[OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals

[Dartz]

Use a trailer.

Or build up a chassis, and push it along. Add an engine for added hilarity.

Rent some people for a day and get them to do it.

[Labster]

Oh right, I should have solved this problem by assuming a spherical cow.  The gondola could be magic because it once belonged to Sebastian, but is probably just an ordinary gondola.  If it isn't, I'd rather reveal that later, assuming I actually come up with a good idea to reveal.

Sakura could definitely lift it with Float, or Big, or Power.  Big and Power are too hazukashii to use for something like this.  For Float, Trademark's floating disk is 100 pounds per caster level, so yeah, that would work.  But she won't show up for another month, so that's out for now.  In the manga, they used a hovercar to lift gondolas, so that's out too.  Looks like I'm going to be driving to the boat ramp, all of 2km from the apartments.

[robkelk]

...
In a related but-not-really question -- are the Phantomhives natives of this dimension?  Could my SI learn of Ciel through fiction?  Could some of my people from other universes know of him though fiction?

I just realized I missed this part of the post. Going in reverse order:

It's canon that Sailor Moon exists in the Toradora! universe, and both Haruhi Suzumiya and Full Metal Panic! exist in the Lucky Star universe. I see no reason not to generalize that, especially in universes remarkably similar to our own. (So, yeah, why not have Tomo and Osaka recognize Ciel - or Akari - from a manga?) I've even added an off-the-cuff comment to one story about my SI re-reading a Discworld book and justifying it as research.

I got the Sailor Senshi to be willing to talk to my SI by showing Ami a copy of the Sailor Moon manga, so that precedent has been set.

As for who is and isn't a native of this worldline... I think Blackaeronaut would be better able to answer that one. His post in this thread on 2018-03-19, 06:25 seems to indicate that either everybody's a native or nobody is.

[Black Aeronaut]

Uhm.... Dumb question, but there is a boat launch, right? You know, concrete ramp leading down into the water so you can back your boat trailer into the water and launch it that way? I mean, most trailers built for hauling boats that are relatively flat-bottomed can do this. (That is, the boats that don't have the big stabilizer fins on the keel. Which I imagine a gondola does not have.)

---

ETA:
PS: If you need a suitable enough truck, Benjamin has come into possession of a nice Ford F-350 Superduty, four-door cab, dualie axle, long bed. Yeah, it can haul your boat.

[robkelk]

ETA:
PS: If you need a suitable enough truck, Benjamin has come into possession of a nice Ford F-350 Superduty, four-door cab, dualie axle, long bed.  Yeah, it can haul your boat.  

"Road trip!"
"Right, I'll open a portal big enough to drive through..."
"No, Washuu-chan, that's not a road trip. We drive!"
"You want to drive for twenty hours?"
"That's what makes it fun!"

[Black Aeronaut]

ETA:
PS: If you need a suitable enough truck, Benjamin has come into possession of a nice Ford F-350 Superduty, four-door cab, dualie axle, long bed.  Yeah, it can haul your boat.  

"Road trip!"
"Right, I'll open a portal big enough to drive through..."
"No, Washuu-chan, that's not a road trip. We drive!"
"You want to drive for twenty hours?"
"That's what makes it fun!"

Pfft.  The only way I can imagine pulling that off would be to have a motor coach that is equal parts tour bus and mobile home and a flatbed trailer for the truck.  @_@

(Not that the idea isn't tempting, though.)

[Labster]

Thanks for the offer of a truck, but my character already has one.  It is, however, really impractical for driving six other people around L.A.  Transit sucks here.  There was a rail line once running along Abbot Kinney, with Red Cars and all, but it's long gone.  That's the kind of thing I'd like to change for this reality, but an L.A. that didn't fall in love with the car is a city I don't know how to write. :/

I made good progress this weekend.  The next chapter is up to uh, 35kB.  OK, that turned out longer than expected, but some scenes surprised me when they started writing themselves.  I'm probably about 90% done.  And when it's done, it will lift an embargo on some later material I have ready-to-go.  Assuming I don't need to change the continuity.

EDIT: I uh, may be doing too much research.  Holy carp Aria characters are canonically young.  I didn't know that upper secondary education was entirely optional in Japan.   At least I found my way out of it.  In some cultures, apprenticeship would be considered a full education, but not ours.

