"March 03"

I saw the full moon in Seattle. It
Quite caught me by surprise. This was the moon,
The magical moon of March. The vernal
Equinox is nigh. All hail the full moon
In March that tugs all things hidden under
The earth, under still hearts, and brings them out
Again. I wash in the smell of quickened
Earth and decomposing leaves: a special loam
Cologn. I bathe in moist live things that make my
Heart Quicken like the pulsing earth and me,
Morose once, am glad. Am glad? Am glad! I
Live now gulping up this feral scent and
Stirrings in my loins engender there a
Proud power of anti-stasis, and of
Kinetic and frenetic movement. Howl!
Dogs bark wildly and rub themselves in dirt
And ordure. They rise, filthy, caked with it.
Glory be to dogs!
-STKD

I want to write like this someday. *jealousy, unfounded and useless*

A few thoughts on Good Omens:

Why is Aziraphale so often written as a complete and utter wuss in fanfic? Did we read the same book? 'Cuz, y'know, the Aziraphale I read about may have acted like a southern pansy, but when it came down to the wire, he wasn't the one having a nervous breakdown the way Crowley was. All in all, Aziraphale handled the apocalypse much better than just about everyone else, excepting maybe Adam.

It just bugs me when Aziraphale is written as a completely innocent, helpless little fop. He's a nice guy, yeah, and a bit clueless, but come on- god didn't give him that flaming sword in the Beginning for no reason.

Just my two cents, you know. Nothing more.

"Sunlight" would make a kickass AMV. The lyrics were posted months ago, maybe even the summer before last; I can't quite recall. But it's a good song, and it'd make great AMV fodder for nearly any series or game. It's just one of those always applicable songs.

...Akihiko Yoshida did the character designs for XII.

*swoon* This is the guy who did Tactics and Vagrant Story. This is the guy who did some of my favorite art and character designs in video game history. He's up there with Yoshitaka Amano on my list of Japanese artists that I adore.

And he's resonsible for Vaan's hair.

...*snicker* Don't get me wrong- I love his art. But he's admitted to making Vaan look extra effeminate, and that amuses me. He looks like a not-so-butch girl with a very flat chest.

But now I'm even more excited about the game- and by the time I get a ps2, there'll be talk of the PSX coming out, and that will make me sad. *sigh* Hopefully it'll be able to take cross platform games...and this time, I swear it'll be the last game of the series I play. Really. (I said this about nine and ten, mind you. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of eleven.)

eheh...oops, sunrise. Probably a good idea to go to bed soon...fucking school. *le sigh* When's daylight savings, anyway?

San Francisco as the modern day Sodom:

*roving bands of gay men*
"Hey, Lot! Open up and send out those angels so we can marry 'em!"

...*sigh*

"Lovely daughter of Apollo and Dionysis, she of unsurpassed beauty and melodious voice!"
"That's silly, Apollo and Dionysis can't have a daughter, they're both men!"
"Honey, this is Massachusetts, they can do whatever the hell they want to. 'Sides, they were the less manly gods, anyway. Androgenous and all."
"Like you?"
"Low blow, my lady, low blow. I believe I've been mortally wounded."
"Psh. Baby. That was meant as a compliment."
"Do you know how many times my brother accuses me of being gay in a single conversation? Do you?"
"Well it's true. You're one of the prettiest men I've ever seen. You're not gay, right? Because if you are, I might as well go home."
"There goes my pride again. Do I come off as that much of a fairy? Tell the truth, now."
"If you have to ask, you should already know the answer."
"Bullshit! You're avoiding the question."
"Yes. I wouldn't want to hurt your already wounded pride any further. Speaking of which, why don't I kiss it better?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
----

Woo, that needs a lot of work. It's not often I have actual muses appear in my head, demanding short stories and a starring role. I can't decide to keep it in script form or to make an actual story out of it, which is irritating. It has a certain charm as just a script, but I've been writing narrative for the set up, so...*shrug* I dunno.

Her name is Lyra. She's going to break Dei's heart, because that's what she's good at, but it'll be okay in the end. I think. Haven't gotten that far yet. *yawn* Sleeping now.

You're a little bit shy
A little too quiet
You're the mixed up girl
That everybody leaves behind
A little bit weird
A little too bright

But you just might be
That little bomb at their side
They'll pull your hair
They'll leave you wide - eyed
But did anybody wonder
What Annie might have in mind
On, no

There's something in the way she explains to me
"please be careful, I exist in someone else's head"
Oh, no

There's something in the way that she makes believe
Please be careful
Annie dreams that everyone is dead

You're a little bit dry
A little up tight
You're the messed up girl
That everybody tries to hide

You've had enough
They're too unkind
But did anyone consider what Annie might have in mind
Oh, no...

There's something in the way she explains to me
"please be careful, I exist in someone else's head"
Oh, no

There's something in the way that she makes believe,
Please be careful-
Annie dreams that everyone is dead...
everyone is dead.
-"Annie," Our Lady Peace

I love this song.

