Bob Schroeck wrote on 3/16/2004, 9:47 PM:
> David McMillan wrote:
> > Look! On the FFML! It's a spam! No, it's a fic! No, it's...
> C&C MAN!
>
> Strange visitor from another system, with powers and abilities
> far beyond those of fictional characters...
<blink>
> Okay, I think we've got the idea. <grin>
Ooog. I didn't mean it to come out that way...
> > Ooooh, Doug, I *knew* you were buying trouble. The
> "fat-bottomed" song
> > was bad enough, but screwing with Sylia's mind? Karma's a bitch,
> buddy.
> > And I have to say you at least partially deserve this.
>
> And everyone said Doug was getting away with humiliating the Sabers
> in the manner of a standard SI. If it weren't for Lisa shaming them
> into it, they wouldn't've lifted a finger to help him after chapters
> 11 and 12...
Nah, if Doug were a "standard" SI, he wouldn't have been so obviously
*wrong* for so long. A bad SI would have been just as insufferable, but
turned out to be right in the end.
> > > "I thought you were heroes!
> > > Isn't that what you tried to convince me of when we first met,
> > > Nene?"
> > That's hitting below the belt, Lisa. Keep it up.
>
> <chuckle> One of my prereaders, I think it was, pointed that one of
> the core ironies in DW2 is that Nene is a soldier (mercenary) who
> thinks of herself as a superhero, while Doug is a superhero who
> thinks of himself as a soldier. This is one of those places where
> that particular irony runs very close to the surface.
Ping! I didn't catch that one consciously, but now that you point it
out...
> > > In the process, all I managed to figure out was
> > > that I wasn't in my apartment, nor in my workshop at IDEC,
> > > which left me wondering just where the hell I had gone to sleep
> > > the night before.
> > Daley: "Good Mooooorning, Doug-chan! You were wonderful..."
>
> <chortle> I should have done that as an omake... Of which I
> have a few, btw, which I plan to post by the end of the week.
Woo hoo! MORE!
> > Geez, *everybody* calls Quincy's wardrobe pimpish. They're
> tight, of
> > course, but still... how does a man in his position fail to have *any*
> > fashion sense?
>
> Now that you've finished reading the chapter, can you answer this for
> yourself? <grin>
Yeah...
> > > Priss ran her fingers through the girl's golden hair. "A mouthy
> > > asshole who's done a few good things, and who's gotten in a
> > > couple hits at GENOM," she said softly.
> > "No, wait, that's *me.*"
> > C'mon, Priss -- pot, kettle, black much?
>
> No, as someone else pointed out, she's not really insulting him.
> It's more a backhanded compliment.
Yeah, I completely failed to pick up the tone. On the second pass,
it's obvious.
> > > "We'll do it," she said quietly, and Sylia's head jerked up.
> > > Linna shot a look at Sylia that challenged the Saber leader to
> > > contradict her.
> > Ohhh, boy. Linna, the "good soldier," stages a mutiny.
>
> <nod> It took me a long, long time to get a handle on Linna's
> character, but once I did, it took me here, inevitably. Linna's
> the most "normal" of the four, and as a result, is probably the
> one with the closest to balanced sense of right and wrong. As
> the story evolved, she sort of became the Sabers' voice of
> conscience.
Linna has no emotional baggage attached to her "night job." Or at
least less than all the others.
> > Apparently she did. It's nice to see that Sylia *can* get past her
> > personal issues, when pushed.
>
> Mutiny it was, but it did more or less conform to the "all
> action as a group" rule. <grin> Besides, Sylia had admitted
> there was no way she could enforce the Last Rule, not any more.
> So when Linna speaks as the Sabers' Conscience, Sylia is forced
> to listen.
Well, Sylia's oubviously outgrown (some of) her near-pathological need
to control everything, in exchange for more faith and loyalty. Of
course, that's a two-way street....
> > > "I've piqued your curiosity," he said, still smiling. "Perhaps
> > > the worst torture I could subject you to would be to leave you
> > > wondering. But I won't do that."
