now considering new, more drastic options. Jounouchi could feel a tightening in his gut as he realized what they might have to do. He could barely stand the idea of it, but at the same time, Kaiba was right... it was either Hirutani or the rest of them at this point.

((Holy smokes I'm back. I know I was saying I might be poof here and there, but I was not expecting that long at all, I am so sorry. I got really busy with school and work again, and the the longer it went with me not responding, the more daunting it became to do so. So finally I just said I would start responding again once winter break started, but then I was really busy with holidays, and then right after was really sick. I've kind of been having depression on and off for a while too, but I finally was feeling well enough and had enough time to just bite the bullet and respond today. Now I'm having fun just reading and responding, wondering why I made it such a daunting task in my mind. I haven't been on Gaia in forever either, but I see the site still sucks just as much as it has been. Anyway, I definitely want to keep RPing, but I was thinking maybe we should exchange other contact info so we can keep up here and there if one of us (probably me) ends up not on Gaia for a while? Is your email still the kitkat one? And would you feel comfortable exchanging phone numbers?

I think I agree with you on taste in romantic pairings and plot lines, with the conflict and drama, but my big difference now is I like the characters being more romantic and supportive of one another during the conflict (while of course still having realistic disagreements and personal drama) rather than just at each other's throats, which is what I used to like. So perhaps slightly more domestic than your preferences, but still pretty exciting. Maybe more hurt/comfort for me rather than just rivalry and anger.

I did warm up to Cal in Agents as well. He has too many problems for me to fully embrace him as a character I love, but I did grow to appreciate and have some fondness for me. His ending was definitely sad, but touching too, and I think it was handled fairly well. I feel similarly about favorite characters. I just can't seem to fully attach to anyone in this show. By the time the second season started, I thought my favorite was Jemma, but she's changed so much, I am second-guessing that now. I used to not care for Melinda that much, but she's also changed so much, but for the better, that I'm thinking she might be my favorite character now. And I adored Tripp from the start, but he did not last long. I feel like he would've been my favorite if he was allowed to exist longer. My faves are still subject to change though. And just for the record, I haven't watched the show since season 2 ended. I have all of season 3 so far recorded and am planning to binge-watch with my dad when we get the chance. We finally managed to catch up on Gotham, so should be soon.

The fourth Pirates did get terrible reviews, so I could just be on my own with my opinion on it, but what I liked about it was it was completely new. It finally got rid of the boring plot line from the second and third movies, and went for something different and refreshing. Now the plot wasn't that great, but it was nice having the change. And even though Jack was the only major returning character, there were enough new characters that the movie didn't only focus on him; it gave a lot of screen time to four or five other characters, about half of who were likable. Granted, I haven't seen it since it came out, so I could be misremembering things, but overall I liked the non-Jack characters a lot more than in the previous movies, and that was its selling point for me. I do agree on Depp's characters being hollow now, which is why I was glad he wasn't the only focus in the fourth movie. As for Will and Elizabeth, while I agree that they were at their most terrible as a pairing, I still didn't care for them on their own or with Jack. While they had their funny or interesting moments, overall both of them just seemed too whiny and self-obsessed for me to particularly like. And Elizabeth had too much of the whole "no she's totally a strong female character (TM) because she somehow knows how to fight?" thing going on.

I do think that reforming the Men of Letters would help Supernatural's character prospects a lot. Or even just like... starting a hunter's guild. So they could have a group of reoccurring characters that the boys could go to when they needed it, and who would join them on missions. I think another thing would be just to finally give in and have Castiel live and hunt with the Winchesters. It's like they just keep finding ways to avoid it for whatever reason. Just admit that he's a main character who deserves main character status! And while I still am enjoying Supernatural (I am actually quite liking the current season, but won't say anything in case you're not there yet), I do also worry that they won't be willing to end it when it's time.

