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

[robkelk]

Blame Bob for this - it was his idea originally. All I added was the magic doorway.

It still needs a location and a building manager.

---

The Hangar

Wings: 1
Floors: 1
Apartments (total): 1
Amenities:

• Refuelling and recharging bays
  
• Repair shop
  
• Magic exit (see description)
  

The Hangar is exactly what it says on the tin: a hangar. What it holds is mecha - many self-aware - and other large vehicles for displacees who don't have room for them in or near their residences. (For example, the Kobu from Sakura Wars are not found here, since the Grand Imperial Theatre has room for them in its basement.)

The Hangar uses a variant of the Witches 5 "almost there" exit from Sailor Moon S, allowing the mecha to deploy close to but not directly at the places where they're needed. Like the Witches 5's exit, this exit is physically able to let the mecha pass through it, although the doorway is not necessarily one that is appropriate for mecha deployment.


Tenants

Group 1: Full Metal Panic

• Al, Sousuke Sagara's ARX-7 Arbalest
  
• Melissa Mao's M9E Gernsback
  
• Kurz Weber's M9E Gernsback
  
• Teletha Testarossa's M6 Bushnell (no A.I.)
  

Group 2: Magic Knight Rayearth

• Rayearth
  
• Selece
  
• Windam
  

Group 3: Neon Genesis Evangelion

• EVA-00
  
• EVA-01
  
• EVA-02
  

Group 4: REDACTED

• REDACTED
  

[Norgarth]

Might I suggest a second wing, for ships like the Serenity, which also is a little large to house at a apartment complex.

[robkelk]

The Serenity is somewhat larger than an Arm Slave or an EVA. You don't put ships that size into hangars; instead, you put hangars into ships that size.

[Norgarth]

the Evangelions are pretty damn big as I recall, though admittedly the Serenity is probably much heavier.

if they can make hangers for Space Shuttles and the really huge planes, or even things like the Goodyear Blimp, you can presumably make one big enough for the Serenity. (may be the size of a sports stadium, granted)

[robkelk]

Then we run into the question of "where do we hide something that big so that Malleable Causality doesn't break down immediately?"

I suppose we could put it on one of the five planets that make up Washuu-chan's laboratory... but she might not have room for it. She's been experimenting for multiple millennia, after all.

---

As for this:

Blame Bob for this - it was his idea originally. All I added was the magic doorway.

...

The Hangar uses a variant of the Witches 5 "almost there" exit from Sailor Moon S, allowing the mecha to deploy close to but not directly at the places where they're needed. Like the Witches 5's exit, this exit is physically able to let the mecha pass through it, although the doorway is not necessarily one that is appropriate for mecha deployment.

I have realized that this isn't in line with Conservation of Detail. We already have Washuu-chan's portals, so why invent something else that does the same thing?

(I know that the front door to Callahan's doesn't use Washuu-chan's portals, but we have an in-universe reason for that to be the case. We don't have such a reason for The Hangar.)

Heck, make The Hangar the hub of the portal network if we're going to make that permanent... which we're looking at doing for Harold Shea's benefit anyway.

[Labster]

Serenity isn't that big.  After all, her whole set was inside a sound stage.

---

I need some help as a sorting hat.  I was wondering which Hogwarts house you'd assign the following people:

Cardcaptor Sakura
Eriol Hiiragizawa
Ruby Moon/ Nakuru Akizuki
Kaho Mizuki

Little Witch Academia
Croix Merides

Magical Index ( not sure about using these two, but I want someone from Necessarius )
Sherry Cromwell
Kanzaki Kaori

My internal sorting hat put Eriol in Slytherin in about 1.5 seconds, but I could be convinced otherwise.

[robkelk]

Serenity isn't that big.  After all, her whole set was inside a sound stage.

Serenity alone, true. Serenity and all of the other vehicles we've already mentioned and the other vehicles we'll be getting later? That's the difference between "one private aircraft in a hangar" and "a row of private aircraft tied down beside a taxiway".

---

I need some help as a sorting hat.  I was wondering which Hogwarts house you'd assign the following people:

Cardcaptor Sakura
Eriol Hiiragizawa
Ruby Moon/ Nakuru Akizuki
Kaho Mizuki

Little Witch Academia
Croix Merides

Magical Index ( not sure about using these two, but I want someone from Necessarius )
Sherry Cromwell
Kanzaki Kaori

My internal sorting hat put Eriol in Slytherin in about 1.5 seconds, but I could be convinced otherwise.

My inner sorting hat agrees with your inner sorting hat about Eriol.

