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

[Labster]

*Tilts his head*

.... Wait, so what brought this on?

It's not that I disapprove, it's just that I don't remember anything about this and it's kinda driving me nuts now.

Otherwise, I like it.  It'll make for a good WTF? for people to puzzle over.  "So wait.  Now we have someone from a fictional work that was in a fictional work?  How frakin' meta are we gonna get here!?"

What brought this on is fundamentally the QWERTY layout, in which five of the letters of Minako's name are on the right hand, and only one is on the left.  This led to a strangely consistent typo on Rob's part.  So then I started to wonder, what if Minkao is a real character?  "Minkao was there, too."  You can still spell it with Japanese kana.  Looked at a few kanji -- definitely nameable.  Did a google search... nope, doesn't exist.  Concluded that she must be a character who just hasn't been written in our world yet.  So maybe she's a working as a ... reporter.  Yeah, that can definitely work.  How about with an aristocratic name... Shinjuugi or one of its variants works.  OK... but if she's rich, why is she working as a reporter?

No tail though.  The only thing I know about her appearance is that she's pretty and mature.  Josei art style, except in the flashback chapters where the artist has a bit of fun.  Not sure what this Dragon Half thing is but I'll half to take a look.

I guess if I ever want to write some original fiction, I have an idea now.

[robkelk]

Dragon Half is only two episodes... but it's a fun two episodes. It used to be available from ADV ...(goes and looks)... Looks like Discotek license-rescued the title.

[Black Aeronaut]

Dragon Half was the brainchild of a man who, after only two episodes were released, was arrested for drug possession.

Yes.  This was crack-fic before there ever was crack-fic.  You remember that funny one-panel comic where the king is screaming at the adventurer, "I TOLD YOU TO SLAY THE DRAGON, NOT LAY THE DRAGON!!!"  Pretty much this, only about fifteen or so years later when their daughter is a grown girl.  Mother and father both love her, though dad is kind of an asshole about it, but the two had taken to fighting like they want to kill each other...  For Mink, this is normal and she doesn't really question it.

Add in a corrupt ruler, his daughter who has an issue with the very existence of Mink, the beginnings of a tournament, and all kinds of wacky WTFness, and wrap it all up with a closing song about food and set to Beethoven.

In fact, I got it here now...



It really is a shame that it never was continued.  Such is the stigma of drug use in Japan.

[Bob Schroeck]

And she shares her voice actress with Usagi Tsukino and Misato Katsuragi...

[Rajvik]

Blame them and leave me the hell out of it, unless her sweetness needs a vacation

[Labster]

Ah, a bit of the old Ludwig Van is always fun.  So far as drug use... yeah, I still need to write a scene where my characters freak out about the casual public use of illegal drugs in Venice.  Marijuana especially, but also anabolic steroids.

[Labster]

I updated the Halloween story a couple days back, trying to fill in some holes.  I know we set a deadline for Halloween of this year, and I'm looking at it and it's kind of not ready.  Let's focus on the first section: everything before the party and Trick-or-Treating.

First of all, there's kind of a plot hole insofar as the Halloween party just seems to happen.  There's no invitations or anything going out.  Maybe those need to happen in an earlier story.  I suppose I could get a phone call from Ben in my story around October 14-16, "A Serotinal Frolic".  Only one part of it is done, though.

A good portion of the dividers are places where text should be inserted.  Maybe even something as simple as "Across the hall in 205 ..." would be a good connector.

Portals appeared at all of the displacees' apartments.

Nope, that doesn't get to be an entire section.

I really really need to figure out the schedule and how my people are arriving and leaving.  I'm considering tossing a scenelet where people arrive by van and moving it to the end so they can do they do their touring later... but this has problems too.  I've never been good at scheduling in real life, so why should I be any good in fiction? (Also I don't know what a "reach-ahead class" is but apparently my SI does.)

We have a section titled "Trick-or-treating & Party setup" that doesn't seem to contain any party setup.  Can we get Ben to give us a description of the decorations he put up around the grounds?  And another quick section about getting people keys to rooms for the night?

what had possessed the two electrokinetics to attend the party dressed as each other

This feels like a question worth answering.

[robkelk]

The dividers are there to be filled with text...

A "reach-ahead class" is a class in next year's syllabus, instead of last year's syllabus - Chiyo-chan is getting ahead of her course load instead of needing to take a re-do class. If it's called something else in California, feel free to change it.

