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

[robkelk]

EDIT: Most of the image posts that used to be here have been moved to the first Images thread. Some replies to those posts are still here.

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Previous planning for Arc 1:

• Thread 1
  
• Thread 2
  
• Thread 3
  
• Thread 4
  
• Thread 5
  
• Thread 6
  

Other planning threads:

• [OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 2 - Crisis on Infinite Earths and [OOC][Info][Plot][Arc 2] Welcome to Sol System...
  
• [OOC][PLOT][Arc 3] Planning for Season 3
  
• [OOC][PLOT] Plotting plots for Season 4
  

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Starting off the new thread with a teaser. Subject to change, but this is probably what it'll look like in the story. Context: Ruiko Saten and Mitsuko Kongo have just been told about the dark underbelly of Academy City.

---

Niiko sat down at the same table as Ruiko and Mitsuko. "Let me tell you about the Level 6 Shift Project, Misaka 10032 states using her serial number for subtle emphasis. I have memories of meeting Accelerator for the first time in the project's headquarters. We were set against each other. I shot him using a pistol provided to me by the project. His ability reflected the bullet back to me, and I died. Or, rather, Misaka 2 died, Misaka 10032 explains quickly."

"You have memories of dying?"

"You have memories of being killed?"

"That is correct, Misaka 10032 replies to both questions simultaneously. I also have memories of cleaning up my dead bodies before going out to be killed myself, Misaka 10032 adds in order to make her earlier situation more clear."

"How long did this go on?" Ruiko asked, unable to hide the horror in her voice.

"The time blurred into a perpetual 'now' for the first 9980 deaths, Misaka 10032 replies. Perhaps it took a few years, Misaka 10032 guesses."

"Is death painful?" asked Mitsuko.

"That depends on the method of dying, Misaka 10032 answers. Misaka 9982 was crushed to death, after having her leg torn off by Accelerator. Misaka 10032 thinks that that was one of the less physically painful deaths, but we will always remember it because Misaka 9982 was the first clone to meet our Original. The worst death that Misaka 10032 remembers is that of Misaka 10031, whose blood flow was instantly reversed by Accelerator's power, causing my heart to explode. No, causing Misaka 10031's heart to explode, Misaka 10032 corrects herself."

"From what you've been saying, surely that was one of the less painful deaths of one of your clones."

"Less painful, perhaps, Misaka 10032 answers Mitsuko. But Misaka 10031 was the Misaka clone who first met Touma Kamijo, Misaka 10032 explains. Her death hurt his soul, Misaka 10032 adds for clarification."

Nobody said anything for a long moment. Finally, Misaka turned to Rob. "The energy accumulator devices that Washuu-chan installed last night are functioning correctly, Niiko Misaka reports. We were able to discharge our accumulated electricity into the receptor grids without any issues, Niiko continues."

"How can you be so calm about remembering having died so many times!?"

She turned back to Ruiko. "Our emotional growth was deliberately stunted, Niiko replies. Last Order - Mimi Misaka - is the only clone with a full set of emotions, Niiko adds."

"Rob-oji..."

"Yes, Rui-chan?"

"Can I live with you even after the megami send everyone else home, please? I never want to go back to Academy City again. Ever."

[Black Aeronaut]

Heavy stuff with the Misaka Sisters there.  I like it and it's been something that's been on my mind on and off - how they would deal with the fact that these girls have experienced so much death.

Also, those K-On! Kemenos are indeed Disgustingly Adorable.  I think it'd be nice to have that as just one piece of art along with several others in an album's booklet.

---

On another note entirely...

So, I've been reading the manga version of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

And I gotta say, the anime ended right before shit started to get REAL interesting.

For one thing, recall that Shouta's father is the president of the software company that Kobayashi works at, and that the man is supposed to be a mage.

Funny thing: the programming language that his company uses exclusively?  It's actually a language for creating magical spells!  (This also explains why Elma was able to pick it up so quickly that she went from being utterly useless to leading project groups in about a month.)

My reasons for wanting to bring in Kobayashi and Company is twofold:

1) FREAKIN' DRAGONS.
2) Software Engineers.

