********************** Data File to accompany REUNIONS **********************
by Ryan Mathews and Larry Mann
Copyright (c) 1995 Larry Mann, Ryan Mathews
This datafile is meant to provide additional information and background for
the story REUNIONS. Note: YOU SHOULD NOT NEED TO READ THIS FILE TO ENJOY
THE STORY! If you find that's not the case, please let either Larry or
me (Ryan) know, so we don't make the same mistake in future stories.
--------
CONTENTS
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I. THE UNIVERSE
II. THE CHARACTERS
III. THE HISTORY
IV. OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
V. THE LEGALESE
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I. THE UNIVERSE
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1. General Information
REUNIONS takes place in the universe of the Dirty Pair. For those who may
not be familiar with the Dirty Pair, here's a brief overview.
The year is 2141 (2143 in REUNIONS). Thanks to inexpensive faster-than-light
travel, the human race has expanded across the galaxy, inhabiting over 3,000
planets. Most of these planets belong to a loose confederation known as the
United Galactica, or "UG".
With such a large sandbox to play in, crime is a bigger problem than ever,
and the most powerful organization that exists to deal with the problem is
the Worlds Welfare Work Association, WWWA or 3WA for short. The 3WA is a
semi-private corporation, run for profit but with tight ties to the UG
government.
A goverment, corporation, or individual with an insolvable problem may
petition the 3WA for assistance. If the 3WA's Central Computer agrees that
such assistance is necessary, help is sent in the form of a team of "Trouble
Consultants" (also known as "TC's"). Such assistance is not free, however.
The 3WA's top team of Trouble Consultants are the Lovely Angels, two lovely
young women, Kei and Yuri. They have the top rating because they have never
failed to solve a case. However, the public is terrified of them, because
their cases invariably seem to end in the destruction of the building, city,
or even the planet on which the action took place. For this reason, the
media has dubbed them "the Dirty Pair", a name Kei and Yuri can't stand. In
each instance of destruction, however, the Central Computer has absolved them
of blame.
2. The various versions of the universe, and how we resolve them
One of the problems with the Dirty Pair is that there are three inconsistent
variations of the Pair's universe out there.
The first version is from the original novels by Haruka Takachiho. In the
novels, Kei and Yuri are often women first and agents second, worrying about
their hair and nails in the midst of a case. The Lovely Angels actually have
the psychic power of precognition in the novels. If they hold hands and
concentrate, they can receive a vision that will help them to solve the case.
Their pet, Mughi, is a creature they picked up on an abandoned planet with
human-level intelligence and the ability to manipulate electromagnetic
energy.
The second version arrived when the Japanese animation studio Sunrise bought
the animation rights to the Dirty Pair and changed them around a bit. Kei and
Yuri seem much younger in the animated version, even if they're officially
the same age. Kei gains a prediliction for very large guns. Yuri becomes
an easily frightened girl, hating the dark, rats, and such scary stuff like
that. Usually, Yuri is portrayed as the brains of the outfit, but in at
least one episode, she comes off as an airhead, surprising everyone when she
solves the case. Their psychic powers appear only once, and when they do,
they are surprised, as if it had never happened before. Mughi is now a
creature created by the 3WA, who has intelligence and the ability to pilot
their ship, but has no electromagnetic powers. Some characters were added
as well, the most notable being Goulet (my preferred spelling, usually
spelled "Gooley"), their supervisor, and Dr. Kueblestein, a quirky scientist
who gives the Lovely Angels the occasional useful item.
The third version hit the streets of America in 1989, when comic-book creators
Adam Warren and Toren Smith, unable to negotiate a deal with Sunrise to
purchase the rights to create an American Dirty Pair comic, went around the
animation company to the Pair's original creator, Haruka Takachiho. In order
not to be sued by Sunrise, they created an almost completely original version
of the Pair, based loosely on the original novels.
Warren and Smith created a dark, cyberpunkish universe, where the mind can be
easily translated to software and vice-versa, and people control computers
via "interface sockets" behind each ear. Kei retains her love of large
weapons, and gains a short temper similar to the animated series, but worse.
Yuri gains a great deal of maturity, and is the thinker of the team, although
she seems to enjoy violent situations just as much as Kei. Homage is payed
to the Pair's psychic abilities, but they are explained away as a hoax played
upon the 3WA by the girls. Mughi is exactly as he was in the novels.