What possessed the two electrokinetics to attend the party dressed as each other? I think I've mentioned the reason in a post here, but not in the story: They're making it less awkward if somebody else shows up dressed as someone who's already at the party. "It's okay; we did the same thing." And, hey, look at what Fate's wearing.

[Black Aeronaut]

I was planning on writing a sort of prologue, where someone - probably Kaname - asks if they celebrate Halloween (because she'd like to have something like a festival experience). Ben says sure, they can go ahead and put together a fun little party... though with just them in such a big courtyard, it'd be kind of... boring.

At which point he'll go ahead and call up the other apartment managers, and they'll begin to hash out plans.

Benjamin being Benjamin, he goes all out on it. Not the decorations, though he does do one of the empty units up as a "haunted apartment", but in the sense that it has all the trimmings - music (both live and recorded), food, drinks, swimming, volleyball, games, a trick-or-treating expedition for the younger ones (EDIT: and two units done up as theaters for showings of Halloween appropriate movies - one for the younger ones and one for the adults)....

We should probably have a bit in there for a costume contest. Best Idea, Best Costume Overall, Most Elaborate, etc.

[Labster]

I was planning on writing a sort of prologue, where someone - probably Kaname - asks if they celebrate Halloween (because she'd like to have something like a festival experience).  Ben says sure, they can go ahead and put together a fun little party... though with just them in such a big courtyard, it'd be kind of... boring.

At which point he'll go ahead and call up the other apartment managers, and they'll begin to hash out plans.

Benjamin being Benjamin, he goes all out on it.  Not the decorations, though he does do one of the empty units up as a "haunted apartment", but in the sense that it has all the trimmings - music (both live and recorded), food, drinks, swimming, volleyball, games, a trick-or-treating expedition for the younger ones (EDIT: and two units done up as theaters for showings of Halloween appropriate movies - one for the younger ones and one for the adults)....

We should probably have a bit in there for a costume contest.  Best Idea, Best Costume Overall, Most Elaborate, etc.

Oh, a how many awards can Tomoyo win contest?  Sounds fun!  (Yes I know in real life people tend to spread the winning around.)

But all good ideas, write 'em up!

A "reach-ahead class" is a class in next year's syllabus, instead of last year's syllabus - Chiyo-chan is getting ahead of her course load instead of needing to take a re-do class. If it's called something else in California, feel free to change it.

Well, given that they're all high school graduates, if Chiyo is taking any kind of coursework, this makes her ineligible for admission to UCLA the following year.  Actually quite a lot has changed since I went to school in the UC system, back in my day they did winter and spring admissions.  But they only do Fall admission now, and they only admit at Freshman or Transfer level -- the latter being third year or above in credits.  Well, I shouldn't say "only" -- being a university there are exceptions to everything.  The other problem is what kind of coursework she could be taking.  The Santa Monica (community) College semester begins in late August and run to December; The UC schools' quarter start the last week of September and also run to December.  Unless Belldandy hacked the admissions system again, I'm not sure how she can take take a real, for-credit class at this point.  Even if the state passed a emergency law requiring that she be a student, because the UC system is constitutionally autonomous, that still wouldn't make her a student.

The original plan was to have Chiyo somehow get into UCLA ahead of her classmates but this plan isn't working.  I guess there's USC.  The private schools are better about admissions. But that's a bit farther away, you know?  Or Cal State Northridge, but I mean like, unless you're doing Geology, why bother?  Farther afield is Tech and Oxy and Long Beach and C-Sushi, but any farther away, and well, they sort of leave the story. Given the timing, I don't see any other option than a full ronin year or committing to the community college path.  An internship, maybe?  Or that hacking idea again?  But if I were there (and my SI is), I'd push anyone I could into could into community college given the lack of academic records for displacees and the fact that the teaching is actually better there.

Enough of that.  I think I've finally sorted out scheduling, with only minor timeline retconning.  I don't think anything on my finished stories will change.