Ruby Moon... hmmmmm... tricky. She knows what she wants and goes after it with determination and (for her age) subtlety, so maybe Slytherin?

My inner sorting hat puts Kaho into Hufflepuff, on account of she's primarily a team player instead of a star in her own right. But considering she's knowledgeable enough to be a teacher, she could be sorted into Ravenclaw if necessary.

Sherry Cromwell's a tricky one to sort, but my inner sorting hat looks at her unwillingness to bend to pressure and sorts her into Gryffindor. Convince me otherwise.

Kanzaki Kaori is Gryffindor at first glance, but her loyalty to the Amakusa Church shows she could be sorted into Hufflepuff, too.

[robkelk]

I am so tempted to say we're using Salem's dub Japanese voice instead of her original English voice... because

Spoiler

then she'd share a voice with Belldandy

[Labster]

Okay, second draft of the Risky/Safety + SI story is done. It's probably good enough for feedback now, so please other writers, please review it on the wiki.

(Second draft implies I at least read the thing once and made changes based on what I read. First draft is not a thing I share anywhere, typically)

I'll move on to the next section, now that I've written a story no one knew we needed.

[robkelk]

Okay, second draft of the Risky/Safety + SI story is done.  It's probably good enough for feedback now, so please other writers, please review it on the wiki.

(Second draft implies I at least read the thing once and made changes based on what I read.  First draft is not a thing I share anywhere, typically)

I'll move on to the next section, now that I've written a story no one knew we needed.

* robkelk sets that section aside for a day without reading the changes as they come in

* robkelk reads that section as a whole, a day later

* robkelk corrects one grammatical error ("She has thick ponytail" to "She had a thick ponytail")

* robkelk adds a footnote about the casual use of office supplies


Looking good, even despite - or because of - the swings in the mood of the interview. I think you have the interviewers in character, and there's a good amount of overall plot information delivered in the scene.

[Labster]

Looking good, even despite - or because of - the swings in the mood of the interview. I think you have the interviewers in character, and there's a good amount of overall plot information delivered in the scene.

If anything is too swingy, let me know.  Keeping in character was easy.  Once I wrote that line, "Safety's such a dope," it became a guiding star because they're both dopes in entirely different ways.  I also knew it would take forever to get any plot information out of them, because telling the story of Momotaro in canon took them what, 10 hours?

Also let me know if the "desu no" gets too annoying in English.  The lampshade helps, I'm sure.  I tried to avoid it where another Japanese particle would go -- particularly in questions.  I don't know that anyone would notice it, but it's kind of a thing I do.  I was doing some manga scanlation with BlackAeronaut and I ended up reading Japanese, Spanish, and Ancient Greek in that project.  (I'm not sure we'll ever release it because we lost our typesetter before our first release :'( )

In any case, I decided to read the entire first story last night, and it's good!  I enjoyed it, at least.  The flow seemed reasonable. I think we had an overall theme of busyness and things happening all at once, while the longer sections allow you to focus on one or two characters.  That means the longer sections that focus on the SIs and other managers are important, both for narrative flow and giving readers a POV character.  In any case, it's more complete than it seems, and I agree the end does seem like a good stopping point.

The change to first person in Kestrel's text was more jarring than I expected. I'm tempted to see if I can rewrite it into third person without too many changes.  Has anyone tried sending Kestrel an email?  The reference to Lucifer is a little wrong here too, unless we're using the version of Lucifer from The Sandman or the related TV series (which I haven't seen).  The Endless are another complication, though I confess wouldn't be too awful to have C&A!Satan, DC!Lucifer and AMG!Hild hanging out at an LA nightclub.  For me as a writer.  As an SI, yikes!

And minor comments on an old story:
Kuroko's reaction was unexpected. "Inter-city teleportation! Level 5!" Rob didn't know a grin could get that big.

This is a little obtuse.  Is she claiming to have done it herself?

SYSADMIN> They're getting a psychic echo from the first group that was brought into this universe.

Believe it or not it seems a little less obvious that Tenchi Muyo is the first group now that everything else is going on, and they aren't the stars of the first story*.  Possibly that will get better once we write more of their scenes, but we should watch out for that.

[robkelk]

And minor comments on an old story:
Kuroko's reaction was unexpected. "Inter-city teleportation! Level 5!" Rob didn't know a grin could get that big.

This is a little obtuse.  Is she claiming to have done it herself?

She's heard something that can be taken as good news for her, and latched onto it even though she knows it can't actually apply to her. It's shot down almost immediately, of course, but I've known enough people to react in similar ways to similar situations.

