ZEL

I AM DYING OVER HERE AIKA THIS IS PRECIOUS WHERE DO I SIGN UP TO HUG YOU

I'd like a Fairy/Flying bird-of-paradise. Any bird-of-paradise would do, but Raggiana maybe? Ribbon-tailed Astrapia? C'mon, pretty bird fairies! I also second Viri's request for an Egret. Little Egrets are some of my favourite ever birds. Or a sunbittern. Those are pretty darn cool. Potoo

Oh, oh, oh! I'm a bit too rusty on the details to give you a rundown on German history at that time, but if you're gonna write a store set there in the mid of 1800, absolutely do look up "Biedermeier period" and the March Revolution of '48 (as well as Vormärz and the Frankfurt Assembly). (While said revolution failed, it was actually quite interesting, and introduced the black-red-gold flag that you'll know as our current national flag!) Europe experienced a lot of unrest during the first half of the century - you could say that we went a bit revolution-happy there (with varying degrees of success). Early 1800 marked the definite end of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Germanies of the 1800s were nowhere near anything you could call a united country! So your portrayal of the culture and people in the story will depend greatly on where your character lives, because there wasn't actually such a thing as "Germany" at the time. (The German Confederation is worth looking up here, though.) There were efforts made to conjure a sort of national spirit among the German people, but it kinda fell flat. Part of the reason was the rivalry between Prussia and Austria, of course. If you're going further towards the 60's and 70's, you'll have to keep in mind that the Austro-Prussian War took place in 1866, disbanding the German Confederation, creating the North German Confederation, and very importantly, ending Austria's grip on German territory. This period marked the victory of the prussian-preferred "Kleindeutsche Lösung" (unifying the Northern German states), as opposed to the Großdeutsche Lösung which sought to add the sourthern states and Austria. There's lots of political shifts going on in 1800's Germany, but if you're going to describe the life of a common person, your best bet is to start off by looking up information about the specific region they are supposed to live in. A boy living in the Westphalia region would have a completely different experience than one living in Bavaria or Brandenburg, and even the city can make a difference. Different regions experienced different cultural and political changes and phases. You'll probably have to do a lot of research on the condition of the German working class, as their demands and opinions played an important role in the revolutions. Important people to read up on would include Otto von Bismarck, William I, and, of course, Karl Marx. I could probably try to dig up my history notes, but honestly, 1800 is a really, really turbulent era for Germany, and it'll take you a lot of research that I couldn't even cover in one post if I tried. It's totally worth it, though, because if you understand what happened in German in the 1800s, it'll greatly help you in understanding the mess that is the first half of the 1900s.

Ohey, it's a Zephy! You probably won't know me much, since it would seem you disappeared around the same time I finally managed to involve myself a bit more with people, but I sure have heard a lot about you. I'd say it figures that someone as popular as you must be pretty cool, and from what I do remember about the times I've seen you around, you're very much a friendly and likable person. So... welcome back!

I KNOW YOU TOLD ME JUST YESTERDAY THAT YOU DON'T WANT ME TO DO ANYTHING SPECIAL BUT now that someone else already made a thread I'll just AMA used BEAR HUG! Happy Birthday, Bibs! I hope you know that I consider you a great friend, and that I think talking to you is very enjoyable. Really glad we're talking, you're 100% awesome~

Ayeeeee I see some Aya art! Aya deserves all the art! The expression is spot-on, if you ask me. I like~ And I've just seen the Lucario seconds ago on tumblr c: It's lovely, I always do enjoy it when people draw scenes from the game, and to see art of specific Pokémon in it is pretty cool! Can't have the human characters get all the attention when there's so many distinct Pokémon to encounter, too. So now excuse me while I repair my feelings again real quick.

I can't quite decide between Pikachu and Dedenne. I really like Dedenne, it looks absolutely adorable and has a nice typing, and hell I'd keep one as a pet. But I actually do like Pikachu a lot, so I guess the two will have to share the top spot. Honestly, though... Dedenne is freaking adorable.

