31 May 2013

Subject 13 Issue 22 - Back to School

[As always, discretion advised.  Nasty swears.]

"You're all registered now," Anne said.  "Miss Jordan will show you to your first class, and I'll pick you up at four.   Okay, Jess?"

"Um, sure," Nasty said.  She adjusted her backpack.

"And if you need me during the day, call me on my cell phone."

"I will."

"Take care, Jess."  Anne kissed Nasty lightly on the cheek.

30 May 2013

Subject 13 #21 - Commentary


As always, please read the issue before continuing.

Nasty gets right to work on the Pyro Twins.  Yes, the Eagle does have staff to do this sort of work.  However, a sidekick's work is never done and Nasty wants to make a good impression.  Her other option is to hit the road, and she feels she owes Anne and the Foundation for the clothes and food.  Dinner sort of slid by her.  It's not that Nasty expects her mother or anyone else to prepare meals; instead, Nasty got caught up in the research and lost track of time.

Most of the board of directors for the American Eagle Foundation appear, with only Edward, who has already made an appearance missing.  The board is one part stymied, one part using a Socratic method to see if Nasty either has or can inspire an idea of where to look.  Sometimes, having someone new in to look at a problem can help find a solution.  Other times, it's a sign to throw in the towel and walk away for a bit.  Nasty is also still adjusting to her lost month.  She does have a few good ideas; the flirty-ness that the Pyro Twins displayed in their video really didn't endear themselves to Nasty.

The issue ends up with Nasty being taken to a new school, the Sarah J. Fieldson Academy for Girls.  Note that this school, and any other school I have mentioned, including Seward, do not exist.  This allows me to create a campus as needed, create a class schedule as needed, and avoids awkward questions like, "Why do you know so much about these schools?" with ease.  (Answer: Because they came from my imagination.)  There will be times when I name a school after a well-known American historical figure and accidentally get a real school.  How many George Washington Public Schools and George Washington High Schools are there?  Lots.  It's like using Main and Washington as a placeholder for streets in an American city; chances are the two exist and may even intersect.  In the case of Fieldson, I had named it after a woman in Rochester's history, though the details are now lost.  Seward, or the William H. Seward Academy, was named after William H. Seward, a former US Secretary of State from New York State who was responsible for the Alaska Purchase.

One element that creating my own schools lets me do is set the school uniform for the private academies Nasty goes to.  Seward allows girls to wear pants instead of skirts.  Fieldson does not, which does not endear the school to Nasty.  As has been pointed out, both in commentary and by Nasty herself, she does not consider herself attractive and she is uncomfortable with anything that might draw attention to her looks.  Anne tried to reassure her.

Friday, in Issue 22, Nasty starts her undercover work.
Saturday, the wrap up of the Adapting Games series over at Fan To Pro
Coming, NaNo Prep 2013, more Traveller, and a game review.

27 May 2013

NaNo Prep 2013 - More on the Threefold


Going back a bit, I introduced the Threefold, three young mages who get recruited to form a cell in a vast-ish network.  Holly Miles, Astrid Young, and Miriam Goldman must work through learning their abilities and their roles while fending off a rival magical group, headed by the rival of the Threefold's mentor, Teri Pulham.  Teri, meanwhile, has to figure out her young charges and keep them alive without interfering with their personal journeys.  The roles each cell in the network* is split into three: the Warrior, the Wizard, and the Priest; or Body, Mind, and Soul.

[This gets long and somewhat picture heavy.  More after the cut.]

24 May 2013

Subject 13 #21 - Plans and Plans


[Reminder: Nasty tends to swear.  Discretion advised.]

Nasty pushed away from the desk, rolling her chair across the room.  She rubbed her eyes.  I can't believe this.  I've only checked back a year.  How long have I been here?  Nasty checked the time on the wall.  Damn.  I missed supper.  I better go see if there's anything left.

23 May 2013

Subject 13 #20 - Commentary


As always, please read the issue before continuing.

