I haven't seen any Doctor Who to come out since the end of Matt Smith's run, so I had his Doctor in mind, particularly as his struggles with the TARDIS helmic regulator were such a running joke for much of his run. (I'm thinking particularly of the short where he wakes up Amy and Rory, then realizes he's not there on the right date and leaves in a huff. "Wrong point! As you were!")

>3: The ancient solution to an unspeakable evil possessing someone. Let
>a second evil infect her, kill that evil, take the other one with it!

I don't think Flan was possessed so much as she'd suffered a brain injury in the course of turning that her malfunctioning vampiric regeneration wouldn't allow to heal. Nothing dumping in a few quarts of immortal's blood supercharged with the condensed essence of a rainbow can't fix. :)

--G.
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Probably the thornier issue will be the fact that he's already married, technically, depending on where in his light cone you're standing. It's one of those verb tense problems like in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it's still something that will need to be thought through, because the thing is that Remilia has somewhat peculiar notions of propriety.

What I mean is, she was willing to sleep (literally) with him from day 1, initially because she found it amusing and had absolute confidence in her ability to prevent anything from happening, and before long because she liked it and had absolute confidence that it wouldn't be necessary to prevent anything from happening. The bathing situation developed along similar lines on a slightly longer timetable. And all of that is fine with her, because it's safe and comfortable and Not Lonely. But at the same time, she won't go any farther than kissing until and unless they're actually married, because at the end of the night she's still a 16th-century maiden. :)

So the fact that he already has a wife, maybe, in another dimension and another century, but who is still in the present tense from his viewpoint if she's alive (this is happening before Warriors of the Outer Rim on his timeline, so he doesn't have confirmation of that at his own personal present), is going to require some consideration. Not necessarily the end of the conversation? But definitely a contingency that needs to be digested. I mean, if it's as complicated to us as that preposterous paragraph, imagine what it's like to be living it! Time travel! It's a bitch sometimes.

However, all that is very much a matter for the internal monologue, and as such probably doesn't need to be dealt with on screen. I tried to work parts of that conversation into the narrative in several spots and it just didn't work—bogged everything down and wasn't resolvable at the point where it came up anyway, so it didn't help anything.

This story had a bunch of things like that, in fact. I don't usually make that many large cuts or redirects while working, but the scraps file for TTW has a bunch of false starts and hang-on-where-the-hell-is-this-even-going scene fragments, not all of them relating to the above. It was a narrative that sometimes had a hard time working out what it was trying to do, at the same time that it was explosively insisting that it do something. Really quite an odd creative experience by my standards, although it was interesting, and I'm pleased with the end result.

--G.
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Makes sense as to why some conversations weren't included, but I can't help but find it a shame to not have seen G explaining who and what and when and why he is, and more potentially amusingly Remilia's reactions to all of that. She'd already shown several flashes of incredulity about him, and while the non-standard circumstances of her own life, and no doubt the word of Sakuya, would help her eventually take it all on board the process seems like it'd be amusing, for an observer at least.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed."

Hmmmmm. You may have given me an idea or two.

I'm going to have to go listen to some more organ music and have a bit of a think. There might be an epilogue in this.

--G.
I said "to" a lot in that sentence. Even more than I said "narrative" in the previous post.
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That's the best hold music I've ever heard! ;)

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

OK, I'm just going to warn you guys now, this thing is suuuuuuuper talky, which you might reasonably have expected from the setup for it at the end of Act VI. But it is unfolding pretty interestingly, so I think it'll be worth posting when I get done with it.

If nothing else, it's been an interesting exercise trying to come up with any kind of capsule summary of Gryphon's life from 1973 to 2411 that doesn't sound like the apocalyptic ravings of an amphetamine-soaked madman. And it has led me to the idea for the head-kickingest collect telegram from the edge of forever since the one that originally earned that coinage in Manhunt.

