Spun off from Crossovers That Should Not Be XIV...

Jorlem Wrote:I'm scared...

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RomanFanboy Wrote:Those Who Shave Angels: introducing the new six bladed progressive safety razor.

Ebony Wrote:

ClassicDrogn Wrote:... Damn it Japan! I was better off with the gone-when-i-turn-my-head tentacles!
- CD, anything that makes Gendo smile like that, I want to be far, far away from....

Nah. It just means that all his obssessive craziness was in his beard. Or that the anti-psychotics in the shaving cream have taken effect.
  

robkelk Wrote:

Ebony Wrote:

ClassicDrogn Wrote:... Damn it Japan! I was better off with the gone-when-i-turn-my-head tentacles!
- CD, anything that makes Gendo smile like that, I want to be far, far away from....

Nah. It just means that all his obssessive craziness was in his beard. Or that the anti-psychotics in the shaving cream have taken effect.
  

What do you mean, "shaving cream"? Wasn't that LCL?

Necratoid Wrote:Judging by Rei's face that add is from the alt world of episodes 25-26 or something... actually probably Asuka's alt world were Kaji lives and Gendo's beard dies.

RomanFanboy Wrote:Ladies and Gentlemen,
I think you are over reacting and or making incorrect assumptions.

1) I generally feel better when I am clean shaven. (But correlation does not prove causation.)
2) These people are obviously happy purely from the quality of their shaving experience.
3) Yes, I guess this does include the girls. No, I don't care to think about that.
4) There are many varieties of LCL across fanfic. I figure at least one of them must be useful as a really good shaving lubricant. Also, others for other personal purposes that I don't care to think about.
5) If I am a good model for Gendo Ikari, I can think of at least one thing to make him smile like that might not be all that offensive to experience.
a) Go to the reading room of the Miskatonic University Library.
b) Read, cover to cover, a particular biography of Mao Zedong. If need be, get the copy in the special collection with the Krummerman and Sheng glosses.
c) Fail the roll to disbelieve.
d) Check yourself into Arkham to help recover.
e) Recover, with or without the help of The Batman.
f) Realize, that as Mao took over entirely around 1950, and died in the mid 1970s, and this is 2012 at the earliest, even if you live in the People's Republic of China, it isn't the People's Republic of China as ruled by a living Mao Zedong.
g) If you are anything like me, or Gendo Ikari, this will make you more than that happy, all other things being the same.
h) This isn't anything too uncomfortable, as long as you are not a wimp with your reading material, unwilling to understand uncomfortable things, or in need of help when recovering SAN loss. (Because being institutionalized would be annoying.)

'Ritsuko Akagi, the truth is, I really do not like Mao Zedong.'

'Heh. You liar.'

BAAM

6) More seriously, there are a lot of things, not really objectionable to anybody, that would make anybody that happy. Like a really enjoyable shave.
7) I, personally, would not care for the described shaving experience. I consider a a shaving method as I would a tool. I prefer that tools do the job well, with the minimum of fuss, attention, and bother. If something is very much enjoyable in of itself, it entirely defeats this quality of being a good tool.
8) Gendo being clean shaven makes him totally better, like the Romans who we got the clean shaven mores from.
a) The Romans are great, and their greatness should be imitated.
b) Shaving was one of the few personal habits of the Romans that wasn't vile.
c) Safety razors are totally better than whatever it is that the Romans used.
d) Still, I probably wouldn't care for whatever fancy kind Schick is trying to sell here. I prefer the cheaper ones, and bar handsoap or plain water is less of a hassle than cream or gel.
9) I wanna go shave.

If I didn't manage to hit somebody's 'Should Not Be' reaction yet, well, we've secretly replaced your shaving or other personal lubricant of choice with LCL from Sic Semper Morituri. Let's see if you notice.

Note that LCL from Sic Semper Morituri is a fairly hazardous substance, and it says something about somebody when they don't die on contact.

Not a fanfic crossover, but I'd say that a diesel-electric shaver would be one of those devices that is very unlikely to be worth engineering.