Peregrine gets a quick introduction into maintaining a secret ID.  A common trope in superhero stories, to protect loved ones and be able to have down time, a hero uses cape, costume, and mask to hide what they look like.  Christopher Reeve managed to make Superman and Clark Kent look different beyond the glasses.  Nasty isn't that good an actress.  Issue 19 and its commentary covered her costume.  The other part is having those in the know still address the person and the superhero separately.  In contrast, Nasty has no idea who the American Eagle really is.

The previous issues (#16-19) marked the transition of the series' focus, from living in New York as a student to escaping and becoming an independant young woman in Rochester and Eagle's sidekick.  Issue 20 is setting up the next few issues as a new arc.  Cinder and Ember are twin pyromaniacal altereds who finish each other's sentences.  They contrast Nasty's more sullen personality; the Pyro Twins are perky and happy while Nasty tends to be angry and sullen.  From the writing perspective, Cinder and Ember exist to show off Nasty's approach to crimefighting and Nasty's personality.

Issue 20 was another issue written back in 2001 or 2002.  The heads-up display Nasty has did exist, though wasn't available for civilian use.  Today, the Foundation would have an agreement with Google to field test new tech like self-driving cars and personal HUDs.  Peregrine's helmet has a number of widgets, like a hands-free two-way radio (and would also have a smart phone built in today), HUD, GPS, and a video recorder, on top of the protection it provides to Peregrine.

Friday, Issue 21, Nasty starts her investigation.
Saturday, again, still hoping that part five of my four-part series about adapting games gets done.
Coming, rebooting science fiction, more NaNo 2013 prep work, and more!

22 May 2013

Subject 13 #19 - Commentary


As always, please read the issue before continuing.

Catching up...

Something I don't remember reading in the comic, and this doesn't mean it hasn't happened, just that I haven't seen it, is the formal introduction of a sidekick by a public hero.  The American Eagle isn't a dark and brooding hero who skulks by night.  "Stop, evil-doer!" just doesn't lend itself to someone striking fear into the criminal populace.  Instead, the American Eagle has a foundation, complete with a public relations department.  Getting a new Peregrine counts as major news, at least for Rochester.  Thus, the press conference.  Eagle has a team of people supporting him, making it easier to liase with local authorities.

Backstage, Nasty gets to deal with the hassle of a costume.  A gaudy costume; costumes are to superheroes and supervillains what uniforms are to police, security, and the military - recognition.  Even if the viewer doesn't recognize the costume, he or she recognizes the significance of wearing the costume.  Naturally, with superheroes, most costumes are skin tight.  That's where Nasty has a problem; she doesn't like how her body looks.  The costume isn't skin tight, though; it is padded to offer armour and to disguise Nasty's figure.  Eagle's people know what a secret identity needs to be protected.

The press conference goes, possibly far quicker than a typical one.  (Mind, I live in Ottawa, where press conferences are a way of life for many people.  Your mileage may vary.)  While the questions are, mostly, simple ones, Nasty shows a lack of experience in answering them.  If I can get Crossover published, you'll see a difference between this issue, where Nasty's a rookie, and her performance at a con, after she's gained some experience.  And there is always that one person who has to ask a gotcha question.  The reporter does have a point; sidekicks aren't prestigious and many supers, at least in the S13-verse, start as a solo hero.  Eagle did stand up for the Peregrine, pointing out the history of the costume.

The issue winds itself up with Nasty getting a new motorcycle.  I think I'd been watching the third and fourth season of ReBoot, with AndrAIa enjoying motorcycles a bit much at the time.*  The motorcycle almost wound up being based on a BMW frame, then I realized that the American Eagle would get an American motorcycle, and Harley-Davidson is a better known name over Indian.  Narratively, Nasty received the motorcycle to try to balance her out more.  Several versions of Champions recommended that superhero player characters have a mix of offense, defense, and movement; Nasty has offense only.  The motorcycle and the padded costume make up for the deficiencies.

