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

[Labster]

I added that idea to the appropriate thread.  But Priss and Ryoko Go to White Castle is something I'd definitely watch.

"You blew up the whole damn White Castle!  How the hell are supposed to get burgers now, Little Miss Pirate?"

"Hey, you're the one who told me how dangerous the boomers are.  Was I supposed to go easy on them?"

"I could have handled them all on my own -- if I wasn't so hungry."

BGC is 8 OVAs, which works out to a little longer than a 13 episode standard length anime.

[Black Aeronaut]

The only other question is what sort of tone you want for your part the story.  I tend to write more light than dark, and more fluff than crunch.  I want to write at a target mood like the Sailor Moon S anime - 80% screwball comedy, 10% romance, 5% epic shit that actually matters, and 5% postmodern weirdness.  But we're supposed to be merging multiple continuities, and it's bound to have portions of the world with different moods colliding.

If you write more, of your own characters, or at any of the other characters you do know (Sasami needs more screen time, for instance), that would help us all out a lot.

I suspect that the tone is the main issue.  Nothing against Dartz - I really do like his work.  As I've said before, the existential identity crisis of suddenly being in a body that's not who you are is great fodder for a story.  But I think the main problem is that he's looking for a long-term antagonist and having trouble with that because A) In setting the Demons would swat that shit fast, B) Possible antagonists that are not inherently evil would wind up getting set straight pretty quickly.

And we don't start getting set up for long term antagonists until the Second Season rolls around.

The following are just ideas.  Not word of god or anything like that.  Dartz, you may take them or leave them as you wish, or even use just parts of this.

Now, if Dartz wants to, we can bring in either Largo, the Knight Sabers (plus Priss's band), or even both as long as they lie relatively low.  Combat is fine as long both parties know it's best to keep collateral damage to a minimum.  Each side will have a goal to achieve and run afoul of each other.

This will be interesting because everyone is going to be trying to evade notice of their more clandestine activities while unwittingly bumping into each other.  Largo will be recognizable, though.  And I'm sure that Largo would be able to tell right away that The Girls are all Bumas.  That can set off a cat and mouse game of social niceties as neither side wants to draw too much attention to themselves, with the Girl trying to politely disengage and Largo persisting.  A clever trick of pheromone usage causes a traffic accident and gives her the chance to get away.  (If we need a reason for Largo not noticing, we can say he was downwind while the street was upwind.)

For the Knight Sabers, Nene, with a minimal amount of fuss, can get get into the proper file spaces and put their information in the right spots, and Sylia can probably kitbash together equipment needed to make the physical IDs.  Oh, and Nene also scams someone out of some Bitcoin and secures them startup capital.  (Nene will fucking love the Dark Web.)

Priss and her Band will start doing gigs, wind up getting billed with 33-Stars one night, and I'd imagine they'd all hit things off.  It'd be a good opportunity for the girls as they would now have a chance to jam with some human friends and learn to take the synthetic edge off their music.

Oh, almost forgot about Leon and his partner!  Can't have Priss without them around. 

And I bet it would really set the cat amongst the canaries if he showed up with the Knight Sabers while they were kitted out in their Hardsuits.  The moment they realize they're not in Kansas anymore they'll realize they have to stick together...  Heh-heh-heh...

[robkelk]

For the Knight Sabers, Nene, with a minimal amount of fuss, can get get into the proper file spaces and put their information in the right spots, and Sylia can probably kitbash together equipment needed to make the physical IDs.  Oh, and Nene also scams someone out of some Bitcoin and secures them startup capital.  (Nene will fucking love the Dark Web.)

And that gives her an subtle "in" to the rest of us, as well. Considering how often Ben, Rob, Brent, &co. talk with HAL (rarely), and how likely Nene would be willing to talk with who she thinks is a fellow hacker, Nene and HAL could connect with each other online and the rest of us wouldn't know about it for months.

Oh, almost forgot about Leon and his partner!  Can't have Priss without them around. 

Daley. And I could see Daley and Kuroko getting along, both being law-enforcement types. (What, were you expecting me to say something else there? )

[Dartz]

There is the tone issue. I think I'm aiming for a less jovial tone, rather a more balanced one - where it's possible to get hurt, get discovered, argue or do something 'wrong'.

There's also the fact that I've ground to a halt on my own stuff in general and am sturggling to keep up. I can't force people to work at my pace. It'#s not a convoy

[robkelk]

Our characters are going to be discovered sooner or later - that's a matter of "when", not "if". Don't worry about that.

[Dartz]

I'd sort of like for the Girls to be the reason the cat gets out of the bag. Because they're the only specifically non-human individuals we have....

[Black Aeronaut]

I can go for that. Especially if a confrontation goes severely pear-shaped and one of the Mages can't get there in time to cast a temporal force field (spell that 'seals off' an area in its own little timeline so damage done doesn't carry over).

