Subject: I love it.
Author:
Posted on: 2014-11-12 19:32:00 UTC
I've been very bad about keeping my agent profiles updated, so if anyone wants to do that with the recent Continuity Council and A Troupe By Any Other Name hijinks, I'd probably be in their debt enough to draw something for them. Just saying.
Yes, the Wednesday Pluggage continues, but once again I'm taking a week's break from Driftwood (I was busy at the end of last week, so I haven't had time to write it). Instead, here's not one, but three stories from the annals of the Continuity Council of Gallifrey-in-Exile.
(For previous Continuity Council exploits, see their introduction and Continuity: Gallifrey Bickers)
Hey okay, really sleepy, let's get this over with for sleep bedding. Sorry for not-as-good- review, have work in morning.
"Purge"
Very, very good to see les Museeaccentmark more. Like the description; would have to be absolutely monstrous huge to fit everything. Like the Cornelius man, amusing personality, will be fun to write as someday.
Wonder how the museum got all those books from totally existing Gallifrey in the first place?
"Gallifrey Imminent"
THIS is amazing. HOO BOY so amazing. You basically set up, implemented and resolved an entire emergency in four tiny-short scenes. A masterpiece of elegance. Love the idea of protagonist!Jareth. Using Doc Brown clever. Don't know the other two. Personally, I would have picked no, no, let's not ruin the moment with fanwank.
(I picture Twelfth Doctor, because Eleventh already got to have fun in HQ with Slorp and Angels.)
"Tea"
Read the original RP post, didn't read story format. No time. Sorry.
Okay, need sleepytimes eight minutes ago. Still to brushing teeth yet. Ask, and maybe I can have better words in morning. Sorry.
Best part of Doctor Who is theme song. ♪Oooooo weeeee ooooooooooooooooo! Ooooooo weeeeee oooo ooooooo!♪
I've no idea how the Musee pulls its collection from what are, by definition, lost worlds - possibly they find a fic set before they were lost? I'unno.
And I'm curious - who would you have picked? Carl Romeo is a wizard who specialises in temporal manipulation, and Esme Weatherwax once time-slipped an entire kingdom eighteenish years into the future. I was tempted by one of the Mrses from A Wrinkle in Time, but couldn't remember if they had actual time powers; but there's ultimately heaps of time characters out there. So go on - you're a Time Lord, trying to retcon a disaster, and you can pick any four canon characters to help you (other than people from Doctor Who, which is quarantined). Who do you bring along?
♪Da DAH, da-da-da-dah, DAH, da-da-da-dah, ooo oooo, ooooo weeee oooo♪
hS
I had meant that line as a joke, just because everyone's answer would be influenced by what canons they know. I haven't read Discworld or Young Wizards (right?) (or A Wrinkle in Time, actually), so they just don't mean much to me. Wasn't necessarily criticizing your picks, but since you asked:
I also haven't watched Back to the Future all the way through—long movie is long, and doctorlit gets antsy from sitting still too long. But I would still pick Doc Brown, if only because Morgan seems to be a fan, and irony is tasty. Plus, his continuum and Doctor Who seem to take similarly chaotic, sci-fi views towards time travel (from what little I've seen of both shows), so he would have a fair idea of what's going on.
I would definitely have to pick Teferi from MAgic: the Gathering. This is a man who not only survived major temporal trauma (being trapped in a slow time bubble mid explosion, and basically performing a single dive through flames to escape a burning room over a span of decades), but also fought against other planeswalkers (super-wizards) to stop their little conflicts from enveloping entire worlds. He's also a powerful time mage himself, putting his own country out of "phase" with the rest of the planet to let it escape a global war. Finally, he sealed off a series of time rifts that were threatening to destabilize (the same) world. I think he's quite equipped to battle Time Lords!
For number three, a bit of cheating: the Ellimist and Crayak, both from Animorphs. They're both beings with the power to basically create and change entire timelines at will, with a mind to making the universe the way they want it to be. Neither would appreciate such a massive level of outside interference. While they're normally enemies, I can imagine a team-up pretty easily; the Ellimist would go to far lengths to put his continuum back the way it should, and Crayak would want to continue his universe-size chess game unmolested. (And, as a villain, he would be majorly targeted by the Continuity Council to begin with.)
Lastly, well—I really like your use of Jareth, actually? He's not a charcter you would regularly associate with the concept of time, but when you think about how he can manipulate the Labyrinth, and people's minds, it's actually pretty clear he does wield some control over it. Some might argue that his powers wouldn't work outside the Labyrinth, but you have to consider: Sarah's parents seem to be out to dinner an awfully long time, don't you think? (I forget what they were doing, but whatever it was: dinner, movie, show, they shouldn't have been gone that long.)