SYSADMIN> They're getting a psychic echo from the first group that was brought into this universe.

Believe it or not it seems a little less obvious that Tenchi Muyo is the first group now that everything else is going on, and they aren't the stars of the first story*.  Possibly that will get better once we write more of their scenes, but we should watch out for that.

I expect we'll stumble across other examples of "needs retcon" like this that we weren't expecting. Thanks.

EDIT: Patches have been applied, and will be revealed once we start posting retconned stories here.

[robkelk]

The FMP crew...  No idea.  This could be a chance to include the Tuatha de Danaan - life is always so much better with a stealth amphibious assault submarine.  Maybe somewhere in LA?  San Diego?  Or how about the Puget Sound?

No, wait.  Throw them in with the Hanagumi.  Kohbu are about the same scale as Arm Slaves, after all.  They'll fit right in~.  (Seriously.  Imagine Teletha butting heads with Li Koran over Magic vs Lambda Driver.)

I was going to point out that Atlanta isn't even a river port, let alone a seaport... but then I remembered we tossed out the idea of putting the Nadia core cast in Atlanta. So, yeah. EDIT: Although we do have a "steampunk" theme going in Atlanta, so maybe not, after all. It's not as if this is my decision, though.

We'll just have to find some place else to put the TDD and the Nautilus, is all.

Blame Bob for this - it was his idea originally. All I added was the magic doorway.

It still needs a location and a building manager.

---

The Hangar

Wings: 1
Floors: 1
Apartments (total): 1
Amenities:

• Refuelling and recharging bays
  
• Repair shop
  
• Magic exit (see description)
  

The Hangar is exactly what it says on the tin: a hangar. What it holds is mecha - many self-aware - and other large vehicles for displacees who don't have room for them in or near their residences. (For example, the Kobu from Sakura Wars are not found here, since the Grand Imperial Theatre has room for them in its basement.)

...

Quoting these together because I have a feeling that maybe they belong together now that we've decided to put The Hangar in an ocean-port city.

Or not.

[Labster]

Wait, is there a secret submarine dock underneath Kaleido Stage I didn't know about?

[robkelk]

Wait, is there a secret submarine dock underneath Kaleido Stage I didn't know about?

We could do that, too.

---

I just had a thought that would give a usually-happy character a bit of early-story angst to work through, possibly with the help of her residence managers.

In the final episode of K-On!,

Spoiler

Azusa wishes so hard that her sempai wouldn't leave her behind that she's driven to tears.

Then, a few short months later, her wish has almost come true... in a different universe.

"Is it my fault that we're here? Please tell me it isn't my fault! I don't want it to be my fault that we're all in a different reality..." she pleaded with big, tear-filled eyes.


Considering who she is, she will work through it, of course. But it might take her a few weeks.

EDIT: I don't know whether that's a story of its own - it might work better as a subplot showing what she's doing in September and maybe early October 2016.

[Bob Schroeck]

Mm. Yeah, I can add that to my dev file and see if I can thread it through other stuff in DGA.

And we can let her resolve it just before Halloween...

EDIT: And you just know Yui will spin it as "You wanted to make sure I'd never leave you, Azu-nyan! And I won't!" <grin>

[robkelk]

Hmmmmm... Musicians on Mars. Maybe we should add them to the Metacontinuity. The only question is where do they sleep - Aria House or Douglass Gardens?

Carole & Tuesday Complete Collection at Sentai.

Trailer:

[Labster]

As I started writing the paragraph describing Tenchi Masaki's house, I ended up losing a couple hours to research instead. So on one end, we have the joke about the house moving, but then I thought about that house with the giant deck over the lake, and start thinking that all of that stuff had to be a part of the original design -- that's just not a city house.

No one really talks about it, but the house in OVA 1 is a different house from the one in OVA 2. It's bigger, closer to the lake, and even painted yellow instead of the earlier white. But it has the same roof tile, same number of storeys in a slightly different configuration, but lacks a wall around it. So, like, what happened? To me the most logical thing is that they never all moved into Nobuyuki's house -- when it was moved to the country, it was damaged, and they all moved into grandpa's big house instead. That is not quite what we see on screen, but what we do see on screen is everyone watching TV in the house the day after it has been moved showing all of the devastation -- implying the house had electricity. I mean, obviously you need that for the gag -- it's such a perfect ending gag that would fit right in in Urusei Yatsura.

