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| 2016-10-11: House Call |
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Posted by: robkelk - 01-16-2023, 05:24 PM - Forum: Stories
- Replies (1)
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Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 11, 2016
8:03am ET
"Rob-san, who else is here?"
Rob looked at Usagi. "There's just the two of us in this room, Usagi-san. And if you aren't going to be late for your first day of school here, there should only be one person in this room."
"Oh! Leaving now! Bye!"
Rob waited until she was gone, made sure he was alone (confirmed; both Ami and Mii had morning classes), went to his office and logged onto the managers' board.
ROB_DONALDSON> Is anyone else online?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Hi there, Rob!
ROB_DONALDSON> What are *you* doing on this board? I thought this was building managers only.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Did you really think you could keep me out?
ROB_DONALDSON> No, I thought you'd be bored here. Does the sexiest building manager in Funtom Canada know you've hacked her account?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> I didn't hack Garnett's account.
ROB_DONALDSON> Oh, good.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> I hacked yours, cloned it, and renamed the clone.
ROB_DONALDSON> Shit.
HELPBOT> Language!
ROB_DONALDSON> Sorry.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Aren't you supposed to be taking care of your tenants right now?
ROB_DONALDSON> Just sent them all off to school. Usagi wants to know who else is enjoying the hospitality of the building managers.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> I don't mind if you tell them about us.
ROB_DONALDSON> All of you, or just the Masaki household?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Good point. Just the Masaki household for now.
ROB_DONALDSON> As long as I've got your attention
WASHUU_HAKUBI> I don't hand out toys to everybody who asks, you know.
ROB_DONALDSON> I know. I also know you'd probably want to run some scans on the Sailor Senshi, and we need a doctor on call.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Sailor Senshi? As in Silver Millennium?
ROB_DONALDSON> The same, or rather their reincarnations.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Give me ten minutes to pack, and I'll be right there.
ROB_DONALDSON> They're on a bus, going to school. And so are the girls from Academy City.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Academy City? Not The Queen, I hope.
ROB_DONALDSON> Ugh. No, not The Queen. Railgun. And her friends from Judgment branch 177. How do you know about them?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Skuld suggested I read the novels.
ROB_DONALDSON> Skuld? *The* Skuld?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Belldandy's sister, yeah.
.
WASHUU_HAKUBI> Hey, are you still there?
ROB_DONALDSON> Is she the sysop here?
WASHUU_HAKUBI> I think so, yeah.
ROB_DONALDSON> I've talked with Skuld-sama...
WASHUU_HAKUBI> "Sama"? Okay, I'm coming over in five minutes. You need to talk to somebody face-to-face before you get lost in that sensawunder you're feeling.
8:33am ET
"This is decent tea."
Rob smiled. "Thanks. I expect it isn't as good as what Sasami-chan makes, but I do have a good source of supply."
"You're right on both counts," Washuu replied. "Nice place you've got here. Cozy."
"'Cozy' is right. We could use... no. I'm not going to ask you for things."
"Okay, what were you thinking of?"
"Well... Two things: A bath large enough for all of the girls to soak in, and some place where Mikoto and Makoto can spar. But we don't have room for either of those."
"Not even in a pocket dimension?"
Rob chuckled. "We'd need one of those for them, yes. But I'm not going to ask you for things."
"No, you'll just be apologetically passive-aggressive about mentioning them."
"Yeah, I do that sometimes, which is why I didn't want to say anything. But I mentioned Mikoto and Makoto. They want to match their abilities against each other, and I'm afraid that one or both of them'll get hurt, and the doctors here won't know how to heal them."
Washuu nodded in agreement. "I can see how that would happen. You do know that there are other doctors among the displacees, right?"
"I know. Think of it as a chance to study some metahumans when they're healthy and when they need medical care.
"When you put it that way, I don't mind being your on-call doctor. But only until Ami graduates. How long will that take?"
Rob thought for a moment. "Pre-med, then medical school, then residency, then certification - a normal student would take seven years, maybe six. Ami-chan ... maybe five-and-a-half?"
"She'll take at least six, if she knows what's good for her. It would be bad if she was to burn out before she started her practice."
"That it would - but she's insecure enough to push herself too hard to succeed."
Washuu nodded once. "The anime portrayal was that accurate, was it?"
"I'm afraid so. Do you have any ideas on how to get her to slow down?"
"I can give you a book full of them." She moved her hands into a typing position, typed on the virtual keyboard that appeared in front of her, and held up one hand to take the book out of the dimensional portal that opened behind her shoulder. "Here it is."
Rob grinned. "Okay, that kind of help I have no problem asking for. You mentioned that you've read the books that my other tenants came from. Do you have anything that Saten Ruiko could study to strengthen her esper ability to the point where she can actually use it?"
"I'll need to scan her first to be sure, but I think this would do the trick." Washuu tapped one key, then grabbed the two books that came out of the portal. "If you didn't ask, I would have offered it anyway. The other book is for Uriharu Kazari." She put both books on Rob's desk. "But should we give it to her?"
"Why not? The worst that can happen is that she won't read it."
"No, the worst that can happen is that she reads it cover-to-cover, carries out all the exercises regularly, becomes what she calls a Level 5, and decides to take over the universe."
Rob's eyebrows headed for his hairline. "She's that powerful? Potentially?"
"Maybe. I'd have to scan her to make sure. Right now, she has partial control over thermodynamics. But, just like Mikoto started as just an electrokinetic and gained control over all aspects of electromagnetism, controlling thermodynamics is one possible first step toward controlling all vectors."
Rob blinked in surprise. "She could be the second coming of Accelerator?"
"If she makes Level 5. And let's be honest - there's a reason why Mikoto is called 'the only sane Level 5'."
"I see your point. More tea?"
"Please."
After a moment, Washuu sighed with contentment. "Sasami-chan has let me know just what a good cup of tea does for a person, and a decent cup of tea has the same effect."
"Should I be flattered?"
"No, anyone can make a decent cup of tea from good-quality leaves."
"Gee, thanks."
"You're welcome," Washuu replied in all sincerity. "Now, I want to make sure my sensors are calibrated properly. Sit down and get ready for your physical. Doctor's orders."
9:31am ET
Washuu tapped a few keys on her terminal, took the face-shaped probe off of Rob's head, and carefully put the probe back in its dimensional pocket. Then she turned her attention to the terminal's display. "Oh. I think you'd better see this."
Rob walked over to behind Washuu. "I suspect I know what you're worried about, Washuu-chan ..." He looked at what she was pointing out on the screen, and sighed. "...Yeah, I expected as much."
"Someone else in your family has it?"
"Someone else in my immediate family had it."
"Oh. I'm sorry." After a moment, Washuu continued, "Would you like a treatment?"
"GOD, yes!"
"I can't cure it, but I can mitigate it by rebuilding your nervous system. We may as well fix those two imperfectly-healed joints while we're at it. Then there's your weight, your vision -"
"I've had poor vision almost all my life. I wouldn't know what to do without my glasses."