So what is a fan-fiction writer to do, especially when he likes all three
versions? Larry grounded his stories firmly in the comic book universe.
What I did was to create a sort of cross-over universe, incorporating
elements from all three. Kei and Yuri's personalities are somewhere in
between the comic book and the animated series. Yuri does most of the
thinking, Kei most of the shooting. Yuri is very intelligent, but Kei isn't
as stupid as she is often portrayed in the comic. The Central Computer
believes they have psychic abilities, but they've generally been unable to
make them work. Mughi was found on a deserted planet, but he was then
enhanced by 3WA scientists. I kept Kueblestein from the animated series, and
the interface sockets from the comic-book. The rest of the cyberpunk elements
I played down, except in REUNIONS, which is a sequel to both a story from the
comic book and Larry's cyberpunk Pair story EXPERIMENT 101-E, which
necessitated a cyberpunk feel.
So if you're a fan of the Lovely Angels and you think, "I don't remember that
part," it's probably something from one of the other Kei's and Yuri's.
------------------
II. THE CHARACTERS
------------------
Here is some background on all the major characters in REUNIONS who have
previous appearances in other stories.
THE LOVELY ANGELS
The 3WA's top team of trouble consultants. The Lovely Angels are named
for their ship, the _Lovely_Angel_. (Or is it vice versa?) The media has
given them another name, the "Dirty Pair", due to the tendency of their
cases to end in disaster. It is inadvisable to call them by this name to
their faces, however.
Kei -- Kei is brash and impetuous, with very little patience. She's not
much for planning, preferring to shoot her way out of a problem. Although
she's intelligent, she's mentally lazy, hating memorization and preferring
to let Yuri do the thinking. Nevertheless, she'll occasionally surprise
everyone with a good idea.
Age: 21
Height: 171 cm
Weight: 58 kg
Measurements (cm): 91-55-91
Hair: Red, cut short in the back and long on top, which she wears in a
bushy mop combed forward over a headband.
Eyes: Brown
Yuri -- Unlike Kei, who's always impatient to get to the action, Yuri's
mind is always on duty, looking for answers or formulating the best next
step. Yuri generally displays greater maturity than Kei, but she loves to
needle Kei and make her angry. One of Yuri's many talents is computers:
she is an expert hacker. Yuri has a special weapon called the "Bloody
Card", a razor-sharp metal card she can throw that will return to her hand.
Age: 21
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 54 kg
Measurements (cm): 84-56-90
Hair: Black, worn long in the back past the shoulder, with forelocks
over the ears.
Eyes: Blue
THE NIGHTRIDERS
The NightRiders, a team established several years before Kei and Yuri
joined the 3WA, were introduced in Larry's EXPERIMENT 101-E. Darryn and
Rumiko are a more ordinary team of Trouble Consultants, in that disaster
does not follow them everywhere like it does the Angels. The 'Riders
share a CyberAudio link, linking the audio and speech centers of each
other's brains, allowing them to communicate telepathically. They also
share a secret: Darryn and Rumiko are lovers, a relationship frowned upon
by the 3WA.
Darryn -- Darryn is a fully trained ninja. The mental and physical
discipline granted him through his training has served the NightRiders
well. He has the ability to analyze any situation quickly and directly.
He is extremely level-headed, and very difficult to upset. Darryn's
hand-to-hand fighting prowess is equalled by few, and he eschews guns
unless they are necessary.
Age: 28
Height: 185 cm
Weight: 96 kg
Hair: Blonde, short in back to moderately short on top
Eyes: Blue
Rumiko -- If you've met Kei, then Rumiko will seem very familiar. When
she was Kei's age, she behaved in much the same way. Many years of
experience has calmed her down, however, and taught her to think a
situation through before acting. It doesn't mean she has to like it,
though. Although not a ninja like Darryn, she has a ninja "wetware"
package installed that impressively enhances her fighting ability. (NOTE:
Rumiko's first appearance was actually in my story, THE BALLAD OF LORD
ROBIN, where she was a face in a crowd and had one line. It was Larry who
defined who she was, however.)
Age: 28
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 55 kg
Measurements (cm): 81-54-88
Hair: Black, short, worn straight, falls to collar in back
Eyes: Brown
THE LONELY HEARTS
The Lonely Hearts are original characters created for this story. A young,
inexperienced team of trouble consultants, they provide a contrast to the
"grizzled veterans" on the other two teams. Like the Lovely Angels, they
fly a ship named after them.
