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1

Video / PC Games / The Galerians Franchise

« on: December 30, 2017, 02:51:34 AM »

A thought struck me while I was making my post earlier about what games I may or may not play next. I've only ever met one other person who knew about the Galerians franchise before meeting me (and believe me, after meeting me, it's hard to have a discussion about video games where I don't somehow find a way to bring it up).

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else happen to know of (and potentially be a fan of) the series?

For those of you who don't know, the first Galerians game was released on the Playstation, with a sequel released on the Playstation 2. They also used 3d animation similar to the cutscenes of the second game to make 3 OVAs that followed the story of the first game and released it on a DVD that made it over to the West. The first game is simply titled Galerians, and the sequel is titled Galerians: Ash, and the OVA/movie is titled Galerians: Rion.

Now, I'll be the first to tell you that these games have not aged well at all. Their mechanics, as far as I can tell from old reviews, were stale even for their time. There's just one thing that keeps dragging me back to this franchise though: the story (and arguably the characters).

Apparently there used to be a fanbase for it, and there's lots of fanart that's still out there, but the only posts you see these days is about how dead the fandom is and how we're never going to get our remakes or the third game that was sorta teased in a bonus cutscene after beating the second game. Seeing as I don't have any console that came out past the DS, I don't know if either of the games are on the PSN, but from what I gather, I don't think they are.

So...that all said, what I'm kinda hoping to do here is to gauge how many raiders are some of the scattered remnants of that fandom, or maybe introduce some of you to the fact that it's a thing that exists. I'm kinda sick of being the only one I know who knows anything at all about it. Besides, part of me really wants to get into doing fanart of the series, maybe even a cosplay of Rion if I ever get half the chance. Rather blatantly, I want to try to revive it. Best way I can think to do that is to talk about it.

2

Manga Creations / MRverse: The Great Raid of 2017

« on: December 26, 2017, 03:31:56 PM »

It's that time of year again, folks, and now Coryn and I can reveal that secret little project we've been working on for a while now. If you've read the title of the thread, you can probably already guess it--so without any further delay, I hope all of us here on MangaRaiders can come together for another year of adventure, triumph, and panties.

As night falls over MR City on December 26th, 2017, all is quiet. Street lights hum to life in the early darkness. Strings of colored Christmas lights and garlands hang from storefronts and rooftops. Soft Christmas melodies play on street speakers, and a gentle snow begins to fall. All is quiet, and all is at peace.

This is where our story begins. Hush now children, and listen to our tale.

The night was quiet and at peace, because no Raider with half a brain would be caught outside after sundown on December 26th, for this is the night of The Great After Christmas Panty Raid: an annual MangaRaiders tradition in which Raiders navigate the city-turned-booby-trapped-death-maze in order to 'raid’ a symbolic set of panties. To anyone who can complete this task, the reward is a night spent with the Ecchi Twin of their choice. It is, of course, the job of the Twins to stop the Raiders at all costs. There was no room for compassion on either side. One team would stand victorious come morning, and since the raid’s conception, that team had been the Twins, without fail.

This night, another team of Raiders set out to change that.

“I'm getting a little feedback on the conversation matrix again. Raising power to compensate. Increase frequency just a tad,” said Coryn, who sat hovering in the center of a large shield bubble.

“Realigning now,” replied Mahlua, sitting on the inside wall of said bubble, slowly orbiting Coryn as they conversed.
   
Unlike Coryn's regular bubbles, magical symbols snaked around the surface, courtesy of Mahlua. Coryn looked past them, and then past the eleven other bubbles that enclosed the bubble he and Mahlua occupied. Between each bubble layer were sandwiched smaller bubbles, each of which contained a member of the Raider’s team, for a total of twenty-seven. And then at the very top, Coryn perceived Lego, whose legs were firmly held in place by two special cells of Coryn's hexagonal shield pattern.

Atop the outermost shield, Lego pulled his coat in tightly to fight off the chill of the night. Despite locating their launch site at ground level, by the time the final bubble had been constructed, Lego had found himself easily five stories in the air.

He gazed off at MR Tower and tugged gently at his legs. In addition to being held by the bubble, Mahlua's magics were clinging to his legs. They reminded him of veins. Or spider webs. Purple, softly glowing spider webs. Lego let fly a shiver unrelated to the cold, and flicked on the radio in his ear. “Are you sure about this Coryn? Last time I tried this I set the atmosphere on fire…” He gave it another moment’s thought. “And then I killed you! Remember that time I killed you?”

Coryn's voice came in with a heavy static, no doubt the effect of the multiple shields. “Hard to forget. Just keep it to about ten percent power.”

“Roger that. Ready and waiting.”

Coryn finished the last of his calculations. The mad pulsing of his eyes returned to standard pace, and he switched over to an open broadcast. “Okay Raiders, we are approximately t-minus five minutes. Let's run through the plan one last time, with feeling!

“Thanks to last year's raid, we have finally determined the specific room within the tower where the finish line is located. Now, last year's strategy of divide and conquer went understandably poorly, so this year we are taking the exact opposite approach. Our target is in sight, and we will be taking the most direct attack.

“By combining Mahlua's ability to store magical energy with my force fields, we have created a positive feedback loop of power. This allows me to create a stronger shield, and is why you are staring at a kaleidoscope of hieroglyphs right now. This excess energy is also being fed to Lego up top... say hello Lego.”

“Hello~!”

“Thank you Lego. The excess energy is being fed to Lego up top in order to power his Himmlisch Uzustand transformation, while simultaneously conserving his own power. He will be providing our offensive capabilities, while my shields will provide the defense. We are calling this construct the ‘Magic Bullet’--which brings me to your part.

“Should the outer shell fail, Lego will be brought down to the next level via the special tether cells at his feet. However, your own personal bubbles are being powered by the potential between the shield layer above you, and the one below you. If you're outer shell goes down, you will have approximately three seconds before your personal bubble breaks as well. Use this time to prepare yourself. Once your bubble is gone, it becomes your job to distract and delay the twins for as long as possible. This will only be effective as long as both Twins are engaged. They will surely realize our plan quickly. If one of them is free to attack us, we will not make it. This is why there are two of you in between each shell. Once again, I apologize to those of you who drew the short straw, and ended up towards the outside of the Bullet.

“To whomever makes it to the treasure room itself: make sure to claim the prize at the same time as those around you. We don't know if they will allow for multiple victors, (seeing as how there have been no victors at all), so our best bet is to aim for simultaneous victory.

“Finally, to all of you I say: Good luck, and Godspeed. May your sacrifices not be in vain.”

The Bullet fell silent. All within waited with bated breath for the signal to begin.

---

Across town, past the mechanized horrors, the hidden traps, the pitfalls, the winding roads and chilling winter wind, waited the twins.

