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

[robkelk]

BA, I see you've changed the dates on How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love the Grief Seed

This leads to a scheduling conflict: there is no way that Rob's going to miss the annual memorial service, but you have him at San Antonio instead.

The easy fix is to have the girls go home to sleep in their own beds on the night of the 10th, and push the November 11 morning activity to the mid-afternoon, after Friday's classes let out -- which gives me just enough time to tell this story.

[Black Aeronaut]

Ah jeeze.  Thing is, I had no idea about that - I was going by what was on the Calendar.

I guess this means that next time I need to manually check each and every possible story date to make sure.

Though I can't help but feel like this is something that needs to be fixed.  Is there some way of getting links for stories to auto-populate in their appropriate calendar days using the date category tags?

EDIT: Nevermind. Labster told me in the Discord that it could be done, but not easily.

EDIT, THE 2ND: Just shows you how fried I am lately that I forgot to reply in regards to the story. Sure thing, I'll have it patched up in a bit. Still trying to mess around with Scrivener and Pandoc. Current issue: getting it to convert indented, single-return-spaced paragraphs into the not-indented double-return-spaced paragraphs MediWiki prefers.

[Labster]

I was browsing Hacker News today and it had Wikipedia articles relevant to our story.  So apparently in our reality, one of the cofounders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was a Thelemite, and ran the biggest O.T.O. temple in the world in Pasadena, at the Agape Lodge.  The JPL guy, Jack Parsons, never got higher education but really liked lighting stuff on fire.  Anyway, at some point he joins the local Thelemite group, really impresses Aleister Crowley, and eventually he leads the group.  Because they believe in sex magick and wife swapping and stuff, at some point Jack gets involved with his wife's sister, Sara Northrup.  A little while after Crowley's death, Sara gets a divorce.

And then L. Ron Hubbard enters the scene. Seduces Northrup, and convinces Parsons to put a lot of money into a business venture.  Hubbard runs away with the wife and the money, and the temple (basically a craftsman house on Orange Grove (you've seen this street if you've watched the Rose Parade)) had to be sold off.  This was basically the end of the good days for the O.T.O.  Northrup later marries Hubbard, and eventually was able to get a divorce from him after he kidnapped her and her child.

Point being: if Aleister Crowley ends up on our universe, he is not going to like the Scientologists. And I have an interesting setting in the LA area to use.

[Black Aeronaut]

I say, Go For It.

And if Crowley loved Jack Parsons for being a guy that liked to set shit on fire and had an interest in the occult, then he'll probably love Ben.  He does what Parsons did, but with antimatter and gamma ray lasers!  Wheeee!

He'd also probably appreciate Ben's anti-magic field because it'd make it easy to weed out charlatans.  How?  Have Ben crank up his AMF and if the "magic" doesn't fall apart, then it isn't real. 

[robkelk]

Point being: if Aleister Crowley ends up on our universe, he is not going to like the Scientologists. And I have an interesting setting in the LA area to use.

Well, we have an anime version of Aleister Crowley (complete with Aiwass in tow) due to show up just in time for The Academy City Job... but he might not be who you meant.

[Labster]

Yeah, that one. I do like it when villains go on side-quests. Why should the heroes have all of the fun derailing the campaign?

[Black Aeronaut]

I know, I know - I really should be working on finishing that story that I had to tell you The Big Raid first so you'd understand the current story. But the muse insisted on me working on the next story not counting Valentine's Day... so have a teaser snippet.

---

This must be what Skuld was hinting at, Rob thought. "Are you sure I'm the right person to help you?"

"Our procedures say that we should call you if any aircraft identify themselves as flying out of GAK. We don't even know where that airport is, Mr. Donaldson."

From her reaction, Maika knew - she reached over and muted Rob's phone. "GAK is short for 'Gakkou', Japanese for 'Academy'. It's the IATA code for Academy City's airport."

"Oh, boy." Rob unmuted the phone. "Sorry for the delay, Ms. Smith. Yes, I'm the right person to call about this. Does the aircraft's transponder tell us anything else about the plane?"

"It's an executive jet, and it can make Ottawa but not Montreal or Toronto."

"So it has to land here. Can you divert it to CYRO, please?"

"Will do, Mr. Donaldson. It'll be on the ground in an hour."

