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Forum Name: Undocumented Features General
Topic ID: 2384
#0, (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-03-19 at 04:05 PM
1) New thread for the continuation, just to be safe.

2) Sorry for the delay, it's been an interesting last few days. At least if you think your mother suffering the very same injury you just spent three months recovering from is interesting.

3) Friends Like These has now gone and expanded to six parts on me. I doubt it'll go to seven based on what's left in the outline, but since I've been hilariously wrong about that twice so far, maybe don't go by me?

4) Here is Part V.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#1, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Nova Floresca on Dec-03-19 at 08:20 PM
In response to message #0
LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-19 AT 08:21 PM (EST)
 
>I doubt it'll go to seven based on what's left in the
>outline,

No, that will happen when Goji's ride ingests some Sandstar when it comes in for the assist and now they suddenly have a Space Cruiser Friend to deal with.

It was if Corwin cried out "not another one!" and was suddenly silenced

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


#4, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-04-19 at 10:14 AM
In response to message #1
>>I doubt it'll go to seven based on what's left in the
>>outline,
>
>No, that will happen when Goji's ride ingests some Sandstar when it
>comes in for the assist and now they suddenly have a Space Cruiser
>Friend to deal with.

Pretty sure that's not how that works.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#5, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Nova Floresca on Dec-04-19 at 12:31 PM
In response to message #4
It was the first twist that came to mind that could have story-lengthening consequences.

Unrelatedly, I think "That's Not How This Works, That's Not How Any Of This Works" would make a great troubleshooting guide for when things go capital-W Weird.

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


#9, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by McFortner on Dec-04-19 at 07:26 PM
In response to message #5
"That's Not How This Works: How To Deal With Baffling Modern Technology" is one of the lesser know Bacon books.

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


#27, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by MuninsFire on Dec-18-19 at 05:03 PM
In response to message #9
>"That's Not How This Works: How To Deal With Baffling Modern
>Technology
" is one of the lesser know Bacon books.


Working in the tech industry, I would buy up a dozen copies of that book and distribute them to several friends and coworkers the -instant- that it came out.

You don't even need 'overtechnology' for things to get -Weird-


#13, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Proginoskes on Dec-07-19 at 09:28 PM
In response to message #1
>>I doubt it'll go to seven based on what's left in the
>>outline,
>
>No, that will happen when Goji's ride ingests some Sandstar when it
>comes in for the assist and now they suddenly have a Space Cruiser
>Friend to deal with.
>
>It was if Corwin cried out "not another one!" and was suddenly
>silenced

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

It's been a very long time since Chris Meadows wrote for UF, but this made me think of Katie "Temper" Tanner. Not really sure why; a Super Valkyrie brainship doesn't have much similarity to the moe anthropomorphisation of a space cruiser. I guess Temper might count as a Super Valkyrie Friend.


#2, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Dec-04-19 at 07:37 AM
In response to message #0
>I doubt it'll go to seven based on what's left in the
>outline, but since I've been hilariously wrong about that twice so
>far, maybe don't go by me?

But... But... But... YOu are THE lead editor and the person who still writes the most G. who ELSE are we supposed to go by? Moose and Lion... errr.. Moose and Squirrel? Err...

Okay. Lets dig a little deeper here...

> They passed a pleasant couple of days making their way southward through
> the Forest Area, around the lake, and through the bypass tunnel under the
> Desert Area,

You are aware this feels like the first season in reverse, Yes? I'm sure there is a 'Trope' that describes this, but I'm not aware of WHICH trope it is? THerefore, Moving on...

> After mulling it over, she decided that Tsuchinoko probably did, for
> all that the cryptid kept her thoughts on the matter to herself,
> and if Serval and Iwabi didn't, that was mostly a question of perspective

Not as sure I agree with your viewpoint here G, but it is your story; I do have my own to write right now.

> "You guys must know every place in the Park by now, don't you?" Iwabi asked.
>
> "Only here on the island," Kaban said.

I, personally, would have subbed in Konusu (spelling???) to be clear we were talking about the 'area' of the first season?

> "If I didn't know better," she said at length, "I would swear that
> mountain came straight out of the Spirit World."
>
> "Maybe it did,"

I am finding this conversation between the Cyrptid and Kaiju... umm... Enlightening?

> "Anyway, have you considered taking off the wetsuit? I'm just putting
> it out there."

and again the "THOSE COME OFF" Trope raises it's hentai... ahem... Head?

> "Drinking cups," Goji mused, wiping the dust from one such object.

"Yes, right of course. because any other possible interpretation is triply business, capturing 'our' Kabaneri, or something even more deadly?


#3, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-04-19 at 10:12 AM
In response to message #2
>> They passed a pleasant couple of days making their way southward through
>> the Forest Area, around the lake, and through the bypass tunnel under the
>> Desert Area,
>
>You are aware this feels like the first season in reverse, Yes?

thatstheidea.jpg

>> "Anyway, have you considered taking off the wetsuit? I'm just putting
>> it out there."
>
>and again the "THOSE COME OFF" Trope raises it's hentai... ahem...
>Head?

Oh, she knew it comes off. She just didn't have anything else to wear.

>> "Drinking cups," Goji mused, wiping the dust from one such object.
>
>"Yes, right of course. because any other possible interpretation is
>triply business, capturing 'our' Kabaneri, or something even more
>deadly?

... huh? I don't understand this sentence at all.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#6, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Dec-04-19 at 02:24 PM
In response to message #3
>>> "Drinking cups," Goji mused, wiping the dust from one such object.
>>
>>"Yes, right of course. because any other possible interpretation is
>>triply business, capturing 'our' Kabaneri, or something even more
>>deadly?
>
>... huh? I don't understand this sentence at all.
>

...

Yeah. Um, cause I seem to have had my mental wires crossed and have been watching Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress in parallel and I think I suffered a mental short circuit between Kaban, Kabaneri, and an additional series I am also watching on crunchyroll.

