Dec 2012 Archive, part a

At least I started working on this frakking book!

It went downhill from then. But I won't give up on it, even though editing it will be work.

Or the first time in six years, since that's how long I've been trying--

Broke the finish line! By 62 words, and I'm looking at this thing going "Man, I've got another 20,000 at least before I'm satisfied with his arc."

But still. I really didn't think I'd finish this year, but the last-minute push was so worth it. My friend spent the last day pushing me to write, and I'm ridiculously happy. Every year, I wind up thinking "Well, this didn't work out, but next year!" So it's kinda cool to think it finally paid off.

Now - who's up for round two? :D

I meant to hit at least 40,000 this year, but my laptop charger cord died on day 14. I hate my life...

Yeah, that's that happens when laziness and RL combine.

But I did make it to the 30k goal I had set for myself after Hurricane Sandy came and knocked out my power for two weeks. Even that makes me feel good, that I wrote and average of 1,000 words a day.

Plus, even if I had gotten to 50k I wouldn't have been done with the story. From now on I'm just going to be working on it when I have ideas and not just to push out words. By the way I work I'll probably finish the first draft by March.

My keyboard broke, and even now I am using my onscreen keyboard.
If I were to use my keys right now, it would look like=this=because=my=entire=1eft=side=is=bretty=much=a=gQner

I only made it to 39k this year, which is still better than last year, but not enough to win. I don't really mind losing though, it's all just for fun for me.

I made it to 50,041 by their count, and 50,052 by GDocs'.

Mine was about magical girls! What happened in yours?

I've got about 12 k still... I blame health issues and my junior year of college. I'm still working on the story, though.

After losing several years in a row, I managed to squeak by with 41 words to spare.
Congrats to everyone else who made it!

And I won. Dragged myself over the finish line with a cold and too little sleep.
Right now I can't stand the sight of my script so I've started editing the story I did in August for Camp NaNo, now that I can finally stand the sight of that. :D

...in the forums.

I kind of goofed around during the month and missed the mark.

Actually, I initially brought up the topic of NaNaWriMo (October, it was), so I was in it a bit early.

The tensions between said new teacher and the three captains (and any other staff) are going to be very interesting, not to mention the escapades of the students. I am thinking particularly the TOS students, who, unlike the others, won't have the foreknowledge to keep back - and the tricks those students who do know might play on the TOS students (or even each other) in the name of beating the competition to their respective lust objects. Things like: "You know where (insert L.O. here)'s room is in the staff section, right? You see, it's just beyond those creepy green corridors..." *Whistles innocently, knowing somebody's in for at least a good scare.*

Anyway, all in all, I'm really looking forward to the next installment. Q vs the captains is hilarious, by the way. I wonder who will be teaching what, too. Good luck!

In a good way! Definitely in a good way. Lotsa Bang, lotsa Awesome, lotsa WHOA ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Spoilery thoughts:
(Or Wild Guessing, also known as Mad Predictions)
Qbrf nalbar ryfr unir gur farnxvat fhfcvpvba gung Znp vf Zreyva? V zrna... boivbhfyl ur'f abg abezny, naq ersreraprf xrrc orvat znqr gb uvf 'objvat bhg.' Ohg ur'f nyfb pyrneyl flzcngurgvp, zbfgyl, naq... lrnu, zl thrff vf gung ur'f Zreyva, univat qrpvqrq gb tvir hc uvf cbjre naq unat bhg xrrcvat na rlr ba gur zbegny jbeyq.

Also, I had a few points where author-inserted-rants knocked me a little way out of the text. One I was sympathetic to, though I don't remember which (I have to reread it), and one (the one about women vs. men on conversation-holding) that made me go :| and was... well, irritating. Usually I don't mind Dresden breaking the fourth wall, but that one just felt condescending.

Other than that, pretty much loved it.

How did I miss the release date? MUST READ.

Welp, I know where I'm going before class tomorrow...

I MUST HAVE IT.

I want it so so so much..... At least my friend has it. But he's already gone and lent it to two people, so it should be available by the end of the week.

