OK, so, as prior musings and the subtitle indicate, The Federation Lives Forever! is something of an experiment in serialization. Not only in that it's coming out even more piecemeal than things usually do around here, but also in that I'm going to try to work to a timetable for once.

The way my schedule is structured this semester, I have a decent block of time from Thursday evening through Friday when, for various reasons, working on most of my schoolwork isn't practical - so I'll try setting that time aside to get bits of Federation done, with an eye toward having a chapter - whatever it may entail - out each Friday night or Saturday.

They'll be coming out hot off the griddle, like pancakes, and there will probably be running revisions as the thing develops, and I can't promise it'll be terribly polished at first blush, but I've never really done a look-inside-the-process type thing before. It may work; it may not, but either way I'll probably discover something interesting. That's why it's an experiment!

--G.
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As the first installment, I've compiled (and slightly revised) the in-universe bits of the HTT Featured Documents thread into a handy reference file, and the story itself kicks off with Chapter Zero: Prelude ("Living the Dream").

--G.
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And lo, the instalment was good. Great, actually.

<nod> Definitely a fun read so far, especially the way Azalynn so spectacularly blew her cover.

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

I love that Azalynn's attempt to sandbag crashed and burned the moment some deep part of her brain said 'right, band's assembled. ROCK.'

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

LAST EDITED ON Sep-20-14 AT 02:42 PM (EDT)
 
>I love that Azalynn's attempt to sandbag crashed and burned the moment
>some deep part of her brain said 'right, band's assembled. ROCK.'

Credit where due, that was totally Peter Eng's suggestion, and the thing that changed the "well... I play a little" thing from a joke to the kernel of the story's introductory sequence. :) Because yeah, inescapably, that is totally what would happen.

I like to think that at the end of it, while everyone was standing there staring at Azalynn, even that white Strat was thinking, ... What just happened? :)

--G.
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>
>I like to think that at the end of it, while everyone was standing
>there staring at Azalynn, even that white Strat was thinking, ...
>What just happened? :)
>

I'd guess that some part of Azalynn's brain was quietly reminding her about the "turn goat piss into gasoline" comment, with a note that she should never try to sandbag around any band worthy of that description.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

>I'd guess that some part of Azalynn's brain was quietly reminding her
>about the "turn goat piss into gasoline" comment, with a note that she
>should never try to sandbag around any band worthy of that
>description.

Even if it didn't, I expect some part of Kate's will point it out in due time. :)

--G.
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Well. I liked that very much. Azalynn seemed to fit in very well (although I know next to nothing about K-On, but that's what the reference document is for) with the girls.

The band kicking in behind Azalynn reminded me of AC DC's Let There Be Rock for some reason - probably because I'm on a AC DC kick right now.

Let there be drums
There was drums
Let there be guitar
There was guitar
Let there be rock

And it came to pass

>The band kicking in behind Azalynn reminded me of AC DC's Let There Be
>Rock for some reason - probably because I'm on a AC DC kick right now.

Well, Ritsu ditching not just her blazer but also her shirt in the dream sequence was kind of a nod to Angus Young on Azalynn's subconscious's part, I think. :)

(The "overheated concert on a hot and humid evening" vibe itself came from Journey Live in Manila, in which the conditions are so sultry you can almost hear Neal Schon's guitar strings rusting.)

Also, you just gave me the deeply incongruous (but amusing!) image of them marking Azusa's return to the lineup (after the year when she was still in high school and the others had graduated) by covering "Back in Black" with her on lead. It is entirely possible that she does have nine lives.

--G.
so look at me now, I'm just making my pay; don't try to push your luck, just get outta my way 'cause I'm back
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Okay, I realise the opening bit is a dream sequence and also that I basically know absolutely nothing about bands, but is it usual for them to only introduce the various players after they've been playing a concert for a comparatively long time? From the early Symphony I know The Art Of Noise usually does an opening number and then the intros, and then a set of songs, then a break, then another set. I guess there's a lot of variance? Or big concert venues are different? Or sometimes you just got to do a second introduction after a while in case some of the audience weren't tuned in the first time?

>Okay, I realise the opening bit is a dream sequence and also that I
>basically know absolutely nothing about bands, but is it usual for
>them to only introduce the various players after they've been playing
>a concert for a comparatively long time?

Depends on the group, but almost all the concerts and gigs I've been to, the band gets introduced under the band name at the very beginning, and then near the end (how near varies) the individual members are introduced, often in the context of a performance where each can have a brief solo in the limelight.

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

>and then near the end (how near varies) the individual
>members are introduced, often in the context of a performance where
>each can have a brief solo in the limelight.

