Question The Micro-Scenes Discussion thread

200 year old, actually (207 in the story she is from, to be specific). I realized my mistake and corrected it, but apparently not before you have a chance to read it. My Bad.

I wonder if she'll join the Bad Seeds. She does qualify, but proving it might be tricky, as her father probably never visited the WA universe.

Malady wrote: Oh right. Yeah, Mind Control was the obvious answer for the rapid change in emotions... So, he has two heads... What would the inner one call themself, if the outer head is Derek? ... Or they both respond to Derek?

...

@Schol-R-Lea - Mysterious girl who is ~300+ yrs old. Funny, and mysterious!

Well given it's whatly I'd guess the inner head is called Susie, has a major crush on Bloodwolf and is always trying to stuff him into pretty dresses with fluffy skirts.

Malady wrote:

Kaitha [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

That ending line! "Mrs Hair lady" is just so lol!

Nice musings on being a shifter though!

Sometimes Ceilidh is quite hard to write for, because I'm trying to put out a teenager trying to put out a child. A teenager who's been "working" in the medical industry for five years. She doesn't work quite as hard as like, a nurse, because of Child Labour laws, but she's seen people in various stages of injury. Sometimes it's hard to think how she'd phrase things. Figuring out if she'd phrase it "kicked in the junk" or something like "kicked in the giggle, naughty, giggle place, giggle".

The nicknames like "Mrs. Hair Lady" ... usually quite fun and easy to make.

@Kaitha39: Family blackmail. I approve!

For anyone curious about where I got the idea for the prison it's loosely based around a WW2 prison near my hometown. At the time it was howling wilderness for hundreds of miles to the north, east and west, with Lake Superior (biggest lake in the world, you'll get hypothermia in summer if you swim too far from shore) to the South.
German POWs were allowed a lot of freedom including working in the logging camps nearby, most didn't try to escape. The few who did generally came back after a few nights half dead from bug bites and exhaustion. If they followed the train tracks the communities along the tracks knew to watch for people with strange accents, the wrong clothes etc.
One person escaped to the US while it was neutral and then to Mexico, a few made it to Canadian cities before being captured, and several vanished. Years later a man with a German accent and no ID, was found living on an Indian reservation happily married.

I thought something similar would work well for super powered people.

@Domoviye The best prisons in the world are where the guards don't have to do anything. They are only there to stop the prisoners from tearing each other to pieces and even then they still might not break it up if they can bench press a tank.

Anyone who catches it and is confused:
I'm really, really assuming the Scottish get another referendum before 2037.

Hell, the only reason they're not clamouring for one now, after seven years of Tory rule's austerity, is the guttering of the worth of the North Sea oil reserves due to the price drop in 2016.

Kaitha39 wrote: Anyone who catches it and is confused:
I'm really, really assuming the Scottish get another referendum before 2037.

Hell, the only reason they're not clamouring for one now, after seven years of Tory rule's austerity, is the guttering of the worth of the North Sea oil reserves due to the price drop in 2016.

I liked the story. A good lesson for people not to assume anything just because of appearances.

Since Kettlekorn pointed it out, I'm wondering if you used the Mercator projection for that distance estimate...
Three and a half thousand kilometers is London to Cairo.
Three and a half thousand miles is London to New York.
But if you compare either of those on a Globe to the Mercator, it's easy to see why people are disgusted with the Mercator's inaccuracies...


And yeah Domoviye, the entire scene came out of two things:
a) People treating "adult" Ceilidh as a child. Her regressed age factor of six, starting just before her seventh birthday? She won't "turn eighteen" until she's 66. On the other hand, she could live up to like, 500 years old, and as someone said to Errant Story's Meiji: "You can dance on their graves, and it won't be 'granny-oh-god-don't-break-a-hip shuffling'."
b) "Milk and cookies and staying up an hour after your bedtime." Ah, sibling love.

Kaitha39 wrote: Since Kettlekorn pointed it out, I'm wondering if you used the Mercator projection for that distance estimate...
Three and a half thousand kilometers is London to Cairo.
Three and a half thousand miles is London to New York.
But if you compare either of those on a Globe to the Mercator, it's easy to see why people are disgusted with the Mercator's inaccuracies...

The northernmost point of Canadian land, Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island to the Southernmost on Lake Eerie, is 4,646km. 90% of Canada's population lives within 100km of the southern border.
I was exaggerating things a bit, but assuming they chose an island a little closer to the geographical North Pole than Ellesmere, and it's not a huge lie. Most communities would be two thousand kilometres away except for the small towns of the territories, the largest being Whitehorse with 25k people. And of course Greenland with its largest city being even smaller than Whitehorse.

It would actually be shorter to go to Iceland than Southern Canada. From Ellesmere Island to Greenland its 450km. Then about 1500km from the northwestern side of Greenland to Iceland.

So yeah, exaggeration on Lockers part, but no matter what people are looking at about a thousand kilometre swim and hike to reach a medium size town either on Baffin Island, Iqaluit, 8,000 people, or Greenland, Nuuk 17,000 people. Or two thousand to reach Yellowknife, 19,000 people, or Whitehorse. After that it's around 2500km or more to reach a city or town in the northern prairies or Quebec. Considering how spread out they are without a map finding your way to one of these places is very daunting.

Canada's really big.

Domoviye wrote: 90% of Canada's population lives within 100km of the southern border.

I did not actually know this, though it makes sense. According to imgur.com/yIe8gWy it would actually be easier for a strong swimmer to get to most of the UK instead of the southern border of Canada.
A very STRONG swimmer mind you.

Edit: Starting from the North Pole that is.

It would actually be shorter to go to Iceland than Southern Canada. From Ellesmere Island to Greenland its 450km. Then about 1500km from the northwestern side of Greenland to Iceland.

That was one of the things I was thinking when I looked at the globe, but then, I know next to nothing about Greenland other than it really should be called Iceland and vice versa. Them crazy Danish people and their naming conventions.

Of course a long distance flyer probably has natural protection from the cold and could escape potentially

But you definitely meant kilometers, not miles. 3,000 miles from the North Pole puts you (as Kettlekorn said) about halfway between the 46th and 47th parallels, just south of Duluth, Minnesota on our side of the planet, and about halfway through Switzerland on the other side.

Incidentally, "halfway between the 46th and 47th parallels, just south of Duluth, Minnesota" is where I grew up. I did the math on it once, and that still put me farther north than 60% of the Canadian population.

Kaitha39 wrote: That was one of the things I was thinking when I looked at the globe, but then, I know next to nothing about Greenland other than it really should be called Iceland and vice versa. Them crazy Danish people and their naming conventions.

Historians often opine that the name Greenland was basically a marketing ploy by Erik the Red , who was looking to get people to join his colony there. However, it should also be mentioned that those early colonies were laid down at a time called the 'Medieval Warming Period', when the area was about as warm as it is now and had been for a couple of centuries when they arrived, so there actually was a fair amount of pasture land in the southernmost parts suitable for raising sheep and goats - not really enough for cattle, but they would have had trouble sailing that far with larger animals on the relatively small longships , anyway.

While the seagoing ships were larger than those used in coastal areas, they were still generally under 30m long and 5m wide (the longest known wreck found so far is 37m x 5.5m). They could, and did, transport cattle on them for shorter distances, but going that far with them probably wouldn't have been practical - which is very likely also why horses weren't brought (back) to the Americas until the 16th century.

The Vikings - and earlier, Phoenicians - did travel to the Americas (mostly by accident), and the former even tried to colonize Canada as far west as Hudson Bay, but it should be obvious that had there been a regular transit between the Old World and the New, then things like potatoes and maize (and arguably syphilis) would have been known by Europeans prior to Columbus, and the lack of horses (and smallpox) in the Americas in the historical period prior to the Colombian Exchange make it clear that any deliberate expeditions were small ones with no significant sequels.

