NaNo 2018 - Contenders

November 1st is just over four months away.  NaNoWriMo is coming up.  Heck, Camp NaNo begins July 1st, though I'm not participating this time around.  Four months isn't a lot of time.  I should start figuring out what to do so I don't start an epic fantasy with zero world building again.  I do have some contenders.

As always, the time-travellering kaiju hunters are on the list.  I'll have to figure out a few time periods for the /kaiju/ hunters to visit, with the legend of St. George and the dragon being a potential arc.  I do have a couple of laws of time travel in mind.  First, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; the hunters can know either when or where they're going but not both.  The other law is a modification of Newton's First Law, temporal events will happen as they did unless acted upon by an outside force.  It's not that events are predestined; everyone involved will still make decisions based on their experience.  However, if an outside force interferes, a participant may make new decisions based on the new information.

Speaking of time travel, I have an idea for Subject 13 guest starring Pixie and the rest of the Youth Brigade.  A battle against a supervillain winds up sending the group back to the 50s, where they have to figure out where they are and how to get home.  I have some dialogue in mind, too.  "Can you stop swearing for five minutes?  That's how we got into this mess!"  I've done some preliminary research, finding a USGC map of the area I want to use from 1956 and matching the location on Google Maps.

A while back, I created Demona using the Demon Hunters RPG.  I then realized she had potential as part of a group of supernatural hunters.  Format might be a fake reality series, but I'm not married to that.  I do have the first bit worked out in my head where Demona meets her new partners, Nadia and Ian.

Mecha Academy is a possibility.  I'll probably keep it on reserve for when another idea runs out of steam.  I am working on the next arc, but there is more planned for after it.  The cast hasn't even finished their first year yet, and I have a few more things to toss at them before I'm done with them.

Unruly is also in the works.  I have twists and turns for them, too.  Laura has to go testify, Fawna needs to give up her body for a weekend to Mags, Caitlin needs to plot, and chaos needs to ensue.  Again, if another project runs dry, I can always switch over.

The Shadowrun stories are still coming together.  Yes, stories.  Beside coming up with a story to be adapted into a new form, mostly as an experiment related to Lost in Translation, I want to try a horror story.  Problem is, I'm not a fan of horror, so the project might be doomed to failure from the start.  However, Shadowrun mixes cyberpunk, epic fantasy, and urban fantasy together, so with a bit of a tweak, I might be able to turn the urban fantasy elements into horror.  There are horror elements lurking in the game's setting that I can exploit, too.

So, short list, and one that could grow before I start striking off ideas.  It's a start.  I have four months.

Friday, another go at the Modiphius Star Trek Adventures character creation.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, "Truly Outrageous!"
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week; this past week has been hectic.

NaNo 2017 - Two Months to Go!

Brace yourselves.  NaNo is coming!

Where do things stand now from the last update?  A few things that should have been done weren't, so there's not too much to say.  I wound up not being able to focus on any one idea over the recent weeks and was just able to get the required posts out.  That aside, some thoughts have occurred.

Right now, the Shadowrun serial is still the front runner.  The setting already exists and the goal wasn't to write a story but create something to adapt to another medium.  The idea was to put into practice what I've discovered through Lost in Translation.  However, another reason to go forward with the idea came up.  Science fiction has always been about issues when the work is written, even if the story is set in the future.  With recent events in the U.S., including the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, and neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and neo-Confederates (providing a very fuzzy circle of a Venn diagram) marching, there's a group in Shadowrun that lets me nail a few points home.  Skater, the elf decker that I've updated over every edition since the first, is tied to a major event in the game's in-setting history, the Night of Rage.  Shadowrun's KKK equivalent, the Humanis Policlub, was responsible.  That element can be easily worked into one of the arcs, including having Humanis march through the streets of Seattle.

