One measure of an author is the ability to produce ideas from
which mighty projects can grow ... and then realize that if one does
anything with these ideas, one will get even further behind on one's already
existing projects than one already is.

	With that in mind, here are some story starters from my idea file:


Yuri:  The Unfullfilled.

	All right, a quick primer on Dirty Pair Flash.  Kei is still
basically Kei, Yuri is still essentially Yuri (although she uses a beam
sword instead of the Bloody Card).  They don't get along as well as the
original Angels, being even more prone to petty squabbles and insults.
(Kei has a very low opinion of Yuri's intelligence, while Yuri actually
calls Kei "butch" at least once.)  They are the second team of 3WA Trouble
Consultants to bear the name "Lovely Angels", the first being their
legendary predecessors, Molly and Iris (who are designed to look like the
original Pair, vaguely).  In the second OVA series, they go to a resort
planet named World World, which is basically a mock-up (with actual
residents) of Twentieth century Earth, in the company of a male computer
programmer named Toma.  (Incidentally, I found the second series to be
*dramatically* less interesting than the first, but it contains a *great*
jumping off point.)

	In episode 3, Yuri and Toma take shelter from rain in a florists
shop, and following the Law of Dramatic First Meetings, the lovely young
florist (Leena) offers them umbrellas.  Toma is smitten, and he begins to
essentially *stalk* Leena -- following her around, taking photographs of
her through the sattelite network, hacking government data bases to find
out more about her, and similar felonies.  He is too shy to actually
confront her with his feelings, until Yuri finally gets sick of watching
this, and forces the issue.  It is then that we find out that Leena was
actually attracted to *Yuri*, causing a mild panic attack on the Angel's
part, and making Kei laugh her head off.  The episode closes with Toma
wrapped up in a blanket, mourning his youth as he must spend the rest of
his life in desolation -- while Yuri wonders if she should get her hair
done in preparation for her date with Leena!  (Kei is still laughing her
head off.)

	Well!  One wonders what a twisted mind would make of this?  Kashira
kashira?  Gozonji kashira?


---------------

	Now, as anyone knows, there are four Tenchi timelines.  They have
a lot in common, but they also have a lot of differences.  And sometimes
they weave together in odd ways.

	Now, suppose for a moment that the events of "Shin Tenchi Muyo"
(or "Tenchi in Tokyo", as I understand it's being called in certain parts)
took place in the OAV universe?  Wouldn't that make for an interesting --

	No?

	You don't think so?  Well, I can see why you might think that.  I
mean, the characters are the same, really.  All you'd have to do is ignore
the story of how the "STM" cast met for the first time, which takes up all
of one episode.  Other than that, it's the same!

	What?  You think that's *why* it wouldn't be that interesting?
Oh.  Yeah, you're right.

	Hmmm ... but suppose, just suppose that it took place in a
slightly different version of the OAV universe.  A slightly different
universe in which one of Tenchi's harem (chortle, yahright, snicker) had a
pair of reliable and trustworthy friends in Tokyo already to keep an eye
on his behaviour?

	Well, three eyes, technically.  Since one of them had suffered a
... mild injury the year earlier.

	And then there's that other friend of theirs ...

	<Cut to a brief scene from STM episode#3, as the "Goddess of
Marriage" discovers that Tenchi has a rather large number of red strings
tied to his fingers, and yanks on them -- pulling Sasami, Washuu, Mihoshi,
Kiyone, Ryo-oh-ki, Azaka, Kamidake, Noboyuki, and Yoshou off their feet in
Okayama and pulling Ryouko and Ayeka (who happened to be in Tokyo) into
the pocket dimension that the `goddess" is using.>

	<In this universe, though ...>

	<Immediately after, a startled brunette (with purple highlights)
dressed in a blouse, short skirt, and high heels, along with an eyepatch
-- Raye Hino, natch -- and an equally startled purple-haired girl in a
Chinese dress -- Shampoo -- are also pulled into the pocket world.  Raye,
the only person there likely to realize what a red string connecting her
finger to Tenchi's means, stares down at it for a second, and then shouts
up at the sky.>

					RAYE
				URD!  This had *better* be *your* idea of
				a joke!


				TENCHI IN TOKYO:
			     TOGETHER AGAIN VERSION


<Cut to the end of STM#4.  Sakuya is staring at Sailor Mars in rapt
wonder.)

					SAKUYA
				Ohmigod!  Masaki-kun!  You know *Sailor
				Mars*?

					TENCHI
				Well, sort of.

					SAKUYA
				Too cool!  She's the coolest of all the
				Senshi!  Too too cool!

<Long pause.  Mars turns to look at Ayeka.>

					MARS
				I don't see what you're so upset about.
				She seems like a perfectly nice girl to me.


---------


Urusei Yatsura:  Remix

PREMISE:  It's Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, et cetera, ad absurdum, with a major
difference.  The Oni Invasion and the Great Tag Race don't happen until
the main characters are in their early twenties, and thus have a
*slightly* greater degree of maturity.

Ataru chases every girl in sight, yes, but he's polished his routines a
bit, such that he winds up with a certain amount of brief success ...
which always ends with him being soundly dumped when one of his brief SOs
realizes his wandering eye.  To a degree, this has made him a bit more
cynical (relationships don't last, thus they aren't meant to last, thus
nobody should expect anyone to work to make them last) -- hence his
confusion with Lum, who while jealous and possessive, doesn't show any
signs of leaving, either.

Notes: The grain of this idea comes from a UY lemon I encountered, in
which Oyuki asks after Shinobu when Lum and Ataru come for a visit, and
refers to her as "the mistress."  Now the implication is clearly that
Shinobu is Ataru's mistress, but being a pervert, I immediately thought of
an alternate situation:

ATARU:  No no no no, Shinobu's not my mistress --

OYUKI:  I was talking to Lum.

<beat>

ATARU:  <sudden grin> Oyuki-san!  Would be so kind as to give Lum-san and
my unworthy self a moment alone?

OYUKI:  Of course.  Intimate affairs should be discussed privately.
<exits>

ATARU:  WHAT THE --

LUM:  I knew that if I mentioned it, you'd start thinking dirty things.

ATARU:  Oh, and I'm not thinking dirty things anyway?  What did she mean,
your mistress?

LUM:  Darling ... when a member of Urusai's aristocracy finds a mate by
the tag game, it usually indicates that he or she is ... well. not really
*looking* for a mate.  Of the opposite sex.

ATARU:  <beat> So what you're telling me is that your friends think I'm
your procurer?!?

LUM:  No!  <beat>  I think the more appropriate term is "closet".  And
it's not true!

	... and it goes on from there, but then I realized something.
This kind of discussion could never happen in Urusei Yatsura ... it'd
require too much maturity on the parts of the characters.

	One possibility is the Herriot scenario, where the characters
develop greater maturity (or in the case of the characters that the 
authors don't like, are dragged kicking and screaming into greater 
maturity, amidst torture).  But that turns it into just another version of
all the "Ranma and company grow up and resolve the scenario" stories that
have ever been told.

	But if we remove the events of the series, and then start the
scenario later, what happens?