I've had the idea for a while now that a number of residents can take up programming as a trade to earn money.  It's an honest gig, they can work from home, and it pays well.  The only thing that had me stymied was how would everyone learn computer programing.  And then I learned that interesting tidbit from the Dragon Maid manga.

They can start out in San Antonio, as it'd probably be the best place for them...  But from the Doylist perspective, I can't have them there - it'd throw a monkeywrench into a good number of plots I have going because Toohru and her friends are OP as fuck, after all.  So the Watsonian explanation for them not being around would be this: right after teaching people at Westwoods how to use their programming language, Kobayashi, et al, began a tour going from one apartment complex to another to do the same for others.

Whatcha guys think?

[Bob Schroeck]

I like it. And my counterpart at Douglass Gardens is going to both be all over that programming language, and suspect very strongly that it's somehow tied to the Unified Theory of Magic, if that turns out to be more than the product of his own imagination.

Also, we should probably note in the various character pages' "metacontinuity powerups" sections if/when those characters learn this language.

[robkelk]

And I can see them making an extended stopover in Ottawa, for two reasons.

First, to undo the damage that Academy City's esper training program did to Ruiko and Kazari. Once you've been trained to be an esper, attempting any magic will kill you (unless, like Tsuchimikado, your esper power is regeneration). I can't help but think that the Level 0s in Academy City would have been able to become mages powerful enough to cause problems for Aleister if they had been allowed to develop their abilities normally. (Yeah, headcanon, but it explains so much about why Academy City would invest all that effort training people that they know aren't going to be able to actually use esper powers, or as in Kazari's case only be able to use the most trivial aspect of their powers.) And, once it's safe for her to use it, Kazari would be all over software technomagic.

Second, to teach Piffle how to make Persocom mages.

Training software engineers will be an afterthought here...

Also, we should probably note in the various character pages' "metacontinuity powerups" sections if/when those characters learn this language.

That's what the section is there for, after all.

[Black Aeronaut]

Okay then, I'll get started on things with the Dragon Maid crew.

One little thing that will be different - spoilered if you haven't read the manga...

Spoiler

At some point, it turns out that Kobayashi does have magical power available to her, but she blows it all and burns it out permanently in order to deal with some ass hole.  Not that she felt it was a big loss - she didn't really want that kind of power.

But here?  Leeeeet's just say that she's got it back... with a bit of interest.  Sorry Kobayashi-san, but the ones who don't want power are often the best ones to wield it. 

[Black Aeronaut]

And now I need to find something Disgustingly Adorable so that I can change mental gears.

(goes and looks)

This'll do:


(Source)

That needs to be a candid photo hanging up somewhere at Blossom - that at some point, someone manage to catch Kazari at juuust the right moment...

Calling it now: at Westwoods, there'll be a bulletin board titled "DISGUSTINGLY ADORABLE" where the residents are encouraged to snap candid shots of the others at their most adorable, and post them on the board.

[Bob Schroeck]

...or post the cutest fan art of other residents they come across on the Internet.

I'm calling it now... Yui has a wall of her room plastered with K-On! fan art after only a week.

[Black Aeronaut]

Even better would be coming up with shorts to go with all of these 'photos'. 

---

It was an odd quirk of life at Westwoods.  When everyone else was having lunch, it was breakfast time for Benjamin.  He insisted, though, that if he was going to be anyone's guest for lunch that no special treatment be afforded to him.  He was the farthest thing from being a picky eater, especially since his fusion with Squishy set incredible demands for his caloric intake.

"Benjamin?" said Nanoha suddenly.

"Yes?" he responded from his truly huge pile of sandwiches - all of them an assortment of tuna fish salad, chicken salad, and egg salad.  And it was a pile that he was somehow making disappear as quickly as a hungry Saiya-jin, and yet doing so in a fashion that still seemed somehow well mannered and polite.  Of course, his mother-granted title of "Mouth the Size of Texas" meant that he made a bite that was absolutely enormous for one person seem normal for him.

"If this is Texas, then where are all the farms?"

Ben chuckled at that.  Oh, to be young!

