The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I've heard snippets of it played in public spaces but didn't think to audio-search them, and recently I managed to record a snippet of it but couldn't audio-search. Here is the snippet (ignore the shouting please 😅); can anyone make out the lyrics?

I don't consider it one of my best missions, but I'm glad you like it 😊

Which is here, of course. Very nice, very nice. I liked the interpretation of the typos; the MUSCULAR MALES NAKED part was especially funny. I liked the contrast between Kaguya's ranting, the fic's insanity, and Momoka's shyness. If I were to give criticism, I would say that the mission could use a bit more explanation of canon concepts, and Japanese words that most PPC readers wouldn't understand. Still, a good read, and quite funny.

--Ls

I'm still dragging my feet over My Immortal, but I think the Aviator and Zeb will retire after that—one Legendary is plenty, thank you very much, and at this point they've more than had their fill. They're tired, they've been through a lot, and at this point they're ready to be done with their lives as agents.

They've got a kid to look out for now, too, and since Zeb is more or less Elanor's other parental figure at this point, they'll negotiate another permanent use of the D.O.R.K.S. for Zeb. They retire to a peaceful time period of Gallifrey where Elanor can attend the Academy, and the Aviator and Zeb will remain on-call in case the PPC ever has need of them.

And, at some point many years down the line, Elanor like as not becomes an agent herself.

If you want, you can check out any Asylum riffs with Mina or Carlisle, though some of those might require further context. I don't have very many missions, sadly.

Anyway, for the reviews themselves:

Thanks for the review! The textspeak dates from my conception of Charity being somewhat Suvian still; and the RA is because I originally used RAs for Mina and Charity's conversation, only to retcon that after Nesh pointed out that that wouldn't make much sense for RAs to do. I uh, might need to go back and fix that. It's definitely a good thing Mina failed, haha.

Thank you for the feedback on 'Maya Sue'! This was my first mission, I believe, and it's... what, two years old? ...that's weird to think about. In any case, I do think that this mission has a bit more observing than directly showing the fic's problems. I think that was mainly because of how short the fic being missioned was; there was only so much to work with. I do think I do a better job with that in 'Eternal Sue', the next mission, so... uh, yeah, I'd be interested to see what you think of that.

--Ls

Took me long enough, considering how short these were and how much time I had over the summer, but here comes another mission/interlude dual feature! Though I do wonder if the mission here really counts as a mission, considering where the agents get sent...

Perchance to Dream, a kind of mission in which the console acts up and nothing happens.

Alopecoid, an interlude where Makes-Things meets a monster from his culture's folklore.

Not much to say here, except I'm glad to finally get some writing done after a few months of stagnation. Been trying to take writing as a hobby more seriously as of late, so I'm finally getting through my chronic perfectionism to actually finish old works. Anyways, hope yous enjoy this one!

So, I ended up reading two things, "Snow Problem" and "Maya Sue"

First, "Snow Problem" was a nice bit of HQ slice of life, though I suspect Mina should be glad she didn't manage to actually get the head of External Security with a snowball. One thing that confused me was why Mina's RA was beeping, and I'm also not entirely sure why there's 2000s-era text abbreviation going on (presumably people have flip phones and I just don't have the context?). But, my confusion aside, the concept was good.

As to "Maya Sue", my overall impressions is that you've got a solid mission. I got a good idea of what the issue with the fic was and there were several interesting agent interactions (I particularly liked the opening and the fact that the charge list was actually a list of complaints about Carlisle stood out. I'm assuming that the Reality Room-ing comes up in a followup interlude, and perhaps triggers an argument between Mina and Carlisle - that feels like what you're setting up. If I had a point of complaint, it's that the fic-watching felt a touch disconnected - it felt like there was a lot of yelling about the problems with the story and not a lot of showing them. Then again, that's a hard balance to strike.

• Tomash

Oshimo gets into the PPC to research a method to beauty (the reasons will be revealed later in the spin-off; not giving anything away here), so she won't retire until she achieves that.

