Henshin Sequence

Crossposted from Ben Lehman's LJ:

"Hi everyone.

From now until Sunday midnight, I’ll donate all profits from PDF sales on my website (which is basically the amount you paid) to Haitian earthquake recovery organizations. Additionally, I will donate $5 from each copy of Drifter’s Escape. So if you’ve been thinking about buying Polaris or Bliss Stage, now’s a great time. For this to work, you have to buy directly from my website not from IPR.

If you have already donated $10 or more, send me a receipt and I’ll send you a free PDF.

I’d also take suggestions for organizations to donate to."

If any of you have been meaning to pick up Bliss Stage, Polaris, or Drifters Escape, now's the time.

XXXXtreme Street Luge (The Game That's Like Vin Deisel) is fine too.

I was, thanks be to God, able to talk to one of the people with the luxury of being human at Financial Aid, and found I am missing ONE easily secured document, which I will be able to get in a week - next week, tops.

Applied for a couple of QA jobs at Sony of America's software division... bug testers. Long hours, thankless, unglamorous work trying to map all possible variables (91 as opposed to 90 potions in inventory, fighting a Cactuar) and see if THAT one will crash Final Fantasy Whatever. Still, I think I'd be very good at it.

Also applying to the UPS Store, and volunteering again at Bay Area Alternative Press.

How was your day?

"You may not all be aware of how the war started - although you are all bright lads, let me reassure you, and I know that young Kent already surmised what I am about to tell you - but it began when those green crystals began to grow on our planet.

Naturally, my corporation - my company, excuse me - decided to analyze the crystals. We were, after all, specialists in cutting edge technology of all kinds, and this unique new mineral had some intriguing properties.

Which saved me, and possibly the rest of us, because we had the first warning of what the Bliss was when an ENTIRE LexCorp high energy physics lab fell asleep on their feet. Someone ran a current through the damn things while they were in a liquid solution, and a wave of energy overwhelmed their minds.

You have all had parents Bliss. It's not a pretty sight, I must admit. But I took it in stride, and realized these crystals for what they were; an attack, and a subtle one, playing on the greed of humanity - greed I nearly succumbed to myself. So I was ready.

I had a stasis device, prepared for such an emergency... ah, yes, Wayne, I see by your expression you approve. And when the aliens landed after their alpha strike, I stole the parts I needed to counter-attack, with the help of some of you who are still here... and some that died or Blissed so that we would continue.

I realized that I could not use our weapon - the Numina Inverter - myself, as it required it's, ah, pilot to sleep; so I did my best to secure the aid of the... most worthy. The strongest child survivors, in body and mind and most of all in spirit.

Our first pilots were Bruce Wayne, Kyle Rayner, and Oliver Queen. Of them, Bruce is still fighting, Kyle has stepped down to advise and Anchor Stewart, and... Queen did what he had to for the rest of us. They were the first League.

The machine - the Numina Inversion Device - the ALIEN Numina Inversion Machine - translates you into the realm where the aliens are from, where they are more vulnerable to attack. By calling on the dream imagery you associate with those you love, you can fashion weaponry. Love is, literally, your weapon. And Trust - specifically trust in your Anchors, your navigators and often your lovers (oh, don't give me that look, Miss Anders, we ALL know how you feel about Dick even if you don't) is your armor.

Though even I was a little stunned to see Wayne, Rayner and Queen literally become superheroes - the Batman, the Green Lantern, and the Green Arrow.

This is how it stands. We are fighting a war for humanity.

Clark, you will be anchored by Lois. John, you will become the new Green Lantern as Rayner Anchors you. Wally, of the people in whom you've shown interest, Linda is the most level-headed. Coraline, you and Grayson will be paired. Diana - your rapport with Minnie is cause for her to Anchor.

You will become our superheroes.

Love is your weapon.
Trust is your armor.
And against these nightmares?
Alexander Luthor will. Not. Sleep."