The time-travelling daikaiju invasion is still in the cards.  The story would be more to distract from current events, though I really should figure out when and where the giant monsters appear, just so I can work out the equipment the team needs.  The general rules of time travel have been determined, though.  The Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle is in effect; the team can know where or when but not both.  They also try to not create paradoxes; they know less about practical temporal mechanics than the writer.  Mind, there will be some oddities left around.  It's difficult to shoot a dinosaur with a modern rifle and not leave a trace of gunpowder.  Still trying to work out some of the ideas, such as adapting St. George and the Dragon to the time travelling.  I also still need to get the future chapter set up that leads into the first.  Time travel weirds causality.

Mecha Academy is still a possibility.  It's an older story, but it still checks out.  I did go through the core cast and wonder about logistics about housing.  Do I need to drop a character or add one?  Neither really work for me.  I may have to do some hand-waving, though I can make it work since there is a reason two of the main cast are in the same dorm.  Serializing the story won't be difficult; it really does work better as one.  And, unlike the Shadowrun idea above, I can adapt to other formats without stomping over someone else's intellectual property.

The Final Fantasy VIII fanfic may be dropping off the list.  I need to adjust the concept to remove the FFVIII DNA.  That means, new setting, new reason why I have a military academy filled with teenagers, and figure out how to also not look like RWBY.  The three main characters won't change that much, at least at the start.  It's the later elements that get messed up.

I have ideas for both Unruly and Subject 13 but haven't been able to get those ideas to become concrete.  Unruly has several arcs that need to be done, including one focusing on Vamsi, one set over Thanksgiving, and Laura's testifying against her father.  There's also Fawna's deal with Mags, though that could be a short story instead of a full arc.  Could be useful for filler at the end of November when I'll want a change of pace.

The ideas for Subject 13 require a time jump, just to get Nasty home.  Essentially, I'll be starting a Volume 2 before Volume 1 is complete.  Nasty is also not going to be as angry; part of the reason is that I just don't need to vent like I did when I first wrote the series.  The result - Nasty gets to mature a bit.  She also gets to work out the new dynamic between her and her mother.  They've both grown, even in the chapters I've finished, so they now have to build a new relationship.  And Nasty gets to be more involved at her school while still dealing with having powers.  I'll also have to set things up for Crossover.  Or, I could just skip past Crossover and go to Nasty's senior year.

So, not much has changed since last time.  The above order is more or less the likelihood of what gets done, with the Shadowrun serial having the best chance.  I have two months.  I need to think a bit more, but I should have a decision by October, or at least some background work done.

NaNo 2017 - Four Months to Go!

With under four months until November, it's time to review the possible projects.  I listed a few back in April, but I've had time to think about what to do.  Some ideas have changed, some ideas have been added to the list.

The Shadowrun serial may be the front runner right now.  I have the first two arcs of the series in mind, and the cast is more or less stable.  Ultimately, I want to take the serial and adapt it as an audio script, to see how that process would turn out.  Why audio?  The special effects are easier; no need to use extensive CGI for trolls and dwarves and no need for makeup effects for elves.

The time-travelling kaiju invasion is also shaping up, though it will need a portion written before NaNo starts, just to set up what happens in the first chapter.  Because of time travel, it's not a prologue.  Temporal mechanics flip cause and effect, but the bit written before NaNo won't count towards the 50k words needed.  I probably won't reach the events for some time in the story.  I'm also working out the rules the defense team uses when time travelling.  Since they are still trying to figure out temporal physics, they're doing everything possible to avoid paradox.  Their method of travelling uses a variation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, where they can know where a team is going or when a team is going, but not both.  It's easier to plan for a known time than a known location, so the team uses the former when planning.  Going to the late 19th Century?  These are the typical clothes, this is a typical weapon, and tell not!Burt to hide his rifle better.

The Terran Commonwealth stories - the new colony and the courier crew - are on hold.  The ideas are sound, but plots are thin.  They're on the back burner while I work out just what the casts are supposed to do.  Not a problem, really.  Other ideas are going to take their place.

Finishing The Devil You Know is also off the table.  Posting The Soul Blade created a push to finish it, so why not try that again with The Devil You Know?  That means that once "Boomers Like Me" is complete, you can expect to see TDYK appearing on Fridays.