The degree to which finches are interactive with people can vary from species to species and also depends on whether or not the owner makes an effort to socialize with them. Java sparrows are one of the species that are generally considered easier to tame, and they have no issues perching on or being in close proximity to their caretakers. [peep] Zebra finches can be snuggly as well, though I don't know how easy it is to establish that bond with them. Birds won't mind being around you if you are calm and refrain from things that would scare them, such as fast movements (especially towards them) or being loud. You can typically help out by rewarding them with food. That said, someone who is hoping to form a close personal bond with their bird would probably prefer other species over finches. The reluctancy I have with recommending any kind of parrot is that they often cope very badly with being abandoned, especially if they bonded with their owner. Pet parrots separated from long-time owners/people they were close to can exhibit symptoms of psychosis, often ending up mutilating themselves or engaging in other sadly typical behaviors such as restless pacing or repetitive babbling. They can also experience night terrors. Couple that with how long these birds can live, and you have a big responsibility at your hands. Some parrot species such as African Greys have been tested to possess cognitive abilities comparable to 3-5 year old children. They're also not meek and tender - often people get young parrots and find them to be mellow and snuggly, but then struggle with the behavior of the adolescent and adult birds. Puberty is for parrots, too. What Mael said about cockatiels is definitely true, though: They are loud. They really are. And just like any other parrot, training is necessary. It's definitely never to be underestimated how intense caring for a bird can be even if it is small. If you're looking to get multiple cockatiels, you should make sure that you either get an already bonded pair, or test if the two individuals you get really are compatible with each other. Even birds of the same species can be hostile towards each other, especially! over their cages. As for getting two birds: Cockatiels are definitely one of the better choices if you want to keep them as companions. But do make sure that you don't mistake their nature as flock animals with a need to be together at all times. It's a common misconception that it is bad for parrots to have separate cages. In reality, most, if not all, benefit from having their own cage - even flock birds need places to escape to when they want to retreat. (More territorial species like Lovebirds are known to attack and even kill each other over sharing a cage.) So if you want to get two 'tiels, let them have their own cage each, and either position the cages so that the birds can see each other (but also make sure they can hide out of sight). Separating their cages will not make it more difficult for them to be playmates; they will still gladly interact with one another. Having two 'tiels will also not mean that you no longer need to invest as much time as keeping one: For the birds' safety you should not leave them alone when they're out of their cages for playtime, so even if they have each other to play with, you will need to be there and supervise them, both to make sure they get along as well as to ensure that neither of them gets into any other kind of accident. As another, unrelated note: Bird-proof your household. Make sure to look up what common household elements are dangerous to birds, and do take it seriously. Besides the cardinal rule of never letting your bird into the kitchen (even if you don't use teflon products there's enough other lethal dangers), you'll have to be very careful about what cleaning products you use (especially for the cages!), what you spray around in the room (best have the birds in another room if you absolutely must spray substances other than plain water), stay clear of candles, research your plants, etc. etc. This has a nice list of common hazards (scroll down to the "Achtung, birdy" segment) Cockatiels are lovely birds. If you end up getting one (or two), I wish you a happy time with them.

Depends entirely on what kind of bird you're looking for. The most popular pet birds are often unfortunately also the most care-intense. Any parrot, including smaller species, can easily live for decades (budgies with their average of 15 years are the lowest end of it), so it's important to never underestimate how long you are going to want this pet by your side. (I always die a little inside when people talk about getting cockatoos. Have fun, these things can outlive you.) They also need lots of stimulation and training, so if you're going for anything parrot-like you should plan in a chunk of every day dedicated to playtime with your bird. Also get ready to learn how to make toys yourself, because they'll destroy them, they'll get bored of them, and you'll have to keep finding them new ones or at least cycle them in and out. I've kept budgies in the past (or rather, my family had budgies before I was even born, and my mother taught me how to handle birds), and we've also had canaries and quails in a larger aviary in the garden. My father keeps chickens, and when I was younger we got someone's golden pheasants as a gift. They are very delightful birds, both gorgeous to look at, and potentially tame (usually the females are said to be easier to tame, but our male followed me around when I was in the pen and I hand-fed him). You probably won't want to go for pheasants if you don't have a garden, though. Personally I think finches are lovely birds. I am actually contemplating getting Java sparrows; they don't require anything near the intense amount of stimulation and socialization that parrots do (or rather, they do like socializing, but keeping multiple individuals is not as cost-intense as multiple parrots are (thus you can try getting them suitable companions of their own species, whereas parrots that are kept alone will treat humans as a sort of partner-substitute)) (but they can be hand-tame, too), and have a significantly shorter lifespan on the average. I find them to be very enjoyable to be around, but unfortunately I just can't predict my living situation well enough to make a decision to get any pet at all right now. But seriously, finches are underappreciated. There's lots of really awesome ones. Zebra finches are neat, too.

