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Messages - bulmabriefs144

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331
Flipside Discussion / !
« on: July 20, 2016, 01:37:42 am »
I am confident the arena might just happens to have the right extremely rare antidote in stock, available for the tiny price of going to S-Rank and perhaps an extra thousand marks or five.

Yup, keep stringing her along.

Probably now they'll promise to resurrect her or something. Bern should just tell them to fuck off or she'll kill them. Polly wouldn't want them working so hard to be free only to get sucked back into slavery. Also, pretty sure May wouldn't be okay with knowing that Bern is taking deal after stupid deal when she needs to get her life better, and have a work situation that actually works for her without her worrying about her life.

Bern needs to turn the tables on this bastard and be like "no, YOU listen! You are going to revive her, or I'm not going to anymore of your stupid battles! I'm going to stay in my cell and kill any guards that try to make me do otherwise. That won't be profitable for you, would it?" 

It's pretty clear why Bern was targeted. She has the better weapon, that can turn this thing around. She is also more taciturn Polly is weaker, probably would make for better entertainment, and would not have any chance of winning this back. She is also (despite appearances) more submissive, less principled, and more likely to do whatever the situation takes. Bern is more likely to sulk and refuse to cooperate at all.

Also, geez that statistic is almost more depressing than the actual statistic of RL LGBT  deaths. Almost.

332
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 15, 2016, 05:31:00 am »
I don't think you get it.

Bern isn't being "soft" she has seen the sort of people this place churns out. She sees the only way to keep her sanity as to be better than this place. And she's right. Those like Big I-Rod (this now his canon name) way back a few chapters ago let themselves get manipulated by the warden by hearing a promise of an easy victory against weak opponents. These people end up as sacrifices to this sick system. Bern, on the other hand, tries not to underestimate anyone, that everyone is potentially of worth and not up for slaughter. Her style is defensive and cautious. It was this that gave her a few seconds heads up to notice the guy throwing the weapon.

This doesn't make her infallible, she has flaws like everyone. But there's another thing. Her swords. Her swords are like a giant judo weapon. If she changed her style, openings would begin to form in her defense. She would become like these other chumps, all attack and no skill. Polly does what works for her, Bern is who she is supposed to be. This however, is not their best day. But a dirty attack doesn't "prove" that your approach is wrong. It proves that you need to be aware that occasionally people may try to trick you.

This was something brought up in the Kung Fu show. They were raised in a Buddhist Shaolin or whatever setting. The master raised these kids, and one day they got robbed. The master asked them "what have you learned?" One of the kids said "not to trust anymore." Hero said "expect the unexpected", but the master was like "You can GO now" to the other one, and proceeded to tell them about how when the nail fails, you don't blame ALL nails and stop building. Sometimes you just hit it wrong or had a bad nail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzKXNqBxPrc

Bern needs to improve, yes, but she needs to set an example to this place. Why? Because either she can be better than it, or it can be better than her.

333
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 14, 2016, 06:38:11 am »
Yeah, it's a rigged game. It seems like they are in reach of their goal, but the house always wants to win, upping the stakes until they can't manage. No matter what dirty tricks they have to pull.

Merely escaping won't do, though, they'll catch her and add marks.

This is a choice between doing things the right way (becoming so OP that the sponsors have to resort to trying to bringing their best people until finally they're like "fuck it, this is no contest, we can't make any more money from you" and let them go), and doing things the easy way (simply becoming fed up and leaving, which might land them right back in the slammer).  It's stacked against her, but unfortunately for their sponsors, they have the teamwork and they have the tools.

Right now, though, Polly is top priority. And Bern doesn't really know how to help her short of playing along.

334
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 13, 2016, 02:45:22 pm »
S-Rank.

They are on A-Rank already.

Also, this seems alot more like breaking someone's kneecaps to prevent them from skating than a thing planned by the sponsors. Which poison would pretty much have to be. That might not stop them from denying treatment for what is still like a shard straight through her... brachial artery (looked it up). It's a pretty big artery, and I don't think having a hole in it normally makes one all that healthy even if poison isn't involved.

335
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 10, 2016, 06:33:48 pm »
Probably a paralysis dart. I have a feeling Polly won't be able to help with this battle, Bern's gonna have to finish herself. Hopefully it's not a poison dart. I don't want to see her doing this without her.

336
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 07, 2016, 08:38:51 am »
You can do an S-Rank-up match. Or you can do A-Rank battle royal style, as an S-rank-up challenge. You choice.