Finally, again, Nasty has a reaction on the elevator.  Yes, there is a reason.  No, I'm not giving it out right now.  What do you think?  Speculate in the comments.

Later this week, commentary for Issue 20.
Friday, Nasty starts her investigation to find Cinder and Ember.
Saturday, at Fan To Pro, part V of my four part series on adapting games.
Coming, rebooting science fiction, more NaNo 2013 prep work, and more!

* "What is it with you and motorcycles?"

20 May 2013

CanGames 2013 - The Wrap Up


Amazing weekend at CanGames, managed to re-centre myself while engaging in imaginary chaos and collateral damage.

Friday Evening - Who You Gonna Call?
I preregistered along with signing up as a games master.  However, I never preregistered for any games.  The past few years, I've just gone and signed up a half-hour before the start of the slot.  This method has worked for several years, and kept working this year.  I arrived after work, got my packages, player and GM, the dice (yay!), said hello to many many people, then waited for the sign up sheets.

I lucked out.  The Ghostbusters RPG still had open seats.  I played Ray.  I got to use classic lines from the Ghostbusters movies and even Blues Brothers.  (For the record: "It's five hundred miles to Baltimore.  We have a full tank of gas and half a pack of cigarettes.  It's dark, and I'm wearing an Ecto-Visor.")  We managed to save the world and, more importantly, New York City from a Mayan apocalypse.  Long story.  Museums really shouldn't allow us Ghostbusters inside.  A popular rare bird exhibit had some stuffed samples.  Had.  I personally took out a stuffed bald eagle.

A classic bit, though, one that I could easily see in a Ghostbusters movie, had Louis filming the exploits as a ghost appeared.  All the regular Ghostbusters, Ray, Peter, Winston, and Egon, failed to keep their cool and ran away.  Louis remained there, filming.  "Guys, this is great!  Okay, whenever you're ready.  Guys?  Any time now.  Guys?  Guys?"

Fun!

Saturday Morning and Saturday Afternoon - Fluxx Capacity
I got convinced earlier in the year to try running something.  I didn't feel up to running a full-on RPG, but figured that a card game or a board game would be simple enough.  To make it simpler, I went with a demo-style approach; no tracking winners, no competition, just a nice simple sit down game.  Thus, Fluxx.  The morning would be drop in, drop out for the players so they could go check on other things happening.  I brought most of my decks, leaving out Stoner Fluxx and Family Fluxx, leaving nine others to swap in and out.  The game went well, with people looking over and sitting in for a hand or two and leaving happy.

The afternoon slot added complexity.  It was billed as the "SuperMegaUber Fluxx with Spam", where all the decks would get added.  I decided at the start of the slot to try just two decks - Star Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx - to see how it went.  That first game took an hour before a winner emerged.  I never went to the nine hundred card deck; the game would still be going today*.  So, as an experiment, not so good, though the lesson is learned.  If I were to run Fluxx again next year, I'd want to get set up as a demo table on the main game floor so people could drop in and drop out as needed, without being a scheduled event.

Satuday Evening - Four-tailed Investigators
Wrapping up Saturday, I joined a game some friends were registered in, paying for a token to get into the game without having to wait for the sign-up sheet to come out.  First time I've done that.  It paid off, though.  The game, Fox Magic focuses on the story side of role-playing, not the game side.  It took some time for the players to adjust to the paradigm, not being used to the greater freedom Fox Magic provides.  Characters were created at the game; character generation is fast.

The plot involved vengeful ghosts in Nagasaki, Japan.  The core ghost was angry that her life ended so suddenly in 1945, creating a cascade of vengeance and anger through other restless spirits.  The players, all playing fox spirits, had to find out why the city was upset and what could be done to appease the ghosts.  My character, the Den Father due to age**, managed to freeze one of the ghosts with an illusionary prayer strip.  Mind, my character did know about how to properly use that sort of magic, but felt that he didn't have the time to properly set the ritual up.  That gave the other fox spirits time to properly exorcise the ghost.

