Mae

Hrm. I didn't call anyone in to see if I was appearing on the couch on their screens... Maybe I'll give this a try again and just have others take the SS's for me >_> ... Though on the other hand, being able to hide under furniture would be really nice...

That was actually me trying to sink a cot into the couch so I could lay down on it. However, the part of the cot we lay on does not match up nicely with the part of the couch we sit on. I was annoyed that I couldn't get them to synch, and just removed the cot without getting up. And... I ended up just dropping straight to the floor, without getting out of the /doze pose.

On Atkins, do you have to be 100% carb-free, or does it allow for foods that have a high protein-to-carb ratios? My husband was on a low-carb, high protein diet and (combined with 15 minutes of exercise a day) lost almost 40 pounds in 14 weeks, and one of the things that was stressed with his diet was that if he couldn't avoid carbs, he had to balance it with high protein. Shirataki noodles (you find these where tofu is kept in most grocery stores and Super Wal-Marts) are zero-carb (they're pretty close to zero-everything), and as long as you do your research correctly they can sub in for Italian-style pasta as easily as they work for Asian dishes. Knowing how to prep them is key, though -- my husband nearly threw up the first time because we didn't know that they needed to be rinsed a LOT as soon as you take them out of the bag. Buckwheat, quinoa, flax, chickpeas, and chia have high protein-to-carb ratios. A little work, they can all be used to make a nice rice substitute. Or a granola substitute. Or flour substitute. Or oatmeal substitute... they can substitute a lot of things. Just don't count on them for anything that requires a gluten property. Berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries) have a different type of sugar than other fruit, and are good for low-carb diets, pre-diabetics, and people with type-2 diabetes. Pineapple, too. And watermelon. If you're the type that typically likes to sprinkle sugar on your strawberries to get rid of the bitterness... swap it for (believe it or not) Celtic grey or Himalayan pink salts. -- Salt trick also works for grapefruit, but citrus is something you should avoid on a low-carb/pre-diabetic/type-2 diabetic diet. Bananas, stone fruits, and melons (except watermelons) should also be avoided on these types of diets. Large lettuce leaves can sub for bread in cold-cut sandwiches/wraps. And fajitas/tacos. And then there's lettuce cups. Similarly, you can use long, patted-dry strips of cucumber flesh wrapped around rolled up cold-cuts. Hope some of this helps for getting around the rut. ... I have a recipe somewhere for a "chocolate pudding" that's actually made with avocados that's supposed to be really good and can be frozen into fudgesicles...

Level up the class for the clothes, hide the weapon, and then designate the class/outfit as special occasions wear. Or RP being really crappy at the class if you must fight. Use the bow as a really flimsy club, use the arrows as stabbing weapons...

According to the site, Kara looks... 14. She's 19. And I look 23... I'm 30. I'm... not sure if I'm actually happy about looking younger...

Over-easy egg.

Same, or any event where there's more than 8 people and I can't move far enough away to limit the range of what's popping up on my screen (FC-tavern RP in a small house, for example). I actually get sort of motion-sick trying to keep up with a busy chatlog. I tried blisting once at one of those events, I was spending more time on the blist screen and scrolling back up through the log to see if I missed something than I did RPing... and actually discovered that I had accidentally blisted someone I was RPing with, which was probably why they eventually 'got up quietly and just left'. Chat bubbles can clutter a screen, sure, but... it was always easier for me.