Daphne -- Like Rumiko, Daphne actually had her first appearance in LORD
ROBIN. In her only scene in that story, she emerges from a meeting room
where a massacre of trouble consultants has just taken place, calls Yuri by
name, and collapses into her arms, apparently dead. In this story, we get
to know her as a strong-willed, confident leader.
Age: 20
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 54 kg
Measurements (cm): 82-54-88
Hair: Red, worn straight and long, halfway down back, thick on top, no
forelocks
Eyes: Left green, right (artificial) blue-green
Nene -- Unlike her Bubblegum Crisis namesake, this Nene is blonde. Like
her namesake, Nene is a whiz at getting computers to do her bidding.
Perky, friendly, and outspoken, Nene is so optimistic, she actually looks
forward to meeting the Dirty Pair.
Age: 19
Height: 162 cm
Weight: 48 kg
Measurements (cm): 73-53-75
Hair: Blonde, wavy, worn shoulder length
Eyes: Brown
OTHER CHARACTERS
Shasti -- Shasti was introduced in Adam Warren's DIRTY PAIR II comic book
series. Shasti was the result of a 3WA experiment in which the agency's
scientific division tried to create the ultimate trouble consultant.
Shasti was created fron "scratch", paintakingly engineered from human
genetic material and born an adult. Shasti has several improvements over
ordinary humans, however, among them enhanced strength and agility, a
reinforced skeleton, hardwired reflexes, preprogrammed fighting skills,
and a brain with enhanced computing hardware built in. She is absolutely
deadly in combat; even the most skilled opponents rarely last more than a
few seconds.
One of Shasti's more controversial features is her intentionally split
personality. She can literally change her persona at will, swapping in
whatever personality is best suited to the situation at hand.
Shasti made the switch from hero to villain shortly after having the
personality of a sociopathic criminal uploaded into her mind, in order to
facilitate his capture. She killed the man, attempted to kill all her
partners, then escaped in his ship.
Age: 10 (apparent age : 28)
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Measurements (cm): 93-56-92
Hair: Dark brown, worn several centimeters below the shoulders, medium
thick on top, forelocks.
Eyes: Blue
Deirdre -- Deirdre was introduced in flashbacks in the DIRTY PAIR II comic
book series. Deirdre was Shasti's partner during her tenure as a Trouble
Consultant. Larry fleshed out the character in EXPERIMENT 101-E,
revealing her an Intel. Deirdre had an incredibly powerful microcomputer
implanted in her brain, allowing her make calculations and connections
between pieces of information with much greater speed and complexity than
an ordinary human. Deirdre was shot through the back and killed by Shasti
to cover Shasti's escape. As we will see, however, death is rarely
permanent in this universe.
(Statistics at time of death)
Age: 20
Height: 163 cm
Measurements (cm): 68-48-78
Hair: Blonde, straight and short
Eyes: Brown
Paul -- Paul was introduced in DIRTY PAIR II as Shasti's criminal partner,
appearing in only a few frames, with no lines to speak of. He is fleshed
out in detail in this story.
Age: 32
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 94 kg
Hair: Black, thick, and combed straight back.
Eyes: Hazel
(NOTE: He was portrayed with a beard in DIRTY PAIR II, but has since
shaved it off.)
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III. THE HISTORY
----------------
Brief synopses of the stories that lead into REUNIONS.
EXPERIMENT 101-E by Larry Mann
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A.D. 2135: Newly licensed Trouble Consultant Deirdre was asked to
participate in a special project: her new partner was a woman named
Shasti. On the firing range, and on their first assignment (working
with a veteran TC team, Darryn and Rumiko) Deirdre noticed Shasti's
incredible skill and soon discovered she was a bioroid.
Shasti and Deirdre made an excellent team, and became the #1
team of agents by 2137. But the path was full of problems: Shasti was
repeatedly forced to submit to tests and implants at the whim of their
supervisors, and protests by Deirdre had little effect. At one point
they even tried to suppress Shasti's memories of Deirdre but the attempt
failed. Deirdre confronted her superiors on this matter and the Central
Computer acknowledged that some mistakes were made.