CattyNebulart Wrote:It's a commonly held axiom that everything can be improved be adding more chainsaws. Therefore Gendo is clearly smiling because he replaced the blades of your razor with chainsaws.

Ayep saw it. Found it good. The 'Damn you Whedon!' moment is ambiguous. Most of what's been in the trailer is the start of the third act. I'll probably go see it again in 3D to see if it makes a difference but I doubt it as most of the cinematography & stuff had no major pieces that called out 'hey this bit's in 3D'. Also I still can't place the aliens, though the end credit postscript brings up the major villain for the sequel.

Last time I threw up one of these, it was for the NPC's of the game, but this time I'm curious as to how peoples toons sound to them?
What voices do your PC's use?
I'll go first.
Dark Seraph: Uses my own voice because... well, he was me, but then got a much more fun and interesting life.
Atrum Angeli: Again, me. But Art also has a mix of R Djr's Tony Stark in there (mainly the ego ) 
Panzer Saber: Tara Strong, She has the right chirpyness and happynes that works for Gir.
Broken Sabre: Tabitha St Germain. I liked how she sounded in some animes I have seen her before.
Nephilim Blade: Courtenay Taylor, the voice of Jack from Mass Effect... It seemed to suit Neph's bitter and some times volatile attitude.
Ghinerghiest: Claudia Black. Her roll as Vala in SG1 was sort of what Sera is like, mischievousness, trouble maker that some times pushes people a tad to far.

They are currently going under a migration to new forum software. It may be opened to non-registered viewers again soon.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Once again, I've got a problem with the app I'm developing.  If anyone can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here I'd be very grateful.

First, some background.  I'm writing this in VB.NET, using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. The program creates a number of forms dynamically from information in a database table, laying out a few controls on each of the forms, and then presents them to the user as needed in response to user interactions with the program.

One of the types of controls I added to the forms a few weeks ago was the Windows Media Player, so we can have running video on any/all of the screens.  At the time I added it, I was rushed for time and the COM+wrapper implementation of the WMP as a component was a bit on the opaque side when it came to creating instances of the player programmatically, so I cheated and dropped a player on the form that served as my base class, made it hidden and inactive, and only activated it when I needed a player on a descendant.  Yeah, I know, inefficient and uses up memory even on the forms without video.  I know.  I intended to do it right later.

Well, this morning I finally got around to doing it right, mainly by figuring out what the hell I needed to do to retrieve the right OcxState for the player so my creation routine didn't crash out with a mystery message.  Except...

Although the media player is there, it's got the video it's supposed to show loaded, the little play-position control thingy is progressing left-to-right on the control bar, and everything else claims to be hunky-dory -- nothing appears in the control.  If I use the WMP context menu to zoom to full screen, I can see the video, but anytime I want to see it on the form, no dice.  Now this was behaving properly when I was working with an instance put on the form at design time, so I'm pretty sure it's something inobvious I'm not setting properly at object creation.  

I'm hoping someone here has a clue they can share with me...  Thanks.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Hi... some time ago Dakota and me had some idea on hardlight tech and an incident on Jenga that lead to the tech. After robkelk told me that the Trekkies were working on a similar tech in 2018-2020, I combined both ideas and came up with a wiki entry for it (see below).

Shortly afterwards Cobalt Greywalker remarked that there is evidence in the Second Phobos Invitational that the tech is a lot older (most likely developed in 2013-2016, maybe even earlier), but the story is not conclusive about it.

I would like to hear the opinions of the community how we should handle the whole thing.

###############

Hardlight Holograms
»I am not sure Mira ever noticed what was wrong when she woke up. Until we told her that she had been sleeping on the branches of our holographic Christmas Tree over the night!«
- Cathy in early 2020, telling a story about the Christmas Party some days ago

»Emergency Medical Holographic Program AK-1 ready for duty... wait, what do you mean, you have still a problem with solid holograms? Wake me up when you got it running you fools!«
- heard during the development of the first room sized Solid Hologram projector on Starbase 1

History

Holographic technology has always been a part of most Fenspace factions. Handwavium allowed the Fen to go from two-dimensional projection to free-floating three dimensional shapes within a months, something that has angered the Daneverse entertainment industry a lot.

