Dec 2018 Archive, part c

Have a suit of hermetically-sealed carapace armor. It's heavy, but it keeps you safe.

Happy emergence day

Have a music box. It's magical. If you put it on top of a canon source, it'll play music from that canon source.

-Twistey

Have a triple chocolate (as in chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate icing) cupcake!

Adding to the shower of odd gifts you're probably getting, here's a self-updating hard copy of the List of Things I Am Not Allowed to Do in the PPC. Welcome aBoard! (>'-')>

Yeah, is a bit weird when you first post on here, but you've jumped in. So here's a floaty.

Hope you have a great time onBoard! Have a shovel.

Have some popcorn to eat while you read the Original Series!

Have a hot chocolate!

Have a slightly used suit of Imperial Guard flak armor, guaranteed for life. (Average lifespan of a deployed Imperial Guardsman: 15 hours.)

OCEAN MAN!

TAKE ME BY THE HAND LEAD ME TO THE LAND!

*quiets down* Ahem. Ahem hem.

Hi, I'm Twistey. Have a Super Crown that I'm trying to keep from getting into the hands of my boyfriend (Willis64). Welcome aBoard.

-Twistey

Here, have some chocolate and enjoy your stay!

And don't worry, we don't bite... much.

Well, if you already have all this chocolate, let me give you a pot of black-hole coffee. Hope you'll enjoy your stay here for a long time.

/have some chocolate bark!

What are your favorite fandoms, fics and so forth? And missions, of course? ;)

And that greeting really does apply here, given your username. XD Oh, may I ask what fandoms you're a part of?

In the meantime, have one of my own shed feathers and a complimentary kit of Spikes!

I'm going to try something new with your Welcome Gift, and send my customary Swiss bleepolate in the hands of an adorably sleepy polar bear cub! It's good for hugs and may stick around if you want it to.

Also a standard: have you read the PPC Constitution yet? It's important and thus the first thing we send everyone to read upon arrival :) I believe there's a link at the top of the page!

And I'm going to let someone else take it from here, because I'm at least as sleepy as that polar bear cub... :)

~Z

You can have an ocean-themed gift to go with your name: a seashell with magic powers!

Hot chocolate for all!

With that in mind... Packets of metallic feather down for everyone! Just add a magnet or two and watch the fun begin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6WkIEv_NG8

Peace on Earth, folks, and good will to all! <3

Everyone gets a bolt shell casing engraved with a Chapter marking of their choice!

Grabs the recaf from the shipping crate.

Chocolate chip cookies for everyone!

There doesn’t appear to be much snow... well, I can fix that!

*uses snow powers to cover the entire Board in snow*

I brought a truckload of chocolate frogs, eat them quick before they hop away!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Esgm15Pd-4
https://genius.com/Mannheim-steamroller-above-the-northern-lights-lyrics

"Above the Northern Lights" by Mannheim Steamroller (the band famous for making Christmas covers with a bunch of synths).

It's completely original by them, but you probably won't have heard it unless you have Sirius XM and you tune to the Mannheim Steamroller channel that got set up for the holidays. I admit, that's how I first heard it.

I don't know why, but this song just gives me the chills. It just has beautiful imagery in the lyrics and the melody is so peaceful. I'm not sure how to make a filk of this, but I bet somebody could. In the meantime, enjoy the song.

-Twistey

P.S. To 61516, I'm not familiar with the fandom you're referencing. What's in the crate?

It kind of went a little off-topic. I thought I'd give Tiger just one triumph, seeing as it is Christmas.

The drawing room was filled with people, all smiling and drinking except Tiger, who was crouched in a corner. He didn’t much feel like celebrating. He never did.

The door swung open and a fat, red-faced man in a white apron entered, holding a covered dish, entered.

“Excuse me,” he said loudly, and everyone turned to look at him. “There’s… err… been a bit of a problem with the turkey.” He whipped the cover aside to reveal a charred black turkey.

Tiger expected his father to immediately take charge and start asking questions, but nothing happened. Instead, everyone started talking at once.

“When did this happen?”

“How did that turkey get burnt?”

“Who did it?”

Tiger said nothing. He was thinking. It seemed very weird. It was too half-hearted, too small. No-one here would want to do something like that. Unless…

“It’s a distraction!” he said triumphantly, but no-one heard him. The room was rapidly dissolving into chaos. Fingers were being pointed, people were being blamed, everyone was trying to test the turkey with different kinds of magic…

Where had all this come from? Where was the ordered, measured, thoughtful reaction that usually met any problem, however small?