The pair wore their usual sexy Santa get-ups, seemingly unaffected by the chill. Ecchi-tan surveyed the horizon, wooden sword in hand. She scrunched her nose up, discontentment spreading on her face. “It doesn't make any sense Lewd, it's like they're just missing. Do you think we scared them off?”

Lewd-tan leaned against a structural support, a piece of ribbon candy rolling around on her tongue. “They'll be old and gray before they give up.”

“Then how come I can't feel them?” pouted Ecchi.

Lewd smiled back at her, hard candy clenched between her molars. “It's not that they ain't there Sis. It's that they AIN'T there.”

“Huh?”

“If they weren't playin’ tonight, we'd still be able to sense 'em. But they're missing entirely. There's a hole where they should be.”

A look of understanding dawned on Ecchi-tan's face. “Ooh! I get it! They're hiding from us on purpose! But won't we figure it out once they set off the traps?”

Lewd-tan crunched through the rest of her candy and approached the roof’s edge. “Let's find out.” She raised her arm, and swiped it across to her left. The air parted, a vacuum formed, and as it collapsed back in on itself, a sonic boom was sent racing across the city, officially announcing the start of the games.

---

The participants knew the game had started long before the shock wave had blasted a wave of snow that hit them. At one mile off, Mahlua maximized her power output. At five-hundred yards, Coryn reinforced the exterior shields. At ten feet, Lego set the world on fire.

“HIMMLISH UZUSTAND!”

The initial wave of heat melted the snow to water. The second, coming in only a fraction of a fraction of a second later, vaporized that water to gas. By the time the third wave was past, the gaseous atoms had long since ceased to be, and only existed as a smattering of sub-atomic particles dancing wild through the ether.

Coryn waited for his shields to break, but they never did. Even without squinting he could see Lego now: golden clothes, afro a great flaming mass, and a long blade of fiery darkness. His radio wouldn’t have survived, so a few prearranged seconds after the signal, Coryn initiated the warp effect of his shields, and sent the Bullet screaming into the night.
   
Lego knew the course well. He had run it every year since its inception after all. The first obstacles were the living bindings. Ropes, leather straps, chains, all flew against his might. They never stood a chance. He didn’t even lift his sword. Next came the spring and other mechanically driven traps. Lego directed his will against them, and they too crumbled. Still, his sword remained at rest.

Mahlua reforged her sigils to meet their opposition. The shields needed new sigils at a mind-boggling rate. The makeup of Coryn’s shields were changing constantly. Lego’s meager weight shifts above caused reality to shiver. Amazingly, they were already three quarters of the way to the tower. The magic detected that Lego was finally swinging his blade. They were encountering missiles and moving landscape by now. The Twins were almost certainly getting ready for them. You can’t send something like what they had constructed blasting on a straight line through the city without raising attention. It was now that the plan would tell. Make or break time, and Mahlua had to prepare the grand finale. So far she had been concentrating on just a single concept: “Forward”. It was time to change tact.

---

It had been hard for the Twins to get a grasp on what exactly they were looking at. Still unable to feel any energy signatures, they could only guess what the flaming comet heading their way actually was. It wasn’t until too late that Lewd-tan finally recognized the flaming figure glued to the front of the thing.

“WHAT THE F---?!”

She was cut off as the Bullet abruptly changed direction and smashed right into her. Lewd impacted on the bubble itself, but the outer shell was glowing red with the heat, and her pristine fur collar came away from it looking more black bear than polar.
   
“Sis, language!” shouted Ecchi-tan.

“Not now!” yelled Lewd. “We gotta stop that thing!”

But the Bullet had become insanely aggressive. It had been obvious to everyone that if Lewd or Ecchi were left standing by the time the team were inside the tower, then they would almost certainly destroy the Raiders. They could have rushed the treasure room directly, but the prized garments would disappear in Lego’s fire before they could have broken through the wall and disassembled the Bullet. There was then, only one possible course of action. Team Raider was going to take the Twins to battle then and there.

The Bullet looped around in the air and struck at Ecchi-tan. She and her fire were without a doubt the greatest combat threat, but Lego wasn’t feeling very scared of being burned at the moment. As for her physical strength, he suspected he was about to give her a run for her money.

The two collided. Lego was surprised that her wooden sword didn’t turn to charcoal before him, but that was a Tan’s weapon for you. He was more than satisfied when Ecchi failed to stop their advance, and they collectively sent her into the ground.

Lewd-tan watched her sister disappear into the earth, quickly followed by a giant flaming orb. She knew her twin was strong enough to take the abuse, but even she had to question how long it would before she would get back up after a hit like that. But Lewd wasn’t about to sit on her hands and wait for them to come back up. She immediately set to work gathering snow. It came to her call both from the drifts on the streets below and from the sky above where it still fell. Above her a great and inverted spire formed--a spike of ice infused with Tan energy and amassed to the size of a small skyscraper. If this didn’t stop them, she wasn’t sure anything she could summon up would.

She briefly considered that she may actually have to swallow her pride that night, but she was cut off when the Bullet burst from the ground below her. Lego was at the front of it, but to her great surprise, Lewd realized that Ecchi was still engaged with the flaming force. For a moment she despaired. It wasn’t in her nature to sacrifice others; however, in this case, she believed that history would vindicate her actions.

“Sorry Sis! But you’re gonna have to get out of the way pretty damn quick!” Lewd-tan lashed out with her whip and encircled the spike, and with the kind of resolve only achieved when one’s back is firmly against a wall, launched the frosty projectile right at her beloved twin sister’s back.
   
Lego of course, could see the spear coming. This left him with a conundrum. He could either, A: Let Ecchi-tan take the brunt of the hit, and give the team their greatest chance at victory. Or he could take Option B: Throw Ecchi-tan out of the way like the true gentlemen he knew himself in his heart-of-hearts to be, saving her, but most definitely blowing a hit to their possibility of success.

To Lego, there was no question at all.

“Goodbye, my sweet banana!”

“My sweet what?” replied Ecchi-tan. She was going to follow up on the inquiry, but Lego grabbed her by the collar and sent her flying into a nearby rooftop. She groaned and shook herself out of the crater, glaring in the direction of the Bullet. She then understood the scope of her peril only moments before, and made a silent vow to thank Lego for it later.

Meanwhile, Lego raised his dark blade, and drew out every last bit of energy he could from Mahlua’s magic. “Let’s go! Bankai!”

He fell upon the tip of the spear. It shattered before him, giving way to his magnificent heat.

To an outside observer, perhaps an observer who had seen too much anime, this would have looked like the climactic event from the big final battle. The attack is broken, the heroes emerge victorious. Everyone goes home happy. This is because this outside observer would have seen too many people walk away from the epicenters of massive explosions without so much as a scratch, and indeed, if the hero is hurt in any way, it’s nothing a few bandages won’t fix.

