Question Kayda 8 - The Best Days of our Lives

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: Found it!

Straight from the Squirrel’s Mouth: Chapter 5

Someone asked, “How’re you gonna get there? I’m guessing not Delta Airlines.”

Psydoe didn’t quite smile. “You’re never going to believe this, but the MCO. Mrs. Carson pulled a bunch of us who can’t travel on regular airlines into a meeting last month, and she said as part of the MID thing with the MCO and the DPA, the MCO helps us out with plane travel on special jets and stuff.”

“Aren’t you worried the MCO’s gonna make you disappear?” someone asked.

Psydoe laughed. “Yeah, Mrs. Carson said if any of us had any trouble with any of the MCO people, she’d track ‘em down and take care of ‘em herself. And it’s not like the MCO can kidnap me and then claim they don’t know what happened. A Whateley person’s riding down on the shuttle with us, and making sure we’re all set. It ought to be pretty good. No in-flight meals or stuff, but still pretty good.”

And I'm pretty sure one of the other stories from the same time talked about The Outcasts going to Australia, but I haven't found that one yet.

Ahh... I'd forgotten that since it was only ever mentioned that one time as an option...

The outcasts talk about going to Australia in the Call the Thunder storyline (part 6)... that's where I lifted the description of the plane that was used...

So the REAL question is how the HELL is she going to get through airport security, I'm guessing she has never been on a plane before, and therefore is bound to be nervous, add MCO and TSA (plus equivalents) and other 3 letter agencies, to the mix, as well as NEW SCHOOL (plus knowledge of Combat Finals) and she'll take the entire checkpoint offline...

I hear the Queen Mary 2 still makes transatlantic ocean voyages

I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

elrodw wrote: I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

That does seem to be a problem on many threads.

elrodw wrote: I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

Logistics is the bread of theory crafting, new characters are often the butter...

elrodw wrote: I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

We expect Mayhem and Chaos from Jade and Kayda.

Now if Jade hadn't done anything wacky, we'd be talking about her.

Valentine wrote:

elrodw wrote: I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

We expect Mayhem and Chaos from Jade and Kayda.

Now if Jade hadn't done anything wacky, we'd be talking about her.

But ... I left a BIG challenge to find all the little bits of pop culture I was channeling into this! And there are some obscure ones to make it a big challenge.

Can I play?

I enjoyed how you wrapped-up some of the dangling issues in Charge's home life... Her life may not be perfect from now on but I think she'll be happier...

And that nice Mr. Delacroix... I think he just needed a rest.

elrodw wrote:

Valentine wrote:

elrodw wrote: I write an adventure with Jade, Ayla, Kayda, Charge, and Headrush - where Jade and Kayda create a whole lot of mayhem, and all you guys can do is talk about how a MINOR character is going to get to Whateley?

We expect Mayhem and Chaos from Jade and Kayda.

Now if Jade hadn't done anything wacky, we'd be talking about her.

But ... I left a BIG challenge to find all the little bits of pop culture I was channeling into this! And there are some obscure ones to make it a big challenge.

I asked about Ayla's moldy soda? There were others? Seriously like Sir Lee, I haven't seen the Night at the Museum movies, so I won't get any of those. And I am pretty bad at any pop culture post 1985.

That's OK, some of them are much older then 1985!

Is Business!Jade a reference to something??

Okay, something more major than Amelie... (Edit: Well, I guess if she wasn't so difficult to transport, we wouldn't have said anything??)...The French MCO is gonna get a bit less obviously bigoted or something?

Hmm... America's pretty isolated, compared to Europe... How much does the MCO of foreign, bordering countries impact a country's MCO's stance on mutants?

We've gotten through 11 days in 1 part... Is that a bit fast, or just me?

Where is everyone going again? We're only in ~2nd week of July, school starts up again in September...

Charge is staying in France, IIRC? So she's got that thread with her French friends and the French MCO...??

Malady wrote: We've gotten through 11 days in 1 part... Is that a bit fast, or just me?

Where is everyone going again? We're only in ~2nd week of July, school starts up again in September...

Charge is staying in France, IIRC? So she's got that thread with her French friends and the French MCO...??

We're not trying to cover every second of every day... In fact, as we go forward we're making an attempt not to...

Sure there are stories that could be told... But we would like to reach the start of the second year at Whateley WITHIN this decade...

Besides... if we filled everything up where would the fan-fictions and micro-scenes go?

Malady wrote: We've gotten through 11 days in 1 part... Is that a bit fast, or just me?

