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

[robkelk]

Proofreading will have to wait until after work.

That isn't what Blossom Apartments looks like - as of Arc 1, at least. Ask me again during Arc 2...

[robkelk]

Proofreading will have to wait until after work.

It's after work.

Who is "Ruka"? Also, you missed a quote mark. Both are now fixed. The story flow looks good to me.

And I noticed Tomoyo being a bit more literal than a particular manga title...

Spoiler

Hana Yori Dango

[robkelk]

Oh, is my face red... and not just because of the freezing wind the last couple of days. Canadian law and California/Texas laws have some important differences regarding age of consent.

In order to avoid misinterpertations of interpertations &c, I'm going straight to the source and consulting the Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150 ff. for this.

This whole discussion's going into a spoiler block, to avoid offending sensitive readers.

Spoiler

In general, the age of consent in Canada is 16 by federal law. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 151 However:

• A person in "a position of trust or authority towards a young person" cannot have sex with the young person if the young person is between 16 and 18 years old. Criminal Code of Canada, Sections 153 (1) and 153 (2)
  
• A 12-year-old can consent to sex with a 14-year-old, but not a 15-year-old, as long as older person "is not in a position of trust or authority towards the complainant, is not a person with whom the complainant is in a relationship of dependency and is not in a relationship with the complainant that is exploitative of the complainant.". Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150.1 (2)
  
• A 15-year-old can consent to sex with an 18-year-old or 19-year-old, but not a 20-year-old, as long as older person "is not in a position of trust or authority towards the complainant, is not a person with whom the complainant is in a relationship of dependency and is not in a relationship with the complainant that is exploitative of the complainant." Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150.1 (2.1)
  
• The age of consent for anal sex is 18. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 159 (1)
  
• Taking photos or creating images of anyone under 18 years old having sex is a crime. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 163.1 (1)
  
• Incest is illegal no matter what the participants' ages are. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 155 (1)
  

Penalties range from 90 days to 14 years in jail, depending on circumstances.


As to what this means for the stories:

• The Misaka Sisters aren't allowed to touch each other at all, that way. (Which hadn't been asked, but I thought I may as well include it anyway.)
  
• SI-Rob can't touch Mii or Ami until after their 18th birthdays. (That one I got right, but for the wrong reason.)
  
• Usagi and Mamoru, however, can enjoy each other's company all they want as long as (a) they avoid one particular act until she's 18, and (b) they keep it in private.
  
• Kuroko/Mikoto would be legal, amazingly enough... but only if Mikoto consented. Let's not mention this to Kuroko.
  

.

Luckily, few stories require revision... except that we could add a couple of lines to the Halloween Party thread if we really want to.

Spoiler

"You know, Mamoru, Usagi, you two could have just waited one day until you were in Canada and it's legal."
They looked at Rob in amazement. "Now you tell us!"

[Labster]

Just don't try it in California.  If two people who are both age 16 conduct any kind of sexual activity whatsoever with each other, both are guilty of statutory rape.  The only legal way a minor may consent to sex is to get married to that person.  Of course, it's never prosecuted.  And under civil law, they could consent, but not under criminal law.  Still, I suppose it's a step up from the original state law, which set the age of consent at 10, but only if the girl was the younger party.

I'm kinda happy that most of my residents are at the age of majority.  Tomo is legit happy that she's officially an adult 2 years early, as the age of majority is 20 in Japan (through the next year, anyway, but it's going down to 18 soon).  And I found this link on school ages in Japan, which means that Tomo is the youngest of her class (except Chiyo, of course), which means she'll be asking everyone to call her onee-san when she becomes the first to turn 19.  Time travel is so fun!

[Black Aeronaut]

And on a different note, I like how you did that, using Sakura's divination to be the thing that not only signals something is about to happen, but actually have it seem to be the thing that kicks it off. Nice.