Discuss. :D

Here are the rest of my drabbles about the K*S girls, under the cuts.

Misha - Gotcha!

( *Hiichan is extremely interesting,* Shiichan tells me )

Lilly - High Tea

( I add sugar to my tea with a tap of metal on china. )

Hanako - Odd Victories

( He's looking at my face, but not staring at my burn. That helps. )

Rin - Sunny, With A Chance Of Rain

( My thoughts have always been like those big fluffy clouds that turn dark right before it rains. )

Emi - Slow and Steady

( Don't yell at him, Emi. It's probably his heart. )

Also, if anyone would be interested in pre-reading some Lilly pr0n ER I MEAN PRACTICE WRITING FOR SENSES THAT ARE NOT SIGHT, CLEARLY then drop me a comment or PM me.

On the life note, I very much enjoyed my Labor Day; I had the first beer of my life that I truly enjoyed without reservations (apparently, I find ale too bitter, but find milder lagers very good), and shit was shot with anarch_cassius, Universal_Queen, Jasper, Kat and Jacob. Between us, we know enough art, music, writing, design and programming to be selling ashcan $9.00 CD-ROM games a con or two from now, and actual long-term game design projects in a coupla years.

I brought up Transformation Sequence, and they'd be happy to do the art and music for it, so I can FINALLY release the goddamn thing. I'll scan some shitty programmer art for it and put in some placeholder animu BGM, and give anarch_cassius the game. Right after I rename A CERTIAN HAWT REDHEAD so that she no longer has the name of a friend who has every right to GUT me for pulling that crap, and is instead now known as Cass. (To be fair, everyone in that game is a college friend of mine, boiled down to identifiable VN tropes, but naming A CERTIAN HAWT REDHEAD after her was fukkin' dumb, especially just coming out of my awkward stalky creep phase.)

I also brought up Bliss Stage: First Act (a Visual Novel programmed in Ren'Py), which they'd like to work on. Meaning that there are enough programmers that it'll take months, not millenia, to program all the fiddly bits and endings ranging from Josh ventilating Commander James Preston for gross incompetent, to a To Be Continued in Children of Children, to the bittersweet Bliss of Anna Lin, to murder by Keenan to actually having hawt sexxors with Sara and surviving to... I could go on, there are 20+ of the bloody endings, and that's not counting "Messy Death In Combat."

Long term, woo fantasy Metroidvania.

No class today; teacher's out sick. So I'm just going to be mellow in the computer lab. My reading is done, my homework does not exist, and life is good.

How are you?

Kawata is apparently not a nice word in Japanese - something like "Cripple" or "Retard" or both. Meaning that Kawata Shoujo doesn't have the nice translation of "Disabled Girls" provided with it - it means something more like "Gimped Chicks." With a name like that, and the fact that it's by Anonymous 4-Chan Four Leaf Studios, you might be forgiven for running away on a pogo stick.

Kawata Shoujo turned out, however, to be a wonderful, beautiful game about coming to terms with disabilities and young love.

I fell in love with Rin, a mercurial, probably aspie, artist. Did I mention she has no arms, and painted a mural with her feet?

I did, not just my character. Play this. It's sensitive, well written, and highly recommended.

---

In less OMGsqueee~ news, hexadecamal math in class today, oy gevalt... still a lot simpler then advanced Algebra, and managable, and interesting.

( Do you care about Bliss Stage? No? Then clicking this link would be dumb )


SO POST YOURS GUISE

Also, so this doesn't turn into a stupid Bliss Stage post, can any of you recommend Mac OSX compatible applications for sprite art? Pixen is the shit, but on my computer, it gets a headache too often.

( Rules, I haz them behind ze kutt )

neko_ja_nai wrote:
Mood: Indescribable
Music: Kodoku na Junrei

...I don't... I don't know what to say. I don't know where to begin.