Oct 3-5 "Adrift in Time"; or "Clock Like a Pirate Day"
Oct 14-16 - A Serotinal Frolic
Oct 18 - Twain - Sakura's Arrival (shifted earlier)
Oct 20-30 - shopping for costumes, sewing costumes
Oct 31 - Halloween, all Aria House residents arrive by portal
Nov 1 - the Cardcaptor cast returns.  Aria and Azumanga cast begins Southwest tour --> to Carlsbad NM
Nov 2 --> to Albuquerque NM
Nov 3 --> to Grand Canyon
Nov 4 --> to Vegas
Nov 5 --> return
Nov 6 - gondolas delivered to Venice
Nov 7 - gondola service begins
Nov 10 - Dredging up the Past; or Channeling Mana (no change)
Nov 15 - Matinee Ojou-san (no change!)
Nov 20 - Akari's Completely, Perfectly Ordinary Day
Nov 24 - Ai yori Aoshi arrival - Thanksgiving (US)
Dec 1-5 - A Day at the Races (tentative schedule)
Dec 13  - Wreathed in Light (tentative title)
Dec 25 - Christmas
Jan 1  - New Year's (dreams and first sunrise)

Although my SI would have appreciated if he had didn't have to guess who's was coming to dinner on Turkey Day... Rob.  At least there will be enough food for them all.  Perhaps not enough beer, though.

[Rajvik]

If portals are available Pensacola can bring the beer, by the keg if necessary

[robkelk]

A "reach-ahead class" is a class in next year's syllabus, instead of last year's syllabus - Chiyo-chan is getting ahead of her course load instead of needing to take a re-do class. If it's called something else in California, feel free to change it.

Well, given that they're all high school graduates, if Chiyo is taking any kind of coursework, this makes her ineligible for admission to UCLA the following year.

In that case, drop the idea altogether.

If portals are available Pensacola can bring the beer, by the keg if necessary

With all the heavy drinkers in the apartments, we'll need it!

[Labster]

You mentioned drinks.  I'm sure there's cans of beer sitting out, but for everything else, a bar would be great.  With this many people... who's tending the bar?  At first I was thinking Wash, but now I'm wondering if that's in Inara's skill set?  Of course Urd could do it, but she'd rather be on the other side of the bar.  And President Aria is somewhere else.  I doubt anyone in the Misaka Network has taken the cocktailcrafting skill yet.  Any ideas?

It's too bad Qrow isn't in the story yet, he'd fit right in the scene I'm writing.  Huh, random thought: should I start shipping Urd/Qrow?

[Black Aeronaut]

That's....  an interesting pairing.  If nothing else because Urd would have the skill and power to offset Qrow's semblance - maybe even help him bring it to heel so he can properly weaponize it (much like Jinx in Teen Titans.... or at the very least, like Seina Yamada in Tenchi Muyo GXP).

[robkelk]

You mentioned drinks.  I'm sure there's cans of beer sitting out, but for everything else, a bar would be great.  With this many people... who's tending the bar?  At first I was thinking Wash, but now I'm wondering if that's in Inara's skill set?  Of course Urd could do it, but she'd rather be on the other side of the bar.  And President Aria is somewhere else.  I doubt anyone in the Misaka Network has taken the cocktailcrafting skill yet.  Any ideas?

The one scene that I've written that was at the bar, my SI served himself (and Makoto). That's easy enough to retcon, though.

I know I said "Touya has work" when it looked like you weren't coming back to the story, but I never said where... and he does tend to pop up wherever his little sister Sakura is.

It's too bad Qrow isn't in the story yet, he'd fit right in the scene I'm writing.  Huh, random thought: should I start shipping Urd/Qrow?

Better Urd than Phobos and Deimos...

[robkelk]

Halloween Party story release deadline: D-41 days

Scenes that still need to be written and other work that needs to be done, in order:


Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, Artemis, Luna, and Diana turning up at the Westwoods doorstep (possibly on their own, possibly brought by Sasami, Chidori, or both, possibly some other way). And are Hotaru and Setsuna with them, or are they still hiding in a bolthole with the opening pulled in behind them?
BA: "I'm going to need to throw in a few smaller bits myself - namely Ben conceiving the idea and pitching it to his residents before pitching it to the other apartment managers."
Rob: Maybe Mamoru &c. showing up is why Ben decides to hold a party?
Selling the party to the San Antonio displacees.
Inviting Dublin, LA, Montreal, and Pensacola, not necessarily in alphabetical order. (Inviting Ottawa already has a stub, and can go in the middle of the list if desired.)


When does Brent buy Tomo that pen?


The San Antonio displacees show off their costumes to each other before everyone else arrives.


