[I/OOC] Incidental Bits

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. I knew that already, having made the trip in the late 1990s with Attila and a couple of other guys. And finding the Quick Stop literally a moment after we decided to give up after searching fruitlessly for it.

EDIT: Now that you bring it up, are you proposing a few more refugees, who possibly haven't noticed they've switched timelines?

EDIT 2: NJ is surprisingly large. It can take upwards of four hours to travel from its northernmost point to the tip of Cape May. The Pine Barrens -- NJ's mostly-pristine wilderness area -- by themselves can take an hour or more to traverse, depending on the route you take.

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh.  I knew that already, having made the trip in the late 1990s with Attila and a couple of other guys.  And finding the Quick Stop literally a moment after we decided to give up after searching fruitlessly for it.

EDIT:  Now that you bring it up, are you proposing a few more refugees, who possibly haven't noticed they've switched timelines?

Why do I get this imagery of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

[robkelk]

EDIT:  Now that you bring it up, are you proposing a few more refugees, who possibly haven't noticed they've switched timelines?

Maybe. If I can figure out something to do with them.

Much like Labster's idea that The Dude never noticed switching timelines and simply found a new bowling alley in LA, it's amusing, but then what?

[Black Aeronaut]

Then what is they’re just background characters there to season and flavor stories. ?

[Labster]

Silent Bob noticed, he just hasn’t said anything yet.

The Dude is so mundane that he won’t particularly care about the crazy or even notice magic, except how it affects his existence. The idea is to use him eventually as a fish out of water comic relief character in a dangerous situation.

[Norgarth]

EDIT 2: NJ is surprisingly large. It can take upwards of four hours to travel from its northernmost point to the tip of Cape May. The Pine Barrens -- NJ's mostly-pristine wilderness area -- by themselves can take an hour or more to traverse, depending on the route you take.

And whether you run into the Jersey Devil along the way

And that brings up a thought, with all the merging continuities, cryptids may become a lot more real.  There are propbably many 'secret magical society' storylines where they are real (For example, Sasquaches and Skinwalkers are both real in The Dresden Files.  And the Potterverse has plenty of weird stuff roaming around)

And on a tangent from the tangent, I wonder if there's a certain castle-topped skyscraper now gracing the island of Manhatten...

[Bob Schroeck]

The skyscraper is real. The castle on top was the only part that wasn't...

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, as David Xanatos said in the first episode, "Pay a man enough and he'll walk through the fires of hell."

And since the Abh will be showing up.

Lafiel: "Thank you for accompanying us, Captain.  I would have thought that your responsibilities would have precluded you from this."
Picard: "You're quite welcome, Miss Abriel.  You'll find that we do things quite a bit differently in Starfleet.  Thanks to the level of automation in our vessels, Captains such as myself have much more time to attend to niceties.  As such, it is considered to be one of our primary responsibilities.  I hope that the transporter wasn't upsetting for you?"
Lafiel: "It was a bit unusual, but nothing disconcerting.  Though I would have liked a chance to see your ship in greater detail.  It's very lovely."
Picard: "Well, you're in luck then, Miss Abriel.  We have a complete tour scheduled for you and Mister Rockhyde after the luncheon."

... ... ...

Lafiel: "Given the friction there has been over our practices of genetic manipulation, I would have thought you would be disgusted."
Dr. Crusher: "I was taught better than that.  Augment or not, you're among the living.  And I take the oath I swore seriously.  In fact, going over your DNA, I must admit that you, Miss Abriel, are a work of art.  I've never seen gene sequencing made to look so exquisite, yet functional.  Your parents must take a great deal of pride in you."
Lafiel: "Thank you, Doctor.  They do, in fact.  More than you may imagine."

... ... ...

Lafiel: "You're not surprised that I'm a princess?"
Ben: "Miss Abriel, I'm engaged to two goddesses, a princess who is also an incarnation of Death, the three most powerful mages in the TSAB, a prophesied heroine, a fighting heiress to a multi-national corporation in the energy industry, and two immortal warrior mages.  The only thing that would have me treating you any differently would be if you were siting in your Grandmother's chair.  And even then, only with other people around."
Lafiel:  ".... Jinto?  I think I'm going to like it here.  Quite a lot."

... ... ...

Jinto:  "Lafiel... those...  beams he's firing...  Is that what I think it is?"
Lafiel: "...Yes.  And I am as worried as you are."
Hotaru:  "Don't be.  At this distance, the air itself stops nearly all of the stray gamma rays."
Jinto: "'Nearly all'?"
Hotaru:  "Let me put it this way.  Right now we're absorbing more rads from the cosmic radiation that gets through the shielding than from my spouse's gamma ray laser."
Lafiel: "I suppose she has a point."

