The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Remember the prompt Novastorme gave out back around when the Shipfest started? "(At least) One of your characters is preparing for/on a date"? Yeah, I wrote two lines for that at the time and then it got a while to cook before I finished it a week or so ago. Posting it anyway.

Feedback is welcome, including for the Reunions prompt piece I did (which got buried a bit, I think. Too many wonderful prompt fills. Let's make even more! And more after that!)

Also, pretty much every prompt full I've done is now officially canon (I don't know about this one yet, but I'll figure it out), and (again, apart from this one) has been given a doc, and a cleanup, and a title, and some nice formatting. I'm slowly adding them to the Wiki, though so far they're not really on the agent pages (apart from Kozar's, IIRC).

At any rate, I give you: the date prompt!

~Z

--
PS: I put this together on mobile. Autocorrect decided that what I'd really meant by href...was beef. A web link made of beef. Sounds a bit like something you'd see on a mission...

PPS: That seems to provide the yellow highlighting of a link that isn't, you know, there. Pray excuse it for the sake of the anecdote (and possibly tell me what bit of coding would in fact stop it, if you want to; nothing I tried worked, and I'm curious).

We're just waiting on the match between Nephthys and [EvilAI]UBEROverlord to determine the third place winner, and then the tournament will be over for the year.

In the meantime, congratulations to Hardric and Novastorme for taking gold and silver respectively!

The tournament doc can be found here.

Birthday was awesome and the margaritas were amazing. :) I'll definitely post an update on how surgery went—nothing graphic, though, I promise. Here's hoping I'll be able to hang around while recovering, because I'll be bored without y'all.

It seems the other thing already got deleted, and it didn't work anyway. You can delete, I guess.

That sounds like it'll be super exciting for you! Stay safe and may you stay in key!

I'm planning on leaving her actually getting the surgery off-page since I don't really want to focus on the trans aspect of Ix's narrative; she mentioned wanting to get it done to Charlotte in their engagement interlude, and she's started on testosterone as of a few months ago. I'll mention she gets the surgery done, but like I said: I don't want to make this a huge focus to Ix's character, so it'll be a thing that happens and might slow her down on a mission or two, but nothing major besides that. (Unless you feel like it's really necessary?)

I stole Ix's dialogue from when I had surgery to remove tumors from my chest; her reaction upon waking up was basically exactly mine. Totally out of it, fell back asleep, woke up again with a clear head. I got very grabby with my mom (and apparently very demanding of food?) and most of what I wrote was told to me after the fact.

Thanks for the review. :)

I'm not entirely sure when I last read a mission that wasn't one I was writing, so I'm behind the times. Seems like this event would be important enough to get a full interlude, though?

Anyroad, this has the ring of truth to it, which is a good thing, but also makes it a little uncomfortable, because I'm also wondering just how much of this is based on real life. The dialogue in particular doesn't feel randomly distorted, but rather like a transcription.

Not much to nitpick here, and also I'm on a bus and getting close to my destination, so I guess I'll leave it at this: the piece is solid and it was effective at making me feel Ix's wooziness and the comfort of loved ones, so I reckon that's good!

~Neshomeh

The German Landsknechte used two-handed swords, known as Zweihänders, to great effect as a means of breaking through lines of massed pikemen.

I bid you well, most currently most prolific PPC writer.

You definitely deserve one, since you're running this whole show. {= )

I'm slightly hampered here by not knowing the continuum, so I have no clear idea what the monsters (I assume) look like, or what sort of implement Volcanic Storm is, or why people can talk through rolled-up pieces of paper on their arms. {= ) You don't necessarily have to explain every little thing someone who knows the continuum could be expected to know, but a bit of description instead of or in addition to the proper nouns here and there wouldn't hurt.

I do more or less follow what's going on, so that's good. However, I think the action could be improved by means of shorter sentences and more active voice, to increase the sense that lots of urgent things are happening very quickly. For example, the fifth paragraph could be rewritten something like this:

Cinnabar retreated as fast as she could. She didn't need to look behind her to know the Grimm were getting closer. [Maybe a bit of description of how they sound or something.] At the first opportunity, she swerved to her right, leapt into one of the few houses that wasn't either destroyed or on fire, and slammed the door shut behind her. It wouldn't stop them, but it would buy her a few seconds. She raced up the stairs. As she reached the top, she heard the Grimm smash through the walls and windows below.

Et cetera. Stopping there because I'm not sure she can really burn a hole in the ceiling and jump or climb through it faster than a bunch of monsters can climb stairs. Maybe she should torch the staircase behind her? Just a thought I had as I was typing this.

There are also commas missing at the end of the last two lines of dialogue.

With those improvements, I think you'd have a solid little piece here. Rescue missions and a selfless defender holding out until the last second to save everybody is good stuff. ^_^

~Neshomeh

And good luck with the surgery!

I'll be in Central Europe with my Chorale this next week! Not sure it'll be long enough for a mini Gathering, but if anyone's going to be in Salzburg, Vienna, Melk, Brno, or Prague... prepare for singing, I suppose? :)

Also, this'll be my first time abroad. Ever. |D Yay for plane rides!

Have a cake. I hope the surgery goes well.

Good luck with the surgery too. When you get out, have a super-special birthday cupcake! It's chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate icing!

This came up with the first cloned cat - the cat that cloned from was, Raibow, was calico, but the clone CC (or Copy Cat) was not, because her cells all had the same X chromosome inactivated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CC_(cat)

We're the same age, you and I. Yes, we are. Heh.

Congrats on your getting Legal Drinking Age batch. And I wish you good luck on your surgery!

Best of luck with your surgery, and whatever you're planning to finish afterward, I'm sure everyone's gonna be HYYYYPED. :)

Here, have a celebratory Tabby Slime from Slime Rancher! "Those stripes, that tail, that wiggle, wiggle, wiggle."

The black and orange color genes in cats are linked to the X-chromosome. In each cell, one of each matching pair of chromosomes is inactivated, so in calicos and tortoiseshells, you get patches of a different color depending on which X is active. This pattern is only possible in cats with two X-chromosomes, ergo, almost all girls. {= D

It doesn't actually surprise me that most people don't know this, but it DID surprise me when an episode of Star Trek: TNG insisted a tortie was male. It CAN happen, if you get an XXY cat for instance, but it's very rare. I kinda ranted about it. Phobos was not impressed. >.>;

Further reading: X-inactivation.

~Neshomeh

If you want more cake, I have a black-hole chocolate one with red berries coating. And red berries fruit juice. Or kir for celebrate 21st birthday.

Also, good luck with your surgery operation.