An older project, though, wants attention.  Mecha Academy, an older work that hasn't seen much light, could use a rewrite of the beginning to properly set up the characters.  When I was working on it, I was trying to turn it into a novel.  The story isn't working out that way, though.  It is a serial at its heart, and would work best in that format.  The chapters need changing to reflect the new approach, and I do need to work out what all the characters' arcs are, not just two in particular.  Fortunately, the setting is mostly built, and can be easily expanded as necessary.  I even worked out rank structures, since the academy is for military cadets.

I also have an old Final Fantasy VIII fanfic that could get the numbers filed off without losing much from the story.  As I mentioned in the first "Boomers Like Me" commentary, this was one of three fanfics I worked on that had me wondering why I didn't just do original fiction.  There are going to be questions, such as why is there a military academy taking in young teenagers and sending them out as elite soldiers before they turn eighteen, to be worked out, but rebuilding the world may help.  I'll also have to make sure that it doesn't look too much like RWBY, which has a similar premise.  However, the characters are solid enough and can be moved to the new setting without too much effort.

Unruly and Subject 13 both need more love.  I've posted some ideas about Unruly already, and there are some outstanding plot points that need development and wrappage.  Subject 13, though, was left just before what would be a massive crossover event in a major comics line and is a major headache for a serial with just one title.  I may want to skip to the aftermath of the battle against the Four Horsement of the Apocalypse to get Nasty back on her own arc so she can finally return home.

At some point, I'll have to narrow down the selection.  Right now, though, I do want the wider range, to let me see what intrigues me enough to delve into the idea further.  I don't want a replay of 2015, where The Elf's Prisoner was the last minute choice with next to no preparation and world building done on the fly.  Made for an interesting November, one where I wasn't sure what direction I was going in.  With the above, I do have an idea of where I'm going, though without a path set.

NaNoPrep 2016 - Narrowing Down Again

The local NaNo leaders had a plan-in last weekend that helped with narrowing down my choices.  This time, the choices did go down.  I also got to working out details of settings that should help me during NaNo.

The leading contender* is Ayel and Kristi's story, which now has the working title dba LTV Paranormalists, where dba means "doing business as".  It's good enough for now, and will let me create a file for it.  It's the Scooby-Doo idea where the twist is that ghosts might not exist but the fey do.  The story may turn into a serial; there's enough to the idea to support shorter arcs but not really have a 50 000+ word novel, at least right away.  I've even started research for the story, so I'm ahead of the game here, especially compared to last year.

Of my main characters, I have Ayel Lindeman, business major at Carleton University.  Ayel isn't her given name; she prefers her initials, A-L, over her given name, and people eventually started spelling out the letters much like Artoo and Threepio.  When I checked to see what sort of classes Ayel would have, I discovered that Carleton's Commerce program has an Entrepreneurship concentration, which fits in perfectly with the story concept.  Ayel is the middle child, with an older brother, who has graduated university and has moved out to... somewhere to be determined when necessary, and a younger sister, Tiffany, who is still in high school and can be a minor headache when I need some conflict.  Her parents are Public Servants, and because of their drab names, wanted their children to have names that stood out without necessarily having silent 8s.  Ayel has shoulder length blonde hair, a red/maroon leather Carleton Commerce jacket with her preferred name on the arm.  If she has an early morning class, she grabs what's available, typically a pair of jeans and a sweater.  A later start lets her plan her outfits better.

Kristi Thiessen is turning out to be the instigator of events in the story.  Kristi is also a Carleton student, with a Medieval Studies minor in a major that doesn't want to sort itself out in my head.  Art History keeps coming up, so she may fall into that by default.  Kristi, like Ayel, uses a nickname, but more because she's more a Kristi than a Kristina.  She's the one bringing the group together; she's flighty but she's smart.  Kristi lives on campus, coming from Northern Ontario**.  Her family won't come into play too often, but her neighbours in res will.  I'll have to do some research on the different res buildings at Carleton to figure out which one she'd be in, assuming I just don't create one whole cloth.***  Thanks to Carleton's tunnel system, where students don't have to go outside in winter if they don't want to, Kristi can wear shorts during the day if she feels like it.  She keeps her sandy brown hair long and wavy, though she'll try different styles when the whim takes her.

