Wordmaker

Personally, I almost never read speech bubbles. I prefer reading the chat window, since emotes appear better there, and you can go back and read something you've missed.

Accents I think, work better on humourous characters than on serious ones. Maybe change a few small things in spelling, add some slang and all, but remember you're not performing a part, you're playing a game, and other people have to be able to understand what you're saying, or they'll get bored and ignore you.

The chair upon which Memory sat was small, cold, and uncomfortable. Dead grey walls stood on all sides, except for a large two-way mirror opposite him. Devoid of costume and mask, he sat there as Richard Karsten, just a man. A man who had taken another's life.

The smell of blood and the sound of steel biting into bone still filled his senses.

"Kill me, or I'll kill you" the Tsoo had said. Though in his heart, Memory knew that the man, injured as he was, was no match for him. At the time, he didn't care, it was a matter of honour, and knowledge that the Tsoo's soul would pass on and return as part of the natural cycle. Even now, with the FBSA trying to decide whether or not to charge him with murder, he found it difficult to feel guilty for what he had done.

And the feeling chilled him.

The door opened. A well-dressed man with blonde hair stepped in carrying a folder stuffed with reports and statements. He stood opposite Memory and set out the reports neatly, and a subtle grin made Memory frown. Shifting his senses slightly, low enough to remain un-noticed by MAGI's wards, Memory saw the spell in effect.

A glamour. The essence of it was familiar, unmistakable, and though the illusion was subtle enough to avoid magical detection, it was strong enough to mask the face behind it well. Still, Memory knew the magic that had created it.

"Riegan..." he rasped, as the blonde man sat down and smiled.

"No fooling you, Karsten," he said. "Don't worry, I don't work here or anything. I just visit every now and again to check up on things, like you. You're in a spot of bother aren't you?"

Riegan's English accent melted through the disguise as Memory focused his senses, and made his perception of the man fade into his true form. "What do you want?"

Riegan smiled, opening up the file, "Killing a man in cold blood? Hmm, you could be looking at a murder charge. You know," he inclined, glancing up over the file with ice-blue eyes, "I could make all of this go away..."

Shaking his head, Memory frowned, "No."

A small chuckle escaped Riegan, "And that lovely woman, Beverly. They made her tell them everything about you. My...such intimate details they required of her..." Riegan's eyes widened and his lip curled as he read over the statement given by Beverly. Memory's eyes narrowed and his hands clenched into fists.

"Oh..." Riegan continued, with a patronising show of mock-concern, "She broke up with you." His eyes rose with a leering glint, "Such a pretty lady shouldn't be alone at a time like this...maybe I'll pay her a little visit."

"You touch her, I kill you." Memory snapped, barely restraining himself from jumping across the table to clamp his hands around Riegan's throat.

"Tsk tsk, Richard," he smiled, "Don't want to get violent with all these lovely security cameras on you."

Memory seethed silently for a few moments, calming himself with deep breaths, before he spoke in a whisper, "Leave her alone, Riegan. I'm warning you."

The Englishman smiled confidently, his mind ticking behind his eyes as the pieces to a plan worked themselves into place. "No, you're threatening me, and it isn't working. Definitely not in this place, and with you being invesitaged. However," he leaned forward on the table, "I have an offer..."

Memory nodded once.

"I won't harm Beverly, and you don't take any actions whatsoever that will harm me. Do you agree? You know you can't be everywhere, and with the FBSA watching you like a hawk, you can't very well start stalking her, can you?" Riegan smiled, before the blue in his eyes turned dark, almost black, "I've remembered everything Orin did to me, Karsten..." his voice turned to broken glass, "If I did even half of that to her, it would break her...if she even survived...do you want that?"

In his chair, Memory glared back at Riegan, biting back rage like bile in the back of his throat. "You know I'd make you pay."

Riegan simply shook his head with an almost pitied sigh, "No. You see, just like I could pull a few tricks to get this whole investigation dropped, I could swing it the other way, and make sure you're kept busy in jail or court until I've had my fun with Beverly."

"What the hell do you want?" Memory snarled.

Riegan inclined his head, "Perform a geis with me."

Memory sank a little in his chair as Riegan's intent became clear. A geis, a binding oath, sealed by magic and by the eyes of the gods. He knew, however, that Riegan was fully capable of carrying out his threat on Beverly, no matter where she went. He still loved her...

"All right."

The pair stood across from one another, and spoke the ancient incatantations to summon the attention of the gods.

Riegan went first, "I swear to do no harm to Beverly Andrews, or to interfere in the investigation into Richard Karsten's activities." He then extended his hand for Memory to clasp it.

Memory took a deep breath, "I swear to take no action that will cause harm to William Riegan..." and reached out his hand, and added, a mere moment before their hands met, the word "directly."

Memory grinned as light flashed around their joined hands, tendrils of energy binding them together before swarming over both and filling them with a bright glow. When it was over, Riegan shook his head, "Always sharp, Karsten, always sharp. Very well. What the gods have witnessed, let no mortal undo, lest he suffer the consequences of divine wrath."