[Labster]

One of the things I've wanted to explore is that Sakura's cards are self-aware.  Mirror is the most obviously so, but all of them are to some degree.  They're actually not causing the event, but reacting to it, through her will to avert a crisis.  The Time is attempting to prevent a time stop effect, but is failing because the problem is in Yggdrasil and it's affecting the entire plane -- there is no available timestream to anchor to, so the spell fizzles.  The Through is sensing the plane shift targeting Sakura and her family, and modifies it to teleport them to a safe place.  This turns out to be the garage directly below Aria House.  My SI will be sure to thank the Goddesses for their excellent targeting this time, which they actually had nothing to do with.

Divining the other branch of fate is foreshadowing, of course, for the no one going home bit, and her original timeline eventually continuing as if nothing had happened.

[robkelk]

One of the things I've wanted to explore is that Sakura's cards are self-aware.  Mirror is the most obviously so, ...

Light and Dark are able to carry on a conversation eloquently, too.

[robkelk]

Oh, is my face red... and not just because of the freezing wind the last couple of days. Canadian law and California/Texas laws have some important differences regarding age of consent.

In order to avoid misinterpertations of interpertations &c, I'm going straight to the source and consulting the Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150 ff. for this.

This whole discussion's going into a spoiler block, to avoid offending sensitive readers.

Spoiler

In general, the age of consent in Canada is 16 by federal law. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 151 However:

• A person in "a position of trust or authority towards a young person" cannot have sex with the young person if the young person is between 16 and 18 years old. Criminal Code of Canada, Sections 153 (1) and 153 (2)
  
• A 12-year-old can consent to sex with a 14-year-old, but not a 15-year-old, as long as older person "is not in a position of trust or authority towards the complainant, is not a person with whom the complainant is in a relationship of dependency and is not in a relationship with the complainant that is exploitative of the complainant.". Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150.1 (2)
  
• A 15-year-old can consent to sex with an 18-year-old or 19-year-old, but not a 20-year-old, as long as older person "is not in a position of trust or authority towards the complainant, is not a person with whom the complainant is in a relationship of dependency and is not in a relationship with the complainant that is exploitative of the complainant." Criminal Code of Canada, Section 150.1 (2.1)
  
• The age of consent for anal sex is 18. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 159 (1)
  
• Taking photos or creating images of anyone under 18 years old having sex is a crime. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 163.1 (1)
  
• Incest is illegal no matter what the participants' ages are. Criminal Code of Canada, Section 155 (1)
  

Penalties range from 90 days to 14 years in jail, depending on circumstances.


As to what this means for the stories:

• The Misaka Sisters aren't allowed to touch each other at all, that way. (Which hadn't been asked, but I thought I may as well include it anyway.)
  
• SI-Rob can't touch Mii or Ami until after their 18th birthdays. (That one I got right, but for the wrong reason.)
  
• Usagi and Mamoru, however, can enjoy each other's company all they want as long as (a) they avoid one particular act until she's 18, and (b) they keep it in private.
  
• Kuroko/Mikoto would be legal, amazingly enough... but only if Mikoto consented. Let's not mention this to Kuroko.
  

.

Luckily, few stories require revision... except that we could add a couple of lines to the Halloween Party thread if we really want to.

Spoiler

"You know, Mamoru, Usagi, you two could have just waited one day until you were in Canada and it's legal."
They looked at Rob in amazement. "Now you tell us!"

Actually, let's leave those lines out of the Halloween party story. I thinks it works better if criminology-major Mii corrects SI-Rob's misunderstanding of the law.

Speaking of which, I've updated Reach for the Moon.


Old text:

Rob smiled. "Actually, Mamoru and I had a long, serious talk about the local sexual interference laws. Until the day after Usagi's eighteenth birthday, she's off-limits. Which means he's sleeping alone and the two Usagis are sharing the other bedroom. I hope."

"So they're living right beside each other but they can't touch each other for three years?"

"That's what I told Mamoru, and I pointed out sections of the Criminal Code to back that up."

"You know he's going to be checking into case law and precedents that will let the two of them be close sooner."

Rob sighed. "I don't want to hear anything more about the two lovebirds in your old apartment. I came to find out how you're doing."

