[OOC][PLOT][ARC 1] Planning for Season 1 - The Retcon

[robkelk]

Well, we have Katsuhito Masaki in the Metacontinuity now... And imagine Mal's reaction to learning that one of the people who he wanted to learn blade techniques from ever since he saw their sparring match at the Halloween party was trained by this guy.

As for motorcycles, Ruiko will express an interest. Although this is more to learn the skill to a basic level rather than becoming an expert - she wants a driver's licence as big as Mahoro's.

[robkelk]

Submitted for your approval: a help-wanted ad to start off each building's first story.

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some other language, some knowledge of property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person; contact us for the address.

(Hey, if I'm going to steal a format, I'll steal from something by one of the best. Ads in places where English is not the predominant language would replace that requirement with the local lingua franca. The "some other language" requirement can also be replaced; for Bob and me, it would be French.)

Then the building managers mention they were hired (describing the job interview with one of the Celestials or Demons if desired) and get dropped head-first into their residences. Most show up just before the first batch of displacees, but Garnett Iwasaki shows up after the Masaki residence has arrived and thus starts the Vancouver story in media res.

[robkelk]

So... the place in Lake Wobegon, where we sent the RWBY characters post-retcon.

Can anybody come up with a decent name for it? All I've got is "Beacon Wobegon", which isn't horrid but doesn't pack a punch either.

[Bob Schroeck]

Checking the Prairie Home Companion wiki reveals that there is only one canonical motel in the town and given that it apparently is also a bait shop is probably someplace we don't want to convert into a residence, if only because of the smell. There don't appear to be any boarding houses, at least that got advertising time on the show.

So, thinking about it, I'm going to suggest we turn a former farm just out of town -- someplace with a big farmhouse and a lot of outbuildings -- into the residence. We can just call it "The Old <insert name here> Place" and pick something that's either German or Scandinavian to match the names on the other businesses in town. Backstory can be something like, "Old man <name> passed away last spring, and his son, who's a <pick a profession> in Minneapolis, has no interest in coming back home and running the farm, so he's been trying to sell it for a few months now but he's been asking more than anyone local wants to spend. Then that nice Mr. Phantomhive came to town..." (And maybe some of the townsfolk are now calling it "The Phantomhive Place"...) The farmhouse is huge -- it was built in the 1930s when the family had 12 kids and a couple of them were old enough that they had families of their own staying there -- and there's a good-sized bunkhouse for the hired hands the farm needed back when it had been a very profitable going concern. The barn can be turned into a dojo/training hall for the RWBY folks; other outbuildings can be whatever we need, and we put something cool in the silo.

While I'm spinning flights of fancy here, I'd like to suggest we take a page from the RWBY fic Emergence and make the Remnans explicitly superhuman. I mean, consider how much Crescent Rose probably weighs and think about how easily Ruby swings it around one-handed... It would certainly fit the catchphrase from A Prairie Home Companion about the children all being above average...

[robkelk]

Input requested for retcon work, please...

Suddenly, all of the Sailor Senshi have always been at Blossom, for definitions of "always" that include "since January 1". The apartment building is still getting Twinned on January 14 in order to have room for so many visitors to stay overnight. People are still packing items that they don't want to be Twinned (such as bank cards), but now a chance remark by Rob has pointed out to people that there are some things that they do want Twinned.

Thus, we won't have just two Mimis, we'll also have two of many previously-unique (in the Metacontinuity) items as well.

What items get Twinned?

I already have listed Rob's personal library, Railgun's collection of Gekota toys, and Michiru's Stradivarius. And Rob's "penguin" coffee mug so that Sakura can take one home with her.

What else should get Twinned?

[Labster]

A poster of the Mona Lisa, so we can argue about which Mona Lisa poster is the best forgery.

[robkelk]

Among other items of discussion, we hammered out a basic description of Garnett Iwasaki, the Metacontinuity-native liaison between Katsuhito Masaki and Lord Phantomhive.

She's a recent college graduate (major in Business, minor in Japanese because she's an anime fan) and applies for the job because she needs a place to live. 162 cm tall, red hair, green eyes, light-olive skin. built like a Playboy Playmate (old-school with three sizes B89-W58-H91, not the newer "required to look like she's smuggling melons in her shirt" type), heterosexual, and not interested in Tenchi as a boyfriend. She isn't above pretending to be vain for a laugh. Oh, and if you call Garnett a "little gem", she'll slug you.

