Hey all!

Thank you for checking up on my Profile!

My nickname is Tori, so you guys can call me that, and I am anywhere from three to fifty-five. However, if you read my stories and my profile you will probably pick up on my maturity level and my state of living and figure out my approximate age.

Small facts about me:

I have four older brothers.

I am fluent in Portugese, know Latin, studied German for six months, and was raised with English.

I plan to be a writer and illustrator. (Which means I accept all constructive critisism and try to impliment it. I don't get offended easily, so do your worst!)

I am an MK (Missionary Kid) and have lived in Brazil for nearly fifteen years. In which time, I've lived in twenty-four different houses, and six different cities.

STORY STATUS:

For those of you watching Strength to Live, I have not given up on it. It has, however, been put on indefinate Hiatus because of atrocious spelling and grammer. I was about to start updating it, but then we were robbed and when a guy has a gun at your head, you don't really say, "Sorry, but I have readers who want that!" This story is on HIATUS

Holding Destiny With Your Own Two Hands is still ONGOING.It was on unofficial hiatus while I finished a few difficult courses in school, and the writing is going slow as I build up my momentum again, but it is still being CONTINUED. Chapters are going to be a bit sporadic now, because unfortunately, real life doesn't take fanfic for an answer, and Holding Destiny is pretty time and thought consuming. It takes a whole lot longer, and a whole lot more effort to plot out a chapter of Holding Destiny than to write a one-shot. You may see a one-shot pop up everyonce in a while, while waiting for an update of Holding Desting, but rest assured it isn't abandoned, nor do I have any plans to abandon it. The entire plot is pretty much planned out, I just have to organize it into chapters and include character development. Thank you for your patience.

Likes:

Stories that deal with deep issues.

People who tell their beliefs and aren't ashamed. (Sadly a deminishing number, despite the supposed Freedom of Speech.)

People who make a difference in other's lives.

Stories with mentor relationships. (There aren't enough of these in the world)

Stories that tell of times in between. Such as, what happened while Aragorn was living with the elves. How did Luke go from Lowly Farm Boy to Commander Skywalker?

Things you will never find in my stories:

Slash/Yaoi/Shounenai or whatever else it is called. I don't mean to be a bigot or anything - okay, actually I don't think thinking this way makes me a bigot - but that's just gross. Sooo... If you're looking for that in my stories, you can look somewhere else. You will also not find anything like that in my favorites, or if it is, it was put in when I wasn't looking, and you can feel free to tell me. If there is any implication of yaoi in my stories I would like to state that it was unintentional, and I apologize. Thank you.

Sex: While I am not opposed to romance, sex is something that should be reserved for a husband and wife and no one else. It should be something personal and private, not splashed all over the internet. Also, I want my stories to be safe for people under eighteen. Thus: No sex. There should also be no sex in any of my favorites. Unfortunately, some of them are updated and I don't check up on them for a while and then when I do, I find something that wasn't there before. If you happen to be going through my favorites and find something inappropriate, please do NOT hesitate to tell me. Thank you!

Profanity: As I want my stories to be safe, there won't be swearing in them. Swearwords, if they are deemed necessary, are edited out with a -- so that the personas stay in character, but the story is still safe. If I write slang that offends you, please don't hesitate to write me, and I will try to edit it out in the future. EDIT: I am now going through a process of editing out even the --'s and rewording sentences so they aren't necessary. Thanks for your patience

Personal Rant of the Week

This week I wanted to rant about Character Bashing and OOCness

First of all - character bashing. Personally, this is right up there with bad formatting and poor writing. In fact, I personally believe it goes hand in hand. Character bashing takes away vital sides of a character and emphasizes others. For example - in the Dark Angel archive, Logan is ruthlessly smashed by M/A fans. He's made out to be petty, selfish, jealous, paranoid, and rude, someone who only wants to twist Max into something she's not and who can't see shades of grey. Now, I admit, ONE episode of Dark Angel, he did make me rather mad at him, and he was pretty jealous and petty. However, as a general rule, Logan isn't like that. The MA shippers want him to be as shallow as their stories portray, but they forget the other side of Logan - his kindess, bravery, devotion to Max, his commitment to the things that matter to her, and his friendship with Alec. In many episodes, Logan, who in F-Fiction is pretty much always seen dissing Alec, is actually one of Alec's most vocal supporters. He says more to Alec's defense than any other character - Max and Original Cindy included.

Also - Logan has his own shades of grey. In the first episode he is shown in a gunfight to protect one of his witnesses. In the second episode he compliments Max when she arranges for three mob bosses to take eachother out. In episode 12, I believe, he shoots a corpse and plants the gun on a mob boss. This is NOT a guy who's afraid to toe the line.