 ;D


337
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: July 01, 2016, 07:43:21 pm »
Interestingly, these weapons have a great deal in common with Taoism themes.

http://taoism.about.com/od/meditation/a/Fun_With_Mirrors.htm

Bern's weapon is a mirror, a group of swords that channel force from one to another, and also act as portals where attacks, "magical" or not, travel through to the other side.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baoding_balls

And Polly's balls are vaguely reminiscent of those metal exercise balls you rotate in your hand. This is exactly what this curve looked like when I saw.

Both groups are sort of a matchup of sword and shield motif. It looks like these ones are clearly skilled, but in terms of class ranking they are kinda needing to beef up the challenge. That said, it is important to remember that gladiators were originally slaves. If S rank was so great, you would think all the convicts would be out by now.

338
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 30, 2016, 05:00:57 pm »
Someone's been watching too much of the Phantasm movies.  ;D



339
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 28, 2016, 04:31:45 am »
Oops - I think one of the brothers is in need of a new sword...

...and with the buildup required to perform that move, Bernadette had plenty of time to get into position.

Of course, what neither brother's realised is that neither Bern nor Polly individually are the true threat, but the combination of both. Meanwhile, with Polly's observation from p18 that they didn't pose a problem, she definitely didn't expect them to be that unchallenging (then again, neither did the MC).

Now is the thing attached to his brother's right arm a second weapon or a shield? If the latter, then the brothers are reduced to one weapon against the combination of Bern and Polly - added onto which, their reputation's just taken a bit of a dent...

He also took quite a bit of shrapnel from the looks of it.

Quote
Oh my god, he just ran in.

The Leeroy Jenkins story is always told from the party's perspective. But actually looking from Leeroy's perspective, what he did was pretty much on point, he did his job as an tank to generate aggro away from the party. They spent over a minute gabbing about strategy in the video, and display a complete inability to think on their feet. As in, they spend the whole time trying to follow someone who was leading the enemies around. Instead, they could have come up with a four second plan. "Wizards, ready your AOEs. Fighters and Rogues concentrate on one creature at a time to break their line. Buffers buff. Healers heal. I don't know what Leeroy is doing but let's just go in." Not the best pan, but enough to keep them alive for awhile. They had no plan B, they just followed Leeroy, broke formation and pretty much died from panic.

340
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 24, 2016, 05:15:35 am »
They're pretty clever. They study their enemy well. Unfortunately, this kinda means the challenge of A rank is gone. Bern and Polly might opt for S rank just to have actual battles.

341
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 22, 2016, 01:16:26 pm »
I assume they mean with regard to fighting form. Soft is stuff like judo which counters stuff, hard is direct force attacks.

Powers that be, not powers to be.

I think the time for manipulation is over. They have probably heard the playing it safe speech. This is likely one of the S-rank fighters jumping into the arena.

342
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 20, 2016, 01:33:45 pm »
Yeas sorry, I kinda blatantly plagiarized your signature.  ;D

343
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 17, 2016, 03:45:12 pm »
There are always choices. One of the biggest illusions is that other people can force us to do something. They actually can't.

They can try to manipulate us into thinking this, but if we have neither fear nor desire they can't bait us with the carrot or hit us with the stick. After that, the most they can do is try to kill us, and then all they have is a corpse not power over us.

Suppose for example, someone wanted me to stop being trans. "Just be a boy again!" They try to scalp me from my current job, offering more hours or better pay if I just play along. I say "screw that" and refuse the job. They threaten to get me fired. Once again, "screw that." If I'm doing a good job at my job, I can explain exactly what they said, and they can't actually say anything that will make that happen. They have no power.

A good leader knows this, and tries to make appealing options so the person neither feels manipulated nor coerced. A failed leader tries force, and someone like Gandhi makes their "rule" fall apart.

Bern and Polly can make any choices they like. If the Warden and (the other guy) are smart, they'll think of something that will make them a ton of money through gambling and get them out of their hair as quickly as possible before they get angry. Messing with someone who can fight is a bad idea.


344
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 13, 2016, 04:59:20 pm »
This btw is what I'm talking about. They'll probably handicap them too.

345
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 13, 2016, 08:27:32 am »
Paying off their debts by being honest and accepting work means they get out of here with nobody pursuing them. Assuming Bern and Polly don't fall for some "double or nothing" trick where they lose all their marks if they fail some task.

346
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 10, 2016, 07:29:19 pm »
Anyone remember Ash from Book Zero?

It might be a bit of a stretch for me to say it's her buuuut… I believe Brion F. did say she may be making a return (stated in the commentary at the end of book zero…) i don't think Moss would be in Marvallo at the coliseum tailing Bernadette. I don't think he ever found her that interesting.