Which brings us back to marketing: Lief Erikson, who like his father was temporarily banished from the existing settlements for murder, called the region he found Vinland (whihc could mean 'Fine Land', 'Good Farming Land', or 'Land of Grapes', depending on how you place the emphasis - this was probably a deliberate pun) to try and lure colonists there. However, the colony effort was torpedoed by Lief's sister - after she killed one of the colonists, most of the others went home, so he packed it in and (in an effort to save face) asked the leadership back home to forbid further exploration of the region.

I hate switching between writing Canadians and Americans, always have to watch what measurements I'm using.
It's changed.

Domoviye wrote: I hate switching between writing Canadians and Americans, always have to watch what measurements I'm using.
It's changed.

I know exactly what you mean: England uses Imperial for some things (mostly distances) and Metric for others (pretty much everything, especially science classrooms). Which gets really confusing when I go to the continent and have to remember what the hell the equivalent Metric things are for the few Imperial units.

Although really, Metric is the one we should all be using.

@Katssun - It'd be so terrible if Nate was actually looking for her, to save her, and just double-agenting as part of the search party...

It's too bad that she'll never know...

@katssun Nice! Will Linda get more control over her sonic powers? If she could use infra and ultrasound attacks she could do some serious damage. Now how will she react when everyone's favorite demon strolls through the door asking for a Purple Platypus?

Ebola wrote: Now how will she react when everyone's favorite demon strolls through the door asking for a Purple Platypus?

Look extremely confused and look at Carl, who will simply mix the drink for her to give to Imp, of course!

@Katssun

Lol...little kid mages are the best and probably the worst at the same time.

I've written a micro-scene about Stacy Yates dealing with her son before. This isn't the first time she's had a child misbehave. But this is definitely the first time Angela has shown up.

I am waiting to see who gets the POV, the subject of his attention and who he is going as from my little micro-scene. I think I put enough hints in.

mhalpern wrote: I am waiting to see who gets the POV, the subject of his attention and who he is going as from my little micro-scene. I think I put enough hints in.

I edited it so it is hopefully a bit more clear, I don't expect this to happen at all, as it is far too specific, and the likelihood of the character I wrote the POV from is highly unlikely to ever see the show the character he is dressing up as is from, at least not enough to know the characters.

Well it sounds to me like Superhawk. I don't know who he's dressing up as though.

Kettlekorn wrote: Well it sounds to me like Superhawk. I don't know who he's dressing up as though.

Answer:

Ah, that makes sense.

mhalpern wrote:

Kettlekorn wrote: Well it sounds to me like Superhawk. I don't know who he's dressing up as though.

Answer:

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

Zuko from Avatar The Last Airbender.... Hence the 'Honor' from "Honor among thieves"

Thieves have honor? Lier. You stole that line didn't you?

Feel free to run with that microscene

Maybe have Imp as a femme Aang to turn it around, or maybe Ember Island Players "Aang"

Looks like we've got a Bizarro Universe on our hands.

• Elden Carson = male Elizabeth Carson
• Nicholas Reilly = male Nikki
• Chipmunk = Aqerna
• Erin "Quokka" Carlysle = Feral or Heyoka?
• Circe seems to be the same, but dead.
• Amelia Diabolik = fusion of Hartford and Dr. Diabolik
• Gizmatic is now a woman
• WTF happened between Canada and USA‽

How close am I? Better question: how completely wrong am I?

Angeldude wrote: Looks like we've got a Bizarro Universe on our hands.

• Elden Carson = male Elizabeth Carson
• Nicholas Reilly = male Nikki
• Chipmunk = Aqerna
• Erin "Quokka" Carlysle = Feral or Heyoka?
• Circe seems to be the same, but dead.
• Amelia Diabolik = fusion of Hartford and Dr. Diabolik
• Gizmatic is now a woman
• WTF happened between Canada and USA‽

How close am I? Better question: how completely wrong am I?

Only part that seems to be wrong is Amelia Diabolik, from my reading of that micro-scene she married Dr. Diabolik and he is dead now in that Elsewhere setting.

And Quokka is almost certainly alt. Razorback (Jack Carlyle, born Erin Carlyle)

Arcanist Lupus wrote: And Quokka is almost certainly alt. Razorback (Jack Carlyle, born Erin Carlyle)

Correct.

What do the blacksuits want??

Malady wrote: What do the blacksuits want??

I don't know. I had an idea, but then the tooth broke and got infected, and I was in pain. So I forgot where I was going to go with it. so I posted it,and said that whomever wanted ( even you!!) could take it and run with it.

Though Ido admit, there was a certain satisfaction in making Razorback into an avatar with the spirit of a Quokka.

Aww, losing an idea sucks!

Well, it appears they're targetting Whateley... And don't mind murdering people, and possibly also not losing any of their own troops in any of tbe raids... So that's really disturbing...

But, they might not be going on a killing spree either?

Maybe a super-advanced Mythos Cult, trying to free the X-class stuff that's stashed in the Whateley area. That's the best guess...

Arcanist Lupus wrote: And Quokka is almost certainly alt. Razorback (Jack Carlyle, born Erin Carlyle)

That's what I get for not going back and reading the entire Outcast storyline from start to finish.

Rose Bunny wrote:

Malady wrote: What do the blacksuits want??

I don't know. I had an idea, but then the tooth broke and got infected, and I was in pain. So I forgot where I was going to go with it. so I posted it,and said that whomever wanted ( even you!!) could take it and run with it.

Doesn't it tie into Schol-R-Lea's crossover stories, with the Battletech religious loonies interested in cleansing the mutant taint they found on the Fallout plane?

null0trooper wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote:

Malady wrote: What do the blacksuits want??

I don't know. I had an idea, but then the tooth broke and got infected, and I was in pain. So I forgot where I was going to go with it. so I posted it,and said that whomever wanted ( even you!!) could take it and run with it.

Doesn't it tie into Schol-R-Lea's crossover stories, with the Battletech religious loonies interested in cleansing the mutant taint they found on the Fallout plane?

No, I was unaware of those.

Rose Bunny wrote:

null0trooper wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote:

Malady wrote: What do the blacksuits want??

I don't know. I had an idea, but then the tooth broke and got infected, and I was in pain. So I forgot where I was going to go with it. so I posted it,and said that whomever wanted ( even you!!) could take it and run with it.

Doesn't it tie into Schol-R-Lea's crossover stories, with the Battletech religious loonies interested in cleansing the mutant taint they found on the Fallout plane?

No, I was unaware of those.

The second of the two scenes is here , assuming I've copied the link correctly.

As for me, the idea of a gender-flipped Fubar amused me. I imagine that students and visitors who annoy her are treated to her full-sensory impression of Shamu.

I am still a bit disappointed that no one reading the first of those scenes noticed that the space-time continuum is, apparently, lime flavored.

Though given the time-hopping in that series, it is probably a crossover too far - well, except that I've done two fanfics with Rhonda already. That might have been unwise...

Also, those curious about the 'Randi' (which probably should have been 'Mandi', though I am guessing that it was Mads who changed her nickname) in a later vignette involving Marcia Wilzon and those two Jensen guys might want to see something I just posted in the Lost and Found thread .

@Rose! - Nice! ... Only sticking point. Fae vs. Fey, but hey, some people pronounce it as Fay, so whatevs.

Gonna use Fae for my AU Fae...

Backslide appears again!

Generator wins mainly due to Surprise factor? If anyone took her seriously, she'd lose?

Then again, her damage-dealing ability is pretty high... And people with higher regen is rare...

