FeatherWriter fanfic fan club :)

[FeatherWriter]

Hehehe, fiVe's a VERY fun character. (I may have missed it in the earlier sessions, but her name's always stylized with a lowercase f, even at the beginning of the sentence.) Seiko and Miranda hurt my soul with their perfection. UGH. ADVANCED HYDROPHOBIA FOREVER.

 

On that note, for the current readers: Session #30's up! Woo!

[Mailliw73]

When does fiVe show up? Sorry about the name, I was just gong from memory.

[FeatherWriter]

No worries. Hmm, I believe you'll hear from fiVe by the end of Act 1 (Session 10). I think you meet her for the first time at the very end of Session 10, part 2!

[Quiver]

Yes it is,I can see what you mean about the writing meshing better. I'm really liking Eleanor's skills like Quiver mentioned in his reviews of these sessions and I like Miranda and Seiko's relationship. Sylvie's drifting and combat is fun too. And with Miranda's brief mention of FiVe has me intrigued with what happened there.

 

Yeah, er... sorry Mailliw. I.. might have got a little overzealous in some reviews. 

 

Anyway, new session means more chances for zealotry, so I'll edit this post with it in a moment.Hallowed Come the Judges, etc.

 

First, I need to apologise. For some reason, I kept reading Valentine's name as Vanaline. Congratulations on your Russian mob boss being upgraded to a hypnotic voice angelic sociopath. YOUR WELCOME.

 

Anyway... Scene One

My comparison might not be entirely inaccurate. She threatened Seiko with the same half-lidded eyes that she used to invite Eleanor to the real VIP club. I don't know if she's trying to flirt with one (or both) of them, or just planning to kill them. Though, given the Vanaline comparison, there's a not-too-bad chance that it's both.

 

Besides that, I liked the parallels between Sylvie and Miranda being explored here. Like you said Feather, their very similar, and I couldn't help but read Miri's first line of dialogue in a tone of indignation at being so devalued. Similarly, I think Sylvie comes across a little worse when she demands Vee back, but it really isn't that much different from Miranda wanting to go out and arrest them right away.

 

Besides them, I again liked this as a showcase of Eleanor's skills. I don't know if you guys planned this when you were making the characters, or if it's something I'm projecting, but it seems like she's the "social" player on the team. She was conning the information out of the EMT way back, and she takes the lead in these negotiations. I also liked how Seiko kept calling back to the HQ for orders, since it... reinforces what he said before about not liking to take the lead. 

 

And Katie? I'm trying to work out whether calling ahead of time, buying up Vanaline Valentines assets and delivering them to the woman you love qualifies you as a Magnificent [word which might be too explicit for forum board rules], but I'm going to say it did. That being said, I do find it kind of funny how, even after she told the other team members to take point on this, she still had her own backup plan running in case things went South. She really is a masterful planner, isn't she?

 

Scene Two

It's nice seeing fiVe, particularly her being contrite, though I have to say, I didn't think it was flirty. Pinning her processors like a butterfly actually made me think of a serial killer. Maybe it's just the reaction I'm getting fromher oh-so-recent gun-aiming at Sylvie.

 

Scene Three

Okay, so this is a scene all about trust, and trying to get fiVe and Vee together, both romantically and as teammates, but OH MY GOD, THE SUBTEXT. I'M NOT GOING NEAR THAT ON THE OPEN FORUM, BUT WELL-PLAYED, MADAME, WELL PLAYED.

 

Scene Four

Okay, so... I find it interesting that fiVe finally agrees to Sylvies help after her dalliance with Vee. It seems like another of those very sex-positive moments that occurs throughout your groups work. Obviously, letting Sylvie mess with her codes at all is a major step, but I'm curious to see whether it this is going to result in her being more open towards her, or if it's going to set off a paranoid "Did she change something? I can't tell!" train of thought.

 

And wow. I'm glad I was right about suit-man being bad news, and Zhu's party tying into the plot, but I would not want to be... whoever or whatever was responsible for it whenever the Scroungers get there. You said I'd be interested, and I'm guessing this is why, but I have to say, I'm even more excited for the next part, since it'll be Katie completely reacting with no plan, no back up, no weapons worth a damnation, and not having anything- to- lose. Should be nice.

 

On a happier note, she now owns a night club? I hope the Scroungers hang out at the Krokodil during an intermission or use it as a new HQ, but if I were them, I'd be doubling down on my security right about now. Valentine being outted for her finances right after her meeting with Seiko and Eleanor? I'd start watching my back.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Quiver

[Joe ST]

First, I need to apologise. For some reason, I kept reading Valentine's name as Vanaline. Congratulations on your Russian mob boss being upgraded to a hypnotic voice angelic sociopath. YOUR WELCOME.

So like, who is Len? *proceeds to cross/slash/merge fic*

[FeatherWriter]

Valentina as Vanaline? OH NOOOOOO... As for who would be Len, I'm pretty sure Len and Seiko would get along pretty well, especially as teammates or something. Cool, disinterested professionals who don't care too much about getting their hands dirty, though beneath the surface, they're rather different. (I'm not saying that I've got Vanalen fic stashed away as a present for another friend for reading Scroungers... but yeah.)

 

Scene 1

I'm pretty sure it's both on the flirting/threatening thing. It's at least flirting, because I remember Gavin talking about how ze was hesitant to use the “depraved bisexual” trope... But it fit too well for Valentina, and after the rest of Scroungers, hopefully people are aware that it's not meant to be a stereotype and she's certainly not the only queer representation here.

