[OOC][PLOT] The Return of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[robkelk]

No Hayate at the Halloween party? Ah, well - that's another scene that gets saved for later. (Rob wakes up early, goes to offer to help Sasami with breakfast, discovers there's no room left in the kitchen because he wasn't the only one up early, passes Hayate and Shamal on his way back out and their way to the kitchen to help, chats and excuses himself. H&S comment on Rob's behaviour.)

I decided I wanted somebody to take the whole Metacontinuity thing poorly, just to be different, and Maika has so little previously-defined personality that it was easy for her to be the one to blow up over it. She'll calm down on her own Real Soon Now.

(As for "decadent", I was using the second definition in the OED: "Luxuriously self-indulgent." Maika did savour the confection, after all - Rob replaced the dark chocolate with what is essentially honey-chocolate frosting. Besides, Maika isn't about to knowingly insult her boss her first full day on the job.)

[robkelk]

Honestly, I don't see why they think 'Star Base 1' should be a massive complex of different bases scattered throughout the Solar System when many of them already have names like Utopia Planitia Shipyards.

These are the same folks who said that Capt. Pike's first officer was called "Number One" because she was at the top of her graduating class and thus that was her name, and the Nero-verse Dr. McCoy was nicknamed "Bones" because that's all he kept from his divorce. In other words, know-nothing land-lubbers who can't be bothered to look things up. I ignore them.

[Black Aeronaut]

To be fair, McCoy's nickname makes sense in this context.  Also it was canonical even before the reboot that he'd been divorced.  And you know how it is with cowboys and divorce.  Furthermore, I don't recall it ever being explained elsewhere within the confines of canon - just a note on Wikipedia that his nickname was a play on the derisive title 'sawbones' given to surgeons back in the Civil War era.  And that's attributed to a book that has not much to do about Star Trek at all.

But definitely agreed on the rest.

Though I fucking loved the bit about the dog.  "I don't know.  I'll let you know when he finally shows up again."

[robkelk]

To be fair, McCoy's nickname makes sense in this context.  Also it was canonical even before the reboot that he'd been divorced.  And you know how it is with cowboys and divorce.  Furthermore, I don't recall it ever being explained elsewhere within the confines of canon - just a note on Wikipedia that his nickname was a play on the derisive title 'sawbones' given to surgeons back in the Civil War era.  And that's attributed to a book that has not much to do about Star Trek at all.

But definitely agreed on the rest.

Though I fucking loved the bit about the dog.  "I don't know.  I'll let you know when he finally shows up again."

Merriam-Webster says "sawbones" was used back in 1837, so the root term at least is pre-Civil War.


Changing topics... I'm no good at using Wolfram-Alpha. How much electricity in kw/h would it take to electromagnetically accelerate a 50kg (ferrous) mass from a standing start to 50km/h? (Why? Because it's canon that Misaka can generate that much electricity without breaking a sweat. Based on charges for electricity usage in mid-to-late 2015 in Ottawa, I'm assuming SI-Rob can sell that power to the electric company at $0.10 per kw/h, once Washuu-chan delivers a power accumulator. Line losses and accumulator inefficiencies can be offset by Sailor Jupiter helping out... or Misaka delivering MOAR POWAH.)

[robkelk]

Great. Just great.

While looking for character images for the wiki, I stumbled across a scan of a page from an official book about the A Certain... universe. The scanned page just happened to mention the English name of Ruiko's canon esper ability.

Spoiler

It's "Aero Hand". The same ability that Mitsuko Kongō has, for anyone who's seen the anime.

I was close... but I'm going to have to do a slight re-write of the "do they stay or go" scene for when Academy City shows up.

[Black Aeronaut]

Rob, you may be looking for Centimeter-Gram-Second measurement units such as the Dyne, Maxwell, Gauss and Oersted.  Unfortunately, without being able to measure Misaka's magnetic field in Oersteds, it's going to be very hard to tell how much power she is generating.

OH!!!  FRANKLINS!!!

Basically, the Franklin unit (aka Statcoulomb) is defined as follows: if two stationary objects each carry a charge of 1 Fr and are 1 cm apart, they will electrically repel each other with a force of 1 dyne.

This is related as F=(Q1*Q2)/r^2, where F= force in dynes, Q1 and Q2 are the charges of the respective objects in franklins or statcoulombs, and r= the distance between said objects.

The dyne is defined as "the force required to accelerate a mass of one gram at a rate of one centimetre per second squared".