I guess the other alternative is that Nobuyuki built the new house between the two series. Maybe those giant beams got included in the new design because Ryoko liked to sleep on them? (seriously they're like an old-growth tree per beam, unless they're hollow) In any case they stick to the same design after this point.

[Labster]

I guess I resolved the above not saying too much about it in the text. Oh, and floor plans are on the wiki.

I still have no idea how to end the story about Tenchi, but I did at least know where I wanted to start, and that was talking about the house. And then I pretty much just let Aeka and Ryoko talk at each other for eight kilobytes, which might be a single-day record for me. So the scene is half-complete now. I still have no idea what to do with the other half. I definitely wouldn't mind another writer picking it up.

[robkelk]

Oh, hey! Seraviel did write an intro scene for his SI! Including giving the apartment's address.

Think I'll steal... er, re-write the scene for Cassiopée Bright's introductory story, saving me an afternoon's worth of work. (Yes, this will be a new story, never before seen past what Seraviel posted. Yes, Seraviel will get co-writer credit.) And, wonder of wonders, I was only one block off when I looked through Google Maps for a suitable building, so all the work that I did in finding places of interest nearby simply carries over. On the down side, there are no further empty apartments available in the building, and I had to squeeze three people into one apartment instead of having a two-person maximum for all apartments.

EDIT: "The rest of the pitch, given by a statuesque lady in a tight red dress" ? Looks like Seraviel was interviewed by somebody who wanted to get away from a couple of asstards for an afternoon. Not that she shows up again; Vár, Norse goddess of oaths and agreements, is the tutelary that Seraviel chose for the residence.

RE-EDIT: It appears that one of the three businesses in the building was "Patissiere Belge", which is no longer in business. Anybody up for some situational irony and having the characters from Yumeiro Patissiere work there and live elsewhere, completely unaware of the other displacees literally over their heads?

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm not up for writing it, but I'm always up for irony.

[robkelk]

Okay, here's what I've come up with.

Of course, Ichigo (the protagonist of Yumeiro Pâtissière) is in the displacee group, as are her school teammates and the Student Council President... and each human's Sweets Spirit came along for the ride. (In many ways, Sweets Spirits are like the Season(ing) Spirits from A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, except that they are more mature and they have a different purview on Earth.)

In a case of situational irony, they arrived before the Fate/Stay Night displacees, but were not recognized as displacees until after Konata Izumi met them in early 2017 and realized they were from a shojo manga. (Yumeiro Pâtissière ran in Ribon, which is canonically Skuld's favourite manga magazine... but Skuld didn't have any reason to visit Montréal in 2016.)

Ichigo &co. live in cramped quarters behind the shop, Ichigo and Mari in one small bedroom (with bunk-beds), the boys in a slightly larger bedroom (with three-high bunk beds), and a small room with a kitchen counter, five chairs, and a TV to relax in.

"You have a bathtub?! I've had to make do with showers since we got here!"

EDIT: For folks who haven't seen the anime, Yumeiro Pâtissière routinely ends up on deep-discount special during Sentai's end-of-year sales. Yes, it's an "improbably-skilled junior-high-school students" story... which is why I'm pulling the characters from the end of the sequel anime, which at least puts them in high school.

RE-EDIT: To give an idea of scale (and cuteness), here's fan art of one of the Sweets Spirits that we meet in the story.

[Bob Schroeck]

I would imagine that by early 2017 they would have to have realized they are not in the world they started from. Also, not having seen the story, I wonder if the Sweet Spirits are part of some kind of fae hierarchy which they can no longer contact.

[robkelk]

Oh, certainly.

However, running a patisserie is a full-time job that leaves no time for sightseeing, let alone investigative work. And Seraviel's introductory scene implies the interviewer put in the minimum work necessary and flat-out says the residence manager was never briefed on the situation - a recipe for letting the Yumeiro Pâtissière characters fall through the cracks.

As for the fae hierarchy, yes, they are cut off from the Sweets Kingdom. (If they hear Belldandy before seeing her, they'll think she's Queen Marie.)

[robkelk]

While updating the Montreal residence page, I noticed that Seraviel had called it "Building 52"... with the implication that there were 51 buildings purchased by Funtom Property Management before Appartements Mont-Royal Sud.

we only have 30 residences with wiki pages overall, and that includes places that we've established show up after Appartements Mont-Royal Sud. (Or, for that matter, after Academy City as a whole shows up.)

Which means there are plenty of places that we don't know about yet.

I'm not asking for a list of possible residences. I'm just pointing out that there's still plenty of room to add new residences, even on Day 1.