New text:

Rob smiled. "Actually, Mamoru and I had a long, serious talk about the local sexual interference laws. Until the day after Usagi's eighteenth birthday, she's off-limits. Which means he's sleeping alone and the two Usagis are sharing the other bedroom. I hope."

"What are you basing that on? The Criminal Code says 15-year-old Usagi can consent to sex with anyone up to five years older than she is, which includes 19-year-old Mamoru."

"You're sure?"

"Criminology major, remember? Your country's age of consent is otherwise 16, unless the older person is in a position of trust like 'foster father', in which case it's 18. I'm pretty sure Chibi-Usa has her own bedroom."

Rob sighed. "I don't want to hear anything more about the two lovebirds in your old apartment. I came to find out how you're doing."

old text:

Mii nodded. "I was going to let you know the difference between the girls and me by offering to do paizuri with you."

"Oh, boy. It's a good thing I locked the door; there's no way I would have been able to say no."

She smiled a more honest smile, then frowned. "I wish you hadn't locked your door. Now I've got these -" she moved her hands to her chest "- and who knows when I'll be healthy enough to make that offer again?"

Rob's gaze momentarily dropped to her hands, then quickly went right back to her face. "Would you please lower your top?" Mii did so. "Thank you. Mii, if you weren't too young, and I wasn't legally your foster father, my answer to the question you didn't just ask would be different. But we can't."

"Not until the day after my eighteenth birthday, and we get that fosterage cancelled."

Rob frowned. "I don't see how we could. The cancelling, I mean."

New text:

Mii nodded. "I was going to let you know the difference between the girls and me by offering to do paizuri with you."

"Oh, boy. It's a good thing I locked the door; there's no way I would have been able to say no. And I wasn't your foster father then."

She smiled a more honest smile, then frowned. "I wish you hadn't locked your door. Now I've got these -" she moved her hands to her chest "- and who knows when I'll be healthy enough to make that offer again?"

Rob's gaze momentarily dropped to her hands, then quickly went right back to her face. "Would you ''please'' lower your top?" Mii did so. "Thank you. Mii, if you weren't too young, and I wasn't legally your foster father, my answer to the question you didn't just ask would be different. But we can't."

"Not until the day after my eighteenth birthday, or we get that fosterage cancelled."

Rob frowned. "I don't see how we could. The cancelling, I mean."

old text:

Mii shook her head. "I think she might wipe her record while she was at it, and Ruiko's, too. Remember the second opening animation to 'A Certain Magical Index' where we see Kazari and Ruiko walking with the same guy and they didn't even notice Mikoto? Mikoto told me that was something that actually happened. And Ruiko knows what Kazari wears to bed. I think they might be willing to share a lover with each other."

"And you think the lover ... they'd ... the two of them ... with me?" Rob was flabbergasted.

'Oops,' she thought. 'Rob's gone bye-bye. What do I have left, Mii?' Then she grinned and pinched his arm.

New text:

Mii shook her head. "I think she might wipe her record while she was at it, and Ruiko's, too. Remember the second opening animation to 'A Certain Magical Index' where we see Kazari and Ruiko walking with the same guy and they didn't even notice Mikoto? Mikoto told me that was something that actually happened. And Ruiko knows what Kazari wears to bed. I think they might be willing to share a lover with each other."

"And you think the lover ... they'd ... the two of them ... with me? But ... too young ..." Rob was flabbergasted.

'Oops,' she thought. 'Rob's gone bye-bye. What do I have left, Mii?' Then she grinned and pinched his arm.

old text:

"Innocent? How many youma have you killed?"

"That isn't what I meant."

Mii smiled. "I know. We're still young, and they do things differently here than they do in Japan. There are laws about what they call 'sexual interference' - you could knock Rob out and have your way with him, and he'd be arrested because you haven't reached your sixteenth birthday yet."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Oh, you'd be arrested, too."

New text:

"Innocent? How many youma have you killed?"

"That isn't what I meant."