Kieu Thi Vo almost got renamed.  Instead, Kieu was gender-flipped.  Research into the name revealed that Kieu is feminine, where I originally planned on Kieu being male.  What kept me with the name instead of the gender is the pronunciation which, if I'm reading it right, sounds similar to the letter Q.  As in Quartermaster.  As in Major Geoffrey Boothroyd, as played by the late Desmond Llewelyn.  Kieu is also a Carleton student, majoring in Computer Science.  A quick bit of research to see what changed since I received my degree in the same field showed that the department has expanded greatly and now has Mobile Computing as a possible stream.  Like with Ayel's Entrepreneur stream above, this turn of events works for my benefit and is the main reason why Kieu kept her name.  Kieu revealed a few details about herself afterwards, once of which being a bias against blondes.  That gives me an early conflict but something that will resolve over time.  Where Kieu lives is another question; right now, she may have a home in town, but she's more likely to be in computer labs and coffee shops working on her projects than in her own place.

Thanks to research to see if LTV Paranormalists would need a private investigator license, I needed a fourth character.  Right now, he's somewhat nebulous, not even having a name.  He does have such a license, as mandated by the Province of Ontario.  Kristi has him on retainer, on Ayel's suggestion.  He won't show up right away, but I have a rough idea of his appearance and capabilities.  I do want him to be atypical; he's not a wall of meat doing bouncer work; instead, he's slim, athletic but not pronounced, and capable.

As to whether LTV Paranomalists needs a PI license, the answers is "probably not".  To quote the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

A private investigator licence allows you to be employed and paid to investigate:

• the character or actions of a person
• a person’s business or occupation, or
• the whereabouts of persons or property.

Investigating a property on behalf of the owner for historical purposes, for instance, how a previous owner died on the property, might not qualify.  Historians and genealogists do this sort of research as a matter of course and ghosts, if they exist, might not be legally defined as "persons".  However, I am not a lawyer, and I could counter that "the whereabouts of persons" may also include their grave.  Ayel would do similar research - that's one of the reasons Kristi recruits her help - and would make the suggestion to have someone available if the investigators cross that very fuzzy line and land inside the P.I. regulation.

All the above said, dba LTV Paranormalists wasn't the only idea I worked on at the plan-in.  A second idea, one I had shelved for a bit, returned.  Going back a bit, I had an idea that was one part Tremors and one part Primeval.  I gave it some more thought at the plan-in, and realized that it is also one part Stargate SG-1.  It expanded; not only do I have the survivalist inspired by Burt Gummer of Tremors, but I have a combat historian, inspired by Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG-1, and a zoologist/paleontologist/kaiju expert as the main characters.  I still need to flesh out details like how time travel works for both the invaders and for the Agency defending the planet, but gravity waves are the leading theory.  The temporal invasion is easy to explain - the aliens are trying to terraform Earth into something they can use while also getting rid of the pesky dominant sapient species.  Pity the invaders didn't start before Einstein's hypothesis about gravity wasn't observed.  There's still work to be done, but that didn't stop me with The Elf's Prisoner last year.

With just over a week to go, I may be ready.


* Nothing is definite until November 1st.  Maybe not even after.  If I get stuck, I can fall back on Unruly.
** I am so tempted to have her from Oshawa just to have her make oblique references to the Academy for Unruly Girls.
*** Carleton's residences are named after counties surrounding Ottawa.  I could go for a township inside a county to highlight that the building is ficticious.

NaNoPrep 2016 Casting - Commentary

Meta commentary!  Ooh!

Last week, I laid out the characters I'd need for potential project.  After all, without characters, it's not so much a story as it is a 50 000 word essay.  Today, a look into how the ideas came together in the first place.