Where is everyone going again? We're only in ~2nd week of July, school starts up again in September...

As Danzilla said, we're only hitting highlights. There will probably NOT be a Charge story for the summer, nor a Headrush tale. There will be either a late-summer vignette with Kayda, or it'll be folded into the 'back to school' tale where she and Danny head cross-country to Whateley. (Most likely the latter.)

Even for a mutant high-school kid, most of life is BORING

As I mentioned in the story comments, I think the Jig is up for Jade, at least as far as Kadya goes.

Have to wonder now what Jade would look like in Dream-space: a 9-tailed fox-pup, or like a Jade version of a "Last Supper Painting" ala the Loose cannons Movie.(Which I can't find right now)

Given they said Amelie would be heading to Whateley next fall, that could potentially mean we've got our first member of the G1Y3 intake... unless something happens which advances the timetable somewhat. One alternative way of getting her to Whateley: send either Kayda or Danny over as an escort: with Kayda, she could spend the journey in dreamspace, with Danny, she'd be too busy petting him to remain anxious (Probably won't happen, but could be done as a fanfic micro-scene...)

Meanwhile, Addy's probably likely to spend the summer helping out with the winery and touching base with Collette again, so barring Lorraine doing something stupid, there's not going to be much of interest to report on from France. Similarly, Alicia's likely to have an uneventful remainder of summer, as will Nikki, Lainie and Cody. Possibly even Tansy, since Amelia may not request she do anything out of the ordinary in between studying (and it should be relaxing given the Three Little Pests will almost certainly be back with their families).

Ayla and Jade - now that's going to be an interesting story if anyone's sufficiently motivated and has the blessing of Diane (since IIRC Babs has been AWOL for years - so sadly we're unlikely to see any tales solely from Jade's PoV), although I wouldn't be surprised if the details of the very public return of Wondercute remain a Noodle Incident.

-oOo-

Anyway, onto the tale itself, and there's got to be backstory behind the sudden transition of the Mistress of Mayhem / Prankster Princess of Poe into a professional-looking PA stroke bodyguard - knowing Jade, there's more to the "reading glasses" than meets the eye (never mind she probably had Jann-sensei activated). Her ambitions for post-Whateley may be expanding beyond her initial thoughts of the ultimate babysitter / child care service (and even if she did set one up, her work experience with Ayla will teach her the practicalities and administration end of running a business). Heck, it's even possible that during her tour of the winery, some of the J-Team were engaging in their own covert tour, finding out things that could never be done overtly (e.g. eavesdropping on employee conversations / attitudes, to get a more holistic and accurate view of how the business actually works day-to-day).

Then onto the meeting with Jean-Michel and Lorraine - somehow I think their relationship might be a little more rocky in future, especially given later events... quickly followed by a reconciliation with Collete (this time as platonic friends), Amelie's revelation and Kayda giving Nicole an idea of how to disprove Addy's fears.

Unsurprisingly, Lorraine's rather peeved at seeing her rival and current flame (but for how much longer?!) together, enjoying themselves - and as I read that passage, I had Vivaldi's Summer running through my head - the first few movements are slow and gentle, but with occasional rumblings of the oncoming storm.

Oh, that's another thing Addy will be doing over the rest of the summer - getting to know Nicole and inviting her into her life, after pushing her away since she entered the family.

Then over to the nightclub, and the worst mistake of Delacroix's career: "She's too young to be a mutant."
Evidently some of the J-Team were already out and about (or were launched immediately after) Kayda noted they were being followed, given the reports a few minutes later of how many members of the BCMF were following them. Then out comes Kitty Compact, the J-Team unlocking the museum door from inside (inside the door itself, that is!) and disabling the alarm (or, perhaps more likely, Amelie's power temporarily disabled it, while the J-Team found the relevant sensor and found something with which to keep the circuit closed). I like the touch of the museum being sponsored by Ayla's estranged mum

Evidently Jade has Jann-Sensei activated in the museum, hence she can guide the other two around, possibly with other J-Team members doing recces. Then the hijinks start... there's likely to be some Home Alone references in there somewhere (Jade's bound to have watched it and made notes!) as well as Night at the Museum, Then later on, Kayda lets Tatanka out to play (is it worrying she's picking up stretegy tips from Jade?!) from a display of his European relatives, before eventually things calm down and the Heroes Glorieux de Bordeaux arrive, to find the three girls (plus J-Team member in the T-Rex) playing cards.

