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

[robkelk]

Found this quote on All The Tropes. If Usagi and Nanoha start a magical girl society, it could be their motto.

We welcome our friends with open arms. And if they're not friends, well... We're big and our hugs can be a little suffocating.
- Schlock Mercenary

[robkelk]

Just a small note.  While reviewing Sakura's powers for the wiki, I was reminded that The Twin made a copy of an apartment building in canon.  So if anyone's running out of space, I might have a solution.

SI-Rob looks at SI-Brent, looks at the two storage rooms converted to apartments and the half-dozen more apartments in a Washuu-supplied pocket dimension, then starts wondering whether the church just down the street from Blossom Apartments really needs that large a parking lot...

Come to think of it, The Twin managed to duplicate that apartment building without destroying any of the buildings around it... so we won't need to grab any of that parking lot. Just put the new building behind the original one.

---

Ottawa, ON, Canada
January 13, 2017

Rob was using the big monitor in the common room for a videoconference with the Venice apartment. "Yes the Rideau Canal Skateway will be opening tomorrow. I'd love to host everybody at once for ice skating, but we're already crowded - even with people sleeping on couches, we'll have to host visitors in shifts."

Tomoyo replied, "We do have an alternate option, Mr. Donaldson, if Sakura-chan would be kind enough to assist us."

"Yes, the Sakura Cards are quite versatile in her hands, aren't they? Are you thinking that she could use 'Little' on everyone and have our guests sleep in miniature bedrooms?"

"That is an option that I hadn't considered. My thought was to ask Sakura-chan to use The Twin on your building."

"Oh, of course! That card is certainly capable of duplicating an entire apartment building. And if Usagi would be kind enough to share the Silver Crystal with Miss Kinomoto, I suspect the two of them working together could create a permanent structure that would not draw upon Sakura's magic to remain manifested."

"That sounds lovely!" Tomoyo smiled. "I must design an outfit for Sakura-chan that would be suitable for such an undertaking."

---

"... and that'll give us enough room for everybody to have a proper apartment instead of something in the dimensional pocket that holds our onsen and sparring room, with a two-bedroom apartment for Accelerator and Mimi and another two-bedroom apartment for Touma and Index."

"Yay! Mimi finally gets my own bedroom!"

Rob winced at the torturous grammar that Last Order used - some kawaiisa speech patterns simply didn't translate well to English. "Right. Okay, everybody pack anything that you don't want duplicated, so we can move it outside. That definitely includes your bank cards and cellphones. Kuroko, would you be kind enough to help me move the boxes in my storage room into the dimensional pocket?"

"Certainly, just as soon as I've finished with my own packing."

As the others left to pack, Rob motioned to Rei Hino, who stayed behind. "What's wrong?"

"If this works, we're going to have a building filled - well, half-filled - with Misaka clones and Accelerator."

"And you don't trust Accelerator?"

"It isn't that; none of them really know how to live on their own."

"I think I know where this is going."

"Before you came here, you tended to an entire shrine with your grandfather."

Rei looked annoyed. "You could get Mii to move in with them."

"We asked Mii to move less than two months ago, to give Usagi and Mamoru the two-bedroom apartment. It isn't fair to ask her to move again."

Rei sighed. "All right. I'll move into the new building with our child soldiers and our resident psychopath."

"He's not... no, you're right. He is a serial killer. I'm asking a lot of you, I know, but I have faith that you can do the job. We'll get Kazari to wire up a panic button in your apartment, that will sound an alarm in my office if you use it."

"And Usagi's room, and Mii's apartment."

"And the common room. But nobody's moving until after we've hosted that skating party."

---

Which leads to this set of notes on the wiki. Good think SI-Rob is drawing two salaries from Lord Phantomhive; he'd never be able to afford the upkeep and the food for two buildings filled with students otherwise.

[Labster]

"That sounds lovely!" Tomoyo smiled. "I must design an outfit for Sakura-chan that would be suitable for such an undertaking."

I'm reading that as "Brent must design an outfit to write about".  I wonder what sort of dress goes with a hard-hat?  (Honestly she looks adorbs in overalls, but Tomoyo tends to go overboard with the fashion.)

One of the consequences of doing it this way is that the Ginzuishou will teach Sakura, by example, how to convert conjuration into transmutation.

I know people have been asking me to watch other things, but I've seen a couple episodes of Kaleido Star and my general feeling is "yes I can use this immediately", and I even have a convenient place nearby to stick the Kaleido Stage.  I don't even know the characters, but the setting is one my current characters would love.