I mean Hell's holy stars and freaking stones shit bells, I WANT IT. But sadly, there is no bookstore on or near campus.

YOU MUST TELL ME! IS IT AWESOME? IS IT? IS IT?!

I remember TooManySecrets' recruitment some months ago! It's very nice to see him again.

This is a very solid piece in my opinion. The action flows very well and the console / Luxury-related humour got some giggles out of me. The story length is perfect: neither too long or too short and gets its point across with no "stagnent" spots. I also like that tie-in with Huinesoron's Message. It's always nice to see other bits of HQ life being referenced in a spinoff.

I didn't get much of a feel for TooManySecrets' character, though. His role in this short story was pretty much limited to "beleaguered DoSAT techie has to work with Luxury breathing (a bit too close) down his neck", but then again, how else can any self-respecting agent behave around her?

Nitpick aside, excellent work. I look forward to seeing this DoSAT techie again.

I liked this piece. I hope to see more of TooManySecrets - I'm sure there's loads of fun that can be had with a hacker dumped into DoSAT. Hehe~ :P

Just kidding!

It's a short little piece, but I enjoyed Luxury's, um, antics. My only concern though, is that TooManySecrets seems a little bit flat. Like, there's a character there, but it isn't shown as much as I would like. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I would like to see more of him.

Now that NaNo is over, I've gone back to working on revising my Permission things for submission once again. This time, however, I've realized that I need more than one beta, so I'm putting out the offer. It will mostly be SPaG stuff, but every bit helps.

Both the bios and the piece are in Gdocs, so I would need email to end the link to.

I think you already have my mail, or means to contact me.

You will be missed, PC. I'm sorry this is the way you feel - I'm sorry it's come to this, and I'm sorry in general that you're leaving. I will miss you - and, most of all, I'm sorry for never making the attempt to be closer. It kills me that after all that time in the IRC, I still feel like I don't know you as well as... I should.

But I'll miss you.

So fare thee well, in the strictest sense of the word; kick ass out there, dude.

I'm sorry I didn't get to review your Five Stages interludes before now. I still intend to, the next time I've got a few hours without work or other stuff in the way.

I hope there's something good that will keep you growing on the horizon.

~Neshomeh

I'm so sorry. I am so so so sorry. You were the first PPC writer who's missions I read. I loved your stories.

If you need to go, then go. But, do you think you could maybe keep in touch with us? Just stop in every once in a while? Perhaps?

I'll miss you.

I'm really sorry that you're leaving, PC. Like other people, I massively enjoyed Xericka and Gremlin's missions, and (a bit like Sergio), I am a poor critic.
I'm sorry you couldn't connect with us newbies. I think this is partially my fault - I am (soon to be was) your little sib, and I can't help but feel a little guilty.
Well, goodbye, PC. It was certainly fun while it lasted.
-Salutes-
Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away ere break of day
Far over wood and mountain tall.

It's a real shame you're leaving (I enjoyed reading about your agent's exploits) and I wish I could have known so I could have helped make things better, but I guess that's just how life goes.

Good luck to you in whatever you plan to do next.

I'm sorry to see another "big name" leaving, not to mention that I really like Gremlin and Xericka's missions.

I have to admit - I never really left a sizeable amount of concrit when commenting your missions,interludes, or other writings.
The fact is, I really wasn't able to find anything to improve, or something that was better than the rest of the mission to comment on. I just liked all of it.

Maybe I'm just a poor critic.

Anyways, I hope that you will find another community of your liking on the Net, and obviously you're always welcome back anytime, even to only say hi.

*salutes* Farewell, sir.

I remember writing your Agents for the battle of IAHF; I believe Messrs Hugh and Allen are just as regretful as I to see you go.
I really wish we could've talked more; it's been an honour to have you onboard and I wish you all the best in future writing projects.

I'll miss you, PC. You are/were one of the best writers here, and I loved your stories- and I think you're a really great guy. Good luck, dude.

