PlagueOfUndeath

It took some time for Kara to find the file she was looking for.
According to the policy, which was first established in 1973 for the Leslios family, Mina was a dependant of the family, probably adopted by the head of the family.
Thus, her name was listed as Mina Leslios.
What was strange was her birthdate: the month and day were listed, but the year was not. This wasn't TOO unusual, given she was adopted. A lot of kids remember when their birthday is after all.
Upon further inspection, it was listed she wasn't a student. In fact, she never was. Her occupation wasn't listed at all.
Kara did find an address for the Leslios family. It was quite a ways away, semi-local but just outside of town.
Kara had a feeling she'd find answers there.
But first, she had to finish her shift...

"Then I guess I'll just contact the insurance company about her. Shouldn't be too much trouble, since I just need information," Kara explained, "So I better get right on that! See you tomorrow, Doctor."
Kara got up and left the table, throwing the festering remains in a garbage can and making her way to the phones. At the phones was another young nurse. In every single sense of the word.
She looked very much like one of those 'prestige' nurses, children of rich doctors or other upper class families that basically got their way through med school paid for them, doing no actual work beyond the actual nurse training. Kara secretly despised them, given she was basically clipping coupons and going to night school six days a week to earn her diploma before she turned twenty-three (she was twenty-four now, quite an achievement actually. Being a bit of a savant at organization and other menial chores allowed her to skip a few grades in elementary school) while these girls skated through med school on their parents' laurels.
"I'd like to use the phone, please," Kara asked sweetly. This particular nurse she actually hated, because she embodied everything that she felt was wrong with society. Worse yet, she was from California too, which made Kara look bad too.
"Could you, like, hold on? I'm talking to my boyfriend," the nurse said.
"Please, it's rather important. And hospital related," Kara continued, still sweet as sugar.
"Like, NO! I'm on break! I don't have to!" the nurse replied.
Kara couldn't believe this girl's audacity. Worse yet, she was actually YOUNGER than Kara! Which she, again, attributed to the girl's parents paying her way through school.
"When you're on break, you need to use your cell phone..." Kara cited.
"Yeah right, that thing's expensive!" the nurse said dismissively.
Funny, I don't remember my cell phone being all that expensive for me...maybe because I don't blab on it for hours on end... Kara thought to herself.
Kara had had it. She'd get that phone if it killed her.
"Look, if you don't get off that phone right now I'll tell the director that you're using hospital property for personal purposes. And I'll also personally make it my mission to ensure you're assigned to every anal bleeder, every incontinent, every projectile vomiter, and every patient in need of a bed pan in this hospital," Kara threatened, her mood changing.
The nurse froze. This tactic frequently worked on these girls, and Kara could actually back up the threat too, if she needed to.
"Fine," the nurse said, and grudgingly handed over the phone.
"Thank you," Kara said sweetly again, taking the phone and dialing the number for the insurance company.
"Uh," the nurse said, not leaving, "Y'know, that insurance company keeps all their files online now, you don't need to call them..."
Right on cue, Kara's call connected to an answering service...that basically told her to check online.
Kara hung up the phone and stormed over to the computer, rather annoyed now.

"Oh that's easy," Kara said, irrate, "It's been tampered with. It's kinda obvious given the 'coffee' stains conveniently cover up everything but her room number, first name, and insurance information. Luckily with the insurance information I can at least look up the case file if she was involved in something traumatic. Given that she has no scars, I can tell right away the insurance company would do some fraud investigation."
"What do you think?" Kara continued.

(OOC: Kara's actually pretty meek FYI)
"I-I usually bring food from home, but there was a weird power outage in my apartment building while i was asleep. All my food spoiled. I've heard a local chinese place and a pizza restaurant deliver here though," Kara smiled, "I love pizza..."