Tokho's apparently reading over my shoulder, because she just told me "At the beginning. Duh."

So...

When I woke up, I decided that I really did want to meet with Akira today, but I also wanted to try Gakuen Dream. But... I know how I get. If a story is really interesting, it's hard for me to pull away. Tokho suggested that I call my sister Makoto. "Mackie would relish the chance to rip you bodily from the computer," she said with a grin.

I really don't like Makoto. She doesn't like me much, either: says I'm in a fantasy world and that ren-ai games are pieces of crap.

I'll cop to the former, but honestly - has she MET most of the creeps in the real world? In a ren-ai game, you at least have a chance at love.

So I told myself...

Anyway. I called her, and asked her in the middle of her rant on that subject to help me get off the computer at two so I could meet Akira.

"Willingly meeting a human being. Will wonders never cease," she said.

"That's not fair!"

"Yes, it is."

"I beg you for help and this is how you treat me?"

She got all quiet. "...you're serious."

"Yeah."

"...I'll be over at 2."

She was good as her word. Before I knew it (or got to the Keenan ending of Visual Stage), my computer turned off. I looked up and Mackie, in that hideous skanky halter top of hers, was holding the plug to my power strip. I gave her a sheepish grin and she marched me to my closet and made me "presentable." The only thing I really had that looked good was an old uniform bottom and an Archer t-shirt, which... didn't make her happy. But she did help.

When I thanked her, she said "What I want in return is for you to keep meeting this person and have a REAL relationship, do I make myself clear?" I nodded. "Now get out of here."

When I left, I saw her climb onto some sleazeball's motorcycle and wrap herself around him. Ecch.

Akira was right there at the coffeeshop, and he got me a drink. Something with a lot of sugar and milk, you know? He talked to me about some of the art he was doing - he was doing some composition and sketching stuff. Interesting stuff. I said that I wasn't that good of an artist and I showed him some sketches, mostly of Tokho and her friends.

He looked at them for a long time with a strange expression. "Did you trace these?"

"Um... no. I was copying..."

"Freehand?"

"...Yes?"

He looked for a while, then smiled and said, "This is really good."

For all I know, a bug flew in my mouth, it was open so wide.

"These are characters from a ren-ai, right?"

I nodded. He said, "Have you thought of drawing your own?"

"I - I haven't been in love, I couldn't do it right."

Then he put a hand on mine, and I FROZE, both at that and his words.

"It's not too late to try again."

I... I kind of spazzed, there. We talked a little more, but I wasn't in any state to say anything.

I went home and by way of not thinking about it until I needed to got the Keenan, Josh and Nathan endings to VS. Twice.

Tokho prodded me until I told her what happened, and she just... smiled, and said: "Go. For. It."

...I'm so happy right now, you don't even know.
----

Earlier, I managed to wipe out the Ren-Ai obsession when I forgot to play it right. It bothers me that it only takes a margin of 8 points to do it: I'd expect it to lower it a die or two, possibly 1 die plus some Hope. It does bother me, and I'm going to bug Ewen Cluney to revise this game.

Still, this is awesome so far. Tune in tomorrow.

For the single-player storytelling game Hikkomori I'll be playing. She'll be female primarily so I can use the Goth Sara Smith icon for her.

( Because not all of you care about dark, goofy Indie games )

And the first rolls...
( Not that anyone cares about a pathetic hikkomori like Seichan ;_;  )

Which I will turn into this story.
( Read here if you dare. )

...that came out better than I thought it would. Huh. Please read and comment on the story, kay?

...That the first thing I think of at this icon is "Man, I never figured Sara Smith to be a Marylin Manson fan?"

...in two weeks, and will be laid up a week after that in the hospital, recovering.

Major back surgery. Ouch.

I send her my love, of course (Veronica being, among other things, my girlfriend - for those tuning in late) and I'm going to do my best to get down to her neck of the woods in Encinitas afterwards.

Wish us luck...