Mal, the issue for Jade was that she took on Host, who is an Exemplar 3, with Regen 7, in hand-to-hand. Her best tactic is to use the J-Team from a distance. Mimicking a devisor using ranged weapons.

By the way, how did Chaka and Shroud fare in the sim? Both of them are pretty hard to take out...

Sir Lee wrote: By the way, how did Chaka and Shroud fare in the sim? Both of them are pretty hard to take out...

I initially forgot about them, so I shoe-horned them in, in the edit.

And that's why Host broke your neck and severed your spinal cord

Jade can survive that, right? I mean, she survived a knife through the heart. The only way I can think of to put her down is a direct hit from an explosive.

Even if Jade could survive having her heart stopped from lack of brain signals, doing any undead act would be a power reveal...

And it'd be an inconvenience at least.

Shroud getting picked off by spells makes sense. She's just a floating bundle of stuff, like Junkyard.

Depending on how much prep the Rejects had, they might have known that to neutralize Shroud, you'd just have to blast her to bits.

... Who might they fight next?? ... Vs. Grunts... How well might they do??

Angeldude wrote:

And that's why Host broke your neck and severed your spinal cord

Jade can survive that, right? I mean, she survived a knife through the heart. The only way I can think of to put her down is a direct hit from an explosive.

if her spinal cord is severed, it might not be able to regen properly, if the ends weren't in contact. and with her head twisted around, it probably wouldn't heal correctly.

Thing is, Jade has shown (back in Christmas Elves) this ability to pull her parts to the correct place for healing. Even if she is caught by surprise with no Jann-Sensei "possessing" her own body, her reflex reaction to pain is to "jump out" into a "charge" possessing her own body.

However, this is neither here nor there. It was a sim. If she chose not to include her extreme survival abilities into her sim profile, then she would be declared "dead" by the sim rules, no matter what her real-world capabilities.

Sir Lee wrote: Thing is, Jade has shown (back in Christmas Elves) this ability to pull her parts to the correct place for healing. Even if she is caught by surprise with no Jann-Sensei "possessing" her own body, her reflex reaction to pain is to "jump out" into a "charge" possessing her own body.

However, this is neither here nor there. It was a sim. If she chose not to include her extreme survival abilities into her sim profile, then she would be declared "dead" by the sim rules, no matter what her real-world capabilities.

And if Team Kimba are trying to downplay their abilities, then having a member of the team who can come back from the dead, would be high on the list of things to conceal...

Another thought. If MageSight can let mages see magical objects, and Absinthe can use it to detect the connections between Jade and her "devises", then how come Hekate didn't note this?

Or is this flavour of MageSight specific to Absinthe?

Kristin on Magic Sight :

Kristin Darken wrote: Mages by default do not have mage-sight, if that's what you're asking. The spells to 'see' magick in action and pools/flows of Essence are relatively simple, low Essence things... but still something that isn't going to be cast and sustained 100% of the time. It makes for more sense to stockpile or invest every little bit of Essence you might be inclined to use by casting a 'detect magic' spell and in ten years or so, cast a more hardcore spell that permanently adapts your vision to interpret magick as a specific wavelength of light. A well disciplined, properly trained traditional mage doesn't NEED to SEE magick to use it. Not until they are doing such incredible detailed magick that requires visualization of such a complex set of patterns that it is beyond their mental capability to hold in their mind's eye any longer.

However, it isn't uncommon for mutants to see outside the normal human spectrum and see magick in operation or even raw Essence in motion. A lot of these are labeled Wiz-0... mutants that have some innate ability that would help them learn magick but outside the normal Wizard trait (which is based on Essence collecting). This ability shows up in a number of Wiz rated mutants as well, but not all of them.

This IS, however, something in the base nature of the Sidhe. There may be Sidhe who do not have the ability to see magick and Essence flows; but such a person would be the exception that makes the rule.

...

"Base nature of the Sidhe"... Might the 4 other Sidhe on campus know Jade's secret???

Malady wrote: "Base nature of the Sidhe"... Might the 4 other Sidhe on campus know Jade's secret???

There are probably more than just 4 Sidhe on campuses the rest just aren't that interesting.
Even if you can see magic. There is no reason every one who can can see the same things. Magic is a wide and varied thing. There should be much out side of what normal mage site would be.
And there is something to be said for pattern recognition. Seeing a thin thread connecting to a moving object in a field of shifting colors might be hard to do.

In all likelihood Absinthe can only see the threads because she has something similar going on with her fries. Others might but only with a lot of experience. So that is some textures and gifted senior. Queenykins might have as well but she didn't bother to mention it.

It's canon that seeing magic is not actually common, even among mages. I have wondered in the past if there are mages that sense magic in different synesthetic ways, such as hearing, feeling (as in touch, or perhaps temperature or a wind), even smelling and tasting. If Hekate happened to not have the synesthetic ability to sense magic, or if she senses magic in, say, the form of taste, she wouldn't notice anything.

I haven't been following the fan fics outside of the Micro-scene thread - how adept is Host at martial arts? Hand-to-hand isn't a strength contest - high regen and exemplar ratings aren't going to matter much unless Host has the training to take advantage of them. Which is not to say that Jade didn't make a poor decision (triple negatives are fun!) in moving to hand-to-hand when she had long range options.

Host is a midwest farm girl, she's probably knows a thing or two about wrestling ( pigs and piggish boys), likely she's got the tomboy farm girl that's gotten into tussles and scrapes sort of fighting experience.

In Fall 2006, the known Fae on campus were:
Fey, Thorn (not that one), Sanctuary, Zephyr, Rascal - the 'high elf' type Sidhe, which mythologically seem closest to either the Tuatha de Danaan or the Alfar, and to some degree, the Vanir (who, like the Tuatha, were god-like beings, but had closer ties to the Alfar than the Aesir did). Indeed, Alfar appears to be a term used for them (or at least the Seelie of this type, possibly in contrast to the Unseelie 'Trow') by at least some people in the stories (e.g., Nacht). Think the Fair Folk of A Midsummer Night's Dream, or Scottish ballads such as "Tam Lin", though somewhat moderated in their current form. Rascal, in particular, appears to be an Incarnation of a High Sidhe of the Five-Fold Court era, having claimed to recall being Aunghadhail's court jester; it isn't clear if this is also true of the others.

Shadowdancer - Sluagh Sidhe - faerie who in Irish folklore were originally the ghosts of the restless dead, but became... something else when they were impressed into the Shining Host and/or the Wild Hunt.

Selkie - some sort of water spirit, possibly her namesake, but more likely something like a naiad given her powers (kelpie/fuath seems unlikely given her temperament)

Nephandus - part Trow; his mother is described as being almost pure Trow, but it is also mentioned that 'pure' Trow cannot abide sunlight. The fact that Trow can interbreed with humans seems to indicate against them being the Unseelie equivalent of the Alfar, though it is possible that something similar to Absinthe's story may have played a role in their current forms.

By the end of the school year, this also included Whisper, who is an Alfar, but not one of rank, and not an Incarnation. In Fall 2007, we also have Aurora and Absinthe, both of whom are Incarnations of Alfar of high status (Gwen being a minor aristocrat who fell from favor, Elle being one of the Nine Queens).

There are also the Drow as of Spring 2007, but their status among the naturally-occurring Fae is, ah, tenuous. Contentious, even.

(Sorry, I hit 'quote' instead of 'edit' and didn't notice it until after posting.)

Rose Bunny wrote: Host is a midwest farm girl, she's probably knows a thing or two about wrestling ( pigs and piggish boys), likely she's got the tomboy farm girl that's gotten into tussles and scrapes sort of fighting experience.

Yes, but is that enough to stand up to a year of the evil midget's training?

