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

[Labster]

Because it's fucking hot in Texas in the daytime, and someone wrote the time of the portals opening at 5PM.  Sunset is 6:48 that day.  For reference, tomorrow's forecast shows a temperature of 91°F/32.5°C at 6PM.  Same month.

I don't think the start time is bad.  It's just that people want to arrive early and socialize, perhaps before the costumes come on.  Most of these people only know each other by reputation -- and probably want to meet each other out of costume.  Or rather, in their usual costume. (Although none of the Azumanga girls actually own a school uniform now.)  And since some of us chose heavy costumes.

But I'm helping to organize a conference in Houston now (next June).  Events this big -- last count, 104 people -- need rooms for guests to chill, places for organizers to organize, and at the very least a food service prep area.  You know, unless Rob wants to call in the health department in advance.

So maybe allocate a few rooms for this I guess.  Or maybe an extradimensional space.  It's either that or letting Eskimo Banpei-kun X-4 build us an igloo on in the courtyard.

[Black Aeronaut]

October 31, 2016 wasn't that bad. It peaked at 82°F and then dropped to 72°F by midnight. There was also a bit of a breeze that day. not much, but enough that it was that much more tolerable.

Keep in mind, climate-wise San Antonio strikes the happy-middle. Wetter than El Paso, but not as humid as Houston, and our storms aren't as intense as the ones you get in the DFW Metroplex.

Trust me, it's not that bad. But we can have it that we'll set up portable sunscreens to provide shade and large fans to help with the convection cooling.

Also, dunno how you Californians do things, but if you had health services rolling up on a cook out to police the food service, you'd have a whole lot of angry Texans about ready to physically remove people from the premises. Really, here in San Antonio, the only outdoor cooking they're worried about is the food trucks. So unless it's being catered by a company, private parties are left alone.

Anyhow, a few units will be allocated for food service and movies. But for the most part the party will be outside. Besides, you can't put a smoker inside an apartment. Even at the high-end restaurants, the smoker is always outside.

Source:
https://www.wunderground.com/history/dai...2016-10-31

[robkelk]

At this point, there are still some empty apartments at Westwood, correct? The folks who think 28C (dropping to 22C by midnight) is too hot can relax in one of those.

[Norgarth]

Because it's fucking hot in Texas in the daytime, and someone wrote the time of the portals opening at 5PM.  Sunset is 6:48 that day.  For reference, tomorrow's forecast shows a temperature of 91°F/32.5°C at 6PM.  Same month.

I don't think the start time is bad.  It's just that people want to arrive early and socialize, perhaps before the costumes come on.  Most of these people only know each other by reputation -- and probably want to meet each other out of costume.  Or rather, in their usual costume. (Although none of the Azumanga girls actually own a school uniform now.)  And since some of us chose heavy costumes.

But I'm helping to organize a conference in Houston now (next June).  Events this big -- last count, 104 people -- need rooms for guests to chill, places for organizers to organize, and at the very least a food service prep area.  You know, unless Rob wants to call in the health department in advance.

So maybe allocate a few rooms for this I guess.  Or maybe an extradimensional space.  It's either that or letting Eskimo Banpei-kun X-4 build us an igloo on in the courtyard.

I can see where you are coming from now, but you weren't giving any reasons for why you were looking for an enclosed space, just that you wanted one, 
It's much easier to help problem solve when the problem is explained.

[Labster]

Well, if you read the draft...

Now that I think about it I feel like we had this temperature discussion before, and I just forgot everything because I didn't copy it to the notes, nor did anyone write a good description of the environment when we arrived yet.

Teasing about the health department.

Trust me, it's not that bad. But we can have it that we'll set up portable sunscreens to provide shade and large fans to help with the convection cooling.

A couple canopies, and a couple open ground floor rooms will probably be fine. We all need to get better about writing backgrounds and decorations. Your pictures help.

[Black Aeronaut]

Sorry it took me so long to get those up. I'd just kept forgetting and forgetting to do it when all it takes me is a few minutes with my iPhone.

[Black Aeronaut]

Here's a few more, taken during daylight hours.

A close up of the pool where Ami, Teletha, and Rei Ayanami will earn the collective title, The Mermaids.