Memory nodded as Riegen left, and sat to wait to give his statement.

The FBSA are calling for witnesses in an investigation into the death of a Tsoo agent in Galaxy City last week.

The Tsoo was killed, under admission, by Memory, who has given a statement to the FBSA internal affairs team.

The matter is still under investigation, but it is not certain yet whether it will go to trial. The FBSA would ask any witnesses to the killing to come forward with their statements.

Exactly. Heck, you think -that- ad was bad, I've seen one for the very old AD&D 1st ed....

Cool. Looking forward to seeing part three!

Since when has -any- advert accurately depicted what it's like to use any product, least of all in terms of customer reaction? It's an ad, not a detailed account of what a game session is like. And it's actually pretty accurate. Guys show up, someone's usually late, you've got snack food, you get really worked up when something good happens, then you go for food or a drink.

I really wish people could stop acting as if Europeans are superior to Americans.

And there's a perfect point which backs my argument. You find your completely unrealistic, fantasy character more believable than an actor playing a regular person on TV. Why? Not because the actor's rubbish. In fact, some very fine actors are to be found on soaps if you pay attention -and- take into account the rushed schedule at which soaps are filmed. In a movie, you can spend over a day just shooting 5 minutes of dialogue. In a soap, it's a day per episode sometimes.

The reason is that you see everyday people in real life, all the time, so you can pick out flaws in the performance far easier. You don't (I truly hope! ) see succubi on a daily basis, so you don't have anything to compare to in order to judge the quality of the performance.

Actually, the further something is from "reality" the easier it is to play. After all, if someone comes up to you and says "You're not playing a believable alien/demon/robot" you can say "show me an alien/demon/robot and tell me how I'm doing it wrong." You can't really be criticised for playing that -type- incorrectly, because it doesn't actually exist (not meaning to offend anyone who believes in aliens, demons, or robots, just making a point ).

However, women do very much exist, and because we have day to day examples to judge from, we can pick out flaws in how the character is being played.

The toughest thing in the world to play well is a normal, everyday person. Why do you think all the rubbish actors do action movies?

Tut tut, Liz getting sloppy in her old age?

Nice, though a little bit unpolished, with a few places were different word use would have worked better, some word repetition. But overall I enjoyed it. Once she got into the cave, you seemed to be on more familiar territory with the character and the situation, and your writing reflected this.

Looking forward to the rest.

Just a question, when exactly is this happening? This notice has been here for months now.

Well, so much for trying to inject some humour. I'll leave you to it.

Whereas we heroes get cool places at -every- level!

I mean, Mercy Island is dull as dishwater, let's be honest!

This is why we heroes will always win! Because we have cooler places to hang out!

Ah, right.

I've seen Durable at GG, so I'll assume it wasn't your thing, which is fair enough, different strokes for different folks.

Though, just curious, what kind of roleplaying are you looking for? Roleplaying during missions, general IC chat, GM-run plotlines, RPed adventures (done over game chat or IRC, as opposed to using the in-game missions)?

*nods* That's fair, so long as you;re doing it with the intent of preventing them from debuffing your side, and not out of spite for what they say on Broadcast, which is the implication of your post.

So you'd purposely grief someone just because of what they said on Broadcast?

You know what? I was very wary about PvP being introduced to the game. Not because I don't like it, but because I happened to enjoy the game just as it was.

Afterwards, I started to see a divide forming. People complaining about PvP being "forced" on them, others complaining about PvEers being in "their" zone when they didn't want to PvP. And it's just getting worse.

You know what? We all pay to play this game, we all have a right to enjoy it. Fair enough, there's an aspect you don't like about the game, make your complaint/suggestion rationally and logically.

On Union, active PvPers seem to be about as common as active roleplayers. Roleplayers don't get anything to improve the game just for them, I honestly doubt PvPers will have any major changes done for them alone, either.

Oooo! Story time!

Nope, nothing with The Verse changes

I've no need to whine about PvP, because most of the time I go into one of the zones for the bonus XP, they're deserted

And in reponse to Ravenswing, I'd have to agree. I've spent some time in the PvP zones and even at peak playing times, they're fairly quiet. I see more people at the GG roleplaying meetings on Union, in all honesty.

Obviously (to me, anyway), if PvE content has been added to the PvP zones, then that's part of their intended purpose, not just PvP.

The argument that "non-PvPers are ruining the PvP game" is just as bad as the "I'm being forced to do PvP" argument. If a message comes up saying that your side's abilities have been dropped by a mission done by someone from the opposing side, why not do one of the missions to make up the difference? They take about ten minutes or so, and you get a lot of XP for them, what's the problem?

Miss Ellie ate Up n Away salad.

Miss Ellie went insane and evil.

Up n Away Salad makes you insane and evil!!!

I did. Tri-Stat DX is good too, though, because as far as I know you can still download it for free.