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Subject: "FI: And So They Met"     Previous Topic | Next Topic
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Conferences Mini-Stories Topic #152
Reading Topic #152, reply 3
Mercutio
Member since May-26-13
942 posts
Oct-17-13, 04:20 AM (EDT)
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3. "RE: FI: And So They Met"
In response to message #0
 
   >Earth.
>Fire.
>Air.
>Water.
>
>Long ago, in the early days of the Chun Tai era, Avatar Korra helped
>the five nations of our world find a new balance among themselves.
>The world of Díqiù entered a peaceful age of invention and
>discovery... but then everything changed when we discovered the world
>beyond the Veil.
>

I quite enjoy this passage for the verisimilitude it establishes. The era name is a very, very nice touch; much like the Chinese (and Japanese, come to think of it) tradition it is aping, it gives an idea of the grand sweep of history at work here in a very concise way.

Also, the pedant in me immediately started wondering how they do eras in Diqiu as opposed to here in the real world, but that's my damage, not yours. :)

>Kei would surely understand that Headquarters, while topped out and
>fully enclosed, was nowhere near ready to be occupied on the inside
>yet, thanks to delays in construction inflicted by some truly epic
>winter weather and spring rains.

My grandfather, who worked in the trade for many years, would be very upset that your fancy cosmic sphere in the 25th century doesn't have tools available to its construction crews that allow them to obviate such inconveniences as mere WEATHER preventing them from coming in on time and on budget. :)

Of course, my grandfather would also have tried to overcharge you by 20% on the contract until you proved that you weren't just another suit who didn't know a damn thing about the project he was allegedly in charge of, so he might not be an accurate barometer there.

>But nooo. I'd promised her that I and my interminable conferences
>(video, holographic, telephonic, lenticular, and in-person),

"Lenticular." Nicely played, sir.

>By
>quarter-past eleven I was even into kind of a groove, automatically
>nodding to the beat pumping into my ears as I worked on one of the
>several hundred standards-in-practice documents I had to file in order
>to make the Royal Salusian Ministry of Public Security happy to
>cooperate with my new agency.

And the Salusians are longstanding friendlies with a single powerful autocrat wanting this to happen. I'd like to see the forms the Justice Department demanded the IPO jump through before they countenanced having a non-Zardon LEO enforcement authority. Now THOSE must have been some epic forms.

>Despite her almost Chandlerian entrance, she wasn't a Chandlerian
>beauty - but then Philip Marlowe didn't like his women too capable,

Are you sure you mean Marlowe, and not Chandler himself? It's been some years, but while I definitely remember noticing that Chandler didn't like his women very capable (and when they were capable, it was usually because they were evil) the Marlowe character I don't recall displaying a strong preference towards wilting lilies or damsels in distress above other types of ladies.

It has been awhile, tho.

>and he'd probably have written that spectacular physique off as
>mannish.

Legend of Korra production trivia for those who may not be aware: Nick initially wanted them to change Korra into a man (because shows with female protagonists don't sell well, donchaknow), and when Bryke managed to win THAT battle, they had to have a second one over her character design; marketing did not think very much of Korra having well-defined musculature and would have preferred her to look more like Katara did.

Say what you will about other decisions the production team may have made, they won a couple important fights before they even began submitting scripts.

>Whoever this woman was, whatever she wanted
>with me, she was just flat-out pleasant to look at - like a sunset, or
>a Van Gogh, or a cable-stayed bridge, or a really-well-made machine
>tool.

Gryphon is a little bit weird.

Or that series of similes got away from him.

Or both!


>Fifteen seconds in and she was
>already giving good banter; surely acquaintances like that are too
>rare for the fates to squander them on assassination attempts.

Skuld refuses to show Gryph the relevant planning data on that particular acquaintance-to-assassination attempt conversion, on the grounds that he both doesn't have the background in metaphysical mathematics to understand it, and it might leave him terribly depressed if he did.