I'm sorry to see you leave. Your missions are among the most memorable for me, mostly because of all your colourful characters. I'm looking at you, Laura Dukes!

I wish you the best of luck in all of your future enterprises.

[Insert witty farewell poem here]

...Oh. Well, okay then. I'm gonna miss your stuff, though, I really liked Laura and Danny, and Gremlin and Xericka. I wish you luck with your writing, and with your success in other corners of the Internet.

Your spinoff was/is one of my favorites, and you're one of the PPCers I've enjoyed being around the most. I appreciate your compliment about being a beta, but I feel like I should/could have done more to make you feel part of the group. I'm sorry that you've felt ignored.

I'm going to miss your agents (heck, I already did, since they hadn't shown up very often of lately), as they all stand out as very unique among agents. I would say I'll miss you too, but of course you'll keep in touch? At least throw me something to beta again every once in a while?

And maybe I'll see you around the internet again, sometime and someplace else.

I was going to
use a line from that poem
but they are all kind

of negative, huh?
So I wrote you some badly
parsed haikus instead.

So, this is less PPC-focused and more we-should-write-goodfic! focused. My idea is this: A bunch of fanfic cowrites. Essentially, each Boarder who wants to partake puts their name on a list, along with their top three or four fandoms (probably not more than that) Then, they're randomly matched up with another Boarder, with no fandoms in common, and then they write a crossover fic between the two canons. Or, you could suggest a fandom to crossover with, so long as you don't know much about it other than it looks cool. It'd be a good way both to introduce people to new canons, and help Boarders have fun with people they don't normally write with.

For example, I'd like to see, say a Nanoha/Sherlock crossover. Maybe Sherlock starts poking at a Lost Logia that's been causing inexplicable (ie magical) murders around town, and Fate, the Enforcer who has to deal with the Logia, has to deal with it and him.

I'm very, very sorry to see PC go, and I hope he knows he'll be missed - very much so. (I'm not good at goodbyes. I tend to put them off until the very last. It's not... a lack of empathy.) But I'm agreeing with Neshomeh that a big attempt to Change Everything is not what we need, and with Data that... well, a big attempt to Change Everything is not what we need.

But the metaphor here that I'm looking for is similar to Phil Plait's (and others') commentary on the Race To The Moon. If our focus is one big push, it's a huge... well, push, that quickly peters out, trails off, and gets forgotten about. As said above/below-thread, this has happened multiple times - usually either in the wake of Drama or Exit, or sometimes Dramatic Exits. But adding mods isn't going to prevent people from leaving - or rather, it may prevent some people from leaving, while pushing others towards leaving. (Personally, I should note this is a sore spot for me; last time I tried to push for mod-reform, someone left as a result of that.) I don't want to see that happen again.

I'd also say that putting up with imperfections goes on forever. We're human - we are imperfect. All of our efforts will be flawed, even those with the greatest intentions. We cannot be a community of humans and provide everyone with exactly what they want/need in a community. It's just not possible. I think what we've achieved here, though, is pretty cool. I'm biased, obviously, and I do think we could (as always) stand to improve. But as Huinesoron and Neshomeh have said, the way to do that is to work towards being a better community ourselves - the PPC Community^TM is a useful abstraction, but it's made up of humans - of us, to be specific - and I think it helps to remember that.

I don't see what the big deal is, really. Not that I'm opposed to people doing things, but why make it this big important "oh we need to do something new to save the community" thing. As Nesh points out, we've done this a dozen times before. Things come of it, sometimes, but they don't last, which is okay, because it doesn't really matter. People are going to leave eventually anyway, and new people will join, people will stay in touch with the friends they've made and old people will come back, even if it's just for a while. It's how communities work. Why not just let stuff like crossovers and RP happen naturally, instead of having this big push for it?

If people want to see things done, instead of going "Hey, we should do something, maybe x?" and having an endless conversation, why not just /do/ it?
You wanna see more RP? Make one, then. Set it up on the other board, advertise it here, and have at it.
Want to see more crossovers? Best way to do that is to partner up with people and write really good crossovers so that other people will get interested.
Want to see more stuff that falls outside of the usual mission format? Write it and they will come!