Oh, and as for the earlier question about Kayda and Jade, she (and her spirits) know there's a "connection" between Jade and Jinn - I can't remember if they've spotted a connection with the various non-humanoid incarnations of the J-Team. However, there's a world of difference between knowing Jade's doing something other than using devises and figuring out her real abilities (which, let's face it, are unique even by Whateleyverse standards). It is, however, possible that at some point in their remaining 3 years at Whateley, Kayda finds out something closer to the truth, either by discovery and analysis or being told by Jade herself. It's likely that if Jade and the J-Team were examined more closely by Kayda's spirits, they'd find yet another dimension to the complexity of Jade (her 'stuck'ness, her relationship to the J-Team, the J-Team creation process...) But as with Dpragan above, I'd be curious to see her default appearance and environment in Dreamspace. Given what we've seen so far (especially with Angel being able to touch her without incident), she'd definitely appear in female form and probably Jinn-in-human-form sized. Heck, there's probably a Lakota spirit or two which have similar personality characteristics to her (from the PoV of meeting and conversing with in Dreamspace, rather than anything else)...

I keep seeing the Jade Stooges in my head about the J-Team in Dreamspace.

Poor Jet would be Shemp. I wonder how she is doing anyway, with Sara MIA?

About the pop-culture references... I'm guessing Escape To or Return From Witch Mountain... Oh, and I think there was something from that movie with the green monkey that ate lightbulbs....

Kayda thought that Jade was reading Ayla's mind. Could they be using the Spots?

I think that the explanation for Jade's apparent switch to professionalism is simple: she's playing a role. She enjoys role-playing -- she has played Ghost, Robot Cabbit, Shoulder Angels, Waitress and probably others I can't recall right now. And she is supposed to have played "bodyguard/PA" for Ayla before, allegedly during Spring Break in New York. (a story Diane never released but she hinted about).
Another thing to remember is that Jade does not like charity. She feels her services have been ridiculously overpaid -- in advance -- by Ayla placing that bet in her name. So she is making damn sure that Ayla will receive his money's worth. If this means playing "ridiculously efficient PA" for a few days, that's what she's going to do.

Sir Lee wrote: I think that the explanation for Jade's apparent switch to professionalism is simple: she's playing a role. She enjoys role-playing -- she has played Ghost, Robot Cabbit, Shoulder Angels, Waitress and probably others I can't recall right now. And she is supposed to have played "bodyguard/PA" for Ayla before, allegedly during Spring Break in New York. (a story Diane never released but she hinted about).
Another thing to remember is that Jade does not like charity. She feels her services have been ridiculously overpaid -- in advance -- by Ayla placing that bet in her name. So she is making damn sure that Ayla will receive his money's worth. If this means playing "ridiculously efficient PA" for a few days, that's what she's going to do.

And ... we have a winner!

Time for a confession - I read the bits Diane had written and the outline of the spring break story, so I knew how she'd presented Jade, which was much the same as I did - wanting to do a hyper-good job because she was being paid for it. So it wasn't my original idea, but it (would have) worked so well in the spring break story that I had to use it. The impish smiles she threw in to confuse Kayda - that was my addition

Alright people seem to be missing one of the older pop references so here it is.

Nice to see Jade back in action. Thank you very much.

Domoviye wrote: Alright people seem to be missing one of the older pop references so here it is.

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Yay!

And I think I saw a Harry Potter callout, but that could just have been where I saw it first and it was actually referencing something earlier like Starman.

Yeah, everything that Sir Lee said with the addition that Jade knows perfectly well that it freaks people out when she behaves normally. So she gets to play super-aid, and freak out Kayda at the same time!

That said, I think that the museum incident proves that Jade had a lot of creativity bursting at the seams.

Watching people underestimate the vampire princess will never get old.

Don't forget Bladedancer! I do't recall her exact words, but she said something like "No one expects the oriental martial artist to pull out a gun."
Since Eldrich is teaching them, I would expect all of team TAO (or whatever they decide to name themselves" to get guns.

Since I know that at least one of the authors is into Champions, you might check out the "Magnum Mage."

amratner wrote: Since Eldrich is teaching them, I would expect all of team TAO (or whatever they decide to name themselves" to get guns.

crystalhall.wikia.com/wiki/Handmaid's_Own

Ah, so I've drawn yet another OCD language person.

