(I'm trying something new-ish for me, here; I'm going to post this as I complete the various scenes. Maybe it'll
keep me motivated to write it all. )

-----

TALES OF THE LEGENDARY

DARK REFLECTIONS: Onyx Blast

The woman in green tights appeared in the middle of the swirling vortex of energy and immediately stumbled, almost falling to her knees. Only a wildly
flailing hand that happened to catch on the safety railing prevented that; she gripped it fervently and used its reassuring solidity to haul herself back to
her feet.

"That was NOT a -- urp! -- fun ride," she managed to say as her face turned green and her expression said her lunch was threatening to put on an
encore performance. She took a deep breath and stared at her feet for a few moments, apparently gathering her strength, then lifted her gaze to find a
startled Portal Corporation technician looking at her.

"Your thingy is broken," she informed the tech with grave dignity. Fine beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead and the green on her face
began to whiten. "You really need to fix -- urrgh, oh, excuse me please!"

So saying, she took to the air and flashed towards the exit, one hand covering her mouth, the other gripping her stuffed cat tightly, tears streaming from her
eyes. A second technician just coming in through the doorway dived aside with a startled yelp. She blew past him without slowing down, hung a right, and
vanished towards the bathrooms.

"Hey, watch it!" the latecomer barked as he recovered his balance. He picked up his fallen clipboard and made his way down the ramps, muttering to
himself. He paused as he reached his companion, and a puzzled expression crossed his face. "Ben?"

The first tech turned to face him. "Yes, Newton?" he said calmly.

"Who was that?"

Ben shrugged. "I am never seeing her before."

Newton frowned. "Well, how'd she get in here, then? This is a secured area."

"It is funny you should be mentioning that," Ben said, smiling nervously. "It is being the strangest thing."

"... she came through the portal, didn't she."

"Yes."

"The portal that we are supposed to be calibrating."

"Again you are correct."

"The portal that doesn't have main power connected to it."

"It is funny you should be mentioning that," Ben began, only to be cut off by a growl.

"Ben..."

"I am taking a call from Dr. Marner," Ben said hurriedly. "He tells me I am needing to step up the schedule."

Newton's response was lost in a shuddering roar, as the still-active portal burped and disgorged another visitor. It -- she -- was to all appearances,
save clothing, the identical twin of the woman who had come before. Behind her, on the wall, the open inspection panel began to strobe red. The woman swayed
on her feet, looked confused, and collapsed to the deck, unconscious.

Newton and Ben shared a long look.

"What is to be happening if we are shutting down the portal?"

"I don't know. We might not ever find whatever coordinates it's linked to if we do."

"Should we to be shutting down the portal?"

"I don't know."

"Should we not to be shutting down the portal?!"

"I don't know."

"Are you being capable of saying anything else?!?"

"Not at the moment."

"Newton!"

Newton shook his head. "Okay, okay, first thing is we have to do something very unpleasant."

"And this is being what?"

"We have to call Skroeder. He's in charge of security."

"That is very unpleasant."

"Then we have to call Howard and explain that his interference has caused an accident."

"Ah. I will be making the call to Scrotum."

"Skroeder."

"I am pronouncing it correctly."

-----\

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

I used to be one of two IT people in my department. The other guy quit suddenly and moved to another state. As of last week, I'm flying solo and
responsible for everything that has electricity flowing through it--and the stuff he was supposed to be taking care of has not, in fact, been taken care of for
some time. I've found machines in storage that he was supposed to set up last summer, boxes never opened, while a full third of the lab machines he was
'maintaining' won't even start up. It's unlikely a replacement will be hired before the semester starts--and it all needs to be fixed before
them. I've been 'approved for overtime.'

>.<

So, probably be around less for a bit.

As the title says, Zilem Kain and Myself are looking to farm the Visionary badge for Red Side on Saturday, July 12'th after 3pm. Now Villians who use
weapons might like this as it unlocks the Rularuu Weapons and is one of TWO that ZK and I know that get there. Now the mission is being led by Mistress
Valeria, a lvl 42 Mastermind, and is accompanyed by Zilem's 32 Stalker. If anyone has Villians from upper 30's to Lower 40's that would like the
badge, post here, or log on after three on Saturday.

