Reviews of Warming Up

Excellent work on the second chapter, Tanith! The interactions between the characters are great. I particularly enjoying the Kain scene, as well as the detail in your descriptions. Many writers wouldn't think to take into account how the time elapsed on the journey might affect physical appearances. Doing so, and describing it so well, is an excellent quality.

Thanks, Thoul. It was actually bothering me a bit that I hadn't added much of their physical descriptions sooner, but then the first chapter takes place at night and they're both bundled up in coats, capes and what-not.

Since Dezolians are hairless, by the time they're traveling around Dezolis they're on their own as far as haircuts and shaving are concerned. If they don't already have the supplies for that sort of thing, well, they're all going to get a little rugged-looking.

Well if they had to they could always just use a knife to cut their hair and just have a dry shave. Apply a bit of freezing cold snow afterwards and you'll maybe not feel the burn so bad. Then again, that'll make people more rugged and believe me, shaving dry is a pain if it's not done regularly.

Nevermind my ramblings, how goes work on the next part Tanith?

Xander wrote:

Well if they had to they could always just use a knife to cut their hair and just have a dry shave. Apply a bit of freezing cold snow afterwards and you'll maybe not feel the burn so bad. Then again, that'll make people more rugged and believe me, shaving dry is a pain if it's not done regularly.

And perhaps in the kind of climate Dezolis offers one would prefer to go rugged, anyway. More hair is a good thing in extreme cold, right? My thought process (and I can't believe I've considered Dezolis hygiene ) is that the PSII men only shave--if they even want to--when they're in town for the night. For my story I assume the time in between towns as they explore the ancient buildings as weeks, depending on which building it is. Traveling on foot in the snow is slow, and I also assume that the group doesn't just waltz into the structures and say "Heyyyy! Here we are!" I assume they set up equipment, conduct recon, test for structural integrity, etc. before exploring. I think waaaaaay too much about these things.

More rambling: Guaron is such a weird building in PSII. I chose it not only because it seemed like a good point in the original game for my story to take place, but because there's so much going on in that building. By the way, has anyone besides me considered the top floor of Menobe, the top floor of Guaron and at least one other floor, and the entire perimeter of every floor on Naval as being open-air? There aren't any outer walls on any of those levels, so I always thought that in Menobe's and Guaron's top floors were more like their roofs. In Naval's case... I'm not sure what's going on with Naval. It seems like it might have been used for ceremonial purposes at one point.

Xander wrote:

Nevermind my ramblings, how goes work on the next part Tanith?

A bit slower, but by the end of the week I should have the next chapter. My goal is a new chapter every week. This next chapter will have more back story. I thought my story was severely lacking details of Rudo's and Amy's friendship, and I didn't want it to seem like it happened out of thin air. The next chapter will also have a guest appearance of the Kaiser building! So, obviously I'm backtracking in time to Motavia for a moment. Oh, and it'll include more of the other cast, too.

Excellent.

Yeah the buildings were strange in their design weren't they? Open towers with lots of stairs, winding corridors or a mass of pitfalls. Sounds heavenly...

I just found the next part Tanith. You're really going to town with Amy and Rudo aren't you? Great work, truly outstanding! I may have an idea for some future fanart now.

Thank you, Xander! And possible fan art? Eeee! Can't wait!

I hope this chapter isn't too boring. I know not much happens in it, but I desperately needed to add some background info. I suppose I'll go back to the "present" for the next chapter, but I'm not done with this side story that takes place before they leave for Dezolis.

I don't see a problem with adding the backstory. There are plenty of others to read if people don't like it. Besides, we know how it goes in the end. Though I'm thoroughly enjoying the shipping and backstory and what have you that you're doing.

And yes, Amy and Rudo fanart. You've inspired me. Besides, I'm overdue starting my own original piece. I just need to root around and see if there is anything in the way of Rudo art that I can use for reference. There's nothing really useful in the compendium and the only good art I've seen of Rudo is in Ill-Intent's manga. Time to start scouring.

Xander wrote:

I don't see a problem with adding the backstory. There are plenty of others to read if people don't like it. Besides, we know how it goes in the end. Though I'm thoroughly enjoying the shipping and backstory and what have you that you're doing.

Aw, thanks! And I'm glad you enjoyed even the back story. I'm afraid there's more of that coming, but not in the next chapter at least. I need to get back to Guaron and add some action for a change!

Xander wrote:

And yes, Amy and Rudo fanart. You've inspired me. Besides, I'm overdue starting my own original piece. I just need to root around and see if there is anything in the way of Rudo art that I can use for reference. There's nothing really useful in the compendium and the only good art I've seen of Rudo is in Ill-Intent's manga. Time to start scouring.

I will love you forever if you do an Amy/Rudo piece! That makes me so happy!

Yes, poor Rudo. He was so left out in the Compendium (as was Kain, boo!) and other Sega sources, and he's not a fan art favorite at all. The fan manga is my favorite Rudo art, though in some frames he looks maybe a bit too young... maybe I'm being too picky (also, Ill-Intent gave him green eyes when he has blue in the game, but yeah, probably ultra picky there). Nak's* Rudo over in the fan art section at PS Cave is pretty good. That's probably my other favorite. He had a head shot of Rudo on his website as well, but I didn't care much for it.

There are a couple of other pictures I've seen in various places, though one interesting theme among different artists is that he's often drawn as smoking. I've also read a fan fic that had Rudo smoking. I don't get where that's coming from. Does Rudo seem like a smoker? Is it the military background? Is it the stress of losing his family? Baffling, I tells ya.

*Nak's version of Amy is SUPER adorable, too. He has another one of her in her text adventure outfit on his site and it's also one of my favorites.

Just FYI Tanith, when I do Rudo I won't be doing his head according to the compendium image. It just seems...wrong. Thankfully he has very little else in terms of clothing besides his black undersuit. The rest is his chest piece, shoulder guards, boots and bracers. Not sure how to pose him in the picture though. Guess I'll need to spend a few days practicing.
And I've never thought of Rudo as the smoking type to be honest.

Also, Nak's stuff is amazing! I've seen his work before but I never knew there was so much more. And I agree, the Amy art there is really nice too. I can't guarantee anything close to it though, not yet.