Which means that now we can start retconning the setting's origin story while filling in her personality.

[robkelk]

I've dashed off the start of Garnett's first scene and added it to the wiki for prereading and double-checking that this is the way we intend to take the character.

While I'm waiting for feedback there, I've also done retconning on my SI's first scenelet. Presented for your amusement, and keeping in mind that this will immediately follow a much longer introduction to the setting as a whole that shows much of the sense'o'wunder that's only implied here:

---

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 7th, 2016
6:54pm ET


Ottawa. Capital of Canada and home of one end of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "A big city with a small-town feel," as one of the local radio stations put it. One of the claimants of the name "Silicon Valley North." Home town of A Tribe Called Red, Amos the Transparent, the Five Man Electrical Band, MonkeyJunk, and The Reverb Syndicate, to name a few, but still a city with a stereotype of rolling up the sidewalks after six o'clock. A city with enough restaurants that, if you can afford it, you can try a different country's cuisine every night a month without repeating a country.

Compared to all that, being the place where Rob Donaldson grew up doesn't seem to matter... until you realize that it was his knowledge of the city that let him see the signs that something odd was going on.

First was the ad that was enough to lure him out of retirement and his previous home at a cooperative apartment (where he'd sometimes been on the board of directors) while he waited for his pension to kick in:

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 2176 Blossom Drive, Ottawa.

He'd pointed out the ad to the owner of the forum where he'd read it, since that forum didn't normally accept ads... but the copy of the ad on the forum owner's feed ended with a different address in a different country altogether. They'd decided that this was odd enough that somebody should investigate it in person.

Second was the person who'd interviewed him. Or, rather, the megami who'd interviewed him, straight out of Ah! My Goddess. Not one of the Norns, but rather a girl who called herself Ere, one of their... bridge bunnies, for want of a better title. Ere had shown Rob enough Divine magic to establish her bona fides... and she'd also warned him that he'd be working with the Other Side more often that he'd be working directly with Heaven.

Third was the building itself. "I thought this was a two-storey place." Rob was looking at a small apartment building, less than two dozen units, and three storeys tall. "The extra apartments actually hurt; there's no way we can make a place this size break even."

"It won't be forever," Ere replied. "And you can get government subsidies to help."

Rob bit his lower lip, then shook his head. "That money dried up years ago."

"You can get government subsidies to help. I'm sure."

"Well, when a Goddess says she's sure, even a Goddess in training, I'll just have to give it a try."

[Labster]

I've dashed off the start of Garnett's first scene and added it to the wiki for prereading and double-checking that this is the way we intend to take the character.

While I'm waiting for feedback there, I've also done retconning on my SI's first scenelet. Presented for your amusement, and keeping in mind that this will immediately follow a much longer introduction to the setting as a whole that shows much of the sense'o'wunder that's only implied here:

Gosh I hope there's more sense of wonder, because it's like "Second, I met a goddess for the first time, and she did some magic.  Moving on..."  It would be cool to move the ad up to the beginning of the story, because "Are you xenophobic? This is not for you." makes a good first sentence story hook.  

Speaking of boring writing, I have a mostly complete draft of So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe.  There are still some things to do here, including fixing some layout problems.  It will probably never be posted directly to the forums, because the layout is important to the storytelling.



It's not actually a story, it's an in-universe textbook, which is why it's boring.  Or rather, half textbook, half self-help -- in the mold of Derek Bacon's books in Undocumented Features.  But the other point of it is that I think it's most useful to other writers who are thinking of joining, who want an overview of the setting and the kinds of stories they can tell.  Maybe my muse wanted me to write it because we would find ourselves in this situation, or maybe because I just wanted to write something boring.  Don't worry, Tomo wrote in the margins to improve the book and share her boundless wisdom.

[Bob Schroeck]

I know it's on the wiki so the obvious answer probably applies, but... do you mind edits by other folks? I spotted some markup stuff and my ATT reflexes were powerful strong...