Thank you for your snotty-ass comments by which critique you really, really don't do a hell of a lot for authors who write this FOR FREAKIN' FREE! A PM? Sure, tht would have worked, and a LOT of people in the past have done so, which I take as constructive criticism, but apparently you wanted to demean a non-French-speaking author in public.

Thanks, asshole.

Loved the beginnings of a Addy accepting Nicole in her home. That reveal of the pictures was forceful, emotional, and just damn good.

Jade being Jade. Without her inner monologue, it's missing a little something. But since she never felt she was in danger, her being playful worked well.

Kayda isn't usually this observant. I suppose that's because she's usually frantically dodging death threats so we're only now getting to see this side of her.

One thing was off and it was just in passing. Ayla voluntarily wearing makeup? Since when? Is that Addy's influence?

jmhyp wrote: Loved the beginnings of a Addy accepting Nicole in her home. That reveal of the pictures was forceful, emotional, and just damn good.

Thanks. It was a little hard to write to get the feel to it being both plausible and highly emotional.

Jade being Jade. Without her inner monologue, it's missing a little something. But since she never felt she was in danger, her being playful worked well.

Jade is hard to write, period. How much did she think she was in danger? Hard to say since it's a Kayda first-person POV story, but probably more than Kayda noticed. I don't get a chance to rummage around in her brain. And who says she was being playful when she was shooting those "innocent little smiles" at Kayda ...

Kayda isn't usually this observant. I suppose that's because she's usually frantically dodging death threats so we're only now getting to see this side of her.

Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

One thing was off and it was just in passing. Ayla voluntarily wearing makeup? Since when? Is that Addy's influence?

During parts of the trip, Ayla has to look professional, ergo, like a serious female tycoon. Yeah, Addy would have helped, but it'd be something Ayla would do to keep up the proper image. Ayla knows expectations in the business world, and will work to not stray from those. If we had seen Ayla's spring break story, I think this would have seemed less an issue to the readers.

Hey, punctuation has rights too!

Support your local comma...

elrodw wrote:

jmhyp wrote: Jade being Jade. Without her inner monologue, it's missing a little something. But since she never felt she was in danger, her being playful worked well.

Jade is hard to write, period. How much did she think she was in danger? Hard to say since it's a Kayda first-person POV story, but probably more than Kayda noticed. I don't get a chance to rummage around in her brain. And who says she was being playful when she was shooting those "innocent little smiles" at Kayda ...

Danger for Jade is kind of relative. On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is Jade safe at home, in Poe, walking back to Poe, visiting Boston, walking to Dunwich, hanging around in a mall, in the Sims, (exactly where is Jade safe again?) to 10 being stabbed through the heart by an evil witch (that one is fairly definitive). Being chased around a museum in France by a bunch of MCO Agents is probably pretty low on the scale for Jade.

I think the only time Jade is really "safe," is when she is travelling by commercial aircraft.

Thanks, asshole. *

Clearly El is supporting Adjective local 2314. =)

Given the level of violence that Jade can reach, the MCO Agents were very lucky that none of them ever got a chance to actually physically attack any of the girls. Jade has no remorse with doing whatever is necessary to stop her attackers.

One attempted lethal attack on them, and the HGB would have arrived to find a group of MCO corpses playing cards.

I wonder how long Kayda's "knockout juice" spell lasts, and if there is a small bottle of it and a porcupine quill in Jade's purse.

Okay, since no-one is guessing anymore, the quill and knockout juice were inspired by Yellowbeard, where the doctor was using the concoction to knock out the priests on El Nebuloso's island.

elrodw wrote: Okay, since no-one is guessing anymore, the quill and knockout juice were inspired by Yellowbeard, where the doctor was using the concoction to knock out the priests on El Nebuloso's island.

I have to admit I never saw Yellowbeard.

Valentine wrote:

elrodw wrote: Okay, since no-one is guessing anymore, the quill and knockout juice were inspired by Yellowbeard, where the doctor was using the concoction to knock out the priests on El Nebuloso's island.

I have to admit I never saw Yellowbeard. This may be why. John Cleese called this movie "One of the six worst films made in the history of the world."

Might be because Cleese's role was relatively minor, and they killed his character off before the main action happened. It's a good movie for Graham Chapman as Yellowbeard, and IIRC, it's Marty Feldman's last movie.

Valentine wrote:

elrodw wrote: Okay, since no-one is guessing anymore, the quill and knockout juice were inspired by Yellowbeard, where the doctor was using the concoction to knock out the priests on El Nebuloso's island.

I have to admit I never saw Yellowbeard.

