Subject: Seconding that.
Author:
Posted on: 2022-05-07 18:35:36 UTC
Happy birthday and Boardiversary! Thoughts on mission coming soon.
-Linstar, literally the newest PPCer. (Shouldn’t it be Plot Protector?)
Subject: Seconding that.
Author:
Posted on: 2022-05-07 18:35:36 UTC
Happy birthday and Boardiversary! Thoughts on mission coming soon.
-Linstar, literally the newest PPCer. (Shouldn’t it be Plot Protector?)
...AND it's the day after my birthday! Yes, one year ago today I was feeling very nostalgic indeed, and decided to post on the Board again after over a decade's absence. The whole thing went so well I decided to stick around. I don't post very much, but I have become an expert lurker. I see it all
Anyway, here is a new mission: Moira Magpie and the Power of Words! Moira finally gets to leave HQ as Blank's new partner, in order to battle an HP Mary Sue who got herself adopted by Severus Snape... and then immediately delivered to the Malfoy family to raise for most of the year. (No, they had absolutely no say in the matter.)
Thanks to Neshomeh for beta'ing!
/Ekwy
My work really sucks out my ability to English sometimes. (No, really, I've been watching Gravity Falls in Japanese.)
From what I've read so far, I'm really enjoying Moira's time in the RC and a good look at life in HQ from an agent's spouse/family. It's not something I've read very much about but I do commiserate with the frequent eating of ramen, haha. I'll ask on Discord about some timeline-related stuff when I finish reading.
Happy (belated) Re-Boardiversary! Have some more lemming repellent.
Have some rose-colored glasses! Happy Boardiversary again!
I like Moira’s style of narration! She seems like such a sweet character (which hopefully will last; I haven’t read about a lot of sweet characters in the PPC!). Aw, what, no throwing the newbie into a super tough badfic for their first mission XD? Poor Moira though, she’s trying so hard to be kind to Blank and the Sue. And wow, that is a terrible Sue.
I definitely plan to keep Moira sweet, since I like her approach to Sues. She just has lessons to learn on where kindness is warranted. Most of the time, but not all of the time.
Thanks for reading!
/Ekwy
Overall, this was a really nice take on a PPC mission with some neat stuff I haven't seen before (that I can remember)! I enjoyed reading
Moira absolutely, 100% needs to talk to someone. She's just not quite there yet. But yeah, she has a lot of issues about herself that she needs to puzzle out.
NOBODY expects Buddy to be a thing! His main weapon is surprise, surprise and fear. TWO, his TWO weapons are surprise, fear and ruthless efficiency. His THREE weapons are fear and surprise, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to Moira. His FOUR--
Sorry. Got some Monty Python stuck in my throat.
Thank you for reading!
/Ekwy
Oooooh, I really like the opening scenes here! All those books open and bookmarked really shows all the studying that's been going on, and is a much more dynamic image than just saying the RC has books on the shelves. And the details about what food is easier to prepare between missions, and Autumn both caring for and admonishing Blank after her mission, are such a down-to-earth and domestic look at PPC life that I'm just not used to seeing . . . I really like it! It's so much deeper than the usual "agents are hanging out/sleeping and then a mission happens" that I'm used to! (Food is especially tricky for me to think of in any interactive way like that, because I don't really enjoy eating in RL, and I tend to stick with stuff that heats quickly with little prep time so i can spend more time on fiction and getting ready for work . . . actually, that feels pretty RC life, now that I type it out!)
I love that Moira shows her background as a fic character by sort of trying to fantasy football her way through the mission, trying to edit it into something better as she goes, Nando v. Movies-style. It makes for a great contrast with Blank's more straightforward work ethic, which makes sense for her, since Sparklee never let her enter a story. And best of all, neither approach will be 100% right all the time, even though Blank had the correct diagnosis on this particular story. Speaking of which, your dialogue for Amalthea early on, where she seems to just be making vapid observations, was hilarious, and really had me going along with Moira's desire to avoid assassinating Althea. Once you actually let Althea go full Suvian, she became absolutely terrifying, made even worse by establishing her empty, thoughtless voice tone from earlier. It's interesting that Moira sensed how deeply wrong the world was on multiple occasions, but because of her imagined solidarity with Althea, she ignored her own instincts, only to immediately be turned against the second Althea learned her name and was able to weave it into the narration. As Autumn said, "a perfect teaching moment" indeed!
So, uh, Buddy?!!? What a shock! I love the description of his human body, with all the attributes of crow skin and feathers still recognizable in the new form . . . but like, what? Did he fly into a reality room and win the lottery to go more human than crow? Or was he something like Beorn all along, with a crow form rather than bear? (Feel free to ignore if you're answering these in a later story; I just like to speculate!)
And a couple minor things I liked: I love the C-Cad scanning the canon itself and giving a phone app-style forecast. And you found the perfect mini, and you wrote her perfectly. That is all.