Now, Wikipedia says that when performing dimensional analysis on Coulomb's law, the dimension of electrical charge in cgs must be [mass]1/2 [length]3/2 [time]−1. (This statement is not true in SI units.) We can be more specific in light of the definition above: Substituting F = 1 dyn, q1 = q2 = 1 statC, and r = 1 cm, we get:

1 statC = (g^1/2) (cm^3/2) (s^−1)


So: (50,000^1/2)(5,000,000^3/2)(3,600^-1) = 434,027,777,777,777,777,777.8

Helluva number there.  Oh, and multiply by 2, because that only gives us the charge in franklins for one object, and she's charging TWO.

So Mikoto is pumping out 868,055,555,555,555,555,555.6 franklins in total.

Now, Wolfram Alpha happens to have a nice little conversion formula that turns that into the equivalent electrical charge in Coulombs.

So we get 289,552,165,970.62 Coulombs.

Which translates directly to Amperes.

Rob.  You got a monster on your hands.  At 120v AC with that kind of current, she can pump out 34,746,259,916,474 watts.

EDITED BECAUSE OF ERROR.

[Black Aeronaut]

Whoops. Hold on. My calculator app didn't hand that 5,000,000^3/2 power bit properly.

(50,000^1/2)(5,000,000^3/2)(3,600^-1) is actually 7,764,124,921.87

Multiply by two: 15,528,249,843.75 (I'm rounding, BTW).

Convert that to Coulombs: 5.18

So 5.18 Amps.

Okay. That is A LOT more believable. I'm sure she can output quite a bit more than that, but this is much more realistic.

[robkelk]

By that math, she can't even power a hair dryer.

Household circuit breakers trip at 15 amps. Mikoto is canonically known to be able to overload and trip an entire electrical step-down substation - she did so during the Level Upper story-arc.

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, you only gave me 50kg object at 50kph.

From what I've seen her do in a few youtube clips, I'm pretty sure she can pump out a lot more juice than that. But at least now you have the math to figure it out.

Edit: Seriously, though, if I had footage of her throwing something really hefty like a piece of construction equipment or somewhere thereabouts, then we can see what she can really do.

[robkelk]

Well, you only gave me 50kg object at 50kph.

From what I've seen her do in a few youtube clips, I'm pretty sure she can pump out a lot more juice than that.  But at least now you have the math to figure it out.

Edit:  Seriously, though, if I had footage of her throwing something really hefty like a piece of construction equipment or somewhere thereabouts, then we can see what she can really do.

Series 1, episode 24.

---

Changing gears: I still can't find any images of Mii in a bunny suit, but I've found these.

So... Halloween, 2017?

"I feel ridiculous!"
"This outfit worked for Konori-san last year, Niiko Misaka points out."
"Kamijo isn't Donaldson-san!"
"He is still a heterosexual male, though."

♥ "Oh, onee-sama..." ♥

"Why should everyone else have all the fun?"

"Do I have to take my blouse off?'

(Mikoto, offscreen) "Mom! That had better be for dad!"


(Everybody else in the main cast gets a Bunny pinup, but not the bustiest girl? Go figure.)

[robkelk]

More fanart. Not bunny girls, but plenty of clones.

• "Misaka Niiko wanted to attend the Halloween party dressed as a bunnygirl. The rest of us outvoted her."
  
• Nana and Mikoto, with Gekota plushies (now on Nana's wiki page)
  
• In your dreams, Niiko and Mikoto
  
• In your dreams, Niiko and Mikoto - part 2
  
• Who the hell let Last Order join a strike team?
  
• I have no idea where they're trying to blend in, but I suspect Tomoyo made their outfits
  
• Somebody who hasn't appeared in our story yet: Misaka 1, a.k.a. Dolly. Canonically a friend of Misaki Shokuhou, the other Level 5 esper at Mikoto's school (or "friend", because that other Level 5 is a mind controller), but Mikoto has never met her.
  
• This one's just cute
  
• Hey, Ben, our arsenal's a bit lacking (fan art, but at least one of the Misaka Sisters did use one of those in canon)
  
• Okay, who let the girls watch "X-Men"?
  
• Training at the shooting range
  
• Rei Misaka runs an experiment
  "The available evidence indicates you are attracted to girls who wear glasses, Donaldson-san."
  "The available evidence is correct, Rei, but it takes more than just a pair of glasses to catch my eye. You do look good in them, though."
  "Results are inconclusive ..."
  