This may be why. [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

John Cleese called this movie "One of the six worst films made in the history of the world."

Awww... I dunno... some of the most memorable quotes and scenes, from movies I watched when I was younger, came from that movie...

Harvey "Blind" Pew: It sounded as though there was a bit of a squabble.
Moon: Squabble? They're all dead!
Harvey "Blind" Pew: Oh! Must have been more of a tiff then.

The animated samurai armor is a nod to Bedknobs and Broomsticks, where Angela Lansbury's character (a witch-in-training) animates a museum full of armor to fight back a Nazi raiding party.

my bad for the train station, i forgot gare de lyon it's 6 effectively. thx nadru, i got bad memory the older i am.

mittfh wrote: But as with Dpragan above, I'd be curious to see her default appearance and environment in Dreamspace. Given what we've seen so far (especially with Angel being able to touch her without incident), she'd definitely appear in female form and probably Jinn-in-human-form sized. Heck, there's probably a Lakota spirit or two which have similar personality characteristics to her (from the PoV of meeting and conversing with in Dreamspace, rather than anything else)...

Seeing Dreamspace!Jade might be fun for us. It might be less than good for Jade, however. Remember the Mirror of Erisid from the first Harry Potter book?

Domoviye wrote: If Jade had somehow managed to keep the T-Rex bones, it would have been awesome at Whately. Maybe she can get some at Whately and keep them for when she needs a pet with big sharp teeth.

Well, it's not like she has to use authentic fossils to achieve the desired effect. We've already seen that she's crafty, and Whateley does have some pretty nifty fabrication facilities. Wouldn't be hard for her to just make her own dinosaur skeleton, probably with bonus features hidden inside the bones. Because Jade.

Also, the story never said which dinosaur it was. I'm guessing not a T-Rex though, since Jade does have a size limitation. If she hasn't expanded her range in the last several months, it would probably take at least five or six members of the J-Team working in concert to animate an adult T-Rex without finding ways to cheat (e.g. attach cables to use as tendons with the ends running into a central core that she could occupy, but then she might run into her strength limits, so she may have to also include powerful springs to counterbalance the weight of the skeleton...). A younger T-Rex might not occupy as many Jade shards though.

Deinonychus would be a lot easier to work with than T-Rex, and it would also be easier to store and transport while not in use. For those who don't know, Deinonychus is what the Jurassic Park "Velociraptor" was based on, rather than actual Velociraptors. They just borrowed the Velociraptor's name since it sounds cooler. (Real Velociraptors were the size of chickens, shaped slightly differently, and just the cutest little monsters you ever did see.) If she was feeling ambitious, she could also probably pull off a Utahraptor, which is bigger (perhaps the size of Razorback), but she'd probably have to cheat for the tail, or use an extra Jade.

Kristin Darken wrote: It makes me wonder how these people survive reading regular published material, honestly. Where they can't just throw a quick post off on a comment page demanding that someone fix that blaring error. That ONE horrible, torturous error. That didn't prevent the moment from being understood. Because, you know... its killing them to know that there's an improper usage of a special case of possessive adjective somewhere on the internet.And in print media... there's no one to complain to!??!!

Just last Thursday I was griping to myself about a harmlessly-missing comma in The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (fourth Wheel of Time book). For me, that sort of discovery is actually sort of encouraging. It reminds me that even the greats are human.

But to answer your wondering, it's pretty easy to survive. The key is that we simply are not the kind of people you seem to think we are. I'm not sure exactly what your POV is, but it seems as though you think that it's innately rude to point out an error in somebody's work unsolicited without doing it in private and with extreme diplomacy, and therefor anybody who behaves in that rude manner must have some sort of flaw motivating them -- they're obsessed, or malicious, or egotistical. But that is only true of people who share your particular arbitrary set of manners.

To some people, offering blunt, unsolicited correction of errors is not rude. And it's not because they're insensitive, antisocial, or stupid. It's because they have a different version of manners, different cultural rules. For them and the people they're used to, pointing out and sometimes debating errors isn't just something they think is helpful. It is something that is actually the normal, desired, friendly behavior. This is common among programmers, for example.

If somebody has that simple, frank, open attitude toward talking about their own and others' errors, then it doesn't take any special need to prompt them to report on an error. It's just the right thing to do, no big deal. And if there is nobody in a position to fix it to report the error to, or it would be too inconvenient, then they simply shrug and move on because it was no big deal.