Therefore fellow UF lovers... May I point out that said mental glitch only proves RL-Gryphs authorial 'blender-fu'?

(and I'll be over here pretending I didn't just make an idiot out of myself?)


#7, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-04-19 at 02:35 PM
In response to message #6
>Yeah. Um, cause I seem to have had my mental wires crossed and have
>been watching Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress in parallel and I think I
>suffered a mental short circuit between Kaban, Kabaneri, and an
>additional series I am also watching on crunchyroll.

Well, OK, that explains the "Kabaneri" part (I thought maybe you were making some kind of reference to the Carabinieri, as in the Italian police), but I still don't really understand what you were getting at. Goji just found the shelf with the Japari Park-branded coffee mugs and stuff on it, and was mumbling to herself about it. I'm not sure how that could possibly be "something more deadly". :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#8, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Dec-04-19 at 02:41 PM
In response to message #7
> I still don't really understand what you were getting at.
>

I don't remember either... which is not a good thing. I think it had to do with the way I collect coffee mugs and or souvenir drink bottles over things like T shirts? Either way, I think at this point we are both investigating way to closely. :(


#10, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Verbena on Dec-05-19 at 09:29 PM
In response to message #7
Japari Park-branded coffee mugs
>and stuff on it, and was mumbling to herself about it. I'm not sure
>how that could possibly be "something more deadly". :)

That, my fellow authors/readers/etc., depends entirely on the quality of the brew.

As my dad told me years ago (and he knows nothing about UF), there are five descending grades of coffee: Coffee, java, joe, jamoch, and carbon remover.


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


#11, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Peter Eng on Dec-06-19 at 02:14 PM
In response to message #10
>
>As my dad told me years ago (and he knows nothing about UF), there are
>five descending grades of coffee: Coffee, java, joe, jamoch, and
>carbon remover.
>

Sounds like your dad knows his Heinlein, though.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#12, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Verbena on Dec-06-19 at 03:11 PM
In response to message #11
LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-19 AT 03:11 PM (EST)
 
>>
>>As my dad told me years ago (and he knows nothing about UF), there are
>>five descending grades of coffee: Coffee, java, joe, jamoch, and
>>carbon remover.
>>
>
>Sounds like your dad knows his Heinlein, though.

Ah! Is that where it's from? Yeah, he knows Heinlein well and I certainly don't.

Cool, thanks.

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


#14, note
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-08-19 at 01:47 AM
In response to message #0
I just finished writing Part VI, and will probably drop it tomorrow afternoon. It ran long, almost double-length, but hangs together well, so I opted not to break it and go to seven parts.

Along with Part VI, I'll also be posting a compiled version, so if you've been waiting until it's all out to start reading, you can just go straight to that.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#15, Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-08-19 at 04:49 PM
In response to message #0
Part VI: Field Expedient is here! The series is now complete. And you thought I could never bring myself to finish anything.

Also, here is the whole story in one file.

Enjoy, and please drink responsibly.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#17, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Dec-09-19 at 00:30 AM
In response to message #15
LAST EDITED ON Dec-09-19 AT 01:12 AM (EST)
 
> Iwabi slid face-first down the glassy slope of one of the larger blocks
> nearby, remarking to herself that the sensation paled somewhat when what
> awaited at the bottom was a dusty skid to a halt rather than a refreshing
> plunge into cold water. "I heard that," she agreed ruefully.

A nice bit of showing off ways in which the Friends do reflect their originating species.

> Iwabi emerged from the flooded pit on the far side with a wild leap that
> trailed Sandstar sparkles behind her, springing out of the water by more
> than twice her height to alight on a half-buried boulder partway up the
> rock face. Without hesitating, she bounded upward, making great both-footed
> leaps from one prominence to another,

Heh. And I don't think anyone other than a Rockhopper Penguin could have pulled this off!

> She hit the water feet first, throwing up a tremendous splash, and surfaced
> nearly halfway to the opposite shore. Even hampered as she was by having to
> keep hold of the cube with her arms, she reached that shore long before the
> floating Cerulean could alter course and follow.

At first I was wondering why she dove feet first, instead of head first the way all penguins do until I reminded myself ... Arms full of alien energy thingie that you aren't too sure about.

> —And then, with a shimmering wild release of her own, she wound up,
> raising one foot clean off the ground, and hurled the rock with a
> complicated full-body motion that turned her almost completely around,
> switching her stance from one foot to the other in the process.

That is one killer fastball. Literally.

> (Her father, teaching her to fight years before, had called this
> maneuver "Bowling for Baddies".)

I wanted to make some sort of snark about that sort of maneuver calling for an underhand throw with a lot of topspin... but that just doesn't work when one remembers the rock is bigger than she is.

> From her back, a colossal pair of wings unfurled—not the feathered wings
> of a bird, nor the leathery wings of a bat, but iridescent wings made up
> of millions of glittering scales. They were like the wings of a gigantic
> moth, their jagged scarlet-and-blue markings calling to mind the shape of
> the plates running down her spine

Ah. Clearly channeling her mother here.

> "Hi, Fennec!" called Serval cheerfully, waving back. "Hey, how are you
> at running for your life?"
>
> Fennec tilted her head quizzically. "Huh? I mean, I'm OK at it if I
> haaaave to..."
>
> "Great!" Serval declared. "Because, um..."

RUN. RUN LIKE THE SWIFT ANIMAL YOU ARE! I think what really had me giggling was the way you've evoked the first encounter between the Doctor (or the Professor, or even Don) and any number of companions over the years.

> Their unique energy signature stood out to her seventh sense like a
> bonfire on a salt flat.

Ah. This is the same sense that caused 'Doshinoji Goji' to attack the bird type friends... But this Goji knows these are valid targets for...

> Not one but dozens of blindingly white-violet beams sprang forth,
> lancing out not from her mouth but from all along the rows of plates
> lining her spine and upper tail.

That. I'd be more surprised by this attack except that there had been multiple mentions along the way that implied Shin Goji had an 'anti aircraft' setting.

