Name: Call me Sábr.

Race: Caucasian, Canadian (though I don't drink or play hockey... How about that, eh?)

Age: I can write a program that can guess for you if you'd like?

E-mail: Platinumsabr@

REQUEST:

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out my profile.

To start off, I'd like to begin with a request.

If you are artistically inclined or know someone who is, I'd be terribly appreciative if you'd consider making a cover page for Here In My Arms. I'm a competent writer, but a horrible artist. Any attempts can be sent to my e-mail address and if there's interest, I will post links to them in my profile here.

I'd love to have a professional cover for when it's completed. If you share that view, I hope you respond.

Update:

Well I went and got sucked back into Warframe for a bit here, heh, so my writing time hasn't been what it once was, but I think we all know by now that Here In My Arms is going to get completed no matter how long it takes. Thanks to those reviewers that send me kind PMs of encouragement; they're always awesome to read! Progress is being made, make no mistake, but I thought I should update my profile here to make sure people know I'm still alive.

My thoughts:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin or sunscreen to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home or the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense took a turn for the worse as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; by his wife, Discretion; by his daughter, Responsibility; and by his son, Reason. He is survived by his four stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

You might wonder why I have that as the opening quote in my profile. For me, because it ties into another strange, frankly horrifying, conclusion I've come to.

People don't like happy endings anymore.

It can be summed up, interestingly enough, in the words of the Green Goblin. He said, "Well, to each his own. I chose my path, you chose the way of the hero. And they found you amusing for a while, the people of this city. But the one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you. Why bother?"

And, the thing I've actually come to loathe since it was pointed out to me: Rule 43. 'The more beautiful and pure a thing is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.'

Rosario Vampire is a story that, at its core, is about growing up, finding love, and the struggle for where you're eventually going to be, and trying to figure out with whom along the way. The monster aspect simply adds adventure and action to what would otherwise be a regular love story.

Anyone that's taken a look through the RV fanfiction archive probably knows where I'm going with this. Let's just say I can't stand what's been done to such finely crafted characters in some cases (and its many, many takes) and leave it at that.

Don't get me wrong, all stories need conflict, and a happy ending might not be what all people consider a 'happy' ending, but to brutalize characters' personalities so badly, in any fandom, just gets me.

When you're reading a story, look how many focus on tragedy and angst without any character development—or even worse, blatant character assassination from the get-go—and you'll see what I mean.

Granted it's not everywhere, but unfortunately it's more common than it should be.

Well, let's get away from those unsettling thoughts, now shall we?

My Writing:

It's been a while since I've worked on any Bleach stuff, though originally that was my main focus both in fanfiction and manga, mostly because I lost a lot of respect for the creator by the conclusion of the Aizen arc. No person can know that much or plan that far ahead. By the end he was basically saying he picked out everything but Ichigo's underwear in the morning, and that's just stupid. Don't even get me started on the Fullbringers, but then again I stopped reading shortly after they were introduced. The concept was just too unbelievable to bring into a world where Shinigami had such a large part in the continuance of the world. Chad and Orihime made sense in the initial explanation about Ichigo's powers, then the Fullbringers were brought in and I had a 'What?' moment. Chad was awesome, then that happened and suddenly everything just fell to pieces.

Continuity is a very important thing to me, so you can expect then that my interest in Bleach and Naruto has waned dramatically. Sadly, even my favorite, Rosario Vampire has done some amateurish things as of late, and as of a while ago I've been waiting for it to be done before I even touch the manga again. Luckily for me, the universe I spawned from it only draws to a certain point, after which it becomes its own. Thus was born Here In My Arms.

For those of you who have read my writing, even the lemon sequences, a familiar theme should be easy to pick up on. I believe that physical intimacy, the act of making love, is a beautiful and intrinsic part of our humanity. More than two bodies coming together, when it's done for the right reasons making love should be just as spiritual an act as it is physical, and though I've portrayed premarital scenes in my works here, I'm very much of the opinion that waiting for your wife/husband is one of the greatest acts of trust one can give. When I write an intimate scene between characters, it's not just for the gratification of myself or the readers, it's a way I expand your perception of the characters themselves and a way I have the characters connect on a level deeper than simple conversation. I've often used the scenes as a way to incorporate new pieces of plot and even development of a character's thought-processes, so I have no way of reasonably editing those scenes out without leaving gaping holes in the logic of the story.

A funny thing occurred to me though. Some people have told me they stopped reading after it became an honest harem fic. So, you like Harem mangas, but you don't like Harem stories? Kinda weird in my opinion, but that's just me.

