Subject: Nice mission!
Author:
Posted on: 2022-03-23 05:44:27 UTC
It's neat to see the early days of the PPC, back when things were more relaxed (but there was a Mysterious Somebody and a DIS, so things weren't that chill) and when the internet was just taking off.
The agent interactions were fun to read.
It's rather late here so I don't have anything specific to point to here, but I can say I liked this.
I'm afraid this is coming a bit out of timeline order. You see, this mission isn't set in 2022. Nor is it set in 2012, or even 2002.
It takes place in 1999.
In which Alex Orange, Sam Apple, and Mortic Wentway - aka probably half of the DMS Fantasy Division - take on some of that new-fangled Internet fanfiction, starring a Lieutenant Mary Sue knockoff who doesn't understand what made the original great, and her slightly unusual Lust Object.
hS
I've been working up a snapshot of the PPC in May 1999 (ie, just before the Reorganisation), and I'd like to include any agents that people know were around. I'm not asking for people to start inventing new agents to fill the gaps - gaps are good, they leave space for later writers - but if anyone has any agents that they've written or intended to be in the PPC at this time, please let me know!
I've done a cursory trawl of the Wiki (I literally pulled up any page containing the word "Reorganisation"), so I've got some, but any more would be welcome. I've outlined in the link above how I think the Departments and Divisions line up - take a quick look, because there are some differences! Most DMS agents are in Trek, X-Files, or Buffy; the Fantasy Division is actually full with only two teams! It Were A Different Time, and I'm trying to reflect that.
Also, it's a long shot, but if anyone happens to have a Klingon woman going spare from that timeframe, Morgan has an unnamed one as her partner, so it'd be fun to combine them. (Again, I can always create one if I need her - this is just if she already exists.)
hS
PS: The department numbers are a little loose, but I think they line up with both the statements so far (including, by the Valar, the TOS Untangler "some dozen"!) and the reality of fic numbers at the time. It's not like we're going to hit them anyway, so I'm not worried about precise counts.
Admittedly I wasn't around when the Reorganization was written, but I made a character a year and a half ago I always pictured as being around since the earlier parts of PPC history?
Said character is Dr. Glocktopus, a professional enough Nurse that just happens to be a sapient giant Pacific octopus. I think it was supposed to be a one-off character at first, but I guess it grew on me and now it's in two missions. (It would probably be more, but procrastination's a Thing.) I think I even had an Interlude in the works at some point where some Agents found a box of old, torn-up Black Cat badges it kept as keepsakes or war trophies or something of that likeness.
Dunno if it'll work for what you're planning, but I guess it's available if you needed another Medical worker or something?
-OrangeFox
There's no need to have been here when it was written - if it was I'd basically be talking to myself and Nesh at this point - so this is great. Another permanent Medical nurse is a really good thing to have in the toolbox.
You're quite right that I'm Planning Something, but I also want this to be a snapshot that anyone can take a look at if they need to reference something from back then. Even if I don't mention Doc Gloc (I don't know that I'll have any need to touch on Medical or the Psych departments), it'll still be there for the future of the past.
hS
I believe they get killed in the Reorg? I can give you their 1st/2nd/3rd personalities and regeneration looks over DM.
Good thing I just came up with a name for the DIC agent who was in RC 999 before Nume! Catherine "Kit" Steever is a former redshirt from TOS. Notably, she's an engineering redshirt rather than a security one. Specifically an electrical engineer. She's the one who set up the Trekverse doors and replicator in RC 999.
The backstory Lily and I have hashed out is that she more or less caused a plothole just by existing, since for all the progress TOS made, women in STEM didn't have much of a showing. She chose Action rather than DoSAT because she actually wanted to live a more adventurous life than a job installing and maintaining control panels allowed for. I quote, "You mean they let women go on away missions here? Sign me up!" (I checked: there's all of five confirmed female casualties in the show, only one of whom was a redshirt. Of the others, three were blueshirts and one was a goldshirt who was later brought back to life.)