In general, stories come in two different ways; either I have a character looking for a setting and a plot or a plot looking for a setting and a character.  Rare is the setting that is looking for plot and characters, though Colony Base 183 is turning out that way.  When I have a character, the cast tends to boil down to one or two main characters with others added as needed.  The plot comes from the character, either because of what he or she* can do or is what is being done to him or her.  Subject 13 is a prime example; Nasty grew out of my desire to throttle people over the phone while doing front line phone firewall** work.  The rest grew as I worked out who Nasty was.  In this case, I know more about the character than I do the rest of the story, but can toss in events and know how the lead will react.  The setting is partially baked into the main character; she doesn't exist in a vacuum and will have roots of some sort that can be exploited as needed.

The flipside is starting with an idea for a plot.  At this point, I start working out what character roles I'll need.  Beaver Flight began this way.  Here, the idea was an alien invasion, specifically a "Venus Needs Men!" approach, coupled with the Arrogant Worms' "We Are the Beaver".  I needed the Canadian flight to have a leader, a technician, a linguist, and a scientist, then worked out who those characters would be.  When starting with a plot, I sometimes don't have a full handle on who the characters are, and have to stop and work out details in the middle of a scene.  The answer to "How would Tori react if she was abducted by aliens?" turned out weirder than expected.

Sometimes, similar sounding ideas come up.  Take the three different ideas of amateur detectives in university from last week's post.  Each one is different, but possibly just in my own head.  The Lakehead group is very much in their own setting, and is more focused on a modern reality.  The Carleton group, though, flirts with the supernatural and owes a bit to Scooby-Doo and Ghostbusters.  The third group is more focused on the main characters' dysfunctional families while still solving minor crimes.  Could they be merged?  Not really, not without effort that could break the core concepts of each idea.  However, the Shadowrun ideas do run into each other and into By the Numbers because of the shared setting.  Skater had an appearance in By the Numbers and could easily have a cameo in the webcomic.

Setting should get a mention.  Several of the ideas, particularly the ones set in universities, are easy to place.  Two of the universities exist, and I've checked one's website to get an idea of how its residences are laid out.  The other, I can just make a trip on a weekend to verify a detail or two if needed, as long as I don't have to enter a building.  Even then, I know enough of the buildings on campus that I can extrapolate as needed.  A classroom is a classroom.  Draconic Magic, though, needs work.  Right now, I have a village or town in the distance, a dragon's lair in a mountain, and a wind-swept rock where the villagers/townsfolk leave their sacrifices to the dragon.  I do need more, though I will borrow from The Elf's Prisoner for how magic works.  Maybe last year's NaNo project didn't work out, but I did start building a world that I can plunder for its good ideas.

There's still over a month to get ready.  The key thing for me is to choose a project, and keep it chosen, unlike last year.

Tomorrow, a new serial.
Also tomorrow, over at Psycho Drive-In, insights from Can-ConSF 2016.
Saturday, over at Seventh Sanctum, first impressions of the new MacGuyver.

* Most likely, "she".
** Tech support for an ISP.

NaNoPrep 2016 - Casting

With November uncomfortably close and the number of projects I have in mind narrowing from two to seven*, it could be helpful to start casting some of the ideas.  I've already worked on the Shadowrun idea and on Colony Base 183, and Unruly has a cast list already.  That still leaves five potential projects to be fleshed out.

NaNo Backgrounder - Araminta - Commentary

Araminta is on her way to Colony Base 183 as I continue working on background info for NaNoWriMo and try to figure out what I'm doing this November.

The result was rushed.  Very rushed.  As in, I was working out details as I posted the story.  World names were left as marked filler.  I don't have a name for the world the base is set on.  Those would be important things to have if I choose Colony Base 183 as my NaNo project.  Some details I did need worked out, such as Araminta's name, appearance, and motive for volunteering for her next posting.  So, 50% there?  Adding to the chaos and quickness of writing the backgrounder, I had "Explorer Corps" instead of "Exploration Service" before I double-checked the name I used.  "Explorer Corps" is from the BatteTech setting, the name of ComStar's exploration branch.  Good thing I caught the mistake.

