Progress Report

[Bob Schroeck]

As you may have noticed, the byte count for chapter 3 (as well as that for chapter 5 of DW8) has been going up steadily for the last few weeks.  This chapter is already larger than the last, and it's only about 2/3 to 3/4 complete.   I have a very definite arc and stopping point for the chapter, and it doesn't lend itself well to splitting into two.  So you'll just have to wait for me to finish it... which will be by the holidays if all goes well.

[robkelk]

... which will be by the holidays if all goes well.

And you posted this on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Around here, that's the harbinger of "the holidays"...

[Bob Schroeck]

Yeah, I knew I was bound to get myself in trouble with a culturally-relative referent like that...

[Dartz]

Edit: I have no idea what I was trying to say here or why...... 6 pints worth of waffle anyway

[Star Ranger4]

??? You do realise waffles are a breakfast food here in the U.S., Dartz ???

However, if we Ignore that point... It is clearly too late for my quip about once it reaches 100k (as a .txt file) ... SELL!!! er... Publish... er...

Roit. Going to curl up in this courner next to my kin Dartz right about now\

[classicdrogn]

"waffling" is talking on and on about something, espeically if you drift between unrelated or exclusive points. See also "wibble" and "ramble."

[Dartz]

Potatoe waffles are also a quick dinner-item here. But I supposed you could overn or fry them for breakfast also.

I had 6 pints and began waffling. 6-pints of potatoe waffling would be impressive.

[Labster]

  waffo.jpg (Size: 48.72 KB / Downloads: 223)

[classicdrogn]

Chii?

[robkelk]

Sugar.

As in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

[classicdrogn]

Miya, myaa!

[Star Ranger4]

CONFOUND THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU.

You just made me snort stuff out of my nose EVEN THOUGH I BLOODY WELL KNOW BETTER.

You magnificant bastiches!!

[Bob Schroeck]

Further news.

As anyone who's been watching knows, I'm closing in on 200K for the chapter. Looking at my notes, I'm expecting it to finish up somewhere in the vicinity of 250K total length.

My current point in the plot is a few days before episode 8 -- Mercury's introduction. I have a rough transcript of the episode actually embedded in the file at the moment (which isn't included in the byte count of the file), but that's no guarantee that things will go anything close to the same way -- episode 7, for instance, went wildly different, not entirely by intention. However, before I actually start writing it, I have a fistful of notes for scenes I need to backfill -- training, Chekhov's Guns, stuff like that, all of which have slowly been piling up at the bottom of the file under the heading "Add this somewhere". Good case in point, from ep 8 -- that's the first time we see Luna use the Sailor V machine at the Crown to contact "0091", the mysterious handler. There's no explanation how and when that started. Well, I can't get away with that because Doug would demand answers as soon as he heard about it -- so I have to write up a how and when and what Doug did when he found out. And I have to do it well before episode 8 because Luna's obviously been doing it for a while at that point. <sigh> The things I do to cover plot holes.

[classicdrogn]

Well, the ability to fill such holes (and normalize early instalment weirdness in the other direction, like Usagi's sonic attack from ep1 that never gets used again) has always been one of the major appeals of fanfiction.

[Shepherd]

Well, the ability to fill such holes (and normalize early instalment weirdness in the other direction, like Usagi's sonic attack from ep1 that never gets used again) has always been one of the major appeals of fanfiction.

Doug should really want to train Usagi in that sonic attack, since it is a great AoE spell, but may be stymied by the dense Tokyo population making sonic attack training too noticeable. He'd possibly have to use a song to transport them both way out into the wilderness, do the training, then use another song to transport them back.

I do wonder if he could use one of his electrokinetic songs to backtrack the arcade machine's comms, or if it contains magical countermeasures. I think he'd have to assume it is at least mostly legitimate, since if their enemies knew how to contact Luna, they'd just use that info to ambush and kill her and Usagi. As for how Luna came to be making reports at an arcade game, maybe Mau have a superior hearing frequency range and the thing is constantly broadcasting messages in the lunar language that only she and actual animals can hear? Of course since she's already been to the local arcade without reacting, there'd need to be a scene of the game arriving or being refurbished as well.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, following up on Usagi's sonic attack is in my notes, and I've already written Doug trying to backtrack that signal (and how Luna found out to make the contact). My problem is that there's just so much Doug's trying to do (that I want to achieve before we encounter Mercury) that covering it all -- and deciding where it gets covered -- is difficult. I mean, I just spent a good couple hours (on and off) deciding on the right place to shoehorn in a single paragraph on getting Usagi a cell phone (and how ridiculous a proposition, money-wise, that is in 1992). <sigh>

[Inquisitive Raven]

I mean, I just spent a good couple hours (on and off) deciding on the right place to shoehorn in a single paragraph on getting Usagi a cell phone (and how ridiculous a proposition, money-wise, that is in 1992).  <sigh>

Cell phone? Weren't most industrialized countries way ahead of the US on that front?

[classicdrogn]

1992 is pretty early even then and would be a massive brickphone (as in the size of actual masonry supplies) with battery life of maybe half an hour at best, if not for senshi pocketspace and possible magical shenanigans modifying it. Although, Doug does (superhero science) electronics and enchantment so he might well rig up something better that just mimics contemporary hardware for the network, I suppose.

eta: See also the Motorola 3200, the cutting edge of 1992 communications technology

[nemonowan]

Well, there is a reason why the senshi communicators were a big thing in 1992.

[Norgarth]

Well, there is a reason why the senshi communicators were a big thing in 1992.

Not to mention the Mercury Computer

[Shepherd]

On the one hand, between Doug's engineering skills and all the junk he carries between worlds, he can presumably kludge together a 1992 cell phone with some more modern parts to make something much more compact. On the other hand, being seen carrying around a tiny cell phone would raise a lot of questions among Usagi's peers, so carrying around a 1992 brick phone may still be the way to go. Maybe give her a discreet Bluetooth headset so the custom cell phone could remain at the bottom of a purse?

[Bob Schroeck]

Although, Doug does (superhero science) electronics and enchantment so he might well rig up something better that just mimics contemporary hardware for the network, I suppose.

Better than that, Doug has a collection of cell phones from various other worlds (especially early 21st century Earths) -- the reason for getting a 1992 cell phone is to get the SIM card to put in something newer for her.  I didn't want to stretch believability by having him make a SIM from scratch and then hack it into the system.

[hazard]

This presumes it's impossible to get a SIM card without also getting a brick phone.

Although I'll note that SIM cards have shifted in shape since such phones became available.

[classicdrogn]

Given his aforementioned expertise, I'm sure he can manage a work around if the newer phone isn't sure about how to connect with its grandparents, and buying an actual service plan rather than cracking the system is also the more hero-y way to go about it, for that matter. It's all about love and justice, after all!

[jonathanlennox]

Although, Doug does (superhero science) electronics and enchantment so he might well rig up something better that just mimics contemporary hardware for the network, I suppose.

Better than that, Doug has a collection of cell phones from various other worlds (especially early 21st century Earths) -- the reason for getting a 1992 cell phone is to get the SIM card to put in something newer for her.  I didn't want to stretch believability by having him make a SIM from scratch and then hack it into the system.

DoCoMo didn't launch its 2G service until 1993, so you're going to be limited in which phones can talk to the networks.

The phones they were selling were carrier-locked, too, but that might be more easily hacked around. They probably won't have removable SIM cards, though - that's a GSM thing, and GSM was Europe-only at this point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_pho...an#History