"Oh, good - I can get there before they will. Thank you, Ms. Smith. Please call me again if something happens."

"Again, will do. Good-bye, Mr. Donaldson, and thank you."

"Good-bye, and you're welcome." He hung up the phone, then texted Kazari and the techs at Piffle: "I need to get in contact with the occupants of an aircraft in flight, right now. It's the one with the transponder signalling it's flying out of GAK. Can you help?"

Something that may be of use for your writing, here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-pan

This is basically how you declare a "non-emergency but urgent" situation where there is no immediate dangers to ship, crew, or passengers.

[robkelk]

Wiki work? More "Douglass Gardens Sessions" faux album covers? Hey, maybe I should pay some attention to actually writing...

Have a teaser.

---

"Worry about that later," Rob replied as he pulled out his Blackberry Passport. "Right now, we need reinforcements. I'll connect to Haruka and Michiru's Good Neighbour System and leave an emergency message... fuck. Where the Hell is their Good Neighbour System?" he demanded angrily, no longer caring that there were ladies present. After a quick moment, he gave up looking for it. "I'll bet it's still in the goddamned boxes we gave it to them in just after Calabogie. I'm sending an emergency message to Blossom." He quickly typed out what he knew of the situation, included their GPS coordinates, and sent it to their home base as a priority 2 call for help.

What he forgot was that priority 2 calls for help go to all nodes in the Good Neighbour System.

---

Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
February 12, 2017
9:55 AM Eastern Time


"Rob's in trouble," Kazari announced.

Two minutes later, five Sailor Senshi were holding each other's hands and being held tightly by five of their apartment-mates. "Sailor TELEPORT!"

Kazari watched them disappear,

---

Live Oaks Manor, Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA
February 12, 2017
8:55 AM Central Time


Jenny looked at the message and swore to herself. "All of the time machines we have parked here, and nobody can make it there in time because none of them work!"

"It hardly matters," Harold replied. Before she could protest, he added, "Considering the reports of the sheer magnitude of energies those people toss around, nobody here is strong enough to take part in their battle. Not even my wife."

---

Club Lofts, Windsor, ON, Canada
February 12, 2017
9:55 AM Eastern Time


Mahoro's brooch started flashing. Squeezing it gently, she said, "What's wrong?"

"Trouble near Ottawa - a possible high-level esper battle," Hokaze's voice replied from the brooch. "I have coordinates."

Minawa looked up from the clean laundry that she was folding. "Can we get there in time to be able to help?"

Ryuga nodded. "I can use the Saint hardware that we have here to open a gateway to those coordinates, but either I'm the only one who goes through it or I send two people."

"Two allies are better than one," Slash replied.

Ryuga grimaced at the thought of missing out on a battle. "As much as I hate to say it, the cat's right."

Mahoro nodded. "Minawa, can I leave the rest of the housework here in your hands, please? Slash and I need to go help our friends."

---

Gulfside Rest, Pensacola Beach, FL, USA
February 12, 2017
8:55 AM Central Time


James quietly turned the alert off before anyone else could notice it. Not our monkey, not our circus. And even River would get herself killed in that kind of fight.

---

The Steeple, Philadelphia, PA, USA
February 12, 2017
9:55 AM Eastern Time


"We can't just ignore a call for help, father."

Gil looked Lotte straight in the eye. "This is an esper battle, not a mage battle. We've never seen an esper battle, much less taken part in one."

"All the more reason for us to go," replied Lotte's sister Aria. "We need the information."

Lindy nodded. "Agreed - we need to know what this world's forces are capable of. Amy, you and I will monitor the situation from here, and you'll get as many readings as you can. Chrono-kun -" She saw that he'd already transformed his clothing into his Barrier Jacket and was holding Durandal in staff form. "Good. Yuuno-kun..."

"Casting a long-range teleport now."

And a green glow formed around Aria, Lotte, Chrono, and Yuuno.

---

Black Lagoon, somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand
February 12, 2017
9:55 PM Indochina Time


"Ignore it. We're not being paid enough for that kind of shit."

---

Westwoods Apartments, San Antonio, TX, USA
February 12, 2017
8:55 AM Central Time


"You're in charge of the group."

Tenchi looked at Ben in disbelief. "I'm not ready."

Ryouko chuckled. "Sure you are."

"And if you do get in trouble, the Sailor Senshi can take over," added Washuu.