The first place that the trick-or-treaters stop at is... whose house? We need a short scene to establish not everything that happens this night is weird or earth-shaking, and to establish what sort of neighborhood they're trick-or-treating in.


Brent, Ben and the other trick-or-treaters have a small window of opportunity to say hello to the Megami and Keiichi.


Nanoha and Fate arrive.


Sakura and Shaoran are both electric magic users. They'd probably both appreciate a demonstration of things you can do with electricity from people who are better at it. ("V!" Electricity ran up Mikoto's fingers as if they were a Jacob's Ladder.)


Sakura would be happy to learn magic from anyone, and she's a quick learner. Minako becoming interested in Rin's gem magic.


Mikoto and Sosuke express an interest in going up against each other in a mock combat. They ask "why not now?" Ben vetoes doing it outside where the neighbors can hear explosions and lightning bolts, Rob vetoes live ammo, Washuu offers a holosuite "danger room". (Rob has notes for this on the wiki, but has trouble writing fight scenes. This is the "Even if it kills me" scene.)


Mao, Urd, Mihoshi, Ryoko, and Jayne polishing off a case keg of beer between them, once the youngsters are asleep.


Inara and Sylvie sharing pointers in her private chambers



And some vignettes to break up the longer scenes - the current draft asks for 12 during the party, 8 during the grown-ups-only after-party, and 4 the morning after.

[robkelk]

...
Although my SI would have appreciated if he had didn't have to guess who's was coming to dinner on Turkey Day... Rob.  At least there will be enough food for them all.  Perhaps not enough beer, though.

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October - we aren't even going to think about going anywhere in November, and the youngsters won't be able to get time off school for Turkey Day. And Rob's hiring Maika on November 24 and thus cannot leave the apartment. But Hyoga (still using her AIM concentrator to manifest), Accelerator (got to have somebody to fill the "barely-tolerated guest" slot), and the Misaka Sisters are available, even though they had just moved to Ottawa on the 20th. If the Misaka Sisters go, Hyoga goes; if they don't, she doesn't.

EDIT: Wait wait wait wait wait... I just double-checked the story timeline on the wiki. How'd you like to have a sports car carrying two Outer Senshi pull up at Aria House? Haruka and Michiru are available. As long as they're back before December 10.

[Labster]

No, you misunderstood.  You were offered to have Taeko as a maid on November 23 but turned her down... which means that I get her and the rest of her cast the next day, which is Thanksgiving in the US.  Guess who's coming to dinner?  New displacees, lost on a new continent.  It's all rather thematic to Thanksgiving (except for the part where later on where we don't get forced onto a reservation after a genocidal war).  And speaking of Taeko...

and in all seriousness answered, "Chocolate."

On the edit, are you wanting to let me house them?  I mean, I can write me some lesbians cousins.  And I kinda get Haruka's world view more than most people on this forum, that's for sure.  But I didn't need more guests just because it's a holiday.  I was thinking we'd do local holidays more locally.

There doesn't have to be a barkeep, I was just thinking it might be funnier if there were one or three of them.

When does Brent buy Tomo that pen?

When does Ben tell the other managers that he's having a Halloween party?  Can't nail down the timeline until then.

Mao, Urd, Mihoshi, Ryoko, and Jayne polishing off a case keg of beer between them, once the youngsters are asleep.

I'm in the middle of writing a plot-relevant scene somewhat after this where Ryoko is drunk and Urd is still having a pleasant buzz at the bar.  I'll need someone to Mao it up later because I can hardly remember her.

[robkelk]

Ah. At least you'll have somebody to help with washing the dishes after the feast.

I'd like to keep Haruka and Michiru as outriders to the Sailor Team - let them live a quiet life (that involves motor racing) in the country, showing up to be Big Damn Heroes whenever the Blossom folks need help. But they can certainly come over and visit with Kaorin... <quick-speech>and everybody else too of course.</quick-speech>

[Black Aeronaut]

I’m gonna be busy over the next couple of weeks getting caught up on things. Because the Post 9/11 Montgomery GI Bill pays out at the end of the month instead of the beginning, it’s left me on the back foot, financially speaking.

I’ve learned my lessons from last time. I literally can not afford to be under the gun like that because I can’t focus on school with the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.

So, I’ve been focusing entirely on work this month instead of school. Once money is not an issue, which will be very soon, I’ll turn my focus back towards school and work with my professors on getting caught up.