Overall, I think most of the additions are fine, and fairly reasonable. There's only one part that I'm not... overly thrilled with, because one interpretation seems overly harsh, while another seems like it's just a headache waiting to happen. I COULD be wrong with my interpretations, though... Are we talking 20 -total- points, or -active- points? Scenario A, "Total Points version 1": Heated debate comes up in thread. Member makes 6 posts (12 points active, 12 points total, 1-week ban is leveled) in the discussion that are deemed offensive before a Mod can step in and make a general warning. Four months pass, everything is quiet, and active points are reset. Thread pops up that eventually devolves into peanut-gallery meme posting, Member joins in once and is warned (2 points active, 14 points total). 20 days pass, Member makes mace-to-the-face comment and is warned (4 points active, 16 points total). Five months pass, everything is quiet, active points are reset. Member gets involved in another heated debate, makes 3 posts before Mod steps in and tells people to dial it back and issues warnings (6 points active, 22 points total). Permaban is leveled. or Scenario A, "Total Points version 2" Member makes at most 1 overly snarky comment every 20 days, and therefore never has above 4 active warning points and never needs the 1-week moderation of posts. 20 total points, however, is achieved in 9 months, permabanned. versus Scenario B, "Active Points": Heated debate comes up in thread. Member makes 3 posts (6 points active, 6 points total) that require warnings. 25 days pass, Member makes 2 posts that is meme peanut gallery(10 points active, 10 points total, 1-week ban is leveled). 3 days pass, no incidents (because banned), active points are reduced to 4 (4 weeks have passed since first round of warnings). 4 days pass, ban is lifted. 14 days pass, Member makes 2 ugly posts (8 points active, 14 points total, no posting for a week). Posting ban is lifted, no posts for a week, active points are reduced to 4. 2 days pass, Member derails thread with 3 peanut-gallery meme postings (10 points active, 22 points total, 2-week ban). Member returns, behaves for 14 days, active points are reduced to 0. 5 days, overly-aggressive post (2 points active, 24 points total). 9 days, ugly post (4 points active, 26 total). 6 days, meme spam (6 points active, 28 total, posts are moderated for 1 week). 2 days pass, no incidents, active points are reduced to 4. 7 days pass, no incidents, active points are reduced to 2. 1 day passes, aggression occurs, Mod nips in bud after first post (4 points active, 28 total). 6 days pass, no incidents, active points are reduced to 2. Heated debate rears it's head again, Member makes 5 angry posts (12 points active, 38 total, 1-month ban). Everything is quiet for 1 months because of ban, active points are reduced to 0. Member returns, minds manners for another month. Two nasty posts (4 points active, 42 points total). Member remembers manners and plays nice for two weeks, commits 1 peanut gallery meme posting (6 points active, 44 points total, 1 week of moderated posts). Member plays nice for 7 days after moderation stops, active points reset to 2 ... ad nauseam... If scenario A1 is how things are meant to run... I don't know if this is really fair. The 'bad behaviour' is infrequent, would make more sense to level the '1-week moderated posting' consequence for that last incident. Likewise, A2 is minor enough that I don't know if permaban is fair to the hypothetical member. Of course, I can easily and TOTALLY see how scenario B would be utterly exhausting and/or frustrating for Mods to deal with... Like I said, I might be wrong with my interpretations... ---- Also, is there perhaps a way to petition to have warning points removed? Like in the case that a post was made and there were some genuinely horribly crossed-wires in the creation of it that one doesn't notice until people are quoting and responding negatively to, and before an apology/edit/redaction can be made, a Mod drops a warning? (I ask this one specifically because it happened to me once, and the memory of how horrible that 100% unintentional mistake was has turned me into a nervous poster and is the reason why I've just spent 4 hours writing this thing...)

Kara would probably have a stall in a flea-market, filled with antiques and random curios... which would all be over-priced because she really didn't want to sell stuff off >_>

Dealt with this error before... Try switching to other data centers. If you can't get into any of the other data centers, then it's a problem on your end (routers/ports). If you can get into another data center, then you just need to wait a while (longest I've had to deal with is an hour...) for the issue to clear itself out.

Kara -- dark Gardener -- light Mallow -- dark Tinne -- light Whisper -- black Eltanin -- light Luc'a -- grey/blue Swyn -- grey/blue ... I think I just choose what looks good for the character I'm making. But I guess if I had to come up with some connection between Kara's skincolour and my own, Kara has approximately the same tone I would have with a light tan before I got sick. These days, I'm... beyond pale. They don't make foundation/concealer pale enough for me, so I have to water down white-base.

In theory, yeah. A looooot of crystals of the correct aspect and blood from the corresponding Beastman tribe could work -- it'd be like officiating over a mini Beastman summoning and just hijacking the tiny 'Primal' that manifests.

This is purely me speculating, so... take it as you wish. "Blood magic" in a lot of places is a bit of a misleading term -- it has little to do with an actual magic type, and more of a system on how to augment magic. The use of blood (from a few drops from one's own finger to the sacrificial slaughter of hundreds) is a powerful boost to magical workings - it's an offering of life's energy/force that can have an influence based on where, what, and how it was collected. The old 'Blood Rite' ability Sounsyy linked sort of reinforces the idea to me. A CNJ/WHM pricks their own finger as a 'sacrifice of self' to boost a healing spell, or similarly a SCH uses their own blood/blood from willing donors for their healing formulae. A THM/BLM uses blood collected from a sacrifice as an 'offering of destruction' to boost their own spells/rituals, and Void-based magic requires some quantity of Void blood. An ARC/SMN could even get particular when it comes to collecting/sourcing based on their spells: Bio uses formulae inscribed with the blood of a carrier of a particular disease, Egi- formulae use blood from sources that have a particular affinity to aether or devotees (Egi-Titan requires blood from some animal that's particularly 'Earth-y' in nature, or from Kobolds)... Regarding the Demon Wall, the big question would be... who's blood was it? If in their heads SE followed one of the more common trains of thought on the idea, the blood used would've been willing donations from the inhabitants... or the blood of beasts that were bred, raised, and trained to guard. This would validate the Sympathetic Magic angle that was brought up earlier -- "this is our place/this is something I guarded" would boost something made to guard. This is actually similar to the theory I used in my FFXI RP. I haven't played other FF games, so I don't know how they are there... but in XI, a RDM had some combat viability (provided they're not pressured into straight-gearing/meriting for healing...). In the RP, a 'true' Red Mage went into combat -- they had to be willing to spill blood and have their own spilled. The blood that they spilled from physical combat could be funneled to augment their black/elemental magic. When their blood was spilled while defending themselves/others, it could be used to augment their white/healing magic. The Convert ability was a sacrifice of blood (HP) for 'emergency' access to magic... stuff like that. A Red Mage that simply stood in the back and just cast spells was often called a "grey mage" as a sort of insult -- there was nothing 'red' about someone who only casts black and white magic. ... I'm rambling...