--G.
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That also ends up in the 'potentially entertaining for the viewer' file, so no worries even if it does veer that way a bit. Honestly, the only fictional characters I can think of who might come close to G and some of the other old guard WDF in terms of 'crazy, fantastical life' are player characters for long running MMOs (the player controlled Warrior of Light from Final Fantasy XIV being a prime example, described -in universe- as 'hunting gods for sport', and repeatedly told by their allies that they are terrifying.) So it will be interesting to see the reaction of someone who has not been steeped in the madness to the story of such a being.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "We were just outside space-time when the drugs kicked in..."

sample dialogue:

"Wait, so... your first lover spent 90 years trying to kill you for something you didn't even do, then ignored you for eight more, and the first chance you got, you took her back?"

"It was a little more complicated than that, but... basically yes."

"No wonder you were so good with Flan. You like suffering."

"That was mean and frankly uncalled-for."

"Sorry. I'm sure there were plenty of extenuating circumstances."

--G.
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To be fair to Remilia, mistaking G's ability to shrug off pain for a flavor of masochism doesn't seem that far fetched.

And am I imagining some sarcasm in that last line, or is that intended?

	-={(Astynax)}=- "I suppose Largo -does- qualify as an extenuating circumstance though."

Yeah, no, she doesn't sound in any way sincere when she says that part. :)

--G.
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Does her statement come complete with eye-roll and flippant hand wave?

See for yourself! :)

--G.
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Interesting, I'd read *both* of those as absolutely sincere.

--
-Pasha
"What was that feeling again? Oh yes. Rage."

Well, to be perfectly fair, you're really kinda hunting gods because no one else can and some just need killing.

Also, as my signature below alludes, the WoL didn't start the fight. (S)he IS terrifying, though...and sanity is starting to be a bit questionable!

Anyway! I have not responded to this entire series yet, I admit, because I wasn't sure of what I was going to say. I'll just say I loved it, looking forward to the epilogue, and thanks for another great read!

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

Not sure how far along you might be, or which class(es) you are working on, so I don't want to spoil too much (or derail this thread too much) but I will say overall WoL sanity doesn't seem too bad considering (one character gets a peek at everything the WoL has been through and nearly develops vicarious PTSD so this is a bit relative,) but it does vary a lot by the class quests you are doing.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "A smile better suits a hero."

To answer your question, between my two alts I'm an 80 in most classes.

And one of my alts mains Dark Knight.

Granted, not everyone has been through that story (but they should, SO GOOD), but you're right. It does vary, and not just by class. If you've never been through Eden you miss the part where your allies question your memory, too. And they sounded kind of serious when they said it, despite the fact it could have been taken jokingly.

>
>
>
>

>colspan="2"] >noshade]
	>SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000"]-={(Astynax)}=- >"A smile better suits a hero."
>colspan="2"]

A smile... ;_; *sniffle*

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

TFW you set out to do a nice little epilogue, it's not finished yet, and it's already larger than some of the acts of the main story.

I might just punt and say it's Act VII at this point, even though having that much non-action after an action climax is probably a breach of some fiction-writing commandment or another. :)

--G.
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A seventh act and an epilogue after that? Jesus, muse, I know I've been wanting you to show up for work a little more regularly, but decaf.

Haha, the subject line of this thread is going to look soooo stupid to future users.

--G.
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Maybe Remilia slipped your muse some of the battle tonic?

	-={(Astynax)}=- "If effects persist for longer than 4 (weeks) call a physician."

Maybe. She's in an odd enough mood tonight.

--G.
OK, that sounds crazy when I put it like that.
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>Makes sense as to why some conversations weren't included

One of the things that ended up having to be cut, because of the way the dénouement worked out with G being asleep until almost dinnertime, was a bit where he made dessert for the gang. It was basically just a long walk to a dumb pun anyway, but I still regret having to leave it out, and I offer it here for your... um... delectation.

--G.
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	-={(Astynax)}=- "Sakuya is clearly the perfect straightwoman though."

It's obviously not a problem in Zeta C. Utena has TWO spouses and nobody is batting an eye at it. If it was a problem, you'd think that Corwin, who mostly grew up there, would know it's against the law. And let's not forget that Gryph would know, considering he's one the "immortal frauds" that de facto run the government.

So, no problem!