So, yeah. Again, it's just a familiarity thing, and I wound up ripping off half your list anyway.
... that four-dimensional thing that shows up... ehhhh, it's been too long since I read this. Was it the one that gave Tobias back his morphing ability? Or at least let him pick up a 'human Tobias' morph?
Never heard of Crayak (I don't think) or Teferi. As to Jareth - time in the Labyrinth clearly passes at double speed, and he does have a line about reordering it. Then there's the fact that Sarah has about a minute to spare when she reaches the throne room - but spends way more than that in the Escher room. (I'm not sure we ever knew what they did, actually - my memory cuts in with 'Your father and I go out very rarely-''You go out every single weekend!' and then some really terrible assumptions on the part of the wicked stepmother)
Also. Y'know. He's magic. He can teleport. He can spontaneously change costume. He can hypnotise you with a peach (and I think there's a timeslip in that sequence, too). He's probably got something up his sleeve.
hS
Crayak first showed up in #26, when the Ellimist brings the Animorphs to another planet to fight some of Crayak's minions. His backstory was given in The Ellimist Chronicles, but I mostly remember him for the book in which he tempts Rachel with superpowers in an attempt to make her subservient.
*goes to bookshelf to double-check what he just typed*
Wow. I actually had that book number memorized. Why do I have that memorized?
—doctorlit's formative childhood years are filled with Animorphs trivia and empty Twizzlers bag huffing.
The last things I remember were David, and... well, at least one of the one where they go see dinosaurs, and The Andalite Chronicles. I'm pretty sure most of my Animorphs reading was done out of the library - I only remember owning a couple.
I wonder if they've ever issues omnibus editions? That might be worth tracking down...
hS
Oh, that would be so cool! They could do it like those huge hardcover books they sell at Barnes & Noble with the complete works of Lovecraft or Anderson or whoever. It would probably be about the same length, considering I need an entire shelf for the main series. (The two choose-your-own-adventure Alternamorphs titles didn't fit, so they're one shelf up.)
There's a dodgy Pokemom ripoff game for the GBC.
Did anyone play this back in the day? Because it sounds hilariously bad.
Also -- eek, we have a Bad Roleplay Department, and this is a game with, presumably, RPG elements... would sporking the story of the game be a valid mission?
hS
We don't go after published canons! You know better! After all, a video game adaptation is no different than *opening link* LotR having movie vers—HRRRRRR What. WHAT. What is this? Who put Pokémon all over my Formative Childhood Fandom? My serious psychological study of the effects of war on the human psyche has no room for aggrandized turn-based anime combat!
*looks at picture* Coyote morph? All the Animorphs had a wolf morph, but no coyotes ever showed up in the book series. I know this! I remember! NOT CANON. NOT CANON. It must be destroyed! Ilraen, Orken, Iskillion! Gunslingers, to me! For the Gardens! For the Pool Ship! FOR THE TOWER!
(So, Pokemom, huh? What about Pokedad? Is he not good enough to warrant mentioning?)
It's six feet long and I had to stack several of the Alternamorphs/Megamorphs on top of the other books. And I have the whole series.
Though I seem to have misplaced my own Choose Your Own Adventure books... Bah, they're probably hiding under my bed.
Where was I? Oh yeah. If there were to be a 'complete works' for the books, they'd probably have to condense the type size by a lot.
I have the main series all lined up, so that measures up to: Just shy of two feet and six inches. (That's the fifty-four main titles, four Megamorphs, three Chronicles backstories and Visser.)
The two Alternamorphs are a further three quarters of an inch. So altogether, it's roughly two feet, six point five inches!
They wouldn't necessarily have to condense the type, though. Most of the books are pretty small, so they each wouldn't take up many pages of a large omnibus. The main disadvantage is that the little flip-book animations in the corner of the page wouldn't translate.
Stephenie Meyer's The Host: Yeerk propaganda? Discuss.
(Also: Yeerk romance novel. Horrible idea, or the horriblest idea?)
hS
I have an Animorphs question that's been bugging me for a while: what color is Andalite blood? I've looked around the internet, and apparently in book #29 there's a description of Ax's blood being blue-black. It seems legit—one person even gave a page number, 140—but I'd still like to confirm it. In lieu of seeing it with my own eyes, could you lovely book-having folks double-check for me and give the full line?