"Nanoha, my little love?  Texas has so many natural resources that if it were legally possible for the state to secede from the union, we'd have no trouble at all sustaining ourselves.  Food, petroleum, cotton, lumber, minerals?  When it comes to the all the necesities, you name it, we got it.  And the few we don't have we can easily produce enough other goods to trade for.  So the reason why you're not seeing many farms is because there are other things going on as well.

"Besides, this is San Antonio.  While we do have one heckuva stockade show and rodeo, we're more about manufacturing and commerce."

"So you mean there are farms?  Just not many that are nearby?"

"More or less.  But if you really want to see one, I can see about finding one we can visit."

"I would love that!" cried out the little blue-eyed red-head happily.  "What about you, Fate?"

"I think I would like to see one, too."

"Me too!" piped up Alicia.

Ben couldn't help but smile.  His new family gave him so much happiness that doing things to make them happy in return came so naturally to him.

"Alright, girls.  Give me a day or two to find one, and I'll let you know."

##

".... Uhm..." said Ben, taking in the odd tableau of Nanoha and Fate getting absolutely dogpiled by chicks.

"Yeah, don't ask me why," said Kurtz Webber, "but for some reason they're chick magnets."

".... Washu-chan?  Can you pass me that paper fan, please?"

(I probably shouldn't be reading through the comments section - even on Safebooru.    )

Oh, and this will probably be how Ben gets presented with Reinforce 2.1...

"It's dangerous to go alone," said Hayate as she offered Ben a small box.  "Take this!"

[robkelk]

Even better would be coming up with shorts to go with all of these 'photos'. 

Fine, fine...


St. Laurent Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, September 11, 2016
2:22 PM ET


It wasn't the largest mall in Ottawa - that honour went to the Rideau Centre, downtown - but it was definitely in the top three.

And Kazari Uiharu had become lost in it.

"It's mostly a straight line, with just a few branches," Rob Donaldson had said. No, that smaller mall at Billings Bridge (which wasn't as small as Donaldson-san had made it out to be) was mostly a straight line. Sure, there was one long run here, but it had more branches off that line than she had been ready for. And there was more than one level - but not consistently, except for ground level. Sometimes she had to head up, sometimes she had to head down, and the sections weren't always connected to each other.

How was she going to find everyone else?

Then she realized that she could smell something cooking. Of course a mall this size would have a food court... and if there was food available some place, Konori-sempai would probably find that place. Then she could find her supervisor from Judgment branch 177, and they could be lost together - or, better yet, they could be not lost, together.

She looked around, but couldn't spot the food court. Then she thought to look up.

One escalator ride and she was there. She took a quick look around and failed to see anything she recognized except for The Colonel. Then she realized that she was hungry... and there was a crepe stand right beside the escalators.

Looking at the list of flavours posted behind the counter, she saw something she didn't recognize. "Strawberry... maple?"

"Coming right up!"

"Oh!" Well, she was committed to it now. "Thank you."

A few minutes later, she was a few dollars poorer and the owner of a strawberry-maple crepe. She stepped aside and took a bite.

It was good.

Then somebody took a photo of her. "Hey!"

"You look like you really like that crepe, Uiharu-san," the photographer - Mii Konori - said with some amusement.

"I do, I do!" Then she realized who she was talking with. "And am I glad to see you! I thought I'd have to call for somebody to come find me."

Mii smiled. "I finished my shopping for the day. Why don't we wait for everyone else here?"

Kazari smiled. Even in a different universe altogether, some things never changed.

[Bob Schroeck]

Since my work's VPN blocks Safebooru I'm not going to be able to look at those until tonight, but I thank you in advance.

[robkelk]

On another note entirely...

So, I've been reading the manga version of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

And I gotta say, the anime ended right before shit started to get REAL interesting.

For one thing, recall that Shouta's father is the president of the software company that Kobayashi works at, and that the man is supposed to be a mage.

Funny thing: the programming language that his company uses exclusively?  It's actually a language for creating magical spells!  (This also explains why Elma was able to pick it up so quickly that she went from being utterly useless to leading project groups in about a month.)

My reasons for wanting to bring in Kobayashi and Company is twofold:

1) FREAKIN' DRAGONS.
2) Software Engineers.

I've had the idea for a while now that a number of residents can take up programming as a trade to earn money.  It's an honest gig, they can work from home, and it pays well.  The only thing that had me stymied was how would everyone learn computer programing.  And then I learned that interesting tidbit from the Dragon Maid manga.