>"Nice building," she said, giving the beam a thump and nodding. "Very
>sturdy. Earthquake-proof? Do you even have earthquakes here?"

One imagines that the first and only spherequake in New Avalon was when the AT&T took it's best shot. Probably not an experience anyone is eager to repeat.

>She looked at me for a moment as if sizing me up, not personally but
>professionally, if that makes any sense;

This amused me a lot, because I was remembering when Sara had to conduct her first professional appraisal of Gryphon, and just how THAT went before she realized she was speaking to the boss.

>"So," I said. "Dìqiú. Hmm. Here I thought I'd heard of pretty
>much every world in human space. Is that one of those new colonies
>Neo-Taipei is establishing out on the Rim?" I scratched the back of
>my head, considering. "Not the most original name, but hey, sometimes
>you have to go with the classics, I guess..."

Earth-derived human space in the context of UF hasn't exactly demonstrated either much originality or historical sensitivity in the naming of a lot of their diaspora worlds, really. (I am looking in your direction, Co-Prosperity Sphere.) Everything is "New" this or "Neo" that or "$FOUNDERSNAME World" other thing.

>She gave me the wry grin again and said, "I didn't say it it was a
>good alias. Now, if I was Fire Nation, I'd probably pull it
>off. But I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, and we get a lot more sun
>than those guys." With a thoughtful little frown, she went on,
>"Always wondered about that, 'cause they're equatorial and we're from,
>y'know, the South Pole, but hey, I'm no biologist.

Clearly not. There are... a lot of things wrong about Korra's ideas about where skin tone comes from here. She might want to spend a couple years studying the life sciences rather than engineering at some point.

>That... could go either way, actually. I'd heard of such theoretical
>possibilities before, and hey, I spent 40-some years ramming around a
>parallel dimension once, so I'm the last guy to dismiss the
>possibility of weird sidereal phenomena out of hand.

Excellent use of "sidereal." One of my personal favorite words.

>Korra seemed to find that encouragement enough. "On my side,
>the world we call Dìqiú, certain of us can manipulate the elements -
>earth, fire, air, water - and ages ago we organized ourselves into
>four nations: Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Air Nomads, Water Tribe,"
>she said. Her face, not exactly stony to begin with, became more
>animated as she described the situation. "At any given time, one
>person - the Avatar - has the ability to manipulate - to 'bend' - all
>four elements. That person's job is to look after the balance,
>safety, and well-being of our world and the Spirit World that stands
>between it and Zipang, and for the time being, that happens to be me."

I like this speech very much, because of the subtlety involved here; you don't have vocal tone to work with directly, but it manages to both be recognizably something Korra would say (I can totally hear Janet Varney delivering it) and also to recognizably be something she clearly spent some time rehearsing and thus it has that slight unreality to it you get from, say, college professors or car salesmen.

>I have many weaknesses. I'm vulnerable to strontium-90. (ATTN
>supervillains: Before you go jotting that down like you've just
>uncovered a great secret, check with the nearest biologist.)

Also, Gryphon doesn't mention if he means the isotope, or the band. Probably the isotope. But you never can tell! Maybe someone should try attacking him using Sting, see what happens.

>In this case, I had reason by this point to believe that the bottom of
>this particular one was going to be excellent, and even if it wasn't,
>getting there to find out was almost sure to be good times. I stuck
>out a hand and introduced myself properly,

No lens flash? Because flashing your lens at people... well, I'm not Gryphon, but if I had that thing the fun of using it to identify or introduce myself to people with would never get old.

I'm pretty easily amused, though. There's a part of me that's still deeply giddy about having a real live grown-up passport. It's like, I may never have to fly to Morocco to foil international jewel thieves, but if the need arises I am prepared with proper documentation.

... I may be rambling.

>And my last, Skuld replied petulantly. This is
>horrible. Why didn't anybody warn me?

"If and when I want more kids, I will be exploring alternative methods of divine reproduction. I'm not even joking, you guys. Right at this moment, I would happily sign on for the bursting-fully-grown-from-my-forehead option."