> "They're called calves," said a mellow male voice from outside.
>
> Goji and all the Friends turned to look out the open side of the bus...
> to see a rhinoceros—a regular rhinoceros, not a Friend—standing beside
> it, peering in at them with an amiable sort of expression.

Hang on... We've yet to see ANY non Friend animals other than Kaban...

> "Oh, for—dammit, Rhinox!"

Aha!

> "Wow. Smug rhino is smug," Serval murmured to Kaban, who nodded.

Yeah. I'm sure it is from all those years dealing with one Prime, one Primal, Eight-Ball one and a really pessimistic Rat.

> Huh, Rhinox replied. Pretty sure if I maximized right now, being this
> close to an E-wave source that powerful would put me straight into stasis lock.

The first time through I read this, I didn't realise it was the big reason Rhinox never Maximises until the two are back aboard. I'd assumed it was some sort of attempt to keep first contact issues under control.

> "Huh," said Serval. "Never knew the bigger ones could do that."
>
> "Mm," Kaban agreed, nodding.

Would have been handy at the end of Season 1. Also, the food raid alluded here... was that something that only happened in the Manga? (or even the original game?)

> And the Friends, she didn't add out loud; that wasn't a worry any of
> them needed right now.

And um... yeah. Kinda Creepy and disturbing and quite probably wrong in the eyes of the WDF, 3WA, and IPO

> "That's some rack on Moose, huh?" Tsuchinoko remarked, causing a couple
> of the Friends to give her puzzled looks and Goji to stifle a bark of
> laughter.

Which just goes to show that subtext is all in the eyes of the beholder.

> "Still sorry I missed the Sample Bun Incident, whatever it was,"

Oh... you just had to say that...

> Then, silently reciting Shepard's Prayer in her head,

Allan or Gin's? *reads annotations* Oh. You mean the AVATARS prayer. *snerk*

> "What kind of unusual behavior?" Iwabi wondered.

Oh, you poor penguin. your about to find out...

> A moment later, the food machine's central compartment glowed and
> dispensed a Japari Bun—rather forcefully dispensed, it, ejecting it
> clean out of the machine and toward the middle of the room.

This feels clunky from a sentence structure standpoint. But about the one thing I can think of that would improve it other than going all the way back to the drawing board would be just deleted the comma between dispensed and it.

> "I got it!" Serval cried. Deep instinct propelled her to snag the bun
> in mid-air, as her wild pre-Friend form had once leaped to catch birds
> on the wing.

or students in the cafeteria in Ranma 1/2

> Before anyone else could react, the slots behind the counters all along
> the wall began to glow, and then they, too, started discharging Japari Buns
> —one every second or so for the first few seconds, and then faster and
> faster, until warm pastries were volleying forth like fire from dozens of
> machine guns set in an arc all around the back half of the room.

This would be the unusual behavior Lucky Beast area prime was referring too.

> "Gee, I wonder who's gonna volunteer for that mission," said Tsuchinoko
> sarcastically, making Kaban blush.

Heh. Yeah. wonder who. *Wink wink nudge nudge*

> "Read up on that when you get a chance."
>
> "It'll save you some work when the time comes," Rhinox agreed, nodding.
>
> Kaban looked down at the book, read its title, then smiled. "I will! Thanks.

Gee, this sounds like *checks annotations* Yup. Thought so.

> "You don't see that every day," Tsuchinoko observed.

Only if your not a transporter operator, Tsuchinoko.

So, last thoughts. Works really well as a stand alone, yet still has stuff that could be mined for use in other projects. And Rhinox as Shingoji's 'controller' provides the perfect explanation of why Goji, and how she knew what she did.


#19, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-09-19 at 01:43 AM
In response to message #17
LAST EDITED ON Dec-09-19 AT 01:49 AM (EST)
 
>At first I was wondering why she dove feet first, instead of head
>first the way all penguins do until I reminded myself ... Arms full of
>alien energy thingie that you aren't too sure about.

That, and according to the New England Aquarium, southern rockhoppers are unusual among penguins in that they will dive feet-first.

>> Not one but dozens of blindingly white-violet beams sprang forth,
>> lancing out not from her mouth but from all along the rows of plates
>> lining her spine and upper tail.
>
>That. I'd be more surprised by this attack except that there had been
>multiple mentions along the way that implied Shin Goji had an 'anti
>aircraft' setting.

Besides, it's straight out of the movie. The one in Shin Gojira is the only version I know of who can do that.

>Hang on... We've yet to see ANY non Friend animals other than
>Kaban...

Kaban is a Friend, she's just a human Friend, so it's hard to tell. :)

Off the top of my head, I can only think of one regular animal that appeared in the original anime season (an aardwolf, which is implied to be the remnant of a Friend who got eaten off-camera in the first episode, has a cameo in the last one), but they must exist in fair numbers in Japari Park, since Serval mentioned that she's expecting to see new Friends after the Sandstar eruption, and they only come from one place.

>The first time through I read this, I didn't realise it was the big
>reason Rhinox never Maximises until the two are back aboard. I'd
>assumed it was some sort of attempt to keep first contact issues under
>control.

Well, it's a reason. The contact considerations are a factor too, particularly since, after the incident in Renraku City, at least the Friends who witnessed Rampage aren't likely to react well to another robot.

>Would have been handy at the end of Season 1. Also, the food raid
>alluded here... was that something that only happened in the Manga?
>(or even the original game?)

It was in an audio drama that came out after the first series, explaining where that enormous bag of Japari Buns Kaban takes with her on her island expedition at the end came from. PPP stole requisitioned them as a surprise for her. :)

>> A moment later, the food machine's central compartment glowed and
>> dispensed a Japari Bun—rather forcefully dispensed, it, ejecting it
>> clean out of the machine and toward the middle of the room.
>
>This feels clunky from a sentence structure standpoint. But about the
>one thing I can think of that would improve it other than going all
>the way back to the drawing board would be just deleted the comma
>between dispensed and it.