• Yellow sundresses aren't just for EVA pilots. Neither are pink or polkadot sundresses.
  
• Family portrait ("Dear Mom, as long as I'm still in Canada, I can't introduce you to two of the daughters you never knew you had, so I've attached a photo.")
  
• Misaka Slacker
  
• one of the Misaka Sisters in Accelerator's t-shirt. I have no idea what she sees in him.
  

Oh, yes:

A Certain Relationship Chart Kamijo's a lucky SOB, isn't he?

[Black Aeronaut]

Regarding the armaments....

"Okay girls.  The thing about all of you being electrokinetics to one degree or another got the noodle goin', and not in the Kraft starts flowin' kinda way.  Here's your new heavy weapons."

"Are these railguns?  Isn't that a little redundant?"

"Isn't that a magazine box?" he retorted with a grin.

"What?  Oh.  OH!!!  How many rounds does this thing have!?  There's gotta be at least a hundred in there!!!"

"Two-hundred and fifty.  And the nice part is that they're all powered and operated by your own electrokinetic powers.  There's also another bonus to this: since it already has a series of electromagnets to channel your power, you don't need to rely on surrounding ferrous materials to act as an anchor.  This saves you both time and energy, and lets you keep these things going until the induction rails melt.  Which is unlikely because they're lined with tungsten carbide."

"....Why aren't you working for DARPA or something?"

"What makes you think I don't want to?  Before things got crazy I was about to start going to school for a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and then go after a PhD in Aerospace Engineering."

....  I think his business card should say,

Code:

Benjamin M. Rhodes
BS Mechanical Engineering
BS Electrical Engineering
PhD Aerospace Engineering
"Cranking shit to '11' since 1980."

[robkelk]

Rob looked at the railgun that Niiko was holding. "Very nice work. I might have gone with a holdout version as well - less ammo, but easily concelable up a sleeve. Not that that or this are at all legal in Canada, so don't let me see you taking them outside without permission from me, Mii, or Usagi."

[Rajvik]

The bad thing is i can see Jayne drooling

[robkelk]

You want Jayne to drool over a railgun, you have to give him a power source for it.

You want Jayne to drool over a clone, you have to go with a manga-only character.

[Black Aeronaut]

Rob looked at the railgun that Niiko was holding. "Very nice work. I might have gone with a holdout version as well - less ammo, but easily concelable up a sleeve. Not that that or this are at all legal in Canada, so don't let me see you taking them outside without permission from me, Mii, or Usagi."

The rounds are the same size and general shape as ten-penny finishing nails - just the head of the nail is nonexistent.  Mikoto has proven time and time again that an object doesn't have to be heavy to do grievous damage, just sufficiently accelerated.  So while the magazines might be a bit on the heavy side, the "quantity has its strategic value" trope applies here.  These aren't necessarily sniper rifles - more like someone crammed a heavy machine gun down into a package that can be wielded like an assault rifle.

What's more is that these railguns don't have any moving parts besides the magazine spring, follower, and magazine release.  Hell, it doesn't even have a 'trigger' as we'd recognize it.  The top of the magazine acts as 'the chamber' and for this reason the guns can basically fired at any rate of fire they so choose by manipulating the firing circuitry inside the railgun.

This is pretty much the weapon that gets issued out when your opponent is basically on the same level as the Wolkenritter.

"I can see the use, though, in side-arm and holdout models.  They won't have quite the same punch, but these won't be intended for long range targets anyhow.  Gimme about a week and we should have some fabbed up."

[Labster]

• This one's just cute
  

"Why are there so many Misakas?" Osaka wondered.

"They're cheaper by the dozen," Brent quipped.

Osaka just frowned, but Yomi smiled, and explained further  "Actually, they made 20000 Misaka clones.  Buy in bulk and save!"

"If they made that many, how did they pick the next one?"

Aika elaborated, "I think they were all in the same cloning tank, and they all just had to hope that the crane would pick her."  She held out her palm face down, lowered it, and then drew her fingers together.

"Exactly," Yomi deadpanned, "It was all set up like a giant crane game."

"Oh, I get it," Osaka was enlightened.  "I guess you'd get real good at the crane if you had 20000 plays."

"Yeah, he was a crane master," Aika said, her smile a little too wide.