(OOC: Hey go ahead and keep using em I wanna establish grounds for banning them from the arena.
Especially since the limiter doesn't work on things that don't require kinetic force to use. i.e. it'll work on the swing of the stick itself, but the effect of draining a person's endurance isn't effected. EMP grenades are already banned since they can effectively 'kill' robots.
Nothing personal, but if they're banned then it works the other way: no one has to defy the laws of physics to avoid them.
From an RP perspective it could be used to counteract the possibility of two Masters working together to give one another wins by providing sap sticks and turning the kinetic limiter WAAAAAAAAAY up.)

(OOC: Why am i not surprised Troll/Soviet is using sap sticks? )

"AH! Found it!" Kara exclaimed while rifling through the files.
She was absolutely ecstatic.
Until she opened it.
Apparently someone had inadvertantly spilled coffee on it, which conveniently destroyed the page listing her diagnosis. She could barely make out the name!
Luckily, her insurance information was intact.
Which was, conveniently, a company owned by Tharomar Enterprises.
Kara collapsed on the desk, exasperated. She was a nurse, not a detective! Even so, why did this bother her so much?
While she pondered this she went about organizing every file in the room.
She hated paperwork and filing, but that didn't mean she wasn't some kind of savant at it. To pay her way through med school she had worked as a secretary for some company or other. She wasn't really clear on the company's name or even what it did. For all she knew it was probably a dummy company set up to give some big wig a tax break.
She was glad to leave that job. Even her coworkers were pricks. They kept going on about Mission Statements and TPS reports, and two guys named Bob had come in one day and fired half the staff, including people far more qualified for their jobs than the people replacing them.
Needless to say Kara's favorite movie was Office Space.
Now that she had finished filing, she left the room and headed for the cafeteria. She was overdue for lunch.
The cafeteria was filled with guys in scrubs, and a few overweigh security guards. After getting her food, which consisted of a hamburger that looked like a philly cheesesteak, and mashed potatoes that resembled some alien fungus, she sat down at an empty table and began eating and reading the file...

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Also what is truely doing nothing? Sleeping? write dreams. Meditating? okay that's a tough one. Chances are your character isnt truely doing 'nothing'. I don't think writing the internal thought processes is a bad thing, if there is nothing actively going on write about internal worries, go over how the days events affected the character or what they feel about them, or even write a daydream or fantasy (keep it PG )

Some people don't like writing internal thought processes, I happen to like to. It helps develope the character more to yourself and to others. Not to mention in many of these threads there are telepaths that would know some of these things anyway.

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On the flipside- reading internal thought processes can be *BORING*!

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Although Ian was meditating to further his spiritual development, his mind shifted to what he had for breakfast. It was toast with a little jam. It was a little dry but less fattening than butter. He wasn't the biggest fan of toast because when you bite it, crumbs get all over your shirt and...

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I'm not saying it always has to be that way but sometimes it's not the most entertaining thing to write about if it's not something important or insightful. Another thing on internal thought processes, how many times does one go over the same event from one day in their head before people get tired of reading it?

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excellent point
I'm not just writing my stories to progress a character inch by inch, i'm also writing to keep the reader entertained. Writing about certain thought processes is, of course, key to understanding the character.
But writing down everything about a character just to fill gaps is the same as appearing only for conflict and disappearing:
1) It's boring. I know sometimes (mostly early on) I sometimes gloss over or skim certain paragraphs because I know they're basically about nothing.
2) It loses impact. If you're writing constantly about internal monologues, then they become hard to remember. And if it becomes important later on, people have to sift through a ton of text to find it.
3) Do you REALLY want to internal monologue everything? There's some information some people want to keep from other players. Like, perhaps character X has a big dark secret that only they know about. Internal monologues are good for hinting, but for the biggest impact it has to be a surprise for the audience AND the participants.

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I also noticed that some posters are purely conflict driven. If there isn’t a conflict going on that they can actively be apart of they do not to post at all, and only reappear to immerse themselves in a brief conflict then they disappear again until the next conflict. There shouldn’t be an issue about writing about the mundane as long as it gives insight to the character.