—doctorlit thinks the "unicorn fiasco" is that Quirrell-Voldemort goes into the Forbidden Forest to drink that unicorn blood, but the unicorns are like, "Yo, most of the magic is sucked out of the universe for some reason, we don't have to take this crap from these dark wizards." So they all go marching through the forest singing a beautiful, acapella rendition of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" until they find Quirrell-Voldemort, and they just shank them. Shank them with all their horns. And then later the Hogwarts staff get the body to the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey is just like, "This is a weird tumor, on the back of Quirrell's head. Guys? Guys, come look at this exceedingly weird tumor. Is that not just the weirdest tumor you've ever seen?" And the scar doesn't pain Harry for blah blah years, all is well, etc.
I always wanted to turn Mellon human. He had oodles of personality even as a crow, and they're smart birds. My next story is going to be an interlude where it's explained how this change happened, but it's in the plotting stage currently. I want to make sure it fits in with established PPC lore, even if some... ethical liberties might be taken. XD Still, explanations will be given! I can definitely reveal that he did not have a human form originally, that is a PPC addition.
Oh, and your explanation for the Unicorn Fiasco? Yeah, that's canon in my brain now. Entirely what happened, it's epic, I can picture it perfectly. Standing ovation. (Seriously, that's the funniest thing I've read in a while. XD) Unclear what Amalthea had to do with it, but I guess she stood nearby and stated that she found it very strange.
Thank you for reading!
/Ekwy
Although I love the mental image of her confusedly watching it happen!
—doctorlit, unicorn friend
Amalthea was going to get involved with unicorns in her fic? That settles it: her name was definitely stolen from the titular character of The Last Unicorn. For shame!
~Neshomeh
I loved the opening - I actually read it aloud to Kaitlyn - and everything with Autumn was adorable. I totally feel for Moira in her desire to say that it could be decent, done properly - Agent Kaitlyn would agree! (But equally, I enjoy the payoff in the finale - very well played.)
I also really enjoy the point you (/Blank) made about Bellatrix's knife and Gryffindor's Sword. I don't think I've seen a mission make a plot point out of the limited nature of canon resources before; it's nice, interesting.
And thanks for the hat-tip at the top! I don't actually remember translating the names, but the style screams 2020s-Huinesoron, so I believe it. ^_^
I'm so glad you came back. :) Happy ReBoardiversary, and a jolly merry birthday!
hS
I'm enjoying Moira's approach a lot myself, as I am convinced there are few bad ideas. Bad execution, yes, but most ideas can be worked with. It's just that it takes a lot more effort than Sues are willing to put in.
I remember my first agents having basically only their wands and the Sword of Godric Gryffindor to work with, and the latter was Agent Ekwy's weapon of choice since she sucked at magic. XD It's nice that there are more options these days!
Oh, and you did do the translations for my first mission, so the conversations about them are in the Google doc I used for Nesh betaing that. It was in July of last year, so I don't blame you for not remembering. "Tiny Baby" was definitely the politest way of translating Wirdith, but one of the translations for the name of my Galadriel ripoff Queen Rondomodith was Rond+Omod+Ith: Vault of Infinite Stuff/Cave of Endless Snow. Which is quite pretty and poetic, but you also said it wasn't like... a valid name. Which is fair. I clearly just... threw random syllables together. What was I thinking? XD
It's good to be back. =D Thanks for reading!
/Ekwy
This was a fun read. I like your characters, especially Moira, and how she thinks about being an ex-Sue. I especially like the part where she narrowly escapes being discovered while she's in the house-elf disguise.
Thank you for the boat, and for reading!
/Ekwy.
I really, really love Moira and Blank's interactions, and I'm seconding Linstar's thoughts on the 'trying-to-recruit-the-Sue thing.' Awesome mission!
Wow. Just wow.
I really, really, love Moira. She’s the best, very awkward and endearing. I like the trying-to-recruit-the-Sue thing (I want to do a similar thing with one of my Agents) and that helped me see how such a thing could go wrong. Amalthea’s not a fun Sue.
I liked Blank’s grumpiness.
And, um...I can’t think of anything to provide concrit on. Really good job!
-Ls, who is mentally adding Moira to his list of favorite Agents.
I am very fond of Moira myself and I'm glad she's got a fan. =) Recruitment is all good and well, but not every Sue is recruitable, and that was a lesson that had to be learned.
Thank you so much for reading!
/Ekwy
I read a little bit of the new mission so far and my only thought is, "Wait, I was supposed to do an easy mission with newbies?!"
-kA, who likes the mission so far, but has a head cold and can't think the clearest atm.
Suppose there are a lot of ways to introduce newbies... Throwing them into the deep end is also a very viable option. XD
/Ekwy, hoping you feel better soon
Happy birthday and Boardiversary! Thoughts on mission coming soon.
-Linstar, literally the newest PPCer. (Shouldn’t it be Plot Protector?)