Then Tiger realised.

His father wasn’t there.

He quickly cast an amplification charm on himself and then yelled “SHUT UP!”

Everyone turned to stare at him. That had come out a lot louder than he had intended. He took a deep breath and then said calmly, “My father isn’t here.”

Instantly the chaos returned, except even more chaotic than before. No-one knew what to do any more. There was no clear leader to organise and plan things.

From out of the mass of voices, one emerged loudly: Holly’s.

“Tiger!” she was saying. “What have you done?” She marched up to him, deliberately invading his personal space.

Tiger shot her a look but didn’t step backwards. “Nothing,” he said, trying to keep his voice level.

“You liar! You’re the one responsible for this! You’re the only one who has a motive – “

“Holly,” said Tiger, “Are you even more of an idiot than I already knew you were? Everyone here has a motive, what we need to consider is opportunity. Who could have done this?”

“You!” Holly screamed. “You did it, you liar!”

“Do you have any actual proof?” he asked, mind whirling. People here distrusted him, and quite a lot wanted him gone. If he couldn’t do something fast, he might be in danger. He needed to figure out who had really done it.

“I heard you muttering to yourself! I saw the notebook with the plan in it!”

“Blatant lies,” said Tiger. Who could have made Francis Moon vanish? Surely no-one could. It was completely and utterly impossible. Tiger couldn’t even imagine how to go about it without being caught within seconds.

“I didn’t do it, Holly,” he said, struggling not to panic and keeping his voice carefully level. “I’m fifteen. There is no possible way I could have done this.”

“Then who did?” challenged Holly boldly. Everyone had now turned to look at the siblings. Tiger knew he was trapped. He had seconds to come up with the answer.

In a flash, it hit him. It was obvious.

“He did,” said Tiger.

The door swung open. “Well done, Tiger,” said Francis Moon. “Yes, I did it. The turkey was my doing as well – I thought it would make a good distraction.”

Tiger fought to keep the smug look off his face. “Why did you do it?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.

“Can’t you work it out?”

“It was some kind of test…” Tiger said quickly. His father was always testing everyone around him.

He hesitated. “You wanted to see… how we coped without you… Am I right?”

“Absolutely!” said Francis, smiling. “And I’m afraid you rather failed this particular test. Now, shall we all proceed to the dining room? The real turkey is cooked to perfection.”

"NO, YOU CANNOT USE A FLAMETHROWER TO LIGHT THE CANDLES BEFORE DINNER!" -presumably spoken to a DOGA agent.

The Extra EXP event is for everyone, or at least it has been the last 2 Christmas'. I have 3 50+ Republic Characters, 1 70+ Republic Character, 3 50+ Empire Characters, 1 70+ Empire Character and 2 (or 3) lower level characters. (Yes I have got Legendary status).

I'll list all of the names etc. once I remember them all, but they're all on Darth Malgus (IIRC, it's the English speaking European Server)

Personally I'm interested more in joint questing/playing through a storyline as part of a group with friends rather than a RPing Guild, but I'd join the latter to do the former.

As Mikey Neumann recently put it, "if you repeatedly tear stories down to their bones, all stories look like nothing but bones". To me, it doesn't necessarily matter that genre or stylistic tropes are present in a given work. Far more important is what the author or actor or director or whatever is doing with them. Otherwise, you're not engaging with the work. You're just going THIS HAPPENED SOMEWHERE ELSE DING.

(Warning: Both of these games are quite edgy. The latter is even NSFW. Tread carefully.)

Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion is about horror tropes. I mean, just look at its monsters. You have murderous science experiments, a Japanese ghost girl, a demon summoned by a cult, another demon living in a fast food restaurant, and many others. And then there's the DLC where you're in a mental hospital. Much trope.

Yandere Simulator is about high school anime tropes, and even stars one, the infamous yandere archetype. Among the other characters are the other dere types, the Japanese equivalent to a mom friend, the genki girl, a bunch of busty women who are in one way or another linked to sex, and of course, your senpai, who everyone else really wants. Better sharpen those knives.