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To be fair, conflict is more interesting than, say, sitting in a room doing nothing. People wanna participate y'know.

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I heartily agree with you, Ian. Because sitting in front of the piccolos has convinced me that even one piccolo in a highschool band is one too many.

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But you can never have too much Yazz Flute

"Um, s-sure," Kara said. Secretly, however, she resented paperwork. Truthfully it was all that kept her from becoming a doctor rather than a nurse. Sure, nurses had paperwork, but it was so much less than a nurse's. Plus she was less likely to be sued...

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Odd thing I noticed...

...Next to no one has any musically atuned heroes or villains, unless it is one of their powers.

I mean, from what I hear, Billyboy apparently can use a guitar, and I base 2.0's guitar-ness and singing offa me, but I don't know any others.

So, I am asking this... Who has characters who can play an instrument rather well, can sing, or both, without it being one of their main powers?

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Well a certain character of mine that shall remain nameless that was recently introduced is QUITE the singer...I won't say who
El Guapo Grande is a magnificent mariachi
Asuka plays the flute and shamisen as part of her training.
and Bright Star plays the banjo (kidding)

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The way to balance that out should be:

Robots, if defeated, are costly and time consuming to replace.
Zombies, just keep going as a legless one-armed torso and can be quickly reconstructed/replaced.

That probably isn't used as a balancing factor though. Also, what about natural vs. whatever? Are there any ninja or thug RP MMs? I haven't seen many.

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a superhero martial artist can dodge bullets and can deliver kicks that knock off zombie heads.
but for the thugs and merc type guys? Same argument as robots in terms of offense, and zombies in defense, except faster and smarter

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the song's actually called "Bring Me to Life" FYI...
I uh, own the album

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>.>

*ASes Plauge and runs*

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*web grenade*

zombies=fleshy
robots=not fleshy
zombies go down with a chainsaw and/or shotgun
robots require a bit more work
zombies are vulnerable to flesh eating viruses and fire
robots...not so much
robots are vulnerable to EMP
zombies are fleshy

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Well, quite frankly, it's really hard to tell how a fight between an army of robots versus an army of undead would go simply because the two types operate in completely different circles. You wouldn't expect to find a horde of zombies in a science fiction book nor would you expect to see a legion of robots in a fantasy novel.

And if people are predisposed toward robots, it's because they are affiliated with science fiction, which takes place in the future, while zombies occur in fantasy which we generally consider the past. The dichotomy is that the future is always seen as more powerful than the past, hence, robots kicking zombie [censored].

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it all goes back to the science vs. magic debate again
and then we have the vahzilok

the song's actually called "Bring Me to Life" FYI...
I uh, own the album

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ITunes is being stupid with their odd file formats that nothing but an IPod will load.

Sigh... anyone know a file converter?

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From what to what, may I ask?

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probably iTunes format to mp3

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Yeah, I know. Besides, people can cheat on the dice rolls....I probably would if I lost too many times in a row >.<

Thinking about what Plague said....It seems like all the RPs that have mass amounts of fighting on them tend to be balanced so that one character can’t disturb the plot with a character’s spectrum of powers. It would probably end up more balanced and fun(not to mention less of a headache on the GM) if people did PM each other for battles and what not. It would also be far more entertaining too, I would say. Your character has some special sensory device, the GM sends you a PM saying “Might be able to notice so and so.” or some other stuff I’m too unknowledgeable to think of.

So.....instead of making the GMs wrack their brains trying to figure out how to stop people from harming the story, they can actually think of more story. And battles can go either way, sometimes winning sometimes losing but everyone always gets away somehow. That sounds nice....maybe we should promote that.....might slow down posts for those that aren’t speedy too.

OKAY, I’m going to bed now....