That's actually another thing I like about 4th Edition, is that Spellcasters are just as powerful and useful at the beginning of the game as other characters. They generally will have less HP and AC (though there are exceptions), but their spells will do just as much damage as others within their battle types (in 4th Edition there are four primary roles a class can be, Defender, Striker, Leader, or Controller, and Martial, Primal, Arcane, and Divine types (where they get their power source, like sorcerers vs fighters) all have roughly equal amounts of characters classes in each group), while more often also having side effects. I'm glad to hear though that your game is balancing out and people are learning their roles and rules better.))

No one had anything else to add, so it was agreed upon that they would regroup at the shrine.

Jounouchi was thinking similarly to Kaiba, that they needed to get alone so they could discuss this new... possibility. He didn't even like thinking of the actual word. Unlike Kaiba though, he didn't want to involve Honda. He didn't want to involve any of his friends in something so terrible. And he knew he had just talked to Shizuka and the others about keeping secrets and doing things behind their backs, but... this was different. This was just too wrong, yet too necessary. He didn't see any other way.

((Haha, yeah, glad you didn't think I was dead, sorry! XP

I've actually been keeping up with TV more lately than I usually do. I think because I've had depression on and off; TV is the easiest way to pass time when you just don't have the energy to put into anything else. The only thing I'm behind on is Agents, and that's because my dad and I watch it together and need to find time when we're both available. I've even started watching Gravity Falls, which I've fallen in love with. I only have two more episodes of that, but I'm waiting for the final episode of the series to air in February since it's a three-part finale. I'd love to give Star Trek a try some time, as I have seen some episodes here and there and I really like the character dynamics, even though I'm not so into the sci-fi thing. That sucks to hear about your thesis. I'm in a similar boat; my adviser used the wrong year for my major map and screwed me over on what classes I needed to take, so now it's going to take me until the end of fall to graduate. I agree on Agents characters. I just don't have a passionate fave yet, even though there are a lot of characters I like. And totally agree on Tripp. Even though I loved him, his death was more frustrating than devastating because it was taking away a chance to grow more attached to him.

I honestly don't even remember if Jack was different or not in the fourth movie. That's how underwhelming he was. So yeah, I guess I'm saying it wasn't a great movie, but I liked it better than the others because of the new plot and characters. I was never a huge Pirates fan to begin with though. If Will is in 5, I have no idea how they're gonna do the whole thing with him not being able to walk on land. I mean it flat-out showed he still visits Elizabeth years after the third movie. (although I never got why he couldn't just live in a bucket like Jones; yeah it's stupid and annoying, but this is your family! Aren't they worth living in a bucket for?!) So we know he is stuck at sea for at least that amount of time. And still loves Elizabeth, so hey, at least that means he probably won't get another love interest. I doubt I'll see it in theaters either.

I agree about Bobby and the others. It was just nice having a 'home' to go back to. Like even though they have their base now, which is nice in its own way, it's not the same as having a home with a family off the road. And yeah, I agree about Jo, but I love Bobby and Ellen. As for the current season, it's pretty good. Castiel is still all over the place with his plot, but there's been a lot of good individual episodes, some really good development for Sam (and kind of Dean), and the overarching plot, while predictable, is enjoyable. Plus they've addressed a few big things that the show has been pretending don't exist for a while, which is awesome!

That's good that the game has balanced. I hope you are able to play it more. You may not be able to finish it depending on what your 'endgame' is. If it's to reach max level? Yeah, I've known people that have played for twenty years straight before getting there. But to complete a specific plot goal, that can be feasible depending on the DM. I have also played online with people before, and while it wasn't my first choice, it worked well enough. Heh, in my game it was originally supposed to be an open world with two groups of four playing in two areas of the world on two different nights. I couldn't play because of work, but then my schedule changed. The DM invited me, and I said I had thought it was supposed to be four players max per group. He said he'd make an exception for me. Then he kept making exceptions, then people started migrating between games or playing different characters in each group. Now somehow I'm in a group of like eight people where one or two people always end up not able to make it, so we just kind of always have characters alternating into the background. And we never explain where they disappeared to or reappeared from. XD I've heard the other group's in the same boat.))