I have to say, the more I thought about Solgaleo, the more do I like its Steel typing and the signature attack, Sunsteel Strike. When massive stars (supergiants +) enter the final stages of their lifecycle, their cores start fusing elements into iron, until said core becomes too large to support its own mass. Which eventually causes it to collapse and the star as a whole to go supernova. True, that's not going to happen to the sun, what with not being massive enough (and never going to be), but it's something that makes the attack kind of cool to me anyway. I'm indifferent to the psychic typing (just a bit bored, I guess, what with how many Psychic legends there are), and don't mind the not-fire part (stars are hot, but they're not on fire). But Steel? That's nice IMO.

I don't really wish that any of them didn't exist at all, but I always pitied Unown pretty hard. I really do like the concept of them, but unless you're playing Reborn and looking for a quick way to get Exp, they're... pretty useless. I honestly don't know why GF bothers to make a Pokémon that only learns one move that has no notable effect to speak of and cannot evolve or change forms. With Pokémon like Magikarp and Feebas we can excuse how awful they are to use, because they evolve into something awesome. And 'mons like Ditto and Smeargle at least do something with their moves. Unown does nothing. It's stuck with a single move, so what do you do? Carry it around 24/7 and hope that you eventually get to let it fight 'mons that are weak to it's HP? I don't wish it wouldn't exist, but I wish it wasn't made to suck so hard.

Ohey, I've seen you around on tumblr a bit! (Well, and I guess we very briefly talked on the server earlier). Welcome to Reborn! Find yourself a comfortable place somewhere; there's no escape so you might as well make yourself at home.

It's an Arkhinvasion

Idk how much you know about German Weihnachtsmärkte (given I have no clue where you're from etc), but they're not strictly Christianity-related. Of course, you can get lots of stuff like tree ornaments etc, but it's mostly just people selling arts and crafts, stuff ranging from jewellery to wood carvings and candles, that sort of thing. Oh, and food. And Glühwein. The same vendor also had all kinds of abstract designs.

I don't like leaving the house without this necklace. Maybe just because I'm so used to wearing it that it feels weird when my fingers try to grasp it and it's not there. Sun symbolism is very important to the cultural setting of a storyverse of mine, and having something to wear that's connected to my writing feels good. Bought it at a Christmas market some years ago. I also have a plain black ring that I always keep in my wallet. I got it from my first boyfriend back when I was 15, and when we were together I usually wore it as a necklace because my fingers are too thin for almost every non-custom ring. I stopped wearing it after the break-up, but said ex is still a very important person to me who never stopped being supportive and caring, so I like keeping the ring with me as another reminder of an amazing person in my life.

I'll be watching the Learning thread, it looks like it's shaping up to be a very interesting place down the road. I can say straight away that I know very little (read: nothing) about Hip Hop culture. It's really easy to get into a territory of negative stereotypes - I doubt I have to tell you about the condescending attitude against Hip Hop that can be found in the Metal community. Personally, I think that rap sounds great as far as the lyrical style is concerned (I mean, hey, as someone who loves the fuck outta death growls, "hard to understand" is the least of my problems); the reason I've never gotten into Hip Hop as a genre is that the instrumentals are usually boring to me. Listening to some of what you have linked here, I can see why the songs sound the way they do, and I'm certain that the instrumentals do a lot to compliment the vocals. I mean, rap is very much about the rythm, after all, isn't it? But I find it hard to immerse myself in the music as a result. Often it sounds too repetitive to me. That doesn't make it sound bad, it just means it's the type of music I'd rather have playing in the background while I do other stuff, rather than something I sit down and focus on. I don't know how much sense my words make (sometimes my English really does suck), but at the same time I'm pretty sure you can guess what I mean, considering I already mentioned Metal earlier, which treats its instrumentals quite differently from Hip Hop. So tl;dr I find myself enjoying the sound of the language, but as far as my taste goes, I tend to gravitate towards music with more 'bombastic' instrumentals. That said, like I said I wanna keep an eye on that other thread of yours. Maybe I'll find some things I'll enjoy that way. Even if I don't, the historical aspect intrigues me a lot, so the more of that you can fit into your posts, the better. It's very interesting, to say the least.

