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[insert obligatory Mechanicus toaster joke here]

I'm sitting over here laughing. You've done a good job with this. Also ... can this be canon?

- Tomash

Dwarven drinks are clearly superior to Elven drinks!

:-P

What I was going for was her thinking "Yeah, this is a date, but it's not a date-date, even if we're calling it a date, because it's not a date, because I am a tsundere and will never admit I actually like him and want to admit this is a proper date."

Zeb's reaction was my favorite part to write. Especially his mane poofing out. I miiight have been inspired by this webcomic.

I think a message against nuclear power would be strange, as there are only 99 (https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics) nuclear power plants in the USA, and only a few reactors in the world have ever melted down.

I can't believe Phobos is plying Kaitlyn with tea, though. Tea is my thing, and he knows that, the jerk!

Oh well. hS and I will get our own tea when we're done. Elfy tea, which will obviously be superior tea. Yes.

^_~

~Neshomeh

Comparison between works is a perfectly legitimate form of literary analysis. Especially using my work, because I am also incredibly narcissistic.

I actually did notice the parts of your piece that were about the relationship between your agents, incidentally, I just forgot to say so. I liked how Thoth was the one giving Tom a hard time instead of the other way around. Because boredom. Pobre bebé. {; P

Anyway, if Gall's thoughts don't make people run screaming, I'm happy. I'm trying to hint at the better side of her, but she doesn't make it easy.

~Neshomeh

I think you may have inadvertently knocked the bottom out of Ave's denial with the line "she and the Detective had decided to try and make a proper date out of this"—because we're in her POV, that tells us she does know it is a proper date—but I think if you changed that, the rest would work just fine. I like the bits where she's comparing her own efforts to the Detective's expected lack thereof, which would make denying the date-ness easier.

And, well, Zeb. I LOL'ed. Don't ever change, flooflion. ^_^

~Neshomeh

Neshomah might have come about because I had my contacts out while writing the fic and I was touch-typing. That's what I get for not going back to double-check.

...I mean, yes, I totally meant for that to be Kaitlyn being sarcastic. :P

I am ashamed to say this got me worried. I mean, my first reaction was "Bwuh? No way. What's the punchline?" Like, it's right there in the title, it's not even a surprise. And the sweatpants. Nobody goes on a romantic date in sweatpants. But Tom taking the thing so seriously made me start to take it seriously, and while Derik would certainly not be jealous if Thoth did find someone eventually, that somehow doesn't stop me from going "but I thought what they had was special *wibble wibble sad puppy eyes*". That's pretty pathetic. And also hypocritical, given my own plans. I mean, jeez, I think that makes me a worse idiot than Tom. ^^;

BUT! I tell you this humiliating fact because I think it goes to show that the story does a good job of doing to me exactly what Thoth did to Tom, by virtue of selectively focusing on certain details while downplaying others, and that's pretty cool.

I didn't even notice the adverbs until the end, either, which tells me you're doing it right. Kudos!

Oh, and Talia seems cool, and she's obviously interested in Tom. She said she wants to touch him. There is no other fair reading of that line. ^~ So, yay!

~Neshomeh

As usual, Nesh is on-point. I don't have anything to complain about, and I always enjoy a peek inside the head of a character.

For some reason, probably because I'm incredibly narcissistic or something, I tend to like examining parallels between Nesh's prompt response and my own. Usually poorly, because I'm not exactly a great literary analyst. So allow me to do that thing!

Nesh and I had a theme in common this week, and one I think we'll see more of as more people turn in responses: frustration, sexual or romantic. However, we handled it differently. In this story, Gall's desires for Derik take center stage. By contrast, in my fic, Tom's feelings and wants around relationships and dating and such aren't really the core of the story: they're very important, yes, but that story is really about showing another side of the relationship between my agents: that Tom isn't always a goof making jabs, and Thoth isn't always dead serious, despite appearances. They have more in common than you would expect at first glance—if you've read the magic thread, they share the same primary and secondary, just in reverse order.

Oddly enough, despite these differences, both stories were primarily about exploring the relationship between a team of agents. But they are different relationships, and they are explored in very different ways.

That's all I really have for now. Keep up the good work.

We're not going to stop talking about the thing this Board exists to talk about. {= )

Mostly what we talk about is our own spin-offs and characters, though, I think. (Unless that's just me. >.> ) You don't have to know the Original Series to get to know other spin-offs, and you definitely don't have to know everyone's characters to participate in discussion of general concepts.

Also, we do actually want new people to be able to follow along and join in as easily as possible. That's why we have a wiki: so you can look up all the stuff you don't understand and find the most relevant things to read to get a handle on it. There's even a Current Events page, though I think Iximaz is the only person who's bothered to update it recently. (We should all fix that...)

But, if you don't actually care about the PPC setting at all... we're not gonna change who we are and what we're about, so yeah, this may not be the best writing community for you, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of other groups out there. Maybe someone can recommend some?

