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Hello! Have a seventeen foot long, multi-colored, wool, knit scarf (curly wig not included), and a bag of jelly babies.

Please use them IRresponsibly!

But they are so tricky to steer...I demolished a wall.
*guilty look*

Oh, TVTropes...that site is just a time-eater, isn't it? But it's great!

I hope you enjoy your time here! And have fun reading! There's enough material to keep you busy for a good while. :)

Being in the hospital is one of the most tedious and unfamiliar things that can ever happen to somebody. If your friend is in the hospital (and most likely he will repeatedly be in the hospital), he's most likely going to be bored out of his skull, feeling more than a bit helpless, and generally uncomfortable.

I've been in the hospital (my longest time was only ten days, though), and I can tell you that when that happens, if you're even awake to see they're there, visitors are simply a lifesaver. They bring a bit of normality with them that seems to relieve the artificial environment of a hospital. The most annoying part of the whole experience is that you feel like you've lost control of your own life. Even the little things--like having your own comforter from your own bed--can make it a little more bearable. The most encouraging thing, I found, was to have people who simply treated me as a human being rather than a collection of symptoms (as the medical people so often did).

Most likely your friend will have times when he feels better, and times when he's able to come home and live pretty much normally (though probably he'll become tired a lot more easily). That's part of the point of cancer treatment--to increase quality of life, so that he can go about his business as unhindered by his illness as possible. Many people who live with cancer don't particularly want to put their lives on hold for it; so they learn that they can adjust things, get some help or get more creative (or both), and find ways to do what they want to do. People, in general, are rather resilient that way. An older lady in my church has been dealing with cancer for maybe five years; and she's pretty much the same as she's always been, except that she uses one of those powered scooters now so she won't get too exhausted.

Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is one of the toughest types for modern medicine to deal with. Most likely your friend knows this already. But yes, people do occasionally recover even when doctors say they won't; and it's almost routine to hear of someone who gets five or even ten years when the doctors said he had only one. The human body is an amazingly complex system that we don't know everything about; and it's surprisingly good at returning to normal functioning even after something throws it way out of balance. I guess the bottom line is--it's a serious disease, so try not to fall into denial; but totally giving up hope isn't that logical either.

to post this, that is. We try to be about more than just badfic sporking around here, after all.

It's really hard dealing when friends and relatives are sick, and it's perfectly normal to be upset about it.

I'm not a doctor or anything like that, but it's not unknown for cancers to go into remission, sometimes for reasons which baffle doctors. You can definitely keep on hoping for that, and who knows? Sometimes people survive much longer than the doctors predict - the human body is still full of many mysteries that science and medicine can't completely understand.

But equally, I think you should be prepared for the prospect of losing your friend. Sometimes the doctors are right, and there is simply nothing more that they can do. Be hopeful, but recognise that sometimes it is time for a person to go, and as truly heartbreaking as that is, it is a part of this messed-up world.

If my experiences are anything to go by, I'd recommend spending lots of time with your friend, and try to just be grateful/happy for having known him and all the things that he means to you, and let him know how loved and appreciated he is.

Being there, talking and listening to him, remembering the good things about their life - it could be really comforting for your friend to be able to talk to you and to have someone interesting in hearing his life stories, and being there to talk about those big questions - like what's the meaning of life, and whether there's anything beyond death.

And I'd really, really urge you to say anything you have to say sooner rather than later. Don't put off things to later, cause you may never get another chance to say them - when my grandfather and grandmother died recently, I was so grateful that I was able to see both of them in their final few days and basically say goodbye, and be able to sit there and remember all the good times and all that they'd meant to me, rather than regretting that I'd never had the chance to say goodbye one last time.

Don't be afraid to ask questions here on the Board, or just talk or vent or rant if you need to. Behind all the silliness, we're a community, and I'm sure if you need to talk some more there'll be heaps of people here to listen, and that we'll be thinking of you.

Elcalion

A lot depends on the type of cancer, at what stage it was discovered, how well a patient responds to treatment, etc. A prognosis of a year, I don't know, but that actually sounds pretty good. Sometimes I think cancer prognosises are like the weather: the further into the future the more uncertain the prediction is (perhaps one year turns out to be five?)

I'm not an expert on cancer. Not being an oncologist. On a personal level, about half the people I know who had cancer survived. My aunt had pancreatic cancer; she was actually doing quite well, until she was also diagnosed with lung cancer.