But while three dimensional projections became cheap quickly, the results were still without substance, free floating images that could be seen, but not touched. Several factions and research institutions worked on solving this problem without success for years. But then, a blue-hair moment pushed the technology of Fenspace a little bit forward.

During a Christmas party in 2019 at Jenga with lots of partying, a group of catgirls and the Holo artist Dakota suddenly began to rip apart the projectors of the holographic Christmas tree and began to work on it. Like most blue-hair moments, it couldn’t be reconstructed later what had happened during the night, but the Trekkie built holo-projectors had gained a new quality during the night, the projection had become solid.

Unfortunately nobody had a clue how the system did achieve this effect.

It took a combined research team of Trekkie hologram specialists and catgirls from Catgirl Industries (with regular help and advice from Dakota) more than a year to replicate the effect with a new prototype.

The technology

Hardlight system (or Solid Holograms as the Trekkies call them usually) are a more complex kind of projection system that can give their output a solid surface. Depending on the complexity of the projection system this ability can be anywhere between the projection of smooth walls and a Star Trek style holodeck.

Most Hardlight projectors are very limited in the amount of force they can apply on real objects within their area of effect. You can easily touch Hardlight projections, but pressing too hard will let you slide through the projections. Most times this disrupts the effect of a solid surface for all projections closeby.

Quirks:

• A lot of Hardlight holodeck systems have issues with their safety protocols.
  

• It took the Trekkies several years to finish the first Holodeck
  
• Catgirl Industries still use the first Hardlight system at Jenga for their Christmas parties
  

From: "Purrfect Shield"
To: "Silicon Sabre"
Subject: Every time I go to Praetoria, there’s a surprise in store...

First things first. That War Walker factory you’d found reports about was right where you thought it was. From what I could tell, the IDF was taking advantage of the focus that both Primal Earth and the Resistence have on the City to increase production at factories in other areas of the planet they control. They had at least fifty Goalith-class units under construction before their main reactor suffered a bad case of indigestion. Nene’s new sabotage software worked perfectly at that, btw.

The really surprising thing was when I did some recon around the area before going in to blow the base up. It turns out there was already someone from Paragon in the area, a heroine in fact. From what she’s explained to me, it looks like your train misadventure wasn’t the only case of heroes ending up stuck in Praetoria, although you at least ended up on a continent that meant you made it back before Priss went completely loopy.

Her name’s Stephanie Silvear, daughter of Crystal and Arthur Brown. You might remember Arthur as the rather second rate supervillain the Sphinxmaster. Maybe. He was last arrested before the Sabres began, and he’s been stuck in the Zig ever since. The idiot had this need to send the PPD ‘clues’ about the crimes he was planning, really obvious clues at that, which usually meant that there were heroes waiting for him. The last time he tried to pull a heist, it was Stephanie waiting for him in a homemade costume, calling herself the Meddler. Apparently she was well and truly sick of putting up with his nonsense, so she made sure he’d be going back to the Zig for a long time.

After that, she had the taste for the costumed life, and she wasn’t planning on giving it up, even if FBSA regulations at the time sort of wanted her to, given her status as the daughter of a super-villain. Instead, she pretty much operated as an unregistered vigilante in Kings Row, Skyway and so on. Places where she could do some good, but disappear easily enough when someone started to figure out she wasn’t licensed. Although she DID slip up and mention Manticore at one point. I’m going to need to check our files, but I get the feeling Justin’s been working outside the system again.

Back when Marchand and the Resistance were first sending Powers Division agents to Paragon, Steph discovered one of the hidden portal generators, and that the IDF was planning to use it as a staging ground for an attack on Talos. Being a very proactive sort, and the sort of girl that only occasionally remembers to look while she’s leaping, she decided to do something about it. And given the eventual attack on Talos Island came by sea, she clearly pulled it off. In the process however, she ended up on the wrong side of the portal and having to put as much distance between her and the irritated Imperials as possible. We’ve all been there at one time or another, but we’ve usually got some way to get back home (And who says Silos isn’t useful?).