> > If he did, there'd be a mob marching on his office with
> pitchforks and
> > torches. But, Bob's office or Quincy's? Ohh, I got a headache....
>
> Let me give you a hint: I do not operate out of a plush office
> at the top of a conical skyscraper in Japan...
Just makes you easier to get at. (:)
> > > His eyes
> > > grew soft and distant for a moment. "Ah, Ursula."
> > Bob, you naughty boy! Does Peggy know about this?
>
> Who, Mrs. Peggy Ursula Viel Schroeck? I'm sure she has a clue... <grin>
I suspected something like that.
> > > "Can we speed this up? 'Skysaber Conquers The World' is on TV
> > > tonight, and I don't want to miss it."
> > Hey, Bert! Your public is STILL waiting.
>
> Nope, not Skyknight, Skysaber. Jared Ornstead.
<googles. giggles> Oh, HIM! The "Pheonix Mage" from the Bet series.
Never stumbled across the "Skysaber" moniker before.
> > Heh. They're getting into this mother/daughter thing in a big way,
> > already.
>
> <shrug> They both need each other.
Oh, no, I wasn't laughing, I was approving. And I agree. It does seem
like an odd match on the surface, but it works for me.
> > > "You know," she said almost breathlessly, "I met Grampa
> > > Raven, an' I got to talk to Leon, who's gonna be my daddy, an'
> > > they warned me 'bout Uncle Mackie, an' of course I know what
> > > *they* do, but nobody told me 'bout *you*."
> > Gotta be weird, having an adult brain in a child's body like that.
>
> I don't want to get into detail, but I spent a long time thinking
> about what might be done to her mind, via brain design, to make
> her more "appropriate" to her role. (I came up with a lot; I
> scare myself sometimes.) Suffice it to say that the childlike
> extreme of her behavior is not entirely an act. There is a part
> of her personality which is hardwired to be permanently an
> innocent child, to maximize her owner's... experiences, and the
> repeatability thereof. There may not be anything Sylia can do
> about that, but as long as any future encounters are consensual,
> it shouldn't make any difference.
I wondered if perhaps something like that was going on. Wonder if
Leo-A would do anything for her?
Doug missed a trick, it would seem. If he had discovered the 33S/C's
existance, things might have gotten nastier...
> Jeeze, I went into detail after all, didn't I? Damn.
Occupational hazard of being an obsessive backstory-writing worldbuilder.
> > > "You're like their librarian?" The girl's eyes were wide but
> > > filled with a knowing playfulness.
> > Okay, so it's an act. But she had her childhood stolen from her
> -- let
> > her get as much back as she can.
>
> There is that, too. As someone in my discussion forum said, once
> there are no automatic bad consequences to being a child, she's
> comfortable being a child.
Heck, humans who've had their childhoods taken from them do it too.
Why *not* a boomer?
> > > Yeah, with all the available timelines spread
> > > across the face of the multiverse, just about every throw of the
> > > quantum dice should be found, if you searched long enough. But
> > > the odds of me finding this kind of warped image of home? I
> > > couldn't even begin to figure it.
> > Yeah, but *is* this just a reflection? Or *is* there some kind of
> > causal relationship? I bet *that* question is gonna keep Doug up,
> nights.
>
> He won't get a good answer until Ed Becerra and I complete
> Drunkard's Walk 10...
So what are doing sitting there answering C&C? Get writing! Your
r/a/b/i/d/ c/r/a/c/k/ w/e/a/s/l/e/s/ adoring public awaits!
> > So now we know the truth. It was *Mrs* Shroeck who kept Bob from
> > embarking on a plan of world domination. Instead, he writes fiction
> > about his various interdimensional alter egos. (:)
>
> Peggy thanks you for your high estimation of her abilities.
> <grin>
Just looking at the earliest divergence point, ma'am. (:)
> > > Arcanum, whom you never truly defeated, only delayed
> > > and inconvenienced." He paused for effect. "I am observing
> > > *his* forms.*
> > > This was madness, utter madness.