[robkelk]

Sounds good to me, too. And nothing I've set after mid-October would be invalidated by the secret getting out earlier than that, not even the scene at the firing range.

[Labster]

Just for reference, I'm planning on having Cinder Fall show up in Venice on about November 4, which is something that should inflame public opinion, but I was planning on having the feds extinguish that story.  And then Undine promotion happen November 6, which will probably put "Akari's Perfectly Ordinary Day" somewhere between November 10 to 15.  I can mess with that timeline a bit if you need to.  And in December, I don't have any specific plans.

[robkelk]

I've been doing some cleanup on All The Tropes, replacing "Endofthe World As We Know It" with "The End of the World as We Know It". That means a line on the page "Crossover Ship" now reads:

* There are some fanart examples of [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura]]/[[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]]. Two little, cute, and godlike-powerful girls. Just try to imagine [[The End of the World as We Know It|what would happen if Nanoha fires a Starlight Breaker when boosted by Sakura's "The Power" card.]]

I trust people here know what to do with this.

EDIT: Likewise with pairing Sakura/Usagi.

[Black Aeronaut]

OH!!! OHHHH!!!!

DARTZ! PENNY! And even better yet, all she has to change how she talks and she won't look an inch out of place. And I'm sure that Data and Penny would have all sorts of conversations about their creators and how they were made.


Also,
Penny: "Penny is combat ready!"
Everyone: "NOOOOOO!!!!"

[robkelk]

Penny: "I'm combat ready!"
Priss: "Boomer!"

[Labster]

I've been doing some cleanup on All The Tropes, replacing "Endofthe World As We Know It" with "The End of the World as We Know It". That means a line on the page "Crossover Ship" now reads:

* There are some fanart examples of [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura]]/[[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]]. Two little, cute, and godlike-powerful girls. Just try to imagine [[The End of the World as We Know It|what would happen if Nanoha fires a Starlight Breaker when boosted by Sakura's "The Power" card.]]

I trust people here know what to do with this.

EDIT: Likewise with pairing Sakura/Usagi.

So uh, whoever wrote that may get the gist of Sakura, but doesn't really understand her powers.  The Power makes a person physically stronger.  So if it was combined with the magic of Negi Springfield of Jack Rakan, interesting effects.  Making Nanoha punch hard is not helpful.

Nah, what Sakura would think of doing is using The Light, which would have a net effect of empowered starlight breaker.  Cool and all, but not that interesting, considering Nanoha can already do that with the caster bullets Belkan cartridge thingies.  The best choice, that she'd make once she got better with her magical tactics, is The Shot, which would create a roboteching empowered starlight breaker.  I'm sure you could see the possibilities there.

Sakura doesn't have most of the cards she'd need to do metamagic for Usagi... yet. 

Spoiler

She has The Hope, and The Faith I've written about in another spoiler.  But the greatest of these is The Love.

  She is just starting to explore the "Star" part of her powers.  But of course she can do all of the traditional things that mages do in tabletop, like battlefield control.  Creating hazards to split apart hordes of youma would be pretty easy for her.  And Sakura can emulate most of the abilities of the non-Usagi sailor guardians, so she can do the combo attacks with any of them too.

Unless you meant pairing Sakura/Usagi, which well, Sakura's gonna fall in love with Usagi pretty hard, but Usagi's not interested.

There are other sort of unusual combos out there, like Makoto Misaka with The Sand.  Or Linna Yamazaki with The Sword.  Sakura's flexibility is more valuable than her power, at least for now.

But this is what I'm trying to make happen:
   
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/kuro-puppy/ar...-400794400


Penny: I have been rebuilt by Salem -- I'm combat ready destroy you <fires laz0rs>
Yang: She turns back up, like a bad Penny. <puts on sunglasses>
<"Won't Get Fooled Again" plays>

[robkelk]

I've been doing some cleanup on All The Tropes, replacing "Endofthe World As We Know It" with "The End of the World as We Know It". That means a line on the page "Crossover Ship" now reads:

* There are some fanart examples of [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura]]/[[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]]. Two little, cute, and godlike-powerful girls. Just try to imagine [[The End of the World as We Know It|what would happen if Nanoha fires a Starlight Breaker when boosted by Sakura's "The Power" card.]]

I trust people here know what to do with this.

EDIT: Likewise with pairing Sakura/Usagi.

So uh, whoever wrote that may get the gist of Sakura, but doesn't really understand her powers.  The Power makes a person physically stronger.  So if it was combined with the magic of Negi Springfield of Jack Rakan, interesting effects.  Making Nanoha punch hard is not helpful.

Good point. There are better choices of people for Sakura to use The Power with -- Subaru or Ginga from StrikerS, for example. In Rob's building, Mii and to a lesser extent Makoto could both benefit.