-Twistey

Here's TV tropes list of media with the most tropes per page. Enjoy:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropeOverdosed

I listened to Mr. Pinstripe Suit and it really put me in mind of the Fleischer-styled games that came out recently - Cuphead, Bendy and the Ink Machine, stuff like that. It also made me realise just how much I'd love to do a full-on high-magic D&D campaign themed around Nawlins in the Roaring Twenties. =]

Anyway, here are some options for you guys. Matt said seven was fine, so seven's what you get:-

1) "Wisteria", Richard Shindell (Somewhere Near Paterson, 2000)

2) "Underneath the Stars", Kate Rusby (Underneath The Stars, 2003)

3) "The Mary-Ellen Carter", Stan Rogers (Between The Breaks... Live!, 1979)

4) "Acadian Driftwood", The Band (Northern Lights - Southern Cross, 1975)

5) "Recruiting Sergeant", Great Big Sea (Play, 1997)

6) "Old Maui", The Dreadnoughts (Uncle Touchy Goes To College, 2011)

7) "Bully In The Alley", trad. arr. var. (Deal Maritime Festival, 2013)

I listened to "She's a Lady". I haven't read far enough into Harry Potter to see Harry get together with Ginny, but I know they do, and I have a feeling that that'd be Harry singing about Ginny, maybe after they've been married, ignoring a certain cursed book and its cursed plot.

I have a lot of songs to offer, none of them with lyrics, because these are the songs I like to work with. How about we look through them?

1. (Obviously) "Hocus Pocus" by Focus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0F_XiR48Q

2. "Synthesized Angel" by Sakuzyo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maXsM_NFTFo

3. "Mr. Chow" by Acoustic Alchemy (starts off sounding kinda stereotyped, but please stick around): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2hOKkNGd4w

4. "Daunter" by Syrsa (don't click if you're in the TF2 fandom, because it's famous there): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8iE5mM-33s

5. "Vindicate Me" by Big Giant Circles (used in the Just Shapes and Beats soundtrack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF5IETKtvGg

6. "Orion" by Ryan Henwood (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime OST): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTyRvSBFfac

7. "Deep Sea Bass" by Danny Baranowsky (also from the Crypt of the NecroDancer OST): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rJFgTNiRuQ

8. "Symphonica" by Wayne Lytle (if you like this, please check out his other creation, the Animusic animations): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qym5ABtDApk

9. (Also obviously) "Try This" by Pegboard Nerds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggqI-HH8yXc

10. And for a nice mega-challenge, I challenge someone to listen to the entire Lichtspeer soundtrack and come up with a plot based on the music. https://lichthund.bandcamp.com/releases

Now that my huge music dump is done, I'd love to see some replies!

-Twistey

SPaG pretty good, but every so often a sentence that makes me wince... I might dig out some of that Warriors monstrosity I wrote a couple of years ago.

Talking of which, you’re a fellow Warriors fan! How much of it have you read? It seems we have more in common than insanity and a liking for elemental wars...

A garish green vending machine and his hoodie wearing friend walk in. The vending machine looked festive, wearing a gold top hat style party hat and Mardi Gras party beads while twirling one of those noise makers. "Oh yeah, time to make 2019 twenty fine-teen!"

His less than festive companion gave him a deadpan. "3 seconds in and I already need drink. Thank you Spensor."

The pair go off to find drinks at the food table.

She was alone; after the disaster that had been Halloween Edward had point-blank refused to come. That suited her, as she was able to socialise without her embarrassing brother tagging along and annoying everyone.

Kat wore a simple pale blue dress made of light material and fairly unremarkable black shoes - not high heels, they were far too uncomfortable for her.

Glancing around, she saw that there weren't many people (or other sentient beings) there yet. She wandered over to one of the tables and picked up an orange paper hat, which she placed carefully on her head. It was a little big but would probably stay balanced if she didn't move around too much. She considered a plain white mask but decided against it. Kat preferred to be recognised.

She wandered over to the food and drink table, making up her mind that she'd have a few snacks and maybe a drink and wait to see if anyone wanted to talk to her.

Last 5 or so hours gone. But you really should've known better than to tell her. Let her maim you a bit.

Agents allergic to asprin take Suebuprofen instead, and it's never been said exactly how that works, so she may be in the clear to take it as a substitute without suspension of disbelief getting in the way. She could also go for an Obliviate charm to forget you telling her, or some other memory-fuzzing technique from other canons (There's a trope page for Brain Bleach, if you don't mind far too many options and being distracted from your original purpose for hours on end).