 

Sylvie and Miri are in a similar situation, yes, though Sylvie got Vee back unharmed, while Miranda's still got people out there who know her secret. They react similarly until that point, and then they diverge.

 

I'm not sure it was intentional way back when we were originally building the team, but I definitely like that Eleanor, who is probably our least combat-ready member, showing off her skillset and owning the situation with the bad guys. She's good at reading people and she's good at diplomacy, and she's especially good at conning people. She and Seiko make a very nice “shady underworld folk” team.

 

Katie is definitely awesome. As for her awesome planning skills, I think her current High Aspect is “Mastermind-in-Training” so that's certainly a side of her character that's gonna show up. (Except for when it doesn't... More on that later.)

 

Scene 2

Woo! fiVe apologizing! Being contrite about her actions! Character development! And... what is going on with her and dear Vee, hehehe. The “pinning” statement was made because I'd already written the scene that comes after this (and was at that point planning to adapt it a bit to put it in here.) Vee recognizes the taunt in the threat and she's determined to show fiVe that she's A.) not scared of her and B.) willing to trust her no matter what in order to make amends. Vee's current MO is: whatever fiVe wants to do, so long as she's interacting with us, then let's do it.

 

Scene 3

Subtext, what subtext? This is obviously just an innocent interaction between two sentient computer programs that has no real-life analogue whatsoever. c;

 

Ellie has created a monster in turning me into a BackCompat shipper, I swear. CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP. Also, it is very fun to see Gavin glitch out when the AIs start doing stuff. Very fun.

 

Scene 4

Yep. I have a feeling that during the break after Act 3, that little moment of getting a tiny bit of fiVe's damage fixed is gonna be something that Sylvie, Vee, and fiVe are all going to think about this a lot. Vee and Sylvie see it as a victory. fiVe sees it as a moment of weakness on her part, but... one which may have made her life better with a little bit of her pain and damage gone. She's gotta think about that a lot. Was it a ploy on Sylvie's part to make fiVe trust her, or was it genuine? fiVe's not sure, and she doesn't think she wants to give Sylvie another chance in order to find out.

 

Peralta's goin' down. He has messed with three Scrounger love interests now (assuming that he was a part of the attack on Avery). Do not do that thing. Scroungers are scary people and they will take you down. Do not do. Bad things happen. I remember reading you talking about “Wow I want to see Katie not being in control, hopefully,” and I just: *jetski flashbacks*. So yep, nice job calling that one.

 

Proposition for an Interlude in a Scrounger nightclub? That sounds awesome. It'd be nice for the team to go to one of those while they're not on the job for once.

 

[FeatherWriter]

Whoa. Okay then. This is a new feeling. Session #31 is up. Aka, everything we've played thus far. The last half of this session is what we played last night. Sydney Scroungers is... current. You now know (almost) everything I do.

 

*basks in the glow of being caught up*

[Quiver]

Congratulations on being caught up, even if it means we have to wait longer for new material.

Please hold.

Scene One

Okay, so, it's only a brief second of dialogue, but I think the interaction between Sylvie and Seiko does a good bit to show how their relationship has developed. Sylvie is more concious of her previous flaws, and even though she's being sarcastic, it seems like she's not as hurt or angry at the criticism as she would have been in earlier sessions. Similarly, Seiko's flippant "Anytime," reply sounds like one of someone who is more comfortable and friendly with her than he has been in the past. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it -it was only a brief second of dialogue- but it seems like it makes fiVes reply seem more petulant and petty than it would have ordinarily been.

Miranda not even bothering to listen in on their conversations struck me as bizarrely comic. I just got a mental image of her as a suffering-parent, too tired to deal with her children's squabbling... which might be appropriate since, with Katie gone, I think Miranda is probably the most mature person on the ship. Seiko and Eleanor are still, I suppose, nominally in charge of the op since getting back from Valentina, but Seiko has made it clear that he prefers following orders rather than giving them, and while El is good in social situations, the fact she's currently sitting on the deck and trying to keep the peace suggests (to me) that leadership isn't her forte. I'm sort of curious to know how the hierarchy of the Scroungers works in Katie's absence, really.

Also, I offer two to one odds that Miranda crashes Tranquility into the Yacht, makes a badass speech and takes the party goers hostage. Again.

Scene Two

I have to say, I'm sort of surprised at Katie re-establishing contact so quickly. I expected it to be a blind, Valkyrie-like fury, riding out of Tranquility on her... er... jetski... to signle-handedly storm the barricades and take it back. Then again, if the Yahct hadn't moved on, that might have been exactly what she would have done, so who knows?

Instead, the fact she re-assess the situation and calls back shows her being a reasonable person and, as you've established before, good at planning. She took an opportunity, probably cooled down a bit, and then reassessed the situation to make a new plan.

And... whenever she's under stress, she calls Zhu Rachel. And when Zhu's in trouble, she calls her Katie. That's sweet.

Also, I think it's pretty telling about Katie's relationship or connection to her that of everyone on the ship she could contact, she picked fiVe.

Scene Three

I like that this whole sequence plays out from the Tranquility's POV. It makes the scene a little more tense, especially whenever the crew start throwing questions for Katie to ask and she needs to take a minute to get it through. I also like that Katie is putting her emotional feelings that little bit above her professional ones. It may not be the best way to ensure everyone gets out safe, but under the situation, it feels a lot more realistic.

Advanced Hydrophobia 101.

And again, the ending, with Zhu referring to her as Katie is sweet.

I have a baaaaaad feeling about this...