[robkelk]

I was half-thinking of this outfit, but she'd freeze in that outfit in Ottawa in January.

That's 3D-art, not real life, just in case somebody didn't pick up on the visual cues. I'm not that good with the software. And Mamota makes good outfits for close-to-modern Japanese fashion - good base materials make for good images. This or this would fit the climate better but wouldn't be any good for construction work. This one is right out. EDIT: Although there is an anime-only character from A Certain Scientific Railgun who would look perfect in it... but I don't want to add any more characters to my apartment just now.

(Aside: Card Captor Homura. I needed to give the base character a hairdo, and that one was available...)

As for recommendations, don't feel that you have to watch everything that I suggest. You have your own plans for the stories, and no doubt your own stack of unwatched media.

[robkelk]

Random thought, since we're talking about having Sakura visit Ottawa: If the Mirror Card shows up in human form, Rob is going to call her "Kagami-san" - give her a real name, just like the Misaka Sisters got real names. How will she react?

[Norgarth]

but I don't want to add any more characters to my apartment just now.

on that note...

___ wandered into the Apartment block's backyard and was puzzled to see a hole there, surrounded by a white picket fence and a with a mailbox next to it. Approaching it, he was able to make out writing on the mailbox; B. Bunny.

From behind him came a voice, "Ehhh, what's up, Doc?"

[Labster]

Random thought, since we're talking about having Sakura visit Ottawa: If the Mirror Card shows up in human form, Rob is going to call her "Kagami-san" - give her a real name, just like the Misaka Sisters got real names. How will she react?

She'll look at you real funny for a minute, and then smile cute once she figures out what you're trying to do.  "You're right, Mira is a wonderful person."

Inside her head though: you're not accomplishing what you're trying to accomplish. While 鏡 is a real Japanese name for girls, it's also just a common word.  Imagine if you have a living magical artifact named Shabon, and someone says that they should give her a real name, Bubbles.  On the upside, Tomo approves of your name choice, "I wish I had thought of that!"

[robkelk]

Random thought, since we're talking about having Sakura visit Ottawa: If the Mirror Card shows up in human form, Rob is going to call her "Kagami-san" - give her a real name, just like the Misaka Sisters got real names. How will she react?

She'll look at you real funny for a minute, and then smile cute once she figures out what you're trying to do.  "You're right, Mira is a wonderful person."

At which point Rob will apologize for making a poor assumption, and call her Mira after that.

Inside her head though: you're not accomplishing what you're trying to accomplish. While 鏡 is a real Japanese name for girls, it's also just a common word.  Imagine if you have a living magical artifact named Shabon, and someone says that they should give her a real name, Bubbles.  On the upside, Tomo approves of your name choice, "I wish I had thought of that!"

"Hey, if you'd just watched Lucky Star, you would have thought of it, too."

[Black Aeronaut]

but I don't want to add any more characters to my apartment just now.

on that note...

___ wandered into the Apartment block's  backyard and was puzzled to see a hole there, surrounded by a white picket fence and a with a mailbox next to it.  Approaching it, he was able to make out writing on the mailbox; B. Bunny.

From behind him came a voice, "Ehhh, what's up, Doc?"

Ben blinked as he turned and saw THE WABBIT himself.

The one and only.

Accept no substitutes (or 'reasonable facsimiles').

Bugs.

Bunny.

"hooooleeeee shit."

The wabbit pauses for just a beat, before going on, quite lackadaisically, "Ah, ya know, Doc, ya may wanna be careful with language like dat.  There could be kids in the audience."

"Yeah, about that."  Ben motions Bugs Bunny closer in that conspiratorial sort of I-gotta-tell-you-something way.  "You know how you're always breakin' the fourth wall and talking to the audience?"

"Yeah?"

"You're on the other side of that wall now."

Bugs Bunny blinked, then stood straight with a disbelieving smile on his face.  "Naaaaahh.  You oughta pull the other one, Doc.  It has bells on it."

Ben grinned.  He knew how this game worked, and Bugs Bunny is not immune to the rule of funny.  "Okay then.  Ya don't believe me?  Step outside and have a looksie at what's out there."

A moment later, Ben was treated to the rare sight of Bugs Bunny walking back into the complex through the breezeway, spazzing and making all sorts of derping sounds.  He only smiled and shook his head as though to say, why do they never believe me?  He then pulled out his phone and fired off a text message for Belldandy.

I deeply appreciate that you've sent me one of my childhood heroes, but an animated rabbit is an animated rabbit.  Please send a nothing-strange-here charm when it's convenient for you.