Jounouchi met Kaiba's gaze, immediately knowing what he wanted to discuss. He glanced at the others, kind of wishing he hadn't been pulled aside in front of them, but played along anyway and tried to act as nonchalant as Kaiba. With a nod, he told the others to go on ahead, then started heading off after the other man.

((I'm back again! ;_; I'm so sorry I keep doing this. Community colleges give like fifty times more homework than university for whatever reason. This... this is a picture of all the homework I did for just my two art classes last semester: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e339/KitsuneChan8888888/collage_zpshlxlsuqy.jpg
I was up till at least midnight every night just drawing, and I have permanent tissue buildup on two of my fingers now from the pencil rubbing against them so much (got them x-rayed and it's not arthritis thankfully). So yeah... this time it wasn't depression mixed with busyness, it was just... busyness times five.

But (a late) thank you for the well-wishes. The depression was mostly because I felt so directionless in life. I was getting a graphic design degree, but I was feeling more and more anxious about that and not wanting to do it anymore, then worrying that I would feel that way about any job, with massive anxiety on top. But this last semester something hit me, and even though I still am nervous and anxious about it not working out, it's the first time I actually feel excited about a potential career and eager to get on to it: I want to go into teaching now. So I'm trying an education-auditing class next semester to see if I have a taste for it, and if that goes well, since I already have a bachelor's in drawing, I would just need to spend about a year getting certification to be eligible to teach art in high school. If I like teaching but found I don't care for teenagers too much, I could stick with that while pursuing a master's so I could eventually move onto college. So though this could all implode and not work out too, the depression has been pretty much alleviated because I feel like I finally have a goal and desired purpose in life for the first time since graduating with my bachelor's.

How have you been doing with your schoolwork and mental health? Anything new or that you just want to talk about?

As for the class schedule, I am going to finish the graphic design degree since I'm so close anyway, and the school I can get certification from is in the same group of colleges as my current one, and is mostly online, so I can mix classes for the two anyway. I want to only take one education class to start with anyway, to make sure I really do want it, so I can finish all but one class for my degree in that semester anyway, then do the last class the next semester, while also starting on the certification. It sucks though because I'm actually not eligible for Pell grants since I already have a bachelor's, so I'm paying out of pocket, but thankfully I have gotten three scholarships and won two monetary prizes in an art show so far, so that helped a lot. Plus tax credits and jobs of course. No loans yet. That's too bad about your supervisor. They really shouldn't ever overestimate their students; no matter how put-together the student is, they do not know the program as well as the supervisor. I hope things are going better now.

The new Star Wars was my favorite too. I honestly never liked at all any of the others. The new one I still felt the plot was weak, rushed, corny, and predictable (not to mention it pretty much exactly copied the plot of Episode... IV I think), but I just loved the characters so much I didn't care. In the other six movies, characters I even liked a little bit were few and far between. And I do love how progressive Star Trek was. I know both Takei and Nichols talked about how nearly impossible it was for Asian Americans/black women (respectively) to get steady, main character acting jobs at the time, and that Star Trek broke some of the barriers. I didn't realize the original series was so short, so now I want to give it a try more. Not sure about Deep Space 9 or Next Generation, though Patrick Stewart is one of my favorite actors.

I liked Tripp way better than Mack at the time Tripp died, but Tripp was also on the road to becoming one of my favorite characters. By now though Mack has grown on me a lot more; he's one of my favorite characters now (I'm currently three episodes away from being caught up), along with May and Jemma. Characterizations are so inconsistent in that show though, it's hard for me to know for sure. I also think Elena and Joey could be favorite characters of mine, but need to see more of them first (sorry if you're behind on the series and don't know who they are yet). Boy Bobby? XD You mean Hunter? He's one of my least favorites. Bobbi is okay, pretty middle ground for me. I don't mind their relationship though; I think their interactions are fun.