Drenivian
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

Birdy The Mighty, The old-school ova by the same people as Patlabour that was cut short, is now getting a full? 13 episode run as a tv series.

I've been wanting to do some writing on Bubblegum Crisis, but one thing that I've been having hang-ups with would be the tricky act of blending the OVA
and the TV Series together into a single timeline of events. So, I wonder if anyone else out there has done anything similar and what good and bad examples
there are. Can anyone help me out in that respect?

I should note I'm not much of an MMO player. Without a group, the game type just doesn't appeal to me, and level grinding is something I'm usually
allergic too. Ask Uni, if you want, about my time playing Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst and how I was constantly behind the rest of the group because I
couldn't force myself to solo grind.

Anyway, according to CoH, I've been playing the game for a little over three months.

And tonight, Sylia(aka Silicone Sabre) finally hit level 35, unlocking the Rikti War Zone and Cimerora. This is, I should note, unprecedentedly amazing for me.
By all rights, with the few people I knew in the game ebfore meeting the Legendary, I'd probably be at about level 20 right now. 25 at the absolute
optimistic most. So really, thanks you guys.

Special shout outs go to anyone who's got a Banished Pantheon farm(especially Terr, for THREE STRAIGHT runs in one day around level 30-32), and my long
suffering team of tonight, who were willing to slog through no less than six archvillians in a single night(Mender Lazarus back to back with Manticore). You
guys rock.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

This simply has to be a parody:

Michael Bay's Rejected "The Dark Knight" Script.

Amongst the highlights:

Quote: We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the hottest woman in the world, but she wears glasses because she is also the smartest
woman in the world.

Quote: GENERAL


Okay, I like it. But which one of the internets do we hack?




BRUCE


All of them.

Quote: JOKER unleashes an all-out barrage of missiles, like the biggest f***ing missiles you will ever see.

So my first attempt at the Mender Lazarus TF....tanked, badly. Mostly because of a certain master of the vampyr who kicked our collective asses handily(solo,
even worse).

Anyway, the TF was aborted because we simply couldn't beat Mr. Nosferatu, but a return trip was plotted. If anyone's interested, we neeeed debuffs to
lower his res and regen.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

...or best movie campaign of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbaA68jYYek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aGUTNaZwHs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=764qYhbSvCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlL_36m0LpY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C5ufwrZuu0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHjc67cvio4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgQjdTjj3-w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv94lBG9FrU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os7CwR44_yg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQBg2ts0_Fo

-------------------

Epsilon

The answer is b.

