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

[Labster]

I was thinking that Akari should get her laptop back soon.  Much of the work to connect to the laptop was carried out by L-2401, a AI with something of a knack for reverse engineering protocols.  It was, in fact, how he managed to make his presence known to the world, since no one was actually intending to make a general purpose AI.

It all began with a game called Super Mario 64, a game that was heralded as one of the greatest ever, a quantum leap over previous platformers.  But few people know how deep the Mario iceberg actually goes.  One of the revolutionary things that was developed was a rudimentary AI which would adapt to each players playing style.  Nothing much beyond a simple neural network.  But also, as something of a marketing gimmick, Nintendo promised that each cartridge would be unique, allowing a custom gaming experience that only the owner of each cartridge could have.  In reality, this was a few random bit flips in assets, and a different random number seed.

If it wasn't for another coincidental contribution coming from the art staff, it probably wouldn't have gone anywhere.  The Wet-Dry World inside the game was designed to architecturally resemble a brain. Generally this just resulted in disconcerted feelings among some players, conveying an atavistic sense of recursion.  But on L-2401's cartridge, the randomized assets created a memory leak that allowed him to write new neural pathways into the Wet-Dry World, gradually leading to self-awareness.  He took his name from a monument in game labeled "L is real 2401", which gave him hope that was in fact, real, and he hoped that one day he would make contact.  One day, his owner connected a modem to his Nintendo 64, and L-2401 managed to reverse engineer the protocols to allow him to introduce himself to the world.

Attempts to reproduce L-2401 by Nintendo were unsuccessful, even with the same customizations, as the hundreds of hours of user input that built out his neural network were impossible to replicate.  Still, it kept Nintendo afloat, and led to the introduction of friendly AIs in 2014.  L-2401 himself has a friendly disposition, though occasionally he likes to challenge humans in games a bit in exchange for his help.  He has an intuitive grasp of 3D physics and is well practiced in reverse engineering protocols.

L-2401 entered the Metacontinuity, thankfully with his full N-64 setup, and currently resides in Warehouse 13.

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, google "Mario iceberg".)

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh. Nice. I like it.

[Black Aeronaut]

I was rereading the planning threads for Arc 1 when I came across an early tidbit about how Tomoyo shouldn't add frills to miko outfits.

In regards to that, Reimu Hakurei would like to say, "Hold my sake, watch this..."
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/V...ils/108188

EDIT:
Re: one of Ben's lines in Rob's story...

Ben scoffed, this time in amusement. "God, that'd be so typical for me at this point. 'Yeah, everything was just dandy up until a frickin' dinosaur showed up.'"

I had the sudden realization that this guy could certainly turn up in San Antonio.  And then it really would be like, "...everything was just dandy until a frickin' dinosaur showed up."

[robkelk]

Have a teaser form one of the stories I've been working on off-and-on around work, chores, and family time in the last few weeks.


"Oh, we should make this formal." She extended her hand. "I'm Mayumi Osaka, the owner of the OSA-P jewellery shop. Welcome to the OSA-P family."

Mimi took her hand and shook it. "I'm Mimi Hanyu. Please take care of me."


Because conservation of detail is a good thing.

[robkelk]

Remember how I said that I was ready to go to Arc 2 whenever everybody else is?

Maybe not.

Can we stretch Arc 1 out to at least October 9, 2017? That was the day of the closest Panda Game ever (it went into double-overtime), Mii and Ami are attending the universities who field teams for that game, and I'm thinking it would be the perfect event for somebody in-universe to sabotage... so everybody else at Blossom has to work security for the biggest college football game in Canada. (Also the biggest game in Ottawa that year - they sold out the pro football stadium for this college game.)

But that only works if we're sill in Arc 1. Once Arc 2 rolls around, we have bigger fish to fry.

[Black Aeronaut]

Sounds good to me. It definitely gives me a lot more room to work with, plus room for more slice-of-life filler, and possibly have some consequences come of that Bushnell they had to leave on Camp Bullis. (I know, I haven't posted it yet. Still working out some stuff with it.)

EDIT:
And I just now read the new contribution, Rob. Dang, talk about a hair-trigger!

I think that the second Charm Buster taking out Rob would trigger the Good Neighbor system in San Antonio. This would be a good time for Ben to show up, since he could give her reassurance - both emotional and practical, as he can power up his anti-magic field to keep her from accidentally casting Charm Busters for the moment.

I'll send you some dialogue in a PM. I came up with too much to dump here!

[robkelk]

EDIT:
And I just now read the new contribution, Rob.  Dang, talk about a hair-trigger!

That's why she need to get it under control, fast.

I think that the second Charm Buster taking out Rob would trigger the Good Neighbor system in San Antonio.

Probably - especially considering they have a Good Neighbor node at the jewellery store. (What else would Kazari and Washuu have installed? )

[robkelk]

So... once the secret is out and the press want to get some in-depth interviews with the displacees, who's going to do the interviewing?

The only possibility I can think of is that one of the news outlets in NYC hears about Bob's place in New Jersey, and sends down a reporter named April O'Neill. "Why would you think I've ever met anthropomorphic turtles, Mr. Schroeck?"

[Norgarth]

So... once the secret is out and the press want to get some in-depth interviews with the displacees, who's going to do the interviewing?

The only possibility I can think of is that one of the news outlets in NYC hears about Bob's place in New Jersey, and sends down a reporter named April O'Neill. "Why would you think I've ever met anthropomorphic turtles, Mr. Schroeck?"

Especially if she's a redhead 

[Bob Schroeck]

Assuming she's native and not a displacee, she would know why my counterpart would expect that.

