infinity zone

A few days ago I finally stopped playing Dragon Quest IX continuously; I'd played it several hours a day for ... god knows how long. I finished DQ9 near the end of the Hawaii trip, so ... that's a lot of time spent on the post-story stuff. I racked up 150+ hours into it before I finally found something else to play.

...FF4: The After Years. Ahahaha, I think I've clocked in 25+ hours going through the first few chapters. Rydia and Luca hit the level 40 cap, Yang and Ursula are two levels away, died in my first playthrough of Palom's challenge dungeon, aaaand I've gone through Ceodore's CD at least 12 times. I'm about four levels away from the level 50 cap for Ceodore. I wish Rydia's CD was as easy as Ceodore's has become, but all those Trap Doors and Demon Walls kill my will to go through the dungeons.

The story itself is ... bad. But enjoyably bad, bizarrely enough, with the rampant repeated scenarios and such. I'd already made the mental comparison that the sprites looked like FF6 recolors (Kain = Edgar whut) when my brother walked by, looking at Rydia, and commented that her bodysuit made her look like Terra. So I'm not the only one seeing these things. My brothers were both similarly amused that Edward grew a pair of balls in the last 17 years.

I have no idea why I'm going through these games right now. I should probably be playing P3P, but I've already made tentative plans to play Golden Sun after finishing FF4: TAY. What the heck, me. I still haven't made plans to buy KH: Birth by Sleep, despite initially being interested in it.

Also scouring for more Suikoden doujinshi. Been awhile since I've done that.

Slowly packing boxes of stuff to be moved to the new house. Can't put them in my new room yet, since the carpet was just cleaned this weekend, and we're trying not to leave any valuables in the boxes we store in the basement. I need to do some loads of laundry so I can fold these extra blankets I have. ...Not that I have any room for storing them.

Mr. Nightroad, you are not allowed to come out and play. I don't have the time or energy to do the proper research it would take to play you, or the icons to put in a journal for you. Akihiko, same goes for you. Except I actually have icons. Blah.

Still digging through my doujinshi to see if there are any pictures I want to use for Albert's account. 雷の音 [Sound of the Chariot] has some 17-year-old!Albert pictures, including this one where he shrieks at Yuber for slaughtering a guy out in the middle of the street. :|;; Way to be subtle and all that.

I'll probably end up going through the manga and rescanning as many images as I have the patience to do. I'm realizing the scanning process on my current laptop is different from my previous one, so half the pictures have a different ... quality from the others.

FRWL: Time traveler!Albert based on The Time Traveler's Wife? That would be bizarre. Abel would probably fit FRWL well, but I'm not playing him. I need to strike a balance with Albert so he's not boring for me to play, but not "SUPER SPECIAL." This is why Chrno Crusade-ish!Albert will never go anywhere. Ever.

Things to do:
-- Fill out the relationships lists for Albert (Raine, Genis, Sheena, Ted, Luc, Sasarai, Nina, Yuri Lowell, Vyse, Yuan, Lloyd, Estelle, Usagi, Cloud, Sigmund, Taichi?, Roxas, Atoli, Jacob, etc...) and Walter (Leon, Ruto, Haruki, Stella, Shirley, Senel, Norma, Musette, Guy, Aegis, Eiko, Calypso)
-- Dig up their past ooc meme responses and post them in either my RP musebox thing or on their journals
-- Update Albert's abduction details with his fourth abduction (I am so hilariously happy that the self-plotting of the Malnosso's interest in the Pale Gate Rune worked so well with the developing plot. Of course they could show interest in a rune that opens gates to other worlds.)
-- Post with Walter? (probably delay until his birthday)
-- Threads with Ruto, Luc, and Haruki
-- More RP essays for the musebox ("state of the headspace," missed opportunity w/ Luceti!Albert and Cyril?, the evolution of Rune the fairy/elf owl)


I like how I'm making all these RP tasks for myself when I'm going to have a fairly busy two weeks. I'm taking on content management duties for my manager and being her main POC while she's out, keeping track of the hour tracking system we've just been introduced to, and doing my own work on top of that. Fuuun.


And I FINALLY found the song that I had been using for The Edge of Sanity years ago... Bard Dance by Enya. Hurrah!

Got more Suikoden III doujinshi yesterday: Siren, Shagadelic Soul, and 本日さよなら日和. Looks like Siren is set in the Lotus world ... or maybe some sort of dream, since it's so surreal. Like teenage Albert talking to another [weaker] version of him and smiling as it is dragged into the water by a sea of hands. Then teen Albert talks to little Caesar, who is splashing around in the lotus water...

Shagadelic Soul's got cracky Destroyers stuff and some young Percival and Borus ... as well as Salome looking disturbingly like Piccolo (DBZ)... Then 本日さよなら日和 ... has Caesar finding a dead dog(?) in a bush and talking to Albert (said conversation ends up upsetting Caesar a lot), and Yuber and Albert talking as Albert bleeds to death in a battlefield.

Awesome. I love not being able to read kanji.

( Other doujinshi I have. ...Mostly about the Silverberg brothers. )

I just bought more Suikoden III doujinshi. Of course, featuring Albert and Caesar.