A view of the backside of the middle building.



The north end of the west wing.  The unit above is the original office.  Below, there is the laundromat and then the maintenance shop.



Inside the laundromat.  The machines will be replaced with much nicer offerings - large capacity commercial laundromat front-loaders.

[Labster]

That place feels like my college days. Except we never had traffic cones in our laundromat. Or buildings made out of brick -- for obvious reasons.

Aria House is upscale compared to this (and much smaller) The outside looks beat up, of course, but the salt means paint never looks good for long down there.

Thanks for the photos.

A close up of the pool where Ami, Teletha, and Rei Ayanami will earn the collective title, The Mermaids.

Aw, did someone forget to tell Kagura to bring a swimsuit?

[robkelk]

A close up of the pool where Ami, Teletha, and Rei Ayanami will earn the collective title, The Mermaids.

Aw, did someone forget to tell Kagura to bring a swimsuit?

Don't Kagura and Sakaki's costumes count as swimsuits?


More seriously... D-Day minus 25 to Halloween story release.

Still to be done, by section, at minimum:


Preparation for the party

Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, Artemis, Luna, and Diana turning up at the Westwoods doorstep (possibly on their own, possibly brought by Sasami, Chidori, or both, possibly some other way). And are Hotaru and Setsuna with them, or are they still hiding in a bolthole with the opening pulled in behind them?

BA: "I'm going to need to throw in a few smaller bits myself - namely Ben conceiving the idea and pitching it to his residents before pitching it to the other apartment managers."

Rob: Maybe Mamoru &c. showing up is why Ben decides to hold a party?

Selling the party to the displacees

Inviting Dublin, LA, Montreal, and Pensacola, not necessarily in alphabetical order. Inviting Ottawa can go in the middle of the list, if desired.

Rajvik, Dartz, and Brent can write the Pensacola, Dublin, and L.A. invitation scenes, respectively. Rob will have to handle Montreal.


Lower priority: We need a better description of opening the portals to San Antonio. Currently, there's only one sentence. Somebody needs to turn this beige prose purple.

Describe a party room and its decorations here

Since Brent thinks 28C is too hot. This gives BA a chance to describe an apartment decorated for Halloween.


Trick-or-treating & Party setup

Trick or treaters get ready to head out
describe the whole party
(Rob: Is this still necessary, with the return parade describing everyone?)

"Trick or Treat!" at $house.

To describe the neighbourhood and show that not everything this evening is weird or earthshaking. Pick a house.


The Party

This section needs a dozen or so short scenes to separate the longer sections, along the lines of what somebody would overhear when walking to or from the buffet. A few before the trick-or-treaters' return, most after they're back. Use these to establish people are at the party. (Brent, your PM idea can be one of these.)


The trick-or-treaters' return march needs to be brought out of Draft status.

Nanoha and Fate had just arrived on Ben's heels because the Takamachis followed them in their own car.

Sakura and Shaoran are both electric magic users. They'd probably both appreciate a demonstration of things you can do with electricity from people who are better at it.

Rob gets this one, since most of the mages and magical girls are in Canada.

Sakura would be happy to learn magic from anyone, and she's a quick learner. Minako becoming interested in Rin's gem magic. Bling as arsenal?

Or at least as power boosters.

Mikoto and Sosuke express an interest in going up against each other in a mock combat. They ask "why not now?" Ben vetoes doing it outside where the neighbors can hear explosions and lightning bolts, Rob vetoes live ammo, Washuu offers a holosuite "danger room".

Rob gets this one. Even if it kills him.


The After-Party - Grown-ups Only, everyone else is asleep

This section needs at least a half-dozen short scenes to separate the longer sections, along the lines of what somebody would overhear when walking to or from the bar. This is where the more racy stuff goes, since the youngsters other than Chiyo-chan are supposedly asleep.

Akari, Aria, and Maya are elsewhere, so don't include them in any scenes. (And if nobody mentions Usagi or Mamoru during the after-party, well... it's pretty obvious where they've gone off to.)

Mao, Urd, and Ryoko polishing off a case keg of beer between them.

