practicality

[voice]
[Braska is breathing heavily, and sounds on edge. There's the rush of heavy gusts of wind in the background]

There are fiends out here, in the storm - they look almost like people, but they're incredibly fast and- [there's some shouted words of a spell in another language, and then an inhuman shriek] -and fire seems to be the only thing that touches them. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up - I've never bee much good with black magic...

Minato, Yoite, Yuna? Are you three somewhere safe? Stay inside, keep the doors locked and the curtains drawn. Don't come out looking for me. I'll be alright.

My, that's an awful lot of snow out there. I haven't seen a storn this bad in a long time. And all this talk of demons, too - it's all a bit ominious, isn't it~?

I do have a spare bedroom or two if those from across the city find themselves stuck, though~

[Private|voice|minimal security]

The apartment seems so quiet now - Auron never said much, but his presence was...reassuring. And now he and Jecht have both left. Yoite hasn't come by recently, and now with Minato missing... [he sighs] I hope he's alright. It's just been too much, all at once. I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle...
[/Private]

That was an...interesting experience. Not one I'd like to repeat, I think.

A brief digression away from uploading things (mostly of the musical variety), term papers (Friday's paper - 7/8 pages, 1 secondary source out of 5; Tuesday's - 0/6, but at least I have a topic), and maple brown sugar bacon (still delicious), because omg, I bought stuff this week.

First and foremost was replacing broken electronics - the DS cost me $85, but it was a Triforce one and came with a one year warranty, so I can't complain too much (apparently my old one was fried past the point of fixing? Hooray for Nintendo's guaranteed repair, though). Headphones cost me a half hour of my time while things were deliberated over, and having to take a slight downgrade (oh no, they don't fold up any more, I am so put out /sarcasm).

I also bought new screen protectors for the DS, and 358/2 Days because Squeenix owns my soul :( I haven't actually gotten past the introduction, though, because my gametime lately has been devoted to Persona 4. And then I went to IKEA and bought a full-length mirror, and carried it home on the bus in the rain. This would have been okay if my house wasn't three blocks from the bus stop. Mirror is fine, but arms were definitely sore.

And finally! I bought these a few weeks ago, but just got to pick them up on Saturday, but new glasses! (And why is that that I can look way more intense and evil in a random one-off shot I took on my phone at the bus than I can in cosplay photos? Sigh). These were my old pair, for reference. If it is sunny again tomorrow and I remember I will try to get an ~action shot~, because they are Transition lenses and are seriously awesome. My glasses are like, from the future, guys.

I love you even as you break my heart over and over. Seriously, only game to actually outright make me cry, because while the ending is 'good', it's also very bittersweet - you are keenly aware of all the sacrifices that are made to get there. I know FF7 has Aeris, but somehow her death doesn't have the scope, the impact that seeing Yuna perform the Sending for a row of bodies in a half-destroyed village does. Death is more present in Spira, and while the game may have it's little romance plot (I don't really want to say subplot, because while it's subtle it's very important to the story), the focus is really on the balance of life and death, of sorrow and hope.

Part of me wants to like, write a super-long post about Braska and Yuna and why I love them both so so so much, but I don't think I could adequately capture it in words. They're both such complex characters - even though yeah, Braska is in the game for like all of ten minutes total. I don't think I could ever really write FFX fic for the same reason - I could never narrow the focus enough. I can handle Braska in RP, though I don't think I could pull of the hint of uncertainty in herself that Yuna still has through much of the game. I guess I will say this much - I'm pretty much an avowed atheist, but writing Braska gives me a glimpse of the strength and power of belief. And yeah, I am not totally unaware of the irony that my dad's belief system is in some ways very similar to Braska's, although their personalities are, uh. Definitely a bit different. And some of it is that I am kind of a snarky asshole and I play a lot of snarky assholes, and they're all great fun, but there's something both calming and cleansing about writing someone so kind and so certain of himself as Braska.

(Guess who spent like two hours tonight watching FFX clips as a refresher for a Braska app, and then followed it up with horribly depressing FFX fanfic. I feel like I need to do a scene of Braska being totally fluffy with his pet ninja boy or having tea with Minato or something now, to make up for it.)

Tetora, you little shit, you owe me a pack of cigarettes.

[Locked to Yuffie]

Hey, uh, want to come over for dinner tonight? I'm actually cooking something, so...

-Increased dose of Wellbutrin does craaaazy things to my brain. Anxiety as a side-effect + pre-existing anxiety disorders = five hours of me fidgeting compulsively and being totally unable to focus on anything. Hopefully it'll even out after a few days but whoa, that was a bit intense

-Have gotten mostly caught up on Merlin S2 (haven't watched tonight's ep yet, but soon!), and oh BBC, I love you and your iffy script-writing and bad special effects. Best moment so far was the incredibly awkward not-hug which I will be laughing about forever.

-I still hate 18th century lit ahhhhh.

Okay time to try to sleep :|

[Voice]
[What sounds like a very sleepy ten-year-old. He's speaking Wutaian for now, which Mandarin speakers will be able to get the gist of] Ngh....this place? Where am I? This isn't home...Everything here is written in Standard...

[He clears his throat a little, and then switches to somewhat accented English. He sounds a bit worried]

Um...Hello? What is this place?

I-
What was-

[Locked to Lulu]

I am so very, very sorry for what happened these last few days.

(OOC: Uh, pretend this was earlier. I'm fail and braindead this week)

Did anyone see that explosion just a little while ago? The power of it...terrifying.

I hope nobody was caught in it, whatever it was.