That story is probably not very encouraging for you, but I also don't want to give you false hope; despite continuing progress in medicine still a lot of people die of cancer.

I think you can help your friend by asking him what you can do for him. And keep being his friend. Apart from the illness most people with cancer (or other serious illnesses or disabilities) suffer most from the fact that their friends stop visiting them.

Dear All,

I read on the PPC Rules that anything can be written as long as it isn't offensive, so I take it that this should be okay and will not violate the PPC Rules of the Posting Board.

Okay, here's my story: A friend of my parents has Pancreatic Cancer and has only about a year left. He told me about the story of his mother dying just yesterday, about a dream he had after her death, and it made me so upset that I cried.

I want to know, is there some way I can help him? Will he get any better? I don't want him to die. Don't cancer patients get better sometimes?

Thanks,
~X.B.

Welcome to the PPC Posting Board! Here, have some chocolate, and enjoy your stay!

Please enjoy this Phoenix Down as a welcoming gift with my compliments.

What the hell? This is the sort of thing that makes me glad that Tammy (Tamora Pierce) doesn't read fanfic.

1. I'll add another example: Agent Selene, a Stoker-verse vampire, is able to use her weather control powers even while in Arda, where weather-controlling vampires are presumably light on the ground. (Thuringwethil couldn't control the weather, as far as we know.)
   
   Another example of Agents naturalising into different continuua, Agent Vemi (a Maia, IIRC) ended up retiring to Discworld as an Assassin (or at least ended up working there for an extended period of time while not on missions).

Hmmmmm... generally any Final Fantasy ones, though usually the later installments (VII+) because I'm not as familiar with the early ones. There are precious few fanfics for MMOs (other than WOW, of course, which I don't play). Aion and EVE would be nice.

Baten Kaitos is good, as is Jak & Daxter (though these two are hard as well).

In general, I play mostly RPGs and platformers, so I read mostly RPGs and platformers, heh.

Have a green scarf and a slightly bloodstained longsword. Use them wisely.
(And which video games? *is interested*)

Welcome, MM! I give you...a coxcomb! It's a sort of silly hat with Shakespearean lineage.

Chocolate with pink icing.

Oh.. for a fellow TvTropes afficiando...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/FriendsAndTheHighCouncil

Prepare your brain for rottage.

Hello from a fellow newbie.

Have a random infodump.

PPC board constitution:
http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/PPCBoardConstitution
Board FAQ:
http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:TheBoard
Newbie Guide:
http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/Guidetothe_PPC

As you can see, those also link to the wiki, which is a rather useful resource because most things, eventually, link back to it.

From the patterns I've seen (and remember I'm new, though unfortunately prone to lectures):

In any given continuum, things will follow the default rules of that continuum unless those rules are directly twisted by a 'Sue.

When the rules do get twisted, the continuum attempts to follow them as directly and literally as possible--which results in some rather odd effects, such as Mini creation.

When someone crosses from one continuum to another, he will generally still behave as though the new continuum were a part of his home continuum: Someone from the Harry Potter verse could still cast spells; a Vulcan could still perform a mind-meld. I can only assume that this means characters retain a connection to their home continuum. It doesn't make characters invulnerable to things that would hurt them in their home continua, though: A vampire from "Dracula" would still be vulnerable to a stake through the heart even in a place where vampires do not exist or are not vulnerable to stakes.

Those rules seem to hold true for characters from Sue-twisted continua. A Sue that enters HQ from her own world will still retain her Sue powers. Sue weaponry and magical artifacts still retain their qualities. (Most of the time, though, friendly resident ex-Sues and any Sueish possessions are deliberately depowered to avoid influencing agents.)

Characters from worlds that have been influenced by Sues seem to retain the Suefluence-related characteristics even after they travel to another world. That holds true even if the Sue is killed or the major aberration repaired, and their home continuum reverts to its original state. When the home continuum reverts, all canon characters still in the original continuum tend towards reverting to canon as well, though those who have had the most contact with the Sue will probably have to be neuralyzed. However, any characters on a different world at the time do not revert along with their home canon.

It is probably possible to transfer some of the effects of one's home continuum to someone else. Learning magic from a character recruited from the Harry Potter 'verse seems to be possible, for example; as is becoming a vampire if bitten by a vampire from any one of many places where vampires bite and turn people.