Oh, yeah, that comma isn't supposed to be there.

>> Before anyone else could react, the slots behind the counters all along
>> the wall began to glow, and then they, too, started discharging Japari Buns
>> —one every second or so for the first few seconds, and then faster and
>> faster, until warm pastries were volleying forth like fire from dozens of
>> machine guns set in an arc all around the back half of the room.
>
>This would be the unusual behavior Lucky Beast area prime was
>referring too.

There's a race condition in the software where the production algorithm outruns the update to the distribution network and the interrupt fails, so that the machine tries to meet the expected production quota for all the terminals at once (which it shouldn't do anyway), but doesn't know how to route them to the remote stations yet, so they all come out at the origin facility. Presumably the developers would have debugged that if they'd had time to catch it in testing.

(Unless it's patched, that will happen every time the system is reset, so hopefully that won't need to be done very often. :)

>So, last thoughts. Works really well as a stand alone, yet still has
>stuff that could be mined for use in other projects.

Thanks! That was the basic idea.

Fun fact: This was originally going to be a mini-story. Seriously! Kaban and Serval were just going to find what they needed in the Admin Area, probably just by turning some stuff on, like it was a single side mission in a Fallout game. But where's the fun in that? Especially this close to the end of the semester? No, a 256-kilobyte story with a major guest star introduction was plainly what was really needed. Thanks, my brain! :)

(I bitch, but in the end I think it was worth it.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#28, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by MuninsFire on Dec-18-19 at 05:10 PM
In response to message #15
> I'd blow us all to Fedora Core!

Oh no. Don't tell me RedHat has survived this far into the future.


#29, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Peter Eng on Dec-19-19 at 02:16 PM
In response to message #28
>> I'd blow us all to Fedora Core!
>
>Oh no. Don't tell me RedHat has survived this far into the future.

Okay, I won't tell you.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#30, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by zwol on Dec-19-19 at 03:09 PM
In response to message #28
LAST EDITED ON Dec-19-19 AT 03:11 PM (EST)
 
>> I'd blow us all to Fedora Core!
>
>Oh no. Don't tell me RedHat has survived this far into the future.

In the twenty-fourth century, there is still an operating system called "Red Hat Enterprise Linux", and many of its features would still be recognizable to a Unix beard from the twentieth -- the "shell" environment, for instance, is still very nearly the same as it was in 2001, despite no fewer than 42 separate attempts to replace it with something less terrible, many of which are also shipped in the default install for your hacking pleasure, or lack thereof -- but dig deep enough into the manual and you will begin to notice references to an "oversight" layer. Keep following those threads, and the truth will become clear:

The operating system running on the bare metal is not an implementation of Unix at all. It's a variant of a Corellian OS usually referred to as C/RM ("Crystal Runtime Monitor", because it was developed for the first generation of Corellian computers built around isolinear memory crystals), and it is faithfully emulating the POSIX APIs and everything on top of that. As best anyone can tell from available records, this arrangement was originally developed at the actual Red Hat, Inc. in the early 2000s, as a quick hack to run Earth-native software applications unmodified on the much more powerful Corellian computer hardware that was becoming available following First Contact.

C/RM is better known in the modern galaxy as the operating system powering Industrial Automaton's R-series astromech droids. It's not the ideal choice for a droid runtime, if we're honest, but so many aftermarket hardware and software mods have been developed for R-series droids that the low-level programming interfaces are essentially set in stone now.

there, now we just need an equally ridiculous but completely unrelated explanation for why there's a planet named "Core" in the "Fedora" system.


#31, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-19-19 at 04:24 PM
In response to message #30
>there, now we just need an equally ridiculous but completely
>unrelated
explanation for why there's a planet named "Core" in the
>"Fedora" system.

In the parlance of the twelfth-century Royal Salusian Astrographic Society, the "Core" world of a colonized star system was the first one to be settled, or the one with the most populous settlements after the colony passed its century mark (these were almost always the same). By the twenty-fifth century, it's an archaic usage (and it comes across a little odd in Anglo-Standard translation), but it still persists in many places—in much the same way that nowadays we still call a lot of terrestrial places by names with the suffix "-ia", a convention that goes back to the Romans.

The Corellian equivalent to this term translates into Anglo-Standard as "Prime", and from this one can often make an educated guess as to which civilization first colonized a system, at least before the advent of Earth-human exosettlement. We never developed our own convention, and instead individual colony establishers denoted the system's main settlement with the Salusian convention, the Corellian, some other standard, or made up their own, or didn't use one at all, as the whimsy struck them.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#48, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Croaker on Jul-09-20 at 02:57 PM
In response to message #31
>>there, now we just need an equally ridiculous but completely
>>unrelated
explanation for why there's a planet named "Core" in the
>>"Fedora" system.
>
>In the parlance of the twelfth-century Royal Salusian Astrographic
>Society, the "Core" world of a colonized star system was the first one
>to be settled, or the one with the most populous settlements after the
>colony passed its century mark (these were almost always the same).
>By the twenty-fifth century, it's an archaic usage (and it comes
>across a little odd in Anglo-Standard translation), but it still
>persists in many places—in much the same way that nowadays we
>still call a lot of terrestrial places by names with the suffix "-ia",
>a convention that goes back to the Romans.

As seen by the Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) at Galorndon Core.


#32, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by MuninsFire on Dec-20-19 at 08:27 PM
In response to message #30
>The operating system running on the bare metal is not an
>implementation of Unix at all. It's a variant of a Corellian
>OS usually referred to as C/RM ("Crystal Runtime Monitor", because it
>was developed for the first generation of Corellian computers built
>around isolinear memory crystals), and it is faithfully
>emulating the POSIX APIs and everything on top of that.

Oh no this explanation is -so much worse-


#33, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by zwol on Dec-20-19 at 10:00 PM
In response to message #32
>Oh no this explanation is -so much worse-

bows My work here is done.