Or, in the case of prog rock, a very long solo in the limelight. :)

--G.
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>>and then near the end (how near varies) the individual
>>members are introduced, often in the context of a performance where
>>each can have a brief solo in the limelight.
>Or, in the case of prog rock, a very long solo in the
>limelight. :)

True, that...

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

>Okay, I realise the opening bit is a dream sequence and also that I
>basically know absolutely nothing about bands, but is it usual for
>them to only introduce the various players after they've been playing
>a concert for a comparatively long time?

There's no set convention - it depends on the band and the occasion. Some bands don't introduce the individual members at all (HTT usually doesn't on the TV show - only the name of the band; Yui only intros them individually in their last concert of the series, and then she forgets herself). Sometimes they're scattered throughout the show (Def Leppard does this on their 1989 concert video). Joe Satriani usually introduces his backing band a couple of times, once near the beginning of the show and again toward the end. On Big Country's Final Fling DVD, Stuart doesn't introduce the others until near the end and never mentions the band's name, because he figures they all know what band they came to see (and it's in the lyrics to the song they're in the middle of at that point anyway).

In this case, five songs into the planned 20-song show was the first time they actually stopped playing long enough for Yui to do it, which is not that unusual for bands that do a lot of up-tempo stuff.

--G.
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>There's no set convention - it depends on the band and the occasion.
>
>In this case, five songs into the planned 20-song show was the first
>time they actually stopped playing long enough for Yui to do it, which
>is not that unusual for bands that do a lot of up-tempo stuff.
>

I have learned a new thing! Eyrie Productions, doing their part to educate the musically challenged.

>In this case, five songs into the planned 20-song show was the first
>time they actually stopped playing long enough for Yui to do it

Speaking of which, I've actually built an iTunes playlist for this concert, despite the fact that a) it was imaginary and b) Azalynn only dreamed the first 5.05 numbers in it. :)

---

0. "Two-Part Invention in F Major"*
Wendy Carlos perf. J.S. Bach
Switched-On Bach (1968)

1. "Fuwa Fuwa Time (#12 'Keion!' Mix)"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time (2009)

2. "Ichigo Parfait no Tomaranai (Studio Mix)"
"You Can't Stop My Strawberry Parfait"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

3. "Girls in Wonderland"
Hōkago Tea Time
No, Thank You! (2010)

4. "Gohan wa Okazu (Studio Mix)"
"Rice is a Side Dish"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

5. "No, Thank You!"
Hōkago Tea Time
No, Thank You! (2010)

6. "Kick Out the Jams"†
Blue Öyster Cult
Some Enchanted Evening (1978)

7. "Genius... !?"
Hōkago Tea Time
Go! Go! Maniac! (2010)

8. "Summer Song"
Joe Satriani
Live in San Francisco (2001)

9. "Kira Kira Days"
Hōkago Tea Time
Utauyo!! MIRACLE (2010)

10. "Romeo & Juliet"
Dire Straits
On the Night (1993)

11. "U&I (Studio Mix)"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

12. "Superstition"
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Live Alive (1986)

13. "Pure Pure Heart (Studio Mix)"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

14. "Hōkago Tea Time"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

15. "Got the Time"
Joe Jackson
Look Sharp! (1979)

16. "Fuyu no Hi (Studio Mix)"
"Winter Days"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

17. "Money for Nothing"
Dire Straits
On the Night (1993)

18. "Girly Storm Shissō Stick"

Hōkago Tea Time
K-On!! Character Image Song Series: Tainaka Ritsu (2010)

19. "Tokimeki Sugar (Studio Mix)"
"Heart-Pounding Sugar"
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time II (2010)

20. "Singing!"
Hōkago Tea Time
Singing! (2012)

ENCORE 1: "Satō Asami Joshi Kōtō Gakkō Kōka (Rock Ver.)"
"Asami Sato Girls' Academy Anthem (Rock Ver.)"
"Sakuragaoka Joshi Kōtō Gakkō Kōka (Rock Ver.)"
"Sakuragaoka Girls' High School Anthem (Rock Ver.)"
Hōkago Tea Time
Pure Pure Heart (2010)

ENCORE 2: "Who Do You Love"
George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Move It On Over (1978)

ENCORE 3: "Fuwa Fuwa Time (Eiga K-On! Mix)"‡
Hōkago Tea Time
Hōkago Tea Time in Movie (2012)

* Forty-second keyboard warmup before the lights came up; Azalynn didn't count it as an actual track.