Though I'd be more concerned about what happens to Kurtz once he gets a few drinks in him and makes a pass at both Urd and Ryoko. Ben: "Awww shit. Guys, eyes up just in case we need to take cover."

Am I the only one seeing a drinking contest between Urd, Mihoshi, Ryoko, and Jayne?

Put this before the scene where Kurz makes a pass at Alicia.

DARTZ: [the morality of having sex with any of the 33-Stars] Would be an interesting conversation with Inara, if someone dares to go there.

"Inara and Sylvie sharing pointers in her private chambers?"

----- cut

"Emotionally, that can lead to insecurity and dependance, something that could be dangerous,"

Samhain

Nothing is marked... but until D-Day, everything is still subject to change.


The Next Day

This section needs a few short scenes to separate the longer sections, along the lines of what somebody would overhear from the next table over at breakfast.

[Dartz]

I'd still find it amusing for someone to proposition Meg - maybe after a few drinks and to wake up in the morning in a warmer bed than they expected

[robkelk]

Folks with wiki accounts are invited to read a character writeup for a new-to-the-setting antagonist.

[Rajvik]

Alright, first question is how is this little bit of girl still breathing, you do NOT damage the Railgun's friends

[robkelk]

Alright, first question is how is this little bit of girl still breathing, you do NOT damage the Railgun's friends

Aleister finds her to be useful.

[robkelk]

Well, if you read the draft...

At the moment, only writers and Bob have access to the draft.

---

Here, see for yourselves.

Here's a few more, taken during daylight hours.

Say, BA, would you mind uploading those photos to the wiki? I can code them into a gallery for Westwood, but only if they're there. (This page should be self-documenting... I think. Only one file can be uploaded at a time.)

[Black Aeronaut]

I’ll need to set a reminder, but I can do it later this morning.

I’ll try and get one or two other things done here, but no promises. I’m still very much under the gun.

[Labster]

We have a list of tasks and a deadline, maybe we should get issue-tracking software so we can assign ourselves tasks?

Thinking about it, maybe the costumes are based on swimsuits -- except the boots of course.

@Rajvik and @Dartz maybe your SIs want to hook up for the night?

I have been working on closing breaks between scenes between in the last week or so.  Not sure how useful I'm going to be, my dog has been anorexic for the past ten days and the vets have no idea what is wrong with him.  Really worried about what comes next.  I'm not too hot on spending $2000 on a diagnostic procedure that probably wouldn't find anything anyway -- you know, on a dog.  If only Bernie was President we'd have Medicare for Allsatians.

[Rajvik]

Not touching that Labster, that said ask your vet about Mirtazapine, its an appetite enhancer that I have had to use on my dogs when they didn't want to eat. Then again, depending on the dog's age, it may well have decided that it is that time. If that ends up being the case I am sorry.

As for Darts and my SIs hooking up, I highly doubt it. James would have recognized the others and Kurtz's little scene and realized what was the deal. Mg would have to make the first move as James would be more likely to flirt with Mao and either hook up with her or go to bed alone.

[robkelk]

We have a list of tasks and a deadline, maybe we should get issue-tracking software so we can assign ourselves tasks?

IMHO, installing specialty software for a single task is counterproductive. (Unless we're going to go under the gun for the Christmas Party story as well, in which case it'll be for two tasks... but still not a process-effective use of our time.)

Besides, adding a tool with a deadline this close means changing our workflow to match the tool, and that's contrary to ITIL.

Thinking about it, maybe the costumes are based on swimsuits -- except the boots of course.

@Rajvik and @Dartz maybe your SIs want to hook up for the night?

I have been working on closing breaks between scenes between in the last week or so.  Not sure how useful I'm going to be, my dog has been anorexic for the past ten days and the vets have no idea what is wrong with him.  Really worried about what comes next.  I'm not too hot on spending $2000 on a diagnostic procedure that probably wouldn't find anything anyway -- you know, on a dog.  If only Bernie was President we'd have Medicare for Allsatians.

Ow.

Family comes first.

[Black Aeronaut]

Here, see for yourselves.

Here's a few more, taken during daylight hours.