#34, RE: Conclusion + Compilation
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-20-19 at 10:36 PM
In response to message #33
... and we have found this story's "nothing can kill the Grimace" vertex...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#16, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Terminus Est on Dec-08-19 at 10:41 PM
In response to message #0
I don't think I've mentioned this before, so now's as good a time as any. The start of this series coincided pretty well with a really rough time for me - mom was diagnosed with cancer in the kidney region, and I was alone for a week while she was in the hospital getting poked at to figure out what they're gonna have to do going forward. Needless to say, but high stress situation, and I wasn't coping well.

This series helped. It has the right balance of cute, action, and depth of feeling to keep one's attention, and to make one think, and both of those are things I sorely needed. I'm sad to see it end, but knowing you, this is just the beginning - and I look forward to seeing where things go from here. To the point though, I wanted to say thank you. Even if you didn't know it, you helped me through a tough time, and this is far from the first time.

Your work matters. Be proud of it (though I've no doubt you already are).


#18, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-09-19 at 01:18 AM
In response to message #16
>Needless to say, but high stress situation, and I wasn't
>coping well.
>
>This series helped. It has the right balance of cute, action, and
>depth of feeling to keep one's attention, and to make one think, and
>both of those are things I sorely needed.

Well... dang. I'm sorry you and your family are going through that (again! fuck cancer!), and I'm glad we were able to help.

>Your work matters. Be proud of it (though I've no doubt you already
>are).

Thank you. For reasons we don't need to get into here, I kind of needed to hear that these days.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#21, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Terminus Est on Dec-09-19 at 07:20 AM
In response to message #18
>fuck cancer!

You're definitely not going to hear me argue with that sentiment.

And you're welcome. I won't pry, because I know how pear shaped life can get.


#20, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Matrix Dragon on Dec-09-19 at 04:40 AM
In response to message #0
I'm a little sad it's over. This has been one of the more fun and satisfying stories I've read this year. As someone with no experience with the Japeri Park crew, I was able to pick up the basics pretty quickly, and the glimpses at the larger galaxy beyond them didn't overwhelm the story.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter


#22, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by SpottedKitty on Dec-11-19 at 12:41 PM
In response to message #20
Same here — it's been a fun ride, with fun characters and an exciting climax.

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


#23, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Verbena on Dec-12-19 at 08:39 PM
In response to message #22
>Same here — it's been a fun ride, with fun characters and an
>exciting climax.


Absolutely. I know I already expressed my appreciation in the Annotations thread, but this whole story was just -fun- in a way that's hard to find anymore.

Kaban and Serval's good night is the most adorabobble thing ever, BTW. Ever.

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


#25, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-13-19 at 11:34 AM
In response to message #23
>Kaban and Serval's good night is the most adorabobble thing ever, BTW.
>Ever.

:)

The exchange itself is a running gag throughout the series (depending on the translation, it's the first "conversation" they ever had), but I think turning it into the Nightly Benediction was my own idea.

And they are an almost painfully cute couple. If they went to a school with a policy against public displays of affection, they'd be in detention all. the. time. (Especially Serval. I wonder if she could get a waiver on the grounds that she can't help it, she's a cat. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#37, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by jhosmer1 on Jan-10-20 at 11:54 AM
In response to message #25
So, I watched the whole first season, and I was glad I did. It's painfully cute at times, and does have some serious themes underlying the cuteness and laughter.

I have only watched one episode of the second season, #6, where Kaban shows up. The feels are strong with this one, but very, very sad. I think Gryphon made the right call ignoring that, because it's heartbreaking watching Serval almost-but-not-quite remember Kaban.

Still, Kaban gets a pretty nice home and seems intent on re-introducing the scientific method to Japari Park... even if the Professor and Mimi don't quite get lab safety protocols.


#38, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jan-10-20 at 03:41 PM
In response to message #37
>I have only watched one episode of the second season, #6, where Kaban
>shows up. The feels are strong with this one, but very, very sad. I
>think Gryphon made the right call ignoring that, because it's
>heartbreaking watching Serval almost-but-not-quite remember Kaban.

I know, right? I think the worst part is that Kaban doesn't wonder (even internally) why Serval doesn't know her...

... which suggests that she already knows why.

Probably because she was there.

Brr.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#39, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Vorticity on Mar-07-20 at 03:34 AM
In response to message #25
> The exchange itself is a running gag throughout the series
> (depending on the translation, it's the first "conversation" they ever had),
> but I think turning it into the Nightly Benediction was my own idea.

After all of that crypto-lesbian subtext, am I the only one who thought the story was going to end with:

> "Raaar. Got you."
> "Please -- eat me. Down there."
> "Nya??!"

Not that I'm complaining about it.

One thing that's funny about this story being in the UF setting, though: how it was mostly Earth animals brought to Japari Park. Maybe one of the other regions have Tribble and Sarlacchan?


#40, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Mar-08-20 at 00:37 AM
In response to message #39
>After all of that crypto-lesbian subtext, am I the only one who
>thought the story was going to end with:
>
>> "Raaar. Got you."
>> "Please -- eat me. Down there."
>> "Nya??!"
>
>Not that I'm complaining about it.

Kaban wouldn't be that forward. I reckon the farthest she'd go would be to say "Oh no. Please don't eat me." in the Willy Wonka insincere deadpan. :)

>One thing that's funny about this story being in the UF setting,
>though: how it was mostly Earth animals brought to Japari Park.

It's an artifact of NatureWorld's origin, which was specifically as an attempt to preserve animals from Earth.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#24, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Droken on Dec-13-19 at 00:18 AM
In response to message #0
To echo some other comments, this was just plain fun. Thanks to G's run-down and the start of this series, I did in fact go watch Kemono Friends, and once again the story here is just spot on, character lines in proper voice, etc.