PS: As long as they can behave themselves to a relative degree, I don't mind if you send the other Big Names of the Looney Tunes.  There's still enough room here, and I'm sure everyone here will absolutely adore their antics.

But anymore than that, then we'll have to build our very own Toon Town here in San Antonio.

[Labster]

@BA I assume he's in San Antonio because he took a wrong turn on the way to Albuquerque?

I guess I like to think of the cards as platonic ideals of their concept (typically with additional cuteness).  So Mirror kind of is her name, but that's pronounced ミラー, which is just a bit longer than the name Mira ミラ.  Heh, I'm not the only one who had the name idea before, jisho.org lists Mira as a reading for the name 鏡.  Lol, English reading of kanji.  I kind of picked Mira without much thought, but we may have accidentally leveled up the card.

Names are important in magic.  I know this because of my computer wizardry, and what are known as the two hardest problems in programming:

1. Naming things
   
2. Cache invalidation
   
3. Off-by-one errors
   

Just as a general FYI, October is the busy season for both my job and my volunteer work for the election.  I'll be around to talk, but I won't have much time for writing.  Sad but true.  After November 6, I'll be available much more (once I finish the celebration and/or mourning).

[Black Aeronaut]

>mentions two types of errors
>Off-by-one third in a list of two


  what-you-did-there-i-see-it.jpg (Size: 36.58 KB / Downloads: 151)



EDIT: @Labster: It'd have to be the case, otherwise he would have wound up at your place instead!

[robkelk]

Just as a general FYI, October is the busy season for both my job and my volunteer work for the election. I'll be around to talk, but I won't have much time for writing. Sad but true. After November 6, I'll be available much more (once I finish the celebration and/or mourning).

So, no pushing the Halloween Party story out the door this month.

No worries.

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh.  Nice one, Rob.

And because Ben is simply that kinda sympathetic spirit, he'd probably show up about fifteen minutes later with a great big thermos filled with Mexican hot chocolate.  Wonderfully warm, creamy, cane-sugared, cinnamon-spiced, chocolaty goodness with a hint of nutmeg.  It warms the heart and the bones - just what someone could use after such a terrible experience.

"How'd you kno-  Wait.  I forgot about the Good Neighbor System again, didn't I?"

Ben rolls his eyes with a smile that belies the expression.  "And it helps that I was getting ready to come over anyways.  The hot chocolate was going to be a treat for later - perfect follow-up to a day spent ice skating - but I felt this was more important.  Think the rest of the Witches 5 are gonna show up?  After all, we got Pyrrha* back."

(*For that alone, Ben had to make a trip to the grocery store for a bulk-pack of kleenex.   )

[Labster]

Sure, why not have the Witches 5, the Fantastic 4, and the Rowdy 3, too?

Good story, although I think there's one "Mimite" in there.  She'll be interesting, because good!Mimete doesn't really appear in canon.

I guess I have a story to work on in a while with the building duplication.  But I have something back for Rob: What would any of your sailor guardians say in response to, "Hey, this big circus tent just appeared last night over the water, out on the end of the pier.  Weird, huh?"

[robkelk]

Sure, why not have the Witches 5, the Fantastic 4, and the Rowdy 3, too?

Good story, although I think there's one "Mimite" in there.  She'll be interesting, because good!Mimete doesn't really appear in canon.

Oopsie. I'll fix that in a moment.

We saw the other Witches 5 die on-screen, so it would be difficult to bring them back... but not impossible. And we know they cannot work together - victims of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, to a woman.

I guess I have a story to work on in a while with the building duplication.  But I have something back for Rob: What would any of your sailor guardians say in response to, "Hey, this big circus tent just appeared last night over the water, out on the end of the pier.  Weird, huh?"

"Oh, no, not again. Chibi-Usa, have you heard anything from Helios?"

And they go in with guns a-blazing... to discover it's a perfectly normal anime circus. EDIT: And get chewed out by Kalos, Mii, and Rob together for (a) not doing reconnaissance first and (b) throwing the show off-schedule.

[Bob Schroeck]

Or maybe the Carnival of Shadows from City of Heroes? <grin>

[robkelk]

Heh.  Nice one, Rob.

And because Ben is simply that kinda sympathetic spirit, he'd probably show up about fifteen minutes later with a great big thermos filled with Mexican hot chocolate.  Wonderfully warm, creamy, cane-sugared, cinnamon-spiced, chocolaty goodness with a hint of nutmeg.  It warms the heart and the bones - just what someone could use after such a terrible experience.

"How'd you kno-  Wait.  I forgot about the Good Neighbor System again, didn't I?"

