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

[Labster]

You know, I actually rewatched Nadesico with the intent of bringing them into my story, because hey, more Martians.  And, nope.  It's not happening, because I had trouble connecting to the characters as an author.  It's fun enough to watch, but ultimately it's a show about the plot more than the characters.  Ruri, Inez, Yurika and Akito are strong enough characters, but outside of their story's context, what are they like as people?  So I'm down to the first two of that list; they will be the same wherever they are.  (As we were talking about the H-sense above, Inez has "exposition"-sense.  "Did someone say "setsumei?")

Actually, I was talking about this lovely lady.  Invents stuff 50 years ahead of her time, check.  Understands Atlantean technology, check.  Manages to steal the show that is named after a different character, check.

So the question Myuuzu-chan asked me really means, can you make a crossover between Fushigi no Umi no Nadia and Stargate?  By the way, as far as I can tell, the only crossover English language that includes both sources is Undocumented Features.  And for Stargate, just barely.  Both of these stories have a spacefaring Atlantis, so why hasn't this happened yet?

The circus reference was that Nadia is a circus performer, and if I'm adding the Kaleido Stage, that's kind of an obvious place for her to show up.  Really, if you haven't seen Nadia, do check it out.   It's Hideaki Anno before he went nuts, so it's pretty good (excepting the filler arc, of course).

[robkelk]

Am I the only person who actually liked didn't dislike the filler arc?

And, yeah, I think Nadia has a the Ancient technology activation gene. After all,

Spoiler

She's the last full-blooded Atlantean, so by Stargate cosmology she is an Ancient.

I think.

As for the Nadesico, I'd prefer to have it show up in a docking bay in Starbase 1, just so the Federation can experience the weirdness of displacement first-hand. So, Arc 2.

[Labster]

The more I work on the Halloween story, the more it seems like I'm writing around a few themes. Like nobility with Tomo, and fairy tales with Akari, and gender roles with the kid. Those should be pretty unusual together, I mean… Oh for fuck's sake, I'm writing Utena, aren't I. Dammit.

I'm just going to post my embarrassingly incomplete draft on the wiki so you can have some idea what I'm talking about.

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh for fuck's sake, I'm writing Utena, aren't I.  Dammit.

PFffft!

Don't worry, Brent.  It's more than I've contributed so far. 

[robkelk]

And I see you're looking for some place to trick-or-treat. This might help.

[robkelk]

Just thought of something and realized that it needs to go at the very start of the Halloween party thread.


"This isn't going to be a Buffy Halloween party, is it?"

"Oh, I hope not."

After a moment, Rob replied, "Okay, we'll be there. But I'm still going to show that episode to my girls before they choose their costumes."

EDIT: And riffing off of that leads to Kazari getting a power-up. See the wiki for details.

[Labster]

And I see you're looking for some place to trick-or-treat. This might help.

So you did notice my lack of geographic information.  It would helpful if I got an idea of what the neighborhood was like near Westwood.  The description in the first story doesn't match the satellite imagery of the Westwood Apartments I see on the NW end of San Antonio. "MULTIVESES'S" is a typo.  I'm having a hard time visualizing the inside of the complex too, which is why I really don't know much about where the party is taking place, or how rooms are connected.

And the wiki has "Westwoods Apartments".  And the first story has "Westfield Apartments".

[robkelk]

Considering how many names BA's given the place, I'm tempted to global-rename it to "Westworld"... I think "Westwoods" is the right name.

[Labster]

Oh, is it still open to renaming?  How about Westchester Penthouse Inhabitations.  WPI sounds like a great place to set a story.

[Norgarth]

Oh, is it still open to renaming?  How about Westchester Penthouse Inhabitations.  WPI sounds like a great place to set a story.

nice one.

[robkelk]

Just tossed a couple of scenelets onto the Halloween party - Fujitaka/Rei Hino and Alicia/Makoto - and added a couple of lines to the "getting ready to trick-or-treat" scene.

[Labster]

Found a couple American dishes for Aria House's new chef, Taeko.

I am having a little trouble thinking of plots for Ai Yori Aoshi, though. Most of my characters have ambition for something. For Kagura it's athletics, for Sakaki it's protecting cute animals, for Akari it's experiencing life, for Akira it's perfecting her trade, for Shaoran it's being strong enough to protect his girl, and for Tomoyo it's to make the world a cuter, more loving place.