The final proof of worth came in 2139, when the Earth's Defense Net
was attacked by a computer virus which threatened to destroy the planet by
turning the satellites inward. Against all odds, Shasti and Deirdre were
able to trap and destroy the virus and prevent disaster. It looked as
though they had finally proved that Shasti was just as much a person as
anybody else and deserving of freedom, and that the 101-E Project would
finally be brought to a close...
(Unfortunately, as _DPII: Dangerous Acquaintances_ revealed, this
was not the case...)
DIRTY PAIR II: DANGEROUS ACQUAINTANCES by Adam Warren
--------------------------------------
In this story, Kei and Yuri run into Shasti while on vacation on the
planet Rocinante, eventually foiling her attempted theft of a "gravity well
compensator" that would allow ships to warp directly into orbit around a
planet, or even directly into the atmosphere. The compensator was installed
in the hovering luxury spaceliner _Lyra_ at the time, and when the engines
were warped away by Shasti, the ship crashed to the ground, causing the
"_Lyra_ Disaster" referred to in REUNIONS.
In a parallel storyline, told in flashbacks, we learn how Shasti
first met the young Lovely Angels, and how Shasti made the transition from
trouble consultant to villainess, as described in Shasti's character sketch
above.
THE BALLAD OF LORD ROBIN by Ryan Mathews
------------------------
The story begins when a madman, calling himself "Lord Robin" begins
destroying fringe worlds, worlds on the edges of known space. He
accomplishes this by apparently warping an enormous fleet of warships
directly into orbit around the doomed world, then bombarding it until no one
remained alive. This was curious, since warping into a gravity well is known
to be impossible.
Kei and Yuri are assigned to go undercover and infiltrate Lord
Robin's fleet. Once they accomplish this, they learn the truth of how Lord
Robin accomplishes his sneak attacks. Rather than warping directly into
orbit about a planet, his ships use a new technology called "half-warp", in
which the craft warps from one end, but doesn't materialize at the other,
instead getting intercepted and shunted into a parallel dimension called
"mock-space", in which they travel invisibly and intangibly, allowing them
to sneak into orbit undetected.
Events conspire to bring down Lord Robin, and he dies along with his
fleet, but not before he's fallen in love with Yuri.
(Note: Both THE BALLAD OF LORD ROBIN and EXPERIMENT 101-E are available on
MegaZone's anime archive. FTP to ftp.std.com/archives/anime-fan-works/.
Email megazone@world.std.com for more information.)
---------------------------
IV. OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
---------------------------
1. A brief history of REUNIONS
REUNIONS may just hold the record for the anime fanfiction story that took
the longest to write. (Although I understand there's a chapter in
Undocumented Features that will blow the pants off REUNIONS, if it ever
appears at all.) Clocking in at approximately three years, it's history
is so long and convoluted that neither I nor Larry remember all of it.
Here's what we know for sure: Early in 1992, I got the idea to write a
story that would explore the character of Shasti more deeply. Larry had
already written one, EXPERIMENT 101-E, but it dealt with the period before
Shasti's little "malfunction" depicted in DIRTY PAIR II. I wanted to take a
look at her after, to see if there was still a redeemable woman hidden inside
the monster the 3WA had made her. As it turned out, Larry was also planning
a "bad Shasti" story, tentatively entitled EXPERIMENT 101-E, PART II. We got
to talking, and soon decided that both concepts could be merged into a single
story. We decided to collaborate.
Unfortunately, I was involved in the painfully slow process of writing
THE GAME ETERNAL, a short Dirty Pair novel avaiable on MegaZone's fanfic
archive (hint, hint :-) ). THE GAME ETERNAL took me over two years to write,
during which time REUNIONS was stuck in a slow developmental stage.
Larry and I exchanged Megs of email, slowly fleshing out the story.
Eventually, the story took a distinct enough shape for Larry to write up a
plot outline. When I finally finished THE GAME ETERNAL in 1993, it freed me
up to give my full attention to REUNIONS.
Then my employer sent me on the road for almost all of 1994. Constantly away
from my computer, I didn't get much done. I tried to write longhand, and
managed one page. I just don't work well that way.
When I finally got home in October of 1994, I threw myself into REUNIONS.
And here it is, *finally*!
If the truth be told, I'm a little worried about the effect the delay will
have on the reader response. In 1992, when the story was conceived, it was
a sequel to two recent and popular fanfic stories. Three years later, the
memory of those stories has faded somewhat, under the deluge of fanfic that
has come since. Also, REUNIONS has become somewhat the fanfic equivalent of
vaporware; I used to get the occasional message asking "Where is REUNIONS??"