~Neshomeh

"The galaxy is a mess, and I just need to subjugate or destroy anything that gets in the way of ruling it, by any means necessary."

It could've been White/Black to begin with, but at some point the Black "me first" side took over. It might look like Black/White/Blue for all the tech (the Emperor himself is probably White/Black/Blue) but it's really Black/White/Green. They don't really understand half the stuff they're using; they just do because that's how it's done, and woe betide anyone who dares to change anything.

Interestingly, according to Phobos' color assignments for the legions, there's a fairly clear White/Black split between the loyalists and the traitors. Check it out:

Loyal

I Dark Angels: White/Black
V White Scars: Red/Black
VI Space Wolves: Green/Black
VII Imperial Fists: Green/White
IX Blood Angels: White/Red
X Iron Hands: Red/Blue
XIII Ultramarines: White/Blue
XVIII Salamanders: White/Green
XIX Raven Guard: Blue/Black

Four out of nine primary White, plus one secondary White. No primary Black, four secondary Black. The Dark Angels represent the original coloration of White/Black.

We also see two primary Green (one secondary), two primary Red (one secondary), and one primary Blue (one secondary).

So, let's say we give one point for a primary color, half a point for a secondary. The order breaks down like this:

White (4.5)
Green (2.5)
Red (2.5)
Black (2)
Blue (1.5)

Traitor

III Emperor's Children: Blue/Green
IV Iron Warriors: Green/Blue
VIII Night Lords: Black/White
XII World Eaters: Black/Red
XIV Death Guard: Black/Green
XV Thousand Sons: Blue/Red
XVI Sons of Horus: Red/Green
XVII Word Bearers: Red/White
XX Alpha Legion: Black/Blue

On the flip side, here we have four primary Black, no secondary Black, and no primary White, only two secondary White. The Night Lords represent the current coloration of Black/White.

Next in predominance is Red (two primary, two secondary) or Blue (also two primary, two secondary), then Green (one primary, three secondary).

Breaking it down the same way, we get:

Black (4)
Blue (3)
Red (3)
Green (2.5)
White (1)

It's not quite a perfect mirror around a Red axis, but it's close. Pretty interesting!

I wonder what other conclusions we might draw from this?

~Neshomeh

Tomash backed away from the mysterious, fascinating woman who had appeared in his apartment. "Okaaaay, who are you?"

The woman let out a laugh. "Don't you know me, Tomash? Can't you tell me by my ability to check your borrows?"

"...Rust?" Tomash shook his head rapidly. "So you're an anthropomorphism of a programming language? What are you doing here?"

"Upon evaluation, I respond with Conversation::Response::Boolean::Yes. As for what I'm doing here... I've taken a liking to you. I've decided to get to onow you more... intimately. Don't worry, I'm very safe. Unless you want to get... unsafe, of course."

Tomash blushed. "But... but..."

"But what? Are my zero-cost abstractions and lovely enums not good enough for you?" The woman slowly began to reveal more of herself. "Off for another risky night with C? You know it's only a matter of time before you crash and burn... but with me... you can be safe forever. Don't you want that?"

Tomash's eyes widened. "Y-yes..."

The woman smiled wider. She held out a glowing collar. "Here. Put this on."

"What's that?"

"It's a tag, of course. It wraps you as a Person::Related. A Lover, specifically." She laughed, gently. "What, did you think I'd cast you? After all, I am big on safety."

I don't have much to say, except that A) that was hilarious, and B) I love the double-subversion punchline.

While, yes I do know that I don’t have to read everything there is about the PPC (i’m Not that psychotic yet). But that’s mostly what people talk about, and with the aforementioned issues regarding me catching up on it, I mostly get pulled out of conversations and end up giving up on trying to join again. It make me feel more stupid than the rest of you that I don’t know much about it.

Here's one other (now older) newbie you have missed. Please have this bag of black-hole chocolates

Please have a pot of black-hole coffee.

Richard Legard: White/Blue/Red. Richard like the idea of peace, moral and just good, however... While we're not on the scale of Notary's 'White is pure Order' there is the downside he's also a rather passive streak there, letting himself follow the order and, more often than not, the logic, the facts and his head rather than guts.

Yet, deep down he's emotionally invested behind the passivity and the intellect, and would like to express this more. To steal from oter systems, his behaviour can lead him to Lawful Neutral, but deep down he craves the idea of being Chaotic Good... Provided his worldviews and ideals aren't shattered first.

Marina Nicodelli: White/Black/Red. Marina is less about 'good' as order, but she would very much like to see a world of peace and ione of rules followed... Except of course reality doesn't work that way. The world is unfair, and sometimes enforcing some form of order requires to break some rules... So be it, be she's very much not letting the means take the lead on the ends, some rules aren't escapable.