So, stuck in the wrong reality, no way to call for help. She kept her head down until the Imperials stopped looking for her, hoping to get back into the base and try to find a way to call home. Instead, she found one of the interesting little stories about Praetorian Earth. There’s still life out there that isn’t a mutated killing machine. Small villages, existing in regions where the Hamidon’s at least been driven back somewhat. All rather limited in terms of technology and resources, they’re mostly forced to exist on the goodwill of the Imperials or trade with valuable items they recover from the abandoned cities. Stephanie earned a place among them as both a protector and as one of the region's most talented scavengers, after preventing the IDF from identifying her by ‘accidentally’ activating the dormant were-jaguar heritage she inherited from her mothers bloodline. (The Silvears are one of the last major Iceron lines still active on this Earth, from what I remember, although the only thing Stephs mother ever seems to have done with the abilities is test the limits of her resistance to drugs and alcohol).

She’s... interesting, in all senses of the word. Strong moral compass, especially for someone that grew up with a father like hers. Quick thinking, tends to improvise more than make solid plans, although she seems to be learning a few things there. Her mouth is even quicker then her brain. I think that Sammy and Spacey might have some new competition. Taught to fight by a world-class warrior I’ve heard rumors about, and she has the devils own luck to back up her skills and regenerative powers. Getting her back to Paragon has some potential, although I’m going to need to make a few calls. Working out a way to evacuate these civilians is one big problem, the other is getting her registered properly. Do you still have Barbara Duncans number over at the FBSA? The last thing we need is for someone like Keith Nance to be assigned as her case officer.

… On second thought, maybe that’d be a good thing. It’d be ten minutes tops before she jumped the desk and beat the crap out of him. We could sell tickets.

One of these days, I’m going to go to Praetoria and just beat things up, then come home. No surprises, no complications. Sure, it wouldn’t be as interesting, but it’d make a nice change.

- Purrfect Shield
"Oh, what has science wrought? I sought only to turn a man into a metal-encased juggernaut of destruction powered by the unknown properties of a mysterious living crystal. How could this have all gone wrong?"

May 4th, 2018, Coruscant, Mimas, Saturn (Fenspace Convention #10 "CoruCon")


I love Convention... well, mostly.

A big part of it is the Friday that everyone arrives, showing up in a steady stream from practically right after midnight on through the early evening. It's a chance to meet with people one hasn't seen since the last Convention, and in some cases, a good excuse for some of us to meet up without having to schedule it weeks in advance.

The only real bad part about it is having to put on my political hat.

For example, this time it was a good time really to get together with Mal and Myk. Now, as a record, Myk in some ways works for me, at least in terms of being a consultant for Jupiter Mining Corporation, the company I run with the help of Nene and Geo. Mal runs his own little group (under token protest) called the Soviet Air Force In Exile, the VVS, or occasionally "those Red Commie Bastards". One thing few realize is that Myk and I are perhaps the only two people outside the Soviet's original core group that knew Mal before the diaspora. And that he was the one responsible for me having gotten my hands on a batch of Handwavium early on.

Nene had stayed on Starbug 1 to handle some last minute paperwork as related to the running of the JMC, before we would be shoulder deep in the panel tracks as related to the running of Fenspace itself. I was both looking forward to and dreading the next two days of negotiations and discussions, so we were together in the main cantina of Coruscant, drinking spiked milkshakes (making me wonder who here was a closet Red Dwarf fan, I mean, beer milkshakes?!), and discussing some of our strategies under the convenient shield of the noise.

"I think the biggest part is convincing Marsden that changing some of the rules regarding mining safety would be good for everyone. Especially with this 'United Belters Association' that's formed in response to his relative stranglehold on the asteroid belt," I said, taking another swig of my margarita milkshake. "Expecting them to form an actual corporation, rather than a co-op, to be able to share the load of meeting safety regulations, isn't really being sporting."