Yomi kept a straight face, "Actually, he was an esper.  I believe the ability is called Golden Claw."  The capital letters were clearly pronounced.

"Oooooh claaaaw!" Tomo nasalized.

Osaka excused herself, "I gotta ask 'em about it."  As soon as her back was turned, Yomi, Tomo and Brent's smiles came out in full force.  She walked up to a couple of Misakas, and asked, "So how long was it until y'all were saved by the Golden Claw?"

"Misaka does not comprehend, Misaka says, hoping that she can evade this attempt at proselytizing."

[Rajvik]

you are going to have to use this at some point, its just to damn hilarious

[Labster]

Brent began educating the youngsters, "You know, crane games were actually invented in ancient Babylon."

"Really?" Sakura asked.

"Of course.  When they designed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the people who lived near the garden wanted to eat fruits from the trees in the hanging baskets, but it was really hard to get there with ladders to harvest them.  So they invented the crane to pick the fruit."

"Oh, that makes sense," Shaoran nodded.

"But it was really hard back then.  They didn't have a joystick or electricity, so you had to have a horse and a donkey, one for each direction, to move the claw.  So they walked in a giant hamster wheel, back and forth."

"Whoa," Sakura was impressed.

A hand formed into the shape of a crane above my head, and began lowering.  The hand grabbed onto a tuft of Brent's auburn hair and began pulling him backwards.  "Alright, that's enough," Yomi warned.

"And then if you had a mule, that's when things got really confusing!"

"Yeah, yeah," Yomi dismissed.

[robkelk]

you are going to have to use this at some point, its just to damn hilarious

We can probably slide it into the Halloween party, somewhere between Misaka getting her head handed to her and Ben having that serious talk with Rei Hino.

EDIT: And I'm surprised nobody mentioned the crane-game master from Sailor Moon, who had one of the "rainbow crystals" inside him...

[Dartz]

..... I've never actually watch Sailor Moon. It was never shown on television. Or sold. It was a totally non-thing.

I have Railgun and watched it but can only, just about, remember the OP

Azumaga Daioh....

Uh. Evertything's a haze.

[Labster]

LOL, Dartz why are you even here? XD

No one mentioned rainbow crystal guy because I totally forgot about that episode.  The only one I remember is Ryo the Psychic Lad, and that's because of Shadowjack.

I may not remember everything about a show, but if I can remember what the characters are like, I must have enjoyed the series somewhat.  Like, I know in theory that I watched Scrapped Princess and Vandread, but I can't for the life of me remember any of the characters or plot elements.  I can't remember any of the events in The Big O, but I remember all of the characters and the mysterious film noir feel.  It was really good.  For Azumanga and Utena, I cheat by rewatching about once a year.  The former is just to make me laugh, and the latter is to remind myself how terrible I'm doing at living up to my ideals and potential.

[Dartz]

LOL, Dartz why are you even here? XD

Yeah thats a good question.

I just wanted to take part in an active story but it's really gone away from me..

[Labster]

OK it's time for Project Let's Get Dartz Back Involved Plan -- Launch!!!

The problem I have is that it's been quite a while since I've watched BGC, so while I feel might feel comfortable writing about Priss or Sylia, the various sexaroids on the other hand didn't make as much impact on my mind.  I was actually going to rewatch, but Rob bumped Ai Yori Aoshi to the top of the stack after only a couple eps of BGC. So I suppose that's next.

On the other hand, I actually have written a little bit with Data in it.  I need to clean it up a bit, but I'll post it on the wiki within a day.  I don't know where I'm going, but it's definitely a target that we can use to integrate our stories together.

The only other question is what sort of tone you want for your part the story.  I tend to write more light than dark, and more fluff than crunch.  I want to write at a target mood like the Sailor Moon S anime - 80% screwball comedy, 10% romance, 5% epic shit that actually matters, and 5% postmodern weirdness.  But we're supposed to be merging multiple continuities, and it's bound to have portions of the world with different moods colliding.

If you write more, of your own characters, or at any of the other characters you do know (Sasami needs more screen time, for instance), that would help us all out a lot.

[robkelk]

I was actually going to rewatch, but Rob bumped Ai Yori Aoshi to the top of the stack after only a couple eps of BGC. So I suppose that's next.

BGC is only eight episodes. Ai Yori Aoshi can wait a day or three.

(Sasami needs more screen time, for instance),

Sasami and Sylvie Go to White Castle.

(reconsiders)

Okay, maybe not.