Kaymyth

T...test? Test...the systems? What is this madness of which you speak?! (Actually, they thought that everything had been tested on this version. They were wrong.)

Last night, my workplace ran a major upgrade to various systems. Half of our systems are now not working. Everything is ruined forever, IT and management are running around like madpeople, and I can't do many of my regular tasks. Ah, well. It's not like I really needed to do any work today...

*chanting* One of us...one of us...one of us... EDIT: Hang in there, Twi. Go get that feedback from the job you didn't get and use it for your honorably nefarious purposes.

Get a rollerbag instead of a backpack. The problem comes in trying to carry all that weight on your back; a tiny carryon suitcase type bag that rolls on the ground will alleviate that.

It's the tail; everything's braided, see. And the cutie mark is a combination of Allomantic steel and the Valdorn airship logo. (No, none of you have any context for this yet. Must. Keep. Writing.) All dark and mysterious and gargoyley, with a crescent moon in the background. Verra nice. 3pi/10

Pi in a fancy font. The little curl on its right leg just makes the piece. Full marks!

Kansas City is actually quite nice, and you'd have your pick of living on either side of the state line. Plus we're getting WorldCon next year! ...though I'd advise living on the same side you get a job on. Trust me, cross-state taxes are a pain in the butt.

Oh, true, true. But that doesn't mean that imagining that scenario or others like it isn't funny. The overbearing parents defeated by the power of karaoke! There's a plot in there somewhere...

I'd kind of love to see the looks on their faces when dropping in for a surprise visit to find you aren't home because you *gasp* have a life. "Sorry, Mom & Dad! I was out at karaoke night and I couldn't hear my phone..."

Pics or it didn't happen!

Option 4 - apply, and if you get it, accept that the Universe never claimed that setting healthy boundaries with your family would be easy... (And then get an apartment on the far side of town...) Seriously, if you don't at least throw your hat in, you'll never hear the end of it. And if you do lie, you'll feel guilty. Nevermind that they're a bunch of rusted idjits who don't deserve half the consideration you give them - you're you, and you are the type of person who will feel bad about it later.

Yeah, it's not going to be quite that simple. I'd actually posit that it may actually be easier for a Compounder than an ordinary Feruchemist to bullet-dodge thanks to their Allomancy, but it's still going to be tricky business. We know that Allomancers "see" blue lines linking them to metals, but as far as we know, this is just their brain's way of communicating to them what they're processing.* It's a potential extra sense that might help. On a slightly different tack, if you're in a fight and you KNOW you're about to/are in the process of being shot at, being a moving target makes you a lot harder to hit. I can easily see a cocky Steelrunner claiming magic bullet-dodging abilities when in reality they're not so much dodging as just plain bouncing around too fast to get a bead on. This thread, by the way, is getting my brain thinking in good ways. This is good stuff to ponder while writing steel Compounder fight scenes. I would like to avoid writing the stupid. *Come to think of it, that may explain some of the discrepancies between different POV descriptions of how steel and iron lines work; everyone sees the blue lines because people tell them to expect the blue lines, but they may see them as thick or thin, or dark or translucent, dependent on individual brain variance.

I think there's a balance to be struck; the difference between the effects that steel and zinc have on the mind are fiddly. But I think it'd make sense for it to boost you enough to have a better reaction speed, but not necessarily be able to think about and plan what you're doing. This means that being a Steelrunner or Steel Compounder would probably involve a lot of training; muscle memory and reflexive response would be key. Example: Bullets coming at you. Steel enhancement: react quickly enough to dodge out of the way. Steel & zinc enhancement: react quickly enough to grab a hubcap and block them. The first is enough of an instinctive response that you don't have to think about it too hard. The second requires more complicated thought and planning, and unless you've rehearsed this sort of thing to where it's second nature, you wouldn't be able to react quickly enough without the zinc boost as well.

Yeah, I'm not even sure that Harms has a Senate vote; he might not, which might be another reason behind the marriage alliance. I always had the impression that upward mobility was a lot more possible in 2nd Era Scadrial; the population is growing, and so is technology. There are always going to be innovators popping up.

I doubt he has. The power wouldn't be all that useful if the Steelrunner couldn't process the information quickly enough to keep from squashing themselves.

I remember AoL mentioning that Harms is a newer up-and-coming house. That was the whole reason behind the Wax-Steris wedding plans - his house has the history and social standing, hers as the cashflow.

It's a matter of knowing oneself, I suppose.

But they're also what drive us to get things done. They're what power our souls, what gives us the reasons to do the things we do.

Thank you! It left out the drop bears. It's very important to warn tourists about drop bears. Just ask any native Australian. You know that you've gained Twi's affection when she showers you with pugs. As Silverblade said, I did ponify myself and included it on the Featured Forum Member thingie. But....here I am again, for posterity:

Hah! I'm not the only one!

I just bought myself a birthday present! It's a card game called Exploding Kittens. ....there might be something wrong with me.

Well, she is also a protagonist. I'd say that increases her chances of being Twinborn by quite a lot.

That's one of the reasons I brought it up - it's not well-known, or well-understood by a lot of people. People on that spectrum tend to get a lot of flak for it, because there's an annoyingly vocal minority who flat-out don't believe that it's possible. There's a distinct societal pressure to pair off, which is hard enough for those of us who DO have those feelings and desires. Sometimes for some folks, that light bulb of, "Wait, there are other people like me?" is a major turning point in their lives.

Thank you!

I'm familiar with the issue, though I have yet to meet a male who is foolish enough to call me a "fake geek girl" to my face. Which is a pity, because most of the morons who buy into that trope are whippersnappers who are younger than many of my fandom obsessions, and I would wind up completely destroying them.