Unfortunately for our heroes, steam explosions are no laughing matter. Especially when that steam was just until moments before, a Tan magic infused block of ice the size of a ten story building.

The outermost bubble failed almost instantly, much to the chagrin of those Raiders in the farthest orbit. Equally annoyed were those in the next six levels down. It goes without saying that their personal bubbles failed to survive until their hypothesized three seconds of residual power ran out. On the upside, Coryn’s tether cells held up under the stress, in no small part thanks to Mahlua’s magic running through them, and Lego found himself replanted on the much diminished Bullet.

Lego scanned the sky to see if he could spot either of the Twins, but they were out of sight, along with several of the buildings that usually surrounded MR Tower. Not wasting any time, Coryn redirected the Bullet towards where they knew the treasure room to be. Lego reverted his transformation, using the last of its strength to smash through the wall. The remaining Bullet finished the DIY entry, and once fully inside, Coryn broke the whole system apart, depositing himself, Lego, Mahula, Forlorn Serpent, Devola, Eukocar, and three other Raiders within the gilded space.

Before them lay their metaphorical prizes. A pair of panties hung neatly on a line, each representing one of the Twins. Whichever they grasped, would be the twin that they would spend the night in the loving embrace of.

To be honest, no one standing in the room that night really believed they would make it. A lesser team would break into anarchy at this point, but they were no amateurs. They had drilled day-in and day-out for this moment. As one they split into two teams, sorted by the prize they sought. Coryn and Mahlua headed up Team Lewd, four other raiders in tow. Lego headed Team Ecchi, with his own pair of comrades. Together they reached the far end of the room, reached out their hands, and with one final, terrified look over their shoulders, took firm hold of their destinies.

This children, is the part of the tale where I would like to tell you that all nine of those Raiders went on to enjoy a night of licentious bliss with a beautiful woman. I wish I could tell you of how they all went away from those nights, fully satisfied in every sense of the word.

I wish I could tell you that story children, but alas, I cannot. Because none of those Raiders had succeeded in that moment. Oh yes, they really did reach that treasure room, and they really did touch those sacred and silky delicates. But that is not the end of our story. No, dear children, our story is only beginning.

---

3

break Room / Official Homestuck Classpect Quiz!

« on: November 28, 2017, 04:08:18 PM »

I don't know how long ago this was made, but ayo, it's not too bad. I hate quizzes that are all "what's your favorite color"--and this has none of that.

http://hs.hiveswap.com/ezodiac/begintest.php

Here's the link for everyone, and, for all curious parties, I am either Blue or Gold Sign Class, Prospit Dreamer, and Space Aspect.

4

FanFics / Star Ocean Til the End of Time: Clair/Nel fanfic

« on: October 18, 2017, 07:06:21 PM »

Long story short: I wrote this in one of my class notebooks between lessons once upon a time, and I realized I could use it as a part of my multi-genre paper, so I typed it up and cleared up some minor issues and yada yada. It still doesn't have a title, but here you go:

“You can’t be serious,” I say numbly, pushing past the guard, making sure to grind my shoulder against hers as I pass.

“My lady,” she stammers, “the Commander needs her rest—”

I don’t listen. How can I? The one person who was always above me in everything, wounded severely, possibly fatally, on a mission? It couldn’t possibly be true.

I slam my hand on the wooden door, and it squeaks open into the familiar inn room that we have been occupying over the course of this battle.
And, there you are, lying in that itchy old bed with a nurse next to you. She rinses a soiled bandage with water that is quickly turning brown with your blood. My breath hitches. I want to scream in rage. I could punch through the stone wall. I can almost cry.

The guard stumbles in behind me and grips my shoulder as if to pull me away. The sound of armor rattling jolts the nurse upright. She looks scared of me.

“Lady Lasbard, my deepest apologies,” the guard says, eyebrows knitted together in concern, “I tried to stop her, but she’s—”

You smile and lift a hand to cut her off. “Leave us,” you command, despite the weariness creaking in your voice. The nurse and the guard meet eyes and nod before they shuffle out of the room. I close the door behind them.

Then it’s just the two of us.

I take a seat in the chair the nurse previously occupied. You look paler than ever, and your eyes appear unfocused.

Seeing you like this torments me. Memories bubble to the surface, and none of them align at all with the image in front of me. I see the you from our training days, always smiling so sweetly and helping others with their magic. I see the you kneeling proudly as the Queen knights you. I see the you that constantly teases me for sulking.

“Still pretending to be made of iron, Nel?” you ask with a faint chuckle. Your voice jerks me back to the present. I tear my eyes away from your face, but in my periphery, I see you smile. Why do you smile?

Many things flood my throat that I want to say. I settle on, “What happened?”

For a moment, you say nothing. Your lips press into a thin line. “If I told you, you’d be consumed by your hatred, and you don’t need any more of that in your blood.”

Damn it. We’re hardly two years apart. How can you talk like a wise mentor even now?

You sigh, almost laughing. “You try to keep that scary, stern face, but under all that, you’re still in turmoil, aren’t you?”

My shoulders slump, defeated. I can never slide anything past you, and you never judge me for things I try to hide. That force of familiarity, you are never afraid of it. Even now as you lie injured, you worry about me? I can’t wrap my head around how you do that.

Words leave me, so I sit a while, interlocking my fingers and having a staring match with the floor.

“It doesn’t matter,” you say quietly, almost to yourself, and then you turn your head to look at me. I tense. “It’s okay to feel things, Nel, at least around me. If I’m going to die here—”

“Clair, don’t,” I say, feeling my mouth go dry.

“—I would rather it be next to you, with you being honest,” you continue. It turns some invisible dagger in my stomach.

We say nothing for a few minutes, but you break the silence again. “Come closer,” you say. I pull the chair as close as possible to the head of the bed, but I can’t look you in the eye. Mine are starting to go blurry.

“Look at me,” you say, voice weakening into a rasp, “It’s okay to be a mess.”

I wonder if you want proof of something abstract. Is it an accomplishment to finally get me to cry in front of you?

Either way, I finally manage to meet your familiar grey eyes. The storm that used to rage in them seems dull today. My left cheek feels a sudden warmth trail down to my chin. You lift a hand to hold that side of my face.

“See? The world hasn’t ended,” you smile.

“Neither has the war,” I say bitterly.

Your eyebrows arch and sink. “Don’t you dare start on revenge for my sake,” you sigh, “That’s not what I want for you.”

“What do you want, then?” I respond. Your words remind me of my father before he left on his last mission. His daggers, my sole inheritance, feel heavier at my side. I never got the chance to ask him that question.

“I want you to keep holding onto hope, even if that means going on without me,” you interrupt my thoughts, and I am grateful.

