They sat together, outside, watching as the sunlight played against the red and orange leaves of the darkly-barked trees, and the creek trickled down the mildly-stepped valley where they'd made their home. They had some warm, spiced soft apple cider, a favorite of his. She moved closer to him, closing her eyes to better hear the sounds of the still forest.
"I like this one," she said. And they were silent for a few moments, until a thought recurred to her. "Are you sure that it wasn't hard to allow time to pass while also creating situational permanence? I'm not up on the latest quantemporal physics, but it seems like you'd have to work at cross-purposes to yourself to get it going."
"I didn't say that creating the time bubble wasn't hard," he answered. "It certainly wasn't the hardest part, though."
"So which was the hardest part?" she asked him when he'd stopped.
He took a sip of his cider, and thought aloud. "Well, let's see. Reverse time travel wasn't invented until the war, so I had to survive until then. It took several iterations to win the war, though, and I had to make sure that I saw it through without paradox. Then there was that whole psychotemporal issue - I basically wound up stuck in a fractal version of Channelwood for eternity, and had to think my way out of that. Then, of course, we had to develop pre-point reverse time travel, to be able to bubble any moment from before Earth was devastated by the war."
"And where was I during all this?" she asked.
"You know, I'm not sure, it's been so long. You were probably dead or something. Or was I dead? Well, whichever it was, it got fixed. But yeah, I'd say that the hardest part was avoiding paradoxes during the war."
"Not the Channelwood part?"
"Nah, that was easy: I had eternity, after all."
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Sudden Short Story 63
"As we enter the next room," said the tour guide, "you'll notice a small pyramid like the one we're standing in. In fact, it's an exact scale model, exterior erosion notwithstanding, but that isn't the most interesting feature. Unlike any figure, real or mythical, in ancient South America, this figure of a seated human is covered entirely in metallic armor. Though the statue's armor bears some resemblance to medieval European plate mail, the design doesn't match any Old World armors, and the artist's motivations for this peculiar imagery are lost to us.
"The inscriptions in this room, however," she continued, gesturing to the glyphs upon the walls, "do appear to tell the legend surrounding the figure. Our best translation is that he is a legendary warrior, whose obligation to protect the world was so great that he will slumber, without sustenance, until such time as the world needs him to save it. So, it has been nicknamed 'The Throne Room of the Ancient Guardian.'"
The tour guide noticed a few stifled giggles among her audience, which was certainly a novel reaction. These same giggles, however, seemed to also awaken a woman who was heretofore immersed in her phadlet. She looked up, seeing past the tour guide, who also turned around at that time. They beheld a little girl, sitting upon that statue like it was such a Santa Claus.
"Tammy," she said in that harsh whisper that a parent uses when she wishes to yell at a child while remaining quiet. "I'm so sorry about this," she said to the tour guide as she passed her to collect her daughter, who appeared to be aware that she'd be scolded, as the smile had left her face, but was not leaving the statue.
The mother and the tour guide ascended the small pyramid, after moving aside a length of velvet rope. "Mommy?" whispered the girl. She was shivering at this point. Before her mother could quite reach her, she said, with a tear in her eye, "Mommy, the statue's breathing."
"The inscriptions in this room, however," she continued, gesturing to the glyphs upon the walls, "do appear to tell the legend surrounding the figure. Our best translation is that he is a legendary warrior, whose obligation to protect the world was so great that he will slumber, without sustenance, until such time as the world needs him to save it. So, it has been nicknamed 'The Throne Room of the Ancient Guardian.'"
The tour guide noticed a few stifled giggles among her audience, which was certainly a novel reaction. These same giggles, however, seemed to also awaken a woman who was heretofore immersed in her phadlet. She looked up, seeing past the tour guide, who also turned around at that time. They beheld a little girl, sitting upon that statue like it was such a Santa Claus.
"Tammy," she said in that harsh whisper that a parent uses when she wishes to yell at a child while remaining quiet. "I'm so sorry about this," she said to the tour guide as she passed her to collect her daughter, who appeared to be aware that she'd be scolded, as the smile had left her face, but was not leaving the statue.
The mother and the tour guide ascended the small pyramid, after moving aside a length of velvet rope. "Mommy?" whispered the girl. She was shivering at this point. Before her mother could quite reach her, she said, with a tear in her eye, "Mommy, the statue's breathing."