They can start out in San Antonio, as it'd probably be the best place for them...  But from the Doylist perspective, I can't have them there - it'd throw a monkeywrench into a good number of plots I have going because Toohru and her friends are OP as fuck, after all.  So the Watsonian explanation for them not being around would be this: right after teaching people at Westwoods how to use their programming language, Kobayashi, et al, began a tour going from one apartment complex to another to do the same for others.

Whatcha guys think?

I like it.  And my counterpart at Douglass Gardens is going to both be all over that programming language, and suspect very strongly that it's somehow tied to the Unified Theory of Magic, if that turns out to be more than the product of his own imagination.

Also, we should probably note in the various character pages' "metacontinuity powerups" sections if/when those characters learn this language.

And I can see them making an extended stopover in Ottawa, for two reasons.

First, to undo the damage that Academy City's esper training program did to Ruiko and Kazari. Once you've been trained to be an esper, attempting any magic will kill you (unless, like Tsuchimikado, your esper power is regeneration). I can't help but think that the Level 0s in Academy City would have been able to become mages powerful enough to cause problems for Aleister if they had been allowed to develop their abilities normally. (Yeah, headcanon, but it explains so much about why Academy City would invest all that effort training people that they know aren't going to be able to actually use esper powers, or as in Kazari's case only be able to use the most trivial aspect of their powers.) And, once it's safe for her to use it, Kazari would be all over software technomagic.

Second, to teach Piffle how to make Persocom mages.

Training software engineers will be an afterthought here...

Putting all of this together with something else we've already decided we want to do (wiki link)...

When do these folks show up in Ottawa? The sooner they work with Piffle, Washuu, Gil, and Lindy, the sooner we get this:

Oh, and this will probably be how Ben gets presented with Reinforce 2.1...

"It's dangerous to go alone," said Hayate as she offered Ben a small box.  "Take this!"

EDIT: You know, we can slot in Kobayashi &co.'s visit to Ottawa almost anywhere after the skating party. Want to have them show up in the Metacontinuity just in time for the 2016 Xmas party, then visit Blossom in February? Then Ben gets Reinforce 2.1 for White Day.

[robkelk]

And now I'm drawing another previously-shared idea into this: One of Piffle's "palmtop Taiga" models as a Unison Device for one of the shorter female displacees, turning her into a cute bruiser with magical attacks.

But who's short enough to fit the bill, doesn't already have magical attacks, and would want the chance to find out what it's like to be a magical girl warrior? Anyone? Anyone? (deliberately does not look in Tomo's direction) Anybody at all?

[robkelk]

So... Ruiko's getting a mecha for Christmas 2016. Says so in the Halloween Party story.

And she lives in the same building as Usagi.

I refer people to this post by Bob.

[Labster]

Sakura's going to make a Spiral card.  I think you can guess what that does.  I do kind of wonder what it looks like, maybe Rayearth with two faces?  In card form, maybe he looks like an ammonite.

On software engineering, if magic is really written in it, and this comic is at all true...

... then we can always use my friend Larry Wall as a character.  Besides being the person who shepherded Perl and Raku and patch into being, he's also an anime fan.  And I've heard him discussed at the conferences as Saint Larry in a way that wasn't really a joke.

[Black Aeronaut]

When do these folks show up in Ottawa? The sooner they work with Piffle, Washuu, Gil, and Lindy, the sooner we get this:

Oh, and this will probably be how Ben gets presented with Reinforce 2.1...

"It's dangerous to go alone," said Hayate as she offered Ben a small box.  "Take this!"

EDIT: You know, we can slot in Kobayashi &co.'s visit to Ottawa almost anywhere after the skating party. Want to have them show up in the Metacontinuity just in time for the 2016 Xmas party, then visit Blossom in February? Then Ben gets Reinforce 2.1 for White Day.

That sounds good to me.  I'm just glad that everyone seems to love this idea.

And in regards to Reinforce 2.1...  I think you got it backwards, Rob.  Valentines Day in Japan is typically where the girls gift the guys they like with chocolate, and White Day is where the guys return the favor.