[Black Aeronaut]

"No, I'm going to marry Tenchi!" asserted Tomo Takino.

Benjamin raised an eyebrow.  "Excuse us for a second..." he said as he pulled Tomo aside.

"I really do hope you're just funning us, Tomo.  Because he's not marrying just one of them.  He's eventually going to marry all of them."

"What?!"

"Wait a minute - there are places where a man can have more than one wife?" Rei almost broke the sound barrier running over to Mamoru and Usagi.

....  Rob, If you don't mind I'd like to run with this little tidbit if you think Rei would actually react like that.

Sure! If you didn't, I would have.

Spoiler

I'm thinking that the Silver Crystal is most likely more powerful than a third-generation Tree, so the Golden Crystal is likely powerful enough to put Mamoru into the ranks of Juraian nobles.

Okay, so here we are.

For one thing, I don't think that's particularly spoilery, but that's your call I guess.

More on-topic...  I can see it, but Ben would be operating under the impression at this time that eventually, everyone is going home.  That particular bomb hasn't been dropped yet, though.

Rather instead, Ben would attack the issue from a much more traditional Japanese perspective: that being concubinage.  Because even in Japan they were technically monogamous.  Though a samurai lord could, in theory, have as many concubines as his salary would support.

On the other hand, once Crystal Tokyo is established, anything goes, but until then...

....And Ben would also exhort to Rei that even if she got Usagi and Mamoru to go along with something like this, it opens the door for others, and that in and of itself is something to take into serious consideration.

It reminds me of a project someone I know of elsewhere has called "Loving by Moonlight" where sometime after Crystal Tokyo is established, Michiru and Haruna somehow get Serenity involved in one of their 'pleasurable evenings' and Serenity, in turn, draws in the rest of her Senshi.  Later on, he did a short one- or two-paragraph omake where the Inners had all been captured by an intelligent tentacle monster type thing.  Usagi as Eternal Sailor Moon, basically goes, "Hey, dumbass.  You're doing it wrong."  And then proceeds to tell it exactly how the other girls like it, and then wraps it up by saying, "But none of that matters anyways because Venus is about to take your head off."  Splortch.

But I don't think we'll be going quite that far here. 

[Labster]

The great thing about doujinshi is how far they take a concept.  Personally, I'd think that H!Usagi would try to convince it to be a good monster and only have consentacle sex with girls who are into that kind of thing, but that's just me.  I tried to find that story, didn't, but I did find this link for "loving by moonlight" (SFW).

Rei's interesting.  Tradition is more important to her than to her friends, but she's also most likely to burn a bad tradition to the ground.  I think Bishop Hino of MegaTokyo from Dance of Shiva embodies that idea.  The idea of Princess Mars in the role of concubine seems a little off.  Imagine that the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor took one of the elector-princes as a concubine.  Yes, the gender roles are swapped, and with genetic testing you wouldn't have to worry about one of the issues, but still, it doesn't reflect her social status.  The approach would have to be more Juraian than that.

Also, Tomo has seen a couple of versions of Tenchi Muyo and is mainly trolling everyone.  That, and she thinks Tenchi is actually really cute, and hey, it would be pretty cool to be a queen and boss people around.  She'll continue to troll until properly tsukkomi'd or it stops being funny.

[Black Aeronaut]

Like I said, it's only a sort of 'quick fix' until a more permanent arrangement can be made.

As for Tomo... Pretty sure that IC-me could think of a way to call her bluff.

EDIT: I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I dropped a fair bit on the pirate pad. Long story short, Rei encounters Ben's full personality, complete with unfathomable black hole of loneliness and hurt. (Not openly expressed, mind, but it could be said her latent telepathic abilities picked up on it, and ran screaming to hide in a corner in the back of her mind. Why yes, I have had a melt down recently. )

[Labster]

When Tomo's bluffs are called, she tends to shamelessly admit the whole scheme.  Or, alternatively, try the same gag with someone more likely to create funny.

@Rob: I didn't want to say this in the IC thread, but if you're driving through Arkansas, you should stop at Hot Springs.  It's the kind of place that one of your girls would notice on a road sign or map, and suggest stopping at, because onsen.  I've been there, and while it's a different experience than an onsen, it is a fun, pretty national park in a city. And I can recommend a good BBQ joint.