I also want to give a specific shout out to the little things, like Goji-chan's clothes growing back being a nicely subtle indication that somehow, she is in fact a Friend at this point (if we needed more of one), the clever designs for Norway and Blackie (dialog definitely included), and just how natural and sweet Serval and Kaban's interactions are when they're just being themselves. The most impressive one for me though, and I didn't spot it until the second read-through, was this little nugget:

>"Wow," Serval said. "I've never seen a Friend like her before. She's huge! >And look at those things on her back! She reminds me of Hammerhead."

>"She does, a bit," Kaban agreed. Crouching down by the mysterious figure's >head, she bent to feel for a pulse. "Although you're right, she's a lot >bigger than Hammy."

Which just... under normal circumstances, an 8-foot tall Kaiju girl is -not- bigger than a fully-grown stegosaurus. Which coupled with the way I'm reading that leads me to conclude that Hammy is -also- a friend now, which if I'm right is absolutely brilliant.

Now the follow-up would be what Gin Sheppard's reaction to meeting Hammerhead as a Friend would be.


#26, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Dec-13-19 at 11:49 AM
In response to message #24
>I also want to give a specific shout out to the little things, like
>Goji-chan's clothes growing back being a nicely subtle indication that
>somehow, she is in fact a Friend at this point (if we needed more of
>one)

Goji's metagenetics were already pretty weird and a bit fluid, given that a genetically engineered lifeform with heavy Weird Energy mutations and two of Dìqiú's Great Spirits were involved. (And she's based on a version of Godzilla that spontaneously evolves in response to its environment, to boot.) She's a bit like an Eevee—apply the right stimulus and her physiology adapts. In this case, chowing down on a fistful of Sandstar. :)

(It didn't appear on screen, but Phil suggested that she has the habit of tasting minerals to gauge what they are anyway, so she might've eaten a little piece of Sandstar before we even saw her, just to confirm to herself that it really is a form of Energon.)

>the clever designs for Norway and Blackie (dialog definitely
>included),

Thank you! When I sent Kaban and Serval to Renraku City, I knew I wanted them to meet a Friend or two who lived there even though it's an abandoned ruin. I dug around the canonical list of Friends for a while, looking for animals that are plausible in that sort of post-apocalyptic cityscape, and then I thought, Hmm. Why not rats?

From there, I experimented with the more usual sorts of costumes for them (unsurprisingly, a lot of Friends' outfits have a school uniform vibe, even though they probably don't even know what a school is), until I hit on the "paramilitary urban survivalist" riff instead. ("Mad Max / Fallout 3 Raider" also got a look in before I settled on the BDU look.)

>>"Wow," Serval said. "I've never seen a Friend like her before. She's huge!
>>And look at those things on her back! She reminds me of Hammerhead."
>
>>"She does, a bit," Kaban agreed. Crouching down by the mysterious figure's
>>head, she bent to feel for a pulse. "Although you're right, she's a lot
>>bigger than Hammy."
>
>Which just... under normal circumstances, an 8-foot tall Kaiju girl is
>-not- bigger than a fully-grown stegosaurus. Which coupled with the
>way I'm reading that leads me to conclude that Hammy is -also- a
>friend now, which if I'm right is absolutely brilliant.

You are right, well spotted, and thank you. I was pretty pleased with that little tidbit.

(If anyone is curious, Hammerhead knows what her name is because she was "born" wearing a sort of belt or baldric, which used to be a collar, that has a metal tag on it reading MY NAME IS HAMMERHEAD. She couldn't read it, of course, but Professor Konoha could. She now styles herself "Hammerhead J. Stegosaur". The J doesn't stand for anything, but she felt like it didn't flow right without a middle initial. :)

>Now the follow-up would be what Gin Sheppard's reaction to meeting
>Hammerhead as a Friend would be.

Geoff's guess, when the idea came up in the studio channel, was that she'd be too busy being confused about being flying-tackled in the shins to register at first.

Mind you, Friends don't usually remember much of anything from before they were Friends, but like Pressly said, "I'd remember anyone who'd hand-fed me upwards of 20 tons of kalatamara leaves." So I like to think Hammy would recognize Shepard on sight, even if she doesn't consciously know why she recognizes her.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#35, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Peter Eng on Jan-05-20 at 02:48 AM
In response to message #26
>
>Mind you, Friends don't usually remember much of anything from before
>they were Friends, but like Pressly said, "I'd remember anyone who'd
>hand-fed me upwards of 20 tons of kalatamara leaves." So I
>like to think Hammy would recognize Shepard on sight, even if she
>doesn't consciously know why she recognizes her.
>

Upon re-reading this, I imagined Shepard trying to calm somebody down in her best Soothing Voice, and Hammy perking up. "Mama?"

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#36, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Jan-09-20 at 12:04 PM
In response to message #35
confound it Pete! Those were my nasal passages you just caused alcohol boosted coffee to backflow through!

It... was really really not pleasant!


#41, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Proginoskes on May-31-20 at 01:11 AM
In response to message #0
Recently completed a reread, and it was just as delightful.

I feel compelled to ask, though: is Shingoji unaware of Olaf Petersson, or did she simply not recall in that moment that aspect of Optimus Prime? In fact, I also went and re-read Transformers: Flesh and Steel, and noticed a peculiar detail: like a Friend, Optimus Prime's "beast" mode has clothes that are a part of him. Gives me the (deeply unlikely) idea that the transmode virus (or some mutated descendant thereof) might be a necessary factor in the creation of Friends.

Obviously, it couldn't have been deliberate at the time of Flesh and Steel's writing, but I'm curious if that tiny parallel between the clothing of Friends and that of Optimus Prime is something you've been waiting for other people to spot, or if it's something that I'm getting way too excited about.


#42, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Peter Eng on Jun-01-20 at 02:14 PM
In response to message #41
>Recently completed a reread, and it was just as delightful.
>
>I feel compelled to ask, though: is Shingoji unaware of Olaf
>Petersson, or did she simply not recall in that moment that aspect of
>Optimus Prime?
>

All things considered, that aspect is probably highly classified. Komilia didn't know until after the fall of the WDF, and only figured it out by chance.