I think I have a lot of empathy and am good at putting myself in other people's shoes, which I like to think makes me a very tolerant person and a good listener. I'm someone people can talk to without having to worry that I will put their opinions down, even if I don't agree with them. And as much as I know that some would argue that one would have to deal with being put down, I know too well that it is important to be able to open up to someone without getting straight into a hostile confrontation.

I know I like to claim Swanna because of my results from the Reborn type test, but let's be real here: Noctowl it is. I've always been fond of owls, and if it weren't for the existence of Skarmory, Noct would be my favourite Gen II bird. I always thought it's cool how owls are associated with intelligence/wisdom (but also death :'3). And you usually won't notice their presence unless they decide to make a noise. But, y'know... mostly for the Insomnia jokes.

Oi, Happy Birthday, Scarlet! I promise some day I'll learn how to start a conversation, but for now lemme just say again that I think you're a really cool person and that I'm glad I got the chance to meet you. Bit of a shame that we don't exactly get the opportunity to run into each other more since you are keeping away from the server and all, but I appreciate knowing you. Have a good one!

Let's see... as much as parts of 10♢ would probably fit me, I can easily see the biggest hint also being fitting for another person who I know is very dear to you. (The hug IRL part. Sure, that could be me since I'm hoping to have that vacation this or next year, but I'm not the only one in huggable reach.) The first message you sent to me was sent on May 12th. So while this would mean that 11 days ago /was/ the anniversary of you messaging me for the first time, I also find it hard to believe that I would be the "first person I met here" for you. You seemed fairly active to me already by the time I joined, and what with you having been around for three months prior to our convo... But on the other hand, you know what's gonna be next: I am reluctant to guess myself because I'm bad at thinking highly enough of myself :') Honestly, right now none of the descriptions other than 10♢ seem to fit me enough, but as you know, I also have a very warped perception of my personality, so you might have described me somewhere and I didn't recognize it because I am terrible at accepting any form of validation and compliments. And, well... "I never let you go with an iron insistence" if that doesn't sound very familiar, I don't know what. You sure were determined to keep me talking, no matter how much I thought I'm not worth the time. You know me, I'm terrible at starting conversations, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it when I'm being approached :3

"Oh hey there's a new post on the pairing thread, let's see what funny thing has happened this time." Well then

I started my second uni semester this year, and am trying my best to keep up and not overburden myself as much as during the first. I never even believed I would be able to come this far in life - somehow, with all the issues of the past years, I had no confidence that I'd ever get accepted, let alone getting accepted into the uni of my choice! I went through a lot of changes last year. Besides getting into uni, I also moved into a little apartment of my own, three hours away from my old home. It makes me feel better, having this place to myself. A lot of my daily stress has evaporated now that I don't find my personal space invaded any more, and I find doing my chores to be so much easier when nobody is constantly bitching about them. I will soon have my first anniversary with my boyfriend as well. It feels almost odd to think that it has only been a year, because I feel like I've known him for so much longer. With my studies inevitably taking me abroad within the next three years, I'm hoping that I will be able to visit him at his home in the US. Speaking of those studies: I am on my way to become a teacher, just like I had hoped I could. My subjects are English and Geography, but I also have distant plans of studying German some years down the road. There is the faint idea of leaving Germany to move to the US, should my relationship stay as happy as it is. Truth be told, I would much rather stay in Germany, but I do respect that it will be much easier for me to get used to living in the US, than it would be for my partner to move to a country whose language he can't understand. I would enjoy having a family some day. My mental health is improving a lot, now that I'm in a better environment. It feels very nice not to be so hopeless any more.

DAN! Happy Birthday! Aaaaaa I completely forgot to send a birthday card, I should have thought of that but now I feel embarrassed ;A; I hope you have a good, relaxed (!!) day and idk maybe lots of cake or something like that. Do I have to send you cookies again? Because I can totally send you cookies again. Have a throwback to when you scared the hell outta me. No but seriously, you're an amazing person. Besides how dedicated you are to this site and everyone on here, no matter how much we like to test your nerves, and besides how patient you are towards people (like me) who throw their issues at you and need you as a shoulder to lean on - you're a fun person to hang out with! 10/10, I still remember that a good part of our first call was nothing more than me planting my face into a pillow because you made me laugh too damn much. So here's to a great birthday for a very supportive, friendly, humorous, patient, calm, and way too tired man. I'd gift you the ability to sleep well and enough for every day til the end of your life... well if only I could. Or a paid vacation. Or... something, damn it you deserve good things. I'm not good at appreciation posts, but you're worth the effort. Love you, frend. Here's a picture of a tiny cat.

