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

[Dartz]

Technically yes - it's a fetac lvl 6 requirement, 'or equivelant qualification', and to get registered one installation has to be certified by another registered sparks before you can self certify. There're ways around it, and EU qualifications from the eastern states can be fairly difficult to check.

[Dartz]

The Blues Brothers?

[Black Aeronaut]

The Blues Brothers?

Those guys are a phenomenon all their own....

OH.

THEY'RE FICTIONAL.

NPC Manager for the Chicago Area is go, complete with Gunsmith Cats, Harry Dresden, and The Blues Brothers.

Let's see how long until the Windy City implodes on itself. 

[Labster]

My mind took that reference and jumped straight to the Pointer Sisters.

EDIT: If we're doing Chicago, maybe throw in Ferris Bueller too?

[Norgarth]

RE Chicago: as Rob Kelk mentioned in another thread, you can toss in Due South too.

And the movie version of the Equalizer.

[Black Aeronaut]

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

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

[Labster]

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

On my ideas booklet.

Soong Electrical

Or Data working as an electrician to pay his way. Since he has no recognised academic qualifications and participation in research activities might foul the timeline - but he does have engineering skills and fixing starship skills.

He then runs into Ireland. And it's utter mindboggling tendancy ot be just a little bit shit

I hope Data gets to meet the audiophile who gets his own power pole.  I mean, that's gotta work even better for music listening than Brilliant Pebbles (no, not satire).

Mikoto nodded. "That makes sense. But we're getting derailed here. What do we do now?"

Oh, "derailed".  I get it!  LOL!

"It's a statement that functions as a request for information, but that isn't important right now."

"Did you just make a joke?"

"Yes. Was it a good one?"

"It's a bit cliched, but it's still funny. What did you want to know?"

Boooooo.  The kernel of a good joke is in there, but the timing is all wrong.  If she's doing it deadpan, which is what I assume for a Misaka sister, then you need a beat (maybe 3 seconds, even), not just a comma pause.  Or just leave off the second part.

Which is not to say that it's OOC, in fact, it's right in character.  Most of my characters have higher standards for humor, though.  

(I could see Anna Heart trying this joke, because she tries too much.  We really need to work on that girl.  She wants to be funny, she knows what is funny, but can't actually be funny because of issues.  The girl needs timing, and she needs confidence.)

One trick I try is that when I need a beat, I jam words into the middle to break up the passage.  `," she said, "` for a short pause, and for a longer pause more words `," she provided the dictionary definition, "`.  Not sure it works for everyone, but it does in my head.

[robkelk]

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

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

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

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

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

Mikoto nodded. "That makes sense. But we're getting derailed here. What do we do now?"

Oh, "derailed".  I get it!  LOL!

I hadn't intended that one, but I'll take it.

"It's a statement that functions as a request for information, but that isn't important right now."

"Did you just make a joke?"

"Yes. Was it a good one?"

"It's a bit cliched, but it's still funny. What did you want to know?"

Boooooo.  The kernel of a good joke is in there, but the timing is all wrong.  If she's doing it deadpan, which is what I assume for a Misaka sister, then you need a beat (maybe 3 seconds, even), not just a comma pause.  Or just leave off the second part.

Which is not to say that it's OOC, in fact, it's right in character.  Most of my characters have higher standards for humor, though.  

(I could see Anna Heart trying this joke, because she tries too much.  We really need to work on that girl.  She wants to be funny, she knows what is funny, but can't actually be funny because of issues.  The girl needs timing, and she needs confidence.)

One trick I try is that when I need a beat, I jam words into the middle to break up the passage.  `," she said, "` for a short pause, and for a longer pause more words `," she provided the dictionary definition, "`.  Not sure it works for everyone, but it does in my head.

Give her a break; it's her very first joke. (Not her first attempt at humour - that would be the canon scene where she suggested naming a cat "Dog" - but her first purposeful wordplay.) And Mikoto is shown in canon to have at least a bit of "compassionate big sister" feelings for the clones.

But, yeah - Niiko is currently somebody who has even worse comedic timing than Anna.

[Bob Schroeck]

My mind took that reference and jumped straight to the Pointer Sisters.

That's what I get for not reading the whole thread first.

EDIT: If we're doing Chicago, maybe throw in Ferris Bueller too?

Are you sure you want a reality warper on almost the same level as Haruhi Suzumiya in the story?

[Black Aeronaut]

Ferris Bueller? Reality warper? Even if so, not on the same level of Haruhi. More like he is VERY good at taking advantage of a situation. Besides, the thing where the parking attendants taking out the car would never have been an issue if Ferris really was a reality warper.