Good catch! And yes, I was thinking that was weird since he was more into May. I briefly considered that maybe he was watching after her because May had been targeted but kinda a long shot.

347
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 10, 2016, 02:59:54 pm »
Moss.

Melter, as seen here has short cropped hair, no bangs, and high necked outfit.

Moss has bangs creeping into the eyes and shoulder-length hair.

Assuming it isn't another character.

348
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: June 10, 2016, 04:56:13 am »
"Another easy win for (those two)" they kinda bolded that part.

I have a feeling it's gonna get harder before it gets easy. Probably wind up either in S matches or challenging the Warden for their freedom.

349
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 27, 2016, 05:34:35 am »
Oh c'mon. Yes, I imagine you could say it was a false lead.

But at a certain point if noticeably evil wizard in muttering on a mountaintop "Soon..." we generally don't assume that actually he is only there to buy ice cream and the actual culprit is the innkeeper.

Though there was a show like that. I saw this one called Josh Kirby...Time Warrior!  and the scientist guy was trying to collect parts for a device before an evil guy in a mech. Turned out the scientist was scattering a device that could stop the powers that be from controlling the world and he needed to collect them first. But it came so out of left field that it wound up being absurd.  Of course, most of the show was absurd so... (I mean really,  it was bad)

This guy appears to be a rich dude, and one of the many "charitable parties" that pays for entertainment. While it is plausible that the Warden has been secretly helping Bern all this time, either because she's into them, or because she hates the government or something, let's put that idea on hold for now.

Update: Also, awwwww, May is gonna be left out in the cold if they don't find a way to contact each other again.

350
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 26, 2016, 12:07:01 pm »
Except we saw the person who was interested.

Holdon, gotta find the comic...

http://flipside.keenspot.com/comic.php?i=2593

Yeah, here it is. The guy who says "They're good."

351
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 23, 2016, 05:41:31 pm »
I used to believe as you do, sunphoenix.

(Then I took an arrow to the knee)

Erm, I mean, then I went to several different churches.

One, a fundamentalist, talked about how the law of the Hebrews was actually impossible to follow, which is why we are saved by grace.

After walking out of said church (something to do with a "family" sermon where he condemned LGBT people) I went to a more down-to-earth easygoing church. I learned that it was okay who I was.

All of this while I was reading a book known as the Virtue of Imperfection.

We have this mentality that sin is wrongdoing, but what I learned was that sin is actually better described by Final Fantasy X. They kept trying to banish Sin (both kinds) through sacrifice, but it kept coming back. It was only by rejecting this mentality that we got at the true source of sin, guilt. Letting go of guilt is the only way to truly kill off sin. That and a massive Aeon.

http://ontologicalgeek.com/change-or-live-final-fantasy-x-as-catholic-dystopia/

What this passage was trying to put was not that "you people may think you're okay but I have a new law and you're way worse off than you think (yay! Good News!)" but more like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9c8bYuxLEg

"Until I learned to love myself
I was never ever lovin' anybody else"

The problem of adultery is not in itself, but that it produces emotions that make you feel cut off from the loved one. Self-hatred. This in turn make you act out in ways that distance you from other people. Even thinking about someone else produces these feelings. Not the idea of being damned to hell cuz you looked at a cute girl while in a relationship.

Bern needs to lighten up. May does know what she's going through and feels way worse about her own infidelity. But yea, it is how she feels. Tough to let go that feeling of worthlessness.

352
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 20, 2016, 01:27:31 pm »
I think the author is not necessarily censoring sex. I mean there obviously is sex and violence aplenty, along with other themes like cannibalism. I think though, that Brion, like many authors believes "sex should be shown only if relevant to the plot." If you can get the point across without showing much, this is probably enough.

It seems so, otherwise she wouldn't say that she's cheated.

Oddly, this is probably okay, as both are feeling guilty about the idea of an open relationship. May is beating herself because she wants to be faithful to Bern, but knowing that even Bern got talked into something like this might ease her mind. Not that the average couple wants to cheat, but here it might give peace of mind.

353
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 19, 2016, 06:15:13 pm »
I always assumed all the main characters are in their 20's (except maybe Regina, Crest and Suspiria who i would say are around 19), because they seem a bit too mature and experienced to be under 20 (Bern was part of some gang and then worked as a bodyguard or something..), and it would be a little weird.

Quote
Bern has been stated to be old enough to be Crest's mother and he's in his mid to late teens.

You don't happen to have quote for that one?

Let's assume she's early 30s, Warden could still realistically be in her mid 40s.