"Shouldn't be too hard,” Mal said, twirling one of the poppers we'd ordered around speculatively. “'It's all carrot and stick. We let him know how a little healthy competition will be good for his business. And if that doesn't work,” he added, “then the UMWA and the IWW will start unionizing more of his crews.”

Mal shook his head. “I never thought I'd be playing capitalist bully-boy games,” he said.

"Don't sweat it," Myk said. "We all know that things can't run without it right now. At least we're not asking you to... wait, there's Nene." He put up an arm to wave so that Nene could find us more easily. The cantina had started to get fairly crowded now, after all. She waved back, and made her way over.

Once she cleared the crowd near the table, my eyebrows practically shot up into my hairline. I’d seen Nene in dresses and skirts prior (her strapless dress she wore to Noah and Leda's wedding being a particularly notable example), but this was... the dress mimicked the general red, pink and white of her common hardsuit design, but ended pretty much as high as one could end a dress and still retain some modesty, with the pink continued down her legs via fishnets, disappearing into red leather knee high boots. The top of the dress was equally daring, spaghetti straps and a fair amount of cleavage showing.

Mal was making a definite point of not looking directly at anything Nene was showing except perhaps her face (not that I blame him, with Sora likely somewhere nearby). Myk rubbed his eyes with both hands, looked at her again, then glanced my way for a second to check my reactions.

"What'd I miss?" she asked, a little too cheerfully. I felt a slight trickle of sweat running down my back.

"Uh... just discussing the UBA and Greenwood situation."

"Get it all sorted out?"

"Almost. We've been mostly running our thoughts past our Happy Fun Commie Mal." Mal snorted at the reference, but kept quiet.

"Well... if you're about done... I was wondering if you wanted to see the WFC exhibit they just finished setting up... all the stuff they've managed to replicate from it the past two years, all in one big room..."

"Maybe later, Nene, maybe we can do it as a group, all of us," I replied, a tad too quickly. And once I said it, I realized I'd erred, and erred greatly, as Nene's happy aura visibly crumbled, her entire posture slumping.

"...you know, if you were going to blow me off again..." she started. I didn't quite hear Myk behind me make an inarticulate noise that roughly translated as, "oh no you idiot, you didn't..." as Nene seemed to shrink in front of us. She looked like she was about to actually burst out into tears right out in public. Then, she straightened up a little bit, sucked some air in through her nose in part to stifle a sniffle or maybe even a first sob. "...the least you could do for once is actually acknowledge that you've known I've had feelings for you, rather than keep me closed off..."

And then she turned and ran out of the cantina, quickly disappearing into the Friday Convention crowd filing in from the docking areas. I stood there for a few moments, my brain basically locked up as I realized how hurt she really was, and completely unsure if I should even make the effort to pursue her through the crowd.

Then, I was aware of two people who had come up behind me, one on either side of me.

"That went well," Myk remarked dryly to my right.

"I'd say so," Mal said from my left.

"Let's go somewhere private," Myk said, in the tone of voice that most people would think it a suggestion... but I could sense the insistence of a demand buried in it. Still a little numbed from the shock, I nodded, turned, and the two of them led me into one of the private rooms usually reserved for shipping negotiations.

Once Mal ensured that the door to the room was properly sealed against eavesdroppers, he turned around, looked me square in the eye, and said flat out, "Right, how long have you known, and how long did you think you could put it off by ignoring it?"

"Known..."

"Don't give us any sort of fucking hemming or hawing about it, Jeph," Myk snapped. "She basically said it in front of what must have been half the SMOFs, and the other half will be hearing about it soon enough." He shook his head. "I mean, I know you can be completely fucking oblivious to such things, but not for almost ten fucking years, not in these fucking close quarters, and not with the effects of your biomod. I really should have confronted you about it sooner than this." He paused a little bit. "Just your luck I've been on the road too much to notice that you had it figured out but hadn't actually done anything about it. I thought her laying off meant you'd dealt with it in a reasonable fucking manner."