"Okay, we'll leave your vision alone. Want any powers while we're at it?"
"No. If you can't help Rui-chan, I'm not going to leave her as the only unpowered person living in the building. And before you ask, as tempting as it might be to be closer to the girls' apparent age, I don't want to look any younger, either."
"What about an overall boost to your stamina and rate of healing?"
"That would be handy. All right. How long will it take?"
"For my computers to program the nanobots? About as long as it'll take me to make a pocket dimension with an extra-large furo in it."
"I said I didn't want -"
"You'll need it, to soak in while the nanotech does its work. Listen to your doctor."
3:22pm ET
"And that's the last of the injections."
Rob smiled thinly. "Oh, good," he squeaked out. "I'm glad there's a stamina boost in there - I'm exhausted."
"It'll get worse before it gets better. You said something about not wanting to look younger, even before I had a chance to ask."
"Yeah." Rob sighed. "Doctor-patient confidentiality?"
"If it doesn't hurt anyone else."
"That's fair. In this universe, the Sailor Moon anime came out nearly a quarter-century ago. I was a little over half my current age back then."
"Say no more. No, wait. Which one did you have a crush on?"
"Two, actually. Back then, I thought 'if only they were a decade older, and interested in somebody like me, and spoke English, and most importantly weren't fictional'... and now here they are, speaking English and not fictional and at least polite toward me. It wouldn't be fair to them or the others for me to try to make a youthful fantasy a reality."
"Are you worried about what happens when it's time for us to go home?"
"I was. But now that you're here, you can make permanent pathways between our various worlds when it's time for you to leave, right?"
"Of course I can, buster!" Washuu thought for a quick moment. "And that's why you're not making that fantasy a reality."
"Yeah. They have lives of their own back in their own reality."
"That they do. And you still haven't told me which two you have a crush on."
Rob grinned, or at least he tried to grin through his exhaustion. "Yes, I have. You're smarter than the rest of us put together; I'm sure you've already figured it out."
Washuu glanced at one of the self-help books still sitting on Rob's desk, and the "sparring room" plans sitting beside the book. "Getting you to say it out loud would be nice, but now I understand why you're willing to ask for favours for them." Then she smiled. "If you were a Juraian noble, you could marry both of them and a couple more, too."
"I'm not a Juraian noble, and even if I was, it's up to them who they marry." Rob yawned.
"And I've distracted you long enough from the changes starting in your body for you to not freak out over them starting, and learned more about you than you might have wanted to share. I am such a genius!"
"You and Wile E. Coyote, when you say it that way."
"Who?"
Rob shook his head. "You're going to have to research that one yourself."
"Coward."
"Guilty as charged."
5:05pm ET
The girls, less Mii and Ami, were all watching the fun instead of doing their homework. (Rob was taking a nice, long soak in the new bath. On the men's side, which was smaller than the women's side for reasons that at the time included a 10-to-1 gender imbalance in the building.)
"This has to be the stupidest medical exam I've ever had!"
"Now, now, Shirai-san - don't annoy the only person on this planet who's currently competent enough to be your doctor." Washuu grinned evilly. "Unless you don't want a doctor."
Kuroko paled at that thought. "No, of course not. Please continue."
Meanwhile, Ruiko, Usagi, and Minako were trying their best to keep straight faces - and failing miserably - while Washuu's probe made the same faces that Kuroko did. Washuu looked over at them and pointed at Usagi. "You're next."
5:57pm ET
"Aren't you done yet? It's almost time for dinner!"
"Stop thinking with your stomach, Usagi-chan," replied Washuu distractedly. "I need some more readings."
"I need dinner! I'm a growing girl."
"If you really understood what you just said, I'd be happy. Most girls your age are obsessed with a 'perfect' body weight that isn't at all perfect for them. But I think you just want to stuff your mouth."
"And what's so bad about that?" demanded Usagi.
The sound of a polite cough came from the office's doorway. "This is what's wrong with that," answered Rob while gesturing at his own waistline. "Learn from your elders and practice moderation."
"What he said," Washuu added. "Moderation in all things - including in moderation."
"Huh?" Usagi replied eloquently.
"I think she means that it's okay to let yourself go once in a while. But only once in a while. Right?"
Washuu nodded. "Your landlord's got it right, Usagi-chan. Now go help him get to the dinner table before he falls over."
"Oh!" Usagi rushed to help Rob to the dining room.
6:02pm ET
"What's this called?"
"Supper."
Washuu gave Ruiko a sideways glance with pursed lips, then saw the girl's smile. "Ha, ha. Very funny."
Minako swallowed the bite she had in her mouth and turned to Washuu. "It's called 'bangers and mash'. Pork sausage, mashed potatoes, onions, and gravy. It's English cooking."
"It can't be," Washuu replied. "This tastes good."
Minako looked offended on behalf of all British cooks. "The idea that English food is bad is a baritone canard."
"That's 'a base canard', Mina-chan," Rei pointed out.
"This isn't just English cooking," Rob added. "It's a simple meal that you could get in almost any British pub."
"It's a heavy meal. I hope you don't eat this kind of food every day." Washuu left the question implied.
"No, of course not," said Mikoto. "This is something that Rob-san likes, so we thought we'd make it for him."
"It's also a relatively easy English meal to make, if you buy the sausages already made," added Makoto.
"Which I did yesterday," Rob finished. "There's a butcher in town that sells pork sausages and pork chops in bulk, but you need a car to get there."
Ruiko swallowed a mouthful of mashed potato with onion gravy, then giggled. "Ten girls in the house, and the only man buys the groceries."
"Well," Washuu grinned, "at least he knows how to choose a decent piece of pork."
Rob grinned back. "Tell me about it. There are far too many stores around here that are happy to sell people heavily-processed, chemical-laden things that they claim are meats. I prefer real food."
"Don't knock technology. That processing and those chemicals extend the shelf life of those foods."
"If I was still living alone, that would make a difference. We go through enough food in a day that the shelf life of food here is measured in hours, not weeks."
"All right, that's reasonable." Washuu took another forkful of mashed potato. "This stuff is just starch, though."
Rob sighed. "I know - I couldn't find any decent potatoes yesterday. Sorry about that."
"I'm home!" came a cry from the hallway.
"Ami-chan!" Usagi jumped to her feet. "Come eat! You're in time for dinner!"
"We have company!" Rob added.
"Oh! Hello." Ami smiled from the common room's doorway. "I'm Ami Mizuno."
"I'm Washuu Hakubi."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Hakubi-san."
Everyone else in the room, in unison, said "'Washuu-chan'!" Washuu looked around, then continued, "If you don't mind."
"What brings you here, Ha-- Washuu-chan?"
"Rob asked me to come run a few medical tests on everyone. I'll be your household's doctor until you graduate."
"That's kind of you, Washuu-sen-- Washuu-chan." Ami glanced at the table. "Western cooking? I thought there was going to be a Japanese meal tonight."