Again, a fun session.

Sunday Morning - Pulp Fiction
Sunday mornings at CanGames are slow.  It's the third day, games start at 9:00am, and people are tired, especially if they've been gaming since the start of the con Friday afternoon.  This means less competition for a slot in a game.  Made it really easy to get into a Hollow Earth Expedition game.  I wound up playing Umberto Diaz, the director of a series of films starring Katrina Ananova as Cassandra Trimble, an adventuress who finds herself drawn into trouble.  The intrepid group started on Mount St. Helens in media res as the volcano erupted.  Umberto got all sorts of amazing footage as his actors leapt over streams of lava, including a rescue of the leading lady.  From there, wolves, Nazis, and a waterfall all appeared as kids were rescued on camera and a Nazi plot unravelled by us meddling film crew.  Of note, a fight began after Umberto got his camera set up and him saying "Action!"

The group escaped the volcano through a cave system and diving into a deep pool of water that turned into a long underwater waterfall that led to a jungle and the climactic fight against a Tyrannosaurus Rex that ended with an explosion.  Michael Bay, eat your heart out.  Now, Umberto just has to get back to the studio, cut and edit the raw footage, and wait for the Oscars and, most importantly, the cash to roll in.

In short, fun weekend.

Each CanGames has a theme; this year's was "Apocalypse Missed", based on all the End of the World predictions over the past year failed to cause a mild earthquake.  Next year's theme has been announced - "Crossroads".  Ideas have entered my head, using one of Supernatural, Demon Hunters, or Buffy RPGs.  I have plenty of time, almost a full year, to work on the concepts in my head, and I have concepts already for the games.  The mashing should be interesting.

See you there next year!

* Today being the day you're reading this, not when I posted this.
** I am old.

17 May 2013

Subject 13 #20 - Burning Times


Nasty polished the headlight on what she referred to as the Peregrine-cycle.  I miss my bike, she thought.  I miss home.  I miss Eric; I miss Mom, even.  I've been here almost a week, and who knows how long I was in that fucking tube.  Can't go home, though.  Those assholes will expect me to show up there.  It's not so bad here.  I'm starting to get used to being called Jessica.  Don't know why I picked that name, though.  Makes me sound like one of Tia's friends.

The intercom buzzed.  Nasty draped her rag over the Peregrine-cycle, then answered the call.  "Jessica, Peregrine is on her way," Anne said through the speaker.  "Is the motorcycle ready?"

"It is," Nasty said.  Time to change.  "When is Peregrine supposed to leave?"

"She's meeting Eagle at City Hall in twenty minutes."

"I'll let her know."  This is getting ridiculous.  Just tell me to get dressed without all this BS.

Nasty ran to a nearby change room.  Her Peregrine costume hung neatly in a locker.  She quickly changed, then ran back into the garage.  Nasty adjusted her mask in a futile attempt to have it sit comfortably on her.  Okay, City Hall.  Where the hell is City Hall?  She picked up the phone, then dialed Kathryn's number.  "Hello, Kathryn?"

"I'm sorry, Ms McCall isn't available," a woman's voice answered.  "May I take a message?"

"It's okay, um, Nicky, is it?"

"Micki."

"Micki, right.  Micki, it's Peregrine.  How do I get to City Hall from here?"

"You haven't checked your heads-up display?" Micki asked.

"What heads-up display?"

"Rookies," Micki muttered.  "Your helmet should have a heads-up display.  Hasn't Jessica shown you yet?"

"She's busy right now," Nasty said.  How the hell am I supposed to show myself something I was never told about?

"When you see her, tell her to see me."

"What about City Hall?"

"I'll have a map for you in five minutes," Micki said.  "Meet me in the lobby."  She broke the connection.