“What the hell does that mean?” I ask, and I hate the crack that ruins my otherwise even tone. My lips tremble. “You are where my hope is grounded,” I say softly, fighting to hold back tears that fall easily anyway.

“You’ll make it. I know you will,” you say, closing your eyes. My heart stops.

“Shall I grab the nurse,” I say with unexpected urgency.

You shake your head. “I have a while still,” you say.

I bite my lip and avert my gaze. “How is it that you’re the one injured and I’m the one losing all tact?” I sigh.

You brush your thumb across my cheek, catching a stray tear. “Because your fear of grief is worse than my fear of death.”

“Stop!” I say with far more intensity than I intend. I stop to collect the pieces of myself. The process drains me. “Just stop. I won’t let you die.”
“I don’t exactly need your permission,” you laugh quietly.

Then you cough, and I can almost believe in your mortality. You open your eyes and look at me again. I feel exposed, like you aren’t just looking, but reading. Tears flow on their own and drip carelessly into my legion scarf. My chest tightens. I feel ill.

“It should have been me,” I say through my pain. With a flick of your hand, you slap my ear.

“No, Nel. You’re invaluable to the Queen and for our victory. I’m just one Commander,” you say, sounding hurt. I feel guilty for the emotion in your voice.

“But all our men love you, and you teach with an understanding like no other. You could be General, or Grand Advisor. Your heart is more brave, more open than mine has ever been. If anyone, we need you.” The words carelessly pour from my mouth. I feel like they will strangle me if I don’t let them out. “You are a superior magician as well, with your father’s blood. All I have are my father’s daggers and a knack for breaking and entering. You’re a guiding light, so much more than I can say. Even in this bloodbath of a war, you can still smile. You can do things so far beyond me. You’ve always been better. How?” My voice starts to grow raw. “How can you smile so genuinely? How can you hope?”
I hang my head. All the energy drips from my body through my feet and into the ground, probably to die.

“Because I can trust,” you say simply, “And I trust you, perhaps more than you do, and I’m telling you it’s all right. Now please, don’t hate yourself while you sit next to me.”

---

You died that night. I’ve been put under watch. The legion considers me a danger to myself and to the mission. They must figure I would send myself on a suicide mission to take out as many as those bastards as possible before going out in a blaze of glory. Maybe they’re waiting for the opportunity to do just that.

But how could you leave me with requests like those? Now I can never live up to you and your martyrdom, and I’ve grown even colder. The war still rages, and I don’t know if I can make it anymore. I never understood hope. I sure as hell can’t now.

5

Tips and Tutorials / THIS. VIDEO.

« on: August 07, 2017, 06:46:41 PM »

My partner found this video, and I feel myself internally screaming in joy that someone put it in words. Bless this video a thousand times. I don't feel that I need to introduce it. I'm sure other artists will agree with me. It is essential for people who want to draw in an anime or manga style. You will probably have heard fragments of this from many of us here on site in many different ways, but this--it's perfectly compacted in a six minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsUs9R3F-R8

6

MR Pub / The Velvet Room (aka the Tarot Thread)

« on: July 22, 2017, 09:20:43 PM »

*Insert fitting music here*

(Ahem)
Welcome, to the Velvet Room.

As some of you may know, I am a practicing pagan studying under the Kemetic Orthodoxy (a legally ordained religious society as of the 90s thanks to the efforts of our Nisut (ankh udja seneb) and many Shemsu priests). I am also by definition a witch, and I dabble from time to time with my trusty tarot deck (the Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti).

For a little history:
Tarot is a form of divination that started arguably back in the Italian Renaissance that involves a deck of 78 cards, 52 of which are the minor arcana that came down to us as modern playing cards (four suits of ten numeric cards and four court cards), the other 22 of which are the major arcana. Originally, like a standard card deck, it began as a game and became known for its divining capacity later. The most popular deck, which most tarot decks are based on today, is the Rider White deck from 1910. Even my deck shares some symbolism with this deck.

For a little FAQ:
1. No, tarot is not evil/the devil (although there is a card called "the Devil" in many decks). It's just a deck of cards. Whether or not you believe they hold power is irrelevant. Besides, if you look at most tarot decks, especially the Rider White, you'll notice immense influence from Christianity, which makes sense given that it was originally a game during the Italian Renaissance.
2. You don't have to believe any bit of this. In fact, I encourage skepticism. I personally see tarot as one of many tools to help me view my life with different eyes, which often times helps me approach difficult situations in a different way, which can make things easier. Just because I received the Seven of Swords (a card of deceit, theft, and/or hidden agendas) in the work position during a reading, and then a few months later had a terrible experience of my manager basically letting me go without actually informing me that I had been let go until I asked about my schedule for the next week does not mean you have to believe that they predicted the future. The future is abstract. It can change with the most minute of a touch.
3. It's not me, it's the cards. Don't shoot the messenger. Sometimes, even if you don't believe in all this divination nonsense, the information that comes through can strike you as surprisingly relevant. This has happened to several people I've done readings for when I have offered free ones out in the park-like area in the middle of campus. They say the human mind readily seeks out patterns, and this can explain this phenomenon, even if a skeptic views the cards as being randomized and meaningless. I may say something about the meaning of a card that strikes you, especially if the question you ask can have a difficult to face outcome.
-will add more here if further common questions arise.-

With that out of the way, now, the actual purpose of me opening this thread:


Super brownie points to the first raider who knows who this character is...

I'm offering to do readings for any and all raiders.
Readings should only take a half hour to an hour at a time, but I ask that you be courteous if you see many requests still untaken.

I can offer one of five types of spreads, each with its specialization and card count. The longest of which is supposed to actually take two decks so that one part of it is solely done in major arcana; however, seeing as I only have one deck, I've found that the 74 cards I have do suffice and can still answer many questions. The different spreads, in order of length, are as follows:

1. The Daily Spread. This five-card spread is good for general information and awareness. It's great if you don't have a specific question, as it covers any number of things. It's also good if you know that you're in a transition period in your life at the moment and want to know what changes you can expect.
The first card represents works, and can refer to your personal projects or a literal workplace.
The second card represents the home, which can relate to family, friends, or your close personal life.
The third card represents the unexpected, or an upcoming change, or in general something you might want to watch for.
The fourth card represents your role. That should be pretty self-explanatory.
The fifth card represents the outcome. Here I'll put that disclaimer again that you don't have to believe in this as fortune telling. I personally see "outcome" as a general statement of "this is how the energy of the situation looks as of right now, and may be viable to change if you follow the advice of the cards."

2. The Cross of Truth Spread. This is another five-card spread, although it's better suited for specific questions, as it offers advice for dealing with a situation.
The first card represents the basis of the situation.
The second card represents your hopes and/or fears regarding the situation.
The third card represents matters in your favor.
The fourth represents matters not in your favor.
The fifth, once again, represents outcome.