"Rob-san needs some comfort food today," Makoto explained.
6:44pm ET
Ami looked at the platters and bowls in the middle of the table. "We have sausages and potatoes left over."
"Save some for Mii-san, and fry up the rest for breakfast tomorrow," suggested Rob.
"Mii-sempai told me that she's having supper on campus today," Kuroko replied.
"And potatoes and sausage don't go well with fish and rice," added Kazari.
Usagi frowned. "What's wrong with a western breakfast sometimes? Ow! Hey!"
"Dinner's over - back to the scans!" Washuu continued tugging Usagi's hair.
"Ow! All right, I'm coming!"
7:46pm ET
"Finished!"
"Finally! Nobody else's exam took that long!"
Washuu, completely serious, looked at Usagi. "Nobody else has these readings."
Usagi suddenly looked worried. "What readings? Is there something wrong with me?"
"No. There's something different about you, but it isn't something wrong."
Rob looked up from his chair. "I suspect I know where this is going."
"You think so, do you?" Washuu typed a few commands, and a virtual screen and keyboard appeared in front of Rob. "Go ahead and type in what you think I'm going to say."
He did so, at length.
Washuu followed they text on her own screen for a few minutes, then said, "Huh. Yeah, you're pretty close."
"I have the advantage of having seen her anime, and having read some of the supplementary materials."
Usagi pouted. "And we don't know anything about you. It's not fair!"
"I know. I'm sorry. You are allowed to ask me almost anything, you know. But later; right now, we're talking about you, not me. Your mother - not Tsukino-san, but Queen Serenity - was, if the supplementary material is correct, essentially a goddess."
Usagi nodded slowly. "That sounds ... right."
"And how many times have you done something that other people thought was a bad idea and made it work anyway? You were right about how to react when Tomoe-san became Mistress Nine, to give one example."
"Anybody would have done what I did."
Rob looked Usagi straight in the eye. "You know that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune would not have done what you did."
After a moment, she replied, "Yes."
"You know the right way to react and the right thing to do. You are not a god, but you know the divine will."
At that, there was a thump on the closed door.
Rob and Washuu exchanged a quick look. "Of course they're listening in. They're her friends."
"Do you want then to come in?"
Usagi nodded, and Washuu opened the door to reveal ... Mikoto, of all people. "Are you sure?" she whispered.
Rob shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. Mikoto-san, Usagi-san might just be the Level 6 that Academy City was founded to create."
Mikoto sat down, with no expression on her face.
Usagi looked at everyone else. "What's a Level 6?"
8:53pm ET
"That's ... horrifying."
After hearing Washuu summarize the events of the Certain Magical Index novels, Rob had to agree with Usagi. He felt sick - and not because of the nanomachines working through his body.
Mikoto wasn't handling the information nearly as well. "Is that all I am to the city - to this Aleister person?"
"Pretty much, yeah, if the books are anything to go by."
Usagi continued as if the others hadn't spoken. "What they did to draw out your powers ... how are you still sane?"
"Everybody in Academy City went through that kind of training."
Rob shook his head. "Not everybody, just the students who were seen by the city leaders as being worth the expense to turn into soldiers." Usagi whimpered. Rob went on. "Ask Saten-san some time whether she was ever given drug-assisted training."
Mikoto shook her head sadly. "I think I know what her answer would be just from you calling her by her family name. And now I feel even worse about telling people they could increase their level by hard work. They can't, can they?"
"I think that they probably could," answered Washuu, "but only with training that matches their personalities and abilities. You were one of the lucky ones. Your friend Uiharu-san wasn't, so she's stuck at Level 1 if she follows the Academy City training course."
Usagi couldn't stay silent any more. "Why are you all talking as if this is something people should want?"
Rob put his hand on Usagi's shoulder. "I don't think it's something people should want, Usagi-san, but what I think doesn't matter as much as what all of you think. And what Mikoto-san and Kuroko-san and Mii-san and Kazari-san and especially Rui-chan want is to have powers that are all their own."
"But being empowered and then trained to fight ... That happened to me, and it only brought pain to me and my friends."
"Technically, nobody trained y-" Washuu stopped when Rob glared at her.
Rob waited a brief moment, then sighed deeply. "Turning pre-teens into soldiers is wrong, for so many reasons - but it's happened. And now I think I know what I'm supposed to do with all my free time here. You girls need to relax and learn how to live without the threat of combat hanging over your heads all the time. I need to ... well, I think I need to make sure you learn how to do that."
"But I like using my powers."
Rob nodded. "I'm not going to ask Washuu-chan to take your abilities away, Mikoto-san."
"And I wouldn't even if he did ask," she reassured the teenager.
"I'm just asking you to learn how to live a normal life - the kind of life people outside Academy City live."
"The ones who aren't magicians, you mean," Mikoto pointed out. "And that explains so much about Kamijo-san."
Rob shook his head. "No, he's no more a mage than he is an esper. He's ... well, I think even he doesn't realize it, despite it being his name."
"His name?" Mikoto thought for a moment. "Have I ever seen his name written down?"
Rob sighed again. "We've said too much. Usagi-san, everything you've heard this evening - Aleister, the 'Radio Noise' project, the World War III of Mikoto's homeworld, what happens when somebody reaches Level 6, even the Imaginary Number District - please keep it to yourself. Don't tell anyone else."
"I don't like keeping secrets."
"They aren't your secrets to tell. Let Mikoto-san decide when to tell them, if ever."
Usagi thought for a moment. "All right. But you'd better give me something that I can tell people, so I can say something if anyone asks."
Everybody thought for a moment.
"Ah!" Rob raised one finger. "Remember that I showed everybody one episode of the anime that was made about you, and everyone complained about the voices being a little bit wrong?"
"You said it was because we weren't in this universe, so they had to use voice actors instead."
"Right. And the same applies to the anime they made about Mikoto-san."
"So?"
"The voice actor they got to play Makoto-san is the same voice actor they got to play Mikoto-san's mother."
Mikoto and Usagi both looked at Rob for a moment, then laughed.
Washuu walked over to where Rob was sitting, and whispered, "That's one way to break the mood, I guess."
Rob just nodded, then turned his attention back to the girls. "It's a little late to be asking now, but is your homework done?"
"Noooo! I've been in here all night!" Usagi started to panic.
"I'll help you," Mikoto offered, calming Usagi as quickly as she had become frantic.
"And I'll be back tomorrow," Washuu said as a portal opened behind her. "Let Konori-san, Mizuno-san, and Hino-san know they aren't getting away without a checkup."
October 12, 2016
6:20am ET
Rob awoke, and wondered what was wrong.
Then he realized that, for the first time in over a decade, he had no aches or pains.
He was tempted to go back to sleep, but he had to start making breakfast. Time to shower and dress.
6:40am ET
Rob made his way to the apartment that they had turned into their common room - only to hear chopping sounds coming from the kitchen. "Good morning! I thought it was my turn to make - Oh! Welcome back, Washuu-chan!"