Nasty stared at the handset she still held.  She hung up.  "That was useful," she muttered.  She got on the motorcycle.  Lobby, huh?  She better be there.  Nasty started the engine, then roared out of the garage.  Lights flashed by her as she drove through tunnels to reach the street.

Nasty cruised around the block to get to the main entrance of the Foundation's office building.  She dismounted and dashed inside.  Where is Micki? she wondered.  People around her gasped in awe.  Oh, great.  Last thing I want is an autograph session.  Smiling meekly, Nasty waved at the visitors in the lobby.  Micki, get your ass over here now!

A young woman pushed her way through the crowd.  "Peregrine!  Oh, good, you're here."

"Micki, right?" Nasty asked.

"Right.  Have you seen Jessica yet?  Someone needs to talk to her."

"I passed her on my way out.  She said no one showed her the heads-up."

"Figures.  Okay, you're going to City Hall, right?  I've marked out the course on this map.  You better hurry.  Use your lights if you have to."

Nasty took the map and glanced at it.  Simple enough.  "Thanks."

"Better get going.  You're supposed to be there in fifteen minutes, and traffic gets bad soon," Micki said.

Nasty turned and ran out of the building and back to her motorcycle.  She got on, then checked the map again.  Let's see, okay, I'm here, City Hall is there, got it.  She folded the map up and slipped it into a side compartment.  Better get going.  Nasty switched the engine on, then zoomed down the street.

Following Micki's directions, Nasty arrived at City Hall ten minutes later.  She parked the bike, then ran inside.  She found Eagle waiting for her in the lobby.  He ushered her quickly into a conference room on the third floor.  In the room, several men and women wearing suits stood up at their arrival.

"I believe you've heard about Peregrine," Eagle said.

"Thanks, Eagle," one of the men said.  "What we're about to tell you can't leave this room."

Under her mask, Nasty raised an eyebrow.  What the hell's going on?

One of the women walked over to a VCR on the table in the centre of the room as everyone else sat.  "Eagle, Peregrine, the mayor's office received the following video tape last night.  He wanted you to see this before we went public with it."  She turned off the lights, then started the VCR.

The image of two identical women appeared.  The only difference were their costumes - where one of the women had red, the other had orange.  They leaned towards the camera.  Oh, lovely, Nasty though.

"Good morning, Mayor," the women said in unison.

"I'm sure you remember us," one said.  "I'm Cinder and this is my sister Ember."

"Hi, Mayor," Ember purred.  "Miss us?"

"We really do love your city, Mayor," Cinder said.  "That's why we're sending you this tape.  We thought it'd be sporting to give you a chance."

"You see, Mayor, we really wouldn't want to burn down a building just to show you we're serious.  You know we are."

"So, to be fair, we're giving you this limited time offer.  You send us ten million dollars, and we don't torch a thing."

"In fact, we'll give you a free burn.  We'll burn down anything you want, and it won't cost you a dime."

"We know that you'll need time to think about it," Cinder said, "so we'll give you a week."

"Send up fireworks over Frontier Field next Thursday.  We'll know you've agreed to our offer."

"And tell Eagle not to bother finding us.  We'd spot him a mile away."

Ember blew a kiss at the camera.  "Ta!"  The image on screen faded to black.

Nasty blinked as the lights came back on.  What the hell was that?  She looked over at Eagle.  Follow his lead.  He better know what he's doing.

"When did this arrive?" Eagle asked.

"Yesterday, in the mail," an older man said.

"Did you have your forensics teams examine the package, Chief?"

"Thoroughly.  Lots of fingerprints, nothing usable.  The package was postmarked Buffalo three days ago."

"It's safe to assume that they've been in town for at least that long, then."  Eagle started pacing.  "Any unusual fires reported?"

"I've asked the fire department," the chief said.  "They're still going through reports."

"What do those two . . . women want?" Nasty asked.  "Besides the money."

"They like to set fires," Eagle explained.  "The Foundation has a complete file on them."