Scene Four

Again, the cross cutting between characters makes this a very visual, action-movie like sequence, particularly the portion at the end, when El turns a corner to find the guards and Seiko snipes them.

I also think this scene is pretty interesting for showing some of the differences between the characters. Miranda was freaking out over her blueprints getting out, but here she is, outwardly, more relaxed- maybe inwardly, too, since she's disappointed at not getting to pretend to be a pirate. Sylvie and Katie both have personal stakes in things, and Sylvie expects Katie to understand why she has to save Mike first- and Katie agrees to go along with it, citing 'tactics', even though her own running off earlier to Zhu wasn't exactly a tactical decision.

Scene Five

damnation. I don't know if Katie marching down a boat, coat billowing behind her, guns akimbo is more badass than Eleanor letting psycho Seiko snipe her so she can infiltrate the enemy team. Or there's always Sylvie going all Arkham on the group of thugs. Or Miranda, who crashes the boat into the other point, and then decides it's best to sneak.

Clear fiVe means awesome in any context.

Scene Six

Okay, bravo. I guessed Zhu's party would come up, but I didn't expect Sherman to be on your side. I'm really interested to see what this information he has is, my only guess being it's connected to the bomb. It was also neat to see El get the guards on her side.

Sylvie's reaction to Sgermans suggestion was funny, Katie's reaction to Rachel being a kill on sight was... terrifying.

And now I have to wait to see what happens next....

Edited February 20, 2014 by Quiver

[FeatherWriter]

Okay, finally getting around to respond to this:

 

Scene 1
Said it before and I'll say it again, I love writing Seiko and Sylvie bickering at each other. Ellie does such a wonderful job with it, and I think it's probably actually a good thing for both of them. They're... getting closer to each other, in their own weird way. c: And yes, while fiVe's remark was rather petty, she is showing steps in the right direction. She sent that message to Seiko's private channel, rather than broadcasting publically the way she once would have.
 

Miranda as the suffering parent is a pretty apt analogy I think. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she's second-in-command after Katie, so she's kinda the boss right now. I thiiiiiink that got officially established back in Act 1, though I'm not sure Sylvie and Eleanor are aware of it still. 

 

Scene 2

I'm pretty sure had Katie been able to find the yacht on her own, she would have just gone after it, however, because it scurried away, she had to turn back to the team. And yes, Rachel/Katie first-name cutes. Gotta love them. As for calling fiVe, Katie and fiVe are both very close now (though I think quite a bit of the bonding has happened off-screen.) If I'm remembering correctly Katie's currently sporting the aspect "AI Little Sister" in regards to fiVe, which is interesting.

 

Scene 3

What, you didn't think I'd let Emma and Ellie get away with mentioning the source behind the name "Advanced Hydrophobia" without me mentioning the phrase? NOPE. I'm always a fan of cute ship names coming from canon quotes, so if I have to make those canon quotes myself, I will! Phase 2: use the phrase "Backwards Compatibility" with fiVe and Vee...

 

A bad feeling? Oh, I'm sure everything's going to go exaaaactly to plan. Nothing going wrong at all.

 

Scene 4 and 5 (because reasons)

Heh, you can tell when we hit combat, because everyone's scenes get individualized. Basically, everyone goes in turns and each turn, they're going to "do" something. That might be an attack roll (using Fight or Shoot skills) or it could be something to "Create an Advantage," where -- if the roll is successful -- the result will be a new in-scene aspect with a certain number of "free invokes" (which are basically like FATE point rewards that you don't actually have to use a FATE point on.)

 

So, some behind the scenes on the nitty-gritty dynamics, because combat scenes like this are going to be the most FATE heavy sections. We've got Seiko at the top of the order (who takes his first turn trying to sight at the boat, but the roll failed, so he doesn't get to do anything.) Then Katie, followed by Sylvie, then Eleanor, then Miranda. (With various guards scattered throughout.) 

 

Now, not everything from a character is a part of their turn, for instance, talking is allowed off-turn. So, as Ellie rolls for Seiko's turn and spots the group of guards, Emmalyn decides to have Eleanor speak (off-turn) before Seiko comes through with his successful Shoot action to take one of them out.

 

Sometimes if you fail a roll you get bad things that happen to you, such as Sylvie who tied, rather than passed her Athletics roll to grab the ladder. So in that case, we would say that Sylvie "Succeeds with a Minor Cost." After talking with Gavin over what might be acceptable, I decided to have her get completely soaked by a wave as she does so -- and now there's an in-scene aspect on her of "Soaked Sylvie" which her enemies could use against her. (Which they do, as you might remember the comment about her slipping during her fight due to her wet shoes in Scene 5.)  

 

The whole combat scene is a lot of trading aspects and invokes around. You create something narratively new and then you figure out either how it gets used in your favor or against you. Katie throws a grenade at the boats to create the aspect "Panic! At The Waterline" which Sylvie then uses to slip through the chaos to reach the ladder. After seeing Eleanor starting to trick the guards, Seiko uses his turn to Create an Advantage for her to use using his Shoot skill; and he succeeds, resulting in the aspect: "They Couldn't Hit an Elephant At This Dis--"

 

I don't always directly follow turn order, rather I like to group people together by location. So Katie/Sylvie and the guards that Sylvie's fighting all get grouped, Seiko/Eleanor and the guards that Eleanor's tricking get grouped, and Miranda's doin' her own thing down belowdecks. I try not to let a full turn cycle go around (because they often react to things going on in other areas) but sometimes things get a little swapped for clarity.