And now we've run off track. Stand by while I get this all moved over to the appropriate planning thread...

EDIT: And done.

[Rajvik]

it could be made right just by rewording the sentence and putting the pause in there, but then again, anyone who has watched "Airplane" is going to put it in there automatically like i did.

lets just make sure we don't use the Other Iconic Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkpIDBtC2c

[Black Aeronaut]

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

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

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

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

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

[Black Aeronaut]

lets just make sure we don't use the Other Iconic Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkpIDBtC2c

...  PFFFFT!

[Labster]

Man, 9/11 sure took all of the fun out of the Hare Krishnas at airports, didn't they.

Oh, just for note -- I put this on the wiki already -- I'm reserving the Amazoness Quartet/Minor Senshi for the second apartment block in Venice.  You know, the one that's a Kaleido Stage dorm.

Vesta grew angry, "What do you mean you don't need any animal trainers?  What the heck kind of circus are you?"

EDIT: The anime never revealed that VesVes was Vesta, did it?  I guess that gives me something to write about.  I keep forgetting what happened in anime!Stars.  Honestly the ending is so incoherent -- actually the whole season -- that I just replaced it with the manga story in my mind.  Otherwise I prefer the anime story.

I even prefer the Galaxia who doesn't use her original Sailor title, because she came from a "trash planet" and she killed everyone.  It's a reminder that we are the darkness we let inside our hearts.  It makes me wonder what we should do with Sailor Galaxia, who shines like gold upon the sea of Chaos.  She'd be an interesting adversary.  Salem is cool and crafty and complex, but she has far fewer genocides under her belt.

[robkelk]

EDIT: The anime never revealed that VesVes was Vesta, did it?  I guess that gives me something to write about.  I keep forgetting what happened in anime!Stars.  Honestly the ending is so incoherent -- actually the whole season -- that I just replaced it with the manga story in my mind.  Otherwise I prefer the anime story.

Sorry, did Sailor Moon have an anime season between S and Stars? I tend to forget poorly-plotted incoherent stories where characters make a habit of carrying the Idiot Ball...

So, yeah - I had no plans for the Amazoness Quartet.

[Labster]

Actually those balls had all sorts of magic powers, not just inflicting idiocy on the heroines.

Spoilery complaining about all post S seasons, like thousands before me

I mean, I get what you're saying about SuperS, but I still think it's far more forgivable to carry the idiot ball the entire season than what Stars did. At least it's still enjoyable from the monster-of-the-week, little girls riding unicorns while teenagers go on dates perspective.

But Stars, it's like Mamoru disappears pretty early on and Usagi doesn't bother to find out anything about it, just being slightly down. This is really OOC, as Usagi should be completely freaking out as it drags on into weeks. And then her friends start dying, and instead of grieving, hey, let's do a little more monster-of-the-week. It felt like enough time that police would have been asking serious questions. Humans just don't act this way. Humans can be stupid for a long time, but not just ignore the death of companions or even strangers. And then we devolve into a Gainax ending for no particular reason, using mostly unfamiliar characters.

I know they can't exactly match the manga's timing, which was fast. It felt like a real invasion, with all of the crazy happening in a couple weeks, and people just trying to hold on in the face of overwhelming foes. And waves of unexpected allies, first from Kinmoku, but then a second set with Chibiusa leading the Amazons. And the Galaxy Cauldron is a much more evocative setting.

But really, I guess what this means is that I can have the Minor Senshi (from "minor planet") discover their true powers somehow, which actually doesn't have a canon story anywhere. Or I guess they could be random people with magical and circus skills... but nah.

Anyway, I was going to work on a trick-or-treating story, and by the end of the day I had a couple pages on Sakaki and Mihoshi not trick or treating. I think my problem is too many ideas outstripping my ability to write them all down.

[robkelk]

Can't argue with anything you've said there, Brent.

Speaking of the trick-or-treating - I've been looking for ideas for costumes for some of the NPC displacees. Found this. Ms. Carroll might get upset, so... no.

EDIT: Okay, I found Tsumugi's outfit. Don't know whether she's supposed to be somebody in particular or just dressing up, but IMHO she's lovely in that outfit. RE-EDIT: Found more, which I've listed on the wiki

[Labster]

Trick or treating is turning out much funner than I expected. I didn't post anything about that, but I did post my Mihoshi and Sakaki scene to the wiki. Please check that to make sure that Mihoshi is in character -- I just watched an hour of Tenchi Muyo to refresh my memory, but it's been a long time.