"That's all?  Why the money, then?"

"They're not expecting us to give in to their demands," another woman said.  "They've done this before to us, and each time, they've tried burning down something.  The last time, it was a church in the suburbs.  Eagle managed to stop them."

"Wonderful," Nasty said.

"We need to find where they're hiding," Eagle said.  "They're not the type to stay quiet for long.  Chief, can you send a copy of the tape to the Foundation?"

"One's already on its way," the chief said.

"Thanks.  Peregrine, we have work to do."

[End Issue 20]

Next:  Late night brainstorming

16 May 2013

Subject 13 Commentary - Apologies

There is no commentary tonight for last week's Subject 13 issue.

My apologies.

Life does its best to interfere with plans.  I will get the commentary up, after the weekend.  Likewise, there won't be a Lost in Translation over at Fan To Pro Saturday.  I didn't realize that I would be delving into the history of computer gaming with Part V of the series.

Issue 20 will be up at its regular time tomorrow; the issues, so far, have been written far in advance.

I will pose a question for you, fair reader: Are you getting anything from the commentaries?  Do you want more or less?

So, in short, Issue 20 is up tomorrow evening, as usual.
There won't be a post over at Fan To Pro by me on Saturday.  Still worth going there to see what else is there, really.
I am working on a few other ideas for here at The Chaos Beast that should appear over the next month.
If you're in Ottawa this weekend, check out CanGames.  Say hi to me if you want; I will be running Fluxx Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon.

10 May 2013

Subject 13 #19 - The Third Degree


[Some adult content.]

Reporters milled around the small auditorium, trying to find the best spot to view the upcoming press conference and to upstage each other.  Camera crews from the three local television stations set up lights.  A woman dressed in a grey skirt suit appeared at the dais.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for your patience and thank you for coming out this afternoon," she said.  "For those of you who are new here, my name is Kathryn McCall, spokesperson for the American Eagle Foundation of Rochester."  She paused while photographers took pictures.  "American Eagle will be out shortly.  We will have transcripts available at the end of the press conference if you want one.  We will also have the official announcement then."

9 May 2013

Subject 13 #18 - Commentary


Quick one today.  As always, please read the issue first.

The cleaning of Nasty was a chance for me to let her deal with her thoughts and find out how much time has passed.  Nasty considers being someone else; a fresh start, so to speak.  Naturally, and this was because I needed an action sequence where Nasty hit someone, there's a robbery.  Nasty stopped the robber without her powers.  I might have a running theme for the series; "You don't need powers to be a hero."  If someone needs to step up, Nasty's there.  She may bitch and complain every step of the way, but she'll do what she can.  Doesn't mean she won't be wrong in some cases.

Meanwhile, the Consortium has sent three people after Nasty - Christopher, Lashawna, and John.  Adam and Karen are the agents Nasty fought as she escaped.  The three agents being sent are prepared for a ahem nasty fight.

And Nasty's final final decision is to stay and be Peregrine.  Probably telegraphed since Issue 16.  I did, briefly, consider keeping Nasty on the run, but other plot lines came to mind and the drawbacks of Nasty being a fugitive popped up.  The big drawback is that she'd have to find a way to get from town to town without hitchhiking.  She ditched Karen's van, expecting it to have been reported stolen.

Tomorrow, Issue 19, the new Peregrine debuts.  (No one would have expected Nasty to be a debutante.)
Saturday, Part IV of my adapting games series at FanToPro.  This time, adapting games as games.
Coming soon, more NaNoWriMo prep work, more Traveller, and more!
During the Victoria Day long weekend, May 17-19, I will be at CanGames, where I will be running two slots worth of Fluxx Saturday morning and afternoon.

6 May 2013

NaNo Prep 2013 - The Threefold


As part of the lead up to NaNoWriMo, I'll be posting possible story ideas to expand before November.  This time, an idea I started playing with on the commute to work a few years ago.