Was asked to repost this to the forums, so here it goes! Context is - we were discussing the City of Villains contact 'Westin Phipps', when I segued into talking about one of my own villain characters...
[The Legendary]Acyl: Suffice to say she did a brief stint as a contact in Paragon City, working with lowbie rookie heroes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She was eventually sent to the Zig when, among other things, it was discovered too many of the heroes that were referred to her as a contact...
[The Legendary]Acyl: ...ended up going into sewer entrances and never coming out.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes.
[The Legendary]Acyl: She had a rather brisk business as a wholesale supplier.
[The Legendary]Acyl: To Dr. Vahzilok. =D
[The Legendary]Atlantea: O_O
[The Legendary]Acyl: Westin thinks too small. =D
[The Legendary]Ebony: Yikes Yikes.
[The Legendary]Ebony: Dead is dead. Parts is parts. Dead heroes is parts. (To paraphrase Mike Pondsmith)
[The Legendary]Acyl: =D
And then Ebony said:
[The Legendary]Ebony: And I can hear the Honest Gentleman asking...
The rest of this played out over the Legendary channel. I've replaced Ebony's name and mine with the appropriate character tags, but you really have to picture it. Totally impromptu. =D
Honest Gentleman: "So, Miss Seven, just out of curiosity ... did you charge Dr. Vazhilok by the pound, or by the limb?"
Triple Seven: "Oh, come now, what do you take me for? You have to do things properly. Now, see this pricing chart - that'd be the Malta MH classification, which is a /reasonably/ good measure of quality, and that's the condition the merchandise is in..."
Triple Seven: "Mind, there's extra charges for pre-processing and delivery. Do-it-yourself packages are cheaper, but some customers have problems with disassembly..."
Honest Gentleman: "Surely not the Good Doctor. He always struck me as a man well-versed in the finer points of anatomy.
Triple Seven: "Oh, yeah, but he's a busy man, and he can't always deal directly with the operations side of the business. And with all the best talent in the marketplace these days going to Crey, well, some of his employees..."
Honest Gentleman: "I understand completely. It can be terribly hard to find good help these days. I myself was forced to look abroad for appropriate resources."
Triple Seven: "Oh, yes. I'm a small operator myself - content to be a middleman, you know, service industry and all that - but I imagine foreign talent would be the way to go...but you'd want quality expatriates..."
Triple Seven: "Not Just: Any: Immigrant."
Honest Gentleman: "Absolutely. The trick is, of course, to find the applicant is is not constrained by situation. It is better, by far, to hire an immigrant who is here because he or she can be here, rather than one who is here because they MUST be here. "
Honest Gentleman: "It helps separate the competent from the desperate.
Triple Seven: "True, true, but then you run into the other problem with the marketplace, where Mr. Richter and his associates are very nearly a Monopsony...-so- bad for the small business..."
Honest Gentleman: ""Oh well, with his Lordship, I find that it's best to treat him as a landlord more than a competitor. Work within the rules when he's watching, and when he's not ... well.....
Triple Seven: "Mm, 'landlord' is a good analogy. Pay the rent all the time, but he /never/ comes round to look at the blocked sink..."
Honest Gentleman: "Quite. But, at the same time, he may not be particularly interested in the contents of your back room, either."
Triple Seven: "Unless the strange noises are disturbing residents on the other floors."
Honest Gentleman: "Well, that requires preparation and forethought. Always necessary for the independent businessman or woman."
Triple Seven: "Soundproofing. Always a...sound investment."
Honest Gentleman: "Doubtless. I find a good fire control system is also useful, to prevent City Services from arriving at inopportune times. Of course, my hobbies may be bit more ... pharmacological than yours."
Triple Seven: "Probably. I've looked at the Superadine business, mind you, but I eventually decided the environmental costs of production weren't worth it. Too much capital, and I'd much rather not go green..."
Honest Gentleman: "Superadine ... pfeh. A mug's game, to quote my driver. I prefer much more refined materials. One does not sell Troll drugs to the bored and rich elite."
Triple Seven: "Oh, no. Superadine's got a bad reputation among consumers, I know - too devalued in the marketplace. But it's all down to tastes and preferences. The Family have a much finer recipe, you know?"
Triple Seven: "It's like beer. Quite a difference between cheap convenience store lager...and, say, a nice cask-aged barley brew, hm? But, well, it's a terribly -difficult- market, as I said."
Honest Gentleman: "Ah, yes. The Family are preferred customers for many of my goods. Discreet, traditional, and quite easy to work with."
Honest Gentleman: "I suppose it could be. The competition is certainly fierce."
Honest Gentleman: "But I have found that good pay for good employees, a certain sense of propriety and style, and the willingness to utterly annihilate anyone who gets in your way go a long way to making it quite profitable."
Triple Seven: "Oh, quality over quantity, yes. Economies of scale aren't for the small firm. But if you can't make a profit selling in bulk, there's always a small number of sales but at a premium price..."
Triple Seven: "If, of course, there's demand."
Honest Gentleman: "My dear, when it comes to the Isles, there's ALWAYS a demand for what we provide. The trick is finding it and making it as profitable as possible."
Triple Seven: "Life is cheap, bullets are expensive?"
Honest Gentleman: "Something like that."
-- Acyl