[robkelk]

Oh, yes: since I was beginning to lose track, I started a list of who's wearing what to the Halloween party. Feel free to add to it.

I seem to notice that you've lent me all the characters for which you didn't choose a costume.

I've done some work on that - everybody from Blossom save for Luna, Artemis, and Diana has costumes now.

It took me a while to come up with something for Kazari, but I just discovered that 初春 can be read as either "Uiharu" (her name) or "Hatsuharu" (one of the Kantai Collection girls). So... costume.

[Labster]

Apropos of nothing, I'd just like to let you all know that Astronauts have been looking for bunny girls in space since Apollo 11.

If the mooncats need a costume, I'm sure Aria has a extra supply of hats.

[Black Aeronaut]

Just got around to reading the last Status Update. I can't say that I'm happy about this, but I can't say that I'm surprised either.

I feel that we'd be missing out if we relegated that location as an NPC house, so if it's fine for everyone else, I can go ahead and 'adopt' the residents and do a bit of retconning on my end to cram the Evangelion crew between the Tenchi group and the FMP group.

Firefly I'll simply do next. In fact, it'll probably be the perfect 'Ninja kick down the door' moment to follow up FMP with.

Seriously, if anyone has any issues, please voice them.

[Labster]

In Ravjik's farewell message, he kinda brings up a good point -- the people he picked are not going to be all that happy about the political direction of the setting.

Some of our characters are more in the conservative camp. I think Haruka and Michiru are, and most of the cast of Firefly would be (except possibly Inara and Shepard Book (sometimes)). The crew of Serenity is going to be as unhappy with the Federation or the Moon Kingdom or Jurai as they were with the Alliance. Evangelion -- I don't even know where they are. The residents of my own house are mostly in the politically apathetic column, with a few exceptions.

If we're going to create a real postmodern setting, it needs to have a decent amount of disagreement. I think Arc 1 is something of a honeymoon period -- things will get weirder as we go on. We'll need people to disagree with the direction of things that aren't antagonists. The degree to which we're taking things in a monarchical direction should be concerning to quite a few people.

On your plan though, I'm okay with you taking on more residents.

[robkelk]

Blossom is full. Overfull, in fact. That said, we need to keep dissenting voices in the setting.

First, it's realistic.

Less importantly, I have a half-formed idea for Arc 2 or 3 where Usagi approaches various people to be in her cabinet - and gets surprised when many of them refuse for various reasons. At least one will refuse because they don't agree with her politics... but that doesn't work if everybody agrees with her politics.

[Rajvik]

Part of why I was bowing out was respect simply because I didn't want to bring in current politics to the story. Honestly the way I had things envisioned was just about the entire GSR laughing their asses off at the election night meltdown, really only a few unhappy with the election as it stood. (Ritsuko/Maya/Simon)

Its the politics of the intervening two years that i could see supercharging Mal and Zoe into talk of the Browncoat war and the parallels between the alliance and the democrat party.

In short, the muse IS throwing stuff out there, but at the same time, I am being polite by not running with it

[Labster]

That's actually kinda hilarious because the Alliance is associated with the Republican Party by design.  The Republican Party of the 1860s to 1880s, of course.  It's actually kinda nice that we get Western fiction that isn't about Cowboys versus Indians these days.  In the Old West, there were a lot of problems that originated from the Civil War, the primary one being too many people trained to kill combined with a healthy dose of PTSDs.  And a lot of former Confederates got the short end of the stick in the Reconstruction era, both from government and from other veterans.  But, as Basil Fawlty would say, "They started it when they attacked Fort Sumter."

I was tempted to have a storyline of Tomo supporting Trump and getting the MAGA hat and all, just to annoy the people around her.  Come November, "What?  I didn't think he'd actually win!"  I've rejected the idea though, first because they're all too busy to worry about politics, second because it possibly crosses one of Tomo's lines for out-of-bounds topics, and third because the bit would get stale after the first day, and therefore she would reject it.

But in the long run of our story, the current state of American politics is going to blown up by crises, the likes of which we haven't seen in the past two years of real history.

---

I noticed that in Bob's place, Rayearth peeps are listed as being around, and maybe even coming to the party?  Two notes -- maybe we want to trim who's going to be at the party, as we're nearing Eyrie territory where the cast list is over 200 lines.  Maybe they could just enter the story later?

The other note is that Clef's bestow magic spell is kind of a big deal, and might change a lot of things.  Would it work on everyone?  Would it work on Tomoyo?  Or Brent?  Or is it just kind of a shortcut that unlocks innate magic that could have been developed anyway.