I don't have a physical description in mind for her, but probably Caucasian. She gets assimilated and killed in the "Tangled Web" fiasco and I don't wanna commit a "bury your minorities." >.>
You can also use Bogglish and Pablum from (current) FicPsych. I have no idea when they joined, or if they started in FicPsych or just Psych, but in 1999 they'd be 26 and 34, respectively. Freedenberg was probably around? Suzine could potentially be somewhere between "new" and "head nurse" at the time (or just "newly head nurse")? There's possibly also Dr. Kinkade, from a mention in one of Oracle's stories in 2003.
I'd consult Architeuthis for a list of agents who were around as of at least the early aughts and possibly earlier. I think Despatch refers to some older agents, too?
If I think of anything else, I'll let you know!
~Neshomeh
Obviously Psych must be the department that looks after the agents, but... in the DIS' police state, would you trust the Psych department? There may be nothing to it, but there are guaranteed to be rumours that a bad psych report will get you picked up by the Guards.
Falling out of that, Freedenberg's presence (and reputation, per Nenya, as the one who actually cares about agent wellbeing), and Suzine's recent promotion, I've put down that Nurse Freedenberg has just been demoted as Head Nurse of FicPsych - because he was sneakily seeing agents on the side. Of course there's no proof that the DIS ordered him punished for working around their monitoring setup...
(Thus solving the problem of how Suzine can be Head Nurse without thereby outranking Freedenberg, in the period before he became co-director and took the title of Doctor.)
For Archi, Despatch, Nenya and all the other early spinoffs: I'm trying to avoid just shotgunning the period with everyone who might have been around. I'll pilfer a few if they have a good reason to be there - for example, Joe Bob Brentwood, from DMS: X-Files, who fills a hole for me - but I'm trying to keep it restrained. :)
hS
I didn't know what this was going to be until I saw the name Suzeanna Marianne, and then I was very excited!
This was fun. Excellent agent banter; the "what's a Monty Python?" joke will never get old for me. Good work avoiding pronouns for Sam and Alex. I'm pretty sure I only noticed you were doing it because I knew to look. {= )
Getting a look at the PPC in a time before Jay and Acacia was cool, too. Was all the tech a bit dodgier, or is theirs just old?
Yikes at the DIS showing up to interfere with a mission just because of a missed meeting. Good job all that's about to change!
One nitpick: Forms of "to be" are always capitalized in titles, including the "is" in The Dark Is Rising. The badfic got something right for once. ^_~
~Neshomeh
I guess it's because it's a verb, and so doesn't fall into the same category as all the short words that get lowercased, despite being shorter than them? To be honest I've probably made that mistake a lot.
When I wrote this, the intent was the all the tech was a bit clunkier, though it was in the middle of being upgraded (hence the DIS have shinier Remote Activators, for example). Having re-skimmed Reorg today, the portal frame I was basing this on is described as very old and obsolete, so I guess MAS have an outdated RC. (Makes sense; Fantasy only has like two teams, nobody writes fantasy fanfic in this day and age. ^_~)
(Incidentally, I suspect the other half of Fantasy is Jay and whoever her current partner is; she runs around using a bow in Reorg, while the likes of Nyx Nightingale stick to hi-tech weaponry.)
Re Alex and Sam: for those who don't know and are curious, these two originated in the PPC Playscriptes. They were written to be playable by people of any gender (and indeed species, though I think they're probably human by this point), so their genders have never been defined in text. They know what they are, but I don't, so I entertain myself by writing around the question.
hS
It's neat to see the early days of the PPC, back when things were more relaxed (but there was a Mysterious Somebody and a DIS, so things weren't that chill) and when the internet was just taking off.
The agent interactions were fun to read.
It's rather late here so I don't have anything specific to point to here, but I can say I liked this.
Sure, there are a few bad apples in the DIS, but that doesn't mean they spoil the whole barrel. All these rumours about their so-called "overreach" and "tyranny" are just conspiracy-mongering. It's probably coming out of Implausible Crossovers - who knows what those weirdos get up to, am I right? Bottom line is, whoever's in charge of this place, the mysterious Somebody the SO sometimes mentions, they definitely wouldn't let things get out of hand.
Right?
hS