Being the author, I thought I'd respond to some of these points. At least
the ones that pertain to the story.
-----Original Message-----
From: nadesico@ix.netcom.com
[mailto:nadesico@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 1:01 AM
To: ffml
Subject: [FFML] Re: [FFML][Ranma] The Assassination
of Nabiki Tendo - Chapter 1
I'd have to agree with whoever it was that doubted Nabiki
Tendo's hacking skills. Of
course, I also have to disagree as well. Unless you pay a
certain amount of time, she's
not going to be very good at all. However, if she did learn
from a pro, and had at least
regularly practices her skill, then she could be very decent
at it, without having to
devote a significant amount of time to it. She won't be
great, but decent.
KP: As to her hacking skills, she's learned from some
experts and believes she knows more than she does, like a lot of people
walking the streets(IMHO). She also has kept up with it and used her
skills. She also used them against lessor opponents, so to speak.
I did dislike as to how she accesses the computer network.
She gains the location and
password to this central computer. How does she access it,
through the internet? Through
a dial-up connection to the central computer? What about a
username? A password is
useless without a username to identify the level of security
needed for the one trying to
enter. However, her discovering hidden firewalls that
protects certain portions of the
computer system, is very unbelieavable. However you spell
that. There are many reasons
for it, but since I'm not an expert on internet, computer
network, and mainframe security,
I'm not going to try and list all of the reasons I believe
for it to not work. Who knows,
maybe it's real, and if it is, the reason nobody heard of it
is because it's a SECURITY
precaution. I know that computer networks have security
systems to ensure privacy, but I
don't know what they are. It's the same thing with the
White House, I know that there are
guards and security systems, but I don't know what they are.
So I'm not about to go off
and say as to what is and is not possible, even if I don't
believe it. In such cases, I
just ignore it, and enjoy the story.
KP: I wish I could say something like this part was
completely plausible, but I derived it from bits and pieces of conversations
with Network people at my office, whom I don't have the greatest respect for
in their skills(wonders how much of his e-mail traffic they read as he
writes that). As too explanations about some of the other things you
mentioned, I try to stay away from writing specifically about things I don't
understand, and until it either becomes the central point of a story or I
actually get paid for writing a 100% believable story, I'm not going to
bother with excessive research. That being said if I only wrote about
things I was an expert in, they would be the most boring 2 paragraph stories
in existence.
Oh well. I try to ignore some things in most stories as
well. ^_^
----- Original Message -----
From: "allyn yonge" <ayonge@yahoo.com>
> I found the entire assassination scenario implausible,
> as written. Frankly if someone wanted to kill Nabiki,
> they could just push her in front of a train, or stick
> a knife in her while she's jammed in a train-car, run
> her down in the street. I'd like a little something
> more to justify using this much fire-power against one
> girl. And why use multiple shooters at all, when for
> less effort they could plant a bomb in her cell phone.
> (A little trick the Isralies came up with.) Put about
> three ounces of C-4 in the phone, call Nabiki up, when
> she says hello, the assassin says good-by and pushes
> the button.
Now hopefully Kenneth Payne has actually watched up to at
least episode 20 of Noir, or
else you're going to be so lost on the storyline of that
series. Now in Noir, there is a
very good reason as to why groups of gunnmen are going
around and trying to kill the
Yuumura Kirika and Mirielle Bouqet. Or however you're
supposed to spell their names. At
any rate, there could be a very similiar and valid reason as
to why such a group was sent
after Nabiki, especially since it seems that Ranma himself
was supposed to have killed
her. After all, if Ranma was to have killed her, why the
gunnmen? Of course, the gunnmen
could have been sent after it was found out that Ranma won't
kill her, or it could have
been a different group then the one that sent Ranma.
However, there seems to be a good
reason as to why the gunnmen was sent, especially since
there is a some evidence of some
sort 'secret' 'SEELE' like group working in the background.
KP: I have seen up to 25! Cheers for me. There are
always secrets. Allyn has already e-mail me directly about this I won't say
much except his comments have been very helpful in helping me understand
certain aspects of the culture that I didn't before. Hopefully when this is
all over the reasons will be sufficient for the story to be believable.