Mii smiled. "I know. We're still young, and they do things differently here than they do in Japan. There are laws about what they call 'sexual interference' - you could knock Rob out and have your way with him, and he'd be arrested because he's your foster father and you haven't reached your eighteenth birthday yet."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Oh, you'd be arrested, too."

[robkelk]

Reading the "World List for Garrick Grimm" thread over in Hangar 13 reminded me that Ail & Ann and the Doom Tree are Sailor Moon anime characters, and thus might be out there somewhere.

So... the Doom Tree. How many generations is it away from Tsunami, again?

[Black Aeronaut]

One of the things I've wanted to explore is that Sakura's cards are self-aware.  Mirror is the most obviously so, but all of them are to some degree.  They're actually not causing the event, but reacting to it, through her will to avert a crisis.  The Time is attempting to prevent a time stop effect, but is failing because the problem is in Yggdrasil and it's affecting the entire plane -- there is no available timestream to anchor to, so the spell fizzles.  The Through is sensing the plane shift targeting Sakura and her family, and modifies it to teleport them to a safe place.  This turns out to be the garage directly below Aria House.  My SI will be sure to thank the Goddesses for their excellent targeting this time, which they actually had nothing to do with.

Divining the other branch of fate is foreshadowing, of course, for the no one going home bit, and her original timeline eventually continuing as if nothing had happened.

Oh, I did get all of that - that her cards were more or less trying to tell her what was about to happen and taking action to do something about it - if not stop the event then at least alter things to a more favorable outcome.  Appearing in your garage would certainly have been far more favorable than appearing in the middle of Venice Beach.

Very well done! 

Now if only I can get something going on my end...  :V

[Black Aeronaut]

Reading the "World List for Garrick Grimm" thread over in Hangar 13 reminded me that Ail & Ann and the Doom Tree are Sailor Moon anime characters, and thus might be out there somewhere.

So... the Doom Tree. How many generations is it away from Tsunami, again?

Hah!

I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if Tsunami decided she wanted to adopt it. 

[robkelk]

Since it came up in the Wiki thread...

Hotaru and Setsuna - Sailors Saturn and Pluto - where are they going, and how do they get there?

There was some talk about maybe them ending up in San Antonio, but the other Sailor Senshi are in or near Ottawa.

Room can be made for them in Ottawa; and Rob can convert the last storage room into an apartment given enough notice to get some plumbing in. There's room for them in San Antonio "now".

Hotaru would no doubt be able to make friends with Sasami, and they have a lot in common. Hotaru is already friends with Chibi-Usa, and they have a lot in common.

As to how they appear wherever they're going... I like BA's idea that as soon as Setsuna appeared in the Metacontinuity, she collapsed from having her connection to the Time Gates severed, and Hotaru's been doing her best to look after Setsuna ever since then.

If they're near Ottawa... hmmmmm... oh, of course: the Unseelie have them locked up. Hotaru's been holding them off for a couple of weeks every time they come to cut off somebody's arm or toss Setsuna into the stewpot, but she can't escape without abandoning Setsuna. One of the other prisoners has some ability to futz-up her powers, so Sailor Teleport won't work - besides, where would they go? She's doing her best to keep them all alive, and so far it's worked. They're getting hungry, though...

If they're near San Antonio... BA, any ideas?

[robkelk]

Hmmmmm... Who gets Earth Defense Force Mao-chan (the series Ken Akamatsu did between Love Hina and Negima)?

LA:

• It's a "cute" anime.
  
• The cat(girl)s have blue eyes.
  
• Sylvia makes Osaka look well-grounded.
  

Ottawa:

• It's a satire of magical-girl stories.
  
• One of the support mechs is named Mii.
  
• Mao makes Usagi look graceful.
  

San Antonio:

• According to the manga, the girls' power wil grow with them to the point it'll be able to destroy a world.
  
• One of the support mechs is named Hayate.
  
• Misora makes Ayeka look rude.
  

Someplace else:

• We all have long lists of displacees already!
  

Hmmmmm... I think "Someplace else" wins.