~Neshomeh
I mean, iron gives red, copper we know gives blue-green... so that means you can derive blood-colour from the colour of the transition metal ions in solution/complexes. So... hmm...
... I am not the person to be figuring this out. I mean, yes, I know the chemistry - but being somewhat colour-blind means figuring out whether Chromium(III) solution is dark blue or dark purple is an impossibility.
This lovely chart shows colours for the top row - chromium or copper (II) could be blue on there. But we know copper blood is greenish...
(And, y'know, heaven forfend we delve beyond the first row of the d-block)
hS
I'm afraid I don't understand what the chart is supposed to show. ^_^; The Fe column contains nothing remotely red at all (the +2 box is pale green and the +3 box is butter yellow), so how does this relate to blood color?
~Neshomeh
But I can at least contribute a teensy bit of biology to this conversation.
Horseshoe crabs which are not stingrays have that copper (as hemocyanin) in their blood for carrying oxygen. However, their blood is actually closer in color to the "+2" box under Copper in that table you linked, and then, only in large quantities. Individual drops looks more like cloudy water:
This point in this video has examples of both colorings.
(I realize responding to a post where someone states they're color-blind by posting a video and saying LOOK THE COLORS is kind of horrible, so I apologize for that.)
(And yes, I am super-displeased by how that blood is collected. I recognize the incredible medical value of their blood, and I would never deprive anyone in need of care of the products of that research, but damn there has got to be a more comfortable way for the horseshoes for sit through that.)
So something in horseshoe crab blood besides the copper in the hemocyanin affects/determines the coloring. Again, I couldn't say what, because my chemistry (and medical) knowledge is quite poor. So Andalite blood could also use a copper-based molecular structure for oxygen transport (Do they use oxygen? They survive in Earth's atmosphere, but oxygen is a minority there, so it's not definitely what Ax was inhaling all those years.), but have other factors that darken the color of their blood. Or, not use copper at all and have other elements in their bloodstream entirely.
—doctorlit waits for the inevitable debunking of everything he just said as being completely out-of-line with modern chemical knowledge.
I'm not sure I'd look at that blood and think 'blue-black'. Hmm...
The question of whether Andalites are oxygen-fixers is an interesting one, but I think it's a non-starter; the only other option in Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, and I don't think it's reactive enough to fill the oxygen role. I guess you could do something weird with the fact that fixed nitrogen is a fertiliser, and the fact that they eat grass... not sure the world is ready for algae-powered Andalites, though.
So, oxygen fixing. I've just stumbled across the fact that cobalt can act similarly to iron in some organic molecules, and cobalt is known for its blueish colours. Cobalt(II) can be either blue or pink, and cobalt(II) iodide is actually described as blue-black - though I suspect that comes from the iodine.
Basically, this colour comes from cobalt, and feels very 'blue-black' to me. Whether there's a viable haemoglobin replacement (coboglobin?) is an open question, but I'd guess this is what they were thinking of with Ax.
hS
From Animorphs #29: "The Sickness," chapter 26, pp. 139 to 140 (Cassie's point of view):
"Thanks." I picked up the scalpel and positioned it to one side of the spot Aftran had described. Then I made a straight cut about four inches long. I could feel the metal blade scraping the bone of Ax's skull.
But that was good. That's how deep I needed to go. I needed to peel back a flap of skin so I could work on the bone.
A line of blue-black blood appeared. My stomach did a flip-flop. I swallowed hard and made a cut that was perpendicular to the first, again about four inches long.
"Hemostat!" I snapped.
Bleh. I actually had trouble reading some of this scene. I can't stand medical stuff. I wonder if I had trouble with that scene when I was younger? I don't remember being bothered.
Whew, mystery solved. {= )
Sorry it was off-putting to you, though. I personally find medical stuff fascinating enough that any amount of squick I might feel is vastly overpowered by "ooooh, cooool!"
~Neshomeh
But at the same time I was too worried about Ax to be super-grossed out. Oh, how un-Genre Savvy I was.
And I love reading medical books and stuff- I found an interesting book at the library the other day all about the stages of human corpse decomposition that's really fascinating- but I'd vomit if I saw that in real life. :3
(Also, darn. I didn't see this thread until I got to school and had no access to my collection.)
As mentioned in the subject, there will be some off-topic rambling here and there. My apologies in advance.
Purge
This was probably my favorite of the three stories. A nice little exploration of an aspect of the PPC that isn't really talked about all that much. The Musee is a great concept that I'd definitely like to see more done with in the future.