Given how many enemies Optimus has accumulated over the centuries, that's probably a secret that people work very hard to keep.

>
> In fact, I also went and re-read Transformers: Flesh
>and Steel
, and noticed a peculiar detail: like a Friend, Optimus
>Prime's "beast" mode has clothes that are a part of him.
>Gives me the (deeply unlikely) idea that the transmode virus (or some
>mutated descendant thereof) might be a necessary factor in the
>creation of Friends.
>

That actually makes sense, although it might also be a combination of that, the unique energon on Meta Eridani III, and contamination from the stasis pods left over after the Beast Wars, plus a century-plus of who knows what going on.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#43, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jun-01-20 at 02:38 PM
In response to message #41
>I feel compelled to ask, though: is Shingoji unaware of Olaf
>Petersson

She is, yes. His existence is not well-known in the 25th century.

>In fact, I also went and re-read Transformers: Flesh
>and Steel
, and noticed a peculiar detail: like a Friend, Optimus
>Prime's "beast" mode has clothes that are a part of him.

As far as I know, that's just a coincidence. There are at least two other "human-type" Transformers with no connection to Meta Eridani III (PCHammer and Alita Ironheart; in Hammer's case, his, er, chassis isn't even based on Maximal protoform technology like Gally's is), and their transformation protocols also involve clothing or a reasonable approximation thereof. (Exactly how that works is a thing best not examined too closely.)

>Gives me the (deeply unlikely) idea that the transmode virus (or some
>mutated descendant thereof) might be a necessary factor in the
>creation of Friends.

This could still be true, to the extent that the introduction of an alien technovirus into the environment may have altered the planet. It already had anomalous Energon before the Beast Wars, for instance, but there was no record from that era of anything like Sandstar Rho. Now, admittedly, the Predacons (except Tarantulas, who didn't exactly publish his findings) didn't care much about investigating the oddities of the world they found themselves on, and though the Axalon was a survey ship, the Maximals were a bit busy at the time, so they may all simply have missed it. If it wasn't there before then, however, that may suggest a connection. I honestly don't know—it wasn't something I consciously intended to imply in Friends Like These, anyway.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#44, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Jun-05-20 at 07:48 PM
In response to message #43
>I honestly don't know—it wasn't something I consciously intended
>to imply in Friends Like These, anyway.
>
>--G.

Which just goes to show the good and the bad of having friends like these... err...

Us?

Err....


#45, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Meagen on Jun-17-20 at 04:41 PM
In response to message #0
Caught up on the series! Taking a Cute Animal Girls show, tying it back to a Beast Wars retelling, giving it shades of Fallout* and then dropping a Godzilla** in it? Yep, this is definitely the crossover universe I've loved and enjoyed all these years. Good to be back.

Kaban and Serval are a nifty double act, and everything I didn't know about the original series is explained in a natural enough way that I never felt lost.

I enjoyed every single one of the Lucky Beast appearances. I have a soft spot for incogrous marketing/customer relations talk directed at characters who have absolutely no frame of reference for it.

Tsuchinoko is the most memorable out of the crew in my mind, mostly for the archeology related shenanigans.

And hey, Rhinox is here! I sort of remember him!

"Hmm," he said. "That's interesting. I mean, as molecular synthesis transmats go, it's pretty basic, and the packaging is a mess, but it looks like a sound enough design.

Dude, it's decades old *and* a prototype, okay?

Kaban's slow realization of what contact with the outside galaxy might mean to the Friends is well done. I'm sure whatever happens next will be interesting, whether or not we the audience get to see it.

Altogether a fun romp, enjoyed it very much. 10/10 you've still got it.

* in a post-apocalyptic world, the livelihood of a small commune is threatened and the protagonist must venture forth into long-abandoned wasteland to retrieve a piece of technology from The Before Times that will fix the problem

** I do not have a good enough grasp on the Godzilla mythos to properly appreciate which one Goji-chan is specifically. I know there is an "original" one and he's her dad, because I remember seeing him in UF before. I could not point either of them out on a lineup of those new Magic cards with Godzilla art.


#46, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jun-18-20 at 05:47 PM
In response to message #45
>** I do not have a good enough grasp on the Godzilla
>mythos to properly appreciate which one Goji-chan is specifically. I
>know there is an "original" one and he's her dad, because I remember
>seeing him in UF before. I could not point either of them out on a
>lineup of those new Magic cards with Godzilla art.

From the annotations, 'cause why reinvent the wheel:

"Goji-chan's original inspiration was a joke image posted to Twitter by Mine Yoshizaki, the character designer for Kemono Friends, depicting the Shin Gojira incarnation of Gojira (fourth stage) as a Friend. This picture inspired an extremely cute dōjinshi in which the Shin Goji Friend appears in Japari Park and has various heartwarming misadventures. Our Shingoji's origin is quite different, but her visuals, and the way she acts during the phase of the story when she's regenerating from a concussion, are based on that dōjin."

As for her father, his visuals were loosely based on the version from Godzilla 2000 (Gojira Millennium) until "Cold Fire", after which he looks more or less like the design seen in Godzilla (2014) and King of the Monsters.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#47, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by BlackAeronaut on Jun-19-20 at 01:23 PM
In response to message #46
Just came across this over on Bob's forum and I can't help but feel its relevant given your last post here...


#49, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Zemyla on Jan-06-21 at 03:31 PM
In response to message #0
I finally gave this a read, and even though I don't know Kemono Friends from a kimono, I definitely enjoyed it.

One question comes to my mind, though. People have talked about whether Hammerhead remembers Shepard, but does she remember the stolen data Cerberus encrypted into her? Normally there'd be no connection between her junk DNA and her mind, but there's nothing normal about what Sandstar does to genetics.

Also, is it even relevant now? It's over two centuries old. It'd be like if I had knowledge of troop movements, recognition codes, and black powder recipes from the Prussian Army. It might just be an interesting personality quirk now, rather than something bad guys would potentially pursue her for.