All this obviously causes confusion and sometimes pain among people for whom it is a big deal, when either party mistakenly thinks that what they think is obvious is actually obvious. Yay cultural dissonance. I for one try to apply When In Rome, since obviously it's your house and your rules. Other people perhaps don't realize just how badly their posts will be taken, despite the warnings. Frankly, it can be hard to anticipate just how sensitive you guys are about some things until seen in action. I know I was somewhat shocked and confused the first times I saw people set you guys off.

Sorry if this doesn't help. I've been trying to make it sensible and respectful for a good bit now, and the fusion ball is now firmly up in the sky, mocking me with its daylight as I weave between proofreading and dreamhaving, so I'm throwing in the towel and declaring the turd polished. It is well past time to sleep a little.

it's safe to assume that the dino skeleton was like a small (2m) allosaurus.

The reveal of the day:
The tiny figures are a joint homage to Asterix and Obelix, and the miniatures in Night at the Museum. The specific figures called out are:
the short one with winged helmet - Asterix.
the tall fat one in blue and white striped pants - Obelix.
the tall skinny one with very long beard - (not, it's NOT Galdalf!) Getafix the druid.

Sure. I wasn't complaining or trying to say you should change your policies or anything; I do understand and respect why things are the way they are. It's just that you expressed confusion about how people who are motivated to point out errors deal with traditionally published work, which seemed to stem from a misunderstanding of what's going on in our heads in the first place, so I thought I'd try to clarify at least what goes on inside mine.

elrodw wrote: it's safe to assume that the dino skeleton was like a small (2m) allosaurus.

The reveal of the day:
The tiny figures are a joint homage to Asterix and Obelix, and the miniatures in Night at the Museum. The specific figures called out are:
the short one with winged helmet - Asterix.
the tall fat one in blue and white striped pants - Obelix.
the tall skinny one with very long beard - (not, it's NOT Galdalf!) Getafix the druid.

Ah, missed the miniatures from Night at the Museum part in that scene, should had have remembered a similar scene from the movie. Did note Asterix, Obelix, and Getafix in my comments, hard to forget a helmet like Asterix's once you've seen it and love the reference to him and his friends. I need to start watching out for more easter eggs like that in stories from now on, fun to figure them out and see the Whateley characters interact with such things from pop culture, etc.

Dreamer wrote:

elrodw wrote: it's safe to assume that the dino skeleton was like a small (2m) allosaurus.

The reveal of the day:
The tiny figures are a joint homage to Asterix and Obelix, and the miniatures in Night at the Museum. The specific figures called out are:
the short one with winged helmet - Asterix.
the tall fat one in blue and white striped pants - Obelix.
the tall skinny one with very long beard - (not, it's NOT Galdalf!) Getafix the druid.

Ah, missed the miniatures from Night at the Museum part in that scene, should had have remembered a similar scene from the movie. Did note Asterix, Obelix, and Getafix in my comments, hard to forget a helmet like Asterix's once you've seen it and love the reference to him and his friends. I need to start watching out for more easter eggs like that in stories from now on, fun to figure them out and see the Whateley characters interact with such things from pop culture, etc.

I forgot - the green soldiers from Toy Story were part of that multi-theme homage.

The attack of the plushies was inspired by the evil teddy bear in Toy Story 3 AND the swarming attacks in other Toy Story movies.

One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Valentine wrote: One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Glad you like that. I have a problem writing a place that doesn't feel or seem 'real'. It's more work, but using real places give me access to details to flesh out the setting. It's nice to know that people notice and appreciate the extra effort.

elrodw wrote:

Valentine wrote: One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Glad you like that. I have a problem writing a place that doesn't feel or seem 'real'. It's more work, but using real places give me access to details to flesh out the setting. It's nice to know that people notice and appreciate the extra effort.

As a light comic reader? Or a reader of webcomics that aren't made to seem like the modern day, the use of real locales is invisible? But, now that I notice it, it's pretty nice! Same with the worldbuilding! It makes it seem more 'real'.

Edit: Oh, Valentine, you specified stories in general... I'm finding it hard to think of stories that are modern-day-ish, and are set on Earths, but use made-up places, and aren't set in a isolated area...

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Valentine wrote: One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Glad you like that. I have a problem writing a place that doesn't feel or seem 'real'. It's more work, but using real places give me access to details to flesh out the setting. It's nice to know that people notice and appreciate the extra effort.