Can anyone make sense of Akari's family name, Mizunashi, for me?  It's written exactly like you'd think, 水無, with the kanji for "water" and "none".  Possibly a reference to the month of June, 水無月.  But why would an undine be waterless?

[Rajvik]

alright, the entirety of what should be my next story post

***
September 21;

I’ll give you four warnings before I start this,” I told the four adults once they had gotten comfortable on my couch. I had seen the kids off to crossing the street to go to the gulf side beach front and then returned to my room to start showing the adults how I knew where they came from and the situations. I didn’t want to do it this fast but I had all but begged a week from Rei the previous day and I needed to at least inform the adults of what had happened.

“First,” I continued. “What you are about to see is what my world has been told has happened in your world. Each of you have your own perceptions of what occurred since Shinji’s arrival in Tokyo-3, however this is probably the most impartial view of it all. That said it is the vision of a clinically depressed mind so its going to be biased. Second; remember that the entire story was written to destroy the entertainment tropes that had cropped up in the genre. The Oedipus complex, the hotshot foreign pilot love interest, as well as a whole slew of other things. Third; Since you lived this you will know the actual contexts of any decision you made and any scene that this shows where you are involved, honestly it mostly revolves around the children, but I figured that I could show the adults first and get your help in explaining these things to the children since you know them better than I do.”

“Finally, there will be scenes that will embarrass you, scenes that will show your deepest, darkest desires and those times and reasons why you hate yourselves so much that you don’t think you get to have any happiness. When you see them remember to keep them in context and if your feeling particularly vulnerable about any of your memories from that world, now, or while you’re watching, be sure to discuss it amongst yourselves. Now, if you are ready, I’ll start things.”
***
“What a view,” Shinji said looking at the white sand of the beach and the bright blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

“You said it Shin-man,” Toji said beside him, the jock’s gaze never leaving the three girls in front of them who had immediately broke into a run for the water as soon as it came into view.

“So nice,” Kensuke added from beneath his own bundle of burdens. James had handed the group a cooler, three beach umbrellas and six beach towels as well as the various little things that the trip to the beach would require. It also included a picnic lunch and a trash bag for the debris that the contents of the cooler would generate. The problem as the three boys could see, was that as boys, they had been designated the pack mules for the trip

The threesome’s reverie was broken as Asuka yelled back to them, “Hey stooges, are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come down here and set things up?”

“When did we get designated as your servants?” Toji called back with a smile.

“Toji,” Hikari called from the water’s edge, “no arguments today please. We have a marvelous, beautiful day to ourselves out here and I intend to enjoy it. So no fighting.”

“Alright class rep,” Toji answered with a sigh, “just get her to keep things civil please.”

Hikari nodded and then turned on the red-head. “Asuka, you know Toji doesn’t like being bossed around,” the class rep continued. “Please don’t antagonize him, I want us all to enjoy this trip.”

“Alright Hikari,” Asuka replied. “Lets just find a spot and set up, the day isn’t getting any longer.” The pig tailed brunette nodded and waved the boys toward the girls while looking up and down the beach itself, “What do you think about that spot over there?” she asked the rest of the group while pointing a slight bit to the west of where the boardwalk through the dunes let out onto the beach itself.
***
“Oh God Wolf, turn it off.” Misato said burying her face in her hands.

“I sometimes forget how much we actually put those kids through,” Kaji commented beside her while I stepped forward and stopped the movie player and ejected the disk.

“I think we can leave it there for now,” I said stepping back with the disk and sliding it into the sleeve. “But you need to see the rest of the series at some point.” Setting the multi-disk case aside I picked up a serving tray of solo cups with a golden liquid covering about two inches in the bottom of the cups.

“We all knew Shinji wasn’t exactly happy as a pilot,” Ritsuko said taking a cup as I offered it. “Asuka seemed happy but going by what we just saw she really is just a scared and lonely little girl. Rei, well I just can’t read her, between her hiding her feelings and the drugs she was…” Ritsuko trailed off, her eyes going wide as implications slammed into her mind.

“What drugs?” Misato snarled at her best friend.