That shouldn’t take too long, but don’t expect much from me in the meantime. Once my backlog is cleared, though, I’ll get on the ball with this.

Brent, I can go ahead and “Mao it up” for you once I’m able to. Just send me the relevant bits and I can fill it out.

[Bob Schroeck]

And are Hotaru and Setsuna with them, or are they still hiding in a bolthole with the opening pulled in behind them?

Subquestion: Did the Time Gates arrive with Setsuna?

whenever the Blossom folks need help

Am I the only one who, oh-so-momentarily, always sees a young Mayim Bialik and co. whenever they see a line like this?

[robkelk]

And are Hotaru and Setsuna with them, or are they still hiding in a bolthole with the opening pulled in behind them?

Subquestion:  Did the Time Gates arrive with Setsuna?

No. I don't want the headaches of my characters indulging in time travel during the first arc. Time travel into the first arc from a later arc is another matter, so maybe the Time Gates will show up later...

whenever the Blossom folks need help

Am I the only one who, oh-so-momentarily, always sees a young Mayim Bialik and co. whenever they see a line like this?

I seem to recall making the "a very special Death Blossom" joke somewhere in this forum, possibly about the time the Misaka Sisters moved in...

[robkelk]

Since it's come up and the relevant data isn't all in one place, I have pulled together everything about the Senshi's arrival in the Metacontinuity, adding some things to make the whole internally consistent.

They should have arrived together, but the shock to Setsuna when her connection to the Time Gates was severed caused a disruption which split the party.

• Hotaru held onto Setsuna (and was the only one conscious for the scattering effect); she's been protecting Setsuna since they arrived, and Setsuna tooks weeks to go from unconscious to semi-conscious. They appeared... somewhere. Sailor Saturn is in "mama bear" mode, protecting Sailor Pluto while she recovers.
  
• The "Asteroid Senshi" metaphysically held onto each other, and ended up somewhere near L.A. Like Minako, they're busking to survive. Once they have enough cash for bus tickets, they're headed for the big city... but they can't get much cash over and above what it takes to survive wherever it is that they are.
  
• Mamoru tried to stay with both Usagi and Chibi-Usa, but could only keep a metaphysical hold of his daughter. Luna and Artemis "grabbed" Mamoru, while Diana "grabbed" Small Lady. They were sent to San Antonio or some place nearby.
  
• Haruka and Michiru stayed together because of their metaphysical bond, appearing in Kemptville - roughly 50 kilometers from Ottawa as the crow flies.
  
• Speaking of crows, Phobos and Deimos almost "held onto" Rei... but at the very last microsecond were dislodged. They ended up in the Glebe, about 3½ kilometers away from where the Sailor Team arrived and about 2¾ km from the Blossom apartments. This was good luck disguised as bad luck, since their presence there acted as a metaphysical beacon for the Osaka family (Naru etc.) to be deposited in the same area later, giving them a chance to re-establish the OSA-P jewelry store.
  
• The Sailor Team ended up in the Byward Market area, roughly 6 km away from the intended drop point for everyone in the church parking lot just down the road from the apartments on Blossom. Their story has already been told.
  

As for Mimi/Mimete, somebody with teleportation powers was messing with the Blossom group by teleporting the Witches Electric Warp into the building. If the teleport missed and the device ended up embedded in soil or bedrock, no big loss from that teleporter's point of view (which tells you something about that teleporter). Watching the displacees' and Rob's reactions from a distance was very educational. The rest of the Witches 5 are... somewhere, but not particularly near Ottawa or each other.

[Bob Schroeck]

whenever the Blossom folks need help

Am I the only one who, oh-so-momentarily, always sees a young Mayim Bialik and co. whenever they see a line like this?

I seem to recall making the "a very special Death Blossom" joke somewhere in this forum, possibly about the time the Misaka Sisters moved in...

Come to think of it, one of the Misaka Sisters would make a very good Six. <grin>

[robkelk]

whenever the Blossom folks need help

Am I the only one who, oh-so-momentarily, always sees a young Mayim Bialik and co. whenever they see a line like this?

I seem to recall making the "a very special Death Blossom" joke somewhere in this forum, possibly about the time the Misaka Sisters moved in...

Come to think of it, one of the Misaka Sisters would make a very good Six.  <grin>

She is not a number! She is a free Cylon!