One thing that made sense to me was the Exploration Service's standard jumpsuit, the closest thing it has to a uniform.  Bright orange, which makes the person wearing the jumpsuit visible.  It gets used in areas where the wearer needs to be seen, such as ground installations with traffic and construction sites.  When Araminta becomes the junior constable at Colony Base 183, she'll wear the jumpsuit; she'll stand out from the colonists and still not look military.  That said, the jumpsuit isn't worn everywhere.  In the office on the starport before she was given the boot, Araminta wore something more comfortable and better suited for an office.  During her time on the mailships, where she was the only crew, being dressed became optional, especially near the end of the third week.

The Belanger High Port, the official name for the orbital starport, was loosely based on several space stations in media, in that they were also space stations.  The high port sees traffic passing through; not all ships are atmosphere-capable, and not all cargo is worth the cost of landing a large starship instead of using a shuttle.  With artificial gravity, there's no need to rotate the station, making docking easier.    There's a central docking bay for smaller ships; larger ones dock on the outer rings.  The high port is in geostationary orbit above the down port, the ground installation.  There are minor ports on the surface, mostly for cargo.

There probably should be a part two, where Araminta boards The Dusty Crater, with some drama as two people share a small space for a week without being able to step away.  It will be in mind as well as other background works to prep for November.

Tomorrow, more background work for NaNo.
Also tomorrow, over at Psycho Drive-In, Electra-Woman and Dynagirl.
Saturday, over at Seventh Sanctum, insights from Can-ConSF 2016.

NaNo Backgrounder - Colony Base 183 - Araminta

Araminta watched through the viewport as the first passenger shuttles of the day left the station.  Far below her, Belanger began to glisten orange, as the light of its star bathed it.  Cargo vessels lumbered overhead, heading to parking orbits.  Araminta shifted in her seat, stretching her arms and legs.  The light of the station's concourse was still dim, reflecting the night of the main starport on Belanger.  Shop employees arrived to set up stores before the crush of transient shoppers arrived.  Lights in the shops came on, one by one.

NaNo Backgrounder - Tempest T. Pot Commentary 2

Tempest lured her prey into her web, but Mason had a few surprises in store.  No plan ever survives contact with reality, and Murphy's Law reigns supreme.

I skipped over the flirting and the travel from the bar; the scenes weren't necessary for my purposes.  Tempest wouldn't be herself but her target's preferred pick.  Instead, I jumped to the new location.  The audience can imagine what happened in the cab.  Might be better than anything I can come up with, which isn't a bad thing.  Sometimes, implying is better than showing.

Again, I needed the names of bars.  I did think about using locations from Seattle 2072, but the sprawl has room for much much more than what's in the book, allowing me to create the locations I needed.  Part 1's Two Pines received its name for being a restaurant/bar in the Pacific Northwest trying to be a neighbourhood establishment, a place the locals go to for a night out.  Liber Pater, however, got its name after I did a quick search for the Roman equivalent of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, indicating that the bar is more hedonistic.  Since this is where Mason goes when he wants to indulge his BTL habit, the name worked for my purposes.

The Triads are part of Chinese organized crime with connections to the illegal simsense chip trade.  Tempest's concerns about being in a Triad-controlled bar comes from her own background and contacts, which are hinted at with the final scene.  Part of the her background that didn't get revealed is that she worked in a Yakuza bunraku, or "puppet", brothel.  Tempest maintains ties with the Yakuza.  Those of you remembering what sort of surgery Tempest had, this is the reason why.  This work is also why Tempest has the chip habit.

Something that I didn't work at but realized I should have emphasized a bit more is the difference between Tempest's addiction and Mason's.  Mason thinks he is a casual user, though he has a mild problem.  It's not affecting him yet, but he's heading down the dark path of addiction.  Tempest, though, is climbing out of that hole.  She's well aware of her addiction and is trying to kick the habit.  When Mason ran his BTL raw, Tempest did what she could to keep up appearances while still negating the worst effects.