I guess what I'm trying to say is chill, folks. It'll be alright. We don't need to make it a huge issue every time someone leaves.

Because there are so many ideas here, I'm putting together a list. If anyone see's anything I missed, please add it. If you support an idea that's on there, say so. And if you have an idea that isn't on there, please add it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p3nOxd5DW9oWpkzdKxqMxB9dSzBkbFB7w3OML3WjKOM/edit

(Also, if anyone has a better way to organize the list, pleeeaaaassseee use it! It's kind of a mess...)

What can you—the person reading this right now—what can you do to make the PPC a better place?

'Cause I'm here to tell you, we've done this song and dance after somebody leaves many times, and it rarely, if ever, pays off in the long term. The reason is that "we" usually ends up meaning "somebody else," or "I will if everyone else does." There's a period of discussion, like what's going on right now, and suggestions are made, and lots of people go "yeah, that's a great idea!", and maybe one or two even do something different one time. But then everything goes back to normal again, because no one wants to be in charge, and without leadership the incentive for doing things differently quickly fades away on an individual basis.

Now, PC is a guy who led by example about the things he values. He gave concrit; he strove to make his missions unique and fresh and interesting; you never saw him flip out at the latest badfic; etc.

So, how about you? What can YOU do?

Do you want to see more concrit around here? Make a commitment to give more. Do it. Keep doing it.

You want varied mission styles? Maybe you should try writing for a department that isn't Floaters or the DMS. There are scads of them, you know, most virtually untouched. Lots of room to play around with mission styles there—or, should you venture into the rarefied airs of PPC Infrastructure, your stories needn't even be missions at all.

Want more group interaction? RP, perhaps? We've got a second board, a chatroom, and a Dreamwidth comm for that. Go start something! There shouldn't need to be a frelling emergency for agents to get together and hang out. As for co-writes, they don't need to be ridiculously huge, either. Back in Ye Olden Dayes, writers used to team up to PPC, one agent apiece. Try it!

Want more moderation? Why not speak up yourself if you see something wrong?

Whatever you do, don't just nod along in this thread and then wait for someone else to step up. If you really care about making the PPC a better place, then take responsibility for it yourself first.

~Neshomeh, who has been on this merry-go-round before and doesn't want to go again.

People - new people - come here (or at least used to) because they enjoy Jay and Acacia's stories and want to write things like them. If we declare that all new missions should be written with the agents hanging upside down like bats - it won't happen, because, y'know, that's not what J&A did.

I do have something useful to say (bear with me!) - a suggestion/offer. Time Will Decide For Us and End of the Beginning: Seventy Plus are my brief forays into a wildly different PPC (it showed up in Ghost's Story as well) of about 60 years in the future. The Departments have changed, the mission formats have changed, everything has changed - but it's still the PPC.

So. If people want to start writing missions in that time-period - or, indeed, the period of the Department of Efficiency, or any of the periods involved in Origins-Lofty Skies-Reorg-Crashing Down (these), I'm willing to a) officially open them up, and b) write up a summary of what I have sketched out (as a basis for people to work from).

I'm not suggesting this would, should or could replace current missions - but it could be a way to vary the writing and reading experience. Tired of writing Assassins? Write yourself a Demas Paladin. Fed up of DoSAT? Go visit the Technomancers on their flying city! Etc etc.

Were this to happen, I would suggest starting with an RP-type emergency: something involving timeslips (presumably from the Seventy Plus era to the present), because toying with the fabric of reality is endlessly entertaining.

Oh, and there's still a message going round the system. I'm sure at least a couple of agents are robust enough to do something with it without breaking down in tears and killing themselves.

hS, suggesting ideas

I also remember that another reason for the ban on Emergencies is that they were happening too often, and someone pointed out that when the PPC HQ is invaded by hordes of Sues on a regular basis, the Emergencies stop being actual emergencies and become something more commonplace.