Ben rolls his eyes with a smile that belies the expression.  "And it helps that I was getting ready to come over anyways.  The hot chocolate was going to be a treat for later - perfect follow-up to a day spent ice skating - but I felt this was more important.  Think the rest of the Witches 5 are gonna show up?  After all, we got Pyrrha* back."

(*For that alone, Ben had to make a trip to the grocery store for a bulk-pack of kleenex.   )

May as well add that scene to the story...

[Labster]

L.A. would be a better city for a drama major to live than Ottawa. I mean, it's not just L.A. -- New York, London, Paris, Mumbai, and Tokyo are also great places for actors. But a chance to live rent free near Hollywood, so you can go to acting schools and lots of auditions? Hard to pass up.

[robkelk]

I was thinking she would be happier around people she knows, even if until recently she was trying to kill those people. In L.A., she has nobody to talk with.

But it's a possibility. And the L.A. team is going to be visiting Real Soon Now.

[Black Aeronaut]

Bravo!

I think it may be a good idea for her, actually. It would give her a chance to find herself before having to face the Senshi on a regular basis. And the best part is that spending some initial time around them will show her that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they hold no bad feelings towards her.

Also, when she says that they were at each other's throats... was that before they were possessed, or after?

[Rajvik]

with the caveat that i have no idea at this anime, i would suggest each house get one of them to keep the backstabbing fallout to a minimum

[robkelk]

Also, when she says that they were at each other's throats... was that before they were possessed, or after?

After. I have no idea whether they even knew each other before.

with the caveat that i have no idea at this anime, i would suggest each house get one of them to keep the backstabbing fallout to a minimum

My thought was that Mimi was the only one anywhere near being ready for redemption (other than Dr. Tomoe, who already had been redeemed in canon). She was a boy-chaser, not an evil mastermind. Sure, she's still likely to have a jealous streak, but now she isn't going to go out and kill people over it.

The others, even if exorcised, would still be in the antagonists' camp.

[robkelk]

And the best part is that spending some initial time around them will show her that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they hold no bad feelings towards her.

Usagi: "C'mon, Mimi!"
Mimi: "where are we going?"
Makoto: "We're going skating!"
Rob: "You're going skating. I'm driving the shuttle bus."

later...

Mimi: "People do that for fun?"
Sakura: "It was fun! It wasn't exactly like in-line skating, but it was close."
Mimi: "Do you know how many times I fell down?"
Makoto: "Nope! Nobody counts, when you're still learning."

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh.  Ben would be right there with Mimi in that regards.  In fine Aspie fashion, I'm a total klutz and need a lot more time to get used to doing something new.  (It took me a couple of months before I was shifting gears smoothly on my truck.)  But in this setting, Ben would keep right at it, slowly plodding along, until he gets it.

One other thing, though...

"I have no idea what he is or isn't. But you are in no shape right now to decide whether you like somebody."

While I agree with the general sentiment about her not being ready for that kind of thing, I'd also wonder why Rob wouldn't know much about Ben at this point.  Surely they've spent a few evenings together at Callahan's by this time?

[Labster]

I'll still need to figure out Callahan's for my SI, though.  In real life I don't drink, because I just don't like alcohol.  So it's always hard for me to feel like I'm fitting in at bars.  It helps if the drunk people are not boring drunks -- I never run into that problem at programming cons.

And just because I'm not doing writing, doesn't mean I'm not doing research.  I'm passing through L.A. today, so I'll stop off and look around at Union Station, then walk around Venice for a bit.  Union Station is because I had a dream sequence I wanted to there for New Year's.  While adding foreshadowing, it has the advantage of being an actual dream I had about three years ago.  The only problem is that I haven't been to Union Station for twenty years, so my recollection of the architecture is a little weak.  But obviously enough memory that I could recognize it from my dream.

Some people need distance to recover.  One of the reasons people go in for rehab is to change routine so that they're not repeating addictive behaviors.  A lot of soldiers who had addictive or worse behaviors in the field are able to come back home and live a normal life, because the routines are so different.  So either Ottawa or Venice Beach are fine for that, it's just a question if she needs more distance or less.  Usagi makes an amazing role model, but if Mimi feels she can't live up to that, the sniping other people might start up again.  (I once saw a comedian give a motivational speech on the MYFABMOFA plan: Make Yourself Feel Awesome By Making Others Feel Awful.)  At my apartments, Koyomi and Tomo set the tone, Sakaki can make sure certain behaviors feel out of bounds, and Tomoyo can read people and nudge them onto the right path.