Say, BA, would you mind uploading those photos to the wiki? I can code them into a gallery for Westwood, but only if they're there. (This page should be self-documenting... I think. Only one file can be uploaded at a time.)

Okay, Rob, they're up.  Sorry it took me a bit longer than it should have - I was dead-tired when I got home this morning. 

[robkelk]

Thanks, BA. They're now in a gallery on the Westwoods page.

[robkelk]

For your consideration: Live Oaks Manor, yet another NPC residence. Thoughts?

Location:

Just outside Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA

History:

The building itself is a displacee. While General Ulysses S. Grant did set up a field command in the area after the Battle of Vicksburg, he was not assisted by an aide-de-camp named James West... at least, not in our history. The episode "The Night of the Lord of Limbo" of The Wild Wild West tells us a different history: that's where Gen. Grant set up his field command in that universe, cutting off a smugglers' route between Texas and the Confederacy, and in the 1870s the house was the terminus for the show's only time-travel story.

So, there's a history of time shenanigans at that location in one universe. When the building itself showed up in the Metacontinuity, that history caused it to snap back all the way to September 11, 2016, the day the first character associated with guarding time appeared in the Metacontinuity. Once it did, in the words of our illustrious concept-creator, "The Goddesses locked that shit down faster than flies on stink"... also locking down other temporal portals including the Time Gates. Thus was Setsuna Meioh / Sailor Pluto knocked out and Hotaru Tomoe / Sailor Saturn needing to use her own healing powers to keep Sailor Pluto alive.

Description:

A large two-story house, with an interior layout identical to the "generic fancy house" set from The Wild Wild West TV show. The first door on the right at the top of the stairs is where the time portal can be accessed. The small room beside that has been refit with running water and is the building's bath suite. The other four suites are bedrooms.

Since it is a "historical" site, alterations are discouraged... but the place does have electricity and running water.

Occupants:

Suite 1: Setsuna Meioh / Sailor Pluto and Hotaru Tomoe / Sailor Saturn
Suite 2: ?
Suite 3: ?
Suite 4: ?

Each suite could house four people comfortably, if they don't mind being roommates.

[Bob Schroeck]

Suite 2: Dr. Tony Newman and Dr. Douglas Phillips (assuming we're keeping to a theme).

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrm... Gonna be awful hard for me to come up with a GOOD reason for Hotaru and Setsuna to come down to San Antonio if they're over yonder in Mississippi. I can probably think of something... but it will be a while until I can come up with a reason that doesn't sound like an ass-pull.

[Norgarth]

Suite 2:  Dr. Tony Newman and Dr. Douglas Phillips (assuming we're keeping to a theme).

Suite 3: a "Doctor John Smith" and companion(s), who often fiddles with an odd blue box in the backyard...

[Black Aeronaut]

Rob, just got around to that writeup you did for Musujime.  It looks good, but I think that Leonard's interest in the residents at Blossom will be short lived once he finds out that Kaname and Teletha are at Westwoods*.

That is unless you can think of a way he could pit the two groups against each other, or attain some kid of leverage.

Thoughts?

*  This is going to be relatively soon - probably before the Christmas Party as I intend to have the Puella Magi arc of How I Managed to Quit Worrying and Love the Grief Seed.  Or immediately after?  I know it would be a PITA to add that many characters into the mix so suddenly, even this far out from finishing the story.  I can come up with material, but I want to get the yay or nay from you as you've been doing much of the heavy lifting so far on the Christmas Party.

I'm also gonna need to cook something for a plot involving Leonard.  He will stop at nothing to get Kaname, and I'm pretty sure that from what I've seen in the most recent FMP season that the only reason MITHRIL got axed the way it did was because Leonard went along with it and helped plan the whole thing out.  It was the perfect way for him to bag Kaname.  Once Sousuke had no support from MITHRIL, it was (relatively speaking) easy pickings and he devoted an inordinate amount of resources just to get her.  While AMALGAM certainly did want her, I'm sure they wanted her on their terms and not Leonard's, but he wasn't gonna play ball otherwise.

I have no reason not to believe that he wouldn't do the same here, and once Ben finds out he's on the playing board?  "Alpha Strike" won't do it justice.  Suffice to say, even Sousuke will be impressed.