Monday, September 29, 2014
Sudden Short Story 62
"Karl Schmidt," spake the judge, "I have heard the evidence against you. I am now prepared to hear any final rebuttal that you may have in this matter."
"Herr Eichler," began the accused, "my accuser, and the so-called witnesses, have provided what seems to pass for evidence that I am some kind of witch, but I have to wonder if they aren't doppelgangers themselves. Though they have the semblance of my neighbors, they appear to know me not at all, or else they'd know that I am no fool. What might make any man suspect that dealing with the devil will produce any good, even for only himself? Shall everything that I touch turn to gold, that I might starve without nourishment? Shall I become immortal, that I must outlive my every friend? Or shall I have a beguiling presence, and never know whether any friend is really true?
"During your deliberation, you plan to ask yourself whether I am a witch, but you can answer that simply by asking yourself whether I am a fool."
"Herr Eichler," began the accused, "my accuser, and the so-called witnesses, have provided what seems to pass for evidence that I am some kind of witch, but I have to wonder if they aren't doppelgangers themselves. Though they have the semblance of my neighbors, they appear to know me not at all, or else they'd know that I am no fool. What might make any man suspect that dealing with the devil will produce any good, even for only himself? Shall everything that I touch turn to gold, that I might starve without nourishment? Shall I become immortal, that I must outlive my every friend? Or shall I have a beguiling presence, and never know whether any friend is really true?
"During your deliberation, you plan to ask yourself whether I am a witch, but you can answer that simply by asking yourself whether I am a fool."
Sunday, August 31, 2014
General Update August 2014
On the one hand, I'm glad that August had five weekends, since it meant that I got some much-needed unwinding time on the weekends. On the other hand, August has absolutely sucked for me. There was no one thing, really, but all of those little annoying things had to happen all at once. I'm looking forward to unwinding a bit more. Here's fun stuff that I'm hoping to do some time soon:
- Beat the rest of Naxxramas on heroic. (Hearthstone)
- Play more Pokémon X & Pokémon Y before Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire drop in November.
- Play more Mann vs. Machine: Some time ago, TF2 added new maps & mechanics to their special Mann vs. Machine mode. The main thing that holds me back from it is that playing a full round of MvM is like doing a dungeon in an MMO, & requires a fairly large chunk of uninterrupted me-time.
- Get back into Minecraft, at least enough to further explore Thaumcraft.
- Win a round of FTL on normal.
- More DDO?
The Great Webcomic Catch-Up: August Update
The good news is that I have made some progress on catching up on webcomics. I'm up to having to catch up on over a year of LEGOStar Galactica. It should be mostly straightforward, but he has been doing more action scenes, which are a bit hard to parse, but are at least sparse on dialog.
Once I'm caught up on LEGOStar - which, as of where I am, still hasn't made a BSG joke - I think that I'll be about 40%-45% of the way through the list, though I'll obviously have to re-catch-up once I'm done, until I'm eventually actually caught up.
BONUS CONTENT:
Since this post is kind of short, I'll mention something else: I was going to make a post describing how to beat Maexxna on heroic in Hearthstone. I used a Rogue deck that took advantage of Battlecry mechanics and some save-your-ass cards. Before making that post, I wanted to beat her on heroic again, since it had been so long, to remind myself what to tell you, but I haven't been able to do it again! I'll at least leave you with this tidbit: Anub'Rekhan & Faerlina can both be defeated fairly straightforwardly with a standard Druid ramp deck. Seriously, I didn't even have to make a special heroic-defeating deck or anything.
Once I'm caught up on LEGOStar - which, as of where I am, still hasn't made a BSG joke - I think that I'll be about 40%-45% of the way through the list, though I'll obviously have to re-catch-up once I'm done, until I'm eventually actually caught up.
BONUS CONTENT:
Since this post is kind of short, I'll mention something else: I was going to make a post describing how to beat Maexxna on heroic in Hearthstone. I used a Rogue deck that took advantage of Battlecry mechanics and some save-your-ass cards. Before making that post, I wanted to beat her on heroic again, since it had been so long, to remind myself what to tell you, but I haven't been able to do it again! I'll at least leave you with this tidbit: Anub'Rekhan & Faerlina can both be defeated fairly straightforwardly with a standard Druid ramp deck. Seriously, I didn't even have to make a special heroic-defeating deck or anything.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Y-Locke's Log: Day 5
I got another delivery today. I was expecting it to be another Vivillon, but I was at least close: It was a Pinsir, and a level 50 one at that! I also got a Pinsirite, which I gave to the Pinsir, since it seemed appropriate. Having only the Bug Badge so far, I put Pinsir in the box with my other gift-bugs, and set off to Route 4.