A dazed and faraway look on her face, the doctor answered automatically as her eyes darted around at nothing in thought. “A finely balanced cocktail of mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics amongst other things. I don’t know why she isn’t showing signs of withdrawal though?”

“I have a couple of thoughts on the possibilities of why,” I replied pulling Misato’s attention away from the panicking doctor. “The problem is that I need Rei to give me a straight answer to a particular question.”

***
***
Malcolm Reynolds was not panicking, panicking would reflect manic action, at least motion or maybe yelling to cause others to take action. Instead he was laying on something soft but firm that molded to his body with Inara snuggled against him and he was staring up at the edge of an umbrella and a bright blue sky beyond it.

“Cap’n?” he heard Jayne say off to his left.

“Yeah Jayne?” he replied in a low voice trying not to wake Inara.

“I thought Wash died when we was running from the Reavers to Mister Universe?” The question caused Mal to sit up, dumping Inara to the side as he looked around, first at Jayne, and then at the rest of his crew. Surprisingly, it was his entire crew, even the ones that had died. To his left Jayne sat in a chair beyond where Wash and Zoe lay on a blanket under a large umbrella, spooned together. To his right, Kaylee and River were both snuggled up to Simon under another umbrella, Shepard Book asleep in a chair beyond them.

All around them was a fine sand, dunes behind them and five meters in front of them a beautiful blue expanse, “Jayne, I’m afraid we might be dead.” Malcolm Reynolds said as the people around him started to stir.

“You are not dead,” a calm voice said from behind them. Mal and Jayne shared a look and then looked behind them to find a blue haired girl standing on the top of one of the dunes pulling a cart. “And while this is a public beach, I don’t think the local authorities allow camping here.”

Inara was grumbling beside him as he got up and shaded his eyes while looking at the girl. “You say we aren’t dead,” he replied, the girl nodded. “But two of my crew who were dead are now here with us and healthy, how do you explain that?”

The girl smiled, “You were probably picked up by the same multi-dimensional confluence that deposited my friends and I here,” she answered. “This means you are probably the other group of people our host was expecting.

“What the hell is it that she just said Mal?” Jayne asked
The bluenette addressed the mercenary with a flat look on her face, “In short, someone with a lot of power had an accident that caused multiple realities to overlap dumping you here.”

Jayne, eloquent as ever said, “Huh?”

The girl facepalmed in frustration, “God went oops, you were dropped in a world where you never really existed and are stuck here until they fix it.”

“Oh,” Jayne answered, “Is there someplace we can get something to eat nearby?”

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh. My. God.

SNARKY REI!!!!

[Labster]

Ah yes, that was fun.

“I sometimes forget how much we actually put those kids through,” Kaji commented beside her while I stepped forward and stopped the movie player and ejected the disk.

Understatement of the Month Award there.  Not caring what they put the children through is kind of a hallmark of Evangelion "adults".  Not that any of them are going to come out and say that right away.

“Oh,” Jayne answered, “Is there someplace we can get something to eat nearby?”

"And like, girls with bigger tits than yours?"

[Black Aeronaut]

“Oh,” Jayne answered, “Is there someplace we can get something to eat nearby?”

"And like, girls with bigger tits than yours?"

Uhm...  Actually...  Rei is pretty...  ahhh, pneumatic for her age and size.  (Keep in mind the next time you see original art of her.  She is, at most, 14 years old, something like 4'8" tall, and ethnically Japanese once you filter out the non-human bits.)

[robkelk]

“Oh,” Jayne answered, “Is there someplace we can get something to eat nearby?”

"And like, girls with bigger tits than yours?"

Uhm...  Actually...  Rei is pretty...  ahhh, pneumatic for her age and size.  (Keep in mind the next time you see original art of her.  She is, at most, 14 years old, something like 4'8" tall, and ethnically Japanese once you filter out the non-human bits.)

On the other hand, it's Jayne - the id that walks like a man. If she doesn't look like she's trying to carry basketballs under her shirt, is he interested?

[Black Aeronaut]

“Oh,” Jayne answered, “Is there someplace we can get something to eat nearby?”

"And like, girls with bigger tits than yours?"

Uhm...  Actually...  Rei is pretty...  ahhh, pneumatic for her age and size.  (Keep in mind the next time you see original art of her.  She is, at most, 14 years old, something like 4'8" tall, and ethnically Japanese once you filter out the non-human bits.)