What might be fun is more HQ-wide RP sessions. I'm not saying churn out one once a week or anything, just every now and then it'd be nice if we could all pool together our agents and have them, I don't know, deal with a rabbit stampede or a sudden HQ-wide ponification or something. In fact, they don't even need to be RPs. The mass Halloween scary story co-write last year? That was fun! As was Huinesoron's fourth-wall-breaking co-write (has that been concluded yet? I may have missed some of it.)

PC mentioned cliques, and people not being able to relate to other people within a group as large as the PPC. This will not do. It'd be nice to have more chances to interact with fellow Boarders, and a nice and productive way that everyone, no matter what fandom, can participate is discussions and group projects that are PPC-related in general.

Firstly, we need more things to link each spinoff to another. Co-writes, RPs, references to another PPCer's work, agent cameos, you name it, we need more of them. Right now I feel that each department is self-contained and agents don't see much of their coworkers from other branches. I realize that this is hard to pull off in a mission where the badfic is centre stage but I think acknowledging other PPCers' work makes the entire universe that much more alive.

Secondly, write more concrit. I wholeheartedly agree with PC when he says that there isn't enough constructive criticism going around: just saying "I liked it!" doesn't help an author improve. What did you like in the mission? Why? What was your favourite part? Why? Were there any passages that felt forced, slow, or awkward? Point them out and explain.
I suggest that for every mission that we read, we should write a review.

Thirdly, let's talk Emergencies. On the up side, they have certainly changed the formula of day-to-day life for agents by placing them into extraordinary situations where nobody-- perhaps not even their author-- knows how it will end. They have always spurred change in the PPC-verse and kept things fresh by involving agents from every single service branch. The down side is just that: some changes are not wanted. Makes-Things' "death" is the prime example of this situation.

I have been reviewing the discussion following Huinesoron's release of his Swan's Egg stories and it is clear that the death of important characters-- especially those that are free-to-use-- is something to be avoided at all costs when writing about a crisis. The moratorium on Emergencies was established to prevent such a thing from happening again.

But what if we set up safeguards? Rules to prevent something that would cripple or radically change the structure and workings of the PPC? In theory, we could write Emergencies responsibly by establishing what we can and cannot do with the PPC. Naturally, we will have to establish a rule on the frequency of such events (like maybe a general vote on whether we could write about one).

If a consensus could be reached, I think this could inject some life into the community.

...but that's just my opinion. Thoughts?

I rather realised it with the latest one I wrote where my Agents seemed rather bored doing it. Perhaps we chose a fic that, despite its novelty in having the Sue go after a different target in their specialised canon, was a bit too boring otherwise.

I intend on using it as an excuse for Upstairs to fling them into the Circle of Lemmings head-on, but still, I can agree that it may be time to change something with the missions (I, being one of the only people writing missions in BBC Sherlock, would love to write a mission where Eledhwen and Christianne have to solve the mission like a murder mystery).

I'll toy with the murder mystery mission format, and see if that could shake things up a bit.

I agree about the missions; that there's even a 'starter formula' listed on the Wiki's Guide to Writing Missions page has always kind of bothered me. But I also think the formula issue is a double-edged sword: on one hand, formulas tend to stagnate after a few minutes, but on the other hand, formulas can serve to give newer PPCers a sort of cheat sheet until they find their own flow.

I'm thinking that more group missions might help break up the monotony a bit - I admit, I prefer writing solo missions (and feel relatively safe in assuming others do as well), but if we're meant to be a community of writers, and not just a group of hilariously insane badfic killers, it strikes me as odd that there aren't more group missions. I'm not saying we need another emergency (we don't), but it seems to me that it wouldn't hurt to have a few group mission challenges - or something similar - scattered at odd intervals throughout the year.

I also think that changing the way missions are written should first and foremost be the choice of each individual writer, and not an enforced community edict. To me, telling someone, "You have to write it following this sequence of events" is a bit like saying, "You can be creative, but you have to use the same basic framework as everyone else."