[robkelk]

Well, as David Xanatos said in the first episode, "Pay a man enough and he'll walk through the fires of hell."

And since the Abh will be showing up.

...

Lafiel: "You're not surprised that I'm a princess?"
Ben: "Miss Abriel, I'm engaged to two goddesses, a princess who is also an incarnation of Death, the three most powerful mages in the TSAB, a prophesied heroine, a fighting heiress to a multi-national corporation in the energy industry, and two immortal warrior mages.  The only thing that would have me treating you any differently would be if you were siting in your Grandmother's chair.  And even then, only with other people around."
Lafiel:  ".... Jinto?  I think I'm going to like it here.  Quite a lot."

...

Rob: "That reminds me - Queen Serenity is late with her rent. Again. Somebody remind me to collect it from her."

[robkelk]

"Mikoto-chan, have you ever heard of something called 'gigantic jet lightning'?"

She turned to Rob, grinned, and replied, "Hold my juice and watch this."

[robkelk]

OOC: I seem to recall somebody saying Madoka's a little girl (as in height, not age)... which might be true when you compare her to the other Puella Magi, but she isn't the shortest displacee in the Metacontinuity. Even if you don't consider the pre-teens.

Madoka Kaname is 152 cm tall. (just shy of 5' even, in old money)

Kuroko Shirai is also 152 cm tall, and only one year younger than Madoka.

Chii is another member of the 152 cm club; mind you, she was built that way.

Ayame Yoshida is 151 cm tall, and four years older than Madoka.

Azusa Nakano is 150 cm tall, and three years older than Madoka.

Awaki Musujime is also 150 cm tall, and two/three years older than Madoka.

Skuld is another member of the 150 cm club. I refuse to speculate on her age.

Yumi Omura is yet another member of the 150 cm club. She's in college.

Hotaru Tomoe is 148 cm tall, and only one year younger than Madoka.

Hikaru Shidou is 145 cm tall, (4'9" in Imperial) and two months older than Madoka.

Alice Carroll is also 145 cm tall, and two years older than Madoka.


Thank Heaven for little girls... because, in the Metacontinuity, most of them can kick your ass.

[Bob Schroeck]

... I just thought of another cast of characters I could possibly bring in, maybe as cameos during a beach trip -- the girls from Bakuon!!. If you don't know the show, imagine K-On! with motorcycles instead of musical instruments.

EDIT: And in following that up in some notes I'm making, the thought occurred to me: Are there residences and displacees that the SI managers have not been told about, for whatever reason? There's some plot fodder in that question.

[robkelk]

EDIT:  And in following that up in some notes I'm making, the thought occurred to me:  Are there residences and displacees that the SI managers have not been told about, for whatever reason?  There's some plot fodder in that question.

Well, if we knew where the antagonists were holed up, they wouldn't be holed up in those places for very long. ("Villain hideout. meet Tenchi and Railgun. Tenchi and Railgun, meet... wasn't there a building here five minutes ago?") And both Ben and Rob found their second groups of displacees only after seeing something unusual.

So, I'd say that the Magic 8-Ball answers your question with a "Yes".

[Black Aeronaut]

More or less. While it seems that the Megami can "route" displacees to where they'll be most likely to be spotted and picked up by the most appropriately suited managers, quite often the displacees are showing up at random. Hence, Mamorou, Chibi-Usa, Luna, Artemis, and Diana all showing up in San Antonio when it would have been more appropriate for them to arrive in Ottawa.

But it was okay anyways since it was just before the Halloween Party, and Usagi and Co. were gonna show up anyhow.

[robkelk]

"So, you think the 'hammerspace' ability is just reaching back into your personal timeline, grabbing, and pulling what you've grabbed to the present?"

"That's an oversimplification, but it's possible," Washuu-chan replied. "I don't like spreading that hypothesis around because of how badly it can be abused."

"Hang on," Rob said. "If you're worried about duplicating rare items, I've never seen anybody pull anything out of hammerspace twice at the same time."

Washuu thought for a moment. "I don't recall any cases like that, either. But we both know about one case where somebody's personal timeline goes through closely-parallel universes -- and she can already manipulate time. If I'm right, it's just a minor matter of extending her powers for her to be able to grab from multiple timelines."

Rob suddenly realized exactly what Washuu-chan was worried about. "Oh! Yeah, let's not tell her. She might not want to put them back."