For AiAo characters it's really difficult to say what their ambition is -- collapse the star-crossed romance and the goals look pretty thin. Kaoru and Aoi want to be a perfectly ordinary married couple in moving down to the middle class, which is pretty easy to offer by getting their families out of the way. Tina wants moar boobs, and we have plenty of them in Aria House, okay. Taeko wants, uh, a college degree? Miyabi wants Aoi to be happy, and maybe to be good at business? Mayu wants Kaoru, but that's not happening so it's a big question mark. The only one I feel more from is Chika, she tries really hard at school and in swimming and to impress her friends, so I'm sure I can pivot that to ambition about something.

I'm sure someone will suggest a Jurai marriage but I can't see the alpha couple wanting that without pushing them into OOC territory.

[robkelk]

Yeah, that's a tricky household to write about. And, yeah, polyamoury isn't in-character for them.

Taeko wants to be a housekeeper and a photographer. That's an unusual combination of professions.

Taeko also wants Kaoru... so she and Mayu will need to learn to live with disappointment. Tina, too, although she seems to have already figured out Karou and Aoi's relationship. (Aoi calls everybody "-san" except for "Karou-sama", Karou calls everyone "-san" except for "Aoi-chan", Miyabi calls everybody "-san" except "Aoi-sama" and "Karou-dono", and nobody else notices this? I guess denial isn't just a river in Egypt.)

[Labster]

The manga end for AiAo shows what happens like four years later, and how people have moved on and are still friends after Aoi and Kaoru's marriage. Everyone except Mayu, who is still in love with Kaoru and hasn't given up on him. And even in married life, Aoi calls her husband "Kaoru-sama".

The wild card here is Tomoyo. She's emotionally mature enough to celebrate the love of her life loving someone else. This means that she's more emotionally mature than her mother... or even Belldandy. It will take her all of 10 minutes with the AiAo cast to realize that Aoi and Kaoru are each other's "most important person", and that the whole group needs each other for emotional support. I just don't know what she does next. My IRL wisdom score is super low, so I have to emulate it with intelligence and that takes a really long time. I know Tomoyo prefers the delicate approach, but in a story I shared with Rob, she takes the clue-by-four to Yomi. But given Yomi's self-esteem and hardheadedness, that was the right approach. But I have a reasonably complete mental model of Yomi, so choosing the "right" solution is easier there.

All of that is to say that in terms of promoting happiness and loving relationships, Tomoyo Daidouji is a being of terrifying power.

And of course, Tina likes photography, but what about cinematography? And Taeko doesn't mind dressing up in random costumes. And Ken Robbins would make a decent gaffer. Maybe there is the start of a plan here.

[robkelk]

I finally got around to writing the scene in the Halloween Party story where the girls from Ottawa arrive in San Antonio, and thought I'd share it with folks who don't have wiki accounts.

---

"Welcome to San Antonio, ladies." Ben took a quick look at the group from Ottawa. "Where's Rob?"

"He stayed behind to hand out the treats. He'll be along when they run out. I'm Mii Konori; pleased to meet you."

"Ben Rhodes." They shook hands. "Please, everyone, come in and meet my long-term guests."

(Need some costume descriptions on the next line - but BA hasn't provided any yet.)

Once inside the party room, the guests from Ottawa saw more than a few colorfully-costumed people. Usagi looked around, smiling politely. "Oh, I love that costume! And that one, and - MAMO-CHAN!!!"

As Usagi raced over to Mamoru, Ben chuckled and Minako turned to Ami. "Okay, who had 'As soon as she saw him' in the pool?"

Ami pulled out the Mercury Computer. "All four of us, Ruiko-san, Tomoyo-chan, Tomo-san, Sakaki-san, -"

"Really?"

"I suppose she's a romantic at heart. Chiyo-chan, Sasami-chan, Mihoshi-san, Noike-san, Kaname-san, Chihiro-san, and of course Washuu-chan. Oh, and Rob-san."

"So we get favors from everybody else?" Minako grinned. "I know what I want from Tenchi-san..." Ayeka and Ryoko both glared at Minako. "... but I think I'll think of something else instead."

"Tenchi-san didn't play."

"Oh. I guess that's a good thing."

---

If writers think other characters should be on that list, feel free to add them...

[Labster]

Brent bet on "after the youma attack".  But he's the kind of person who would bet on the Gadget igniting the whole atmosphere at Trinity.

And in the other thread, apparently I'm the only person in the world to think of a crossover with Star Trek and Twin Peaks. That's exciting.  BOB would make an excellent pah-wraith, guy just loves fire.

While it might be fun to have some Twin Peaks residents in our apartment buildings, I'm not sure.  It might be more fun to have the whole town just appear.  Maybe reported by a Blue Blazer who drives through, "It's like the town was stuck in the 1980s.  They have a movie rental shop full of VHS -- spooky!  Best damn coffee, though."