I liked the character of Dr. Cornelius. It was nice to see the juxtaposition of his curmudgeonly and reasonable aspects. He's also got a great name. That's a name that definitely fits an agent. Lorelei felt a bit more flat to me, although that's probably just because of how short the story is.
I wanted to touch on your brief mention of the "standard PPC uniform." Has the "standard" uniform ever been fully described? Its original mention in "Vacation at OFUM" just describes the uniform as being black. From what I've read (and admittedly written), most "uniforms" in the PPC hardly fit the word. Get something with some black on it, a flash patch, and everything would seem to be golden.
Gallifrey Imminent
I liked the overall tone of this piece. Plus, this is the kind of concept that always interests me: the decline of the well-intentioned and the heroic into the dark side. I also liked the collection of heroes that you gathered to try and stop the council.
It did seem that the PPC fell pretty quickly. I know this is supposed to be a short story and Time Lords are pretty dang powerful, but the PPC (as you mentioned) pretty much has access to any weapon throughout the entirety of canon. They might not win - heck, they probably wouldn't win - but I'd have to think they'd at least bloody Gallifrey's nose a little.
Slight qualm: In "Gallifrey Bickers," Morgan is one of those who were opposing the Notary's proposed takeover of the PPC (or that's how it seemed to me, anyway - maybe I missed something). I know this isn't the same situation, but what made her change her mind in this instance?
Tea
This was fairly pleasant, if a bit confusing at first. It took me a bit longer than I'd like to admit to realize that the Continuity Council had jumped into another multiverse (and so easily, too!). It doesn't really tell me anything about the characters that I didn't already know or couldn't already figure out. Whereas the other two felt like stories that needed to happen in some way, this one just seemed a bit innocuous. It was still amusing, I just felt it was a bit weak compared to the other two.
All in all, more good and funny stuff. Keep 'em coming.
PoorCynic
PS: I will review "Driftwood" at some point, it just keeps slipping my mind. That post might be a multi-parter, though. Fair warning.
I'm pretty sure we have an Sgent 'call me Lou' and an Sgent 'don't you dare call me Lou'ise; I think the Doctor is enough to separate the two agents.
Lorelei did end up with very little to do, sadly. Since she's free-to-use, I'll note that she's already had an appearance in 'Ephemerals', so she does have a bit of personality.
Morgan's 'standard PPC uniform' is... well, black. ;) That's about all there is to it. The point is that she's not wearing robes - I think she described it on the Board once as 'What? I put on something orange, what more do you want?'.
The fall of the PPC - two things. No, wait, three. First, I didn't think I'd specified how long the war took. Morgan says 'finally', so it could be years - or decades, even. That said, I think the 'fighting in the corridors' section would be over quite quickly - and that leads me on to the second point:
This is a political speech. Morgan has no requirement to actually tell the truth. If you think about it, all she needs to have under her control at this point is DoSAT and the DoDAEG (and the Committee Room, I guess). The rest of HQ could be a warren of guerilla fighters which the Time Lords dare not enter into. Pretty sure we've 'won' a couple of wars that way recently.
And thirdly: yes, the PPC has access to all the multiverse's technology - but Morgan is a PPC agent. How much do you think she brought with her when she 'took a leave of absence' and got herself elected? If she didn't take a portal generator, at minimum, then she missed out on a great opportunity.
But yes - there's clearly a story in there, and if someone decides they want to write it, I'm not going to stop 'em.
Morgan's change of heart - this was deliberately left vague, because it is quite difficult to picture, but it's basically a combination of 'power corrupts' - whatever the others may think, Morgan sees herself as the de facto President of the Continuity Council, and she also has a gun - and the Ispace Wars triggering all her protective instincts at once. Couple that with Upstairs refusing to admit there's a problem (they get round to it eventually, don't worry), and the stage is set.
Yeah, 'Tea' is a bit weak, and I'm not sure how well it holds up separated from the context of the thread. I might go back to it at some point - throw in a preamble, maybe even (gasp!) give it some purpose in life. I just thought, since it exists, it was better to have it filed and ready, rather than lost in the Board archives.
And: thanks for the reviews! It's always great when someone takes the time to ramble. ;)
hS
I've been very bad about keeping my agent profiles updated, so if anyone wants to do that with the recent Continuity Council and A Troupe By Any Other Name hijinks, I'd probably be in their debt enough to draw something for them. Just saying.