Some folks are still playing, but I'm out because my headphones are making my ears hurt, so here are links to the histories of the first four games. NSFW and NSFB, investigate at your own risk. ^^

<a href="https://pretendyoure.xyz/zy/metrics/game/pyx-315415370144338915451">Game 1

<a href="https://pretendyoure.xyz/zy/metrics/game/pyx-315415370144338897822">Game 2

<a href="https://pretendyoure.xyz/zy/metrics/game/pyx-315415370144338939511">Game 3

<a href="https://pretendyoure.xyz/zy/metrics/game/pyx-31541537014433_8956713">Game 4

~Neshomeh

I think you did a good job in this mission of laying out the tension between Lilac and the more veteran agents. The question of Lilac’s identity is constantly on all their minds, but rather than having the characters talk about it bluntly, you let it simmer in the background. It bubbles out into the dialogue occasionally, but mostly, you communicate it through speech tone and facial expression. That said, I’m not totally on-board with the conclusion to the conflict. Right in the opening scene, you establish that while Lilac believes herself to be a Violet Parr, she already recognizes that doesn’t necessarily make her the same as the one in the movie:

"'I know it sounds weird, coming from someone who diverged from Vi a long time ago, but I at least have the decency to take her character seriously,' said the newbie."

[Sarah] still couldn’t believe that the new girl had yet to accept that she was not, in fact, an alternate-universe Violet in all but name.

This at least shows that, even if Lilac is choosing to believe herself the canon Violet, she also recognizes that alternate universe versions of a character can exist, and she even refers to Violet as a separate character. So at the end of the story, I don’t understand Lilac’s surprise when the Violet in the fic turns out to be the real one. It seems to me she was already aware of the possibility of other Violets being real, so potentially, this wouldn’t even change her beliefs. Is there some aspect to her character or history I’m not understanding?

I liked that you had your agents discuss the fact that Team Fortress isn’t a very rigid canon, and that they weren’t judging the badfic on that angle. I like to communicate in the mission when things aren’t charge-worthy, or are only ambiguously so, so it’s good to see other PPCers do the same! I also loved the gag behind the disguises. Very clever!

Some typos:

"'Team Fortress 2,' Sarah explained. 'It’s like, this darkly comedic team-based first-person shooter. That’s where the Spy is from, and I think he’s a lot older than, say, Tony Rydinger, for example…'
'I’m not so concerned about that.' Sarah punched her palm. 'Isn’t Vi only fourteen?!'"
Sarah is talking to herself.

"'Besides, I’ve been wondering…'
'Of what, exactly?' asked Falchion, earning him a slightly annoyed look from his adopted sister."
I’m not familiar with "wonder of" being used as a verb phrase. I think you can drop the "of" here and retain the same meaning. It sounds a bit awkward to me this way.

"The agents stepped out of the portal and back into the base, abandoning a plate of cold bacon that had been sitting there in the kitchen. Said bacon was gone in a matter of minutes, courtesy of Falchion."
For me, abandoning food means not eating it. Unless you meant they’re abandoning an empty plate that formerly contained bacon? But "a plate of cold bacon" reads to me as a plate still containing bacon, so I’m a little confused about the meaning here.

"The agents hid in the very darkest corner of the room as her gaze fell upon them the men before her, and then focused on Violet herself."
Extra word.

"There was this one time, for example, when she and the canon Stratogale had laid eyes, and the poor agent had gone into a minor existential meltdown, not that she’d let her companions know it."
I know this phrase as "laid eyes on each other." I’ve never seen "laid eyes" used in that shortened form before. If that’s longer than you wanted in that sentence, you could also potentially use "met eyes."

"'Maybe it’s ‘cuz she’s too young for the job?' asked Sarah.
The agents were silent for a few moments.
'Or maybe,' she mumbled, 'that is NOT the real me.'"
I’m pretty sure that "she" is supposed to be Lilac, but as these sentences stand, it sounds like it’s Sarah speaking more.

"'. . . by order of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, you are hereby charged with being a character replacement on account of willingly agreeing to being conscripted to the BLU team, knowing full-well that they can’t care less about the lives of others, and are willing to take them if it means getting paid.'"
That "them" is out of place in this sentence; there wasn’t really a plural noun before it for "them" to serve as a pronoun for. Were you maybe wanting to say "take those terms" or some-such?

—doctorlit in a busy week

Aka I didn't catch any odd SPaG mistakes, everyone's voices were distinct, and I felt that Lilac's dramatic arc was executed with proper taste. ^^

The best bits were the recurring arrows - or rather, the scene dividers and then the decisive arrow! - and the hugging-the-shield scene at the end.

Here's to the new year, and new missions!

I'm still wondering just what on earth Ri2 is doing, mind, but that's neither here nor there.