 

Scene 6

There was a lot of shouting at Gavin when Sherman showed up. A lot of shouting. I just feel the need to pass this along. Obviously I don't have any more information, but my current theory is: 

1. Sherman found out that someone he worked with in the underworld was gonna do a really bad thing (the bomb probably, or whatever Peralta's real evil plan is)
2. Realized that he's going to get tied back to it when it goes down because he's involved
3. Tried to run and hide
4. Maybe ended up feeling bad because he's responsible and deciding that he needed to do something to try to stop it instead and went after Peralta?

IDK. I'm sure we'll get details as it goes on, but for now, that's kinda what I'm thinking.

 

I am definitely going to make Sylvie do dumb things re: that little "Mike's Boyfriend" comment. For one, I need more FATE points because someone decided to take on five guards on her own and is gonna get her programming butt kicked unless I get her some bonuses. Also, compels are fun and she's got the aspect for it. as I've given her "Faint of Heart" to cover her relationship with Mike. So, yeah. I think she's going to maybe forget that she's supposed to be fighting for a moment and have things go wrong.

 

Heh, don't say "Kill on sight" when talking about Zhu. Especially not where Katie can hear. You will die. Very quickly. Peralta's going down. We're gonna get that sucker, I swear we will.

 

And yes, waiting. So we shall...

 

(Saturday can't come fast enough!)

[FeatherWriter]

Can you guys not hide your own posts? Hmm, that's strange. I thought you could. Aaaaanyway. I... probably should have uploaded Session #32, shouldn't I have? OOPS. That's totally my bad for not posting it...

 

It's right here. However, while I was editing I ended up asking Gavin about some stuff and we realized we need another scene at the end there. So, we're probably going to play that one through sometime tonight and I'll get it edited and up ASAP. Enjoy what's up now though!

[Quiver]

Okay, so... I'm going to be replying to this, like, now. Hopefully.

(I may have to stop halfway, but if I do, I'll edit the rest in later).

 

This first point isn't related to the rest of the session, but...again, I'm glad for the short summary at the top of the session. After the WoR-induced hiatus, it provides a pretty handy reminder of events.

 

 

Scene One

While the intro helped, given that this is starting almost literally mid-blow, I maybe should have re-read session #31 first. It's another of those times when reading it once completed will probably help me enjoy it more in the future. It was also a little jarring to go back into this present-tense, head-hopping style, but that's only because I spent the last two weeks in Roshar. Now, saying that, there were certain points of this which did stand out to me; the almost-slip of the tongue in describing Sherman for instance.

 

(And if you guys are at the point where you have to correct yourselves when using the word hostages, you may be getting too many.)

 

I also liked how the tables turned in the fight scene. It's nice to see the heroes on the defence now and again. I'm also curious about what's going on with Miranda- again, it might be the break I took from reading this, but that plot development with the scientists was very surprising to me. Unfortunately, since this is a movie with giant monsters, science can only end poorly. 

 

Scene Two

Oh Eleanor.

 

Do I need to reiterate how much I enjoy seeing you guys use diplomacy to get out of situations? Because I do. And I like the slight reversal you pulled, with Eleanor convincing them to start shooting, overruling the objections, ready to start shooting... and then recruits them.

Well, reversal isn't the right word, but you know what I mean.

 

And I start to feel a little sorry for the scientists. Seiko is usually so calm that hearing him snarl, even at a somewhat-friendly gibe from Sylvie is rather telling.

 

Scene Three

Seems to have had it's title typoed to scene four. Unless that's another of these secret scenes we aren't supposed to know yet?

 

Scene Four

And here comes the tension.

For Miranda... honestly, at first I wasn't sure if the Capacitor thing was a joke to a reference (the only thing I could think of was the flux capacitor from back to the future) but the rest of the scene makes me think otherwise.  Same thing goes for Sherman. I had been assuming that he had snuck on board to meet the Marshall in a non-confrontational setting, but the fact that he didn't, and didn't even know she was there, raises a lot of questions.  

 

Scene fiVe

Oh dear.

 

Yes, more tension. The fact that some scientists ran away from their giant electromagnetic gun tells us pretty early on that this is not going to be pretty.Though it does make me wonder what effect, precisely, a giant electromagnetic field would have on a kaiju... kinda worried that the Scroungers are about to be in the middle of a kaiju homing beacon.

 

And I was wondering what was going on with the billionairess.

 

Scene Six

Oh, so what was going on was her out of her mind.

 

damnation. That was... risky. One complaint I have to say, I wish you could have phrased the success of it a little better; for some reason, I just don't like this line:

 

Despite the team’s panicked reactions to Katie’s gambit, it pays off.

Besides that though, it's a good moment. Again, it's not... diplomacy, per se, but it does end the fight in a way other than fighting. And the reactions of everyone around Katie are kind of funny, which is good levity considering the catharsis of the reunion with Mike.

 

And the Breach. Hehehe...

 

Scene Seven

hehehehehe...

 

Okay, so... the Breach. This sounds bad, in the worst possible way. I have to say I'm really, really interested in how this is affecting Miranda, and how it might effect her standing in the Assembly going forward; messing with the Breach equiptment and stopping their gods from getting through sounds like the sort of thing that would cement her as the anti-Christ to them, but...

Well, it might be wrong-headed speculation, since I haven't seen the film. But for some reason, I can kind of picture some cultists actually deciding "Hey, she looked into heaven! That's way better than looking a nuke, let's follow her!" An Assembly sized Schism would be fun. 

 

Scene Eight

Like Mira, I was wondering where fiVe had gotten to and this is...