[robkelk]

...
Is this what the Blossom Apartments look like?  (technically SFW)

Is this what Venice Beach looks like? (technically SFW, but "ecchi thoughts are forbidden!")


As long as I'm posting image links: Kozue Amano (the original mangaka for Aria) gives Akari a new hairdo and a slightly different uniform.

(Labster, I dropped a lot of image links onto your wiki Talk page, for almost all of those redlinks you still have.)

[Labster]

Haha, you're going to have to try harder than that to convince me that anything ecchi is going on between two girls in Aria.  Even the yuri goggles do nothing.  But thanks for the clothing advice, I'll need that for my beach episode.  So uh, yeah, that's what it looks like.

But actually it's a long broad beach with mountains in both directions.  It actually looks a good deal more like Cape Merry, except, well, not quite as green.  The more I think about it, the more I think Cape Merry is a south-facing bay, like, you know, Tokyo Bay.  But the best match for the Kaleido Stage location has to be Santa Monica, Venice, or Venice Beach.  It's just gotta, gotta, gotta be!

I'm trying to work my way through Ai yori Aoshi to figure out when in their timeline to import them in.  That's probably the number one reason I haven't made pages for them, or have much in the way of plans.  One surprising thing is that my inner Tomoyo is annoyed by Aoi, and especially so because people will think they are similar -- even Aoi thinks they are similar -- and Tomoyo thinks that they have almost nothing in common.

[Dartz]

Why is it that the house with the sexaroids is currently the least 'skeevy' sounding?


Where Data has specifically refused *someones* suggestion because they are not capable of giving consent to the standards required by his ethical programming.

Although there was that time where he got drunk.

[Black Aeronaut]

Since it came up in the Wiki thread...

Hotaru and Setsuna - Sailors Saturn and Pluto - where are they going, and how do they get there?

There was some talk about maybe them ending up in San Antonio, but the other Sailor Senshi are in or near Ottawa.

Room can be made for them in Ottawa; and Rob can convert the last storage room into an apartment given enough notice to get some plumbing in. There's room for them in San Antonio "now".

Hotaru would no doubt be able to make friends with Sasami, and they have a lot in common. Hotaru is already friends with Chibi-Usa, and they have a lot in common.

As to how they appear wherever they're going... I like BA's idea that as soon as Setsuna appeared in the Metacontinuity, she collapsed from having her connection to the Time Gates severed, and Hotaru's been doing her best to look after Setsuna ever since then.

If they're near Ottawa... hmmmmm... oh, of course: the Unseelie have them locked up. Hotaru's been holding them off for a couple of weeks every time they come to cut off somebody's arm or toss Setsuna into the stewpot, but she can't escape without abandoning Setsuna. One of the other prisoners has some ability to futz-up her powers, so Sailor Teleport won't work - besides, where would they go? She's doing her best to keep them all alive, and so far it's worked. They're getting hungry, though...

If they're near San Antonio... BA, any ideas?

Okay, so to get to the issue with Sailors P and S, I'll need to go through, in brief, what I have in mind thus far as it will have knock-on effects later on down the line.

Firstly, FMP: The extraction from Camp Bullis is not going to go completely without a hitch.  They start off by getting the Arbalest out first, then the M9 armslaves... but for some reason, the M6 Bushnell (gas turbine powered American-designed armslave) that Teletha had used in her competition with Mao was present... and they don't have enough pilots or time to get it out of there.

(They briefly consider having Teletha do it, but it's decided that it's too risky.)

So, that gets left behind and the Dept. of Defense suddenly finds themselves in possession of a fully functional mecha that runs just fine on good old JP5 and would be a nightmare for a mechanized platoon to deal with as an opponent.

Needless to say, the government hushes this shit up, but how much you wanna bet its gonna stay hushed once Trump takes office?  Also, they're gonna be keeping an extra-sharp look out for shenanigans of any sort, so we'll be walking on eggshells down here.

Next, Nanoha.