Mal gave Myk a questioning look, but apparently decided to let whatever question that had come to his mind slide for the time being, as he looked at me again.

"Myk's got a point. I can't see anyone being that oblivious. Something bothers you about it, doesn't it?"

"And what if it does, Sam?" I asked, starting to get more than a little angry, although mostly at myself. Mal flinched a little bit at the use of his old 'Dane name, but held his ground.

"Then maybe you need to get past whatever it is, and search your own feelings, Jeff," he responded, the slight difference in the pronunciation making it clear which of my names he was using.

"Of course, of course, that's what I've been seeing and not connecting... damnit, Jeph, you're being a hypocrite of the highest order," Myk said, palming his face and trying to keep his voice even in spite of the fire starting to take his eyes. He slid his hand off his chin, and fixed me with a glare suitable for melting Wave Convoy's skin. "Exactly how long have you been trying to hide your own feelings behind that paternal facade now?"

Now it was my turn to flinch... a flinch that quickly turned into anger. I slammed a fist onto the table, my body shifting to female almost without me noticing it by the time flesh impacted plastic.
"Damnit, Myk, in a way I'm her father. I can't allow myself to indulge in those sorts of feelings!"

And the anger immediately dissipated, as I realized I had said what the two of them had already known or suspected, and it was replaced with a feeling of great regret and shame. I slumped down into the bench.

"oh damnit all to hell. i'm her father, i can't..."

"Can't what, Jeph?" Myk asked, somewhat calmly, perhaps too calmly. "Can't get past the 'Dane conditioning against such things? Can't get past your own disgust about those incidents that are in the redneck portion of your own family tree?" He sat down on the other end of the bench around the table. "She's only your daughter in as much as you built her body, Jeph. Handwavium does strange things, including the fact that she was already her own person, has memories of a life she never lived, parents that never existed. She isn't related to you any more than you're related to Geo." He chuckled, with no real humor to it. "You're being as bad as a self-loathing gay Turnerite."

I'll admit, it was mildly (and inappropriately) amusing to see Mal give Myk, of all Fen, a look that all but said, "you did not say that just now." I actually had to stifle the bitter giggle. Still, Myk had a point, and he had made it.

"Sometimes, I hate it when you're right, but damnit, you've got a damned point about my recent behavior towards Nene because of my own insecurities regarding my feelings towards her." I said, wiping both hands down my face. "I... can't promise anything. As you've said, there's some... conditioning to get past." I glanced at Mal. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, Mal. I... got kind of blindsided by Nene's up front approach to the matter."

"No worries," he replied. "You're not the only one who's had issues with the cultural shifts the 'wave brought. Now. What do you plan on doing about it, and what do you need out of me, since I'm effectively involved now?"

I sighed, leaning back in the booth and pulling at my hair. "I don't know quite yet. Except... be a witness for something right now."

"Sure thing."

"Myk... with Mal as my witness, I'm appointing you as my representative at the various panels regarding serious Convention matters. I know you're already versed. To be honest, I'm not sure my emotions are going to be cool enough for me to directly participate."

Myk nodded. "I'll get Geo to fill me in on anything I'm not sure of." He looked a little more serious. "I expect you to have at least apologized to Nene before we leave for Serenity, Jeph. I'm not sure I could stomach being on the same small ship with two people who aren't talking to each other at all."

***

I pressed the chime button on the door to the second cabin. After several seconds, I moved to press it again when Nene's strained voice called out from inside.

"Go away. I wanna be alone."

I spent a few seconds reconsidering disturbing her, then set myself, and keyed in the primary override code for the door. It obediently slid aside with a sigh.