 

Okay, I've said before, in earlier scenes, how much I enjoy the stream of conciousness, broken pronouns etcetera that happen when fiVe glitches, so from a purely technical standpoint, I like that again here. It's maybe even better here just because so much information is being processed. It comes across as it sounds- completely overwhelming, contradictory and fragmented. So I appreciate the scene, and enjoy it.

 

But it makes me sad. Poor fiVe.

 

Scene Nine

And then I feel comedy for Katie's new reputation. And adorable for Katie and Zhu.

Sydney Scroungers! A roller coaster of feels with every session!

 

More constructively, I did think it was funny how fast Katie's reputation spreads. It's unlikely, I know, but I hope that this has consequances down the line. It might be a bit absurd for people to connect her with 'that crazy grenade-wielding maniac' a while back, but I hope Eleanor doesn't et her forget because, as she points out, what Katie did was pretty much completely insane.

 

As for Zhu... awww. It's been building to this sort of moment for a while now (yes, even though I think they kissed in an interlude before?); Rachael appearing in a dirty, ripped up dress, and admitting to being terrified of something, again, humanises her, and it helps seal the relationship, and why she would love Katie, more than the knight in leather quip does. The moments before were always flirtatious, or deniable, but I think this seems like a big, crystallising turning point in their relationship, so I'm going to be very curious as to how things proceed from here.

 

If Zhu dies before this act is over, I WILL have my vengeance.

 

Scene Ten

This has nothing to do with anything other than the fact they are related scientists, but I don't suppose those two are based on/references to/something else of the Luteces from Bioshock Infinite, are they? Could I get a Word of Gavin on that?

 

Beyond that, I couldn't help but notice the way Liz's smile was described; it sounds a lot like Eleanor's. I don't think it's meant to imply any kind of connection between them, but... it does certainly seem to vndicate all my earlier statements about El's smile making her seem scary.

 

(And Miranda just couldn't go one mission without getting hostages, could she? Lol) 

 

Scene Eleven

Huh.

Well, that was anti-climactic.

 

Which I mean in the best possible way; after all the running and gunning to get to this point, it's oddly satisfying to have Peralta drop the mic and tell the team to not let the door hit them on the way out. It was certainly unexpected; I'll have to re-read these sessions, but Peralta's declaration that he's so anti-kaiju took me a little by surprise, possible because after the Breach I was expecting the Assembly to be involved. It's nice to see some extremism on the other side, too; it means that the Scroungers aren't the good guys because they aren't giant lizard overlords or cult members, they are the good guys because they have some concept of restraint and morality.

 

Scene Twelve

And... aside from the romantic roundup, and joking about the fact that this adventure has ended with the characters looting the ship, I don't have too much to say about this section. There's been a lot of questions raised though, and I have looking forward to the next scene (or the next session) to see some answer, like Zhu's reaction to Sherman, what his information is and who, exactly, Peralta was working with.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Quiver

[FeatherWriter]

Scene 1

Feels good to be back doesn't it? And too many hostages? NONSENSE. THIS IS SCROUNGERS. ALL THE HOSTAGES.

 

Scene 2

Eleanor was kinda amazing in this whole exchange, recruiting her own personal army. Just sorta, rehire everyone on Peralta's ship away from him, woo! And I couldn't help but have Sylvie make a crack at Seiko, even mid-fight, though if we remember correctly, it was actually Miranda who told Sylvie to stay off the jetskis. Hehe.

 

Scene 3

(Whoops, I did mess this up. I'll get it changed soon. I'm not a numbers person!)

 

Scene 4

I don't think the capacitors were any specific shout out. The aeron chairs are back though, haha. I still love that little running joke. Aaand the mystery of Shermann deepens. (That would be what the scene at the end is, btw. We realized after the Zhu debrief that we never cleared up any of the Sherman mysteries so we're going to fix that.)

 

Scene fiVe

Miranda's in her elementy here, doing the tech thing to keep us all alive. Scary machine equipment is scary... With a little bit of a cliffhanger to lead into the next scene...

 

Scene 6

Oh Katie. This was actually a pretty good plan, especially since Sylvie just got concussed. Again. She really couldn't take another hit and Katie found a way to end the fight pretty well. But, she terrified everyone in the process whoops. That one's definitely going to come back to bite her...

 

And then the Breach happened. I don't know if you know exactly what the Breach is, but it's the portal between dimensions at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that the Kaiju come through. It is VERY ominous that someone is attempting to duplicate it. In fact, I was waiting in line at BYU when this happened and I probably freaked out the rest of the people there with my shocked exclaimations.

 

Scene 7

Hmm... I didn't even think about Miranda's anti-Christ status and how that might be affected by her seeing into a mini-breach. That is definitely something I will pass on to Emma to consider. She's mostly been playing Miranda's reaction to someone attempting to re-open the Breach, rather than actually having seen the Breach itself. Iiiiiiiinteresting. I like the way you think, Quiver.

 

Scene 8

There's going to be two somewhat parallel scenes for Vee and fiVe coming up to cement the BackCompat status. This is fiVe freaking out and Vee taking care of her. Next session... you'll see the opposite. Heads up. Poor fiVe. I put her through a lot. And she's very not-okay here. Also, note that she slipped up and revealed Reika's name. That's definitely not something she was supposed to do, and Seiko is going to need to know that...