> I do NOT think anyone in their right mind would hand a
> pistol to an untrained person in the middle of a
> firefight. Nabiki was more likely to shoot _Ranma_
> than one of the bad-guys. IF this is an integral part
> of the story (and I don't think it has to be) you need
> to modify the story just slightly to show that 'Ranma'
> realized this, but the danger TO Nabiki outweighs the
> danger FROM Nabiki. He might also advise her to stay
> put, out of sight, and only shoot at muzzle-contact
> range. (which is probably the only way she could hit
> anything under those circumstances)
Of course, giving a gun to her could be seen as creating a
diversion and warning system,
as it would be very doubtful that she could hit anything.
And having her try to hit
something could easily distract the attackers or cause them
to move back.
KP: It's not an integral part of the story, part my
thinking was that any help would be good help, even if all Ranma expected
was for her shooting to give him extra-warning that someone was behind them.
> I _do_ think that Nabiki recovered much too quickly
> from the trauma of having someone try to kill her. You
> loose fine motor control under stress, for instance.
> Yet she's very quickly pulling out a cell phone and
> punching buttons, a _fine_ motor skill. IMO, you need
> to show more of the stress she must be under, physical
> and mental. She seemed much too calm for someone who
> just had a gun put to her head.
>
With this, it's more a question of the type of person that
she is. Some people could
easily recover from such an ordeal rather quickly, while
others would be a hysterical
mess. For example, and this is a real life event, I was
riding a bicycle and nearing an
intersection. I stood up and checked for a vehicle over
this big bush that was in the
corner, and since I didn't see any I continued across
without slowing down or even
stopping beforehand.
Once I rode off the curb onto the street, I found myself on
the ground trapped underneath
a truck. Of course the truck backed up, allowing me to
actually stand up and get off the
bike. I wasn't harmed at all, just a scratch on the knee.
The bike's handle on one side
was bent down vertically. I was in fact perfectly and,
after talking with owner of the
truck to make sure everyone was alright, I would have just
rode on home as if this thing
happens to me everyday.
Of course a cop saw the thing and he called in more cops,
and the entire thing turned into
this big deal, espcially with them calling my mom, but if it
wasn't for the cops, I would
have gone home as if nothing had happened, and not tell my
mom as well. Especially
because it would have saved me the trouble of listening to
her yell at me for a couple of
hours. At any rate, other then the fact of some
uncontrollable shivering, a side-effect
of having large quantities of adrenaling released into a
body that isn't used to it (I
think), I didn't suffer anything more then a scratch from
the entire ordeal. No shock, no
trauma, no irrational fear of riding my bike or street
corners, no nothing. Other then
being incredibly annoyed and pissed off about not being able
to ride my bike. You try
riding a bike where half the handle is bent so that it's
pointing to the ground.
Of course, that was more traumatic then seeing my dog run
into a busy street, get hit by a
car, and see the body spin along the ground a couple times.
Call me cold hearted, or a
psycho, but I really didn't care that I just saw my dog die.
Same thing with the
accident, I didn't really care (just annoyed about how I
can't ride my bike until I can
get it fixed.) And no, that dog was a pet of mine for a
couple of years, and no, I didn't
hate my dog, and no, I didn't suffer from nightmares. AT
any rate, none of this is
anywhere close to killing people and having people die right
in front of me, but still,
some people can recover very easily from such trauma, while
others can't. It all depend
upon the person.
--CCMax
KP: Characterization is always hard. Going from the Manga,
Nabiki is cool and collected and especially doesn't break down in front of
others. Would an attempt on her life be enough to break her shell in front
of other people? I'm not sure, I think she would handle herself relatively
well, from a motor skills point of view.
As stated before, stress does different things to different
people. I can cry at a movie, but I didn't cry when my grandfather or
father died, at least not in public. Is her reaction believable, I think
so. But it is one of the biggest problems I'm having with characterization
while writing.
I try to write for my own enjoyment and I share so that hopefully other's
will enjoy as well. Comments only help me improve so we all enjoy more. So
thanks a lot, even if I don't always agree.
I just got a new e-mail service at home and it apparently isn't letting FFML
traffic in so if you wish to comment, please e-mail here at work, or my new
home address: noirchloe@nyc.rr.com <mailto:noirchloe@nyc.rr.com>
Ken, Who is not-so-patiently waiting for his pre-readers to
finish chapter two and for Noir episode 26 to be fan-subbed.(although with
all the comments, will have to go and look at 2 again ^_^)
THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION
THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE.
If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an employee
or agent
responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are
hereby
notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
communication is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error,
please notify
us immediately by replying to this e-mail indicating in subject line
"Received in error"
and then delete the message you received. Thank you.
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'