As a light comic reader? Or a reader of webcomics that aren't made to seem like the modern day, the use of real locales is invisible? But, now that I notice it, it's pretty nice! Same with the worldbuilding! It makes it seem more 'real'.

Edit: Oh, Valentine, you specified stories in general... I'm finding it hard to think of stories that are modern-day-ish, and are set on Earths, but use made-up places, and aren't set in a isolated area...

Fanfic-er's rant? [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

... if a real pain to make Alt Hist. for, with sufficiently large Points of Divergence, 'cause we've got all this worldbuilding, but not a lot of history? I think? ... But, that's what Gen0's for. So, it'll be fun to wait and piece together histories and stuff?

The entire DC Universe is one, while the real cities exist, all the heroes are in made up cities. In a lot of online fiction, authors make up business. People go to Burger Queen, Dairy King, Pizza Shack, McRonalds, etc. You don't see this in Pro books, because the authors know that unless they write something libelous, the companies aren't going to do anything.

Write that Walmart is putting subliminal messages to buy more stuff, and you are likely to get sued. Write that Ed went and bought some aspirin at Walmart, and they are happy for the free advertising.

As for Whateley history, except for a few points, the history is basically the same. WWII had some supers on each side, but that didn't change the outcome. I think the biggest difference is what happened on 9/11. Wallachia, Karadonia, and Paradise Island exists, but those are relatively minor things on a planetary scale.

Valentine wrote:

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Valentine wrote: One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Glad you like that. I have a problem writing a place that doesn't feel or seem 'real'. It's more work, but using real places give me access to details to flesh out the setting. It's nice to know that people notice and appreciate the extra effort.

As a light comic reader? Or a reader of webcomics that aren't made to seem like the modern day, the use of real locales is invisible? But, now that I notice it, it's pretty nice! Same with the worldbuilding! It makes it seem more 'real'.

Edit: Oh, Valentine, you specified stories in general... I'm finding it hard to think of stories that are modern-day-ish, and are set on Earths, but use made-up places, and aren't set in a isolated area...

Fanfic-er's rant? [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

... if a real pain to make Alt Hist. for, with sufficiently large Points of Divergence, 'cause we've got all this worldbuilding, but not a lot of history? I think? ... But, that's what Gen0's for. So, it'll be fun to wait and piece together histories and stuff?

The entire DC Universe is one, while the real cities exist, all the heroes are in made up cities. In a lot of online fiction, authors make up business. People go to Burger Queen, Dairy King, Pizza Shack, McRonalds, etc. You don't see this in Pro books, because the authors know that unless they write something libelous, the companies aren't going to do anything.

Write that Walmart is putting subliminal messages to buy more stuff, and you are likely to get sued. Write that Ed went and bought some aspirin at Walmart, and they are happy for the free advertising.

Oh, right. Bland Name Products and stuff, like in Anime. I guess it might be different in Japan?

Valentine wrote: As for Whateley history, except for a few points, the history is basically the same. WWII had some supers on each side, but that didn't change the outcome. I think the biggest difference is what happened on 9/11. Wallachia, Karadonia, and Paradise Island exists, but those are relatively minor things on a planetary scale.

Oh. Right. Yeah, I might be overthinking things... Wait... No, I'd be altering whole governmental organizations, and putting in things like a magical police system... Perhaps I'm not. I keep forgetting the scope of what I'm doing...

There was a scene in "RoadHouse", where a member of the Bad Guy Gang, gets trapped underneath a a full size taxidermied polar bear.

Is this the bear reference?

Mister D wrote: There was a scene in "RoadHouse", where a member of the Bad Guy Gang, gets trapped underneath a a full size taxidermied polar bear.

Is this the bear reference?

"Very good, Fisher. You win a cookie."
(bonus point if you can tell me what movie that quote is from and who said it.)

Malady wrote:

Valentine wrote:

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Valentine wrote: One thing I should have mentioned before. Thanks for using real places.

I really don't care for stories that are unwilling to use real places. The addition of minor things like Dunwich and Whateley's don't count, they still go to Boston, NYC, LA, etc. It's one of things that I don't like about DC Comics.

Glad you like that. I have a problem writing a place that doesn't feel or seem 'real'. It's more work, but using real places give me access to details to flesh out the setting. It's nice to know that people notice and appreciate the extra effort.

As a light comic reader? Or a reader of webcomics that aren't made to seem like the modern day, the use of real locales is invisible? But, now that I notice it, it's pretty nice! Same with the worldbuilding! It makes it seem more 'real'.

