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"I would like to recommend the following course of action. Convoy-S should break toward the Hyper Limit, and get to work repairing. They can coast the rest of the way, bring up their wedge when the time is right, and get out. The other Convoy ships should stay on course and begin repairs; shields and wedge are priority for all ships.

As for us, get another missile in the air heading 4 by 35 by 9 (ending at Convoy-C starting position). Bring our other bird around to due East (ending one hex West of Convoy-C starting position).

Also, bring us about hard and burn Northeast. I've already dispatched a repair crew to get those thrusters back online.

"And launch a second one to where Convoy-N is! Send us due north and tell Convoy-S to accelerate to the SE!"

I'm fairly certain that those posts to which you linked - which, again, are things that I deeply regret and for which I am sorry - were at one a.m. GMT, rather than US Eastern. Is that the five or six hours behind one? I can never quite remember. In any event, I assure you that I was in no way influenced by what was happening at the time with Ix; that would be far crueller than I am capable of being.

The Matt thing, well, I thought it was only a few days before. Time compression is a thing; I know for a fact that my fiancée (still get a thrill saying that tbh) can say "the other day" and mean a time period ranging from the other day to upwards of three months ago, and if anything I'm worse. =]

As to what I meant by "This obviously hurt July far more deeply than I ever intended", well, I wasn't under any illusions. Losing a friend hurts. Having someone cut ties with you hurts. I just... never thought it would affect her as badly as it did, and for that I can only apologise and know it cannot and will not be enough.

You have one launched missile, which you can use to hit anywhere in the enemy's destination hex. If you don't start moving, you're going to be essentially out of the battle, though.

Convoy-C has been hit, and lost its wedge (which was already lowered). Convoy-S has also been hit, and lost its hyperdrive. Convoy-N evaded attack. (There is an error in the diagram: Convoy-S should have its shields back.)

But.

The only convoy ship visible on enemy sensors right now is Convoy-S. They also saw the missile strike on Convoy-C, but crucially, have no way of telling which ship it was. Because Convoys C and N accelerated, breaking formation with Convoy S, Convoy-C is now where the enemy expected Convoy-N to be.

In other words: the bad guys have just lost tracking on two of the three convoy ships. If Convoy-S can get out of sensor range (remember, it has 1 hex of maneuvering this turn; the other two have none), the enemy will be completely unable to find them.

hS

Also, that's an awesome picture of the Grand Canyon.

Also also, the article on Princess Mako says Emperor Akihito is considering abdication? I wonder why? And for that matter, why isn't the Japanese Emperor allowed to abdicate? I guess it's a holdover from back when the Emperor had way more political power. Any Japanese political history experts, feel free to weigh in.

Although saying that I can't do today between 5:30 and 10:30 (possibly later).

I'm not up-to-date on my Buffy canon, only up through season four. From my perspective in the timeline, I'd say you have Joyce's voice down absolutely perfectly, but Buffy's, I'm not so sure of. The last I remember of Joyce doing any dating, Buffy was rather resistant to it, so it feels a bit off for her to be supportive and encouraging about this. Then again, part of her reservations in that episode were sensing something wrong with Joyce's boyfriend, and again, my lack of newest info in the canon may make this criticism irrelevant. I do think the overall interaction, with Joyce teasing Buffy with information and playing on her assumptions, is spot-on between the two of them.

I did catch the neutral pronoun usage, so I guessed the reveal early on. (Although my very first initial guess was that Joyce had gotten a pet of some kind, until I reached the phrase, "about my height.") More importantly, though, I think your characterization of Buffy, not noticing the pronoun game and failing to imagine her mom as interested in women, is true to Buffy's direct and stubborn mind in canon. And again, after the reveal, the dialogue between Joyce and Buffy feels right for the way they tend to interact in the show. Buffy's reaction to her mom being bisexual is realistic, and Joyce acting proud and just slightly smug feels right, too.