Schol-R-LEA wrote: In Fall 2007, we also have Aurora and Absinthe, both of whom are Incarnations of Alfar of high status (Gwen being a minor aristocrat who fell from favor, Elle being one of the Nine Queens).

Ah, someone has made an assumption about Elle's code-name, which I have not yet revealed.

Oops.

Originally, I envisioned writing Hye-rim as a steampunk devisor, until I read this gem of an article.

The Problem with "Asian Steampunk"

I decided to make her an obsessive history nerd instead.

From Wikipedia:

Seoul became the first city in East Asia to have electricity, trolley cars, water, telephone, and telegraph systems all at the same time, but Korea remained a largely backward agricultural economy around the start of the 20th century.

Korea was practically the definition of "steampunk" in the 1920s!

Cool! ... How's she gonna interact with the Asian History teacher that's a century+ old??

@Katssun: ... LOL! And they're so non-chalant about it! ROFL!

@Katssun

I came across something interesting today that would be cool for your character. I was watching this video when a certain town pops up (around the 2 min mark)

@Ebola

Yeah, living on the East Coast of the US myself, the missing presence of streetcars is pretty keenly felt. There's even plenty of places where you can see exactly where the lines ran from regional train stations or across towns! They're "bike paths" now that even occasionally still have kiosk booths.

Hye-rim is still a modern Korean girl, hence the 10-step skin care routine and modern cut, traditionally-inspired dresses or school uniform she wears the rest of the week, and she would happily ride in a regular train, cab, shuttle, or airplane.

She just likes things with traditional styling the best. And she's certainly not the first Korean like that, she just takes her love for her favorite period to the next level.

@Ebola - This is gonna be an interesting sim! ... Who's AP again?

@Malady Opps my bad I thought I put his name in there somewhere, I guess I didn't. But it's Max from Long Way Down.

@Rose Bunny:

Aww! Nice having Card Trick's old team get the info!

And Kayda's been in somewhat frequent contact with the Overseers? Enough for Sean to call her by name...

Essy's an Overseer! ... Wait... It seems Gavia's been an Overseer at the same time as Card Trick...

Minnesota and the Dakotas are right next to each other, so there may have been times when the two teams worked together, like if a fugitive jumped a border, or such. Julie Robinson lives in the Twin Cities, and Kayda probably dropped in on her, and swung by the HQ? There are probably reasons. Julie could even be a team member in that future...

That's an interesting scenario. Is it starting at Purple Heart Lane, or fast-forwarding to Bloody Gulch?

Loophole's rig has flight capability, otherwise TP is light on air cover. I'd bet on Gunny adding a "superman" wildcard or two to even things up

Hm. I wonder what an over-cast "mana static" spell would do to an avatar?

@null ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Well in the briefing it's said D-day + 4 so their going in on June 10th. So I guess I'll have to run through the whole Battle of Carentan. And if you want to get in on this your more than welcome! I know I kinda co-opted Metro and Val without asking, but I was planning on splitting them up in teams of 2 [Metro+Val, Caitlin+Max, and then The New Olympians]

Three teams of two makes sense - less chance of Eldritch and Counterpoint starting WW IV!

A mage using guns! And a shotgun! Woah!

... So many pranks!

She's afraid of being taken advantage of by "men of violence." What she doesn't know is she will likely also get hunted down by women of violence.

true. But she's a nu-grrrl.... So she hasn't thought that far ahead. She only knows what happens to girls in her corner of the ghetto.

Malady wrote: A mage using guns! And a shotgun! Woah!

... So many pranks!

Big hint in Stacy's code name. What does "winnow" mean?

Thresh? I think. Process grain from the stalk to loose kernels that can be ground. Yep I was correct in essence, to thresh grain.

Malady wrote: A mage using guns! And a shotgun! Woah!

What's unusual about that? Eldritch still practices with and uses munitions.

Some day, I really should write up Mads' arrival at Kansai International Airport with an assault rifle in his carry-on luggage. Credit where credit is due, the Customs personnel were quite professional about the entire situation.

Anne wrote: Thresh? I think. Process grain from the stalk to loose kernels that can be ground. Yep I was correct in essence, to thresh grain.

Yes, but more towards the expression, "separate the wheat from the chaff."


Stacy is a Midwest girl, after all. Stacy didn't cast a single spell during their fight. The "chanting" didn't really do anything, though maybe it might have if Angela had landed the webbing spell.

For reference, Stacy is a Wiz-1/Ex-2, while Angela is a Wiz-4 or Wiz-5. They're both seniors in 1990.

null0trooper wrote:

Malady wrote: A mage using guns! And a shotgun! Woah!

What's unusual about that? Eldritch still practices with and uses munitions.

Lol. Using Eldritch as a measure of Usual?

... I'm hard-pressed to find another shooter mage...

Yeah, there are very few mages who use fire arms. At least on the canon side of things. On the non canon there are a few others. Faolan comes to mind off the top of my head.

Not to side track things too much but would the Handmaid of the Tao be considered a mage? If so then Chou is learning to use a firearm for the very reason that it might not be expected.

Eh I always thought of the Tao as kinda like a force of nature that shows up when needed not so much something Chou can draw on like essence.

I agree that the Tao is mostly a 'force' mostly concerned with 'balance' (Sort of reminds me of the Magic Engineer series L E Modesitt Jr) rather than 'good' or 'evil'. But we do see Chou casting spells so it is a question of some relevance to the discussion. Just what is Chou?

Chou's likely a Ki Wizard 0?

I guess with guns and mages... Guns take up handspace that could be used for magic implements?

Note that fight. The Gunner was Chanting, not manipulating magical tools for her magic...

I'm going to say that to a certain extent in magic that chanting, gesturing, and even the potion made, are all sorts of memetic devices that help focus the will and the essence. The same with runes or spell slips or Jadis' deck of cards. They are all devices that help the practitioner focus and recall what comes next. That doesn't mean they're unnecessary (recall Fey and Catlin discussing it?) but for 'human' magic users to a certain extent they need lots of 'training wheels,' lest they lose concentration and have the spell go awry where the best thing that can happen is low duration hobgoblins.

Malady wrote:

null0trooper wrote:

Malady wrote: A mage using guns! And a shotgun! Woah!

What's unusual about that? Eldritch still practices with and uses munitions.

Lol. Using Eldritch as a measure of Usual?

... I'm hard-pressed to find another shooter mage...

Outside of WU Canon, one classic wizard (technically, two) comes to mind:


On the WhatIF side, there's a WIZ-0 who's a marksman.

Anne wrote: I'm going to say that to a certain extent in magic that chanting, gesturing, and even the potion made, are all sorts of memetic devices that help focus the will and the essence. The same with runes or spell slips or Jadis' deck of cards. They are all devices that help the practitioner focus and recall what comes next. That doesn't mean they're unnecessary (recall Fey and Catlin discussing it?) but for 'human' magic users to a certain extent they need lots of 'training wheels,' lest they lose concentration and have the spell go awry where the best thing that can happen is low duration hobgoblins.

Well, yes. But if you were responding to me, I was just trying to say: Chanters have their hands free to gun. Wand-wavers / Deck-spreaders don't.

null0trooper wrote: Outside of WU Canon, one classic wizard (technically, two) comes to mind:

Well, if we are allowed to pick non-Whateley examples... Harry Dresden comes to mind. Of course, in the Dresdenverse killing an opponent by magic is a serious no-no; so you need to carry a mundane weapon to finish them off after you weaken then with magic.

null0trooper, plz don't ever reference that film again.

The rotoscope scenes were not something you should watch drunk.

Katssun, is Hye-rim's cheonbochong still a matchlock or upgraded to percussion caps? Is she making her paper cartridges with flash paper or has she another take on the ammunition? Was her intent to create a "what if history was slightly different" alternate technology progression?