[robkelk]

Arc 2. Based on absolutely nothing canon at all, except for what she's nicknamed and where she attends school - this is pure fanon, but I've never seen anybody else use it, so it would set TNB apart from other fanfic.

So... This is an original fan idea for a canon character's backstory; please do not steal. (If we don't want it for TNB, I'll use it elsewhere.)

---

"My name is Philippa. My siblings call me 'Pip'."

"Pip? As in orange pips?"

"Pip as in Great Expectations; I was thought of as a tomboy back home in London, and my choice of hobby when we moved to Japan did nothing to dispel that notion. But, yes, my hair -" she casually touched her light-orange locks for a brief moment "- does have more than a small bearing on the nickname."

"What do your friends here call you? I can't imagine most Japanese people pronouncing Philippa correctly."

She smiled sadly as she shook her head. "No, the best they could manage was 'P-ko'. And then my teammates took that and my hair colour and code-named me 'Orange Pekoe'. I thought we were mad about tea back home, but my family has nothing on the students at St. Gloriana."

[robkelk]

...  While it seems that the Megami can "route" displacees to where they'll be most likely to be spotted and picked up by the most appropriately suited managers, ...

I knew I saw that somewhere... so I have no qualms about actually mentioning it in a story now.

[robkelk]

Something for beyond Arc 4, riffing off of this post and the ones that follow it.

(The "Great Scientist" is Washuu, of course.)

---

"Long, long ago, at the beginning of what mankind called the 21st century, the people of Clan Chikyū-no-Mau were able to take both human and feline form. The three legendary founders of the clan were the only Mau on Earth, and so the only way for Clan Chikyū-no-Mau to survive was to interbreed with humans, and that required genetic engineering assistance from the Great Scientist. But that assistance came with a price: the descendants of the grandmother of us all, Diana Chikyū-no-Tsuki-no-Mau, would never be able to transform between fully-human and fully-feline forms, instead taking on aspects of both of their ancestors' species in their sole forms. And that, young Merle, is how the catgirls got their ears."

[robkelk]

To: Niiko Misaka, Kokono Misaka, Rei Misaka, Frenda Seivelun, Maika Tsuchimikado, Mami Tomoe, Pyrra Nikos, Mahoro Ando
From: Nana Misaka
Subject: You are invited to join the Spared by the Adaptation Society


Hello everyone, Nana Misaka types.

Like all of you, I was doomed to die in what some of our landlords call our original stories. (Although I admit that I was given a year to live instead of being killed off directly.) Like all of you, I'm still alive here. And like all of you, I'm not planning on dying any time soon, Nana types with conviction.

You are all invited to become charter members of the Spared by the Adaptation Society. Activities are planned to include supporting each other as we work through survivor guilt, getting together for tea, and going out and having fun together. If there's anything else you want the Spared by the Adaptation Society to do, now is the time to mention it, Nana suggests.

I look forward to receiving your reply, Nana types, looking forward to receiving replies.

Nana Misaka
nana@blossom.displacees.yggdrasil

[Bob Schroeck]

I love it.

[robkelk]

Speaking of "Mami is dead"... Agreeing with the comment by Tetrominon that I don't know whether Sayaka works as The Preacher but the rest are spot-on. Note also the change to the VW's licence plate.

[Dartz]

I'm pretty sure Sayaka would get run over crossing the road, choke on a pip, succumb to korean night-fan disease, find an orphan-source in a scrapyard and turn it into glowing jewlerry, or find some other way to depart from this mortal coil. I think it's a rule of the omniverse.

In every reality, she sleeps in her wooden onesie.

[robkelk]

Riffing off this.


"Hyoga! You spoke Japanese!" Rob took her into his arms.

"You've been hanging out with Gomez Addams again," she giggled.

"Are you complaining?"

"Not at all," she replied with a smile as she closed the door behind them.

[robkelk]

"Chiyo-chan... Are Mami Tomoe and Hotaru Tomoe sisters?"

For once, Chiyo could give a definite answer to one of Osaka's questions. "They aren't sisters. They use different characters for their names."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

As her erstwhile classmate walked away, Chiyo wondered why she looked so sad after hearing her answer.

[robkelk]

A couple inspired by me finally finishing Chibiusa's page on the wiki.

Chibiusa smiled as she answered the question, to show she was teasing. "Ben-niisan is my best friend's boyfriend, so I'd better learn to like him. Ne?"

---

"You're the proper young lady that I want to be! How could I not like you?"

As the realization that Chibiusa was fangirling her sunk in, Tomoyo started to panic - not that a proper young lady would show it, of course. She was accustomed to being on the other end of that relationship dynamic and had no idea how to handle the situation now that it was reversed.