Oh, that's another good point, Elizabeth living on the ship. They could even stop at land here and there for her to get a break from sea. The whole end was just stupid. Like I don't think there is pretty much anyone out there that could keep a relationship going where they can only interact (since there's no phones or internet) once every ten years.

I am not too sure what I prefer for Supernatural episodes. I think overall I like having strong standalone episodes like you, with an overarching plot in the background, but I think I also specifically like the plot to be strongly addressed in multiple episodes in a row. I think my ideal Supernatural season would be the first quarter having a strong main plot that it follows every episode, then the next half the season having strong individual episodes, then the last quarter going back to a main plot. I don't like how wishy-washy the seasons get where they do one big plot episode, then find a reason to push it to the side, then bring it back, push it to the side, etc. Are you caught up on SPN by the way? I think the most recent season was one of my favorites. Possibly even my all-time favorite. I'd need to rewatch season 8 to be sure.

Your DnD game sounds good, like you'll be able to get it done in time. I wish my DnD group was that flexible with level; I had to miss a few sessions just because I had too much homework, and missed out on XP in the process. I also started later than other players, so am behind them in level.))

Jounouchi was silent for a moment, trying to convert Kaiba's abstract words into terms he understood. He was pretty sure he knew what the other was saying. He was pretty sure the other would say this even before he started talking. But he needed to be one hundred percent certain of what he was getting into. It hurt to even say it, "...you mean... killing him, right?" he asked quietly, looking off to the side at nothing.

((It was cool homework. I just wish there hadn't been so much of it, because those were two of the best art classes I've ever had in terms of learning and improvement (both had the same teacher, who actually penciled for Marvel in the 90's), but I was just always so busy, I didn't have time to try as hard as I wanted to on most assignments.

It sounds like you're in a similar boat with your thesis. Wanting to do your best, but not having time for your best. I understand too about your wariness going into academia. That's another reason I want to start teaching high school first, since tenured positions would be so difficult to get, and adjuncts (at least in the US) are practically living in poverty due to low wages and classes always being cancelled and such. I feel the exact same about wanting 9-5 and little take home, but still something creative. That's why I think teaching high school is really starting to sit right with me. Especially because I've become more and more certain I do not want to work for a for-profit company. I just can't stand the greed and pressure to always make more money. If I can just deal with immature and disrespectful teenagers, I think I could really like it, and I've been told pension returns enough retirement benefits after only 20 years or so. I think you did tell me about your Dragon Age fics. I still need to play that series. I've been still considering working on a web comic on the side, maybe making a little money off that. Maybe you could do the same for novels; it's pretty easy to get published on Amazon now. I have a friend that just writes poetry on the side and gets money from Amazon through it. It sucks that you're in a similar situation of uncertainty as I've been, but glad there's no depression.

I have not done sub-teaching. I'm considering it, but the first class I'm taking next semester has you sit in a class and observe and participate for 30 hours, so I'm using that as a means to figure out if I want it or not. I have a friend who did the same class, and that's how he decided he wanted to be a teacher. Also, I've heard subs are usually treated a lot worse by both schools and students, so I wouldn't want my first taste to be more negative than it really is. I might consider it after next semester. Camps probably not unless I could get one aimed at teenagers. I definitely do not want to teach elementary.

Well, I really hope you are able to finish and finish successfully. I understand just wanting to be done, but I really hope you pass too!

I'm the same. I can enjoy something with shitty plot but great character development (like the new X-Men movie; even though it got s**t reviews, it was honestly my favorite X-Men movie of all time because of the characters, and it was the most similar to the comics so far; have you seen that and Civil War by the way?), but if it has great plot but shitty characters, it's really tough for me (like a lot of high fantasy novels and movies). I honestly have not liked any of the new Star Trek movies, so I was pleasantly surprised with Star Wars. That's so awesome with Uhura's actor. I hope she ended up feeling happy in her role.