Yes, I realize the formula is more of a suggestion than an outright order, and I'm not trying to accuse anyone of 'stifling our creativity' or 'make us all their little writing slaves'; nor am I trying to stir up or create any conspiracy theories among the Board. I just really think that we need more than one formula and that, formulas or no, we should respect each writer's decision to follow the same tried and true formula or to try something new, as it suits them.

As for the mods, I honestly think we have plenty. There always seems to be at least one around at any given point in time, and appear to be doing a good job as is. Besides that, I worry that having more mods will cause done of us - without naming names - to think the Board is becoming more repressive, and that a rift may begin to appear among us as a result.

I might suggest, at least to start, that while the GDoc system that's been adopted is very applicable, it is difficult to get used to if you are coming in to it with no knowledge of the system.

For me, I recently got done with a big email-based beta of a badfic. It was one huge brainstorming period between at least ten boarders, including myself, and we all bounced ideas off of each other that were built on, debated, discarded, applied, or tossed around. With each new factoid about the fic, dozens of new ideas sprung up for us to toy with. It was all kinds of fun.

I'm not saying "Ragh Ditch GDoc", because I got burnt while trying to handle it on my phone. That's unfair of me to do. But, I would like to suggest that maybe more of these email brainstorms could be applied to fics before big group-writes on GDocs. I'm just thinking it might do wonders towards improving the already good quality of stories, and it would give boarders a good idea of how other boarders think, and thus give a good impression as to the styles of their cohorts for any future group writes where those particular people might want to join in.

It would also help to encourage friendly discussion and debate between intelligent minds, as well as make friendships where there might have been assumed shyness, especially for newbies. In fact, for newbies, it would be a good experience with improving their styles, and getting a wide mass opinion as to how many ways you can write a good story and keep the audience interested.

Hey, it's just a thought, but it's one I've been considering for a while.

You seem to have gotten some advice already, but here's what I'd recommend:

- Use your fandom for inspiration. Most of the plots from OFUM were related to fanfic trends and stuff like that.
- Keep it funny or you run the risk of getting too much on a soap box.
- While OFUM is quite episodic in form, some long-term plots and arcs help make it feel more coherent. Don't be afraid to refer to past events and have some character development (especially for the main character).
- Don't try to cop OFUM too much. Seriously, I think the more successful OFUs are the ones who adapted the idea the most to their fandom. I tailored OFUM for LotR - don't just take elements of it and put it in your OFU. Adapt it as much as possible.

And good luck! (I play WoW, so extra luck in fact.)

I've never played WoW (the home Internet connection isn't even up to playing Zombie Lane), but I can help with any questions about college. My e-mail is LLWatts@juno.com.

I wish I could help out with this sort of thing, but I lack the time and the energy to devote to this.

I can offer advice or ideas if you need some. I am well versed in Warcraft Lore and I have five Warcraft characters that could lend a hand if you need them.

Also, I don't know if this is going to happen, but I saw mention of Hellscream and Wrynn inciting a war between the faction students. I figure, you could go further with that and just make those two the heads of their respective houses. What could possibly go wrong?

Also, someone needs to teach some basic geography and history. You would not believe how often I see fics that happen in areas that don't exist (a subcontinent Northwest of Quel'thalas? You mean the ocean!?) or in time periods that don't make sense.

-Phobos

I'm not totally up to date on Warcraft lore, but I know the basics. My email is at alixnyden@yahoo.com.

And I felt the same way when I started, and I didn't have the PPC community. So I had to do the research on my own (finding the PPC in the process). Still doing the research, in fact.
Some things I've figured out that might help:
-Read OFUs. I looked up every OFU I could find in fandoms I recognized. I've read both OFUM and HFA multiple times, and there were already some (abandoned) attempts at a Star Trek OFU so I read those too. Take inspiration from them.
-Read misscam's rules for writing OFUs. They're on her website.
-Come up with an overarching storyline. OFUM's is the Lina/Gimli relationship, HFA's was the Canonquake and the subsequent Sue invasion, etc. Come up with something relating to your fandom/fanbase. My overarching storyline has to do with the fact that fanfiction started in Star Trek.
-This cannot be stressed enough: keep it funny.
-Don't get hung up on details. I've never attended a university either; so I just modeled some of the scheduling on high school. Focusing on details makes it not funny.
-The crazier, the better. OOCness is acceptable to a certain extent. Look at Sauron in OFUM.