Let me finish with the more pressing schoolwork, and then I'll be happy to oblige (if a less busy person hasn't gotten there first, that is).
Although, on that note, I should really finish putting together the Reader's page. I'd love to get that up soon.
Also, does the Continuity Council actually have a page yet? I kept seeing red links on Morgan's page, and nothing comes up when I search it on the wiki. We should really get on that, if it's truly nonexistent.
~DF
But the Librarian would never, ever, ever, ever agree with the Notary. In principle. He'd rather be forced to listen to J-Pop for all eternity.
[Spoilers ahead for Gallifrey Imminent. I'll leave a space.]
The reason he makes that explicit agreement in Gallifrey Imminent is to set up the fact that he's one of Morgan's two, uh... accomplices? Supporters? In the closed timeline. Which, given that Morgan's being silent, pretty much requires him to agree with the Notary.
The reason he's standing with Morgan, by the way, is that I've always understood him to be one of the more order-aligned Time Lords - one who would actually consider radical methods to make things, well, better.
So: do I have him wrong, and need to excise him from Team Let's-Rule-Everything? Or do I just need to change his response to the Notary? Either is fine by me, just say the word.
hS
He gives jack about the rest of the universe - as long as he can pursue his research, the rest of the universe can go to hell for all he cares. Exception: he does feel an obligation towards Gallifrey. Guilt about running away, to be precise, though he'd rather die than admit it.
Looks like Morgan just locks him up with the rest of 'em now.
hS
I got tangled up in my memories of the original RP, where he does sort of agree with the Notary - or, more precisely, when the Reader disagrees that the Council is more intelligent than the rest of HQ, the Librarian quibbles with her.
But that is a fairly key difference. At this point I'm thinking the Librarian would probably 'defect' to Morgan's side at some point - where 'defect' just means 'stop fighting and set up shop in a library back home somewhere'. So I'll excise him from Team Morgan, add in a note during Triumphant, and... come up with some other way to do the Prologue/Epilogue.
hS
Was the Librarian on Gallifrey at any point during the Time War?
(I might be writing something, shhh)
~DF
PS: Put two Time Lords in a room, and they will angst. Put half a dozen Time Lords in a room, and they will bicker. This is something I've learned.
PPS: I blame hS for everything. Including the last thousand words of fiction that I've written.
PPPS: Des, I hope you're doing okay. Also, I owe you an email from way-back-when. You can expect it at some point in the next two years, I think...
No, the Librarian wasn't on Gallifrey during the Time War. That's why he's feeling guilty.
Yes, I'm doing alright. I mean, I'm jumpy, but I think that's justified.
I was wondering, since you mentioned he ran away but his wiki page doesn't reflect any Time War activity. Good to have that sorted out.
Jumpy is understandable. Hope things get better soon; in the meantime, virtual tea is always at least momentarily calming, right? /hands tea/
~DF
"Dr. Cornelius seemed to swell up"
Now his eyebrows lower dangerously the first time.
As to your other question - well, he was the Sixteenth Agent, you know. It seems impossible for him not to have known the Originals, though I suppose it's just about doable - it's been established that there wasn't a lot of mingling between departments until relatively recently (witness the poaching that goes on during The Reorganisation). But still... there were only seventeen humanoids (counting Makes-Things) in the PPC at the time. You'd expect they'd at least run into each other at meal-times.
hS
Also the way you capitalise that makes him sound like a future regeneration of the Time Lord known as The Agent, hah. Dunno if that was intentional to play off the Council but it amused me. I'll fire a quick thing at you privately for why I asked, I'm trying to keep some of my projects semi-secret so it's more fun when I reveal stuff I've finally finished. :P
... he's free-to-use, and I have no further plans for him; if you want to muck about with him, be my guest.
hS
One thing I'd been going to bring up I noticed upon searching archives I had mentioned to you a couple times before - no need to be redundant! As for the Originals question, it was really just to check if it'd make sense to reference Osbert knowing him in things I plan to write with him (Monty, that is, not Cornelius). Though if it's okay, I might treat that "nobody really interacted with agents in other departments until recently" thing a little flexibly from time to time?
As oversaturated as Time Lords sometimes feel in the PPC of late, I do like how you write this group and their dynamics, and we all know how I like worldbuilding stuff and looks at people's off-mission time, especially nods to the older lot. :P Dr. Cornelius is an interesting sort too, it must've been quite the journey that took him from presumably-distinguished field agent to curating a museum of dead or forgotten continua. Any chance he knew any of the Originals, out of curiosity?