The room inside was dark, the only light coming from the foyer and cutting a bright slash across to the double bunk. I could see her curled up in the dark near the foot of the bunk, her feet caught in the light and showing that, while she had removed her boots, she was still in the rest of the outfit she had surprised all of us with. Her face came up from where she had it buried in her knees, and I could see her eyes were very wet, and the reflection of the tear tracks on her cheeks. I could just see them widen as she read my stance and realized my own emotional state.
I slowly entered the room, allowing the door to close behind me before I cross the room in a single stride, and sat on the portion of the bunk she wasn't occupying, setting down the polymer canvas bag I'd been carrying. I gave a few minutes for her to adjust, hearing her sniffle from her crying, before I began.

"Nene... I... I'm sorry, I've been a serious ass to you the past couple of years... since... since I learned of your feelings." I closed my eyes, took in one shuddering breath. One thing about my biomod having kicked in is that it was a lot... tougher to keep my emotions in check, especially when they were running high like they were now. "Nene... I let... I let my discomfort with the way you came into this world... my... my role in it... the way society told me a parent has to be towards their child... to affect my judgement..."

"...so you want me to leave?"

I looked at her, eyes wide. "No! I... no, I don't want you to leave... I..." I took in another breath, sucking in the somewhat cool air of the cabin, then let it out before I forged on.

"...I've loved you too, and not in the way of a parent, Nene. But... I felt like I couldn't let myself do so... so I pushed you away when I found out..." I could feel the tears starting to well up and slide down my cheeks. Slowly, I curled up on the opposite side of the bunk, unconsciously mirroring Nene's pose, pressed my shoulder against the bulkhead, and shuddered out a sob. "...i just couldn't, because i've seen myself as your father for too long..." I thumped my head against the bulkhead, closing my eyes against a fresh wave of tears.

I didn't feel her move across the bunk, but I felt her hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, blinking out the tears, and looked over. She had turned on the little bunk light, and I could see her eyes now, still wet, but her mouth was quirking up a little bit. From the angle, I could see right down her top, but to be honest, I had more important sights, for her eyes were lighting up again, even as fresh tears came to them.

"...Jeph... I..." She sobbed loudly, as she smiled, putting a clenched hand to her cheek. "...you don't hate me... YOU DON'T HATE ME!"

And with that, she grabbed me into a tight hug, gripping me for all she was worth, like I might evaporate at any moment.

We were like that for a few minutes, as the initial wave of emotional intensity passed.

"I guess I didn't need to buy that cheesecake then," I commented once we got into a relatively calm period. Nene started, and looked up at me from where she was cuddled against me.

"Cheesecake? You were going to ply me with cheesecake?" She gave me a mock punch in the side. "Not that it wouldn't have worked, mind you."

"Well, to be certain... it's the good kind. Real cream cheese."

"Ooooooo... with fresh strawberries?"

"Of course. You think I'm going to apologize for my behavior with a common market freezer cheesecake? As if. Even I have my standards."

She giggled. I found that one giggle to lighten my own mood.

***

"Word travels really fucking fast around here," Myk groused at Mal as they came out of the Tarkin Officer's Club, which was currently hosting a rousing Rock Band party, where the drum kit pads had been replaced somewhat morbidly with various stormtrooper helmets. "I've literally lost track of the number of people who've asked if Nene's had some sort of falling out with us, or Jeph with her." He tugged at the lapels of his loud shirt. "He'd better well have fucking made some progress with her by the time I get back on board Starbug, or there's going to be hell to pay."

"If so, can I come watch?" Mal asked, deadpan. "I could use the pick-me-up."

"Sure, why not? I need a witness for when Great Justice puts me on trial for killing him. 'And that's why I spaced him, your honor.'"

"You can't mean that," Mal said. Myk stopped and looked at him.

"Mal, this is the worst screw up he's ever had, and he's had a nice string of them. This one might well be what breaks the leadership of JMC. Between him, Nene, and Geo, they all keep JMC running on all cylinders. I can guarantee things won't go well if Nene up and leaves." He started walking again, making Mal have to double his step to catch back up. "Nene's basically the morale officer, and half of what keeps the paperwork from overwhelming him right now. Partly because of his resistance to incepting another AI, given some of the abuses we've heard about the past few years."