The BTL, Rage Red until I come up with a better name, wasn't planned out when I started.  The usual moodchips focus on highs like happiness with a few going the depression route.  Rage Red goes for anger.  This BTL may become a recurring plot device, though, unplanned for.  The Shadowrun setting includes such things as combat drugs that boost the natural abilties of their users so they can keep up with the cybernetically and the magically enhanced.  Typical users are street cops, gang members, low level corporate security, and other redshirts that would cross paths with shadowrunners.  Drugs, though, have drawbacks that affect the users's health.  BTL chips are a psychological addiction with no direct physical drawbacks.  A combat BTL that amps up aggression may have a few bugs, but that's what Mason's there for, to be a guinea pig.

While the effect of the chip is obvious on Mason, I wanted it to be a little mopre subtle with Tempest.  She's not aware of the effect right away, even though she's already getting angry.  Running the BTL through cold simulation means she's not getting the full effect; she can still choose how to react, even if there's snark involved.

In the van, Tempest gets to show off for the reader some of her implants.  She lied to Mason about not having a chipjack, but no one should be surprised there.  Tempest has a skilljack with skillwires, letting her use specialized programs to fill in skill gaps she may have.  The software, called skillsofts, are a replacement for the education and experience; they don't add on.  But, for teams that need niches filled, skillsofts are a stopgap.  For added fun, Tempest's skillwires are second-hand cyberware; cybernetics shouldn't buzz if installed properly.

The last scene has Tempest alone again.  Her call to Takamura is less calling a friend and more repaying an old debt.  Takamura is Yakuza; Tempest is giving him a heads-up on the new BTL chip the Triads have on the market.  This ties into other elements, including the plastic surgery I mentioned last time and her work in the /bunraku/ brothel.  Tempest feels that she owes the Yakuza and, specifically, Takamura for what they did for her, ignoring for the moment that they're also responsible for her addiction.  Thanks to how the Yakuza operates, Tempest may always have a debt to them, beyond buying her BTLs from them.  This connection and her addiction will provide conflict in the potential NaNo project.

Tomorrow, more background work
Also tomorrow, over at Psycho Drive-In, Electra-Woman and Dynagirl.
Saturday, over at Seventh Sanctum, Star Trek: The Animated Series.

NaNo Backgrounder - Tempest T. Pot Part 2 of 2

Previously:
"The target always comes here on Thursdays."
"Reel him in already!"
"Cal Hots.  Shh."
"Are you sure that the chip-head can do this?"

Liber Pater, Tacoma, 20h37 August 3, 2072
The cab stopped in front of a two story building, the name, Liber Pater, outlined in flashing neon.  A few people milled around outside, smoking, vaping, chatting, or just taking a breather in the cool night air despite the rain.  Mason exited the cab, holding his arm out to help Tempest get out of the car.  He kept the hold as they entered the bar.  "I need to talk to some people.  I'll meet you at the bar."

Tempest maintained her smile as she looked up into his eyes.  "I need to hit the little girl's room."

Mason pointed at a hallway.  "Back there.  Don't be long."  He leaned down to nuzzle Tempest's neck before walking away.

Tempest watched Mason for a moment before making her way through the rougher looking crowd.  Once in the women's washroom, she went to a sink, turning the water on full.  "Crab, still with me?"

"Still online with you," he answered.  "And that's Mr. Crab.  Where are you?"

"The ladies' room at Liber Pater in Tacoma.  Where are you?"

"Getting into position."

"ETA is ten minutes," Greyline added.

"What the hell were you doing with the target in the cab?" Blaze asked.

Tempest scowled.  "What you're paying me to do.  Can you get here sooner?  This is a Triad joint.  They might not like me being here.  And their chips are pure junk."

NaNo Backgrounder - Tempest T. Pot Commentary 1

Last week, I posted the first part of what was supposed to be a quick background story for Tempest.  The idea was to get a better idea of who the cast is, something I've discovered helps for NaNoWriMo.  My goal was to have a self-contained story.  That, well, didn't quite work out.