 

Scene 9

Katie/Zhu feels! I think we ended up deciding their name was 'Expensive Whiskey,' actually. That little relationship will also be the subject of much debate in the sessions to come... Not everyone on the crew is completely pleased with how it is turning out... And I don't think you need to worry about Gavin killing off Zhu just yet. I mean, I HOPE NOT. This is pretty much the end of the act, btw. Though we'll have a -- very long -- debreif/epilogue session for this one too.

 

Scene 10

Heh, "Robin and Roscoe Lawrence" a brother and sister duo of scientists who are investigating rips in space and time? They are definitely a Bioshock Infinite shout out, hahaha. I don't think we learn their names until next session though. Which is funny, because Sylvie and Miranda have both canonically played Biosock Infinite. And I've mentioned that the Luteces were an original influence for Vee and Sylvie, so... it's kinda reference inception going on. 

 

And I think by this point Liz and the mercenary crew were being played by Emmalyn, so it's possible that the similarities there are due to the same writer's style coming through.

 

(Always gotta get those hostages!)

 

Scene 11

Fun fact, we've also had cyanide capsules in every act thus far. I think Peralta's the first to actually go through with the act, though. (Though one of the cultists tried, but had Seiko shoot it out of her hand.) Hehe, you and Miranda both were expecting the Assembly to be involved, so Peralta's statment was a surprise to everyone. Zhu'll find out some of their motivations next session and will explain them there, so I'll let her talk.

 

Ha. Restraint and morality. Scroungers. Heh.

 

Scene 12

Just a good wind down scene here, but yes, this is the end of action (for the most part) for Act 3. The next session will be the debrief with Zhu the next day, however, as I stated, there's a missing scene here. It's gonna be Zhu talking to Sherman on Tranquility just after the situation on the yacht, and while that scene has been started, it has not been finished, so I can't edit it until that happens. I'll bug Gavin about it in a little bit, since it'll be nice to get that done.

 

There's also a few more scenes that need to be wrapped up on the debrief session, but I think we're almost finished with that one too. It's a doozy, as the one-on-one character scenes always are, so expect some length and drama from that one to come. Wooo. Drama. Gotta love it. Sooooo much drama. Everyone is upset. 

[FeatherWriter]

The final scene has now been added to Session #32, so it is finally complete! It would have been scene 13, but I fixed the messed up numbers, so it's now scene 12! Session #33 is a super longone, but I've been keeping up with the editing on it, and it's almost finished so hopefully I'll have that one for you soon!

[Quiver]

Neat! Hope you don't mind me making a new post to cover this add-on, rather than just editing my previous one.

Firstly... random question. How did this scene work? I assume Gavin was the one playing Zhu; was ze also the one playing Sherman? If that's the case, I'm kind of curious how that scene was played out. Did the two of you do this separately with Vee? Or was it done at the end of the session with Gavin, basically, talking to zeself?

(And... this is where my failure of non-binary gender propnouns fails me, so... if I messed up, please let me know so I can fix it.)

Secondly, it might be the fact the session ended with such a 'wrap-up' line, or that it was like that for long-enough that I got used to it, but I have to admit, I kind of consider this scene to be more like an epilogue than a "last part", particularly given what I said above, about it featuring almost exclusively NPCs.

On the positive side... Zhu is a badass. This isn't exactly 'new' information, but it still needs to be said. Her interrogation of Sherman (however it was handled by Gavin) feels very natural, and not as if the plot was being forced along.

I also liked Sherman. It was another bot of a twist, given how he came across before this session, but it does make him seem a lot more complicated. Honestly, it makes me kind of disappointed; I was sort of hoping that we would see him again, after this. It's always possible he could reappear later, while hunting Yegerov, but still. He seems to me to be the most complex of the NOCs so far, and I'd be interested in seeing more of him.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Quiver

[FeatherWriter]

The way this scene worked was that we had gotten through most of Session #33 (which is now going through final edits and should be up soon) and then realized that we hadn't talked about what happened with Sherman at all. So, we decided add a scene to the end of #32, this one. So, it was written slightly anachronistically, but hey, that happens sometimes. Gavin did play both Zhu and Sherman, and I chimed in with Vee occasionally to give those two someone to bounce off of. 

 

Don't worry too much! Pronouns can be tricky, so I'll try to help out! Quick pronoun crash-course in the spoiler tags:

Template: Subject/object/possessive/possessive pronoun/reflexive

Masculine: He/him/his/his/himself

Feminine: She/her/her/hers/herself

Neutral Singular: They/them/their/theirs/themself

Non-binary (Gavin): Ze/hir/hir/hirs/hirself (follows a feminine template)

Non-binary (Avery): Xe/xem/xer/xers/xerself (follows a neutral-they template)

 

It is slightly epilogue-ish, though I think that title would best go to Session #33, which is all the talks and wrap-up and stuff. And yes. Zhu continues to be amazing. Yeah, Sherman's an interesting person, and I have a feeling he'll probably show up again. This Yegorov plot is far from over. I'm kinda hoping he ends up running into Sylvie whenever he comes back and realizing he's not the only PPDC criminal that Zhu's putting to work, ha!

[FeatherWriter]

And #33 is up! And in case anyone hasn't heard about it yet, there's also a Scrounger ask blog now, so if you've got any questions for the characters or the players, hit us up! You don't need a tumblr account to submit!

[Quiver]

Oh. Harmony.

This chapter needs a warning tag, Feather. I'll edit this post when I get to the end. Or maybe that should be if I get to the end.

I never knew pain until the pun war. Ouch.

Scene One

Puns aside... Nice scene. Rachael showing up with the duffle bag is curious. Yeah, she produced cooking supplies from it, but my first impression was that she was going to be staying with Katie for a while.