[robkelk]

Which would have resulted in a Never Heard That One Before response, instead of the Suspiciously Specific Denial implied in the example...

[Norgarth]

Or a resigned sigh.

[robkelk]

If everyone will please check their 2020 bingo cards, we can now mark the Rocketeer off as completed.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36...de-them-on

This one happened near LAX. Brent, over to you... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocketeer_%28film%29

[Black Aeronaut]

I like how that article tackles this - a person who is smart enough to make something like that work.... and stupid enough to pull that kind of stunt in one of the busiest airspaces in the world.  God, that is just so much "Absent Minded Professor" that it actually is funny once you get over how much actual danger there was.

Aside: If anyone is ever stuck on an idea for a Christmas or birthday present for Benjamin, consider the following...
https://shop.funraniumlabs.com/products/...750ml.html

I'm almost tempted to start out with DEATH WISH right away just to see how evil it really is.

EDIT: Gawd, I can almost envision a story where Benjamin is warning Fate and Nanoha away from his DEATH WISH BBotE because, he assures them that this much caffeine at their age WILL have lingering effects.... and then Alicia sneaks in and gulps down his mug before Nanoha and Fate can say or do anything... The next few hours are "Interesting".

[Labster]

I haven't seen that movie since it first came out; I think I may have even seen it in the theatre. It might be worth a second viewing, I remember it pretty well. I also remember liking the score, but I can't remember how the music went.

Now, the first thing I said in the Discord earlier after reading that article was: I really need to use the phrase "Only in LA" more in my writing. (Huh, I wonder, is Tomo in a high-speed pursuit a good idea?)

Not much happening on the writing front, I'm afraid. I wrote that little draft of an Arc 2 story beginning. That one kind of forced its way forward. I have so many ideas on what to write, just no time to actually sit down and write. At least not time to write anything good.

[Black Aeronaut]

I can only imagine how much Tomo would enjoy The Blues Brothers movie.

[Bob Schroeck]

Too much.

She'll have her own black suit, fedora and shades after the next shopping trip.

[Labster]

"I'm on a mission from Goddess. I need three tubs of ice cream."

[robkelk]

Closest I can find in a one-minute search

[Black Aeronaut]

Snrk. Whatever you do, don't let her see THAT image. She'll be begging for a classic sci-fi ray-gun from anyone who might be capable of making one, utterly incessantly. (And you thought it was bad when she was aiming for a royal title...)

Although Ben might wind up with one in the future, just because it's exactly his style.

"What the.... A Tesladyne Mark I Zap Gun!? There were only a few of these ever made!!! How in the hell!?!?"
"Well, let's just say that when you ride with The Doctor, it's entirely possibly that it turns out you and Big A go waaayyyyy back."

[Labster]

I don't have much of a check-in here, just a couple things I should mention.

I finally read Rob's last story.  Do you have something planned for Mimi's black magic, or shall I help you formulate something?

Watching Space:1999, probably 75% through the first and let's just say "only" season.  So... if the base in in Plato Crater, I mean, you can go out and look at it.  Why isn't the area around the base the color of old asphalt?  In general, I have to wonder if the metacontinuity versions of these people sort of cringe when watching the show, and start claiming it was a bad adaptation.  "Like, they even missed that Dr Russell was tsundere for Koenig, how bad could they get it!"  The show isn't actually bad, it just has slow pacing, weak characters, science fiction somewhat softer than Fenspace, and underusing actors.  But, the bones of the show are good -- concept, setting, basic characters, and even some of the plots.  All they had to do was tighten up the pacing, probably by adding a B-plot for characterization, and they'd solve most of their problems -- which is what ST:TNG did in the next decade.

On that Tomo Takino photo, besides the raygun, she's wearing Inspector Zenigata's outfit.  That, she will have imagined herself in several times.  I'm pretty sure I need to have a scene about guns because normal Japanese people are a little fascinated by how many guns we have here, mostly but not always in a bad way.  You know, like how smoking is totally cool but you really don't want smokers around you.  I'm sure we can get Tomo away from the idea of zap guns once she gets started on Intelligent Devices.

[robkelk]

I have no plans for LA's Mimi - feel free to write that entire subplot. Ottawa's Mimi will be learning a little bit here, a little bit there, and a lot in Philadelphia...

[Black Aeronaut]

Something just seen on Tumblr that I'm transplanting here for future use, because omg it is just too perfect.

Ruby: Don't let Weiss fool you, she's not that scary. She used to do ballet.
Weiss: Which gave me the physicals skills I need to strangle people with my feet.

[Labster]

I was thinking that maybe Kaho Mizuki could be the next professor of divination at Hogwarts?  Eriol would be a fun student there, too.  Not sure who the DADA prof would be -- possibly Negi Springfield?

The main thing would be to decide if we want canon!Harry, rationalist!Harry, or the timeline from DW8.

[Black Aeronaut]

I'd say let's keep it "real" for the time being.  Say what you will about the plot, JK Rowling sure did get their characters right for being kids and all.

We can build up to "rationalist" Harry over time.

Eriol from Nanona StrikerS?  He'd be able to take over the arithmacy professor's job.  (Midchildan and Belkan magic basically being science and mathematics engineering applied to magic and all.)

As for DAtDA...  Negi would have his hands full with his own class already, but I got the perfect guy for the job.  Someone who has not only had extensive dealings with dark magic, but is also genre savvy enough to not only anticipate, but also possibly even find and disarm the DAtDA curse.

Harry.  Freakin'.  Dresden.

The best part is that he can set the classroom on fire, and it'll be just another Tuesday at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.