I was stopped by Viola's sister again, who introduced herself as Alexa this time. She also gave me an Exp. Share, to spread experience around my team.
Route 4 has some hedge mazes, which I explored, finding a Repel and a Super Potion right away. Also, in the flowers, I ran across a Flabébé, which I managed to catch on the first ball throw, after weakening it with Sly's Scratch attack. Since this Flabébé inhabits a red flower, I decided to name her Rose Red. As my team was full, she was sent to the PC box.
The hedge maze also held a Great Ball and an Antidote, along with a trainer. He was a gardener by the name of Wheaton, and he sent out a Corphish. Since Sly is a Fire-type, I switched out for someone else. I considered Mousea, another water type, but he's of such a low level that I feared that he wouldn't survive, so I sent out Orion, who was of a higher level and had Sand Attack available. Orion was apparently faster, since his Sand-Attacks hit before Corphish's Bubble attacks, but they didn't seem to be helping much. I had to use a Potion to keep Orion's HP in a comfortable area, I realized that I was running low. To make things worse, the Corphish never missed, despite its accuracy reduction. It did eventually miss once, just before Orion finished it off, but I was down 2 Potions, and really needed to get more. Thankfully, Orion learned Quick-Attack, and my battle winnings were enough for 3 potions with some change, and I had plenty of money, anyway, so I bought ten Potions while I was resting my pokémon at the center back in town.
I also bought ten more Antidotes, since they're cheap, and ten more Paralyze Heals, since I only had one and they seemed like they'd be very helpful in battle.
I found the Perle Fountain on Route 4. I was skating around it when a Roller Skater challenged me to a pokémon battle. She had only a Fletchling, though, so I weakened it with Sly before sending out Mousea, to give him some experience. After taking a Tackle, though, I could see that leaving him out would be risky, so I switched to Theodore. Two tackles, though, also put Theodore in risky territory, so I switched back to Sly to finish the job. Sly learned Flame Charge in place of Tail Whip, and I beat a hasty retreat to the pokémon center.
Considering the rough time that Mousea and Theodore had of it, I decided to train them and Pyrrhini against the wild pokémon on Route 4, for their own safety. Eventually, Mousea learned Charm, Theodore learned Defense Curl, and Pyrrhini learned Incinerate in place of Play Nice.
I decided to call it a night after that training, though. We'll see how the team fares against the next trainer that we encounter.
I was stopped by Viola's sister again, who introduced herself as Alexa this time. She also gave me an Exp. Share, to spread experience around my team.
Route 4 has some hedge mazes, which I explored, finding a Repel and a Super Potion right away. Also, in the flowers, I ran across a Flabébé, which I managed to catch on the first ball throw, after weakening it with Sly's Scratch attack. Since this Flabébé inhabits a red flower, I decided to name her Rose Red. As my team was full, she was sent to the PC box.
The hedge maze also held a Great Ball and an Antidote, along with a trainer. He was a gardener by the name of Wheaton, and he sent out a Corphish. Since Sly is a Fire-type, I switched out for someone else. I considered Mousea, another water type, but he's of such a low level that I feared that he wouldn't survive, so I sent out Orion, who was of a higher level and had Sand Attack available. Orion was apparently faster, since his Sand-Attacks hit before Corphish's Bubble attacks, but they didn't seem to be helping much. I had to use a Potion to keep Orion's HP in a comfortable area, I realized that I was running low. To make things worse, the Corphish never missed, despite its accuracy reduction. It did eventually miss once, just before Orion finished it off, but I was down 2 Potions, and really needed to get more. Thankfully, Orion learned Quick-Attack, and my battle winnings were enough for 3 potions with some change, and I had plenty of money, anyway, so I bought ten Potions while I was resting my pokémon at the center back in town.
I also bought ten more Antidotes, since they're cheap, and ten more Paralyze Heals, since I only had one and they seemed like they'd be very helpful in battle.
I found the Perle Fountain on Route 4. I was skating around it when a Roller Skater challenged me to a pokémon battle. She had only a Fletchling, though, so I weakened it with Sly before sending out Mousea, to give him some experience. After taking a Tackle, though, I could see that leaving him out would be risky, so I switched to Theodore. Two tackles, though, also put Theodore in risky territory, so I switched back to Sly to finish the job. Sly learned Flame Charge in place of Tail Whip, and I beat a hasty retreat to the pokémon center.