Funny, I binged most of season three of SHIELD in the last week myself. Just waiting for my dad and I to have time to finish the last three episodes. I'm sorry to say Fitz is actually one of my least favorite characters now. I loved him in the beginning, but ever since he's recovered enough from his brain damage for it not to be the main defining factor of his character, I feel like he's been more of an a*****e. I think my biggest problem is his and Jemma's relationship. I loved them as friends, but their entire personalities and dynamics have changed with the romantic aspect. Too many times I've seen Fitz be fake with or lie to Jemma to make her happy, to the point he's starting to remind me of one of those "nice guys." Like when he was being the nicest person in the world to her about saving Will, but then was talking to Hunter about how he was only doing it because he 'owed him' for saving Jemma. Like no, he deserves to be rescued because he's been stranded on a deserted planet for over a decade. There should be no question of that, and your reason certainly shouldn't only involve his relationship with Jemma. He's improved a little since then, but overall I just don't like how their romance is portrayed. I don't like Jemma as much as I used to either, mostly because she seems to only ever fall for people who rescue and take care of her. And having her learn to survive on a planet, not give into torture, and be willing to shoot someone reeks of Whedon's usual "strong woman" s**t where her characterization sucks, but she's still a Strong Female Character (TM) because she can kick a**. I feel like all of her romantic attractions have been partially out of guilt for feeling like she owed the guy something (she was mildly attracted to Ward after he saved her, Fitz she was friends with for years, but didn't start falling for him till after he saved her under the ocean, and Will she fell for after he saved her on the planet). So I guess my point is, I loved both Fitz and Simmons at first, but their romantic relationship instead of friendship has detracted from them enough that Fitz is now one of my least favorites, and Simmons is no longer my favorite. For Parting Shot, I was a bit emotional on it, but also kind of annoyed because it had a really weak explanation for why they had to leave. Like... I get that they're being tailed now, so they can't go back to SHIELD right away, but there's no way they're going to tail them forever. Not to mention I think it's way more suspicious to have a bunch of random people in a bar buy drinks for them, then toast from different parts of the bar before all leaving at once, than it is just to talk to them like normal. I love Hive!Grant. Actually, even though Ward was like my least favorite character in the first season, I started to really love him as a villain. I was actually sad when he died, so I'm glad he's back in at least some volume. I agree, the show is more enjoyable being binged, I think because the plot's just so all over the place, it's way easier to follow.

Yeah, I think Elizabeth will probably see Will a grand total of five times before she dies. And that's being generous with the life expectancies back then.

Aw, dang. I'll warn you the newest SPN season does start off kind of slow and meh, and it's not so much that the main villain is great (I thought it was one of the last interesting villains so far), but it just has really strong standalone episodes, especially after the first quarter or so, and the main plot gets really good at the end. I really loved it by the end. I hope you don't mind a little non-spoilery teaser... just letting you know it addresses quite a lot of old plot points and resolves them. It's so satisfying. That's too bad about Tom; season 7 was one of the worst, but season 8 right after is one of the best. I hope he gives it another go. Seasons 1 and 2 are definitely different from the rest, and I do love their structure and appreciate those differences. I don't think they could be my favorites though because 1: They don't have Castiel, and 2: I think I would get sick of the monster of the week episodes if they continued happening that often. They would just run out of ideas. It already gets really repetitive, certain things like burning a ghost's body, only to find out it wasn't the right one. I still love those two seasons as their own thing though. And for the structure I'd prefer, I didn't clarify that I would want two different big plots on each end of the season. So not like, big plot, cliffhanger, filler for half the season, then finish it (which is a frustrating thing that Supernatural tends to do). I mean big plot, gets fairly resolved, strong singular episodes, then a new, though probably related big plot for the end. I just know that the current structure hasn't been working for me as well, but I think it works a lot better in the recent season, probably because they address the main plot a lot more in standalone episodes, so it doesn't feel as ignored with a bunch of filler. I also agree the plots get too epic too often. I'll admit this newest season does that too, but it works. But after it I'm ready for a break of less epicness, and I think the show is too.