Washuu tipped the cutting board she was using so that the green onion went into the soup pot, then turned and smiled. "Good morning, Rob-san! I hope you like Japanese breakfasts."
"It's food in the morning. What's not to like?"
Washuu pointedly looked at Rob's waistline. "I think you like food a bit too much."
"Those nanomachines you injected into me need the calories, right?"
"What was your excuse before yesterday?"
"You've got me there, Washuu-chan." They both laughed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better than I've felt in years, sensei. I assume you want to make sure the nano is working the way you designed it?"
"Breakfast first, medical scan later." Washuu gestured toward a package sitting on the kitchen table. "I needed to revise the books we were talking about giving to Saten-san and Uiharu-san; those are the updated versions."
There was a polite knock at the doorway. "Good morning, Rob-san. Do we have anything I can take with me for breakfast?"
They turned, and Rob smiled. "Good morning, Ami-chan. There's a bag waiting for you in the fridge. One sandwich and a box of orange juice."
"Thank you, Rob-san," she said as she opened the fridge door. "You're always very kind to me."
"Have a good day at university!"
"'Bye!"
Washuu waited until Ami was gone. "You made breakfast for her before you went to bed last night."
"I do the same for Mii-san when she has early-morning classes."
"Do you smile at Konori-san when you see her first thing in the morning?"
"Of course I do!"
Washuu looked at Rob for a moment. "Okay. I'm just remembering what you told me under doctor-patient confidentiality yesterday."
"What did he tell you yesterday?" asked Ruiko from the doorway. "'Morning!"
"Good morning, and none of your business," answered Washuu.
"'Morning, Rui-chan. And it really isn't something you should be spreading around on the gossip circuit, so I'm going to save you the anguish of having to decide whether to keep my private life private, by not telling you about it."
"Would I gossip?"
"In a heartbeat. It was your listening to gossip and wild stories that lead you to the Level Upper, remember?"
"Mou." Ruiko pouted, and not in a cute way.
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| Beware Dragon gifts or Possible D&D copyright change |
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Posted by: hmelton - 01-15-2023, 05:47 PM - Forum: General Chatter
- Replies (24)
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Finally gave up and just put this here.
Just spent as long trying to find the right place for this post as it took me to read the article linked below a couple of times, I thought there was a section for copyright, but didn't find it, so just stuck it in general chatter.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/01/be...p-creators
I was over at EFF and came across a report that "Wizards of the Coast" may revoke or change the OGL or "open gaming license" for Dungeon and Dragons.
This might only be of interest to Bob, but the article in the link above has some good discussion of copyright and fair use in terms of Role Playing Games.
hmelton
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| 2016-10-01 pm: Weekend Update |
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Posted by: robkelk - 01-05-2023, 09:30 PM - Forum: Stories
- No Replies
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October 1, 2016
7:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm CT / 3:00 pm PT
The teleconference app that Washuu had written for everybody connected to the weekly meeting. Rob was the second-last to connect, followed only by Cassiopée. "It looks like everybody's online now. So, what happened while Mako-chan, Rui-chan, and I were out of town this week?" Rob asked, innocently.
After a moment, Brent replied, "I got a new batch of residents in my building. You might know their names: Chiyo-chan, Tomo, Yomi, Sakaki, Kagura, Osaka, and Kaorin."
"Do you want to trade? You'll know my boarders, too: Ranma, Akane, Ukyo ... Soun, Gen...ma, Nabiki, -"
"Hang on a minute, Epsilon," Rob interrupted. "Is anybody else getting a lag on the conference?"
After a moment, Harley answered, "Only from you, Rob."
"Be right back." Rob muted the conference and turned to Kazari. "Why is the network lagging?"
Kazari logged into the firewall and checked the activity logs. After a moment, she looked at Ruiko, who was concentrating on her own laptop in the corner of the building's common room. "Saten-san, do you really need to download files in the common room? We set up your apartment's connection so you can download them faster there."
"Sorry," Ruiko answered. "Do you mind if I let it finish? The download - Asahi Sakurai's new single - is almost done. No, it is done now."
Rob sighed. "Please don't start another download until after we've finished the teleconference. At least not in the common room."
"Okay... Sheesh, you're acting like I did something unusual," she muttered as she plugged her headphones into her laptop and started listening to her downloads.
At the same time, Rob turned back to his laptop and took the conference off mute, to hear Brent offering "I'll take girl Ranma, but you can keep boy Ranma."
"Sorry about that," Rob said to announce his presence. "Problem solved."
"Welcome back. Did anything interesting happen to your group while you were away?"
Rob laughed at Garnett's question. "Does a Predator showing up count as interesting?"
"What? Where?"
"Do we need to scramble?"
"No need, Raven; Sailor Jupiter took care of it. As for where, Brent, two-and-a-half degrees of latitude north of Ottawa, give or take a few minutes."
Nobody said anything for a moment. The silence was finally broken by Harley. "This job isn't as safe as we thought it was."
"Our tenants aren't as safe as we thought they were, either," Bob added.
"I'll ask Washuu-chan to put something together," announced Garnett. "We can't rely on these conference calls any more to stay up to date with what's going on."
"Good idea," Bob agreed.
"Make it something that we can install easily, and Uiharu-kun and I can come help set it up," Rob offered. Kazari waved at the screen at the mention of her name.
"That's kind of you. You're treating us all as good neighbors, even though we're separated in real life."
"Well, sure, why not?" Rob stopped and thought. "Wait a minute. '[[Asahi Sakurai]]'?"
"Who?" asked Brent.
"The singer whose music Rui-chan was downloading, that caused the conference to lag here."
"Oh, right," Bob replied. "You were on mute when I mentioned we got a group of tenants this week, too. How did you know her name?"
"I've seen Comic Party. But that's not important right now. Anybody have anything else that we all need to know?"
There was a moment of silence, then Brent replied, "I think today's Belldandy's birthday."
"Has anybody actually met Belldandy yet?" asked Harley.
"Peg and I have," answered Bob.
"So have I," added Cassiopée.
"How about one of you send her a message, then?" Rob suggested. "Let her know we're thinking of her, too."
"Yes, somebody else do that, please," added Epsilon.
"I'll do it," offered Cassiopée.
"Thanks. Anybody else have anything to add?" After a moment with no replies, Garnett continued, "Then I'll let everyone know when Washuu has something for us. Talk to you next week!"
"Good-bye!"
"Talk to you later!"
"Be seeing you!"
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| 2016-10-01 am: Kuroko's Casefile |
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Posted by: robkelk - 01-05-2023, 09:29 PM - Forum: Stories
- Replies (2)
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Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2016
7:25am ET
Saturdays weren't school days in Canada. (Not that she was attending school yet.) But bad habits were easy to get into and hard to break, so she got up anyway.
Heading toward the common room, she noticed Konori-sempai knocking on Tsukino-san's door. "If you want breakfast before we go downtown, you'd better get up and dressed soon, Usagi-san!"
