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

[robkelk]

Spotted on Tuxedo Unmasked:

The year you enter school, and thus your age for any given school year, is determined by your age as of March 31 of the following year. We know that Mamoru’s birthday is August 3 and that he’s a second-year high school student, so he must be 16 at the start of the manga and turning 17. For a list of school years and ages, see Age by Academic Year

Which puts Tomo as the oldest of the Azumanga Daioh girls.

[Labster]

Your interpretation is wrong.  He meant to say "at the end of that academic year", not "following year".  https://www.tokyo-icc.jp/guide_eng/educ/01.html  Also note that Coming of Age Day uses April 1 as its cutoff date, even though it occurs in mid-January.

Any chance of Ami Mizuno becoming a cyborg in our story?

[Black Aeronaut]

Any chance of Ami Mizuno becoming a cyborg in our story?

* Black Aeronaut blinks in surprise.

Whatever for?

[Bob Schroeck]

Because the original character concept that became Ami in Sailor Moon was a cyborg girl who was going to die at the end of the first season. Takeuchi's editor convinced her otherwise though.

[Black Aeronaut]

Pfft. Then that character concept got recycled for Hotaru. IIRC, she was supposed to be a cyborg in the manga, and had death-flags galore.

[robkelk]

Exactly.

I'd think that Ami needs to stay human... if only to contrast with Akemi.

[robkelk]

Yeesh, Rob.  I'm getting left behind here.  :V

Nice job, except when the heck did Index arrive?  I thought she and Kamijou were supposed to be MIA still.

It's all there on the wiki, BA... But I can't actually write that story until we have the Halloween party finalized and I'm sure who's available.

Yeah, I gotta catch up in writing to Rob, seriously.

I get the hint... Instead of pushing the timeline forward, I'll do some more work on the Halloween story and go back and fill in some holes. For a while.

Bump.

(My fault, too - we've been doing a lot of talking about writing and not a lot of writing... at least, in this project.)

[Black Aeronaut]

Can hardly be helped on my end. Rushrushrush from one wildfire to another...

EDIT: My brothers that came to live with me in November have noticed. It really is like Murphy’s Law has it out for me, but is trying to be subtle about it.

[robkelk]

Family comes first. You have to do what you have to do.

[Labster]

I've been sick, and still having to work, so writing has been a little sparse lately from me on purpose. I'm almost well, so my writing should be picking up soon. I really want to get the Halloween story out before Halloween.

It did give me some time for research, though, as now I've seen the first anime of Fate/stay night. I was really hoping that Archer's identity would be revealed as Akio Ohtori -- I mean, c'mon, look at that pose in the OP animation -- and a million blades, yep'm.

[Labster]

Costume suggestions for Rob, from the guy writing Sakaki:

Artemis - Kirara
Luna - Hime Granzchesta
Diana - an Alolan Meowth

I'm thinking of dressing Brent as Tuxedo Kamen. If I'm "writing Utena" anyway, might as well have an excuse to load up on roses.

[robkelk]

Yeesh, Rob.  I'm getting left behind here.  :V

Nice job, except when the heck did Index arrive?  I thought she and Kamijou were supposed to be MIA still.

It's all there on the wiki, BA... But I can't actually write that story until we have the Halloween party finalized and I'm sure who's available.

Looking at that list, I realized what's bothering me. You don't want Ayeka as a unit commander.  She's green.  REALLY green.  She didn't wait around long after Yosho disappeared to go looking for him, and this was shortly after she was bonded to her tree.  Most of that time period she spent in suspended animation to preserve her appearance.  SHe's got enough training to hold her own in a fight, but she's no military officer.

However, Noike is a far better choice.  She has an actual combat record AND is a veteran of the Galaxy Police.  She's got the actual chops you'd need for a commander of an advanced unit.

Finally got around to updating the story notes. It's only been seven weeks...

[Black Aeronaut]

Cool. 

Though I think that Ben should follow up Tessa with the following:

"I'm of a similar mind to Ms Testarossa.  We should save lives where possible.  It's what sets us apart from them.  That said, however, the maxim that all life is precious cuts the other direction as well.  Your lives are important.  Do not think even for a minute that your life is any less valuable than one of theirs.  If someone is trying to kill you, you kill them first.

"And if one of us makes a mistake and a noncombatant is killed...  Well, we'll sort out what went wrong after everything is over so we can do better if there is a 'next time'.  But keep this in mind: if you do kill an actual noncombatant, remember that whatever you did to them is a mercy compared to what the Unseelie would do or have done to them.  These things are no better than the Reavers from Mr Reynolds universe and you should act accordingly.

"Are we clear on this?"

Thoughts?

[robkelk]

Looks good to me. Added.

[robkelk]

I believe somebody was thinking of the displacees possibly doing some disaster relief...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2016_disasters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2017_disasters

[Dartz]

I'd rather avoid that to avoid making light of real world disasters.