3. The Star of Discovery Spread. This spread takes six cards, and I took it from a book that uses tarot as a tool for dealing with personal struggles. This spread is the introductory one of the book, and is specifically designed to point out areas in your life that you may be struggling in and why. It's also meant to be meditated upon and thought over for many days after the fact, but ain't nobody got time fo' dat. Still, when I did this one for myself today, I took notes so that I could keep them in mind, as the cutting accuracy actually hurt a little.
The first card represents an aspect of yourself that you are in denial about, or something that you're denying yourself access to.
The second card represents something causing you anxiety.
The third card represents something that triggers your inferiority.
The fourth card represents something that causes you anger, or something that anger is preventing you from doing.
The fifth card represents secrecy and things you aren't communicating that you perhaps should.
The sixth card represents self-loathing, either what you hate about yourself unduly or something that's causing you to do so.
I forewarn that this one could really hurt if you're not prepared to think about these things. Please consider it carefully before asking for it.

$1.00 4. The Past Life Spread. This one takes fourteen cards, and thankfully its name is self-explanatory for what it does. I've found that many decks like to give you an idea of what's going on in this life the first time this spread is done for a person, and many of the elements sound familiar to the receiver. This happened to myself when my friend first introduced me to this spread by doing it for another friend of ours and then myself.
The first card represents your soul's nature going into the life in question.
The second card represents environmental influence on the early portion of the life.
The third card represents the early years and may deal with family upbringing.
The fourth card represents the kind of education you obtained in the life.
The fifth card represents your accomplishments in the life.
The sixth card represents your primary occupation in the life.
The seventh card represents your social status overall in the life.
The eighth card represents your relationships and how they went in the life.
The ninth card represents your family life in adulthood in the life.
The tenth card represents circumstances surrounding your death.
The eleventh and twelfth cards represent lessons your soul learned through this life.
The thirteenth and fourteenth cards represent how this life affects your current one.

And if that wasn't enough for you,
$2.50 5. The Life Spread. Please go easy on me with this one. It takes 28 cards, and it can take me a while to fully explain a card and how it's dealing with the other cards in a group.
The first seven serve as the "anchor", and they give an overview of the five main groups of the spread and work as a lens through which to view the cards that appear in the corresponding groups. In order, these seven cards represent the basis, lovelife, worklife, the central theme of life, the immediate future, current wishes, and the far future.
The first group deals with the personal life, as in you, yourself, and you. This is an internal reading. The order for it is the same for the next four groups, which is another key card and a past-present-future type layout.
The second group of four cards each deals with the home life, or generally speaking, family and close friends.
The third group deals with career and worklife.
The fourth group deals with relationships and lovelife.
The fifth group deals with the future and can relate to any and all other areas of the spread. Generally it correlates with consequences when dealing with the past positions.
The last card is one last key card. It is the "what you should probably keep closest in mind right now" advice card, or the "here's what you can do with this information" card.

---

With all that said and done, I am open to questions. You do not have to tell me your question if you don't want to. Just pick a spread and I'll tell you as best I can how the cards relate to each other. If you would prefer to contact me in PM or would prefer to have your response given to you in PM, let me know.

Post edit: If you request a Past Life or a Life spread, the payment can be made through PayPal. PM me for my information.

Senebty. <<lit, "in health" or "may you be healthy".>>

7

Manga Artists Wanted / Common Mistakes and Tips for Requesting an Artist (READ BEFORE POSTING)

« on: July 17, 2017, 06:29:23 PM »

Your idea is great, and it might get big someday, but before all that, let's cool down a little bit and think about requesting an artist. That's why you're here, right? Hopefully you can find an artist to match with you, and you all can form happy business relationships.

However.

Majority of threads here get locked or otherwise just never come to fruition, and I've been around here long enough to see that pattern and I can tell you why that happens. Because of that, I'm making this thread to help you guys (who are requesting artists) to not fall into the same pits others have before you, and I'll also give you some tips as to how to better pitch your story and hook artists in.

First and foremost:
READ THE SITE RULES.
I cannot tell you how many of the threads here get locked because they break the forum's rules in one way or another. Just to break it down for you, you cannot post a request for an artist until you have 20 posts. Period. The end. This forum is meant to be a community, not just a place for you to plop down a proposal and leave. To do so indicates that you don't care at all about the artists here, because it implies that you're only in it for yourself, which is actually a huge turn-off to most artists, shockingly enough. This rule helps you slide in and prevents you from looking like a total jackass when demanding collaboration.
The other big one: email addresses cannot be posted in main forum, nor can they be shared in PMs. We have an automatic filter to prevent you from posting emails. This is because prior to this rule, we often dealt with spam, both from members receiving it as well as spambots raiding and leaving bad links everywhere. It's a safety measure.
Lastly, it is heavily suggested that you indicate whether the project will be paid or unpaid in the subject title. If you can't pay the artist, tell them in the subject line. If you can, it'll really get their interest if you tell them before they even click your thread that you're willing to pay them. Of course, I also shouldn't have to tell you that you're more likely to get someone to work with you if you offer up some cash. My observations tell me that unpaid or "we can split the money when we become famous" requests are ignored 90% of the time. On that note, regarding paying your artists: It's different for everyone. Different artists around here have different methods of payment.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, formalities!
How would you feel working with a total stranger who may or may not be prodding you with false information just to rip you off later? Yeah, probably a good idea to make yourself look like a human being and not a scambot. Some good ways to do that include:
>Introducing yourself at the Welcome Center. Interacting with people makes you more approachable and your offer more viable and far, far less sketchy.
>Proofreading your post for any and all capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. Yes, English is hard, but you're supposed to be a writer, remember? This is the artist request area, after all, not the writer's wanted board. If your post looks like a kindergartner spat it out, it doesn't make your writing skills look very good, which often makes readers think that your story is probably on the same level.
>Actually giving an idea of what your story is even about- genre, setting, themes, audience, etc.
>>Better yet, post a few chapters in the Manga Creations board under the Writer's section! Or, if your story is still a work in progress, make use of the Develop Your Story board. Plenty of members here will be more than happy to help you out.
>Check out the Art Galleries. We have plenty of talented artists around here (certainly plenty with more skill than I). Hop around, talk with them about their work, or just do what I do and look at their first page in comparison to their most recent page and feel better about yourself because most everyone started out not producing god-tier manga masterpieces. It can be inspirational to watch the growth.

Doing all these things will then probably put you at right around twenty posts, which will make this area "legal" for you to use, and they make finding an artist a little easier.

As a bonus, we have plenty of writing workshops for you to develop your skills and even a section for fanfiction, which I love to make use of when I'm practicing for another project. On top of that, there are plenty of members around here who have made threads dedicated to different styles of writing specifically geared towards making manga panels and better communication for writer and artist. Those are definitely worth poking around at.