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YES! EXACTLY!
Most of the huge post frenzies are for quick conversations anyway...I notice that some major battles take a while for people to post (primarily duels)
If fights were talked about and scripted ahead of time it'd definately be less of a headache.
and if you REALLY wanna duke it out...could always try an arena thread

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2. An RP concept I had before Bright Star that consisted of all of our characters being whisked back into medieval times and equivalencies. I don't have an exact story to it, just mental images. But the song definitely has a story-timeline. I'd be interested to hear what you guys think of when you listen to it. :P

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>_<
Whenever I read Bright Star I always think people are talking about my tanker >_>

(OOC: Well...dunno about the rest of the hospital but Kara and Mina aren't involved in any current experiments.
I've said too much )

Asuka's theme song is actually:
Asuka by Rin'
Actually I named her BEFORE i ever heard of the song, then i was browsing iTunes and BAM there it was! And it fits too, since I always imagined her theme would have a shamisen in it.

Reishi's is Evolution by Ayumi Hamasaki.
Nicholas Sarder's is Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim
Sae's is Subarishiki Shin Sekai by Yuzo Koshiro/flair (it's the theme song for Namco x Capcom, which was kind of the inspiration for her character)
Sakura/Miyu don't actually have one yet...but I'm open to suggestions!
Leo's is difficult, to say the least.
El Guapo Grande...well...probably the Mexican Hat Dance

problem with losing is sometimes it gets out of hand and escalates to the point where losing would equate to dying. So rather than a pact to lose once in a while, if two or more characters enter into a fight, I propose they actually communicate via PMs or something ahead of time what the intention is and who would win.
It's kinda why I made that "The Game" RP. I noticed that no one really wanted their character to die, and since there's no stat system in place, it's pretty much impossible for one character to kill another unless that character's owner permits it.
For instance, in theory, in the AH101 RP, Soviet_Strike's maltans could have put a tracer on the titan and followed it back to the island. The Maltans are controlled by one person and the island personnel by another. If the two did battle, it'd probably get so insanely convoluted with dodging shooting and drug use, we'd end up with a lost cause.
A few fights i've seen were informed about ahead of time and turned out pretty good, since both writers knew the outcome ahead of time.

"Hey that's great! Maybe one of you can help me..." Kara began nervously, "The girl in room 2-14, do either of you know anything about her? Or have her file or something?"

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I used to do examples like this a hell of a lot to inform people of what they may be doing wrong in an RP, so I get to do what I do best now...

Example of 'crossing the line'; A tech-user is fighting an army with technically made weaponry, getting hit a few times, but in essence, breaking through the many minions. Now, this is understandable. After all, they are MINIONS. As long as they are not the RP equivilant of a Boss, I don't mind so much. I mean, come on... MINIONS!

However, then the main villain comes out, who had been watching the hero for quite some time. He had studied the heroes powers, and finally found their powers' weakness after many years; The jewel of Mars.

Now comes the overpowering... Suddenly, the hero 'knew' the villain acquired the artifact, and, for some reason, had decided to pick up the jewel's inherent weakness on his grocery shopping trip last week.

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For heroes it doesn't make a whole lot of sense...but for neutral guys and villains that situation makes a lot more sense. Being a villain or anti-hero means you have a lot more enemies than a hero does, so it pays to plan ahead...

As for WHY demons are so annoying...because it seems like everyone and their granny makes demonic pacts for awesome powers. It's cliche! Now, if people would do stuff like have the source of their magical power be something that isn't the darky dark mcdarkton, dark lord of the darkest dark darkness manifestation of magical might, like perhaps nature (I've been working on a shinto-esque character that invokes power from everyday objects...like magic pencil of doom) or something non-demonic.
The game devs themselves are horribly guilty of this cliche: Circle of Thorns, Banished Pantheon, etc.

One last thing: Why WOULDN'T the hero plan ahead for the villain exploiting his/her weakness?
Seems if you make it all the way to the final bad guy and he whips out that stupid trump card weakness, rather than going into hiding and equipping all his soldiers of evil with the weakness, have Jimmy Olsen with a baseball bat smash his head in. After all, most of the time the weakness only works on the hero