And I must unexpectedly leave, so I'll pick this up later, once the wounds have healed.

EDIT That was a... larger gap than I intended. Still, finally getting back to my Scroungers commentary, which I'll pick up from Scene Two, for freshness.

Scene Two

Okay, so... there is a ncie bit of irony in Seiko being the one to point out the dangers of inter-office romances, though I really appreciate the fcat that Zhu didn't throw that fact back in his face.

Though, I have to admit... I agree with Psycho on this. Katie's actions were fairly... unreliable. Her attitude during that whole hijacking mission was so intense that it's good to see her be called out on it. So far, most of the blame for things done in moments of passion have been laid at Sylvie's feet, so it's good to see some of the blame get spread around.

I'm also interested in Zhu's reaction, because... again, I can't help but contrast it to Sylvie or Miranda. Zhu has been very level-headed with everyone regarding the mistakes they've made -she's a good leader in that regard- but I do wonder how much (if any) favouritism she might show for Katie. Of course, that's the kind of accusation that you can't really fight; she tries to by pointing out Katie's financial skills and the contributions she brings to the team beyond being scary-as-all-hell when you threaten her girlfriend, but Seiko is right in that those other skills wouldn't have been useful if they'd died, and Zhu bringing them up (in this context) almost seems like rationalising things.

TLDR; drama! Uncertain character motivations! I love it!

I'm guessing that this scene is also setting the tone for the rest of it, with the characters 'de-briefing' one-on-one with Zhu and each other, similarly to the previous epilogues. Maybe I should read the rest of the session before commenting, but given the interaction with Katie (my initial reaction to the duffle bag was that she was sleeping over), and this meeting with Seiko, things are becoming more... personal.

It's odd maybe (I blame the fact we see them cooking the food this time), but it does have a more intimate sense to it than the earlier briefings, or even the party, had. Almost more of a familial tone.

Scene Three

And from a family setting to a college dorm room.

Okay, maybe it's sexist of me, but I have to admit, when I read Katie dropping onto her bed and having a conversation with fiVe about their girlfriends, my mind went to the cliché. But, there is some other stuff besides that which I can point out though!

The first being... I think this scene really seals the deal (as far as I'm concerned) on fiVe being Katie's best friend in the group. Yes, I realise we only see a fraction of the Scroungers interactions and it's entirely possible she hangs out with Miranda outside the sessions, and there is previously established backstory with Sylvie... but in the course of the game, I'm actually not sure how many of the Scroungers she's really interacted with personally. The one I remember clearly is her conversation with Eleanor, way back in Act One, but since then...

Well, it's why I was so glad to see her snap when Zhu's life was in danger. She's been the responsible one, in charge of leading everyone on the team, and I don't think she's gotten particularly close to any of the members. fiVe is the exception, given their shared connection of having their 'creators' wanting to 'fix' them, and because of Katie's protection of her... but this scene makes me wonder whether or not she's managed to basically isolate herself from her entire time.

It's kind of significant, particularly given Seiko's concerns raised in the last scene, and it kind of gives his concerns about Katie more weight. I don't doubt that she is well-intentioned, and his concerns are those of something on the ground looking up at the boss... but it makes it a lot easier to understand where he's coming from, in my opinion.

Scene. Four

I think this scene helps reinforce the pint I made about the Scroungers, in some way, becoming more like a family. This is pretty much the first time they've been in a situation with Zhu which has no social constrictions- even at their party there was sort of an unspoken etiquette and rules laid down regarding when they would be leaving. This is much more informal than that, and the image of a group gathering around the dinner table is a pretty powerful image of family.

And Katie, being late, makes me think of her as the patriarchal figure. It's my own baggage, I'm sure, but Zhu's preparation of the meal, promising a gift to the members, and even her conspiratorial glances with Katie make me think of her more as the 'mother' figure.

I know Charon is a reference to something, but O can't for the life of me think what it is. Is that the name of the man who pilots the boat across the river Styxx?

I appreciated the recap here. This seems like the Act which has had the most balls in the air, and I'll admit to getting a little confused at the relationships between them at times; having the exact state of affairs spelled out was a great help.

And...yes Sylvie. Using a gift of gratitude to ask to fix fiVe without her permission would be a bad thing.

Scene Five

fiVes guilt over what happened strikes with me in a personal way. I can really emphasise with her concerns over being broken, and her guilt about panicking and glitch ing; something she can't control, but which she still feels responsible for.

I ought to say more, but... as I said, in some ways, I took this scene rather personally, so I'd rather leave it for a bit.

Scene Six

Another scene I think I should say more about than I'm going to. It doesn't seem to have much significance to. The meta plot, but I think this (and the previous scene) help establish the Scroungers as having

Ives beyond what we see in the transcripts. Them making plans to meet up for dinner/strip poker, or Seiko having other assassination jobs, is a nice reminder that they do have things going on beyond what we see and helps flesh them out.

And 'our' place indeed. Hehehe.

Scene Seven

Okay, so the first half, with Sylvie asking for Zhu's 'blessing'? Made me giggle. I might have to use the "I'm brain damaged" line next time I word something poorly.

Besides that, I'll admit to being a little surprised at how the favour has worked out. I thought it would have been saved to get something 'big', but then, this is a very-character driven game, so I suppose it makes more sense for the favour to be used on something relationship related.

The line about Mike needing to move on is... well, as Sylvie says, ominous. Almost makes me wodner if Serman was onto something when he mentioned Mike's boyfriend before.