[Labster]

... though Audrey Horne, man.  A vamp with a pure heart and sense of adventure.  She'd be great.

Around about the time I was writing that Twin Peaks story, and also wondering if Sakura's Light card could do a Starlight Breaker, I started thinking about what direction I'd want to take my SI.  I'm starting to think he should become a specialist in using different magic systems, or maybe the word generalist is more appropriate.  Call it the Anything Goes School of Arcane Arts. (Don't call it that.)   I as an author spend enough time thinking about magical theory that maybe this would be a good direction for me to go off in.  (Did you know: the four classical elements (????) are actually abstractions for the four forces of nature, (W⁺ɣGg)?)

Most magic users tend to adopt one or two styles, with the few combinations looking like Belkan/Midchildan, Potions/Charms, or arcane/belief in Banjo.  This is mainly due to writers not wanting to come up with dozens of magic systems.  But since we're borrowing them from others, someone has to try mixing all of them together.

I'm not thinking of upstaging Sakura who is also a magical generalist; she will still use magic through the medium of her cards.  Maybe Brent will have a couple weak cards, and a Device, and do a little faith healing, and possibly a Caster gun.

[Bob Schroeck]

The four classical elements are also symbolic of the four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and plasma.

[Labster]

Happy Twintails Day, everyone!

For our twintailed girl, Chiyo-chan, how about Halloween dressed as Nanoha Takamachi? (Though I have to admit, Chiyobits was a cute idea too.)

The four classical elements are also symbolic of the four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and plasma.

In a lot of ways, that's a more obvious comparison.  But it also suffers from the the problem that there are a lot more than four states of matter, even a couple that are in your house: glass and liquid crystal.  OK, I guess maybe you can look at this like the paraelemental planes, but it's a little harder to shoehorn in degenerate matter, Bose-Einstein condensates, and whatever dark matter is.  Then again, I'm eliding over W/Z differences and the chromodynamics of the strong nuclear force too.

[Labster]

Rob, if you still want Sakura to twin up some buildings for some Misaka sisters, just a reminder that we don't have to start with apartments. (also available in wtf image thread form)

[robkelk]

Happy Twintails Day, everyone!

For our twintailed girl, Chiyo-chan, how about Halloween dressed as Nanoha Takamachi? ...

And if Nanoha herself shows up...?

(Although that's one reason why Makoto and Mikoto are dressing up as each other - if somebody else dresses up as another guest, they won't be the only ones.)

Rob, if you still want Sakura to twin up some buildings for some Misaka sisters, just a reminder that we don't have to start with apartments.  (also available in wtf image thread form)

Creepy... "tenement castles". But maybe they'd make for a good set of (to use the Fenspace term) Unreal Estate.

[robkelk]

Note to self, for when everybody else catches up to me.

Makoto will be turning 16 (western counting) in December 2016, and will thus be old enough to work part-time. There's a place in the same mall as the pizza place already mentioned in-story that Makoto would probably love working at: Ichiban Bakery.

Okay, it isn't a cake shop, but (a) the owners are Japanese, (b) they do make pies and tarts, and (c) she has to start somewhere...

[Black Aeronaut]

Snrk.

Rob, it turned your Line Item C into a (c).

When she makes later visits to San Antonio she'll probably like to hit up the Midoriya at least twice each visit to trade stories, recipes, and cooking ideas with the residents there.

[Labster]

Might as well just use ⓐ and ⓑ if you're going to use a ⓒ.  Can you make a soramimi cake for my group, Makoto?

I'm just remembering when Chiyo-chan worked at McDonald's.  She was a high school student, so it must be legal, right?

I haven't been writing lately, because I've been a bit sick and that just gets me feeling down.  I'm trying to cheer myself up, so I'm watching Madoka Magica for the first time. It looks like a really cute anime!

But really, I'm surprised at how well I managed to avoid spoilers.  Really all I knew is that Ep 3 was a Wham episode, but not even what the Wham was.  All I'm going to say is that those classrooms entirely walled off by clear glass look like a recipe for constant disruption, spreading contagiously from class to class.  Pray that Kanako Watanabe from Star Driver never enters this school.  Hopefully I'll have some idea how to write the characters by the end.

[robkelk]

Snrk.

Rob, it turned your Line Item C into a (c).  

Bug report filed.

When she makes later visits to San Antonio she'll probably like to hit up the Midoriya at least twice each visit to trade stories, recipes, and cooking ideas with the residents there.

No doubt...