How does this apply to biology (other than my loving long lectures)? Well, basically, biology is just one more rule that a Mary Sue has the ability to alter. The rules of a home continuum--even one that has been altered by a Mary Sue--will imprint on anyone leaving that continuum, and work the same way for them afterward. That means that bad biology would most likely still work for anyone who traveled to World One--even for things that were obviously impossible, such as flying with wings much too small, or being an impossible hybrid with three parents.

Exceptions:
*There are reports of Agents assimilating into continua that aren't their original ones. They are no longer cloaked by the canon (as active Agents would be), but tend to retain some effects from their home worlds. Theoretically, if someone with biology impossible on one world were to move to another and stay there, it might eventually become either dangerous or deadly to stay, or simply become impossible to use whatever powers their original biology granted. (Possibly both, depending on the exact nature of the difference between the two biologies.)

*Some things tend to either blow up in your face, or at least stop working, if you question them too hard (I shan't mention bleeprin). Bad biology in a world that doesn't support it may be one of those things. While there are no recorded instances (that I've found), pointing out the illogical nature of someone's biology, while in a world that does not support said biology, may be enough to cause the current world's rules to assert themselves... possibly in a very messy and satisfying manner. Think of it as a more scientific version of "I don't believe in fairies."

...I recall seeing a pair like that once upon a time, I think. I could be imagining things, but I'm pretty sure there's precedent. I'll do some looking.

As to question one, my personal take is that since Agents function fine in other continua, and Agents recruited from fic function just fine in different continua, that unless there's something explicitly very wrong with the biology, i.e. incompatible atmospheres, everyone should be fine.

And, uh, as to two, it's not that bad. Most of 'em find a place and cope. The others get shuffled off home quickly. Again, my take is that usually totally unsuitable, closed-minded people don't usually find the plotholes because they don't have the conception that such thing could exist.

Hi, everyone!

If my name is annoying to write, feel free to shorten it to MM (then again, you were probably going to do that anyway, huh?)

Like the post subjects says, I'm new. I heard about the PPC from TvTropes, and maybe someday I'll start writing my own, but I don't think I know quite enough to do so quite yet. I'm maybe a third of the way through the Original Series, though, so I'm getting there.

A little about me... I love reading video game fanfics, mostly, because being in college I don't get to do much reading outside of what I do for class. Yes, I do read slashfics a lot, but bad ones annoy me just as much as anyone else. Doesn't help that I'm gay and tons of bad slashfics are gay ones... ugh. Maybe if I do start writing I'll have my Agent be part of the Department of Bad Slash.

I'll probably be here for the next two weeks obsessively reading as many PPC storis as I can... because that's just what I do. I go into Panic Mode and read as much as I can. Can't wait to make some new frinds and entertain myself with some good reading!

Mine is a Cyber!Sue. That is a Sue that is a highly advanced cyborg/robot that is revealed rellativly early in a fic that purposly causes confilict between characters for her own nefarious ends, as well as a highly implausible (not to mention unrealiticly tragic as is the typical Mary Sue character.) backstory that has little to no evidence that is true, but simply made up for the sake of their mission which may vary from a simple assassination to somthing else of completly different.

Oh, and if you could send me information via email, that would be lovely, since this thread is getting pushed farther down, and I may forget to check it. -grins-

--anamia

What kind of badfic do you want? I've never written a 'Suefic, though it might be fun to try. -grins-

And yes, information would be nice. I'll get started reading the original canon, and then look at the wiki. -laughs- Sad, that I want to do as much research as possible before writing badfic, isn't it? (And, as you say, ironic.)

--anamia

I believe I have, inadvertently, created a new starship, one named after a giant, golden stag.

Can someone please direct me to the Headquarters dry-docks and inform me of proper procedure with a Mini-ship?

I don't know what to think of this one, I really don't. It's not labeled as humor, or I'd consider it a parody, and it's not marked AU. The grammar's okay (not great, but not hugely painful), but the story is just... wow. If I tell you that it's called 'Kel Joins the Circus,' will that give you an idea of what I mean? (Kel from Tortall: she of the Protector of the Small series.)

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5947191/1/KelJoinsthe_Circus

Thoughts? Is it even worth worrying about? Should I just throw my hands up and shake my head at the folly of humanity?

--anamia