In Supernatural, characters like John Winchester are often abused. Now - no one denies that John was a strict, absent, military father. However, as one writer (May7fic) pointed out, every time we've seen John in the show he's been the most emotional of the trio - either he's teared up, making an appology, or giving hugs. Does he fly into rage with Sam? Oh yeah, but then, what Dad - especially one with a military background - would do differently when his son is seemingly disrespecting him. Guys are huge on the disrespect isse - its as big for them as the love thing is for girls. However, instead of writers pointing out the good side of John, I seem to run into countless Abuseive-John, Negligent-John, Uncaring-John stories. Did Daddy-Winchester do somethings that I find inexcusable in the show? You better believe it - not answering his phone, his maniac search for the YED when Dean was hurt, his absense when his sons were hurt, raising his sons as hunters, the responsibility he put on Dean at such a young age. In no way, shape, or form is it implied that John doesn't (sorry, didn't) love or wasn't emotionally available to his sons. And yet, time and time again I found this implied in stories.

These are two examples, but I've seen the same thing over and over again in different characters: Sam Winchester, surprisingly, gets a lot of flack - he's often portrayed as selfish or oblivious to Dean's needs, despite the fact that I think he is very attuned to what Dean's thoughts or feelings are in any given situation. Max (from Dark Angel) is portrayed as cold, cruel, and to have the mannerisms of a female dog. Ignoring the fact that she's part cat - Max is one of the more caring characters on DA. Actually, the times when the fans most complain about her is when she's with Alec, who tends to regress her to her season one behavior with a slight holier-than-thou spin. This, I find ironic, since usually they're clammoring for the season one Max to return. Don't even get me started on the anime and manga characters who's personalities are often rendered unrecognizable except for name. Major examples are Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, Roy Mustang, and the like.

Which brings me to my second point.

The one thing that I almost can not tolerate when reading a story, with the only exeption being if it is well written in six different ways - plot, fluidity, style, grammer, originality and character-development - is when writers twist two character's personalities so that they fit together. It drives me UP THE WALL! The point of a specific character is to have THAT specific character's personality, not to have the personality that fits the romance you're trying to make. Let's call a fish a fish shall we? Changing a character's personality to suit your own interests is no different than taking a Mary-Sue and giving in a cannon name.

Now - don't get me wrong - I love pairings such as Max/Alec - who have never been shown as having a romantic interest in eachother - or Naruto/Hinata - who I sincerly doubt are compatable in any way - but the really annoying, frustrating, and reading turn off is when the writer completely twists a character's personality so that the character is no longer identifiable.

A writer - whose name I have forgotten - once said something very striking during one of HER rants about bashing. Any character is likable once you write him/her in character. Once you start really studying him/her, you understand them, and it is impossible to dislike them. Too bad 90 percent of FF writers don't practice this.

Why don't you try to be one of the 10 percent.

Favorite Quotes:

Camron: "Well, you know what my Grandma alwasy used to say: If at first you don't succeed..."

Carter: "Try a larger thermo neuclear detonation?"

Camron: "Her words exactly."

Some People hear voices, and lock themselves up in rooms. Some people are called authors, and they pretty much do the same thing.

"Would you really feel guilty?"

"No. But then I would feel guilty about not feeling guilty."

Teyla: "Rodney, think of it this way, if something happened, which would be the greater loss?"

Rodeny (to Sheppard): Hey she's right! You should go!"

Favorite Characters:

Naruto: Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Sai, Hinata, some portrayals of Sasuke, Shikamaru, Gaara, Tsunade, and Itachi. I guess those guys take the cake, but I pretty much like everyone except Orochimaru and Pein.

Stargate: Jack, Daniel, John, Rodney.

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir, Faramir, Legolas, Frodo, Eowen, and Arwen.

Star Wars: Obi-wan!! Han Solo, Leia, Anakin (sometimes), Yoda, Luke... hmm... I guess that's about it, if you want to go from the original six books.

Supernatural: Dean, Sam, Jess, and I'm one of the few people who actually likes Jo.

Dark Angel: Alec, Max, Original Cindy, and Logan.

Conclusion

Last, but certaintly not least: I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he came to earth to die for us and that he rose again on the third day.

I believe that we are saved by grace, and that when I die I am going to heaven. I know I am forgiven for my sins, and I don't need to live in fear of death or of losing my loved ones. I don't need to live an empty life, knowing that everything on earth will stay behind when I die.

Can you say the same?