I was initially pretty confused by the choice of Hermione's mom. (Do we seriously not have a name for the parents of one of the Golden Trio? I'll just call her Granger here.) Then I thought I understood it better, but just now realized I'm still at least a bit confused. The fact that Granger introduces herself as "Monica" seems to indicate that this is taking place during Deathly Hallows, when Granger's mind has been charmed by her daughter. If that's the case, though, Granger shouldn't have any memory of her daughter, and also calls to question where her husband is. This made me briefly think that this is meant to be an AU where Granger lost her daughter young and left her husband, except Hermione was the source of that name—unless you're using that name as a stand-in because SERIOUSLY HOW DO HERMIONE'S PARENTS NOT HAVE NAMES. Except, then you would go Monica Granger, since we do know the surname, at least . . . Ultimately, the confusion caused by these details, as well as the suddenness and brevity of the closing paragraphs, weakens the ending for me. I suppose if this were an actual, published fanfic, there would be a continuation where the reader could glean more details, or at least an author's note explaining how Granger got here. As it is, it feels like a quickly thought-out twist to throw on the end for the sake of a surprise.

Also, Buffy's thoughts in the middle of Granger's dialogue should be moved to their own paragraph.

"Thornbird! Adjust Missile Launch Vector! Line Laser Arrays! TARGET TANGO 1"

Tactics hits several buttons, with targeting reticles quickly appearing and lining up with the ship. "All clear sir!" He says.

"FIRE!"

Before the dust clears, the Captain barks out some more orders: "Get that Decoy back up. Convoy! Prioritize your repairs on your shields, send yourselves NE on thruster power!"

Tango 2 has been destroyed, Tango 1 has fixed its lasers but lost its shields. Tango 3 has three missiles on the field - one streaking pointlessly off to the north, one able to hit Convoy-N if the convoy doesn't maneuver, and one able to strike any of the convoy ships if it can guess their location right.

Thornbird is currently stationary, having fired its lasers at Tango 1. The convoy maneuvered slightly and then all ships lowered their wedges; the enemy currently knows their location, but will lose them off sensors fairly soon. Note that Convoy-S can't maneuver again this turn, while the other two can.

hS

Kaitlyn and I have the DVDs for one through... three? Four? I can't actually remember what even was happening. Something dramatic, at any rate.

May have to look up the next one and see if we can buy it...

hS

I'm not sure if any of you watch this excellent little show, but it looks like there's going to be a sixth season! Personally, I'm delighted that I'll get to see more of Joan's wonderful fashion sense (and by extension, Lucy Liu's lovely face). Yeah I'm shallow.

Also the King of Netherlands news make me laugh incredulously, so there's definitely that

I hope we'll see you again one day but for now, goodbye.

This has been a long, suffered decision on my part, but in the end there's nothing I can do about it.

I haven't been feeling comfortable here at the PPC lately, especially after all the recent drama, and I am afraid that the Concillary, while a great idea, in the end didn't manage to change my feelings either.

This doesn't mean that I'll stop writing - I fully intend to finish Blank Sprite, continue Keiko's spinoff, and the final chapter of IrregularS will be published soon. Just keep an eye on the Wiki and on Fanfiction.net for the next releases, and please use the comment functions for concrit.

So, it is my time to say goodbye. Please don't answer with "don't go please" - I have already made my decision. I might be back one day, but not soon.

*picks up his sanity from the bin next the door where it had stayed for seven years, dusts it off, and waves goodbye*

Hello again, and welcome to your weekly dose of news, views, and... snooze? I dunno.

Please remember that, when it comes to the state of the world, not everyone will agree with you. You're free to state, discuss, and defend your viewpoint (provided it does not violate the Constitution), but please don't use that fact to attack others.

Fandom News


(Link 1 & Link 2)

Soooo hands up who remembered there's a new Star Trek series on the way? :D Yes, we finally have a proper trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, which is revealed as taking place ten years before TOS. Actually, we have two trailers: a 1:50 cut and a 2:24 cut which has vanished from YouTube. The only reason I'm aware of the second is that my phone popped it up on my newsfeed last night.

As a part-time Trek fan (we've been watching Voyager; for some reason it's the only one we've been able to stick with), I'm cautiously excited for this. It certainly looks very pretty, and I love that uniform design. The ship itself (as seen breaking through the clouds) doesn't look half bad from this angle, either - rather more NX-01 than NCC-1701, but maybe that's not a bad thing? (The Internet suggests that might not be Discovery, but Shenzou, Michelle Yeoh's ship. We shall see.)