That was the other reason she was already up and dressed - they were going to go see another museum today. If they had time, they might see two. Donaldson-san thought it was better than getting a broad overview of Canadian history out of a textbook.
As Konori-sempai kept knocking, Kuroko sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. How was somebody like Tsukino-san supposed to become the ruler of her world?
9:30am ET
Kuroko started to teleport to the parking lot ... then remembered that Donaldson-san didn't like that. They were pretending that they weren't espers.
She used to think it was a silly rule – until she learned that almost everybody on this Earth thought that esper abilities didn't exist.
And then she had learned about how some people without esper abilities could control people who did have them, either by subtle manipulation of their emotions or through more blatant – and painful – means. And some of those people weren't very nice, even compared to the others who would do things like that. The building's internet firewall let through a lot more than she thought Donaldson-san wanted it to let through. (Although she still couldn't get at any of those "Rule 34" images of her and oneesan that a few chat boards assured her existed. Maybe Uiharu-san or Mizuno-san – Kazari or Ami; they were in Canada now, and it seemed like everybody used just given names here – could help her crack that filter. Then she realized that Donaldson-san probably wanted information about things like MKUltra and Stockholm Syndrome to get through the filter, after all.)
She didn't want somebody to force her to use her Teleport – or force oneesan to use her Railgun – to break the law, so she had to make sure nobody saw it in action.
Walking short distances. What a concept. But she was getting used to it.
Ottawa Locks, Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2016
9:55am ET
"It was noisy up there, but down here it's nice and quiet."
Kuroko had to agree with Saten-san – Ruiko. It was relatively peaceful in the depression around the canal locks. "Why are there so many in a row? Wouldn't a water elevator take less room?"
Donaldson-san nodded. "It would, but they didn't have the raw materials to build one when they were finishing off the Rideau Canal. Thus, they built eight locks in a row."
"Who lives in the castle?"
Donaldson-san smiled at Tsukino-san's question. "Which one? No, that isn't a fair question. That building," he pointed across the canal and up the hill, "is the Chateau Laurier. It's a high-class hotel. And that building," he pointed in the opposite direction and up the other hill, "is one of the Parliament Buildings."
"A government building? Shouldn't the wall be higher? We can see over it, even from down here."
He shook his head. "No, that would make it more difficult for Canadians to visit their seat of government. Do you want to visit Parliament Hill after lunch?"
"Can we?" Tsukino-san was amazed. Kuroko was surprised, too. Next he'd be saying they didn't need to make an appointment to take a tour of the place.
"Sure we can! We might even be able to take a tour of the Centre Block."
Kuroko blinked. She was a teleporter, not a clairvoyant - how did she know that was what Donaldson-san was going to say? Then she realized how she had known – it was the kind of thing that Donaldson-san always said. That was just how Canadians acted, it seemed.
She'd have to get used to that.
"Who lives in that stone house?" asked Uiharu – Kazari.
"That's the museum we're going to visit this morning. Did everybody remember to download the guided tour audio to your phones?"
Kuroko double-checked – she had both the English and Japanese versions ready to play.
10:44am ET
Kuroko was sure that, if she heard another five minutes of this audio, she'd die of boredom.
Then she saw one of the other visitors to the museum fall over.
Everybody stopped the tour. Donaldson-san was the first to act. "Sir, are you all right? Do you need any help?" When he didn't get an answer, he leaned down and listened at the man's mouth. "Oh, shit. Ami!"
Mizuno-san rushed over, already looking at her watch. She touched the man's wrist for a long moment. "No pulse."
"Right. I'm starting compressions, you start breaths. Mii, call 9-1-1. Kuroko! Go to the ticket desk and get the defibrillator, as fast as you can."
Kuroko blinked in surprise, teleported downstairs, and got the ticket clerk's attention. "We need help! Someone's having a heart attack upstairs."
"Oh, dear." The person behind the desk opened a box labelled AED and pulled out the defibrillator and a small bag.
Kuroko took them both and teleported back to Mizuno-san and Donaldson-san – Ami and Rob. "Here."
"Good. Kazari, set it up. 27, 28, 29, 30." He stopped pushing on the man's chest while Ami breathed into his mouth. Seeing her listen then shake her head, he started compressions again. "Kuroko, get this shirt off him, please."
Kuroko knew Rob wasn't going to stop the compressions. She teleported the shirt off the man's chest, then teleported his undershirt off him. Meanwhile, Kazari had the AED pads out of the bag and plugged into the switched-on unit. "Here..."
"Work around us. 27, 28, 29, 30." Ami breathed for the man again, then the AED started its diagnostic process. When the defibrillator announced a shock, everyone got clear ... then Rob started the compressions again after the AED said to continue.
By this point, the museum staff had reached the incident scene. The AED announced a second shock. This time, it worked.
Kuroko smiled and relaxed – and noticed Tsukino-san putting her brooch back in her pocket. Kuroko nodded - that was how somebody like Tsukino-san – Usagi – was supposed to become the ruler of her world.
The paramedics arrived as Ami was making the man comfortable. They and Rob quickly got into a discussion about what had happened.
The museum staff approached Kuroko. "Miss, thank you for acting so quickly; I think you saved this man's life. But how did you get from the front desk to here so quickly?"
"Oh, dear - you noticed. We weren't supposed to let people know about that."
"'We'?"
"Oops."
11:20am ET
The museum's office was crowded. In addition to the manager, Donaldson-san, and all ten of the girls, two men wearing suits and police badges and carrying pistols were standing in the room.
Everyone was standing. The room wasn't that large to begin with.
"Tsukino-san, I'm sorry, but I think we aren't going to have time to visit Parliament Hill today."
One of the police officers raised an eyebrow, then looked at Usagi's hairdo and raised both eyebrows. "'Tsukino'? Sailor Moon?"
Rob blinked, then looked at the officer. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"I think I remember you from an anime club showing at Carleton. Who else here stepped out of the screen?"
"You're taking this remarkably well."
"Just eliminating the impossible. So ... no, wait, let me guess – the staff described a teleporter, and this girl has her hair in loose twin tails and is wearing what looks like a cosplay of a Tokiwadai school uniform."
Kuroko smiled her best fake smile. "Kuroko Shirai, at your service."
"Uh-huh. How many of you are from other worlds?"
"It would be faster to ask who isn't," Rob replied. "But before we proceed, I'd like some assurance that this isn't going to become public knowledge."
"Of course not. Who'd believe me?"
"Why are you believing yourself? I don't know why, but everyone I've told about this has accepted the idea without blinking." Rob looked at the other plainclothes officer. "Your partner included."
"I'm not the expert here."
"Nobody's an 'expert' here. We're all taking it in stride. But if it got out that these ten people exist in our world ..."
"They'd have no peace and no private lives," the otaku officer finished. "We won't mention any of this in the official report."
"Thank you."
"However." Everyone waited for him to continue. He sighed, and went on. "However, I'd appreciate having some way to get in touch with you, just in case someone else shows up from some other anime."