Apple3141 wrote: Katssun, is Hye-rim's cheonbochong still a matchlock or upgraded to percussion caps? Is she making her paper cartridges with flash paper or has she another take on the ammunition? Was her intent to create a "what if history was slightly different" alternate technology progression?

Stylistically, it looks like an authentic cheonbochong ("thousand paces gun" for everyone who hasn't looked it up). Super long barrel and without much of a stock. But mechanically, it isn't. She switched it to a falling-block action and it's definitely not a matchlock. I hadn't decided about whether it was going to be percussion caps, or be more like Quigley's Sharp's Rifle and use modern ammo and left those details out. Either way, she'll definitely be making her own special rounds and loads.

I was playing it safe because I hadn't looked up Korea's gun laws when I wrote the scene. For all we know, her "replica" has an orange tip on it to classify it as a toy. It's not stored at a police station, so her family can't pretend it's for hunting.

The whole thing is reinforced along the entire length. so it probably weighs a great deal more than they're supposed to. Good thing she's an exemplar!

In my head, Hye-rim set out to make a historically accurate one because of her history obsession and having the technical know-how to pull it off, and then her gadgeteer kicked in and she realized that it wasn't very practical in the modern era and started to tinker with it.

edit: My concept notes say percussion caps. That's the reason she reinforced the entire rifle...for when there isn't time to reload.

Also, if no one caught the fairly obscure reference, the Cheonji-Dong redevelopment scandal is from Prosecutor Princess

I just saw Nultrooper's newest piece and wanted to say that to me it looks like it is developing very nicely.

Malady wrote:

Anne wrote: I'm going to say that to a certain extent in magic that chanting, gesturing, and even the potion made, are all sorts of memetic devices that help focus the will and the essence. The same with runes or spell slips or Jadis' deck of cards. They are all devices that help the practitioner focus and recall what comes next. That doesn't mean they're unnecessary (recall Fey and Catlin discussing it?) but for 'human' magic users to a certain extent they need lots of 'training wheels,' lest they lose concentration and have the spell go awry where the best thing that can happen is low duration hobgoblins.

Well, yes. But if you were responding to me, I was just trying to say: Chanters have their hands free to gun. Wand-wavers / Deck-spreaders don't.

What's to stop a Mage-class character enchanting a gun as one of their magical tools?

After all, if a witch can use an Athame, or use a sword to represent the element of air, then why couldn't they use a shotgun to represent clubs, or the element of fire?

Mister D wrote:
Well, yes. But if you were responding to me, I was just trying to say: Chanters have their hands free to gun. Wand-wavers / Deck-spreaders don't.
What's to stop a Mage-class character enchanting a gun as one of their magical tools?

After all, if a witch can use an Athame, or use a sword to represent the element of air, then why couldn't they use a shotgun to represent clubs, or the element of fire?

I like this idea. I don't know that it would work. Apparently there are some negative interactions between magic and iron which when you come down to it is the main component of steel. Still I'm thinking that sooner or later one of the tech students is going to get a request to make an 'exotic' fire arm. It will be from a magic track student who has your idea.

Hmmm... steel is just one metal, you know. Even if you don't go into high-tech plastics and such, it's probably quite possible to make a gun with non-ferrous alloys. It might not be as durable overall as a steel one, and certainly will be expensive -- but it should be possible. Canons used to be made of bronze... titanium, tungsten and aluminium alloys have good properties... a combination of those might be workable. There might be problems with corrosion, and with all the different thermal expansion rates, but it might be possible.

Anne wrote: I just saw Nultrooper's newest piece and wanted to say that to me it looks like it is developing very nicely.

It's really all Ebola's idea Of the twelve characters in play, Mads and Thomas really are the recon specialists, just ahead of Interface and Kayda, so they would need to be first to scout the enemy and outer perimeter so that the rest of the team has good intel to work from.

@Schol-R-LEA: It's all but stated in "Chewing Through the Straps" that Mads learned most of his Japanese - or at least attained fluency - while residing in Osaka. However, a number of people would dearly love to forget that misadventure.

Sir Lee wrote: Hmmm... steel is just one metal, you know. Even if you don't go into high-tech plastics and such, it's probably quite possible to make a gun with non-ferrous alloys. It might not be as durable overall as a steel one, and certainly will be expensive -- but it should be possible. Canons used to be made of bronze... titanium, tungsten and aluminium alloys have good properties... a combination of those might be workable. There might be problems with corrosion, and with all the different thermal expansion rates, but it might be possible.

No argument with you Sir Lee, like I said I expect some of the tech track to get such requests from the magic track. Wasn't one of the magic teachers complaining about someone possibly using a fire arm and they explained that by using a railgun (similar to Jade's pistol) they had managed the enchantment to improve their accuracy and distance?

Anne wrote:

Sir Lee wrote: Hmmm... steel is just one metal, you know. Even if you don't go into high-tech plastics and such, it's probably quite possible to make a gun with non-ferrous alloys. It might not be as durable overall as a steel one, and certainly will be expensive -- but it should be possible. Canons used to be made of bronze... titanium, tungsten and aluminium alloys have good properties... a combination of those might be workable. There might be problems with corrosion, and with all the different thermal expansion rates, but it might be possible.

No argument with you Sir Lee, like I said I expect some of the tech track to get such requests from the magic track. Wasn't one of the magic teachers complaining about someone possibly using a fire arm and they explained that by using a railgun (similar to Jade's pistol) they had managed the enchantment to improve their accuracy and distance?

I believe it was Roulette that improved her needle gun by enchanting the ammo.

Anne wrote: No argument with you Sir Lee, like I said I expect some of the tech track to get such requests from the magic track. Wasn't one of the magic teachers complaining about someone possibly using a fire arm and they explained that by using a railgun (similar to Jade's pistol) they had managed the enchantment to improve their accuracy and distance?

That would be Roulette's handgun, and her mother was complaining about it being "cheating". The difference boiled down to the railgun being responsible for shooting its projectiles, therefor it could be enchanted for increased performance. A pistol might require separate enchantments - one to improve aim (cast on the gun, or the wielder) and another to increase distance (cast on the bullet itself, as it contains the propelling charge).

Metro would most likely cast a spell improving his own aiming skills and/or reflexes, but that's not the only way magic and tech could be combined. Indeed, the trick is in determining which parts and activities within the system matter.

Hey Null, your turn

Roulette's enchantment on her nail-gun was actually an archery enchantment meant to be applied to bows and possibly crossbows. She just found a loophole that the nail-gun was close enough to a bow that it would work without having to modify it very much, create a brand new enchantment, or cast multiple enchantments. A nice advantage when you're a low-level part-time wizard rather than a medium-level or full-time one.

null0trooper wrote: @Schol-R-LEA: It's all but stated in "Chewing Through the Straps" that Mads learned most of his Japanese - or at least attained fluency - while residing in Osaka. However, a number of people would dearly love to forget that misadventure.

Gahh. How did I miss that part? Sorry.

Also, before anyone points it out, yes, I know that in anime, hair color is often meant to differentiate characters rather than be their actual hair color, and often is used symbolically (e.g., red hair indicating a violent temper, passionate personality, being under an enchantment - a la Ranma-chan - or otherworldly quality). This is probably not the case with Edward, though how someone who is supposed to be partly of Indian and Turkish decent ( according to her father (and Wicked-Pedo) , her given name was Françoise Appledelhi, which... makes even less sense than the one she picked for herself) ends up looking like Pippi Longstocking during her Punk phase isn't entirely clear. And no, in the series they probably aren't speaking any language spoken in the 21st century, either, though I never actually watched enough Cowboy Bebop to really understand the society beyond the obvious Wild West cum Film Noir themes.