For real, I don't think anyone told Nume that was an option, but he wouldn't take it anyway. You'll have to pry his RA out of his cold, dead hands. Or maybe force him onto a nice Federation planet within tourism distance of Vulcan. He wouldn't grumble about that too much.

Ilraen, on the other hand, wants a life that includes a family life at some point. (In-universe it's possible this has already happened, but I've shot all developments in the foot by insisting on getting through "Subjugation" first, and we all know how that's working out.) He'd love to finish out his years in his home universe, but failing that, he'd settle for some remote corner of the Uncharted Territories (Farscape universe). Farah and Kkukttak could come, too!

Derik and Gall may relocate to New Caledonia if/when the times comes that they can't keep up with the Suvians. Neither of them would be happy returning to their home universe (or each other's). Gall would prefer to end up a KIA, though—hero's death; Valhalla; bury her bones and Fellrazer's at sea. Derik might say the same (without the Valhalla part), but if he makes it to old age with his remaining sanity intact, he'll return to his Harper roots and become an entertainer and/or teacher to keep busy.

Jenni will at some point go back to her home universe, but since she's immortal it won't be retirement so much as the next phase of existence. And even then she might drop by sometimes to see how things are going with her friends' grandkids and so forth. {= ) Ex-PPCers are welcome in her universe, too, provided they don't try to be main characters and won't be weird about the whole "technically a goddess" thing. Oh, and if her siblings show up, don't listen to a word they say; they're jerks and she left them to play their stupid games by themselves for a reason. (At least, that's my current understanding of the situation. {= P )

Agent Neshomeh will never retire; she'll slowly become one with the Archives, perhaps converting her neural engrams into a Miss Minutes-esque cat hologram that pops up to answer questions, correct the spelling in agents' mission logs, and occasionally knock things off your console when you're not looking. ^_^

~Neshomeh

You can choose whatever piece of writing you feel you can write the best review for 😉

Thank you; that was a very nice review! I appreciate the specific comments on what you liked about the mission and why.

Re. "nonplussed," I mean it in the original sense of perplexed or at a loss for words. If you're curious, here's an interesting article about the origins of the word and how its meaning has changed in modern times.

~Neshomeh, word nerd.

About Review Chain

Here's the list for this session's players:

1. Kі nо Shirayuki - review here
2. Linstar - review
3. Tomash - review
4. OrangeFox - review
5. Neshomeh

Since I'm the first on the list, I will review a PPC story from the last person on the list, Nessie. I've decided to review Ring Child. I apologize in advance if my review is not particularly good.

---

This one has to be one of the most enjoyable missions I've read, mainly because the four agents featured are tackling a particularly annoying fic (I'm personally very irked by infantilization and overblown saccharinity, so seeing the agents poke holes in the Stu's supposed "cuteness" is cathartic). I especially enjoy the dry sense of humor in the narration as it detachedly relays outlandish phenomena such as spots growing on everyone and the Stu briefly becoming undead. The resolution where the replacement-Stu reveals a true form is very creative, and nicely averts possible disturbing implications.

I only have one question:

“My god, the Breefolk. Look!” He gestured at the common room, where indeed every Breeman and about half the other patrons displayed the same markings. “That’s . . . new,” he said, too nonplussed to even get angry over it.

What sense of "nonplussed" is being used here?

For my optional rec, I'd go for another HP × LotR crossover: the "Marimtudada" mission by Manx and Shadow. It's truly hilarious stuff.

New review thread will be up shortly.

I'd rather see this take place among all newer members (I know you're out there!), but it's a great idea and I want to make sure it happens, so tap me if you need to. {= )

~Neshomeh

Charlie would likely go back to their campaign variant of the Forgotten Realms setting as a lich, if they ever were convinced to retire (which would be fairly easy with the right negotiator). The Out of the Abyss module they were in would be long over by the time they went back, so no one would remember them, and any stories they told of the strange realms they’ve visited would probably be brushed off as just a funny lich quirk. They’d find a nice little gothic manor to hide out in, fill it with undead servants, and then just sit around entertaining people in nearby towns and having a fun eternity trying to convenience the tavern-goers that they’re a perfectly normal tabaxi bard (and being comically bad at it).