"Yeah, I can see where he might be rather reluctant," Mal remarked as they made their way into the docking complex, and over to where Starbug 1 was berthed.

"Well, either way, I don't plan on letting him off the hook if he hasn't done it yet," Myk continued as he walked up the rolling stairway to the starboard airlock, waved his JMC identicard in front of the lock to open the hatch, and stepped inside, with Mal on his heels.

Once inside, they were forced to stop as soon as Myk opened the inner hatch and they could hear the conversation inside, accompanied by a soundtrack of primitive electronic sound effects.

"-ONONO get that egg!"

"GOT IT!"

"DAMNIT HERE COMES THE DAMNED DRAGON!"

"I SHALL AVENGE YOU!"

They let the inner hatch close, and Mal looked at Myk.

"What was that about killing him?"

"I take it back now. Apparently he can correct for his mistakes."

I'm catching up on In Which Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon, and I've reached http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?617 ... st15303262]the post where he discusses what sort of GM and player each of the Senshi is. (Don't worry; he gets to http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?617 ... st15303701]the other two a bit later.)

None of them match me exactly, but Mamoru's pretty close... although I'll admit to a dash of Minako's style, too.

So... Which Senshi-GM are you?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Quote:PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea’s military warned Monday of
imminent “special actions” that would reduce South Korea’s conservative
government to ashes within minutes, sharply escalating the rhetoric
against its southern rival.
The threat from the North’s military leadership comes amid
concerns that North Korea may be plotting another provocation in the
wake of an unsuccessful rocket launch condemned by the U.N. Security
Council as a violation of a ban against missile activity.
North Korea characterized the April 13 rocket launch as a failed bid
to send a satellite into space — not a disguised test of missile
technology — but then followed up two days later by unveiling a new
long-range missile at a military birthday parade for late President Kim
Il Sung.
There are new concerns that North Korea may conduct a
nuclear test as it did after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009. South
Korean intelligence officials say recent satellite images show the North
has been digging a new tunnel in what could be preparation for a third
atomic test.
“Nuclear weapons are not the monopoly of the United
States,” Lt. Col. Nam Dong Ho told The Associated Press on Monday on the
North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone, saying North Korea needs
atomic weapons to defend itself against the threat of attack from the
U.S. “It’s my personal opinion, but I think we’ll continue to conduct
nuclear tests.”
On Monday, the military warned in a statement
carried by state media that it would launch “special actions” soon
against the South Korean government and conservative media.
However,
there was no outward sign of tension on the North Korean side of the
Demilitarized Zone. At Panmunjom, small groups of tourists were touring
the “peace” village and the buildings where the Korean War armistice was
signed in 1953. The South Korean side was quiet.
For days, North
Korea has railed against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and
conservative South Korean media for criticizing its rocket launch and
the celebrations of the centennial of Kim Il Sung’s birth.
But
Monday’s message, distributed by the state-run Korean Central News
Agency and attributed to the “special operation action group” of the
Korean People’s Army’s Supreme Command, was unusual in its specificity.

“Once the above-said special actions kick off, they will reduce all the
rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or
four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and
methods of our own style,” it said.
The threat comes as North
Korea’s new commander in chief, Kim Jong Un, makes a strong show of
support for the “military first” policy championed by his father, late
leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea marks the 80th anniversary of the
founding of its army Wednesday.
Seoul expressed worry that the threats were hurting relations between the countries and increasing animosity.

“We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice,” Unification
Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters, according to the
ministry. “We express deep concern that the North’s threats and
accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions.”
A
South Korean Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of
anonymity in line with departmental rules, said no special military
movement had been observed in the North.
In November 2010, after
issuing a warning to the South Korean government, North Korean troops
showered artillery on a front-line island in disputed western waters
held by South Korea. The attack killed four people, including two
civilians.
However, it is unlikely that North Korea would launch a
large-scale military attack against Seoul, which is backed by nearly
30,000 U.S. troops stationed in the South, said Kim Young-soo, a
professor at Sogang University in Seoul.