Noike sighed - Tenchi was more than ready to take command in the field. "We need to go, now."

"Right, right," Washuu replied. "Opening a portal."

Ben watched the four of them leave.

---

Lincolnville, NS, Canada
February 12, 2017
10:56 AM Atlantic Time


"You're saying we have to just ignore a fight?"

Epsilon looked straight at Ranma. "Unless you can teleport, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Ranma scowled. "I don't like backing down from a challenge."

"It isn't a challenge. As far as we're concerned, it's a news report." To himself, Epsilon added, I just hope nobody ends up dead.

---

Appartements Mont-Royal Sud, Montreal, QC, Canada
February 12, 2017
9:57 AM Eastern Time


"I've never tried teleportation magic before," Rin said through gritted teeth. "I think I can make this work, though."

Medea looked up from her magazine. "This is your first teleport spell?" After seeing Rin nod in reply, she added "Volunteers only, then, and I'm not going to volunteer. Good luck to anybody who does go."

Shirou looked straight at Medea. "Maybe you should have cast the spell, Caster."

"I'm certain that I should have. But it's far too late for me to interfere with Ms. Tohsaka's spell now."

---

Aria House, Venice Beach, CA, USA
February 12, 2017
6:57 AM Pacific Time


Shaoran placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, gently and comfortingly. "There's no way we can get there in time to help."

Brent could think of one way - Fly there, taking however long was necessary, then Return to the battle - but he saw all of the "sending help" acknowledgement messages scrolling on the Good Neighbor System's display and thought that Rob probably had enough firepower heading his way already.

---

Douglass Gardens Apartments, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
February 12, 2017
9:57 AM Eastern Time


"Then it's agreed. If you would be kind enough, Guru Clef?"

He nodded, and a moment later, the Magic Knights were on their way.

---

The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.

[Black Aeronaut]

I would have thought that James was no longer an apartment manager by that date.

Though to be fair, I don't think we actually did set an exact date for that.

Some considerations:

Misato did go to a university.  In fact, IIRC, she was there together with Ritsuko and Kaji, and maybe even Maya, too, (because of the implication that Maya was taught by Ritsuko after Ritsuko became a graduate student).  This means that Misato does know how to do research.

But then we have her saying that stuff at the Halloween Party.

So, here's an idea.

Misato knows something is up.  But considering what went down in her previous universe, she's being very cloak and dagger about it.  She's not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes, or who all is involved.  For that reason, she's just been playing along all this time, and only just to be safe because she's worried about the Kids.  She hasn't even said a word to Ritsuko, Kaji, or Mal because they don't exactly have a place for clandestine meetings, and she's worried that given what is known about their characters, any suspicious activity at all will be noticed very quickly.

The Halloween Party is where this changes.  Here, she is able to meet and talk to two other apartment managers and get a solid feel for what kind of people they are.  She'll be able to tell right away they're doing anything like what James has been doing from seeing how they all interact with their Tenants.

We'll have to change a few things around.  Like the bit where Ritsuko goes, "I wasn't aware she was a scientist."  We can instead have her remark that this isn't like Misato to be acting like that, and when asked why...

"We went to the same university together.  She's certainly not a PhD, but she does have a Bachelor's in (foo)*."

"In (foo)!?  How?"

"She's a lot smarter than a lot of people give her credit for.  In fact, she's used that to her advantage in the past.  And I think I know why she's playing it up now."

"Is... this something we should be talking about?"

"I'll let you know later if we need help or not.  But for now?  I'm going to try and find a quiet place to talk with her."

* If anyone knows what Misato majored in, please do tell.  Otherwise... I'ma just gonna roll with "Physics" because that makes the most sense.

[robkelk]

Well, we do need to work with what we have, and James was along for the skating party.

What we have for Misato's attitude is this line from 2016-09-19 in-universe (wiki link):

“I cannot find anyone talking about the Angels,” she continued finally shutting off the TV. “There is also nothing on about the UN, that is with the exception of some kind of stupid global warming crap. Not even a word about Second Impact, it’s like it never even happened, like the last fifteen years we lived not only didn’t occur, but something else completely different happened."

I will admit that I read Rajvic's posted attitude into that... but I could be wrong. Maybe the "stupid global warming crap" was that somebody was denying it exists.