I wish that's how my game worked. :/ Sounds like your group structure is as crazy as mine though. We almost never have everyone play, and we need to pull out an extra chair from the kitchen the rare time that we do. Thankfully our group is more story than character focused (which normally I don't prefer, but since we almost never have the full group and there's so many of us, it's just less messy that way), so we only have like one character with a goal that drives our journey's direction at all, and he's almost never there. Everyone else has vague goals and reasons for doing things, but overall we just explore until we find something significant, then try to resolve that. I think it would be a mess if we had even a couple characters with really strong goals and motivations. That's so cool that you're trying to learn Welsh. I'm really starting to consider learning some basic Spanish, just because it's so important in AZ now. I already know how to tell someone that a game is not for children and has violence and sex. XD A lot of times a bilingual kid will try to lie to their Spanish-speaking parent about the rating, and I can tell, the little brats. I love crushing their hopes. The update was good. I think we did agree that Jounouchi and Kaiba would have Hirutani killed.))

Jounouchi stared at seemingly nothing for a good ten seconds, considering. He hadn't imagined how much this could bother him, potentially murdering someone, even a terrible someone, even if it was to protect his sister and himself and Mokuba and even Kaiba. But he knew Hirutani. He knew that he was deceptive, a leader, smarter than he seemed, and amazingly good at getting what he wanted, no matter how long it took. Even if they could get him to dispel this demon, then lock him away, Jounouchi knew Hirutani would just find another way to get revenge on him. Shizuka could be put in danger again. Yuugi could be put in danger again. Anyone could. He couldn't keep defending against these random attacks his entire life. This needed to be done.

"Bribery's the best way I can think of to get him to get rid of the monster." he finally looked at Kaiba, "The man's greedy as hell, not to mention he was talking about how ruined he was and how he's lost everything. But... I don't think he'll actually hold his end of the bargain. No matter what we did, bribery, threats... torture, he would just pretend to give in, make it seem like he got rid of the spirit, then bring it back when he got the chance, or find some other plan of attack." he swallowed hard, "I think we should try bribery first, then go down the list of everything we can to get him to get rid of the thing, but whether he does it or not in the end... we need to get rid of him after that. And expect and plan for the worst, even if he does say he got rid of the spirit. I'm in for all of it."

((It did definitely help me improve quickly, I won't lie, but I do feel I would've improved a little more if I'd had just a little less homework so I could try harder on all of it. And thank you for the comment on my work. Though I'm probably going to stop posting to DA after that batch, because I just found out their terms of service allow them to gain full rights of anything you post there. They've even sold artists' work to Hot Topic to put on T-Shirts without even informing the artist. So I think I'm going to start a separate Tumblr just for art, then I'll maybe post "batches" of art to DA, as a collage where each image is too small to do anything with, then have a list of links in the description to the Tumblr. Thought you should know about the DA terms too with your writing. As for the amount of effort with work, I honestly am pretty perfectionist, so I do spend tons of time on each individual piece. Like I think a lot of my work from the beginning of the semester is better than later stuff, because I wasn't so exhausted yet, so would spend countless hours on the homework, foolishly assuming it would get lighter after the first few weeks. But yeah, can't wait until we're both done with school. =)

Yeah, right now adjuncts are really starting to organize to demand better conditions. I hope it leads somewhere soon. That's also why I'm uncertain about teaching college, even though I know I'd like the students better than highschoolers. Just gonna try not to plan ahead too much. I tend to overdo the planning, then beat myself up when things don't go exactly as I'd imagined. For the first 5 years of being able to let someone go, is that only in formative, or any non-college public schooling? And is that in the US or England or both? Just want to know if that's something I should take into consideration for high school.

Haha, I'd love to read some erotica by you. I've been considering drawing erotic art too, but have never actually tried before, mostly because it's hard to find the time mixed with privacy I need for it. Speaking of Yaoi Con, when is the next time you're going? I've still never been there, so it'd be cool if we could meet up at one. Though if you're going with Sara, not sure I'd be up for that. But anyway, it seems like most industries are starting a dramatic change with the internet. I think it's good for the most part, taking some of the power away from the big corporations.