Michael

Michael C. Fortner
"Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

edited to add the Gryph argument

Oh, sure, legally it's not a problem (at least back home). It's more a question of Remilia being OK with or not. She comes from an era where that kind of thing was Not Done,* after all, and she's accustomed to her position in life being beyond dispute (even if for a long time that position was essentially "queen of an empty house").

--G.
* on the other hand, we know she's entirely on board with yuri, so...
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Heh, Meiling kinda did the Rina Dragonaar thing. I hadn't originally intended to include her at all, but at that point in the scene she kind of stuck her head around the doorjamb like "I could do a really cool wire-fu rescue leap here. Maybe with a little bit of Batman skylining on the mansion roof first? Tellin' you. Besides, look at this, they clearly need a tank. And Sakuya needs someone down-to-earth to ground her sometimes, just like Remilia. Me and the Chief can be bros with Occasionally Difficult Ladies." :)

>However, while this is labelled "Finale", it definitely feels like
>there's unfinished business around these parts. Is that going to get
>wound into OWaW perhaps?

It's the finale of this particular storyline, but yeah, Thicker Than Water is just the introductory adventure. The hope (I hesitate to dignify anything I do creatively with the word "plan" these days :) is that the Scarlets and co. will be joining the main OWaW cast as soon as I can a) get everybody back together from where the last few episodes scattered them around and b) figure out the logistics.

(I mean, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but they are talking about marriage there at the end. :)

>Lastly, is there any significant backstory to Flandre's illness, or
>just a one-off thing?

I'm not sure what you might specifically have in mind by "significant backstory", but no, I don't think it was anything other than what it looked like. Becoming a vampire is traumatic and dangerous, and sometimes it goes wrong, particularly when there are complications, as there were in Flan's case. Like I said elsewhere, she wasn't possessed or anything, she had a neurological injury which has now been repaired.

(Which is not to say she won't have to deal with any fallout from the intervening time—everything that happened while she was ill still happened, after all—but she's in a much better position now to cope with any lingering demons there may be. In the psychological sense, not the literal one.)

--G.
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I might have been reading too much into Act III, with Flan's blood failing and tasting sour, I was thinking that sounded like she had been inflicted with something.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

Oh, you meant her illness from before she was turned, gotcha. No, no outside influences involved there. It was a normal mortal affliction (most likely leukemia), not something that was visited upon her by sinister forces. Remilia's perception of Flan's blood as tasting sour was her vampire palate's way of interpreting its unhealthy character; a human presumably wouldn't have been able to perceive any difference between it and healthy blood without laboratory equipment.

--G.
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Now that I've started doing some writing myself, I'm learning to appreciate this more when it happens to me. It means that the writing and charactwrs are actually alive in my mind. It means I'm not just ploddingly chronicling events, I'm actually crafting a story.

I know, right? I'm having another of those moments right now, as a matter of fact. I went to do a cute little scene for the beginning of the epilogue involving an early-morning icebox raid, and it went ahead and developed into 16 further kilobytes of the Meiling & Sakuya Show. :)

--G.
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"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I have confined my research mostly to the SDM crew (and Alice), so I should be reasonably OK. I hope. :)

--G.
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"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

That might make a reasonably effective anti-Neuroi weapon. Like a guided Fliegerhammer. I'd feel bad, though. It would be like the Scrubbing Bubbles commercials from back in the '80s. "Do they not realize this is a suicide mission? They don't come back from going down the drain."

--G.
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Of course, this being Touhou, there is considerable wiggle room in interpretations of the dolls, and the fanbase have gone wild filling them in; one interpretation that I like is that the dolls with actual personalities are the patterns Alice uses to make the projectiles.

In any case, the dolls don't always need to explode to get the job done; Shanghai, for example, will straight-up cut a bitch, as shown below.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

"We call that one la mort adorable."

(Also, my eye initially parsed what she's holding as a toothbrush, which gave me the slightly epic image of Alice's morning routine involving just sort of standing there half-asleep while a squadron of dolls squares everything away. :)

I have to admit, one of the things that really clicks for me about this franchise is that Victorian Children's Literature aesthetic a lot of the Western characters have. All the frills and bows and whatnot. I dunno why, since that kind of thing is not my usual jam, but it makes them seem very... comfortable to me.