The core idea is that three university students are recruited for their magical talent to defend the city against supernatural threats.  Each young woman represents a role, either Warrior, Priest, or Wizard.  The Warrior represents the Body, the physical.  The Priest is the Soul, the spiritual.  The Wizard, not surprisingly, is the Mind, the intellectual.  The young women are recruited by a mentor who acts as a link to other similar cells.

The mentor, Teri Pulham, was once in a similar cell as the Wizard of her trio. Something, currently undetermined, happened to the other two members, letting Teri move up as her mentor.  As part of her duties, Teri has to recruit, make sure that she has four full cells.

Cue Holly, Astrid, and Miriam.

The main characters, Holly Black, Astrid Young, and Miriam Goldman, get recruited as a cell.  Teri's approach is to let the new recruits figure out among themselves, though she has her own recommendations already in mind.  Teri thinks that the athletic Holly would be perfect as the Warrior, that the math major Astrid is ideal as the Wizard, that the devout Miriam should be the Priest.

Holly, Astrid, and Miriam have other ideas.  Working on their own, and to be shown in the story, they three of them wind up swapping roles, with the philosophical athiest Holly taking the Soul role, the out of shape but wargaming Astrid taking Body, and the common sense driven Miriam taking Mind.  Teri has no idea what's waiting for her.

The cell network came from the idea of "magical numbers".  While I don't put much into the idea in real life, in fiction, the numbers work.  The numbers 3, 5, 7, and 13 hold mystic power.  Thus, each cell has three members.  To coordinate with another cell, the mentor must bring the two groups together, for a total of seven magic people.  A serious threat that brings a mentor's full cell network together has thirteen people involved.  The cell network doesn't allow for a group of five to form naturally, though.

The lack of the group of five led me to the idea of the opposition for the story.  Teri's new cell runs up against Kimberly's group of five, which needs a proper name so I can refer to them at least in notes and in my head.  Kimberly still needs to be fleshed out a lot, though she does have a henchman, Melisande.  The Threefold are outnumbered, which means they need an edge to even the odds.  I'm hoping the swapping of the roles will help there.

3 May 2013

Subject 13 #18 - Fresh Start

[Violence ensues.]

Nasty wrapped herself in one of Anne's fuzzy white towels.  She padded on bare feet over to the bathroom door.  Opening the door a crack, she called, "Anne?  Anne, are you there?"  Hearing no answer, Nasty opened the door a little more.  Fresh clothes awaited on a chair on the other side of the wall.  Nasty took the clothes back into the bathroom.  Drying herself off, she then got dressed.

2 May 2013

Subject 13 #17 - Commentary


As always, read the issue first.  I'll also answer questions that people put in comments, too.

Nasty went for the favour; getting new clothes.  She grabbed the clothes available to her during her escape.  She had the time with Mikail to grab his shirt and pants; with Karen, Nasty had alarms blaring, had just broke through an ambush, and only had time for shoes with high heels.  Nasty also doesn't like the idea of people seeing her in a state of undress; she's a private person.  She doesn't like feeling like she's on display.  This is probably the biggest rift between Nasty and Maria.

Anne, meanwhile, spends too much time at the office, is a high level office of the American Eagle Foundation of Rochester, or both.  How else would she merit having an office with a shower?  Anne, if she noticed what Nasty has, isn't saying, to give Nasty her privacy.  It helps being Natasha's age once and knowing what the younger woman might be thinking.

Issue 17 is another "written between calls" part.  It more-or-less deals with Nasty's reactions.  It's safe to say that the pattern with portions written at the old job was Event, Fallout, Reaction, and repeat.  It worked to keep me sane.  It's not as good for plot development; it leads to short issues that allow for small steps instead of something meatier.

Friday, issue 18 sees Nasty's final decision.
Saturday, over at Fan To Pro, part III of adapting games, focusing on RPGs.
Monday, back here, NaNo Prep 2013 continues.