Yeah, maybe I'll try subbing for a year or two after I finish my certification, then go from there. I don't mind a lot of take-home work though; I always end up back at school with mountains of homework, and that seems to be where I thrive. Plus I don't think being an art teacher would have anywhere near as much 'homework' as being a full-time college student. It would just be lesson plans, meetings, and grading for the most part, and grading art is a lot quicker than grading essays. I feel like every generation says the younger generation is entitled. I think it's just a way to pat oneself on the back while dragging down the younger people who are just starting to discover life. I know as a Millennial, I hate when Boomers talk about how lazy and entitled we are. You know, in the economy that they ruined where we can't get permanent jobs that pay living wages or afford to start buying a house in our 20's. But yeah, I think I'll wait until I know more about teaching from the certification program before deciding to start with subbing or not.

Oh, hope you got to see X-Men by now or will be able to soon. Yeah, the plot was pretty underwhelming, but the characters are what made it.

I absolutely adored Civil War too. It's actually my favorite movie of all time, a position that only Avengers held before that (couldn't pick one before Avengers came out). I loved Winter Soldier too, but there was no way it could beat Civil War for me as long as the writing was as good, because honestly Cap and Bucky, while I like them a lot, aren't in my top list of Avengers. My favorites are Scarlet Witch and Iron Man, who both had large roles in Civil War, and SW was way better written in it than in Age of Ultron. But since you don't like Iron Man, I can see why you'd like Winter Soldier better. It was also phenomenal. I loved Falcon in Civil War too, and his relationship with Bucky. I liked him in Winter Soldier (he's also one of my favorite Avengers), but I feel like he didn't really come into himself as a character until Civil War. I also agree about the villain, though I wish they would've gone away from the typical "man lost wife and kid(s) so becomes vengeful" plot line, even though it was handled better than 99% of the others movies that use that trope. Interestingly, I loved Black Panther, which surprised me because he's one of my least favorite Avengers in the comics. He's extremely holier-than-though, even though he makes just as many mistakes as other characters, yet what really gets me is everyone seems to agree with him that he's better than all of them. But that was way toned down in the movie, where he seemed more real and relatable. I'm super excited for his movie now, especially because Lupita Nyong'o has a major role in it. I also liked that the villain prevented the Avengers from getting back together. That's how the comic event ended too (not caused by a villain; there was no villain involved in the comics), the team remaining split and one team being illegal. The mid-movie battle was my favorite part. All the characters got time to shine, it was so wonderful. And I didn't expect the movie to align with the comics in the first place, since the comics didn't involve Bucky (he shows up from being off the radar right after the war), but it was great in its own right, while still keeping the spirit of the comic event. There were things I liked better in the movie and things I liked better in the comics, but both were excellent. My biggest complaint for the movie was the tragedy they used to kickstart everything, having Wanda accidentally blow up part of a building. In the comics, it was young superheroes who caused an entire neighborhood to be destroyed, including school children. It was enough to really involve the entire US in a heated conversation about the issue, and I felt had more of an impact. Plus the Civil War in the comics lasted for weeks (I think even months?) rather than just a couple days, so it seemed more impactful. But the movie did a better job with characterization; the comics only really showed how it impacted Cap, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and a few others. Everyone else was just there to fight. The movie definitely did make every part count though, and I loved that. Like Tony showing his parents leaving in that memory machine, I didn't realize how important that would end up being. And even though I still am super mad about Age of Ultron, I'm glad it laid a lot of the groundwork for Civil War. As for Vision, he's also a character I don't really care for in the comics. He's not one of my favorites in the movie, but he's definitely more likable. That whole pompously trying to control Wanda for her own protection thing in the movie? He's like that in the comics times ten.