Considering the rough time that Mousea and Theodore had of it, I decided to train them and Pyrrhini against the wild pokémon on Route 4, for their own safety. Eventually, Mousea learned Charm, Theodore learned Defense Curl, and Pyrrhini learned Incinerate in place of Play Nice.
I decided to call it a night after that training, though. We'll see how the team fares against the next trainer that we encounter.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Y-Locke's Log: Day 4
I was once again gifted with a Vivillon today. I wonder if this will be the start of a pattern....
I set out to explore the route to the northwest of Santalune a bit, just to see what was out there, but a woman introducing herself as the sister of the local gym leader suggested that I head back to the gym, instead. Before I went, though, I decided to give Route 22 another go, to train up my team.
The wild pokémon weren't too much trouble, though a wild Litleo used Leer a lot, & I think that I saved Sly by switching to Mousea just before it pounced. Actually, Mousea knows some Water-type moves, which I should keep in mind when facing Fire types.
After a rest, I decided to tackle the Santalune City Gym.
When I went in, a man helpfully informed me that everyone in the gym uses Bug-type pokémon. Considering that I have three Fire-types and a Flying-type in my party, I wasn't expecting the gym to be much trouble at all. The youngster with the Ledyba wasn't any problem, but Lass Charlotte managed to poison two of my pokémon before I took her down. After defeating one last youngster with a Spewpa, I went back to the pokémon center to rest up before facing the gym leader herself.
Since Viola is a gym leader, I figured that I should put my best foot forward, so I led with Sly. However, she led with Surskit, so I immediately switched to Orion, who wouldn't be weak to Water. Even so, her Surskit was strong, and two Bubble attacks had me scared for Orion. Against her Vivillon, I sent out Torchic. I started with Focus Energy, to make critical hits more likely while Torchic was out, but Vivillon used Infestation, which was basically like poisoning Torchic! Thankfully, Speed Boost made sure that Torchic's second Ember attack went first - I was quite worried about what Vivillon would use after a double Infestation if it wasn't knocked out!
After giving me my badge, Viola also gave me a TM for Infestation, and explained that it was worse than I feared: I couldn't have switched out Torchic, even if I'd wanted to do so.
As I left, the fellow from before suggested that I show my badge to Professor Sycamore up in Lumiose City. However, I decided that, given the rough battles today, I should call it a night after resting in the pokémon center.
I set out to explore the route to the northwest of Santalune a bit, just to see what was out there, but a woman introducing herself as the sister of the local gym leader suggested that I head back to the gym, instead. Before I went, though, I decided to give Route 22 another go, to train up my team.
The wild pokémon weren't too much trouble, though a wild Litleo used Leer a lot, & I think that I saved Sly by switching to Mousea just before it pounced. Actually, Mousea knows some Water-type moves, which I should keep in mind when facing Fire types.
After a rest, I decided to tackle the Santalune City Gym.
When I went in, a man helpfully informed me that everyone in the gym uses Bug-type pokémon. Considering that I have three Fire-types and a Flying-type in my party, I wasn't expecting the gym to be much trouble at all. The youngster with the Ledyba wasn't any problem, but Lass Charlotte managed to poison two of my pokémon before I took her down. After defeating one last youngster with a Spewpa, I went back to the pokémon center to rest up before facing the gym leader herself.
Since Viola is a gym leader, I figured that I should put my best foot forward, so I led with Sly. However, she led with Surskit, so I immediately switched to Orion, who wouldn't be weak to Water. Even so, her Surskit was strong, and two Bubble attacks had me scared for Orion. Against her Vivillon, I sent out Torchic. I started with Focus Energy, to make critical hits more likely while Torchic was out, but Vivillon used Infestation, which was basically like poisoning Torchic! Thankfully, Speed Boost made sure that Torchic's second Ember attack went first - I was quite worried about what Vivillon would use after a double Infestation if it wasn't knocked out!
After giving me my badge, Viola also gave me a TM for Infestation, and explained that it was worse than I feared: I couldn't have switched out Torchic, even if I'd wanted to do so.
As I left, the fellow from before suggested that I show my badge to Professor Sycamore up in Lumiose City. However, I decided that, given the rough battles today, I should call it a night after resting in the pokémon center.
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