Also.. if you haven't considered it... boxes. If you don't have any normally hanging around the house, get some of the smaller packing boxes that kitty will fit in, cut holes in them, and stack them and duct-tape them firmly together. My cats always loved box towers to run through, hide, and chew/claw on. You can semi-wrap them in wrapping paper to make them more pleasing to look at. They're also cheap to make and replace (if yours is anything like mine, you'll be replacing every two to three months), and you can do variations on the patterns to give a different experience.

Patching with ducttape/gorilla tape will work... provided kitty doesn't like to chew on tape. Cat tunnels tend to be smaller in general. This is for kids, so it might be bigger than you're looking for, but it might be something to consider.

Anyone can take or disregard that dialogue as they may, I suppose, but the context is that she hid her appearance because it was known to be (initially) disquieting, and had been met with fear and rejection before. Is it -just- the Garleans that treated them this way? Maybe, maybe not, but the context sort of suggests that the reaction was prevalent enough that not only was the thought to cover up almost completely given, but specific clothes were developed to not hinder the wearer -- it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment "let me wrap my head and shoulders in a scarf" move.

I think some Au Ra presence of either clan since 2.Leviathan can be fairly legitimate. Earlier than that, creative usage of "they left Othard/Doma at some earlier point during the war" would work. Following Yugiri's example of keeping completely covered is probably the best way to keep the appearance issue from being a problem if they'd been here for a while -- either they dressed similarly, used glamours, or just stayed hidden/in the home/away from 'outsiders'. Between the scholarly evidence and their own creation myth that suggests Au Ra are likely not dragonspawn and that they are Othard natives, I am -extremely- pleased with this lore. I had worried that Yugiri was going to turn out to be some lore fluke and be the only Au Ra Doman/Easterner. And I really, -really- didn't want dragonspawn. Dark Knight... well, I'll preface this by saying the only other FF game I've played is XI. Dark Knight there wasn't a 'fallen Paladin' or 'evil knight' -- it was originally a Galkan tradition that 'fed' off their Chain of Rage. If the rage got the better of them (even for non-Galkas), they could go insane or die and come back as an evil spirit that inhabits their weapons and possess kobolds to carry them around. All that being said, I like this vigilante-fight-for-the-little-people take. I probably still won't play it -- I lack the proper mentality to be a tank. Astrologian makes more sense to me now that it's Sharlayan tradition. I was having a hard time braining through "look through telescopes and write in logs" suddenly becoming "Heals!". Will probably only level it if it's required for some achievement. Machinist... probably not my cup of tea to play. Totally waiting for gunfights at High Noon, though.

Yep. Multiple times. I can't really say that I've handled the situations with logical or consistent methods beyond doing what I felt was needed to preserve my emotional/mental health at the time. Sometimes things got patched up in a few days and we kept a friendship, some took weeks and we're officially just neutral with each-other, others I'm still holding a grudge about and forced interactions between myself and the other party are NOT good.

Woke up pain free after sleeping through the whole night, and without an alarm clock or message alert from the truck computer.

*contemplates the can labeled 'Worms' in her hand, then shrugs and goes for the can-opener* Being part of a group that RP's MSQ, it's not that difficult for me to imagine >_> Kara doesn't like it. She doesn't have the disposition to be a hero-type... or be overly helpful to strangers. She actually tried to buck it a few times and run away (there were other, perhaps more pressing, reasons for her running away but the whole "destiny" and "fate" thing did factor in), but she kept getting dragged back. In the end, her involvement in events is both reluctant and selfish -- she doesn't want to do it, but she realizes that if the world goes to hell there'll likely be a lack of people for her to steal from. She's also gone and answered the question of "Why me?"... there's not really anyone else she'd trust to do this stuff in her place. It's another reason why she hasn't totally buried herself under a pile of rocks somewhere to avoid being involved in events. Being immune to being Tempered/Touched/Thrall'd/Drowned/whatever is only useful when it comes to being on a team that's being sent to fight a Primal. Considering that it's a trait that the Scions look for when they're looking to put down a Primal, Kara isn't fond of it. Her Echo powers seem to be more of a hassle to her than a gift; she can understand languages only about half the time, and the occasional random glimpse into other's memories tends to literally knock her on her ass. Beyond that, she has no special gifts -- she's just as frail as the next person and has taken her fair share of lumps, bumps, sprains, and wounds. She's just so far been lucky enough to avoid more serious injuries.

I keep my languages on English, though it tends to not really matter for me. If there's subtitles/text dialogue, my brain seems to auto-focus on that over any audio. Add to it that I read fast, I tend to speed through CS's. Beyond that though, I read, speak, and understand next to nothing in Japanese, and my conversational German and French skills are limited to "The American has dog biscuits in his pocket" and "I am a pineapple", respectfully.

(Ignore this post... something weird just happened...)

Damage, poor maintenance, and a poor fit would impede movements, but yeah beyond those it would've been rather... stupid... to put on something that would make movement (especially while fighting) difficult. However. "I sneak silently in plate armor" is still not possible, as far as I'm concerned >_>