Unless you meant pairing Sakura/Usagi, which well, Sakura's gonna fall in love with Usagi pretty hard, but Usagi's not interested.

Usagi's always interested in making new friends.

There are other sort of unusual combos out there, like Makoto Misaka with The Sand.  Or Linna Yamazaki with The Sword.  Sakura's flexibility is more valuable than her power, at least for now.

IIRC, Sakura has cards for all of the classical Western elements and most of the Chinese elements (I believe there's no card called "The Metal"). So many powered characters have abilities based on elemental powers...

[Bob Schroeck]

Penny: "I'm combat ready!"
Priss: "Boomer!"

Heh.  Penny vs. a squad of boomers.  The only thing to bet on is how fast they'd be rendered into spare parts.

[Black Aeronaut]

Priss will start going like, "okay, just everyone back away reaaaally slowly and maybe it won't notice us..."
Penny: "Salutations!"
Priss: *Screaming Internally*

[Dartz]

What's a Penny?

[Black Aeronaut]

A fully sophont gynoid meant to supplement Hunter squads because there just aren't enough to go around. Penny is the first (and thus far last) of her kind. And she's pretty bad-ass, too. Poor thing was just hopelessly outclassed by her opponent.

http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Penny_Polendina

[robkelk]

An AI character from RWBY. Hideously overpowered for a human-scale combat model, but not invulnerable.

EDIT: Ninja'ed by BA.

[Bob Schroeck]

Also an absolute sweetheart who unlike all other mechanical and AI beings in that setting actually has a soul.

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh god, did she ever. It was a real heartbreaker what happened to her.

EDIT: Honestly, Penny in her own way is so human that it's painful. If we stick her with the 33 Stars girls, there will be a lot of teaching moments between them. And not just her to them, but from them to her as well.

[Labster]

There are other sort of unusual combos out there, like Makoto Misaka with The Sand.  Or Linna Yamazaki with The Sword.  Sakura's flexibility is more valuable than her power, at least for now.

IIRC, Sakura has cards for all of the classical Western elements and most of the Chinese elements (I believe there's no card called "The Metal"). So many powered characters have abilities based on elemental powers...

The thought had crossed my mind.  It's interesting that Clow Reed had both Chinese and Western influence, and the magic used the classical Greek elements.  But her magic seems to come not from the elements themselves, but from the Sun, Moon, and Stars.  Like certain other girls we could name.  The Chinese elements are in the stars, though, which is why they call Venus 金星 (kinsei), the gold star.  So if her idea of metal is shaped by Sailor Venus, well, there's a couple related ideas.  One is The Metal, which like The Wood is a powerful card but not a major arcana.  Maybe under Light (like crescent beam), or under Earthy.  Or it can be called The Chain.  Tomo is going to suggest The Irony.  Either way, I'm going to use a chain motif, like Venus love-me chain, but also like the motifs of Sword and Shield.

I guess another alternative is to have Sakura create a fifth major arcanum, The Steely (major elements have to end in Y, that's the rules), with cards like The Chain and The Armor under it.  But somehow not The Sword?

[robkelk]

Well, obviously The Sword goes under The Pointy.

[Dartz]

I'm trying to avoid proliferating characters before I proliferate plots for them. Having someone like Penny around requires having a plot for someone like Penny around.

What have have for the girls, at least on some level as vignettes is as follows.

- What happened with Derek was Sylvie's idea. Meg went with it to prove her loyalty to the group. Meg gets on with Lou
- Data gets reported by a 'concerned neighbour'.
- The girls try to build fame by playing requests by ear on Twitch, live. Look how utterly awesome we can be as machines
- Cybernetic Metal. A sort of Rammstein sound.... but cleaner and sharper and inhumanly precise. The girl's party-piece is swapping mid-line or mid-chord.
- Spotted by an uberfan. You sound, and look 'familiar'
- A Compilation album of requests - 'free' version on spotify features a Nam hiding behind a blanket, peering over the edge.
- A record executive tries to 'Casting Couch' the girls. And gets a surprise. Sweetling
- Data lawyers up on a recording contract. Now the band manager.
- Drug addicts, the homeless and AirBnB.
- Arguments amongst the girls - Sylvie and Genaros Meg did not get along.
- Getting the building renovated. Consulting engineers will do for a million what can be done for 100k.
- An album of their own material. The cover art is mixed from naked images of the girls, with their modesty preseved by actual x-rays showing the mechanical hardware inside
- One of the girls is attacked by a fan and taken to hospital where her unusual nature is revealed.
- Uh yeah, we really *are* robots from the future hiding in the past. It's not just an act. (Their explicit function is still kept quiet)

[robkelk]

I would suggest Lord Phantomhive send Penny over as a bodyguard for the 33 Stars, to protect them from a persistent stalker... except that the girls don't really need a bodyguard, do they?

---

Changing topics... A line for later:
"No, Usagi, Mal did not name his ship after you."