And, to top it all off, if you ever want to start doing your own art, we can help you with that, too. We accept people from all walks here, and our artists are top notch at helping you figure out the hard stuff about art.

Happy hunting, aspiring authors!

8

Suggestions And Feedback / Blocked/Un-Hosted Images and a Possible Solution

« on: July 08, 2017, 06:13:36 PM »

There seems to be a problem from time to time where sometimes old uploaded pictures disappear from sites, as seen early in my gallery as just one of many examples, but now I keep getting a message from Photobucket users saying that they must upgrade their account, and it looks like it may have something to do with a 3rd party hosting limit.

This just keeps happening, it seems. I'm concerned that Photobucket will do the same to me although I've barely grazed my data allowance for the site, and it would probably be quite frustrating to have another huge image drop of the scale this one is likely to be.

In the interest of not having raiders pay for third party image hosting, which is the way it looks with all the URL changes and rule changes and limits placed on sites that allow them " "for free" "...why not just allow images as a form of attachment that can be uploaded directly to the forum? I feel like it would save time, also, since Photobucket likes to lag on my computer, as to most third party image hosting sites.

Of course, there's also Google Drive, but sometimes the viewing permissions on those are outright weird, and the URLs on those links like to change or stop functioning after a certain time frame.

I understand that this likely would put a lot of pressure on the storage of MR, especially with so many artists and users posting images, so it's fine if it's not feasible, but...man, these third party image hosting sites are just ridiculous to try to work around, you know?

9

Develop Your Story / So, What Should I Do for This Year's MR Anniversary?

« on: June 15, 2017, 05:28:38 PM »

It's a special year coming up, my dudes, and I wanna do something special for everyone. I know I've already contributed quite a bit to MRverse, and I'm of the opinion that it's a fantastic universe to drabble in at the very least to sharpen some writing techniques and to have a lot of fun. That said, I'm more than down with writing another MRverse story to celebrate ten years of MR.

BUT.

I'm not sure how many of you are interested. _{Also college sucks up my time.}

I have a few ideas of other things I can do, such as maybe doing some free character sheets of raiders in any MRverse setting they'd like, but I figure I'll open up a discussion here for what you guys want to see done.

Will the Righteous Science Division finally run the Science Division into space?
Who are the mysterious masked members with badges that simply read "V"?
What do other raiders do in their spare time, anyway?
Who cleans up the messes after the great After-Christmas Panty Raids anyway?
What sort of madness would ensue if another universe collided with MRverse and created a crossover, or worse, a multiverse?
What the actual f--- are the Tans going to do now that the Ecchi Twins have literally been deified? Or, what are the Twins even doing?

These are just a few story ideas I've been sitting on for a while. Additions, questions, comments, concerns, and sick burns are welcome.

10

General Discussion / What Makes a Style?

« on: May 06, 2017, 12:51:32 AM »

I was pondering between making this topic or making a super huge topic in the powers section about magic, but since I've been in a bit of a slump lately, I figured I'd just post this one.

Admittedly, my art is far from the greatest. We have some paid professionals here, and a lot of strong upcomers. It's amazing to be surrounded by so much art and diversity, and I may have fallen into the pit of sin that is comparing my art to others, but it's more than just that. Looking out at my art, I don't see much of a style to it. It looks basic to me, like there's nothing substantial that makes it "me." Is that how most artists feel about their work, that it just is what it is?

Which of course brings us to the titular question. What exactly makes a style, anyway? Maybe my woes can spur in an interesting discussion.

11

Music / What Song Best Describes Your Life Right Now

« on: April 30, 2017, 11:03:38 PM »

Because why not have a music version of the "your life as a picture" thread or whatever it's called.

I'll start with a few things going on right now for me:
Dealing with professor's sh—y final project instructions/ruberics like "Hate This" by Grendel (This song actually was playing as I finished one of my papers. I was amused.)

Looking around at my university's clubs practically all falling apart because executive officers this past year have been manipulative liars and one of the big clubs had an almost embezzlement scandal like "What the F— is Wrong With You?" by Combichrist

Trying to explain to my friend getting out of high school that his responsibilities as they stand ain't sh— like "It Gets Worse" by Mindless Self Indulgence

Now mind you that all of these songs are explicit...which is exactly why they're a perfect snapshot of my life.

12

break Room / Quick Copyright Question Regarding MR

« on: April 24, 2017, 02:38:06 PM »

I wasn't really sure where to put this, but here works, I guess.

So, sometime at the end of next month, I'll be attending my first major convention, and around campus I have access to a button-maker for 3" buttons. I was wondering if I could make a button to say something like "ask me about Manga Raiders" or with the Manga Raiders main heading/logo-ish thing up there, that way I could promote the site while having fun at the convention. If Hasith (who I believe mostly owns the site, intellectually speaking) would prefer me to not, I'll just make one of my new signature and not the MR logo, or I'll make one that's either plain text or my handwriting/calligraphy, or any number of options.

I figured I'd make this a public topic in case this question ever comes up for anyone else.

(Also I can make buttons for like dirt cheap and I could mail them to all mods/admins for what it's worth, but again, that all rides on this copyright question as to whether or not I can actually make them.)

13

Discussions / Genderbending Conundrums [DISCUSSION]

« on: April 19, 2017, 02:26:10 AM »

Welp, with the Beta version up and looking a little more sinister, I open the floor to any commentary. Most of my feedback from the class requested a little more character depth and motivation, and a little more clarity overall to people not very well versed in MRverse. I'll be speaking in a one-on-one with my professor about this in a week or so, but in the meantime, what would you guys maybe want some more of out of this story?

Also, huge note for my editing around adverbs, since my professor was pretty upfront on wanting me to change that. Good? Neutral? Negative effect on my writing style?

Most forms of constructive criticism welcome. Mostly just not the rude kind.

14

Manga Creations / MRverse: Genderbending Conundrums

« on: March 19, 2017, 07:27:25 AM »

Here it is! That ridiculous assignment I somehow managed to complete in two days! I'm going to post in two parts because the overall document is over 30,000 characters.

Part I

A chilling giggle broke through the silent darkness. The goddess tucked a pink hair behind her ear, proud of her handiwork.

“That’s the last gem, dear sister,” she hummed, lips innocently curling around the words.

The red haired goddess crossed her arms and nodded approvingly. “And, with all the havoc this city has seen in the past month, no one will be able to fend off this level of magic,” she added.

Satisfied, the two took their places on either side of the radio tower’s flashing light, placing their palms flat against it.

“Here goes,” beamed the younger twin.

“The raiders will certainly be in for a surprise when they wake up tomorrow,” purred the older.

As the light on the tower groaned into its next crescendo, a pulse of pink and blue energy exploded from the epicenter, charged by the four gems scattered throughout the city, completely altering everyone in its wake, and no one felt a thing.