> > Yes... but it's also downright *brilliant,* in a twisty sort of
> way.
>
> Thank you. I try. I've spent six years getting inside Quincy's
> head...
Oooooookaaaaayyyyyy.... <backs away slowly>
> <chuckle> You know, I'm surprised that no one commented on the
> irony in the next line:
>
> > > I snorted at this. "Hey, buddy, I'm no more fictional than *you*
> > > are!"
>
> I mean, there are several levels of joke here...
True enough. I guess I was sufficiently "into" it that the additional
levels slid past me...
> > > Off to my right, I heard a gasp from Madigan. Then, in a moment
> > > of pregnant calm, the sound of rustling fabric reached my ears.
> > Yeah, Kate. You finally have someone you actually care about in
> > Quincy's line of fire.
> > Which side *are* you on?
>
> No, as someone else pointed out, Kate doesn't know (yet) that Lisa
> is "Sailor (?)oon". But the mystery senshi is the core around
> which her own personal rebirth and growing moral sense are centered,
> and a threat to her is a threat to Madigan on several levels.
Blarg. You are, of course, correct. I *think* I was peripherally
aware of that when I wrote that out, but I definitely wasn't properly
partitoning what Kate knew from what *I* knew.
It's still somebody important to Kate, but less personally and more
symbolically.
> > > "She bailed on you, dude," I announced, openly laughing at the
> > > old man as he gaped at me. "I think she got a better offer." I
> > Yeah, like her soul back.
>
> I take it you have the Dilbert desk calendar for this year, too,
> then? <grin>
Nope. Not a clue. Now I'm going to have to go looking to see what
you're referring to.
> > > "Not much of a comedian now, are you, boy?" Quincy asked in a
> > > low, gravelly tone. "No quip, no clever quote? No, I suppose
> > > not."
> > "Hey, you should hear my internal monologue..."
>
> "You're internally soliliquizing, aren't you?"
>
> Wait, no, Kachiko Tendo isn't here. <grin>
Just a bit of FFML synchronicity.
> > > He had all the aura of a rock.
> > Or a hard place.
>
> <rimshot>
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.
> > "I am Quincy, the great and terrible. Er, pay no attention to
> that man
> > behind the comlink..."
>
> Would you believe that in one of the earlier drafts of this scene
> I actually used a close variation on that line?
There are few things I'd put past you, Qui-- I mean, Bob.
> > > "Eeeww. That's just too creepy!" one of the boomers next to me
> > > declared.
> > Nene.
>
> Bingo.
>
> > Ew. Hope it didn't bring along junk. That floor is pretty messy.
>
> Nah, the song cleaned it all up.
I thought not. But it's still eew.
> > > "What for you say you boomer when you got little pink armor like
> > > Saber, Saber?" I said in my best Tasmanian Devil voice. Which
> > > was helped considerably by how raspy my voice still was at that
> > > point.
> > Recognized her just by speech patterns, huh?
>
> Why not? *You* just did. <grin>
Well, yeah, but I'm smarter than Doug. After all, I am <echo> C&C
MAAAANNNN!!!! </echo>
What? *What?*
> > Reference, please!
>
> "The Arbiter's Song" from the musical "Chess." This is listed
> in the credits for the story (the long part after "Fin" at the
> end).
Oh, sure, but that's in Part 2, and I haven't READ that yet.
> > > (Continued in Part 2)
> > Yiii... C&C power... fading. Must... keep... going.....
>
> Thanks for all this effort! Can't wait to see what you have
> to say for the rest.
Check your inbox. (:)
And, just for a silly bit of "fight-thread" style sillyness:
Q: What happens if Doug runs into someone with the GURPS Mundane Advantage?
A: I dunno, but I'd love to watch froma safe distance. Say, Alpha Centauri.
--
"Agent Mulder? My name is Neo. Can we talk?"