Fair enough for you too. It's cool we can interpret characters so differently. Like I feel that, while Fitz has gotten stronger and more confident, he's not handling it well; he's being too controlling. Like when Jemma said Lincoln was being an idiot with risking his life trying to save Daisy so much, even though she didn't want to be saved, and Fitz looked at Jemma and said he was glad Daisy didn't have a choice in the matter then. To me that sounded like him subtly telling Jemma, "I'm going to keep doing everything I can and potentially hurting myself to make sure you are taken care of, whether you like it or not." As for the thing with Will, while I agree Fitz was justified in feeling upset that Jemma was with someone else now, what got me is that he was at all hesitant about bringing Will back, and that he had to do research to 'prove' he was worthy of being saved. No matter what your feelings on the matter, that is a suffering, stranded human being. He deserves to be saved, even if you might lose the woman you've never actually been in a relationship with to him. Like I respect his feelings on the matter, but he shouldn't have let his feelings play a role in his decision, and it bothered me too that Jemma felt guilty and like he shouldn't be helping her, even though he was probably the only one who could bring Will back. I also don't really buy Jemma's feelings for Fitz. When she first met Bobbi, I even started to think she might be a closet lesbian, since she seemed so enamored with her, and constantly seemed to find reasons to avoid the prospect of moving past friendship with Fitz. Now I don't think so anymore, but it's still a possibility I would be happy with if it were true. I also agree that villain!Grant's motives were all over the place, but I think that's part of what I liked about him as a villain. He was a mess, he didn't know what he wanted, he was mentally unstable, yet he acted cool and confident and like he had a plan all along. I think that made him a more realistic and interesting villain than the typical "plans for every contingency and has been playing the characters all towards one goal for the last four seasons" villain. I also really think his actor is awesome. Like as you said, he seems to try to be different types of villains, but every time the actor just nailed it, whether it was goodguy!Grant, randomvillain!Grant, creep!Grant, or hive!Grant. I was also mad at how long they dragged before Ward's death. Like I know Coulson wanted revenge, but that damn portal is about to close and you have a friggin' gun, just shoot him! Oh, but anyway I did catch up on Agents. I'd say I was happy with the ending, but not like super stoked or anything, which pretty much defines my relationship with that show. I think Elena might be my favorite character now, but still need to see more of her. I'm glad it was Lincoln that died because he was honestly my least-favorite character. I actually thought he was going to turn out to be abusive because of what Hellfire said to Daisy about him hurting his other girlfriend. The being drunk thing and crashing the car seemed like an easy lie without a lot of explanation behind it, plus the way Hellfire was talking, about him doing it again even if you think he loves you, that sounded more like abuse than drinking. Not to mention his temper. Plus at the end when Lincoln was talking about knowing what it was like to be addicted to something, he said not wanting to give *her* up instead of it, and I still don't know what that was about.

I agree for the most part about the first two seasons and how grandiose the SPN plot gets. That's why I was surprised how well it worked this time around. Fair enough about the filler. I personally just don't like things jumping around too much; I prefer my series to be a fairly straight line, with some bumps and surprises to spice things up here and there. And this season they actually did quite a few new episodes with new mythology, which I was pleased about. I do agree they need more of that.

I was in a DnD game that was a good mix of character and story, while being somewhat flexible on rules too. That was my favorite campaign of all time. In my current game, the DM actually bought a super long table for his dining room specifically for gaming (it's this guy's passion; like he owns thousands of dollars worth of minis and environments, and seems to have a piece for every situation) with like... eight or ten chairs that came with it. So it's a lot when we need to pull another chair up.

I can only get small bits of Spanish as I am now. I really do want to take some classes for it or something, but I'm afraid I would forget more Japanese if I did, because I forgot most of my German when I took Japanese. It's interesting to me the differences in what people can pronounce. Like pronunciation comes super easily for me (obviously I still have an accent, but like in Japan I could hear a huge difference between me and some of my classmates, who sounded like they weren't even trying, while others were at about my level), and I've had Latin@s think I could speak Spanish just because of they way I pronounced their names. I wish I had been raised bilingual as well, but both of my parents only speak English, so there was no hope for me.))