[discussion] Surfing with the Alien - comments here

[classicdrogn]

Two thumbs up - that's a gratifying sing. I just realized, though - I have them leaving earth a year too early. D'oh. Make that 2008 where it says 2007.
Nothing to say about the art? Le sigh. As to that, I'm coming along on the Wave Convoy model - I still need to mirror the leg I finally settled on, and do the interior, but it's mainly complete. The Matrix and associated gribblies just about double the polycount, though, and the interior probably will as well, so I'll probably end up treating them as seperate characters in terms of visibility management, to control rendering times in any animations that might come about. You can figure on at least one, of the transformation sequence, at least. A 3D rendition of the battle scene in the Faction Entry Addendum t read is vaguely possible, but only if I find Epyon geometry to import, because I am not putting the time to do it myself in for a Gundam, even the Gundam I dislike the least. Human(ish) characters, Shuko & co., are maybes - I'd be able to reuse them for one of my long term projects with more or less reskinning, so there's no real downside except that if I'm in Blender for eight hours to make a limb I haven't spent that time writing a page or three of text... and that's not counting everything else I need to do normally.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

Dammit, I can't post the finished revision of 1a/1b/1c, because I don't have my card reader along... so you get a teaser instead. Much less of a teaser since I've posted later parts than this, but a teaser nonetheless.

Please tell me if this is plausibly Faithlike, I'm not that knowledgeable about BTVS/Angel this far in, most fanficcers have thrown things totally in another direction by then.

- CD
----------
Faith came to in the dark. The space was small, barely big enough for her legs to be straight where she sat against a wall, but the air wasn't sour from being closed in, or musty with age. Her slayer sense was silent, and so was the box, room, whatever. "Where the fuck am I?" she wondered, feeling along the walls, and the low ceiling overhead. There was just barely room to stand.
Then, she remembered. The fight with B, the jump, the shit she pulled on Wesley, the fight with Angel where he wouldn't kill her. The trial.
"S'right, I'm in jail. Stupid bitch tried to start sometin' with the new girl and I busted her up, then the guards came... Prob'ly threw me in solitary. Fuck."
There was no way to know what time it was, and of course no light switch. She sat down again in the still, silent darkness, closed her eyes, and tried to think about being a better person. She wasn't brimming over with ideas, beyond "Try not to kill anyone else" and "Don't go stabbing people in the back," but she figured she'd have a while to think about the problem.
That's what she was here for, after all.

Surfing With the Alien 4
Mist Steaks With Kitten Sauce
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

Lyrics to Rehumanize Yourself by The Police, as mentioned in SWtA #2. This was used in an (unsuccessful, of course) attempt by Wave Convoy to reverse his transfer to machine-based life shortly after leaving Earth.

--------------------------

He goes out at night with his big boots on
None of his friends know right from wrong
They kick a boy to death 'cause he don't belong
You've got to humanize yourself
A policeman put on his uniform
He'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm
Because violence here is a social norm
You've got to humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
I work all day at the factory
I'm building a machine that's not for me
There must be a reason that I can't see
You've got to humanize yourself
Billy's joined the National Front
He always was (just) a little runt
He's got his hand in the air with the other cunts
You've got to humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
I work all day at the factory
I'm building a machine that's not for me
There must be a reason that I can't see
You've got to humanize yourself
A policeman put on his uniform
He'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm
Because violence here is a social norm
You've got to humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
Re-humanize yourself
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Kokuten]

---

Sweet mana of the gods, how I had missed a good slice of pepperoni-mushroom! Let none forget, energon cubes were invented by the Decepticons, surely this is how Primus intended us to refuel!

---

This is still one of my favorite lines to yet arise from Fenspace. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[classicdrogn]

Well, I certainly wasn't going to edit it out when it's the only thing to have provoked direct comment since the original story posts. Personally, I like "the baddest badass ever in the history of badassery" and "right brain, left brain, I'm the one with the synapse" about as much.
It has also occurred to me, that Wave Convoy with the Matrix is more human than my real self - I have to think it over to seperate "for me" from "good and bad," or "right" from "expedient", he just knows. I rather think I'm even less sane than I pretend, actually, and if I really thought I'd meet any of you in person at any point I'd be far more reticent about admitting it.
Closer to the subject at hand, I'd be particularly interested to hear from Cobalt Greywalker RE massive mechanization/biomods, mental effects thereof, and similarit or lack thereof in themes.
Actually, if you consider the Matrix canon character shadow-puppets a bit slantwise, you could say WC got a bit of the ol' MPD goin' on as well. Just... not so obviously as having them physically in charge now and then, let alone inducing visible exterior changes.
For that matter, anyone have reservations about AI capabilities re accelerated time? It's kind of a scifi/cyberpunk staple, so I figured it allowable.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Foxboy]

No problem here. I'm sure Buttercup gets regular "Squawks" of the recent additions to Broadway and various Opera Venues dirtside. To The Crew it's five minutes tops, to Buttercup, she's seen all the shows in "realtime."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Cobalt Greywalker]

Personally I think the stories are fine. The main difference between A.C. and W.C. is the end result.
W.C. pretty much lost everything he knew in the biomod, including virtually all traces of bio and physical humanity. As far as I can see, W.C. pretty much ended up without anything of his old life until Kandor-con allowed him to reconnect with his family.
A.C. however ended up almost completely human seeming. S/he didn't have the massive "What the Hell am I now?" question to face immediatly. In this case A.C. lucked out compared to W.C. due to the fact s/he didn't have to deal with it all RIGHT NOW.
In the longer term, W.C. got the better deal. He seems to pretty much deal with it and get on with his life. He also has the advantage of The Matrix as an oracle and moral compass.
A.C. over the long term makes several small assumptions about what she is that even when proved wrong can be easly modified. This wasn't the best way of dealing and gave her a weak mental foundation for when reality raised its ugly head. This make it more difficult for her to cope and sort herself out in the end.