EDIT: And I so want to make this edit:

(and no, you're not dead (unless you were already dead before you came here -- and even then, you might be alive now. Consult your doctor to find out if resurrection is right for you)).

EDIT 2: Okay, just finished reading this iteration. I see several places where asterisks should be turned into italics, and just a couple spots where the syntax is a little tangled and could use untangling, but otherwise it looks great!

Oh, and I know the bit above about consulting your doctor is not something Yomi might write. But the "even then", I think, is.

[robkelk]

I've dashed off the start of Garnett's first scene and added it to the wiki for prereading and double-checking that this is the way we intend to take the character.

While I'm waiting for feedback there, I've also done retconning on my SI's first scenelet. Presented for your amusement, and keeping in mind that this will immediately follow a much longer introduction to the setting as a whole that shows much of the sense'o'wunder that's only implied here:

Gosh I hope there's more sense of wonder, because it's like "Second, I met a goddess for the first time, and she did some magic.  Moving on..."  It would be cool to move the ad up to the beginning of the story, because "Are you xenophobic? This is not for you." makes a good first sentence story hook.  

Yeah, Rob and Ere's interaction is more than a bit weak here. (Lazy writer, no divine girlfriend for your SI!) I'm concentrating on Garnett and the Misakis (and Sebastian) right now; my SI's scene can be plumped up a bit after the necessary work of introducing the entire setting is done.

As for the "Are you xenophobic?" ad, that's what starts Garnett 's scene - which will be the much longer introduction when it's finished. It's repeated here to show multiple people are getting the ad through multiple channels.

Speaking of boring writing, I have a mostly complete draft of So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe.  There are still some things to do here, including fixing some layout problems.  It will probably never be posted directly to the forums, because the layout is important to the storytelling.



It's not actually a story, it's an in-universe textbook, which is why it's boring.  Or rather, half textbook, half self-help -- in the mold of Derek Bacon's books in Undocumented Features.  But the other point of it is that I think it's most useful to other writers who are thinking of joining, who want an overview of the setting and the kinds of stories they can tell.  Maybe my muse wanted me to write it because we would find ourselves in this situation, or maybe because I just wanted to write something boring.  Don't worry, Tomo wrote in the margins to improve the book and share her boundless wisdom.

I did some minor reformatting on it today, which might help...


EDIT: We need to come up with a front cover for the book, so that Ami can have a copy in her room.

[robkelk]

I suspect that at least this much of the introduction story will make it through prereading and editing reasonably intact...

---

Vancouver, BC, Canada
September 7, 2016
10:34 am PT

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some Japanese, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 1 Trevor Wingrove Way, Coquitlam.

Garnett thought that the ad at the very end of the alumni e-newsletter was a joke, at first. She had no prospects lined up after graduating with a General Business degree and a Japanese Modern Languages minor from Douglas College (which she was certain would have landed her a job in Tokyo, but it didn't), her bank account was nearly empty (there was no way she could pay the rent on her one-room apartment after the end of September, let alone the payments on her student loans), and the address was smack-dab in the middle of Town Center Park (less than a kilometer from her old campus).

But what did she have to lose? If it was a real job opportunity, she had to give it a try, and if it was a wild goose chase, she could at least spend a couple of hours relaxing and turning heads in the park. Garnett was well aware of how good she looked, and with her job search going so poorly so far, she could use an ego boost no matter how sexist it might be.

And thus was Ms. Garnett Iwasaki, 22 years old and looking for employment, surprised to find a laneway just off Trevor Wingrove Way, near the Lafarge Lake-Douglas SkyTrain station. She knew that the laneway hadn't been there a month ago, but it looked well-used and well-maintained. Ooooo-kaaaaay... she thought as she looked for any signs saying what was down the laneway. All she found was a sign identifying the address as 1 Trevor Wingrove Way and the laneway as private property.

Well, that was the address in the ad. So she headed down the laneway and around the bend a few meters in from the road.

Then, when she saw the house at the end of the laneway, she thought she'd gone around the bend in more ways than one. She recognized that house, from an anime that her father Masahiko had shown her. After a moment, she whispered, "It's the Masaki house."

[Labster]

I know it's on the wiki so the obvious answer probably applies, but... do you mind edits by other folks?  I spotted some markup stuff and my ATT reflexes were powerful strong...