#50, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Droken on Jan-06-21 at 03:35 PM
In response to message #49
In the mini where Hammy was introduced, it was also mentioned that the only people not in the WDF/Allied Navy high commands who knew about that data were dead or in prison forevermore, and thus nobody could get the data back out who would even want it. As such, I highly doubt it would matter either way at this point in time. :)

#51, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Peter Eng on Jan-06-21 at 11:35 PM
In response to message #50
>In the mini where Hammy was introduced, it was also mentioned that the
>only people not in the WDF/Allied Navy high commands who knew about
>that data were dead or in prison forevermore, and thus nobody could
>get the data back out who would even want it. As such, I highly doubt
>it would matter either way at this point in time. :)

Even if one of the imprisoned folk was broken out (and who would do that? Some Big Fire agent going for a Hail Mary play?), they'd have to be convinced that Commander Shepard was back, and that it would be a good idea to capture and interrogate her for Hammy's location.

Then there's the problem of recognizing Hammerhead...

Peter Eng
--
"Okay, if that isn't Virginia Shepard, this is a waste of time. And if it is, it's going to be an extraordinarily painful waste of time. I've taken that thrill ride, and I don't want to go again."


#53, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by rwpikul on Jan-07-21 at 04:18 PM
In response to message #51
>>In the mini where Hammy was introduced, it was also mentioned that the
>>only people not in the WDF/Allied Navy high commands who knew about
>>that data were dead or in prison forevermore, and thus nobody could
>>get the data back out who would even want it. As such, I highly doubt
>>it would matter either way at this point in time. :)
>
>Even if one of the imprisoned folk was broken out (and who would do
>that? Some Big Fire agent going for a Hail Mary play?),

On that point, there's always one stock workaround: "My buds are staging a big breakout, you willing to owe a favour to get in on getting out?"


#52, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jan-06-21 at 11:58 PM
In response to message #49
>One question comes to my mind, though. People have talked about
>whether Hammerhead remembers Shepard, but does she remember the stolen
>data Cerberus encrypted into her?

Nope. Was never aware of it (or indeed of Cerberus itself), still isn't.

>Also, is it even relevant now? It's over two centuries old. It'd be
>like if I had knowledge of troop movements, recognition codes, and
>black powder recipes from the Prussian Army.

That's a good analogy. Another (since it was mostly industrial/technical data) would be, say, the secret formula for 1820s Portland cement, which made modern concrete possible. In fact, there's a solid comparison to be made in this very story: It's akin to the transmat food machine technology, which was incredibly bleeding-edge and potentially lucrative in its day, but by the time Friends Like These happens, is nothing particularly special (although Japari Park's version's energy source still is). Even if it could be recovered, there's unlikely to be anything in it that is interesting or novel in the 2400s.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#54, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Zemyla on Jan-25-21 at 07:17 AM
In response to message #52
>In fact,
>there's a solid comparison to be made in this very story: It's akin to
>the transmat food machine technology, which was incredibly
>bleeding-edge and potentially lucrative in its day, but by the time
>Friends Like These happens, is nothing particularly special
>(although Japari Park's version's energy source still is). Even if it
>could be recovered, there's unlikely to be anything in it that is
>interesting or novel in the 2400s.

I thought of that too, but didn't think of mentioning it. :V

Anyways, have you given any thought to sending Kaban, Serval, and Tsuchinoko to DSM? If they're going to be ambassadors for the Friends, then there are things they need to learn beyond books, and throwing them into the mix with Kaname and Sosuke and the incipient Armorsports team can only lead to excellence or serious injuey.


#55, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jan-25-21 at 04:17 PM
In response to message #54
>Anyways, have you given any thought to sending Kaban, Serval, and
>Tsuchinoko to DSM? If they're going to be ambassadors for the Friends,
>then there are things they need to learn beyond books, and throwing
>them into the mix with Kaname and Sosuke and the incipient Armorsports
>team can only lead to excellence or serious injuey.

It has, indeed, crossed my mind. So did being perverse and sending them to some other school on purpose, just to avoid the obvious choice, but that would cause even more logistical hassles than bulking up the DSM cast even further. :)

That said, I don't know if I would consider Tsuchinoko an ambassador, given her... unique... people skills. That would be like making Henry Kissinger the Secretary of State, which... (hand to earphone) Really? Oh.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#56, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Zemyla on Jan-25-21 at 07:11 PM
In response to message #55
>That said, I don't know if I would consider Tsuchinoko an ambassador,
>given her... unique... people skills. That would be like making Henry
>Kissinger the Secretary of State, which... (hand to earphone) Really?
>Oh.

I was talking less that she has any kind of ambassadorial mindset, and more that you'd need an industrial winch to pry her away from a chance to go to the stars and learn more things than the owls ever conceived of.


#57, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by Gryphon on Jan-25-21 at 07:38 PM
In response to message #56
>I was talking less that she has any kind of ambassadorial mindset, and
>more that you'd need an industrial winch to pry her away from a chance
>to go to the stars and learn more things than the owls ever conceived
>of.

This is certainly true. That's an imperative strong enough to overcome even her near-paralytic disinclination to be seen by strangers.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#58, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by NHO on Jan-26-21 at 00:53 AM
In response to message #57
> This is certainly true. That's an imperative strong enough to overcome even her near-paralytic disinclination to be seen by strangers.

She needs to learn the great art of Stealth and Disappearing and become Solid Snake!


#59, RE: (UF/FI) Friends Like These, cont'd
Posted by jhosmer1 on Jan-26-21 at 08:49 AM
In response to message #58
LAST EDITED ON Jan-26-21 AT 08:51 AM (EST)
 
>> This is certainly true. That's an imperative strong enough to overcome even her near-paralytic disinclination to be seen by strangers.
>
>She needs to learn the great art of Stealth and Disappearing and
>become Solid Snake!

The internet has already come up with the opposite, apparently.

I was just looking for a cute pic of Tsuchinoko in a cardboard box, and this is what I find...