However, for all the cynism and the order, she will react strongly to any topic sensitive to her. And while she harbors some curiosity about other magics, deep down her response to it is rather emotional, with the discovery of the unknown... provided the unknown don't break the rules she holds dear or gives answers she dislikes. Moreover, there's the fact she awaits for the day she can leave the PPC behind, in no small part because of the loved ones she left behind.

(Those are the elf ears, obviously.)

+1 for Phobos' 'deep, manly growl', +another1 for Kaitlyn's pink everything, and +onemore1 for accidentally(?) having Kaitlyn sarcastically use 'my' pet name 'NeshoMAHHH' for Nesh.

hS

Gremlin belongs to PoorCynic, and he helped me work out what exactly she and Gall could be getting up to that would involve fancy dress. Cheers!

~Neshomeh

"Okay: how do I look?" Gall stepped out of the bathroom and spread her arms.

On his cot, Derik lowered The Tempest and rolled over to his right far enough to look at her without twisting his neck.

There was a moment. Gall was familiar with this moment. It was almost like a staring contest, each of them watching and waiting to see if something would happen. It hadn't yet, and Gall was getting a bit desperate. Not that she was desperate, mind you, just frustrated. But not frustrated. She wasn't pining away for Twu Wub like some yak-brained idiot. It was just . . .

Derik tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Like you raided the darkest, most humiliating depths of Elms' closet," he said.

The moment ended, like it always did, in disappointment. Gall sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

Derik went on: "I thought you said you were going to World One. That can't be appropriate."

Dammit, she'd been sure this would get a reaction. The low white bodice with the sleeves hanging off her shoulders, the tight green leather corset and matching skirt, the sheer white stockings and black buckled shoes . . . the costume didn't leave much to the imagination. Okay, so Gall didn't have much to flaunt in the assets department, but the corset helped, and the color suited her complexion, too. She was a natural redhead. That was supposed to count for something, dammit!

"Shows what you know," she huffed. "This is totally traditional. I'm supposed to be, like, a leprechaun or something. Buy me a green beer and I'll show you me pot o' gold." She cocked her hips and grinned. That was a pretty good line, if she did say so herself, and she did. "Pretty good, right?"

Nothing.

Dammit.

Derik sat up. "Correct me if I'm wrong—"

"You're wrong."

"—but I thought this holiday was about a man named Patrick driving snakes off an island that never had any to begin with. What does this—" he gestured to all of her "—have to do with that?"

She shrugged. "Hell if I know. Who cares? It's an excuse to party, and everything has to be green. Green clothes, green beer, green food—and get this: the city we're going to, Chicago? Gremlin says they turn their river green."

"Are you sure she's not winding you up?"

"No. But again, who cares, as long as there's booze and hot people?" In a brilliantly unsubtle segue, she added, "You could come if you want. I bet we could find you a shamrock thong." Gods, she wished.

"No," Derik said far more quickly and decisively than was fair. "You and Gremlin have your Girls' Night. I'll stay in this time." He held up his book, telling her he planned to be extremely boring and sit around reading all night.

She sighed again. "Fine. Don't forget to sweep out the fireproof corner, it's getting all sooty again."

"Fine, fine." He flicked his fingers; he'd take care of it. "Go. Have fun."

He really meant that last part. Dammit.

She smirked at him. "Hey, if I come home with someone, do you want me to warn you, or what?"

He looked down at his book and shrugged those perfectly contoured shoulders she was dying to sink her fingers and possibly her teeth into. "I'll clear out if you like. I would prefer a warning, but if that isn't possible, an awkward scramble will have to suffice."

Dammit. "Heh. Yeah, fair enough."

The sad part was, if he'd just been a normal person and jumped her bones as soon as she made it clear she was interested, that probably would have been the end of it. As it stood, his bizarre and unnatural reluctance was like a challenge, and she never backed down from a challenge. She had never expected it to go on this long, and she knew she should have given up ages ago, but without her notice, things had changed. The longer it dragged out, the less it was about pure, clean animal lust, and the more it became about something much harder to define, like maybe principles or honor. Whatever. The point was, she knew he would come around one day. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. And when that day came, she would be there, and all would be right with the world.

But in the meantime, she'd party with her best friend, get drunk on green beer, and maybe get a little action to tide her over.

"All right, I'm off to paint the town green. Catch you later!"

One day.

---

This is set in the very near future, obviously. Apologies for the distilled cultural insensitivity that is a typical St. Patrick's Day celebration in these parts. Personally, I make a point of staying indoors on whatever Saturday they do the thing with the river. Drunk loonies everywhere. *shudder*

I kinda feel like I should apologize for taking you inside Gall's head, too, but really getting in there and figuring out how it works is something I need to do, so y'all get to take the journey with me. The MTG colors thread has actually helped with this, making the title all the more appropriate. ^^

~Neshomeh

P.S. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheTempest">Just in case anyone is wondering why The Tempest. (It's funny. Chuckle ironically, dammit!)