--G.
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There's definitely art like that running around, 563238 on Danbooru for example (not linking because it's mildly NSFW)

>I have to admit, one of the things that really clicks for me about
>this franchise is that Victorian Children's Literature aesthetic a lot
>of the Western characters have.

This is a result of one of the genius things ZUN has done that makes the series so memorable- for all that he can't draw very well, he's extremely talented at designing characters. Everyone is very cute, but also very unique- Flandre isn't even the only red-eyed blonde with red hair decorations in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, but you can still distinguish her from Rumia just by her decorations.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I recently read a story online in which the main character is transported to a fantasy realm, and accidentally brings life to her loofah.

Lulu the Loofah thinks exfoliation is something that doesn't have to stop when she runs out of dead skin.

I would fear a mayhem-oriented doll wielding a toothbrush.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

This sounds like a semi-humorous SCP concept, which leads to an odd sort of horror.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Like the teddy bear that wants to make itself some friends, using absolutely any materials nearby, preferably recently living ones."

Perhaps, but it was me long ago making a post about Toph Beifong and Raven being critical mass of snark that got you started with Avatar and see where that got you. :)

Michael

Michael C. Fortner
"Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

Well, to be fair, Phil mailing me all the DVDs also had something to do with that. :)

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I checked my email while waiting for a bus yesterday, and it didn't occur to me until just now how much more explanation that task would have required in a story set in the 1980s.

In the end, you were just more diligent of a writer than we were readers.

See also: younglings seeing a floppy disk and asking who 3D printed the save button.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "It is time to discuss your position relative to my lawn."

Well, I mean, to be fair, the stories are riddled with anachronisms, some intentional, and I'm sure a ton of others I didn't even realize I was committing. I just happen to have thought of that little touch and ran with it.

I'm sure it helps, in terms of having thought of it, that my first wristwatch was a mechanical one (Timex Easy Reader, represent), so the whole phenomenon of having to wind up a watch is one that's been sort of ingrained in me since I was old enough to understand what a watch even is. Quartz watches were still super-expensive toys for the wealthy when I was little; they didn't become cheap and ubiquitous until I was in my teens. So it's an anachronism today, but it's one that has continuity for me, and that made it relatively easy to slip into a story like that.

Honestly, the toughest thing to keep in mind throughout the process of writing Gothic is that there's no electricity. Especially in the segments where Gryphon's doing carpentry, I kept nearly showing him using power tools, and at least once attempted to show him and Remi listening to the radio (which would doubly not work). :)

--G.
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Even if he'd included a batteryless radio in his shipment, I concede that there probably isn't a radio station within range.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

Also the problem of temporal paradox. If he's listening to a radio with Remilia and hears about the death of Perrine, for instance, that's going to be a massive problem when he rewinds. So it's best he doesn't know what's happening in the outside world.

As the man himself thought while reflecting on these matters back in TTW, Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

--G.
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The march of time is interesting. I'm less than a decade younger than you, but every wrist watch I've ever owned is either battery powered or self winding. (which is some *SUPER* cool tech)

--
-Pasha
"Don't change the subject"
"Too slow, already did."

-IA.

(At least they're really comfortable watches...)

With the twist that you tend the timepiece because you wish to continue functioning.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "In theory anyway..."

The fitness app on my Galaxy watch logged more than 1,000 steps during the writing of the fight scene spanning TTW acts 5 and 6.

I didn't move from my chair the whole time.

Take that for what it's worth. :)

--G.
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;)

More seriously, it seems like some devices track certain things better than others. My fitbit definitely seems to be able to track properly when I'm doing something relatively sedentary vs. even walking or jogging in place... but it also thinks I go up at least four flights of stairs on the average workday. And that's probably more times than I've done that in the past -year-, because neither my home nor my work have stairs, and I don't go upstairs at my parents' house very often.

-IA.

(received information not interpretable)