I got the reprint book Lotus 1+2. That means ... I've got Lotus 1-5 now. I just need Lotus 6 to finish the series. Yiiikes. Haven't looked at it yet, but I'm assuming it's gonna start out with Caesar in the Ceremonial Site then open up to the childhood flashbacks, since Caesar and Albert face off in the Ceremonial Site in Lotus 5. Pages: 128

Akage Sairoku #2's another doujinshi made by Aki, who created the Lotus series. I haven't finished browsing yet, but WHOA at the pages of how Albert's coat works. I love it already. It's hilarious thinking about just how many buttons and clasps are on that coat, and how long it must take to put it on. Pages: 72

I already browsed through THUNDER WORKS (pages: 48). Contains Caesar/Albert (yes, in that order), Caesar/Hugo, and just a little Geddoe/Hugo. I'm not big on Albert/Caesar, but BWAHAHA at the idea of Caesar putting the moves on his brother.

...Okay, just glanced further into Akage Sairoku. Bedridden Leon talking to Albert. GLEE! *runs off to browse*

Edit: Looking at Akage Sairoku reminded me that I used to RP Leon (nosimpleanswer). How in the world did I forget that?

--
Mathiu: *caught off guard but hides his shock rather well* My private business is best kept private, but I won't lie; I still have ill memories of my time with you. Children should be treated as children, not molded into some twisted family ideal that suits only the purposes of tyrants and madmen.

Leon: I would have more sympathy if you had not known about your heritage by the time you were walking and talking. When would you have learned the craft, if not as children? As adolescents? As teenagers? As adults?

Mathiu: ....if I could do it again? Probably never. There are much more important "crafts" than orchestrating wars and perverting history.

Leon: Yes, I suppose "perverting history" is a much less important and thankless job than being, say, a doctor. Would you rather have your clinic, nephew, and the hundreds of wounded that our paradigm would otherwise save?

Mathiu: I think you need to re-evaluate your decision making "paradigm"....if you are to ask me questions such as that.

Leon: You seem to forget that I have had many, many years to evaluate my methods. They are effective.

Mathiu: So you say, Uncle. But when you bring death and despair to people, do you still sleep at night? Do your "methods" bring your comfort?

Leon: Do you think I don't know the consequences? It is a war itself being a strategist, Mathiu; you know that as well as I. But, at the end of day, yes, I do sleep... Because there will always be another day with a decision harder to make than the last.
--

Leon smirked to himself, almost pleased his nephew had not taken the bait. "It is unfortunate that there is no such thing as a quick study to relationships."

"Are you implying something?" Mathiu asked, letting his arms drop back into the tub. "Nevermind. Of course you are, dear uncle."

"Subtlety was never a strong point of mine, I'm afraid," Leon replied with a slight incline of the head. "In any case, perhaps you should rethink how you portray people. You let your heart do the talking far too much; it is no wonder that it bleeds so much." He reached for his towel, wrapping it around his waist as he rose out of the bath.

Mathiu averted his eyes as Leon stood up. "Better to be guided by my heart than driven by emotionless power."

"Best to have your heart at the end of the day than on the floor, crushed by those whom you mistrusted it to." Leon gathered his clothes and stayed to a corner of the bath house, fixing his clothing as he dressed.


Holy crap, K. I forgot how intense those two were when we RPed them. >_>

So I got my doujinshi from the post office today. I'm so glad I got gag comics this time around.

Rosso Strada is a Caesar & Albert doujinshi by BRAPPERS. One of the stories seems to be about Albert coming home or arriving wherever it is Apple and Caesar are at the moment.

Apple: *sees a carriage pulling up*
[Someone comes to open up the carriage and pulls out a large, long black box.]
Caesar: A-- a coffin?
Apple: *looks at the one dragging out the coffin* A-- ano...
[And while Apple talks to the person, Caesar has an internal monologue that descends into...]
Caesar: Aru-nii... *throws himself onto the coffin* Aru-nii! Ore... Ore...
Albert: *appears from the other side of the carriage* Tadaima.
Caesar: ... ...
Albert: Nan da?
Caesar: *flashes back to how he must've looked just then* ...Nandemo nai.

Too bad there's no way to get the same endearment with English.

There's also stuff with 8-year-old Albert and 1-year-old Caesar... Such as Albert teaching him "high" by lifting Caesar up, "low" by lowering him, "fast" by running (with Caesar carried like a football), and "scary" by lowering Caesar down a cliff overlooking rocks and the ocean. And Albert getting baby Caesar drunk by putting vodka in his bottle, then drinking said bottle (while Caesar cries).

Then there's Enyakura!, which is more general Suikoden III... It's primarily around Budehuc Castle, with cute moments like Connie (the dog) showing Nash that she's carrying strawberries in her pack. And then Cecile wanders over to a tree where Koroku is sitting, and she notices a tall piece of reed sticking out of the ground. She goes off and gets a shovel, then starts to dig, only to have an arm reach out of the ground and grab her. She looks down to see Watari's face staring back up at her. Of course, this leads to her running away screaming. >_>

November starts in just a few more hours... Just a few more weeks before holidays and such. Wow.

I'm excited. I ordered some more Suikoden doujinshi and I should be able to pick them up tomorrow. I was debating it for awhile, but decided to order four so I'm getting my money's worth from the shipping and handling ($21 EMS from Japan, sheesh). I'm getting Brunch and Alliance, those two manga anthologies for Suikoden I and II that have been around for years. They were cheap, so I thought it couldn't hurt.

The ones I'm really excited about are the Lotus doujinshi from moenokoyashi. I've been a big fan for ages and the Albert and Caesar art is gorgeous. Under the cut is the cover illustration of one of them.

( Picture cut )

Skimming through my Suikoden III doujinshi that arrived today...

-- Albert reciting Macbeth = hot.
-- Albert in colarless shirt showing a lot of neck = hot.
-- Child!Caesar wanting to sleep with his brother rather than any of his stuffed animals = cute.
-- Sasarai smiling like the scheming bishop he is = creepy.