And that interpretation would support your idea above without needing to change anything that we already have posted - Misato found out how other people took her comment and is doing a deep-cover exercise. Only Kaji would know otherwise (since he's the only one other than Misato who saw the TV show that she commented on) - and he's no stranger to deep-cover exercises. For all we know, it might have been his idea to go deep-cover to begin with.

Then there's the line that I just added to the story for February 12. Everybody is reacting in a way that shows they want to help - except for the crew of the Black Lagoon and James. Rock and Revy and company have the excuse of being mercenaries - you don't pay them to do something, they (usually) don't do it. James... didn't even ask his residents. And when somebody asks Mal or Inara "why didn't you respond last Sunday?" and they get back the answer "respond to what?", then the I'm-just-a-landlord issue comes to the attention of somebody outside of Gulfside. And that leads to the whole "you're changing jobs and they're changing residences" subplot that was worked out.

(Which puts James in the Press Office just when Sean Spicer is talking about job numbers... and a month before the Nicknamer-in-Chief decides to be the first President in over a generation to snub the Correspondents Dinner.)

* If anyone knows what Misato majored in, please do tell. Otherwise... I'ma just gonna roll with "Physics" because that makes the most sense.

According to her character page on the Evangelion wikia: "Misato's job(s) before being employed at NERV are not specified, but in the manga, her last job involved genetic experimentation on animals, as Pen Pen was a result of one such experiment."

So, one of the "hands on" biological sciences.


EDIT: And I just realized that I didn't include Dublin on my list. Sorry, Dartz...

[Dartz]

It's fine, everybody forgets me.

Although, I would kind of support Rajvik on noping out of the fight....

Both Dublin and Florida have nothing capable of handling this thing. What is this thing actually? --- I'm sort of lost. Never mind that none of them would ever make it on time. There're a couple of different power levels here --- and while the 33-S can do some minor boomer stuff like survive a fall from a height (Sylvie definitely hit terminal velocity dropping into that canyon on that motorbike) put the mind whammy on ordinary humans, and maybe go Dracula Mode on those expecting ordinary meatbags - against anything that can't be solved by either of those things they're basically just ordinary people.


-----

I feel almost dirty for saying it, but maybe for Misato's degree --- one of the humanities. Or something like International Business or something political or something like that.

[robkelk]

That doesn't mean it's right to ignore you.

This thing is Level 5 and Level 4 optimized-for-combat espers (one of each) coming after a Level 4 non-combat esper and a couple of normals. Rob's hoping for a Sailor Senshi or two to even the odds - he's going to get a lot more help than that.

[Bob Schroeck]

I want to do something along the lines of "I have an army"/"We have a Hulk" but I can't make it work right now.

[Black Aeronaut]

So, Misato, possibly Kaji and maybe Ritsuko, are all staying mum about the whole thing?  I can see that, I guess, particularly if they're waiting for the moment where he can't make any excuses to get out of it.

Okay, so Misato was a Geneticist.  Probably not a PhD, otherwise I think that would have come up in the anime or manga, but definitely a four-year degree at the very least.

Regarding the bit with the crew at Westwoods...  Ben would have a short Big Brother moment...

"You're in charge of the group."

Tenchi looked at Ben in disbelief. "I'm not ready."

Ryouko chuckled. "Sure you are."

Benjamin, though, sighed and put up a hand to forestall any further commentary.

"Tenchi, this is what you all have been preparring for.  And more importantly, you will eventually come to be in a position of some importance.  Seto will make absolutely certain of that."

With that statement, Tenchi cast a nervous glance in Noike's direction.  The woman only nodded her head solemnly, causing Tenchi to gulp.

"Yeah, exactly," continued Benjamin.  "Which is why it's important for you to become experienced sooner rather than later.  Besides, Noike will be there as well.  You don't need to worry about messing up because she has your back."

"But what about you?" asked Tenchi.  "You're wearing your HEV Suit."

"I'm a strategic element.  Not a tectical element.  It's very hard for me to do 'non-lethal' with Gojira's Little Brother here."  With that, Benjamin patted his right forearm with its cannon-shell reinforcing armor in standby mode.  "But if it's needed?  I can be there in seconds."

Tenchi sighed at that.  "Do you ever get tired of being right all the time?"

"More than you can imagine, Tenchi.  But at least its better than being wrong when it counts the most."

