Subject: Mulan Missions
Author:
Posted on: 2012-11-04 05:20:00 UTC
Okay, so this might be a bit lengthy, but these are some important points that I wanted to... er... point out.
Chapter 3
Only one major note here, and it's the way this line is written: Then she shut the portal, missing Eagrus' eye-roll as soon as her back was turned.
My smaller note is that Eagrus' eye-roll should be Eagrus's eye-roll; despite the fact that Eagrus ends with an 's', the eye-roll still belongs to him, and this should be reflected with an apostrophe-s rather than just a plain apostrophe.
The larger note is the way the sentence is worded. As it is, the line makes it sound as though Cyba didn't miss Eagrus's eye-roll until she turned her back; a better way to write this sentence might have been something like this: Then she turned and shut the portal, giving Eagrus the chance to roll his eyes without her noticing.
Chapter 4
My only problem here is that one of your conversations came dangerously close to being too confusing to sort out who was saying what: "Where did you get that?"
"I bodged it up while you were being subjected to the No Drool Videos."
"Riiiight... Oh, and Cyba, don't challenge the IO! It'll come back to bite you!"
"And you know what...I'm in a good mood and I DON'T CARE! BRING IT ON!"
"I don't know why I'm going to go on this mission with you, Cyba, but I'm increasingly sure I'm going to regret it."
"I'm hyper, crazy - and the IO is not going to stop that. Not today! HAHAHA!"
"We're doomed..."
The only reason I didn't lose track of who was speaking was that Eagrus kept calling Cyba by name, which strikes me as a touch 'scripted', but that could just be the way he talks.
While it's okay to have a few lines written without identifying the speaker (as long as there are only two speakers, or there are several voices speaking at once and the narration needs to reflect a sense of all-at-once chaos), I find that more than a line or two per unidentified speaker begins to feel like a script with no specified characters - not only is the dialogue confusing after that point, but foreshadowing and personality quirks mentioned by a character during such a conversation may not stick with the reader as well as it would if the speakers were identified quickly enough to prevent any confusion, which can take away from the story a bit.
Now for the Nicer Stuff!
I really liked the fact that the wraiths possessing Mulan and Shang kept noticing the agents. I made an apple cider-drinking game of it. We're out of cider, now.
And I'm fairly certain this is the first time I've ever seen an agent wage war with the Ironic Overpower. It was equal parts terrifying and hilarious.
Your mentions of Sar-Plasm made me curious, so I went on the Wiki and read the other mission where it's mentioned ('Of Sar-Plasm, Sue Pies, and other Affairs of the Organs...'). I'm sad there's not a Wiki page for the stuff; it seems under-loved. Someone should correct this! -raises hand to volunteer-
Anyway, all in all, great missions! I giggled nonstop while I was reading them, and that's a good thing. :D