All I can think of right now, but if you need any help with OFU stuff (I don't know the fandom), I'll do whatever I can to help.

You can feel free to toss me an email (/points above) for any OFU-related questions.

Personally I like writing in actual lectures that correspond to problems I see in the fandom - like for example, the Sherlock fandom had a mild controversy over not tagging artwork for dub-con and stuff, and people started flaming each other, so I wrote a lecture where Irene Adler berated people for not tagging their porn. Just keep it relevant, informative, and overall FUNNY.

(I'm one to talk with the current arc of IAHF, really.)

Oh, Jet. You so sill-

Waitaminutedenimheadband?

OH GOOD GOD, IT'S HER! I read that mission, Sergio was I've seriously unlucky man.

Outside of that bit of nostalgia, I found this to be quite humorous to read. And despite its age, or what I with my limited knowledge can assume to be age, it's really well written.

Now, I might not have read it correctly initially, but you say that you haven't written in a while?

Or something similar. I think if the original has been deleted and is nowhere else to be found on the wide wide Web, the general feeling is that it no longer exists and should not be brought back even in a sporking. I would say spork the new version, just to be safe.

Is be the first to tell you that I've had a potential fic fall out from under me before I can direct people's attention to it.

My opinion: I say go for the new one. If it's a mix of both, you should have very little problems giving it a run-through.

Kali looked thoughtful. "It would be interesting," she admitted, "especially if we didn't stay too long. I don't want to leave Orion alone for long; he's watching Aeric at the moment."

"Why do I even bother with this half the time?" Indim Paladin Emara muttered to herself as she made her way down the dim grey corridor. "This portal here isn't working, that one dropped me off two years early, the one over there was off by an eighth of a centimeter. It's not a perfect science."

She could see the wavering blue light of the portal as she turned around a corner of the dusty maze. How was this one unusual like the report had claimed? It was the right color, the right size, not collapsing in on itself like many of the old ones were wont to do. And where was the person who filed the report? It was common courtesy to wait for the repair-person to arrive so that you could list your complaints. Granted, the Indim School wasn't very well liked among the four schools, but that didn't excuse people from things like manners.

She huffed to herself as she neared the portal. There wasn't anything wrong. The generator seemed to be in good working order, as far as staring at it could tell. It almost seemed too good; according to her map of portal sites, this was one of the oldest ones, leading to an area right outside Rivendell. She had been expecting pieces held together with tape and parts replaced with shoelaces, not a little machine chugging along without a care in the world.

She shrugged her suspicion aside and ran a hand through her close-cropped blond hair. It didn't seem like there were any problems that she would have to break out her toolkit for, but often times that could only be judged by going through. She reached her arm out to touch the shimmering blue surface of the portal- only to be intercepted by the figure that had just stepped through.

((Jumping in on this a bit late, but there's still room on this side of the mysterious circumstance. What would happen if a modern agent stepped forward?))

Des made his 'mouth as a diagonal line' expression. He massaged his brows. "Whoa, you dosats - I assume this is a corruption of DoSAT, Department of Sufficiently Advanced Technology - certainly inherited Makes Things' temper. As to the disguise business... well-" he cut himself short, and turned to Riaa. "I see you'll still be around when I'll be dead and buried, ka? Is Anebrin still alive?"
(OOC: Yes, he is. Still around.)

Agent Natasha walked down one of the many halls of HQ. She held a gaming device in her hands and was thoroughly engrossed in her game. In fact she was so oblivious to anything going on outside of her game that she hadn’t even noticed her shoelace coming untied. And the laws of comedy being what they are, the result of this was obvious.<br>    “Ooof!” Natasha hit the floor, and let go of the device. Her brand new trading cards that she was taking back to her RC spilled out of her blue sweater pocket as her device skid across the floor and right into the path of three agents.