I'd tell the person I was working on it, but I had no idea it would take this
long. If any of you are still waiting, I hope it was worth it. I think it
was.
2. How do two people write a fanfic?
I'm not certain that mine and Larry's is the first collaboration to hit the
net. Actually, given the volume of stories, I rather doubt it. I don't read
that much fanfic, actually, not having enough time for it. So, anyway, I
can't tell you how others work the collaboration process, but here's how we
do it.
Larry and I share an interesting relationship. I consider him one of my best
friends, and yet I see him only once a year, at the Anime Expo. The rest of
the year, we meet only through phone calls (I always call him, due to the
three-hour time difference), and email.
We've collaborated in various ways on at least seven projects. Our agreement
is that whoever thought of the original idea gets to go first when the
creators are listed, no matter who may put in more work. Thus REUNIONS is
"by Larry Mann and Ryan Mathews", because he came up with the idea first.
Incidentally, that's the only clue we have, since neither of us can remember
the original idea.
For REUNIONS, we spent most of a year hacking out this part and that part of
the plot, giving each other suggestions, shooting them down. The hardest
part was coming up with what exactly Shasti was up to. Larry initially saw a
revenge plot, but I didn't think that Shasti would engage in any venture that
didn't result in material gain.
At last, we had a finished concept. It was decided early on that Larry would
plot and I would write. Larry took what we had up to that point and
converted it into a detailed plot outline. Working from this, I wrote the
story.
I had complete freedom to change anything during the writing process, as long
as I let Larry know about it. For the most part, it followed the plot pretty
closely until the end, which we'd had trouble with and was very vaguely
defined. At that point, I threw the plot aside and finished the story
myself.
As I finished each "Stage" (Larry's idea), I emailed it to Larry, who
performed a process I jokingly referred to as "Larrification": reformatting,
adding times and places, and adding the quote at the top of each stage. He'd
then email it back to me, for a final fine-tuning before sending it off to
the net.
Is the best method of collaboration? I have no idea. I do think, however,
that it's important to keep the actual writing chores in one person's hands,
to keep the style consistent.
3. Miscellaneous stuff
-- Things that were my idea: Andrew, Nance, including the gravity-well
compensator, Shasti's final plan.
-- Things that were Larry's idea: The Lonely Hearts, Bydon, Ariake, the
_Artemis_
-- Things that we have no idea who's idea they were: Sending Kei and Yuri
after Shasti, Kuan Yin being blown up, Daphne having been in the Econ Corps.
-- The first two scenes in the prologue are re-writes by me of the opening to
Larry's initial script to EXPERIMENT 101-E, PART II
-- I never knew how much Larry was into metal until he began quoting Ozzy and
Judas Priest to begin stages of this story...
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V. THE LEGALESE
---------------
You really can quit reading now. All the truly interesting stuff is above.
This is the legal part, which I'm doing more out of respect to all who
inspired us than anything else.
Ahem.
REUNIONS is Copyright (C) 1995 Larry Mann and Ryan Mathews.
This is a work of fan-fiction, and as such violates many copyrights and
trademarks. For that reason, this work may not be sold. Freedom to
re-distribute this work is granted, provided that the authors are made aware
of such re-distribution and that the above copyright notice is included.
The Dirty Pair, Kei, Yuri, Mughi, the Lovely Angels, the _Lovely_Angel_,
3WA/WWWA/Worlds Welfare Work Association, Trouble Consultants, Central
Computer, United Galactica/UG are trademarks of Haruka Takachiho.
Planet Elenore, Goulet, Lucifer Crime Syndicate are trademarks of Sunrise.
Shasti, Paul, Deirdre, LaCombe, Ayoob, microsoft-plugs, interface sockets,
gravity-well compensator are trademarks of Adam Warren.
Lord Robin, half-warp, Alderon, Serpiens Seven, F-242, are trademarks of Ryan
Mathews.
The NightRiders, Darryn, Rumiko, are trademarks of Larry Mann.
All other characters and concepts appearing in this story are trademarks of
Larry Mann and Ryan Mathews.
- - - - -
--
"Again and again the laws of | Larry Mann a.k.a. R-Type
nature prove laws aren't enough." | <lrmann@uci.edu>
- Thomas Dolby | Writer/Illustrator for hire