EDIT:  And I so want to make this edit:

(and no, you're not dead (unless you were already dead before you came here -- and even then, you might be alive now.  Consult your doctor to find out if resurrection is right for you)).

EDIT 2:  Okay, just finished reading this iteration.  I see several places where asterisks should be turned into italics, and just a couple spots where the syntax is a little tangled and could use untangling, but otherwise it looks great!

Oh, and I know the bit above about consulting your doctor is not something Yomi might write.  But the "even then", I think, is.

It is something that SI Brent might write, and he's listed in the list of authors.  It's not something that Yomi would naturally say, but it takes very little convincing for her to make jokes. If they're funny, of course.

Markdown needs changed to markup.  Mainly I posted a draft and people started editing it so I didn't do the normal changes while integrating.  Oh, and thanks to Rob for helping with layout.

If someone knows of an appropriate (or slightly inappropriate) manga art that could be our cover, that would be cool.  Since the last stop for the book is at Tsukamoto's for printing, the local doujinshi circles are entirely responsible for the cover.  Yomi here gets the standard author experience, which is having no control on what the publisher wants to put on the cover of the book.

Then, when she saw the house at the end of the laneway, she thought she'd gone around the bend in more ways than one. She recognized that house, from an anime that her father Masahiko had shown her. After a moment, she whispered, "It's the Masaki house."

If it was Brent, he'd say, "Hey, it's that house from the anime!  You know, the one with Tenchi in it.  What was that called again?"

[Dartz]

I'm a bit late to the plot, but wouldn't there be value in buying a load of things needed for the apartment, twinning them --- and then returning them? Or like, renting things for a week, twinning them , and then returning the original rentals?

It's not theft, it's like magical piracy.

----

It might be an answer for 33-stars --- they may conveniently leave their rented equipment behind and find it doubled - letting them return it.

[robkelk]

I'm a bit late to the plot, but wouldn't there be value in buying a load of things needed for the apartment, twinning them --- and then returning them? Or like, renting things for a week, twinning them , and then returning the original rentals?

It's not theft, it's like magical piracy.

----

It might be an answer for 33-stars --- they may conveniently leave their rented equipment behind and find it doubled - letting them return it.

Borrowing from friends would work, but the folks in Ottawa renting/buying useful items specifically to Twin them isn't likely considering the tight timeline involved.

So, yeah, have Washuu-chan open a portal between Dublin and Ottawa and let 33-Stars leave some gear in the hall just outside the common room. (And if Yui wants to bring Geeta along and conveniently leave it(? him?) resting against one of 33-Stars' amps, get a Les Paul Standard as well. Yui wouldn't "cheat on" Geeta by using another Geeta, but she would be forgetful enough to leave her guitar in the building.)

The pre-retcon version of the story already had Mimi's purchases and the ingredients for lunch Twinned. Why not twin everybody's clothes and food? ("Mamo-chan, where are you going to put all those green jackets?")


* robkelk gets visited by a Muse

Oh! Idea!

Can't twin the Ginzuishou - Usagi's using it - but what happens if the other Senshi transformation wands get Twinned? And then somehow, ineffably, the duplicate transformation wands have different astronomical symbols on them (Kaorin would be able to identify the symbols), leading to people wondering where and who these other Asteroid Senshi and Moon Senshi are. (And then the Sailor Europa transformation wands - asteroid and Jovian moon - decide on their own to go home with two of the other displacees... leading into something Bob and I worked out a while ago.)

[robkelk]

Then, when she saw the house at the end of the laneway, she thought she'd gone around the bend in more ways than one. She recognized that house, from an anime that her father Masahiko had shown her. After a moment, she whispered, "It's the Masaki house."

If it was Brent, he'd say, "Hey, it's that house from the anime!  You know, the one with Tenchi in it.  What was that called again?"

That's why I picked "Masahiko" for Garnett's father's name - so she'd remember the "Masaki" name.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, I just remembered... there's still a passage somewhere in there referring to the Masaki family arriving in Texas.

[robkelk]

In Labster's draft text, IIRC. It's been marked for updating.

[robkelk]

Just realized I'll probably have to write these, too... unless somebody else wants to take some or all of them off my hands.