I just got to reading the bit about the Harpers. I need to write one of them now. And resist the urge to involve Jenni, because that's just too easy.

I am wondering how long Andalites live, though. Conclusive information doesn't seem to be readily available.

~Neshomeh, plotting.

Looks like great fun!

Like hS, I also need sleep, so will have to return tomorrow!

Because I'd love to join in; I just want to know where to go.

Taldaris heaved a sigh of relief as the elleth struck down the pillow. Yet another daily reminder that not having access to his psychic powers was a major hinderance to his life.

"It appears that I am in your debt," he said, looking somewhat flustered. He was going to have words with Fire Flash when the pillow fight was over.

He stood there awkwardly for a couple of seconds before extending his hand to the Assassin. "Forgive my manners. I am Patrol Officer Taldaris. And you?"

Pubs. Interesting places, full of people, noise, and booze. In other words: places that made Agent Desdendelle sigh, cover his ears, and head toward the nearest exit. Usually. But this day (inasmuch it was a day; the axe-wielding Agent found it hard to tell, in HQ) was special. After all, meeting a bit one had rescued from a terrible badfic, when said bit was supposed to join one on one's next mission, wasn't something that happened every day, was it now?
So Des was sitting in the corner of Rudi's Pub, sipping Japanese plum liqueur from a small porcelain cup and watching the person who sat across the table.
That person was tall, dark-haired, and bulky. He wore simple, utilitarian clothes, and looked like you could lose him in a crowd in no time – in short, he looked Generic. What set him apart from the rest of the pub's occupants – as well as from the majority of the Agents in HQ – was the long, black, glaive-like Device that stood leaning on the wall within his reach.
“So, Captain,” Des said, “I understand you specialise in portal magic.”
“Yes, sir,” the bit answered. “I do not have many memories of actually using my skills for combat, but my instructors told me that I have great potential.”
“Navare, please,” the boy across the table from the Nanoha-verse mage said exasperatedly, “stop calling me sir. It's embarrassing.”
Then someone threw a pillow in their general direction. Acting on instinct, Des slashed the pillow in half with his axe, then immediately started to sneeze.
“Bless you,” said Navare and turned. Right in time to get a pillow straight to the face. The mage rocked back for a moment, picked it up, and launched it back toward the person who threw it, putting a little too much force behind the throw.

The school year has just started, so I can't really throw something like a crossover at the students just yet.
However, I would love to do a crossover lecture eventually...maybe you could just drop a reference like "OFAS was going to show up, but time moves differently in the Trekverse, so we'll do that another time *evil grin*". Maybe it would be better to do it closer to the time Star Trek Into Darkness comes out, which is in May.
Though, it has already begun.
(Oh c'mon, badficcer, we all know it's Treklock. Because Trek is the adjective for Star Trek, as "Lock" is for Sherlock. "StarLock" just sounds like you made Sherlock into a Sue that came from the stars. Also, capitalization.)

Because I have something lined up which would really benefit from a chapter in OFUM - but, as you say, Miss Cam has gone.

As I see it, you have three options:

1/ Assume the PPC is competent to answer this question, and accept the community's consensus.
2/ Email Miss Cam and ask if you can borrow her specific OFU, rather than just using the concept. (If you do this, try and phrase it in such a way that you find out if she'll allow anyone to borrow it, or just people who ask)
3/ Since she never says we're limited to 1 OFU per fandom now, just have Bilbo and Smaug from some unidentified LotR OFU come over. I don't recall them really being in OFUM anyway.

Oh, or 4/ Find someone willing to write a Hobbit OFU (Official Fanfiction University of Wilderland?).

I think the first two are probably the best - and if I were to offer my opinion on whether you can borrow-with-attribution Miss Cam's OFU, I'd say yes.

hS