Noike laid a reassuring hand on Tenchi's shoulder.  "We need to go, now."

"Yes," said Tenchi reluctantly.  But when he spoke again, he sounded much more confident.  "We need to help our friends.  Washu-chan?"

"Right, right," Washuu replied. "Opening a portal."

Ben watched the four of them leave, but felt that he should hedge his bets.  He took out his phone, opened the Good Neighbor app, and fired off a message to Rob.

Rob.  It's not that I doubt you or anything, but if you need me, I'm ready to roll at a moment's notice.  We've already seen what my ability does to Espers, and that was with me barely even trying.  (I still feel bad for accidentally nailing Kuroko back then.)  I can shut them down faster than flies on stink, and whoever was on the receiving end will *wish* we'd just killed them instead. 

[robkelk]

This means shuffling things around a bit because that longer talk means they'll show up later... but it's workable. Thanks.

[Dartz]

Okay, so Misato was a Geneticist.  Probably not a PhD, otherwise I think that would have come up in the anime or manga, but definitely a four-year degree at the very least.

The more I think about it, the more I disagree. It doesn't fit. Not every has to be hard science - and while I doubt she did something useless, I think she did something different from the STEM settings. There's more to university than STEM.

She's at her best when getting people from disparate agencies to work together, sizing up threats and gaining cooperation from people. Both navigating the ship of reality across the sea of Bureaucracy, and it working with international partners. She's worked for NERV in Europe. She has a semi-military background, with at least enough training to surprise and eliminate three soldiers with just a pistol. She's enough of an education in history to reference an obscure battle.

And sure, plenty of people work in labs other than actual scientists. There're the general Igors that keep shit running - and someone's got to feed and take care of the test subjects until they cease to be required.

[robkelk]

There's also Business Administration as a major, if we're looking for something that Misato could use to get people to work with each other.

[robkelk]

This means shuffling things around a bit because that longer talk means they'll show up later... but it's workable. Thanks.

And it's in the wiki draft now.

So is this:


7 Henrietta Street, Dublin, Ireland
February 12, 2017
2:57 PM Greenwich Mean Time


"Look at how many people are saying they're going to help. We don't need to go."

"Lou's right. And we couldn't get there in time to help even if we wanted to fight. Or knew how." Meg picked up her guitar. "But we can practice playing not as perfectly as we usually do, for the victory party."

"Are you that sure they're going to win?" Anri asked.

"Tenchi's going. The Magic Knights are going. How could they lose?"

[robkelk]

I'm taking advantage of a day off without anything pressing scheduled to get more of my notes onto the wiki. I just made a slight change to the timeline in my sandbox - Ami's wish now happens before her birthday instead of after, in order for Rob to give her a gift on her birthday... and bring Malleable Causality to their attention.

[robkelk]

Story writing progresses... slowly.

I think this bit will make it into the posted version of the "let's all meet ITEM" story:


Rob looked at Mikoto, saw the look on her face, muttered, "Mikoto, I hope you know what you're doing," then shouted at Hikaru. "No time to explain! Do it!"

"Right!" Hikaru nodded as she shifted her aim from Meltdowner to Railgun.

[robkelk]

Can't find the comment now - maybe it was in a PM - but I recall Bob saying he'd rather have his high-school-age characters attend a better high school that's a bit farther away.

Along these lines... the closest English-language high school to Blossom is one of only two in the city that had a permanent police presence in 2016-2017, and has a lacklustre alumni list. The second-closest places at #3 of English-language high schools in Ottawa (according to University Magazine), just behind the arts-magnet high school that I've already said Minako attends, and has a much more famous alumni list (Peter Mansbridge, Alanis Morissette, Patrick Watson, etc.). So I'm retconning and saying Washuu-chan and HAL made sure their transfer went through without any issues. Good thing that the high school that most of the Blossom displacees attend hasn't come up in-story yet.

[Bob Schroeck]

I did say that at one point, but I don't recall where...

[Norgarth]

somewhere on this board since I remember you saying it and I'm not on the Discord. 8P

[Bob Schroeck]

Neither am I, which would make it very unlikely i said it there. <grin>

[robkelk]

This was mentioned in the Tuesday chat.

And liked.

And incorporated into the Metacontinuity - Gomez Addams is now a manager. We just haven't decided where... but we have decided who his (first batch of) tenants are.