But I see what you're getting at, regardless.  Ben receiving something so special from Hayate on a day where people express their love and affection through gifts?  He'd be looking at Belldandy in askance.  And of course, when she nods her head 'Yes!' with a happy smile, Ben knows his life just got a teensy bit more complicated.

And now I'm drawing another previously-shared idea into this: One of Piffle's "palmtop Taiga" models as a Unison Device for one of the shorter female displacees, turning her into a cute bruiser with magical attacks.

But who's short enough to fit the bill, doesn't already have magical attacks, and would want the chance to find out what it's like to be a magical girl warrior? Anyone? Anyone? (deliberately does not look in Tomo's direction) Anybody at all?

Just to get your brains going...  Yet another entry from the "It's Dangerous to Go Alone! Take this." pool.



Remember, folks!  Just because she's biting you doesn't mean she hates you.  She's just having trouble dealing with the intense emotions. 

So... Ruiko's getting a mecha for Christmas 2016. Says so in the Halloween Party story.

And she lives in the same building as Usagi.

I refer people to this post by Bob.

Heh.  This makes me think of Usagi in something like a Hard Suit.

Sakura's going to make a Spiral card.  I think you can guess what that does.  I do kind of wonder what it looks like, maybe Rayearth with two faces?  In card form, maybe he looks like an ammonite.

On software engineering, if magic is really written in it, and this comic is at all true...

... then we can always use my friend Larry Wall as a character.  Besides being the person who shepherded Perl and Raku and patch into being, he's also an anime fan.  And I've heard him discussed at the conferences as Saint Larry in a way that wasn't really a joke.

That sounds like a fun idea!  Let's have him and Kobayashi meet.

[robkelk]

Sakura's going to make a Spiral card.  I think you can guess what that does. 

Hypnosis!

<monotone> "pierce the heavens... pierce the heavens... pierce the heavens... " </monotone>

[Black Aeronaut]

Fun thought.  There's nothing saying that Reinforce 2.1 actually has to be another Reinforce.  What if that was just the name of the project?  What if Reinforce 2.1 was actually Piffle's Taiga Prototype?

(I can almost see Hayate visiting Piffle, and her being shown the test-type personality matrix fitted to a 3D render of Taiga, and Hayate going, "Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Benjamin will ADORE her!"  Vita:  "Haaahh!?  She makes me look cuddly!"  Signum: "Vita, he's very Belkan that way.  He likes strong women."  Zafira: "...I think she might be a bit too strong.")

I mean, who better than Benjamin to test such a hyper-aggressive personality out on?  Once he gets her to mellow out, they'll be better able to calibrate the personality matrix so the production models are still suitably aggressive, but not so much that they're outright attacking their partners.  The attraction is that once you have their love and loyalty, they become dedicated friends and allies.  Although this does mean they'll become very protective over you...

...Although that could make them ideal for being partnered with young, shy, shrinking violets.  Add in a few programs to help encourage more assertive behavior in their partners while coming to their defense in the face of abusive asses...  While Taiga is combative, she's got a soft spot for that kind of person, yeah?

Of course, the perspective buyers will still have to sign a liability waiver stating that Piffle cannot be held liable for the owners acting like idiots and provoking their Taigas into attacking them. 

Added fun: when Aisaka Taiga actually does show up and meets one of the Taiga-units based off of her.
"They made... a little doll out of me!?"
"Oh knock it off you big bimbo!  I get enough flack for being this tiny as it is!"
"HAAAAAAAH!?!?"

Dark side of the story: locating, repairing, and rehabilitating Taiga-units that have been abused by their owners.  Because we all know that there's gonna be shitheads like that running around.  Part of the process may involve "archiving" the past memories of the abuse.  They're still there, but in a compressed format that is not readily readable.  They'll know they're there, and what the contents are, but not being able to readily recall those memories will allow them the chance to move on.

Thoughts?

[robkelk]

That compresses the timeline enough for Ben to get a Taiga persocom for Valentine's Day.