Hmm, I both agree and disagree with you there. Kind of 50/50 for me. Personally I never had trouble telling the trio apart. The only one who I won't argue is not a strong character purely based on interaction, is Eve, so I'll have to agree with you that much. I also agree that if you judge based on how much you can learn about their backstory without the diary, then they're very poorly handled. As I mentioned somewhere above, Eve definitely gets hit HARD when you take out the diary scene. I remember that prior to reading the diary, what made Eve interesting to me were her interactions with Zero, as they are plenty and make up the most part of their dialogue with each other. They're hands-down my favourite character dynamic in the game. But if you take away that one little comment Lumi makes during the first PULSEgrowth scene, there's no indication whatsoever that she and Eve are any more connected than either of them are to Zero. And that's a problem, because introducing the entirety of their relationship via the diary makes it a case of something being told, but not shown. Eve doesn't have to break character to give us an impression of her caring. Maybe have her try to give a panicked Lumi a reassuring (but still calculated) comment every once in a while. Make it more obvious when she's interrupting Zero if he's being rude to her. And for the love of Arceus, I'm still bothered by the moment during their intro where Eve interrupts Lumi. Similar to how you said it's easy to establish Hardy's character in his introduction, ZEL's intro worked just as fine for me to establish Zero and Lumi. Zero immediately shows himself as impatient and bratty, whereas Lumi comes across as friendly and meek. It's one of the reasons I liked them from the first scene on. The big problem with them, IMO, is not about giving us an impression of their personalities, it's that unlike other characters whose diaries you can acess (Rini, Julia, Tania, Amy), you have no way of getting any hints about their story/past without it. I don't need to read the Onyx squad's diaries to know that something happened between them and that there was a huge conflict, and who is on whose side. But ZEL don't give that insight, so I agree with you that they're poorly handled there. I think that if you take away the diary, then Zero and Lumi are still good characters because you can easily get an idea of what kind of people they are. I mean, with Zero especially, the largest part of getting to know him relies on his dialogue, since the diary doesn't really tell us much. PULSE Muk was actually a memorable conversation to me, because I really enjoyed that brief moment of Zero and Eve not arguing against each other for once. I wouldn't call it teamwork, but having them not bickering for once was interesting. And personally, I'll disagree entirely on PULSE Abra, because to be honest, I only kept Lin at the back of my mind until she actually appeared. Was I intrigued to learn about her existence? Sure. But I was very much distracted by the actual situation at hand, and it gave me what I think is ZEL's best appearance so far.

IMO the point of Tania's rampage is mainly to humanize the Meteors and Cultists further (hell, we get Gretchen telling us that Tania killed her sister, and sobbing how she wishes she would have died in her place) and to show us that our side can be just as violent as the enemy. The whole of Reborn is full of gray morality. We have nice Meteors like Tara and Simon, we have despicable ones like Sirius. We have all kinds of backgrounds to why they joined. We have nice allies like Laura, and we have brutal ones like Tania. Some of them care about all of Reborn (like Adrienn or Florinia), others care only about what's dear to them (like Saphira or Tania). Neither our enemies nor us are unified in our goals or methods, and I think Tania and Saphira are to us what most of Meteor is to Taka - both the player character and Taka have a goal in mind and think that reaching it will be for the greater good. But both are faced with the fact that it makes them work together with people whose methods and ideas we don't agree with. PS: Little afterthought as I pondered about the ZEL thing: The weakest character of them is actually Eve. If you take away the diary scene, Eve is reduced to Miss Exposition and you couldn't tell that she cares about Lumi at all. Both Eve and Lumi interact much, much more with Zero than with each other. If you take Eve's backstory away, most people will see nothing more than a generic "emotionless evil scientist" character. (We get a hint that Lumi likes Eve early on when she says "Eve built it all by herself!",though.) I'm a huge fan of her and she is my favourite of the three, but if you take the diary away, there is little to endear her to us.