On the other hand, it's Jayne - the id that walks like a man. If she doesn't look like she's trying to carry basketballs under her shirt, is he interested?

In all seriousness, the first thing he'd notice is that she's 'just a kid' to begin with - IIRC, Rei is actually biologically younger than River.  Though he might make a mental note to check back in a few years because of how early she's blooming.  On the other hand, though, we all know how Jayne feels about creepy girls. 

[Rajvik]

i take it from all the positive commentary that you all like what i have here

[Black Aeronaut]

Very much so. The reactions ar, for the most part, natural and in character thus far. Except for Rei. For which we know why.

[Black Aeronaut]

You know, now that I've read the post in the IC thread, I have to admit that there is something to be said for Jayne's mindset at this moment in time.

After someone broke it down in the simplest terms possible, his mind probably quickly rifled through a checklist.

1) No immediate signs of danger
2) No immediate signs of physical harm
3) No one is making any attempts at intimidation or threats
4) See to basic needs:
4a) Food
4b) Drink (booze is fine - maybe preferred)

After all that, I'm sure that Jayne will want to get down to the brass tacks, because the next thing he's gonna want to do is make some money. And that means coming to a better understanding of their situation. Jayne Cobb is a simple man, but that kind of simplicity has hidden depths to it. As long as immediate needs can be tended to, he will see no reason to act out.

[Labster]

Yeah, Jayne is kind of joy because of the lack of subtlety. In this situation, he'll probably let Mal worry about the money for now.

Rajvik, that's some fine writing. Despite everything I say in the Politics forum, I do like your work here. I learned the word "bluenette", even. But... go check to make sure that there are periods on the end of every paragraph; I see a couple missing periods.

On my own work, I'm trying to figure out a way to add men to my apartment complex. The thing about slice-of-life is that it's very female heavy as a genre, as is magical girls. But I've got a lot of young adults in my group who will want to date someone. So I need a series of some sort that adds unattached boys without throwing the balance too far off. As amusing as the idea of Sakaki piloting Gurren is, not sure that's a way I should go. I've been playing around with the idea of Ika-musume or Gidget, but those don't really help the ratio. Ouran Host Club, maybe? I've also thought about Utena too (as I'm obviously a super fan), as that nets three attractive, unattached boys. But I'm not sure I trust my writing skills enough to write it. Ideas?

[Black Aeronaut]

Hmmm....  Utena is dangerous because that potentially brings Akio into the picture, and definitely Touga.  Who if IC-Me ever meets in polite company he would be very VERY hard pressed to not hand the pretty boy the beatdown of his life.  Saionji is redeemable, and Miki is absolutely priceless.  But still a few too many girls there, methinks, even if two of them are nominally paired off with each other.

HI-freakin-larious thought: someone gets the main characters from Girls of the Wild's.

Though that'd probably be me since I have this weird thing of being stupidville-tough.  Never broke a bone in my life even though I've gone through things that should have broken SOMETHING by all rights, and I've literally had my face pounded into a deck.  Got right back up and was ready for more, even though I had a helluva shiner and some absolutely evil looking swelling from burst blood vessels outside the orbit of my eye.  Hell, even in a Teenagers from Outer Space MUSH that I once rolled up a character in, I wound up with a completely maxed-out Bonk! stat.  I seem to recall someone saying that I'm an IRL protagonist-type bastard that seriously needs to find his alien space princess.  So, if you guys ever needed more evidence of this, that would be it. 

[robkelk]

...
On my own work, I'm trying to figure out a way to add men to my apartment complex.  ...  Ideas?

Don't be afraid to look outside of anime and manga. How many Hollywood movies with mostly-male college-aged-or-older casts do you know well enough to write how the characters would respond to being dumped into LA?

[Bob Schroeck]

Seconding the comment that bringing boys from Utena in would be a massively bad idea. Except for Miki. Now, if you don't need to use complete sets, why not cherry-pick a six- or eight-pack of perfect boyfriends from as many series as it takes?

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, we can bring Utena in... just not right away. I'd put Akio on the same level of Bad News as Killgrave. But later on when shit is hitting the fan.... Yeah, having the gang from Ohtori show up is just fine. Just not now.