Something's blinding me, but I can't see it!
El on Velladina, after she's turned invisible

Evil people have lots of money...
So we're going to work for them?
Score!
-Amy, Jasper, Sam

I gots my ale, I gots my herbal remedies...
Bella

So then I can go sneaky-sneaky backstabby?
Sam

Fucking elves.
Sam

Alira and Maedros, sittin' in a tree-
H-I-D-I-N-G- shit.
-Ai Ling, Molly

Alira and Maedros, sittin' in a tree, C-H-I-L-L-I-N-G. It just doesn't sound right.
-Ai Ling

Who needs common sense when you've got a sword?
-Emily/Ryo

Fucking ff.net...they've set the default rating to exclude R rated fics now- and there's really no fucking reason for that at all. And they should have made some sort of announcement over it, because that's really, really annoying. Pisses me off; I tend to have a distorted view of what ratings should be, and I usual rate my writings higher just to be safe. It's bad enough writing an obscure pairing in an obscure fandom when your only place to post is on ff.net, but it's even worse when your stories won't show up where they're supposed to unless you realize that ff.net is be censorious again. I don't know if that's even a word. I'm *pissed.*

A few thoughts on the upcoming Final Fantasy XII...

Vaan is going to be slashed with Valfrea so hard he'll be coming back straight. And they can't disguise the fact that Fran is just Lulu with rabbit ears, or that Ashe is just but a plot device.

Since it's not coming out in Japan until next year, I'll have plenty of time to buy myself a PS2, Kingdom Hearts, FFX, and Suikoden III. Also Wild Arms III and Wild Arms Alter Code F, and Another Code F if it's out by then.

Because, y'know, I'm not letting this one get away. And I'm not borrowing someone else's system, either- the screenshots make me want to squeal jubilantly. Vaan's pants excite me, though Ashe's skirt looks like it's missing its other half. And V/Balfrea...oooh. Yes. (The big problem with X was the lack of good, plausible yaoi pairings- all of the good pairings usually involved dead people, and anyone who mentions Wakka/Tidus to me will be smited. X also had a villain problem...Seymour was such a fucking pain in the ass to kill, but otherwise, he was a complete pansy with no real connection to the actual evil in the game. These were problems in IX, too, where there weren't any plausible yaoi pairings...anyone who mentions Kuja/Zidane will also be smited. And Kuja was totally the badassest villain since Kefka (don't get me wrong, I adore Sephiroth, but he never actually succeeded in destroying the world. Kuja, on the other hand, went batshit and took down a planet. Woo.) but he wasn't the ultimate evil, and the final battle in IX is such a Deus Ex villain- similar to Zeromus in IV, but at least you had some warning of that before you got to the moon. Actually, now that I think about it, Zeromus could very well be Necron- similar modus operandi, at any rate.) That was an enormous parenthetical, but in case you forgot, I was talking about Balfrea, who really does look like some unholy hybrid of Seifer and Zell- only much, much cooler because he doesn't look like a whiny teenager. I hope Square Enix has learned their lesson over the years; games like VI and VII, where there were very few whiny teenagers, are in general more beloved by the overall populace.

I'm now a bit more excited about XII than I am about Advent Children, because Advent Children is going to suck and make me cry while XII is going to make me splee violently. Also, XII takes place in Ivalice, which means there will potentially be Tactics and Vagrant Story references. *splee*

One last thing before I get a life, I swear...this is purely rhetorical because when I go on about games I'm only talking to myself- but does it bother anyone else that Rikku in thief garb is actually just Jack Sparrow crossed with Schuldig? I know I've mentioned this before, but it disturbs me. A lot.

Ah, well. Off to do work.

"Ow! Fuck, that hurts, Ari'i."

"And it didn't when half a dozen supplicants jumped you? Quit being a baby- if you'd dodged properly, this wouldn't have happened."

"I dodged well enough, thank you. They missed the jugular."

Ari'i clucked her tongue disapprovingly and continued to swab the gouges in Von's back with disinfectant. "If you'd used Umbra, they wouldn't have touched you."

"What, and let her dig her claws even deeper in my soul? I'll take my luck with the vampires, thanks."

His words were like bitter water on her tongue, and she sighed. "You do realize that you're the only one who can't stand her, don't you? And for completely unfounded reasons, I might add..." She taped several layers of gauze over the wounds once she was satisfied that they were clean. His back wasn't as bad as it could have been; the scratches were wide but fairly shallow, and wouldn't scar. The bite at the juncture of his neck and shoulder worried her more, but Von had insisted she tend to his back first. "There. Let me take care of that poison before you turn supplicant yourself."

"Maybe you should just leave it." His eyes were half lidded and dangerous over his shoulder.

"For Christ's sake, Von, there are better ways to kill yourself." She pushed his head down into the table and gently probed at the bite. His skin was dry and fevered, and lines of black and dirty yellow radiated out from the two puncture wounds like a malicious spider.

"But I haven't tried this one yet." His voice was slightly muffled against the tabletop.

Ari'i rested her fingertips against the punctures and stilled for a moment. This whole situation was like bile in her throat, and she wanted more than anything else to beat Von into submission. Instead, she concentrated on the dry and throbbing skin beneath her hand and thought of cool, clear water.

Imbrium's presence was calm and heavy in the back of her mind, drawing the poison out through her fingertips. "He's a fool. A fool with a mean streak- much like me. If this goes unresolved, one of them will die and I doubt it will be my sister."

"You can't keep doing this, Von."

"I know. They'll kill me eventually, don't worry."

She drew away the last of the poison, neutralized it, and absorbed it into herself. It was a new strain; whoever was creating the supplicants was finding new ways to arm them. Cata and Zyn would have to be told, but Cata and Zyn were out, finally spending some time with each other. They needed that.

She needed this. "I won't let you die, you idiot. I've been here for too long to just watch you kill yourself."

He didn't answer; she didn't expect one.