Rob smiled. "I was hoping you'd ask that. Shall we trade cellphone numbers?"
5:30pm ET
They had made it to Parliament Hill after all, but too late to take the tour. Simply wandering around the grounds, unescorted and completely unhindered, was enough to amaze Kuroko and Mii and delight Usagi and Ruiko.
"We'll have to come back here later, and take that tour."
Kuroko nodded at Rob's comment. "I'd like that. Has anyone heard from the hospital?"
"Yes, Ami told me that she got a call from them a few minutes ago. They've tracked down his relatives; they're on the way here from Toronto. He wants to see all of us, to thank us properly."
"I was just doing my job ... but I'm not part of Judgment here, am I?"
"Not officially, no, but we do have one friendly contact in the police force now."
"Does that mean Uiharu and I –"
"No. You're still too young. Ask again when you're sixteen... or if the fate of the world is at stake."
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| 2016-09-08: Skein of Fools |
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Posted by: Bob Schroeck - 01-04-2023, 09:03 PM - Forum: Stories
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Nishinomiya, Japan
May 16, 2006 (local date)
10:44 PM (local time)
The observers watched silently from their outside vantage point, surveying the empty city cloaked in starless darkness within the bubble that encapsulated it. For those with the ability to see it properly, the bubble held more than just the city that seemed to fill it – it mapped onto a much larger space-time, one from which the city was drawn.
Someone with the proper range of knowledge and experience might have found a deep and disturbing similarity between its relationship to the larger universe from which it had been spawned, and that of a voodoo doll or other item of sympathetic magic to its linked target. What was done to the one, would be done to the other.
The observers were quite aware of this similarity. Indeed, it was precisely why they were observing it.
That, and its inhabitants.
Two of them appeared to be ordinary humans, not quite fully grown, one male, one female. The rest were not humans, though they were, loosely speaking, humanoid. Towering figures of translucent blue light, they strode through the darkness-enshrouded city and lashed out at it as though disgusted and angered by its very existence. With each blow a building crumbled and its neighbors shuddered; even the very fabric of space-time seemed to strain and crack under their force.
The two humans were watching this from a vantage point which was by no definition of the word safe, although it was safer by comparison to the immediate vicinity of the giants of light. The female was enthralled by the sight of the city's destruction, her eyes wide and her grin wider. The male was agitated and all but panic-stricken.
"She's definitely contributing to the greater problem," one of the observers noted.
"Yes," replied another. "But unlike most of the other affected timelines, we've been able to isolate and insulate this timeline and its parallels."
"Parallels?" Another of the observers spoke up. "How many are we talking about?"
The second sighed. "Too many. But fortunately they're clustered into a tight skein, and we can affect all of them with measures applied to the skein as a whole."
"And they're all evincing this kind of radical disruption?" asked the first.
"Unfortunately, yes. And some of it spilled out of the skein before we sequestered it. In some – most – of them the principal players were poised for displacement." The second observer paused for a moment before continuing. "Shall we let an averaged waveform of the potential displacees collapse into the Refuge timeline?"
"No!" The first observer's vehemence was unexpected, and the others flinched at it. "The last thing we need is a version of her loose there – she'd completely destroy what makes it a safe haven for the others."
"Filter her out of the refugee pattern," a fourth spoke up. "Just let the others through so that we might preserve them, at least."
"That would be pointless," said a fifth observer. "I've just run the scenario through several million simulations. Almost all her variants will inevitably figure out how to come after them and do so, for reasons ranging from ego to loyalty to simple loneliness, and in the process of breaking the quarantine on the skein they will exacerbate the problem beyond our ability to contain."
"And what would happen when a nigh-infinite number of her variants all converge on Refuge, only to find a single set of her companions?" asked the third.
"Thankfully, that's not a problem," the fifth replied. "The simulations show that all those wave functions would also collapse into a single instance upon entry to the timeline."
The third frowned. "And if that instance of her doesn't match the instance of her companions which manifested in Refuge, we're back to the original problem. No, we can't let them enter. It's cruel, but necessary."
The first nodded slowly. "I am inclined to agree. Are there any objections?"
There were none.
"Then let us go," the first said, "and seal the skein behind us."
"It still troubles me to leave them to their fate," the fourth said softly as they walled off the doomed timelines and began their return.
"Fortunately, they are not alone," the first confided. "One of our own has chosen to incarnate in all the timelines of the skein. And he has no small experience with watching over godling children. Suzumiya Haruhi in all her many variations can have no better guide, guard and friend than Kyôn Khryseos."
Skein of Fools
(A ManaChara story)
by Robert M. Schroeck
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| Copyright and the Mouse |
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Posted by: robkelk - 01-02-2023, 10:28 AM - Forum: Politics and Other Fun
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(01-02-2023, 09:36 AM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: Oh yeah, I meant to drop a post on the board that all the Sherlock Holmes stuff is now public domain. Thanks for the link!
Also, I'll note that a year from now, Steamboat Willie is due to go into the public domain, too. In the past, whenever Steamboat Willie has even got a whiff of the public domain Disney has pulled out all the stops and gotten extensions of copyright duration rammed through Congress. It will be interesting to see if they do it again this year.
But that's a topic for another thread, in a different section of the board.
Well, that all depends on whether Congress can be distracted from messing with copyright for a year. And with a split Congress (GOP House, Dem Senate), keeping them distracted should be easier than usual.
Unless the Mouse throws a lot of money at a lot of people. Which they can.
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| 2016-09-25: Time in the Woods |
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Posted by: robkelk - 01-02-2023, 09:14 AM - Forum: Stories
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Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 25th, 2016
7:55am ET
Makoto was worried. She'd noticed Misaka-san looking at her, appraising her the way that she would appraise a potential opponent in a martial arts match.
She didn't want to fight her housemate. She had barely finished unpacking her new clothes and kitchenware. And it had barely been a week (in her personal timeline) since Usagi had undone what Galaxia had done to her. She was still tired.
They were all tired.
Maybe the others could suggest something.
8:20am ET
"... and I don't think I could give you a decent match right now, Misaka-san."
"I can wait," Mikoto replied. "It wouldn't be a good match if you weren't at your best."
Rob hadn't expected this to be the topic of conversation over breakfast, but he wasn't surprised. "Let's not push anybody into a fight that they don't want to take part in."
Makoto noticed Mikoto's expression at Rob's comment. "Oh, we could spar sometime later, but not just now."
Rob raised an eyebrow. "You're sure? I got the feeling that you didn't want to fight."
"Sparring isn't fighting. It's testing yourself against a worthy opponent."
"I can work with that," said Mikoto. "I'd rather have a real fight, though."
Rob shook his head. "I'd rather not need to take either of you to the hospital."
"Why not?"
"Because people aren't supposed to know we have powers, oneesan."