@null what should we call this? The Longest Sim? Saving Private Jensen? Letters From Carentan?

Ebola wrote: @null what should we call this? The Longest Sim? Saving Private Jensen? Letters From Carentan?

Beware The Shrapnel Marked Occupant?

Anne wrote:

Mister D wrote:
Well, yes. But if you were responding to me, I was just trying to say: Chanters have their hands free to gun. Wand-wavers / Deck-spreaders don't.
What's to stop a Mage-class character enchanting a gun as one of their magical tools?

After all, if a witch can use an Athame, or use a sword to represent the element of air, then why couldn't they use a shotgun to represent clubs, or the element of fire?

I like this idea. I don't know that it would work. Apparently there are some negative interactions between magic and iron which when you come down to it is the main component of steel. Still I'm thinking that sooner or later one of the tech students is going to get a request to make an 'exotic' fire arm. It will be from a magic track student who has your idea.

I'm not sure if all magic and iron conflict. I'd think that only some of them would be effected. Shidi magic and spells derived from shidi magic. Or coarse that would could cover a lot of the magic there is but not everything. Shaman magic wouldn't be effected. Nore would healing magic. As blood has a lot of iron in it. Who knows exactly what's effected by that effect and to what degree. Just the cabal.

FWIW, the rusty steel barrels are a red herring. Unscrewing rusted caps on containers of picric acid and organic epoxides or peroxides is more likely to hasten a meeting with your Deity/ies of Personal Belief. Past that, I''ll assume that no one wants working descriptions of well-known improvised explosives actually published here.

@Rose - Lucy's having a bad day?? Why??

... Oh yeah, Regen Stuff is potent!

Yeah! A talk with Amy! Right, Lucy doesn't hang with most of the Hawthorne crowd!

Malady wrote: @Rose - Lucy's having a bad day?? Why??

... Oh yeah, Regen Stuff is potent!

Total overreaction. There are still Class-X entities in some of the Hawthorne bathrooms after all (The renovations were added on to the original building) Unless the pretties like Sapphire, Roulette, and Host were set up in the new wings, while some of the handicapped kids like Metro stay in the older facilities?

Regarding the lines about guns in Sarah's arrival to Dickinson microscene and the post on the main page for Discussions regarding political events:

I'd started writing this last weekend before the events in Vegas became news on this side of the pond, including the line about guns, but it's not meant to be a commentary on current events. The average Briton shares those views regarding how "loose" (and yes I know there is SOME regulation) the American views on guns are. The availability of firearm ownership just doesn't compare across the ponds. Which is why we have so much more knife crime than the states does. But we do kinda look at America's second amendment and ask why it's so crazy, to the point that even teens ask why you need to feel that armed.

@Domo! - ROFL! ... I wanna learn more, so I can laugh more!

@Domo More please.

Clarissa took a moment to curse using language that would make a sailor blush while she considered her room.

You mean like th is ?

She can probably live without blinking, but if her eyes are turned to actual plastic buttons, how would the rest of her body work? More imediate problem: do her buttons have retina-analogues to capture the light for her to see, or does she have a form of ESP to make up for her lack of real eyes?

Well, she plainly can see in some way, since she can see her grandmother waving from the mirror.

null0trooper wrote:

Malady wrote: @Rose - Lucy's having a bad day?? Why??

... Oh yeah, Regen Stuff is potent!

Total overreaction. There are still Class-X entities in some of the Hawthorne bathrooms after all (The renovations were added on to the original building) Unless the pretties like Sapphire, Roulette, and Host were set up in the new wings, while some of the handicapped kids like Metro stay in the older facilities?

Ish for the over-reaction.

Regen is classed as bio-hazard, and the higher the level of Regen, the higher the bio-hazard level.

Flushing hazardous waste down the toilet is how the monsters in the basement toilets got started...

OK... this latest micro-scene appears to be about Mrs. Potter subtly guiding the Loose Cannons. Assuming that she is actually named Cynthia, of course, since I couldn't find canon evidence for that.
Lloyd obviously is Lloyd Kung, the Young Dragons' mentor.
But... who is that Martinson fellow? I couldn't track anyone by that name in the WU. If it's supposed to Brigand, well... his name is in the Wiki, it's Brian Andrew Gentry.

That futon scene brought this piece of nerd humor to mind...
How to shoot yourself in the foot... in various programming languages

Never saw that one, but the same format from other jokes I've read in the past.
It seemed appropriate.

I want to see the Futon sceen written with specific characters involved. It could be a case study in character behavior.
Some the ones could be Ayla, tink, jade, Jin, Jet, Sara, Fey, Bloodwolf. So many fun ideas.

Ayla: I hire people to do things like this. I have better uses for my time than to be frustrated by them.
Jade: I cast myself into the pieces and put it together. I had to cast myself into several tools as well. Time to go to sleep!

Tennyo (floating in the air): what do I need a futon for?

Metro: A futon mattress! That looks soft and - absorbant. What does Donnie think about it?

Host: Get. OUT!

* later *

Valravn: She didn't like the idea of using a rubber top sheet, did she?

Metro: Nah. Maybe she's allergic? Still ...

Valravn (sighs): What now?

Metro: Why does everyone act like it's a Federal crime when I bleed into a mattress? That's kind of sexist isn't it?

<6 months later Ikea, Walmart and other cheap furniture retailers around North America are attacked by swarms of weaponized futons, chairs, tables and shelving units. Millions rejoice.>

When they reach Ikea they are set upon by the trained attack ottomans and are quickly destroyed.

Sir Lee wrote: But... who is that Martinson fellow? I couldn't track anyone by that name in the WU. If it's supposed to Brigand, well... his name is in the Wiki, it's Brian Andrew Gentry.

Oops. I assumed his real name wasn't known. This sort of carelessness is something I need to work on.

EDIT: I also need to work on not hating on myself so hard for making such mistakes. I have a strong impulse just to go to bed and hide under the covers right now, which is a pretty absurd degree of over-reaction.

Schol-R-LEA wrote: I have a strong impulse just to go to bed and hide under the covers right now, which is a pretty absurd degree of over-reaction.

Only if it proves useless in fending off the rampaging attack ottomans. Not that you'd particularly care at that point, unless you ended up a ghost, or anything else with a sentient post-mortem existence.

Yay! They worked things out! And that ending! LOL!

@Rose! - It's Lucy again! And Donnie's getting some screentime!

Yeah, I was wondering who it was! LOL! It's gotta be Teri! Unless you intro some other girl, and Teri's a red herring...

Well, the "Can only stay out for an hour" issue, might be solved with some prototype Artificial Womb tech making Danny basically a head in a jar... Gotta refresh on precisely why that limit's there...

go with your first thought... Mwah hah hah hah

Malady wrote: Artificial Womb tech making Danny basically a head in a jar.

... that might get Kayda a little mad..

Thank you Null. Much better than I could have done.

I have to admit, the idea of using paintball recoil as a propulsion method was too amusing (to me) to pass up

null0trooper wrote: I have to admit, the idea of using paintball recoil as a propulsion method was too amusing (to me) to pass up

But not nearly as much fun as Rocket Mode

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

null0trooper wrote: I have to admit, the idea of using paintball recoil as a propulsion method was too amusing (to me) to pass up

But not nearly as much fun as Rocket Mode

At Teri's size, with the ability to carry up to150 kilos of balls with her TK, that's what it most resembled.

Then Donnie thoughtfully bought her some seltzer water to cool off with.

to be honest, the properties of five of their neighbors, who had no notion as to the sinister reason why their plumbing never had problems.

Somehow, this was my absolute favorite line.

Loved what you guys did with Teri. It sounds just about right.

And Bek, I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but your villains are some of the most realistic around. No idiot villain balls for them unless it's appropriate.