Now, I've been wracking my brains to find a simple solution for how they get ahold of Alicia's stasis chamber, and I think I finally have something that will pass muster under Occam's Razor.

See, I'm gonna borrow a page from Rob's book here, only instead of Winter Solstice (Dec 21), I'm gonna use the Autumn Equinox (Sep 22), and instead of the system all-but completely crashing...  Instead, as is appropriate for the time of year....  Something slips through.

Basically, we transplant the Dramatis Personae of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha here to San Antonio.  Completely.  (I'm running with the popular idea that Nanoha's family really are an old Ninja clan that has adapted quite well to the modern age, but not quite the Triangle Heart background, as that's a real can of worms and not something we have a lot of info about.)

The Takamachi and Tsukimura families stay cool and adapt.  They find themselves in the quiet and highly affluent City of Olmos Park - an enclave within San Antonio and a place where billionaires call home.  The Midoriya will thrive quite well there.  

However, what's also imported are the Jewel Seeds.

The story of MGLN and MLGN:A's will play out, only with San Antonio as the backdrop, and with all the implications that carries.

As for how Hotaru and Setsuna may figure into it?  Hotaru tries to lie low in the midst of all this, keeping an all-but invalid Setsuna in her care.  (After the first week, Setsuna can get up and move around a bit, but she's a long ways off from being at 100%.)  Hotaru, meanwhile, needs to dodge the highly considerable scrutiny of the US Government, Jewel Seed attacks, and lastly the Wolkenritter as she would be a prime target for them.

So, thoughts?

[robkelk]

Why is it that the house with the sexaroids is currently the least 'skeevy' sounding?


Where Data has specifically refused *someones* suggestion because they are not capable of giving consent to the standards required by his ethical programming.

Although there was that time where he got drunk.

Hey, the apartment with the magical girls isn't skeevy - they just have all those rumours.

[robkelk]

Okay, so to get to the issue with Sailors P and S, I'll need to go through, in brief, what I have in mind thus far as it will have knock-on effects later on down the line.

Firstly, FMP: The extraction from Camp Bullis is not going to go completely without a hitch.  They start off by getting the Arbalest out first, then the M9 armslaves... but for some reason, the M6 Bushnell (gas turbine powered American-designed armslave) that Teletha had used in her competition with Mao was present... and they don't have enough pilots or time to get it out of there.

(They briefly consider having Teletha do it, but it's decided that it's too risky.)

So, that gets left behind and the Dept. of Defense suddenly finds themselves in possession of a fully functional mecha that runs just fine on good old JP5 and would be a nightmare for a mechanized platoon to deal with as an opponent.

Needless to say, the government hushes this shit up, but how much you wanna bet its gonna stay hushed once Trump takes office?  Also, they're gonna be keeping an extra-sharp look out for shenanigans of any sort, so we'll be walking on eggshells down here.

While the armed forces are duty-bound to truthfully answer any defense-related question asked by the CinC, is the CinC going to know enough to ask anything about mecha (or metahumans, or the Metacontinuity)? Don't forget, this is a person who avoids facts that don't agree with his personal reality.

(Tangent: And that phrasing makes me wonder what his esper Skill is.)

And a whole new weapons platform is going to be kept under tight wraps and described in the most general terms possible. Trump might not even realize there's a mecha in San Antonio.

Next, Nanoha.

Now, I've been wracking my brains to find a simple solution for how they get ahold of Alicia's stasis chamber, and I think I finally have something that will pass muster under Occam's Razor.

See, I'm gonna borrow a page from Rob's book here, only instead of Winter Solstice (Dec 21), I'm gonna use the Autumn Equinox (Sep 22), and instead of the system all-but completely crashing...  Instead, as is appropriate for the time of year....  Something slips through.

Basically, we transplant the Dramatis Personae of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha here to San Antonio.  Completely.  (I'm running with the popular idea that Nanoha's family really are an old Ninja clan that has adapted quite well to the modern age, but not quite the Triangle Heart background, as that's a real can of worms and not something we have a lot of info about.)