About Me:

I enjoy a good plot, video games, writing, reading, swimming, diving, cycling, comedies, and a job well done. I try to give quality work because so many throw away formatting and spelling in the drivel they post, and even if it's fanfiction, I take all my writing seriously.

If people want to recommend things for me to read, I'd be fine with that, but know that if you want me to read anything you yourself have written, I will probably review like a beta. I can't stand stories where someone from another universe takes the place of the original main character, so I won't read any of those. It's laziness on the author's part. Sure, some main characters need a little work, but to simply replace them with what someone might think is a cooler character, who often had a lot more time to evolve and mature, is just plain laziness.

I can't believe how many stories I see where Tsukune has been replaced by some powerhouse from another universe, and I just shake my head. Crossovers are fine, I like them, I do, in fact if you've read HIMA you know I love paying homage to other animes even if I don't keep them completely right to their canon, but to just take out a character for another just makes no sense to me more often than not. Maybe it's because I end up sympathizing with the main leads and their tribulations, and to disregard all those seems like an affront to the character itself, and a sign that the author doesn't want to take the time and effort to build him/her up beyond what's been shown into what they could be.

Crossovers on the other hand, where someone from another universe comes along to help a main character from a different universe, I'll definitely read. That's a whole 'nother story!

Pet Peeves:

Naruto Crossovers.

Seriously people, Naruto is not the be-all and end-all of everything. Let's face it, he's not that bright, and he's not going to get any better. The creator even said that. To make a good Naruto story, you have to start at the beginning, but no, people skip right over that and put him in other universes where he's suddenly Superman.

If Naruto was like Bleach and actually had amazing artistry, okay, I might be able to see Naruto getting around, but Naruto has the laziest art direction I've ever seen for such a long-running manga. Look at Bleach, the art was pretty bad in the beginning, uneven and very angular, but as it went on it was refined. The characters turned into beautiful masterpieces and hardened warriors that looked the part!! Naruto's shading style is practically nonexistent, the characters look flat, and the only way Kishimoto seems to have to make a female character attractive is to give them a bigger chest and a face that actually looks realistic. What does that mean? Naruto...isn't that good looking! *gasp!* If he was remotely handsome it might make some sense, but Kishimoto even managed to mess up his father's cloak-wearing style! Shades of orange? Really? It boggled my mind to see him actually do what so many fanwriters have him do, and it looked terrible! Clothes can be changed, hair can be changed, but for those things to be changed there needs to be explanation!!

Really, it's so damn repetitive in fanfiction for Naruto to suddenly change his style--usually consisting of all black and, undoubtedly, steel-toe boots--for no reason whatsoever. Do they even know how clunky and unwieldy steel-toe boots are?

I can't...I mean really, I like what Naruto as a manga once was, I really did, and I've read some amazing fanfictions for it. It has amazing potential, but that doesn't mean he can go around doing whatever he wants with no background, or worse, the constantly-regurgitated angsty backstory of doom so many fanwriters copy-and-paste from other stories. "I'm suddenly more emo than Sasuke, and though so many people hate him for that quality, on me it's endearing! Love me!"

No. Just, no.

As I said above, I can't stand when some powerhouse from another universe is put in -insert fandom here- and all of a sudden gets all the girls of that universe. That makes no sense, particularly when there are usually girls from their original universe that they've got prior commitments with (my major problem with Ranma/RV crossovers in particular).

V--V

Probably one of my biggest pet-peeves is the Rosario Vampire crossover section. Why? Because of what so many of them do.

I've hardly seen one where they don't take Tsukune right out of the picture, and if they don't, he's relegated to the sidelines because he's weak and the new crossover insert is so super amazing that everyone needs to be around -him- now. People don't want to take the time to DO anything with canon anymore, they just don't care.

And the thing that gets me more than any other in that? When Moka is the main romantic interest for the insert.

Come. On.

Tsukune and the rest of the gang have been playing the harem/maybe-but-what's-gonna-happen-if-I-choose thing over the whole manga, and honestly I prefer the Harem route, but through it all there has been one girl, one couple, that's always been center stage. Tsukune and Outer Moka/Inner Moka.

To screw around with that? Yeah, you can be pretty sure I'm not gonna be reading any of those.

As you might be able to tell, it's been bugging me for a while.

V--V

Crossovers can be so good, but only if they're done right!

V--V

Wow, that got pretty negative at the end there, didn't it?

Sorry about that, I guess we'll see how many people read through whole profiles, eh? Heh, I do that more than most, so maybe I'll see if anyone agrees with me. Oh well, an opinion's an opinion.

Happy reading!