---

Early morning sunlight pierced through the yellowed studio window, somehow finding the most dickish way possible to hit the raider directly in the eyes. With a groan, Mahlua rolled over, pushing her face into the pillow for more comfortable darkness. Something out of place itched at her chin, so with a jerky movement, she scratched at it. In her discovery she jolted awake, suddenly much more alert than anyone should be at daybreak.

“The hell!?” she exclaimed, keeping a hand to the newly grown patch of wiry ginger hair. It almost didn’t register that her voice had dropped about an octave or two as well.

The raider sat dumbfounded for a moment, then jerked the bed sheets out of the way to confirm her suspicions. Surely enough, her body was not how she left it the night before.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, running through various reasons for why, suddenly, overnight, her body changed its sex entirely. Writer-tan’s DEM magic came to mind, and nothing else made much sense, but that didn’t explain why her, unless other people had been hit with the gender-bender as well.

As she pondered this, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, careful upon standing up. Her center of gravity felt different, and she took things slow on the way to the closet. Upon sliding the door, she found even her wardrobe’s contents had changed to match the adjustments. Thankfully, at least, nothing was particularly out of her taste. After a quick browse, she threw something on and entered the small side room of the upstairs bathroom.

No stranger to drag, she understood her masculine features before, but having them exaggerated without contouring and makeup was a sight to see, and the chin beard, as itchy as it was, didn’t look terrible. Not that she had a razor to shave it off with if it did. She turned her head and new body all sorts of ways, gauging it, feeling its differences. She wondered if anything had fundamentally changed, internally. A wave of anxiety swept over her. She wasn’t in the mood for an identity crisis.

Instead, she threw on a thick jacket and went down the stairs to her art studio and took a left to enter the garage, grabbing the keys to her beloved Suzuki. The purple motorcycle met her with a familiar gleam. Pleased, she carefully took a seat and started up the engine. Thankfully, nothing had changed about her electric manipulation. She felt in tune with the little static hum of the battery.

“Guess some things don’t change,” she sighed.

That voice could take some getting used to.

---

It didn’t take long to reach MR Pub so early in the morning. Mahlua parked her ride in the same spot on the bike racks and killed the engine. She took another deep breath and tried, again, to perceive anything different about the atmosphere. She had tried along the way, but got nothing, the same as she did this time. Hopefully the mistress of the pub had some answers.

The raider pushed the heavy door aside, met with the same orientation the bar had yesterday. Nothing out of place, except Pub-tan, who was nowhere to be found.

“Hello?” she called, voice booming and carrying far more than she was used to. She winced.

The pub wasn’t closed, otherwise the door would’ve been locked. The raider clenched her jaw and took a seat, careful not to cross her legs as usual.

Finally, someone emerged from the door behind the counter. He sported a nice button up shirt with a light tan vest and striped tie, which he adjusted in a way that betrayed his irritation. “When I get my hands on those two,” he muttered tightly before turning to see the raider. “Oh! And who might you be?”

Mahlua blinked in confusion. It wasn’t like Pub-tan to hire another bartender. “They call me MahluaandMilk, but generally only Coryn calls me by the Milk part,” she explained.

The bartender paled and silence fell for a hard moment.

“Those b-----s.” The man spat, turning elegantly on his heel to pace back and forth behind the counter.

“Uh, who are b-----s now?” the raider asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The Twins, of course,” the other hissed in reply. “They’ve gone and used their magic for some new prank of theirs.”

Finally, two and two made four.

“Wait a minute, Pub-tan?” the ginger gawked.

“The one and only,” the bartender said flatly, crossing her arms, “And I suspect once the mods wake up, there’s going to be one hell of a party.”

Surely enough, as soon as the words left her mouth, the door burst open again, revealing a Nekomimi in a familiar trench coat and face cover plate. “Something’s wrong,” Lego said, accent still as round as usual, but distinctly raised into the feminine range. His tail flicked agitatedly.

Unimpressed, Pub-tan’s lips pressed into a line. “Clearly. We’re all genderbent, and to add insult to injury, the Twins drew out your fetish on you. You poor bastard…”

“That’s not all,” he said breathlessly, “Efurry time I talk, cat puns slip out!”

The raider and the tan at the bar shared a pained look.

---

Finally, around ten o’clock, the mods called for a town hall meeting. Concerned raiders, all affected by the Twins’ spell, crowded the plaza around a quick stage the mods set up. Writer-tan and MR-tan were in attendance along with the citizens. After two taps on a center-stage mic, Hasith himself began the announcements.

“Raiders,” he began sternly, “I’m sure you’ve all noticed something different this morning. Our intelligence leads us to believe that the Ecchi Twins are the culprits. We still don’t know the agent of the genderswap, but we are presently working with Pub-tan, MR-tan, and Writer-tan to resolve the issue.”

From the crowd, Mahlua raised her hand. “What about Writer-tan’s DEM magic?”

Writer-tan, upon hearing the question, hoisted herself onto the stage and took the mic. “I tried that earlier, but it seems that this magic can’t be undone without some proper process. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the Twins must’ve instilled their own form of DEM into whatever this is,” she explained, adjusting her glasses.

Raiders shifted uncomfortably around the plaza. Murmurs broke out.

Suddenly, as if a smoke bomb had been dropped, the stage flashed with an explosive light. A hearty, boyish giggle emanated from the speakers. “Hello, raiders. I hope you’re enjoying your little present?” a new voice called.

As the smoke settled, surely enough, a pink haired wonder stood, holding the mic in one hand and a tell-tale kendo sword in the other, drooped over slightly broadened shoulders. In her new, masculine form, Ecchi-tan maintained a Japanese-style school uniform fitted for the opposite sex. Behind her, Lewd-tan’s wardrobe went from pencil skirt and blazer to a three-piece American cut suit that looked like it at least cost a year’s salary, even for a mod. The twin tans appeared to revel in their show-stopping awe before continuing.

“Now, now. We know things around here have been rough with the influx of spam ninjas lately,” Ecchi-tan hummed, averting her eyes.

The redhead took the lead from there. “So, we decided to set up a little game for all of you. We took four gems imbued with our power and scattered them through the city,” she explained making a graceful gesture with an outstretched arm, which almost looked off with her new appearance.

“And to reverse the spell, all you guys have to do is find them and break them,” the pink haired one finished with a smile.

At this point, Pub-tan had pushed through the crowd of raiders and had started to storm up the stairs, seething.

“Ah, looks like that’s our exit cue,” Lewd-tan sighed, placing a hand on her twin’s head as she kicked something on the stage that caused another flash-bang. As everyone’s eyes scrambled to adjust, her smooth voice called out, “If you’d like a hint, start at Pub’s place. Under your nose, and all.”