† The BÖC live cover doesn't actually start with the signature opening profanity, but rather its record-label-bowdlerized subsitute, "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!" In fairness, that's a lot more likely to be something Yui would say, but the real reason this is here instead of the MC5 original is because it has an organ part and a guitar solo played on a Les Paul, and so sounds a lot more like what a Hōkago Tea Time cover of "Kick Out the Jams" would actually sound like.

‡ A shorter reprise of the band's signature song, minus the bridge and rap section near the end and with a somewhat more full-bore guitar solo. Rounded out the show in this case because of an inspired bit of audience banter Yui and Ritsu did after the band finished "Who Do You Love":

YUI
OK, one more, but then we really have to get going. It's getting close to Azu-nyan's curfew!

AZUSA
(not on mic)
Oh come on!

AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

PERSON DOWN FRONT
Fuwa Fuwa Time!

RITSU
We did that already!

YUI
We did that first! Did you miss it?

(with exaggerated "dawning alarm")
Oh my gosh - how much did you miss? What were we playing when you came in? Mio-chan, Mio-chan! These people here were late! There must've been traffic on the Bayshore or something.

MIO
(good-naturedly)
Oh, good grief.

YUI
We have to do the first set over again for them! Come on, you guys!

RITSU
One, two, three!

--G.
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>>I'd prefer having the whole thing at once, but I'm not picky.
>
>Hmm... well, I guess you could always wait until it's all there
>before you start... :)

Or I could just dive right in, because I like reading your stories, and damn this works nicely.

I especially enjoyed Azalynn's stream-of-consciousness description of Summer Song; it adds another dimension to an already complex character.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-20-14 AT 08:47 AM (EDT)
 
"And Mugi looked intensely interested, as if whatever was about to happen were a fascinating matter of very great importance."

That's a warning sign to run, as far and as fast as you can, like when Kate loses her stutter or the SDF-23's bows split open.

Also, I didn't mean this as a reply to Peter Eng's post. Oops. Is there any way to move a post once made?
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>"And Mugi looked intensely interested, as if whatever was about to
>happen were a fascinating matter of very great importance."
>
>That's a warning sign to run, as far and as fast as you can

Mistake No. 1! Never run from Mugi. 'Cause even if she can't catch you, she'll find you. That's what she does. It's all she does. She can't be bargained with. She can't be reasoned with. She doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And she absolutely will not stop - ever! - until you have had a nice cup of tea and a montblanc.

>Also, I didn't mean this as a reply to Peter Eng's
>post. Oops. Is there any way to move a post once made?

Nope, sorry. Don't worry about it, though. As post misplacements go, it's pretty minor. :)

--G.
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>I especially enjoyed Azalynn's stream-of-consciousness description of
>Summer Song

Thanks, that was fun to do - as deliberate abandonments of the rules of English styling in order to convey an effect often are, I find. I wanted to try and put across the sensation that the whole thing was kind of accelerating out of control, and that Azalynn's reactions to it were being felt much more than thought, because there wasn't really time or bandwidth to think. This is why the whole thing is one giant multi-paragraph run-on sentence, a construction technique that would, I think, have caused my 11th-grade English teacher to suffer some internal bleeding. :)

--G.
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>This is why the whole thing is one giant
>multi-paragraph run-on sentence, a construction technique that would,
>I think, have caused my 11th-grade English teacher to suffer some
>internal bleeding. :)
>
>--G.
>

I know enough writers to know that breaking the rules is sometimes necessary to writing. Of course, the first thing about breaking the rules is learning the rules, and learning the rules is what grade-school English teachers are for.

Peter Eng
--
I can't break the law properly until I know what it is.

This. Right here. All of it.
(Speaking as someone who's been known to write a little himself, and who majored in English. (Would you like fries with that?))

>Or I could just dive right in, because I like reading your stories,
>and damn this works nicely.
>
Yes. What he said.

>I especially enjoyed Azalynn's stream-of-consciousness description of
>Summer Song; it adds another dimension to an already complex
>character.
>
>
I hated music class so much in school that when I got to middle school and was allowed to choose my own electives that I swore blood oath to Odin that I would never NEVER NEVER!!! study music ever again.

No other author has made me regret that oath. This did.

Willard

>>
>>
>I hated music class so much in school that when I got to middle school
>and was allowed to choose my own electives that I swore blood oath to
>Odin that I would never NEVER NEVER!!! study music ever again.
>
>No other author has made me regret that oath. This did.
>
>Willard

That's too bad. Grade school music could of turned me off of music if it wasn't for my aunt teaching me music on weekends in a much better way than grade school did. Never regretted learning, only regret stopping school to go to work.