Rob nodded. "I would have been more diplomatic that Shirai-san, but that's the gist of it. This world is not used to dealing with people who have paranormal or superhuman abilities, and that means the doctors here have no idea how to help anybody in this room other than Rui-chan or myself. Worse, they might think they're curing you of an illness while they take your abilities away."
Makoto sighed. "So we'll have to wait for a while before I'm back to my full strength. It's too bad there isn't a large stand of old trees around here; I could have transformed to Sailor Jupiter and let the wood share its strength with me for a few days."
Rob smiled. "That I can help you with. We're only a few hours' drive from some old-growth boreal forest, and I do own a car."
"Oh?" Makoto looked hopeful, then sighed. "But I can't ask you to leave everyone else here and take just me to the forest."
Rei added, "And I wouldn't let you take Makoto without an escort."
Rob nodded. "A sensible precaution, Hino-san, even though she could easily defeat me in a fair fight. Who else wants to get out of the city for a few days?"
Mii shook her head. "I have to stay here in case the scholarship board calls."
Ami added, "And I have my own scholarship application to be available for."
"Forests don't have wi-fi," was Kazari's comment.
"Or malls," added Minako.
"I'm still too tired to go anywhere right now," Usagi said.
"Somebody needs to protect Usagi while Makoto's away," Rei stated with conviction.
Mikoto frowned. "I'd rather study Canadian history for the high-school placement test."
"If oneesan isn't going, then neither am I," Kuroko quickly added.
Makoto looked at Ruiko, hoping against hope.
Ruiko noticed the look in Makoto's eyes. "Sure, why not? It sounds like fun."
Rob nodded. "All right - one road trip, three people ... how many days?"
Makoto thought for a moment. "If I could stay in the forest for three days, I should be back to normal."
"Five days, then - it'll take over half a day for the trip, each way. Today we go shopping."
Minako grinned. "I like shopping."
"Shopping for warm, comfortable, unflattering, concealing clothing that will protect us from the mosquitoes and black flies."
Minako frowned. "Not that kind of shopping."
"We also need to get camping gear and supplies."
Makoto quickly interrupted Rob. "Oh, we can stay at an inn, if there's one nearby."
"Oh! I thought 'three days' included the two nights in between. If it doesn't, then that makes things easier. We'll still need the comfortable clothing, but we don't need the camping gear. Pack one suitcase each, ladies." Rob thought for a moment. "And we'll have access to a small-town mall and small-town wi-fi."
"That's nice," replied Minako and Kazari, almost in unison and with absolutely no enthusiasm.
September 26th, 2016
8:45am ET
Ruiko looked annoyed. "You asked us to pack one bag each, but you're bringing four."
"This one's my laptop," replied Rob as he put his second bag into the trunk. "We're going to want to be able to let everybody know we're safe. And this one's my camera gear." After stowing the camera bag, he then lifted the largest of his bags. "And this one is our emergency kit - water, food, spare batteries for the phones, a first-aid kit ..."
Makoto nodded. "Everything we hope we won't need but should take anyway."
"Exactly. And it sits here, where we can get at it quickly in an emergency." Rob checked that all of the luggage was secure, then closed the trunk lid. "Okay, ladies, who gets to see out the front window, and who gets to be chauffeured in the back seat?"
One round of jan-ken-pon later, Makoto sat down in the car's front passenger seat and Ruiko sat down behind her. Rob handed Mii the keys to the office, the mailbox, the common room, the laundry room, and the mechanical room. "If you need me, call."
"It's only one week."
"One week in a building that's still new to you." Rob then handed Mii a sealed envelope. "And that's what you'll need to reach Washuu-chan, just in case something happens to us."
"Why is it sealed?"
Rob grinned. "I know you can read the instructions without opening the envelope, but you'll need the computer memory card that's in there as well. It's sealed so that the contents stay together."
"That makes sense. Don't forget the souvenirs."
"Thanks for reminding me."
Elsewhere
Same Time
It wasn't the Earth that they had visited in the past, but it was remarkably similar.
In order to determine whether this Earth held any surprises, they decided to allow one of their number to proceed - in a relatively out-of-the-way part of the planet, and with full surveillance.
Highway 417, outside of Arnprior, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
9:55am ET
"You must have a lot of money."
Rob raised an eyebrow. "What brought that on?" he asked Ruiko.
"Your country, I mean. You have a four-lane freeway all the way out here where there aren't any large cities."
"Oh, that. First, there's a matter of national pride involved - this is the Trans-Canada Highway. Second..." - he pointed to the "lane ends in 500m" sign - "...this is as far as the four-lane road goes. From here until North Bay, the highway is two lanes with the occasional passing lane."
Highway 17, outside of Petawawa, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
10:50am ET
"Did we just pass a military vehicle?" Ruiko looked nervous.
Rob nodded. "If we turn off the highway here, we could visit Canada Forces Base Petawawa. That's a training base for newly-enlisted soldiers."
"I don't like fighting."
"Soldiers do a lot more than just fight, Rui-chan."
"I know. But ..."
Makoto turned her head to look at Ruiko. "Did something happen to you and your friends?"
"No, but things were starting to get tense around the world just before we teleported to this world."
And that told Rob that the Avignon arc in A Certain Magical Index took place after his residents' appearance on his doorstep. "I wasn't planning on stopping here anyway," he said as he mentally deleted 'visit the military museum in Cobalt' from his keep-Ruiko-amused list.
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes.
"Ojisan..."
"Yes, Rui-chan?"
"Are we there yet?"
Elsewhere
Same Time
He decided to start some days' travel north of the army base, just to get the lay of the land.
Reading the sign, he wondered what a "Rouyn-Noranda" was. Better to avoid it altogether.
Highway 17, Mattawa, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
12:10pm ET
"This is a nice little inn, but it's right on the highway. And there's a railway track right beside the building."
Rob raised an eyebrow as he parked the car, then realized what Makoto was thinking. "Oh, we aren't staying here. This is just a break for lunch and to stretch our legs. We still have a few hours driving ahead of us."
Ruiko looked up from the map. "We're almost at North Bay, and the map says it's much larger than Mattawa. Why stop here for lunch instead of there?"
"Because this is where I always stop. An intercity truck driver recommended this restaurant to me."
"I don't see any place around here for trucks to park."
"There isn't one. And he still comes here for lunch when he comes through Mattawa. That's how good this place is."
Highway 11, North Bay, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
1:35pm ET
From the back seat, Makoto noticed an extra lane in the highway, going the other way. "Oh, look! A runaway truck ramp!"
"Yep. It's the only one in the Ontario highway system."
"What kind of people get excited by that?" Ruiko asked.
"It's not that, it just reminds me of the roads in Japan."
Highway 11, outside of North Bay, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
1:45pm ET
"Wow. There's this kind of forest this close to a city in Canada."
Rob heard the awe in Makoto's voice. "If you think this is good, wait another quarter-hour."
Highway 11, Temagami, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
2:50pm ET
"Are we there yet?"
Rob smiled at Ruiko's question. "Not quite - we've got a bit more than a half-hour to go."