354
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 46: Discussion
« on: May 16, 2016, 11:38:32 am »
Thirties? I thought Bern was around 16-21. Warden looks maybe 16 years older (one of reasons to ditch a child is being too young/inexperienced to take care of them). Given no child pregnancy laws in this country, Warden could be as young as 32-early forties. She hardly looks 50.

355
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: May 11, 2016, 02:42:47 pm »
Oops, wrong demon girl. Hopefully Demon Girl B will save them from Demon Girl A.

356
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: May 05, 2016, 01:17:53 pm »
Me too. Like he's going to lead them into being all gung ho about going after Thin Man's stooge, and then be like, "Oh btw, the person I saw was Moby."

357
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: May 02, 2016, 10:50:20 am »
You and me both. Internal dialogue generally doesn't happen in a mind-controlled  person. By definition, they are not able to think thoughts of their own. Simpler explanation is that Qtalda really IS that bad, and played you too when she came in the room. But that involves admitting that you've been mind controlled. Couldn't do THAT!

Also, the Thin Man is not interested in control. Why? Because he told us.  ;D

But no, he probably isn't. He seems like an anarchist type that likes to overthrow world powers and leave a gap behind.


358
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: May 02, 2016, 04:09:50 am »
We don't actually have any proof that she's that much stronger, period.

We have her taking revenge on her old school bullies. Strictly speaking, she probably could have done that already with her genius level power/ability before, she was just too meek.

We have her inventing a reflect golem. That takes skill but not necessarily strength.

We have her failing miserably to break a shield barrier.

And we have the words of Qtalda, who, again has not been shown to be trustworthy telling people they have to team up because she's much stronger. And we have a freak transformation. That's it.

Plus yes, experience wins out against untrained power most days of the week.

359
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: April 29, 2016, 05:48:16 pm »
Let's see if I can make sense of this (Crest and I have different logic, so it's hard):
  • If Suspiria wanted to frame the Conclave, her parents wouldn't still be alive
  • Suspiria wouldn't frame herself, she would have to be (more) insane for that
  • Assuming these are her real parents (which is not a given) this basically casts more doubt on her than the Conclave
  • However, she could not simply mind-control them and back this situation rule in her favor. In a court of law, they would not even be "not guilty" (not having done the crime, a judge would find them "innocent" (that is, no crime happened)
  • Suspiria would know this, which is she asks Crest to trust her. This is evidence that something weird is going on. This clears Suspiria by simple virtue that such an accusation is so worthlesss, she would never try this. That said, Crest will go who knows where with this argument.
  • Halcyon could be behind this illusion. However, given that he is a leader of a large group, it makes little sense to murder everyone there, just to fake his own death. He's basically giving up power and fame and leadership for... what exactly? This makes sense only to someone who is insane, or who has no desire to be in the public eye. We don't really get the "quiet farmer" vibe from him, and there are easier ways, like just handing over power to Qtalda. The only other option is that he knew they were corrupt, and planned this to be rid of the lot of them
  • Conclusion 1: Qtalda would only tell Halcyon a truth like this if she felt she had nothing to lose (because she had been, as Crest says, keeping him in the dark). Given this, it is a clear-cut mutiny, and easy to justify motive. The reason then, not to control Suspiria, was that she knew, she would do something like this. She was probably hoping to take out Suspiria as well, and now that she saw Crest helping out, she is trying to manipulate him too.
  • Conclusion 2: A third party planned this to remove powerful opposition. This was designed for Crest's benefit, and he has no idea what really happened. It's possible then Qtalda was right, having seen the event, because the killer didn't realize her body was abnormal and couldn't be destroyed.

Pretty sure this rules out both Halcyon and Suspiria, as they would not act against their own self-interest just to deceive Crest, which in the former case, they didn't know was there and in the second, was willingly putting themselves in harms way to make a baseless accusation.

360
Flipside Discussion / Re: Chapter 45: discussion
« on: April 29, 2016, 04:35:50 am »
Maybe he was muddled.

Think of mind control as snatching water from a river, and holding it in a jar. You own the water completely, and can pour it wherever you want, even places far away where it would not normally go.

Suggestion is like cupping water in your hands. The water is free to go where it wishes, but you also hold it. It takes less effort to do this, and the subject retains their personality (as in, they are not acting out stuff you want, they are them, but they are more inclined to agree with you). But for someone like Halcyon, you would be aware of the magic cast here, because his perception of magic is like a beacon of sunlight.

What else can you do with a river of water? Kick dirt up until it becomes cloudy. I would be very surprised if during this event, Halcyon could have cast anything more powerful than a cantrip. His mind was clouded to the point of a doddering old man. And yes, he did seem to be out of the loop.

But Crest isn't done talking, so let's see how this plays out.

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