At least I can listen to music now. So it's all good.

And yes, leaving school for work.... Much much bigger regret there. But Gryphon inspires me to get my @#@$$ together and go back to school. We'll see.

Willard

You know, I feel like I should have something insightful to contribute.

But all I can really think is "The Federation Lives Forever is going to seem like an embarrassingly ironic choice of words in a couple years if any of the characters in it use it for a concept album."

-Merc
Keep Rat

LAST EDITED ON Sep-22-14 AT 02:07 AM (EDT)
 
>You know, I feel like I should have something insightful to
>contribute.
>
>But all I can really think is "The Federation Lives Forever is
>going to seem like an embarrassingly ironic choice of words in a
>couple years if any of the characters in it use it for a concept
>album."

I have to admit that's a bit of a disappointment. Not remotely on par with, say, the SCOTUS decision about private enterprises and eminent domain a few years ago, or The Legend of Korra, or cookie dough ice cream (seriously, all that hype for that?), but a disappointment, all the same.

--G.
It doesn't even mean that Federation.
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"What if you could?"

I liked the entire chapter, especially the comments regarding Asuza still learning just how the social circle she's joined is more efficient then she realises yet. Also the fact she goes cat despite her best efforts.

But that last line to Sawako is probably the very best part. After all, thanks to Azalynn, Sawako and her students are now in contact with a group of people that have perfected the art of being a successful band, then stepping off stage and still getting to be normal. I'm a sucker for stories where the characters get chances like this.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>Also the fact she goes cat despite her best efforts.

Poor Azusa. So serious-minded, so diligent, so... cat-natured. :)

(In UF, part of the reason she wears her hair like that, all tied back so it's pulled fairly tightly over her head, is in a vain attempt to keep her cat ears down. It doesn't work because they're a spirit phenomenon, and so when they manifest, they don't care if her hair is in the way or not, but she started doing it when she was very young and didn't understand that, and habits die hard. :)

>But that last line to Sawako is probably the very best part.

Thank you.

I think it's a coincidence that Mugi's had the last word in the first two installments running? But we'll see. :)

--G.
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Very much this.

You are a cruel, cruel bastard for dropping a 'Mugi in Evil Plans Mode" cliffhanger. Also a genius. But a bastard. :)
--------------
Lime2K
The One True Evil Overlord
(who needs moar nao!)

LAST EDITED ON Sep-27-14 AT 01:37 PM (EDT)
 
>After
>all, thanks to Azalynn, Sawako and her students are now in contact
>with a group of people that have perfected the art of being a
>successful band, then stepping off stage and still getting to be
>normal.

a group of people that have perfected the art of being a
>successful band, then stepping off stage and still getting to be
>normal.

still getting to be normal.

...For certain, extremely specific and non-indicative-of-the-universe-at-large definitions of normal.

Nit having been picked (jokingly), I hit post too quickly, because I wanted to briefly gush about how this whole experiment is working out. Gryph, you've so far absolutely nailed the sweet spot on where to start and end these things. I cannot (despite having to, by definition) wait to see how this whole thing pans out. I have a pretty good idea, but unlike certain authors I could name, you have a habit of throwing curveballs - and that's a very good thing! Sincerely looking forward to more.

<points up to the last few posts> What they all said. It's still a fun read, and the explanation for the ears makes so much in-UF sense.

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

"I wonder where my old guitar ended up?"

Oooh, you're an evil, evil man. XD

This has been awesome so far. Really, I need to hit up crunchyroll and check it out myself.

--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu

>"I wonder where my old guitar ended up?"
>Oooh, you're an evil, evil man. XD

Yeah, that's a lead-in if there ever was one.

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

I concur. It seems like this is building up to a scene in which someone is kicking around, maybe playing a little, and hoshit it's the Avatar we are worms et cetera.

That sorta thing is, after all...

*puts on sunglasses*

UF's jam.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!"
"Mugi, why is the Avatar screaming the word yes?"
"Why're you asking me?"
"Because it's weird."
"Fair point."

>I concur. It seems like this is building up to a scene in which
>someone is kicking around, maybe playing a little, and hoshit it's the
>Avatar we are worms et cetera.

Actually, that's exactly why Korra doesn't just drop in like that most of the time; she doesn't really enjoy people doing that. If she added it all up, she would probably find that she's spent a dismayingly large proportion of her lifetime so far saying things like, "No no, as you were."

--G.
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Re: Last 6 lines of Episode 2.

Never change, Mugi. Never, ever change.

*proud little smile*