@Katssun Can the US postal service operate on Indian Reservations? Or is Whateley just a special permitted zone?

Katssun wrote:

to be honest, the properties of five of their neighbors, who had no notion as to the sinister reason why their plumbing never had problems.

Somehow, this was my absolute favorite line.

Took the words right out of my mouth!

It reminds me a bit of my very favorite back-cover book synopsis:

Concrete Savior wrote: A mysterious “hero” is saving Chicago’s citizens from certain death, with strange and sinister consequences.

Ebola wrote: @Katssun Can the US postal service operate on Indian Reservations? Or is Whateley just a special permitted zone?

Of course they operate on reservations. The larger ones have their own zip codes, and in the one next to me, they all have mailboxes at each house.

Some of the addresses might just end up at a different post office depending of the service area and zip code, but I assume the tribes of smaller reservations can ask the USPS which post office they are included in when their land is across towns and counties.

Katssun wrote:

Ebola wrote: @Katssun Can the US postal service operate on Indian Reservations? Or is Whateley just a special permitted zone?

Of course they operate on reservations. The larger ones have their own zip codes, and in the one next to me, they all have mailboxes at each house.

Some of the addresses might just end up at a different post office depending of the service area and zip code, but I assume the tribes of smaller reservations can ask the USPS which post office they are included in when their land is across towns and counties.

Ok I was over thinking it. My whole train of thought was about Tribal Law vs Federal/State Law and how that applies to the FBI and other law enforcement. Seeing as that is a whole bureaucratic mess, I figured USPS would be handled differently also.

Oh well I guess its weird for different sectors of public service.

Ebola wrote: Ok I was over thinking it. My whole train of thought was about Tribal Law vs Federal/State Law and how that applies to the FBI and other law enforcement. Seeing as that is a whole bureaucratic mess, I figured USPS would be handled differently also.

Oh well I guess its weird for different sectors of public service.

The key to it is that the USPS used to be a Federal agency, and all lands being within the USA's borders fall under Federal jurisdiction (no matter what some folks would prefer to think). Municipal, County, and State agencies may have to deal with a bit of wounded pride now and then as well.

Beyond that, let's just say the wierdnesses aren't limited to Tribal Lands.

On the sim with Team Phoenix.

No. Just no. Really, really, really NO. The team is not that sloppy that they'd act like a bunch of inexperienced freshmen with no teamwork and no comms. They aren't that stupid that they'd charge in like a bunch of noobs. They have done a lot of practice the previous year, and Kayda has been in a lot of sims, and Team Phoenix has taken on Lady Astarte. Not overly successfully, but Lanie DID beat outwit her. Lanie's armor is no slouch. Kayda has pretty potent magic in her shield and invisibility - and you don't show any of that. And despite the Gunny's reputation as a first-class asshole, tossing a team into a "we're going to fuck with you, kill you, and there's no lesson except that we're assholes" is beyond their sadistic reputations.

People thought I was sadistic, but I can't read any more of this. There's no point to the sim except we're going to whoop up and kill everyone of the good guys with no chance of winning anything and just killing everyone in the most stupid, pointless, uncoordinated, amateurish way possible.

elrodw wrote: On the sim with Team Phoenix.

No. Just no. Really, really, really NO. The team is not that sloppy that they'd act like a bunch of inexperienced freshmen with no teamwork and no comms. They aren't that stupid that they'd charge in like a bunch of noobs. They have done a lot of practice the previous year, and Kayda has been in a lot of sims, and Team Phoenix has taken on Lady Astarte. Not overly successfully, but Lanie DID beat outwit her. Lanie's armor is no slouch. Kayda has pretty potent magic in her shield and invisibility - and you don't show any of that. And despite the Gunny's reputation as a first-class asshole, tossing a team into a "we're going to fuck with you, kill you, and there's no lesson except that we're assholes" is beyond their sadistic reputations.

Wait, are you responding to the latest bit by Null?

'Cause I'm more confused about what's going on, and Kali appearing, when she hasn't appeared at all in any part, IIRC.

On the armor note... I suspect that everyone has different kit than usual, 'cause they're doing a historical run...

A better question would be, why is she still at Whateley at all? According to the wiki , she graduated in spring. Now, it is possible something caused her to stay, like with Kodiak, but if so nothing has been said about it.

Mind you, it is often harder to get these micros right, because you generally don't have someone beta them. Trust me, my own recent mistakes have driven that point home for me. I'm willing to be forgiving on this personally.

elrodw wrote: On the sim with Team Phoenix.

No. Just no. Really, really, really NO. The team is not that sloppy that they'd act like a bunch of inexperienced freshmen with no teamwork and no comms. They aren't that stupid that they'd charge in like a bunch of noobs. They have done a lot of practice the previous year, and Kayda has been in a lot of sims, and Team Phoenix has taken on Lady Astarte. Not overly successfully, but Lanie DID beat outwit her. Lanie's armor is no slouch. Kayda has pretty potent magic in her shield and invisibility - and you don't show any of that. And despite the Gunny's reputation as a first-class asshole, tossing a team into a "we're going to fuck with you, kill you, and there's no lesson except that we're assholes" is beyond their sadistic reputations.

People thought I was sadistic, but I can't read any more of this. There's no point to the sim except we're going to whoop up and kill everyone of the good guys with no chance of winning anything and just killing everyone in the most stupid, pointless, uncoordinated, amateurish way possible.

Yea, I will take responsibility for this since I wrote the opening scene after I saw the original idea that Null posted somewhere. Sorry. I wrote some of those scenes in about 30 min just checking for spelling errors. Not really thinking about anything else, and then posting them.

As for the overall story…well Null and I have had no communication on that side of things. We have just been leapfrogging past each other. Again falling back onto the lack of communication on what appears to be a runaway train. Which has defiantly hampered the “scene”. Since any ‘lesson’ that would have been gained by Team Phoenix was lost in the disconnect between Null and I.

You were right on calling me out for making a mockery of your characters. I’m sorry. I’ll use this as a learning experience for the future.

elrodw wrote: On the sim with Team Phoenix.

No. Just no. Really, really, really NO. The team is not that sloppy that they'd act like a bunch of inexperienced freshmen with no teamwork and no comms.

elrodw, the premise ebola set up was with 1944 tech, not 2014 technology. No they don't get to use the subspace comms that Team Kimba has. No they don't get the microminiaturized and encrypted RF comms that they might have that we really haven't seen them using (or that Eldritch uses with the Outcasts, or that Metro grew up with) Radio silence is a useful tactic when you don't know who's listening. There are at least two ways around that that you and E.E. have not shown Team Phoenix resort to, but this is one of the few matchups in which one of them wouldn't be noticed.

Now, while it's true that Lanie's armor is no slouch even for 2070, that's not what she is using in this World War Two scenario. The main application of AP's EN-4 power is that he does make munitions very literally "armor-piercing". Unless Elaine is wearing plot armor, she is potentially vulnerable.

elrodw wrote: They aren't that stupid that they'd charge in like a bunch of noobs. They have done a lot of practice the previous year, and Kayda has been in a lot of sims, and Team Phoenix has taken on Lady Astarte. Not overly successfully, but Lanie DID beat outwit her. Lanie's armor is no slouch. Kayda has pretty potent magic in her shield and invisibility - and you don't show any of that.

Actually, I did show one of the two spells, although it was in a later part.

If the intent were to write a more canon story here, it would have been Metro vs. Kayda. "1944 tech" is a serious handicap for Mads, but Kayda doesn't seem to be interested in using her Gadgeteering talent for better combat offense or defense, so that almost comes out as a wash. Kayda has magic, yes, but she still recharges essence as a WIZ-2. Mads is a solid WIZ-3, but with illusionary magics like "invisibility" he pushes the top end of that classification. He's also been using his magic and esper talents for close to four years his time.