[Labster]

I'm watching Index ep 18, and Touma and Mikoto are eating at a Pink's Hot Dogs stand in Academy City.  Pink's is an L.A. landmark, so it would certainly give me an excuse if I wanted Touma to just appear in Hollywood, or otherwise if Mikoto wants another date.

[robkelk]

I suspect Mikoto will want another date... and, if they ask to use the portal on a school night, Rob's reply will be "don't stay out too late".

Oh, and just his luck if Touma only has Canadian money with him, or if Index insists on going along, or if Kuroko insists on going along. Although Index and Kuroko could spend the time getting to know each other if they're left back at home.

Come to think of it, Index and Kuroko should spend some time getting to know each other. A mystic and a rationalist, with nothing to do but talk with each other... okay, dibs on that part of the story.

[Dartz]

I'm pulling together a string of moments but nothing seems to coherently be a story.

The girls don't idolise Meg. Meg is an equal. They don't just follow what Meg asks them because she's the leader.
Data is the perfect person to manage the house - they can't manipulate him and he won't take advantage of them.

Alita.... seemed like a cool idea. Unlike the traditional 'Princess Maker', there's no controlling her, there's just letting her find something interesting for her to GO on and pour everything into.

But I really can't get much past a few moments, much less a coherent story.

-Meg with a partner.
-Lou and Meg - why Lou trusts Meg. Why Sylvie won't
-Data refusing advances.
-Data getting a driver's license, claiming to be Polish
-Data getting RECI certified, with 'Polish' qualifications.
-Data taking on work as an electrician... Treknobabble in the modern world
-Meg's car dumps an apex seal with Data onboard
-Sylive and Meg in a scrapyard looking for parts, or for a motorcycle. Alita is found in the scrapyard.
-Sylie effectivelly calls Meg a 'House Slave' and blames her for getting them all killed. Data breaks up the resulting fight....
- the girls meet a skeevy recording producer whos office has a familiar black couch. He gets more than he bargained for.
- A bubblegum crisis -uber-fan recognises the girls from an online post.....

----

The question then becomes, what the hell to do with Alita. Which becomes, what does she want to do? What's the point of her beyond having her in the story?

[Labster]

That sounds like enough for me to write a story, the kind I write. Once you start writing, you can always ask people in the room if they want to contribute to the story, so to speak, and see if it goes anywhere. The same of their environment. Slice of life doesn't need to have an overall plot, because often times real life doesn't.

But if you're less interested in slice of life, then there really needs to be some challenge to overcome. There are the easy things to add, like a medical issue (in your case technical, but still), or a detective story, or a romance. Maybe Alita is the wrong person to add. Maybe you need Desty Nova instead. Don't you think he'd be really interested in capturing a sexaroid and taking it apart piece by piece to see how it worked?

Do they all want to be in a band, or is one or two them just falling into it? Does she really want something else in life?

[robkelk]

Halloween party. Diana's costume. Who else is a pre-teen with grey hair? Or almost-white hair?
D'oh!
Hayate, in Unison with the original Reinforce.

There you go, Brent. That's the last of the trick-or-treaters from my SI's group that needed a costume.


Oh, and Diana will wear this for Christmas.


EDIT: Artemis. White-Haired Pretty Boy. Got an embarrassment of riches here. Not Yue. Not a Malfoy. Not a Stargate Wraith. (looks through the list) Oh, why not go as Elric?

Luna, like Kazari, won't bother.

[Labster]

Oh, so you were thinking of costumes in human form, not in cat form. No wonder you ignored me.

[robkelk]

Sorry, I should have said.

My apologies.

[Labster]

No need for apologies. There are lots of reasons one can be warnocked.

[Dartz]

That sounds like enough for me to write a story, the kind I write.  Once you start writing, you can always ask people in the room if they want to contribute to the story, so to speak, and see if it goes anywhere.  The same of their environment.  Slice of life doesn't need to have an overall plot, because often times real life doesn't.

But if you're less interested in slice of life, then there really needs to be some challenge to overcome.  There are the easy things to add, like a medical issue (in your case technical, but still), or a detective story, or a romance.  Maybe Alita is the wrong person to add.  Maybe you need Desty Nova instead.  Don't you think he'd be really interested in capturing a sexaroid and taking it apart piece by piece to see how it worked?

Do they all want to be in a band, or is one or two them just falling into it?  Does she really want something else in life?

This is where the fact that I've lived in a box for far too long comes in to play. I don't know if it's obvious or not but I really don't comprehend people well enough to make interpersonal drama work. Or even know most of what people do together

I've got a basic list of what makes the girls happy and what doesn't. 

I do wonder if the real challenge for the girls shouldn't be that they get revealed. Either because of an uber-fan of the original series kicking up stink on social media because they're 'knockoffs'  and Nam gets pressured into revealing that the backstory they 'made up' for the band is really true.

Which leads to The Scum with it's headline, and Derek recognising a face in the paper.