Once again I am playing in the Shadowrun setting, something I did with By the Numbers.  Tempest, as a character, started when I wondered if I could create someone with a potentially crippling flaw and still want to play her.  My choice for the flaw was an addiction, and with Shadowrun's cyberpunk setting and computer-brain interfaces, the Better Than Life, or BTL, chip seemed like the best way to go.  Tempest is a chiphead in the game's lingo, addicted to software that stimulates the brain without having to deal with the dangers of artificial chemicals.  Problem is, even with the type of person who would become a expendable deniable asset*, that addiction means Tempest isn't considered reliable.

Tempest has teammates for this run, though she doesn't normally work with them.  I'm not sure how much of that came through, but at least Greyline is up front about his objections.  Greyline is the rigger, the getaway driver who can plug into his vehicles.  Blaze is a street samurai, much like Molly from William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy.  Mr. Crab is the decker, a hacker like Case from Gibson's Neuromancer.  All that's missing is magical support, but magicians are supposed to be rare.  The team needed a face for the job, thus Tempest's involvement.

The job is an extraction.  Someone, and for the purpose of the story, it's not important who, wants Darren Mason, alive if at all possible.  The plan is to use Tempest as the lure using Mason's habits and known preferences.  From the writer's point-of-view, this let me show Tempest off in a good light, using her strengths - her ability to get along with people.  In this case, her ability to fake being sympathetic to a mark.  It's a knack for her.  Her goal is to flirt with Mason, get him to choose her for his Thursday night fun, and make sure that the rest of the team can take him without being seen.  And contrary to what Blaze thinks, Tempest is the best choice for the role, as will be shown in Part 2.  However, her mentioning Cal Hots, or California Hots, is a hint.  Cal Hots are simsense chips that aren't quite BTLs but push the legal limits on what is allowed.

The awkward phrase, "At least he's not that skeevy to follow a teenage band if he doesn't recognize Aimee Klein right away," refers to how Tempest looks.  For reasons that will be revealed in next week's commentary, Tempest has had plastic surgery to resemble Aimee Klein, the bass player of the teenaged pop band, the Latchkey Kids, as introduced in the 4th edition supplement, Attitude.  The lead singer, Trish Scallenger, is mentioned as being about fifteen years old in 2073; Tempest is older than that.  I went over that bit a few times and couldn't find a better way to phrase it.  sigh

For what was meant to be background work, not much of Tempest's background gets revealed.  It's mostly characterization, though that is what I wanted.  The story she told Mason is just that, a story.  Tempest is from Seattle, not Pittsburgh, but the lie lets her explain why Mason has never seen her before.  If this was a longer con, she'd have a better story for him, but she's not expecting to see him after he's been delivered.  Mason is a target for her, not even a hookup.

Tomorrow, the conclusion of Tempest's NaNo 2016 Backgrounder.
Also tomorrow, over at Psycho Drive-In, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.
Saturday, over at Seventh Sanctum[http://codex.seventhsanctum.com], Electra-Woman and Dyna Girl.  Yes, really.


* AKA a shadowrunner.

NaNoPrep 2016 - Narrowing Things Up

This past year, I've posted brainstorming for this upcoming NaNoWriMo.  Naturally, other ideas have come up.  Some are older ideas, some are new.  The list after the break!

NaNo Backgrounder - Tempest T. Pot Part 1 of 2

Two Pines Restaurant & Bar, Downtown Seattle, 19h21 August 3, 2073
"No sign out here," Blaze said, annoyance creeping into her tone.  "Are you sure he comes here on Thursdays?"

"The target always comes here on Thursdays," Mr. Crab answered.  "He has no reason to not come tonight.  Is the chip-head in position?"

"Confirmed."  Greyline's voice sounded like it was several metres away from his comlink's mic.  "Are you sure that the chip-head can do this?"

"The chip-head can hear you."  Tempest took a sip of her cocktail to hide her subvocalization.  "She wouldn't have been recommended if she couldn't do the job.  Now stop referring to me as if I'm not here."  Assholes.  She took a longer sip of her drink to let herself calm down.  I have this under control.  No BTLs on the job.