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in both English and French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 3511 rue Hutchison, Montreal, QC

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 2175 Wyandotte Street East, Windsor, ON

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some Spanish, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 601-603 Ariola Drive, Pensacola Beach, FL

I'm definitely doing this one - so definitely that I'm calling "dibs" on it:

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 39 Church Street Extension, Antigonish, NS

And then there's the question of villain residences. Do they have building managers (recruited by the infernals directly), or do they just get an occasional check-in by a circuit overseer?

[Labster]

Just realized I'll probably have to write these, too... unless somebody else wants to take some or all of them off my hands.

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in both English and French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 3511 rue Hutchison, Montreal, QC

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 2175 Wyandotte Street East, Windsor, ON

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some Spanish, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 601-603 Ariola Drive, Pensacola Beach, FL

I'm definitely doing this one - so definitely that I'm calling "dibs" on it:

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 39 Church Street Extension, Antigonish, NS

And then there's the question of villain residences. Do they have building managers (recruited by the infernals directly), or do they just get an occasional check-in by a circuit overseer?

I mean, I actually wrote one of these in my first story, but it was different:

It had to be the strangest job posting I had ever seen.

WANTED: ANIME FANS
Requirements: Social skills (no otaku or hiki please), willing to live on-site
Optional: Japanese language, experience coordinating college students
Benefits: On-site housing in multiple localities, medical, dental

And the question of villain residents is: What villain residences?  Other than the Warehouse for less socialized AIs, do we have any?  I've long said we're short on antagonists.  I suppose there could be someone checking in in Roanapur, but it's like a whole town.  How would it even work?  The only way it would be stabled is if the apartment is managed by Bad Horse. 

There was a story in UF which I know you didn't read, but it had a sort of, evil!Ohtori Academy in a small part of Hell.  The plot went like: new generation does pretty fine, until Akio leaves for a whole day and then everyone starts to attempt murder of each other.  Without a character willing to put up with that, I don't quite know where the idea of villain residence stands.

Well, other than Squid Girl who thinks all of the residences are evil because they pollute her ocean.

[robkelk]

And the question of villain residents is: What villain residences?  Other than the Warehouse for less socialized AIs, do we have any?  I've long said we're short on antagonists.  I suppose there could be someone checking in in Roanapur, but it's like a whole town.  How would it even work?  The only way it would be stabled is if the apartment is managed by Bad Horse. 

There was a story in UF which I know you didn't read, but it had a sort of, evil!Ohtori Academy in a small part of Hell.  The plot went like: new generation does pretty fine, until Akio leaves for a whole day and then everyone starts to attempt murder of each other.  Without a character willing to put up with that, I don't quite know where the idea of villain residence stands.

Well, other than Squid Girl who thinks all of the residences are evil because they pollute her ocean.

Well, there is AMALGAM base in Indianapolis, which we now get to keep as a recurring opponent since BA isn't here to kill them off in their first appearance.

And I've mentioned MANAGEMENT but haven't shown them yet. They're more puppet-masters than front-line instigators. EDIT: And thus perfect for suborning by Salem as a false-front organization.

[Bob Schroeck]

Just to keep my hand in, I'm writing my own "Day One" sequence now, and I'm following the pattern:

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 462 Hamilton Street, Somerset, NJ 08873.

(Yeah, turns out Douglass Gardens is just over the town line between New Brunswick and Somerset. I didn't know.)

[robkelk]

Re: retconning the Halloween Party:

I recall somebody had some concerns about the holiday and whether where we were going to move the festivities to was a good place for them.

Well, according to IMDb, it's a holiday there, too. Just not quite the same holiday.


'Twas Halloween evening, and through the abode
Not a creature was stirring, not even a toad.
Jack-o-lanterns are hung on the gallows with care
To guide Sister Witch as she flies through the air.
Drawn by eight beautiful bats. And she calls out to them
Come Flitter, come Flutter, come Flapper and Flier
Come Chitter, come Chatter, come Vicious Vampire.

-- The "traditional holiday poem" as recited by Gomez, Morticia, and Fester; The Addams Family, "Halloween with the Addams Family" (copyright 1964)

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, that's fun and convenient! <grin>

[Labster]

Ah, parody of A Visit from St. Nicholas. Very classy.