On the other hand, it does look like the first episode is Invasion from the Lens-Flare Dimension, and I'm finding those Klingons pretty disturbing. We'll see, I guess.

Silly News


(The Netherlands & Japan)

There's no serious way to put this... the king of the Netherlands has a secret double life as a pilot. As in, he secretly takes the co-pilot's slot on commercial flights, without telling the passengers who he is.

He's been doing this twice a month since he became king in 2013, and for 21 years total. He, uh, is now training to fly the Boeing 737, too. So... yeah? Good for him?

Meanwhile, over in Asia (yes, Friday Forum does know of a world beyond Europe and America...!), Princess Mako of Japan is giving up her royal titles to marry a commoner, as required under Japanese law. As it happens, her aunt Sayako did the same thing back in 2005 - she went from being the daughter of the Emperor to living in a one-bedroom apartment.

Neither of them were eligable for the throne - apparently only males can inherit (which puts Mako's younger brother third in line) - but even so.

Serious News


(Link)

Ian Brady, one of a pair of serial killers known as the Moors Murderers arrested in the '60s, has died in prison (and who said Serious News had to be bad news?). He did so without ever revealing the location of the body of his one still-missing victim, though it doesn't seem like he was ever going to. The other four were buried on Saddleworth Moor, though (and have been recovered), and that's where the interesting part of this story comes in:

Christopher Sumner, the senior coroner running the inquest on his death, has refused to release the body until he's received an assurance that Brady's ashes will not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor. He says he's fully aware that he isn't legally entitled to make that request - but that he's doing it anyway, for moral/ethical reasons. I find that quite heartwarming. Good on you, Mr. Sumner.

Not News


(Link)

The Grand Canyon is a) very pretty, and b) haunted. Possibly by the ghosts of dead oceans.

hS

First, I'm sorry for thinking you were blowing me off when in truth I was basically speaking to an empty room. Thanks for the updated e-mail address.

Thanks also for the apology. I appreciate it, and having actually seen the contents of the messages, I am inclined to believe your explanation for the most part—I can certainly sympathize with not wanting to be only a foul-weather friend. I know not everyone reads you as sincere, though (Ekyl being one that I know of), so I'm gonna try to get this cleared up beyond a shadow of a doubt.

First, could you please clarify the timeline? The timestamps tell a slightly different story than you do. I believe the Board, Discord, and the screenshots I have are all on US Eastern time, so looking at the screencaps and the Board, it appears that your messages to July started right about the same time as Alleb's post went up on the Board, only about half an hour after you were in the chat saying this. If I understood you right, you said that once the drama started in Discord, you were too busy trying to get in touch with Iximaz to be thinking about July, but it's hard to see how the two things can be disconnected when they took place right on top of each other.

Also, the Matt thing happened March 8-10. The drama went down over a week later. I know I am completely capable of condensing a week to a few days in my crummy memory, but since I'm putting together a timeline, I'm... well, putting together a timeline.

I also have to question what you mean by "This obviously hurt July far more deeply than I ever intended," because it reads like you did intend to hurt her at least a little. It's a pedantic reading, to be sure, but with roughly a week between deciding to cut ties and actually doing it, the hurtful bits appear quite premeditated and intentional indeed. If that's not what you meant, would you please say what you did mean?

~Neshomeh

I don't think I can eat any more virtual cake! Mmph!

-Twistey

Bios: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C05Pap1Xa31gJVgNTj2GYyzmWEJhJpNGCv1USip6q0/edit?usp=sharing

Writing samples:
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ijyHNtjxU-gaTn73aUUPBDJGfl8JMhJNOm6o-eug8">https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ijyHNtjxU-gaTn73_aUUPBDJGfl8JMhJNOm6o-eug8
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CyB4fcXTAWGBdksPSf05aGiKGboAT9iqpbP5lV8isLs

Badfic: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6981888/1/Tormentor. It has an wangsty Harry replacement and bad spelling. It also gives Harry some Dementor powers and makes him the son of Voldemort.

Beta: Jay - Awesomeness Central