The Takamachi and Tsukimura families stay cool and adapt.  They find themselves in the quiet and highly affluent City of Olmos Park - an enclave within San Antonio and a place where billionaires call home.  The Midoriya will thrive quite well there.  

And if they call the shop "Midoriya", HAL's going to notice.

However, what's also imported are the Jewel Seeds.

The story of MGLN and MLGN:A's will play out, only with San Antonio as the backdrop, and with all the implications that carries.

As for how Hotaru and Setsuna may figure into it?  Hotaru tries to lie low in the midst of all this, keeping an all-but invalid Setsuna in her care.  (After the first week, Setsuna can get up and move around a bit, but she's a long ways off from being at 100%.)  Hotaru, meanwhile, needs to dodge the highly considerable scrutiny of the US Government, Jewel Seed attacks, and lastly the Wolkenritter as she would be a prime target for them.

So, thoughts?

At least the timing's good - the chronicles currently have nothing recorded for September 22-24.

However, if San Antonio doesn't find out about them slipping through the cracks until the 26th (or late on the 25th), Ottawa won't know until the end of the month -- Rob's taken Makoto to the boreal forest in northern Ontario to recharge (and fight a Terminator Predator), and won't be able to check the managers' network until October 1.

Montreal would want in, though. You were looking for a reason to get Rin Tohsaka to visit San Antonio; considering that she specializes in gem magic, what could she do with a Jewel Seed?

[Norgarth]

Err, wasn't it a Predator Makoto fought, not a Terminator?

[robkelk]

Yes, yes it was. (But could she tell the difference? )

[Labster]

I'm not sure what to do about Uzume the ferret. I read volume after volume where she never had an appearance outside the cast page, so it's telling me that she isn't important. And I know almost nothing about ferrets. But on the other hand, I kinda like the idea of yet another exotic animal in my apartments, and Sakaki does too. It'll be like the Durrells' house in Corfu, weird animals everywhere.

Actually, it would be fun to import the Durrell family to the residence, as they'd quite enjoy themselves. The main problem being they're non-fictional, and now deceased. There are fictionalizations that I've seen, but still, it's kinda not the same. So many ideas off the top of my head, though.

[robkelk]

Uzume had a Day in the Limelight in the anime, in which (s)he coaxed the hidden "goddess" out of her cave. Which is how Uzume was named, come to think of it. Other than that... yeah, background character.

Although, after Halloween, I could see Tomo making a claim on Uzume. (And then Tina says "okay, sure" to teach Tomo a lesson, and either Tomo comes back a week later and begs to be let off the hook of pet ownership, or Tina ends up missing Uzume and goes to see Tomo...)

[Labster]

I read through the manga as a way to kickstart my story, but it might have backfired a bit.  The end of the manga is frustrating.  The other Hanabishi heir is a stupid villain, and the inheritance conditions in the will are unbelievable.  The idea that Tina always knew she was in love with Kaoru seems so retcon -- Tina deserved her spotlight, but maybe not quite that way.  So now I'm backtracking and thinking that working from Enishi makes a better base.

(Honestly, I might just be weird that way -- I thought the first anime's ending to Fullmetal Alchemist was far better than the second based on the manga, and as far as I know I'm pretty alone on that.)

Do you think the Hanabishi are somehow bankrolling Academy City?  Honestly Index lore confuses me still, as I've only seen a couple series.

Your Uzume and Tomo idea is good, though.  I'll probably do something like that.

[Rajvik]

While the armed forces are duty-bound to truthfully answer any defense-related question asked by the CinC, is the CinC going to know enough to ask anything about mecha (or metahumans, or the Metacontinuity)? Don't forget, this is a person who avoids facts that don't agree with his personal reality.

(Tangent: And that phrasing makes me wonder what his esper Skill is.)

And a whole new weapons platform is going to be kept under tight wraps and described in the most general terms possible. Trump might not even realize there's a mecha in San Antonio

Rob, you do remember that Obama was president during this time frame right

I'm being good bob