When the visual white noise dispersed, only Pub-tan was left on stage, clenching her fists. Some raiders started to leave, either headed home or to the pub. Mahlua fell into the latter category.

---

Before any of the raiders made it to the pub, its owner used her Tan abilities to teleport there. By the time Mahlua and the mods and other concerned even made it to the door, Pub-tan had practically torn the place apart looking for the gem, seething in rage.

The first inside, Coryn, sporting chin-length hair now and an American flag crop-top to fit his almost broken new form, tried to sedate her.

“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” he asked, ducking as a polishing rag hit the wall behind where his head had been moments before. “Getting this mad isn’t like you at all.”

“I cannot BELIEVE they had the NERVE to come through here like that, let alone deposit one of their smarmy TOYS here,” she shrieked.

Squeezing through the small crowd of raiders trying to enter the bar, MR-tan hopped over the counter, practically an unheard of sin, and grabbed the taller Tan by the shoulders. “Hey, use ya head,” she said, straining her eyebrows worriedly up her forehead. “Yeah, they shoulda never put one here, but you gotta calm down. You’re makin a mess.”

There was practically a fire in Pub-tan’s eyes as she bore her gaze down at the shorter Tan, but she set her jaw tightly in one place and stood stock-still. The air grew thick with tension, practically popping like a circuit on past its maximum voltage capacity.

“There you go. Calm,” MR-tan continued, slowly loosening her grip on the other’s shoulders. “Now don’t worry. We’ll find the gem hidden around here, and we’ll give you the honor of shattering it to bits.”

“Gotta love how you up and decided that for everyone,” Pub-tan replied curtly. With that, she jerked herself out of the other’s grip and seated herself on the inside of the bar.

“Right then,” the sporty ginger grinned as she hopped back over the counter. She scanned the faces of the little crowd that had collected and put both hands on her hips. “We’ll help her out by doing a thorough sweep through the building and around its premises.”

The group nodded and split up, each going around in its own direction. Mahlua found herself clumped in the usual group with Coryn, Lego, and Everlastin. They searched around for a while, but upon not finding much of anything, resigned themselves to sitting around the purple Suzuki outside, musing.

“We don’t even know what the gems look like,” the ginger groaned, rubbing at her bristly chin beard. Its texture had almost started to comfort her, in a weird way.

“Maybe we could look fur traces of meow-gic and find it that way?” Lego hummed, swishing his tail back and forth.

“I’m not really sure why it’s such a big deal what we find them so quickly,” Everlastin shrugged. “I mean, this whole change doesn’t really bother me. I’ve always been mistaken as a boy anyway.

“Okay, but these things are killing me,” Coryn huffed, gesturing at his chest. “How the hell do you manage when they just…bounce when you run? That actually kinda hurts!”

“Yeah, and now I have to stop and think every time I sit down. Biologically speaking, both sexes have their issues,” the electric elemental shrugged, hopping off her bike. “As for the idea of searching for magic, I think Lego might be onto something.”

His ear twitched at the mention of his name. “Fur real?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, laying her hand flat on the ground. “I’m going to try sending a low-voltage pulse and see if anything gives resistance.”

Everyone exchanged a glance. Mahlua exhaled deeply and felt her veins become as copper wires and channeled through the ground, the air, through the building, through metal, around rubber, through people’s brain waves, until finally—

The ginger stood up and hissed in recoil. “Surprise, surprise, I may have found a clue,” she said, making way around the Pub into the alley beside it.

“Where are you going?” Coryn asked, stumbling to follow her.

Not long after they all started walking, Mahlua stopped outside a familiar closed door, tapered off and dusty from lack of use in recent years.

“The Mortal Combat Room?” Everlastin blinked, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Maybe,” the ginger said, planting her foot hard against the wooden barricade. Surely enough, it gave. Inside, dust flakes filtered in the light, and behind them, a table held a bizarre pink gleam.

Coryn slid past her and went over to pick it up, but hesitated, hand inches from it. “They certainly gave a vague hint. I guess since this room is closed now, it is part of Pub-tan’s place. Still…” He carefully tapped it with a finger, and upon not being smote to death or whatever he expected, he picked up the pink gem. It had the general shape of a diamond, about the size of a baseball. “…guess we’ll let Pub-tan have at it.”

“What was she so pissed about anyway?” Mahlua asked from the doorway.

The scientist shrugged and pocketed the gem.

A quick walk landed the party back in the bar. Raiders stood around, looking puzzled. Proudly, Coryn cleared his throat. “We got it for ya, Pub-tan. It’s all yours,” he called, tossing it to the bartender.

She caught it one-handed, without hardly looking up. “Where was it?” she asked tightly.

“The old Mortal Combat room we had back behind your place,” he explained, pointing a thumb behind him. “Milk found it with her electric stuffs.”

The Tan sighed, relieved. “Good.” Then, without even turning to look at the offensive item, she crushed it to dust in her fist.

As the powder filtered to the floor, it released a sound, as if it had been holding an audio recording. “Good job!” Ecchi-tan’s voice bubbled in its natural, feminine tone, “You got the first one!”

“The next one will be somewhere familiar to most of you,” Lewd-tan’s cool voice chuckled. “I can’t develop your idea too much for you, but follow the outline to the writer’s section.”

With that, the pink remains of the shattered gem disappeared.

“Guess that means you guys are headed to the Develop Your Story district next?” Pub-tan smirked.

“I…I thought that, but I wondered if they really made it that obvious as a joke,” Mahlua blinked.

“No time like the present to find out. Pretty as the girls are, they’re hurting my back,” Coryn groaned, stretching.

15

Develop Your Story / Another GD MahluaandMilk MRverse Idea

« on: March 17, 2017, 11:48:13 PM »

So, in a couple of days, I have an assignment for a creative writing class due and admittedly I haven't started on it. But, it's totally fine, because I have an idea that I'll start writing out pretty much immediately after this post, and as the title suggests, it's another MRverse one.

Basically the assignment is a no-holds-barred fictional short story. That said, I'm bringing the Ecchi Twins back for another round of mystical magic and comedic action nonsense, but this time, after civilians have been exhausted in the fight against a recent surge of spam ninjas, they pounce at their grand oppurtunity and use the MR Tower to amplify a spell to genderbend everyone, and the only way to break the spell is to find the items used to bind the spell and break them. But, of course it'd be boring without some sort of catch. Not only is everyone genderbent—they're turned into a cheesy anime stereotype in their new form as well!

Spoiler

Lego is marked as the resident neko girl and I myself have decided to brave the role of bland male harem protagonist. I may have Coryn marked as stereotypical interpretation of an American girl as well.

All who are interested, please give ideas and feedback. Now, onward to write the prologue. I will be keeping my fingers on the pulse here. I know this is short notice, but I figure I can steamroll it out if I have to. Caffeine addiction is a lovely thing.