Edit: Oh, Valentine, you specified stories in general... I'm finding it hard to think of stories that are modern-day-ish, and are set on Earths, but use made-up places, and aren't set in a isolated area...

Fanfic-er's rant? [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

... if a real pain to make Alt Hist. for, with sufficiently large Points of Divergence, 'cause we've got all this worldbuilding, but not a lot of history? I think? ... But, that's what Gen0's for. So, it'll be fun to wait and piece together histories and stuff?

The entire DC Universe is one, while the real cities exist, all the heroes are in made up cities. In a lot of online fiction, authors make up business. People go to Burger Queen, Dairy King, Pizza Shack, McRonalds, etc. You don't see this in Pro books, because the authors know that unless they write something libelous, the companies aren't going to do anything.

Write that Walmart is putting subliminal messages to buy more stuff, and you are likely to get sued. Write that Ed went and bought some aspirin at Walmart, and they are happy for the free advertising.

Oh, right. Bland Name Products and stuff, like in Anime. I guess it might be different in Japan?

Valentine wrote: As for Whateley history, except for a few points, the history is basically the same. WWII had some supers on each side, but that didn't change the outcome. I think the biggest difference is what happened on 9/11. Wallachia, Karadonia, and Paradise Island exists, but those are relatively minor things on a planetary scale.

Oh. Right. Yeah, I might be overthinking things... Wait... No, I'd be altering whole governmental organizations, and putting in things like a magical police system... Perhaps I'm not. I keep forgetting the scope of what I'm doing...

Remember that there is a Presidential Adviser on Magical Affairs, I don't think it is a Cabinet level position, but that was not explained. Seems like it is equivalent to the National Security Advisor. As for a "Magical Police Dept.," I would think that given the low numbers of wizards, it might be part of the FBI, or given J. Edgar Hoover a separate Agency. NYC, LA, and Chicago might have a handful of investigators, maybe some of the bigger State Police Departments might have the same.

Astrodragon wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

Valentine wrote: Sooooooooooo, how do you get Amelie to Whateley?

possibly in an aircraft were all the electronics are in Faraday cages saving the com systems.

Or by ship...

could you not put her in the Faraday cage? A nice comfortable one mind you.

Kristin Darken wrote:

elrodw wrote: Thanks, asshole.

mmHmm. It makes me wonder how these people survive reading regular published material, honestly. Where they can't just throw a quick post off on a comment page demanding that someone fix that blaring error. That ONE horrible, torturous error. That didn't prevent the moment from being understood. Because, you know... its killing them to know that there's an improper usage of a special case of possessive adjective somewhere on the internet.And in print media... there's no one to complain to!??!!

At least this one made a nice post about the story before their OCD got the best of them.

You should check out "MLP, Friendship is Magic, Season Six, Episode Thirteen" Just came out. Takes place at a Fan-con, and they have a character called Quibble Pants. I think you can figure out what sort he is.

"I only regard the first three Daring Do books as Canon. Everything after that was trash."

Some say it's a shout out to Star War's fandom.^_^

PS, they actually have a cut out of a pony version of Ranma in front of one booth. A lot of the MLP voice actors did the English Version of Ranma.

Dreamer wrote:

elrodw wrote: it's safe to assume that the dino skeleton was like a small (2m) allosaurus.

The reveal of the day:
The tiny figures are a joint homage to Asterix and Obelix, and the miniatures in Night at the Museum. The specific figures called out are:
the short one with winged helmet - Asterix.
the tall fat one in blue and white striped pants - Obelix.
the tall skinny one with very long beard - (not, it's NOT Galdalf!) Getafix the druid.

Ah, missed the miniatures from Night at the Museum part in that scene, should had have remembered a similar scene from the movie. Did note Asterix, Obelix, and Getafix in my comments, hard to forget a helmet like Asterix's once you've seen it and love the reference to him and his friends. I need to start watching out for more easter eggs like that in stories from now on, fun to figure them out and see the Whateley characters interact with such things from pop culture, etc.

I've been reading a lot of Christopher Nuttall lately. He's a big E-book author. Incredible output. he loves to drop pop culture references into his works. I've seen him give sly shout outs to Asterix in three or four stories.

Something just occurred to me, and I don't know if anyone else caught this: could the World Tree seed be Cold Brutha's 'green key'? I find it unlikely, especially since the poem seemed to imply that Chaka needed to find it, but... I mean, Damballah's prophecy-poem was every bit as opaque as one would expect from most forms of oracle.