"If this was Japan," Makoto said, "we could have driven from Tokyo to Hiroshima by now."
"I think I already mentioned Canada has a lot of geography."
"I didn't expect this much!"
New Liskeard, Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
September 26th, 2016
3:35pm ET
"Here we are!"
"That's our hotel? It doesn't look like much."
"Wait until you see what's behind it."
3:45pm ET
"Oh, wow."
"That's a lot of water."
"That is Lake Temiskaming - it isn't the headwaters of the Ottawa River, but it is one of the larger bodies of water in the river."
"Can we swim in it?"
"There's a public beach a couple of hundred meters over there," Rob pointed. "But it might be too cold for swimming at this time of year."
4:40pm ET
"Is there anything else we forgot?" Rob asked, slightly annoyed.
Makoto and Ruiko looked at each other. Makoto spoke first. "We didn't forget anything, Donaldson-san."
"Do you really need a razor for a three-day trip, ojisan?" Ruiko added.
"Yes, I do. I need to look my best for my next stop."
The girls exchanged a glance, then smiled. "Is there somebody special here that you're going to see?" Ruiko asked.
Rob whispered his reply. "My family's grave is here."
The girls stopped smiling. "Let's get you a razor, then," said Makoto, just as quietly.
11:25pm ET
The girls were talking and giggling in their room, and had progressed to calling each other "Rui-chan" and "Mako-chan."
Rob was fast asleep in his room next door.
September 27th, 2016
8:15am ET
"This looks something like the common room in our place back in Ottawa," Makoto said as she sat down with two slices of toast. "It's not as big, though."
Ruiko frowned. "There's no rice."
"It's a Continental breakfast, or what passes for one in Canada. No rice."
"No rice, no life."
"I thought Uiharu-san was the member of your group who ate a lot of rice."
"She eats more rice than I do, but it's the principle of the thing!"
"We can get you a pouch of microwave rice at the grocery store, if you want."
Ruiko shuddered. "I'll have toast."
"If you want any juice for later, get it now and put it in your room's fridge," said Rob as he did just that, also grabbing a single-serve yogurt and a plastic spoon. "The breakfast room doesn't stay open all day, and we have to drop off Kino-san at my uncle's property in a half-hour."
Makoto picked up an apple on her way out. "Oh, call me Mako-chan. Everybody else does."
Elsewhere
Same Time
So far, he had not made contact with any of the Earthlings - according to plan. He finished eating a field ration, gathered his garbage, and proceeded to start his day's walk.
New Liskeard, Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
September 27th, 2016
1:10pm ET
Makoto took a break from her meditation, noticed the time, and opened her packed lunch. She felt better already, and wasn't having any trouble transforming to Sailor Jupiter and back any more.
As she ate the apple she had picked up earlier, she wondered what Rob and Ruiko were doing.
Haileybury, Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
September 27th, 2016
1:10pm ET
Ruiko looked at the card beside a typewriter on display in the museum. "I've heard of the Hardy Boys, but I've never read any of the books."
"You aren't in the target audience, Rui-chan."
"I know, ojisan. I didn't realize the stories were that old - that isn't even an electric typewriter!"
Elsewhere
4:45pm ET
He finally met his first Earthling, and it was by accident. He hadn't planned on being seen by any of the locals.
The human had stood in shock for a moment, then raised a weapon.
He did what he had to do.
After disposing of the human's body, he donned his cloak and continued on his way.
New Liskeard, Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
September 27th, 2016
6:30pm ET
"I'm bored."
"Want to go see whatever movie is playing? The theatre's only a few minutes walk up the road."
"Sure, why not?"
Ruiko looked up from sorting out the souvenirs from the Haileybury Heritage Museum. "There's a theatre in this town?"
"Yep! Only two screens, though, so the choice of movies is limited."
September 28th, 2016
8:15am ET
"No rice."
"Sorry, Rui-chan. You'll just have to make do."
"So, what are you two going to do today?" Makoto asked.
Ruiko thought for a moment. "Maybe wander around and take some photos, if Rob-ojisan will lend me his camera."
Rob smiled. "How about I come with you and give you some pointers on how to use my camera?"
2:20pm ET
Makoto's meditation was broken by the arrival of a police officer. "I thought I saw somebody up here. Why aren't you in school, miss?"
"Hello, sir. I am a transfer student and waiting for my enrolment to be completed."
"Do you have permission to be up here? This is private property."
Makoto pulled a note from her pocket and handed it to the officer. "Yes, sir."
He read it, then handed the note back. "All right, Miss Kino. I hope you enjoy your visit to New Lis- What was that?" The officer and Makoto both turned to look in the direction that they'd heard a branch break, but saw nothing. "Probably nothing. I hope you enjoy your stay."
* * *
The two humans had heard the snapping of the wood that he'd stepped on, but they didn't investigate further. He waited to see what they would do.
* * *
Makoto waited for two minutes after the officer left, then transformed to Sailor Jupiter.
* * *
A metamorph! This Earth might be a problem.
* * *
She drew upon the source of her powers - the element of wood - and opened her senses to the forest. Yes, there was something there... but where, and what?
The air moved ... and she ducked.
* * *
Somehow, the human had avoided his shot. This one was a challenge. He aimed a second shot - and the weapon jammed.
That was no excuse for not making the kill. He still had the strength of his own body.
* * *
Jupiter looked around, and almost by instinct threw a punch. She connected with ... nothing? Whatever it was, it hurt her hand to punch it, even if she couldn't see it. "I wish Ami was here."
* * *
He backed off. The Earthling could sense him somehow, and was as strong as he was. He picked up a piece of tree and threw it.
* * *
"Supreme Thunder!" The lightning bolt broke the branch into harmless splinters.
She saw a shimmer in the air from where the branch came from.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
* * *
He had no time to dodge - he had to trust his armor could take the incoming blast.
It could.
His cloak could not.
* * *
It faded into view.
She had no idea what she was facing - but it aimed a weapon at her.
She ran.
* * *
Finally, a human was giving him a chase!
He fired and started after her.
* * *
She stumbled as the shot bounced off her right boot, twisting her ankle on the way down.
* * *
He'd wounded the Earthling, but hadn't killed it. He moved in for the kill.
* * *
She looked up, staring into the eyes above the mandibles on that face. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
Her opponent fell. Finally.
Something on its arm started beeping.
Worried that it might be a beacon to call more of whatever-these-were, she took careful aim. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
Whatever it was, it stopped beeping.
2:36pm ET
There was another shimmer in the air, just above the body of the thing Makoto had fought. She started her transformation ... to discover when she was Sailor Jupiter that the body was gone and a tanto had been left in its place.
She transformed back to normal, and put the weapon in her lunch box.
5:15pm ET
Rob pulled up to see Makoto waiting for him. "How did the day go, Mako-chan?"
Makoto was expecting that question, and gave the answer she'd carefully considered. "Just another day for Sailor Jupiter, ojisan."
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