Jiwon would probably just go back to see the family, provided memory wiping can be avoided - losing memories seems a logical fear for an immortal, and Jiwon’s a nervous type by nature. Explaining what the job experience was like after all this time would be an awkward time, though. Also, going off of a Years Hence ficlet I've had on the backburner for a while, Jiwon would also have to explain why she's a she.

And then there’s everyone else I've written for this setting, who’ll probably never voluntarily retire within the century: Ocotillo, Matterhorn, Dr. Glocktopus, Tess, and the Curator, all for a variety of reasons ranging from simple immortality (Glock) to dedication for archiving all - and absolutely all - of the setting’s history (Curator) to just feeling like there’s nothing left for them to go back to and nowhere new to go they’d find purpose (the others).

Carlisle would probably like to hide away in a library full of old books and no other people; and Mina would probably want to help with the Nursery.

--Ls

• Sergio and Nikki... already did. They went back to the world of their fanfiction of origin, since it is now standing on its own. Sergio became a racing car driver, Nikki started working at and eventually bought out a café. And they had a kid!
• Corolla I don't see retiring in the foreseeable future, since she loves being a technician at DoSAT. She would probably end up freeloading at Sergio and Nikki's house if she is forced to, and eventually find some kind of tech-related job.
• Arumi... I guess she literally can't. Being basically like KITT from Knight Rider, she needs regular checkups at DoSAT. Regardless, she's been an agent since 1998 and she's still sane and happy, so I guess she really likes it there.
• Ditto for Emily. Being a Kancolle ship girl, she has certain "maintenance requirements" that would be very difficult to meet outside the Kancolle continuum (where she cannot return) or the PPC.
• For Syaoron I haven't really fleshed out his PPC backstory much, but I think he would be a bit of on-and-off actually. Work at the PPC a few years, retire on some universe and try to live a normal life for a while, figure out that place isn't for him and go back to the PPC, rinse and repeat.

Going fast-forward a few years...

• Keiko is only working part-time, but as implied by her character arc in the TWWA timeline the PPC is only one of the many things she's trying after giving up on being a racing driver. It won't work out like all the other things, and as per TWWA she was already considering resigning after around one year.
• Shiro and Saki would likely last more than her, but they would eventually retire similarly to Sergio and Nikki. I mean, they're alternates of them... I never fleshed them out enough to decide what they would do afterwards, though.

And now the alternate timeline!

• In TWWA Hajime wasn't thinking about resigning yet when she met Keiko during the Unravell around 2035 HST her timeline, but she would eventually do - to her, the PPC is basically training and experience she's getting for when she will become a Strike Dove operative. As such, she will likely retire no later than 2037 HST when she turns 18 and so is old enough to start some actual work there.

he will absolutely not cut his long hair. Just thought I'd throw that out.

Kaguya and Momoka would just go back to their world ('Guya has a clan to inherit and university education to finish). Helena and Sheen would go back to Pixie Hollow. Urato, Inasuke and Fáelán have nowhere to return to so maybe they'll just stay.

Suppose that, by some miracle, your agents (or other PPC folks) get to retire. Where are they off to, and why?

(for my folks

• Peregrin is "retiring" to DAS or to some multiversal library or university. He's got research to do, or if not that, idle tinkering with clocks, and he probably shouldn't go anywhere where all the stuff he's picked up at the PPC might not get dismissed as old professor ramblings
• Taq is off to an MMO or somewhere he can be Background Orc Ex-Warrior #3 without much risk of dying or discrimination
• Farah would take her time looking for sci-fi settings where she'd blend nicely into the background, maybe on the crew of some sort of merchant ship, and that are obscure enough that she wouldn't have encountered them often in Crossovers
• Kkukttak hasn't thought about retirement much and he still isn't sure it's not a euphemism. If the time does come, though, there's a solid chance he'd follow Farah and become an eccentric engine tech with too many knives
• Aulhar figures his job in Finance is pretty close to retirement, so the worst you'd get out of him is going part-time
• Technician (formerly Agent) Tomash is off to the Culture or the like because it looks like a great place to be overall)

And it looks like there's still room, so may as well