We have to make a few assumptions:

• Somebody at Piffle is smart enough to realize what happened to them without it being explained by a manager (Chitose or Minoru might, but I suspect Zima with his government databases would notice the discrepencies as soon as he went online the first time);
  
• Somebody (Yumi? Yuzuki? Sumomo?) would have to watch Toradora as soon as they realize what's happened, and suggest making a "palmtop Taiga";
  
• Piffle would have to have their rapid-prototyping fabricator (3D printer) online early;
  
• Ottawa has to be Kobayashi &co.'s first stop; and
  
• The Taiga Persocom that Ben gets is the prototype.
  

Which means the Persocom Unison Device that Tomo somebody gets in order to become a magical girl wouldn't be built for a long, long time - definitely not until the beta-testing is completed.

EDIT: As for the "archiving" of memories, that sounds suspiciously like what happened to Freya in Chobits canon.

[robkelk]

Looking for images for the wiki. Did we ever decide what powers Arisa got from her contract with Kuubey?

At worst, there's always Arisa looking cute, looking smug. or eating melon bread for her wiki page image, but she is a Puella Magi in BA's posted story drafts.

The fan artists do love giving her swords (see here, here, here, here, here, and here) or swords and wings (see here, here, and here), but there's always the out-of-left-field choices of broom, mop (or giant calligraphy brush), or light-chainsaw as a weapon.

(And somebody's indulging in some shipping here, pairing the spares.)

Unless somebody's going to do a screencap, that's pretty much it for Safebooru. BA, which one do you like for Arisa?


As for Suzuka, fan artists barely notice her. Unless she's grown-up in StrikerS, part of a group shot, or super-deformed. For Suzuka, it's this sketch or a screencap.

[robkelk]

New chapterette up. Give it a read and you'll know why I've been looking for light-and-fluffy images lately.

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, it's canonical in both Triangle Heart and MGLN that she's American, so Arisa -> Alysa.

I'm starting to wonder where that Eastern Dress costume came from.

Anyhow, I did come up with an great powerset for her: spacial magic. - she can warp space however she needs to, so whatever is near becomes far, whatever is far becomes near, or even create wormholes and the like. She can even create pockets of holding, but they'll be finite, so it's not as broken as Homura's Bottomless Pocket of Holding.

Her weapon is an ornate lever-action rifle with a double-set double-action trigger. Double-Set means is that the gun has what appears to be two triggers. Pulling on the rear trigger will remove all the slack from the firing trigger, making it hair-triggered. The Double-Action part is what's real neat: she doesn't have to use the set trigger.

What this means is that her gun is ideally suited for both close-range gun play and long distance marksmanship. And if nothing else? She won't be afraid to go all Gramaton Cleric on someone's ass by using her rifle as a melee weapon.

Her costume, I figured, ought to be a Mahou Shoujo version of Annie Oakley's own costume from her younger days of touring with Buffalo Bill. Which means that an officer's cutlass won't be entirely out of place on her. And I do like the wings of fire - looks like it'd make for a good "EX Mode" for her.

[Labster]

As for me, I'm about to start posting my new story, Channeling Mana, as a serial.  I have five or six chapters already done -- the number varies because I'm thinking about splitting chapter 2.  Not that it's too long -- I've just been taken on the idea of writing shorter chapters since reading Cat's Cradle, where Vonnegut mainly uses chapter breaks in the same way a stand-up comic would pause for a laugh.  I think it's going to around thirty chapters by the time it's finished.

Anyway because of I want to start posting, anyone with wiki access who wants to go through and preread what's there would be much appreciated.  Criticism of my writing style or pacing would be fine too.

[robkelk]

Are we still posting cute images?

I think I'm done with that for now that my relatively grimdark chapter is posted, but I won't stop anybody else from continuing.

Goddesses of varying sizes

Oh, hey - official art!

From the epilogue to the "Lord of Terror" storyline -- or, as I think of it, the two-parter where Urd stopped being a flat character and actually started to become the likeable character we know today.

[Labster]

Urd would like to point out that Skuld is the only flat character around her is Skuld.

[robkelk]

I have been stuck on a combat scene for weeks, if not months.

I have finally powered through it, which is why the running count for chapter 4 at the forum top just jumped 11K.  I do have to tie it all off yet, but I think I just bludgeoned the hard part into a manageable paste.

...

And now it's time for me to power through a combat scene here... so I don't know when my next chapter will be up.