>Would it have made any difference if anybody had? Kei wondered.
> Hang in there, kiddo, the man responsible will be on the scene to
>pay his dues presently. Morgan out!

Man, I miss Kei and her insouciance.

>No action there yet. Ah, jeez, I gotta go. If I don't concentrate
>time starts getting all weird, last time I think some guy from the
>30th century was here for a second.

Ha! I loved this passage just because I love it when weird metacosmic shit happens.

>"Can we finish this later?" I asked. "I've got a... thing.
>Happening. Possibly two."

Three, as it would latter turn out!

>"And So They Met" - A Future Imperfect Mini-Story by Benjamin D.
>Hutchins with Philip Jeremy Moyer
>special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
>© 2013 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited

>
>


Clever title. It can refer either to Gryphon or to Corwin.

>For the rest of Avatar Korra's first adventure in the City in the
>Sphere, keep an eye out for "An Avatar in New Avalon" - Chapter 1 of
>Undocumented Features Future Imperfect: The Legend of Korra, Book
>6: Galaxy
- coming Soon™ from Eyrie Productions, Unlimited!

Awwwww. I was hoping Project Phoenix Flight would be next. :(

Nice little mini-story. For once I have nothing hypercritical to say! I should sleep on that, though. It's like, four in the morning. I'm sure I can find something tomorrow.

-Merc
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  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
 FI: And So They Met [View All] Gryphonadmin Oct-16-13 TOP
   RE: FI: And So They Met Matrix Dragon Oct-17-13 1
      RE: FI: And So They Met Gryphonadmin Oct-17-13 2
  RE: FI: And So They Met Mercutio Oct-17-13 3
      RE: FI: And So They Met pjmoyermoderator Oct-17-13 5
          RE: FI: And So They Met SpottedKitty Oct-17-13 10
      RE: FI: And So They Met Sofaspud Oct-17-13 6
          RE: FI: And So They Met Mercutio Oct-17-13 7
              RE: FI: And So They Met Gryphonadmin Oct-17-13 8
                  RE: FI: And So They Met MuninsFire Oct-17-13 9
                      RE: FI: And So They Met The Traitor Oct-17-13 11
                  RE: FI: And So They Met BZArchermoderator Oct-17-13 12
   RE: FI: And So They Met drakensis Oct-17-13 4
   A Few Notes Gryphonadmin Oct-17-13 13
      RE: A Few Notes Mercutio Oct-17-13 14
          RE: A Few Notes Gryphonadmin Oct-17-13 16
              RE: A Few Notes Nova Floresca Oct-17-13 17
              RE: A Few Notes The Traitor Oct-18-13 19
      RE: A Few Notes CdrMike Oct-17-13 15
      RE: A Few Notes Polychrome Oct-18-13 18
      RE: A Few Notes SpottedKitty Oct-18-13 20
          RE: A Few Notes Gryphonadmin Oct-18-13 21
              RE: A Few Notes Mercutio Oct-18-13 22
                  RE: A Few Notes Gryphonadmin Oct-18-13 23
                      RE: A Few Notes Mercutio Oct-18-13 24
                          RE: A Few Notes The Traitor Oct-18-13 25
   RE: FI: And So They Met SneakyPete Oct-19-13 26
      RE: FI: And So They Met Gryphonadmin Oct-19-13 27
   RE: FI: And So They Met twipper Oct-19-13 28
   This Will Bug Me Forever Mercutio Nov-19-13 29
      RE: This Will Bug Me Forever Gryphonadmin Nov-19-13 30
          RE: This Will Bug Me Forever The Traitor Nov-20-13 31
              RE: This Will Bug Me Forever Gryphonadmin Nov-20-13 32
   RE: FI: And So They Met Star Ranger4 Dec-18-15 33
      RE: FI: And So They Met Gryphonadmin Dec-18-15 34


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