Ironically, a battlefield is one of the few places Pejuta might allow Metro to get within 10 yards of her, even with his GSD hidden.

I'd also want to use Valravn to tie up Loophole, "1944" likely being a hit against flight speed, ceiling, and manueverability for her. It would still be useful to tag her with an empowered bullet if the shot can be lined up.

The downside to that is, of course, that it takes the spooks off Zenith and Interface, whose skills and abilities make them the better infil team. But as you say, only a noob would try catching the Theme Agents in a cross-fire between those two, and Kodiak working with Kali.

It's amusing that only Malady noticed that the story was set up with Kali on Team Phoenix instead of Bifrost. I left her in (maybe she dropped by to check on some "Atlantean" business and pick up a copy of transcripts?) I don't recall her matter manipulation power being shown in use, but that's still better detailed than Bifrost's capabilities. Assuming she's been trained in martial arts and mental defenses by the Tanakas, giving her a ghostwalking charm should make her even more of force multiplier and controller. Valravn's the best suited to tail her as she heads out to incapacitate the sniper, while having him around as one more unshielded mind isn't needed along Zenith's route (the one taken by the 327th and 501st into Carentan).

elrodw wrote: And despite the Gunny's reputation as a first-class asshole, tossing a team into a "we're going to fuck with you, kill you, and there's no lesson except that we're assholes" is beyond their sadistic reputations.

There is a lesson to be learned. I don't think it's the one that you think it is.

Ebola wrote: As for the overall story…well Null and I have had no communication on that side of things. We have just been leapfrogging past each other. Again falling back onto the lack of communication on what appears to be a runaway train. Which has defiantly hampered the “scene”. Since any ‘lesson’ that would have been gained by Team Phoenix was lost in the disconnect between Null and I.

Yeah, I figured that Ebola wanted to handle Counterpoint/Judicator vs. Kodiak, and/or Eldritch vs. Zenith/Interface.

One of the interesting aspects of Carentan is that it was a battle which really did require that multiple avenues of approach be taken and controlled, none of it being a 30-minute simulated scenario in which all the relevant intel is either pre-digested or else not available nor going to be available by any means.

Ebola wrote: You were right on calling me out for making a mockery of your characters. I’m sorry. I’ll use this as a learning experience for the future.

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

Btw looking forward to your next Danny and Shine Story

I have to apologize pre-emptively in the likely case that I over-reacted in a rude or offensive way. By way of full disclosure, I'm almost over-stressed. It's been 6 weeks since the flood from Hurricane Harvey, and it seems that there's no end in sight. Always more and more to do, no sense of when the rebuild will be able to start, poor sleep, unable to vent emotionally because that triggers wife and daughter who are both in fragile emotional states, etc. I'm exhausted from sleeping in a tiny, too-short, uncomfortable bed. We haven't had the ability to eat anywhere near normal. So yeah, I'm a bit short.

On the good side of things, I've got about 40 pages of a Shine story written. It'll probably be published in 2 or 3 parts - and I've got a HUGELY funny set of things to happen later. I think y'all will really, really like it.

elrodw wrote: I have to apologize pre-emptively in the likely case that I over-reacted in a rude or offensive way.

Your response did leave me wondering if I had come across as that upset when responding to Schol-R-Lea recently. However, I didn't see it as rude or offensive.

It's no problem at all for me to consider Kayda, Lanie, and their groups largely off-limits going forward. If other non-original characters I've used or abused need to be swapped out or rewritten, I am open to discussing that as well.

elrodw wrote: By way of full disclosure, I'm almost over-stressed. It's been 6 weeks since the flood from Hurricane Harvey, and it seems that there's no end in sight.

I can sympathize with that, although flooding is a different level of terror to windstorm alone.

elrodw wrote: Always more and more to do, no sense of when the rebuild will be able to start, poor sleep, unable to vent emotionally because that triggers wife and daughter who are both in fragile emotional states, etc. I'm exhausted from sleeping in a tiny, too-short, uncomfortable bed. We haven't had the ability to eat anywhere near normal. So yeah, I'm a bit short.

That will do it.

Personally, I have a tree in the backyard I can take some my frustrations out on with Mr. Chainsaw, Mk 2. Eventually I expect to see what's left under it other than my telephone line.

But seriously, it does and will get better.

elrodw wrote: On the good side of things, I've got about 40 pages of a Shine story written. It'll probably be published in 2 or 3 parts - and I've got a HUGELY funny set of things to happen later. I think y'all will really, really like it.

Cool!

@Bek - Nice!

Makes me wonder what other heroes are actually villains in disguise, but I bet that con isn't widely used, 'cause otherwise, they'll be under scrutiny as a public figure or something... Herowatch might also hinder such attempts...

So... there hasn't been a Miss Champion in forever!

And how did Miz Stanhope get the accurate tipoff that some of the jewels were fakes??

Malady wrote: And how did Miz Stanhope get the accurate tipoff that some of the jewels were fakes??

Isn't Viv a PDP? She might have picked up the information from one of the complicit jewelers while casing the place.

Why case this place in particular? It's at the escrow corner of high society estates and litigious heirs, right across from collegiate endowments.

Edit: i.e., a carefully-tended plant.

Neither of those. Rather, Viv simply wanted to get the Stanhope Jewels, which were only removed from a secure vault under heavy security, to be removed with comparatively light security. She had no idea that the jewels were faked; she just wanted to push Ms. Stanhope's buttons, so she'd demand they be removed for inspection.

I love the interplay of the Harrows!

That family unit that trust and loves each other, while still constantly trying to one-up the other. It's like the positive opposite of the DeVilles. Stand on your own, but never deliberately betray family (or allies).

It's heartening that Viv is following the example of Dr. Dad. Maybe that's what will finally let her beat Jessie in the end. Jessie always tries to do it all herself, while Viv is already building a rapport with her hirelings.

@Rose - Woah. WTF is an appropriate response.

Well, she is on the high end of Regen 7, pushing into the "Do we need to create a 7+ or 8 catagory?"
buuut... was this too much? we shall see.
And as for Donnie... who knows where he is, or what condition he's in?

Malady wrote: I expected Mads to be a lot more blunt, instead of jawing on for about two sentences before finishing the point

Well, he did once open a team briefing with, "The good news is that we've been offered a suicide mission."

Whoa Kaitha's last bit. What an intense piece. I'm wondering now how s/he ever manages to escape....

@Kaitha - Well, now we know the origin of the Sarah name...

Anne wrote: Whoa Kaitha's last bit. What an intense piece. I'm wondering now how s/he ever manages to escape....

She goes to meet some johns at a hotel, something happens and she kills one of them, the other johns run away, Ryan starts to do something so she hits him unconscious, then she falls to the floor crying until the police come, whereupon she's taken to Cambridge hospital, kept until Whateley starts, and is moved there.

Yes, she was telling the truth to WPC Jenna Jenkins.

Responses to Malady


For the second scene, it was almost painful to write, coming up with how Sarah would relapse. Watching everyone else be happy with their parents, while she's lost her mother and feels her father doesn't give two shits about her, pretty strong incentive for anyone to run for the pain relief...

Blotter turning her down was always intended, since the big thing I remember about Blotter from Devil's Dance was that he was big on consent, and he can tell that it's all about the need for her. I'd also thought about Stephen being there to offer up, but thought it was already long enough.
Then just added it in editing anyway.

Woah. Yeah, that history...

@Kaitha

A truly horrifying set of scenes. I found them confusing and disorienting, but that fit beautifully.

Katssun wrote: @Kaitha

A truly horrifying set of scenes. I found them confusing and disorienting, but that fit beautifully.

I good way of putting it!