And I feel compelled to over-analyse Zhu's comment about Sylvie's jacket, but damnation it, I can't think of any extreme connection for it either. I FEEL LIKE GAVIN IS TAUNTING ME.

Scene Eight

Huh. Mike and Zhu? That's interesting. Kind of makes me wonder if Sherman's reference to his 'boyfriend' was intended as a derogatory insult, subtle foreshadowing, or just a throwawy line I'm looking too much into.

Again, there isn't too much I can say here, because this scene sort of.... hits me in a personal way in regards to Mike.

Besides him though... I feel like there's something going on here about identity again. Of course, anytime Sylvie mentions about who she is that becomes a laoded topic, since she has fiVe and Vee running around as externalisations of her as well, and there's stuff to analyse about how much she relies on them, the idea of Vee being a recursive program feeding back into Sylvie as an affirmation of 'This is who I am, and that's okay'... but I think I've mentioend all that stuff a few times by now : P

Scene Nine

After the trouble with Miranda's suits earlier in the Act, having her brign them up again now is a nice way to tie off that thread. I admit, I've been a little... confused about Mira's situation soemtimes- namely with regards to whether she is parapalegic, or if she was actually missing limbs which were replaced by the suits. Her mentioning this neurotech has cleared that up a little bit.

And... okay, Zhu has a point that other people on the team have messed up, for equally emotional reasons. Not really much to add, on a critical side, to that, but... I like hearing my thoughts be echoed by the characters. Unlike Katie, Miranda has been so much more of a... social part of the team, and engaged with them, that it's easier to overlook the times she does it. Because the team haven't talked to Katie, she's a bit more isolated from them, so it's easier for them to call her out on it- the same way they found it easy to turn on Sylvie way back when. I'm curious to see how Katie's dynamic with ehr team is going to change going forward.

Scene Ten

I suppose if I want to get meta and nitpickey I could say that I sort of wish Avery was a player character, because it would seem like a sweeter scene coming as a conversation between Gavin and someone else, rather than Gavin alone... but that's metagaming nitpickery.

But like I say, the scene itself? It's sweet. Or... well, maybe sweet isn't the right word? But it's nice to see someone get to meet their hero, and the fact that in this case, said hero is also responsible for helping said fan with their identity issues is nice.

It also offers a pretty interesting look into Zhu's role in the world. I know that there were hints as to how important she was earlier, with the dirft pilots basically being minor celebrities, but the impact that she's had on Doyle (and, presumably, others), both in embracing who they are and encouraging change, goes a long way to building her stature. And (perverse as it may sound), I'm kind of glad to see the idea of prejudices being addressed. Like with Katie's conflicts with her parents over her sexuality, the fact that Doyle and Zhu have had to struggle with how society has responded to them makes them stronger and more interesting characters.

Oh, and I learned a new pronoun. That was nice. Which is strange to say, because Mx itself sounds and looks like a nice word too lol.

Scene Eleven

Okay... first of all, I agree with Miranda's viewpoint, particularly with regards Sylvie backing off if fiVe isn't ready.

That beign said, she has really lousy timing. She couldn't leave the conversation until Sylvie wasn't suffering a brain injury? Okay, it would have disrupted the narrative flow of this scene as an epilogue and left an untidy loose end, but still!

That aside, though, this scene, again, pushes up the situation witht eh Sylvies, and I appreciate that, as usual. Honestly, the most interesting thing about this section to me is Mike, albeit it for reasons I can't quite explain. Given what we now know about his past and wanto-to-be relationship with Zhu, I find his reaction to Sylvie trying to 'fix' fiVe very interesting. The fact that it's him saying she's wrong is what seems to push Sylvie towards realising 'Hey, maybe reprogramming a living being is a bad thing' also shows how dependant she is on him; after all, while Miranda's understanding of the situation comes from her memories and Mira's time with fiVe; Mike is a totally impartial figure.

Scene Twelve

STORM IT. I wrote up an analysis of this and lost it... well, short version is that I like it. I liked the reverse of Vee trying to cheer Mike up to him cheering her up, I liked the slow development of Vee's epiphany, with her moving from saying I/she to uses plurals, and I was really itnerested by her adopting fiVe's mannerisms with the glitchy static for a swear word and wanting to be touched.

Scene Thirteen

Hey, look! An actual criticism!

I don't know how I feel about this scene, to be honest. On the one hand... Sylvie and Miranda coming to the same realisation as Mike and Vee is a good parrallel, and if it hadn't happened, it probably would have resulted in some chapters of relative wheel-spinning.

At the same time... I dunno. Having Sylvie and Mike rconcile so quickly after their first fight... Hm. Obviously there's still a lot of development for them to do, especialy since Sylvie's first reaction to Vees independance was to deny it, but... it feels a little too close to the magical make-up she mentioned wanting.

Or maybe that's what people call a 'mature relationship'. I wouldn't know; either way... that part sort of struck me as a little strange.

That said... that ending.

I think, afetr seeing Vee be 'the nice one' for msot of the game, her snapping right now seems more powerful. The cruelity in her voice and the fact she wants to spend the first few hours as a real person in agonising pain again makes me think that she is, conciously or otherwise, trying to imitate fiVe's experience. I doubt it will end well for any of them.

On a light hearted note... the comment about the SylVees leather 'casings' made me giggle.

Scene Fourteen

was well-written, and that's all I'm going to say. Though, does Vees reference to being strung up and facing the winds mean Sylvie's a Kaladin fangirl? : P

Scene Fifteen

Um... question. What's Get Smart, and is there a specific reason why Miranda would be worried after calling Katie Maxwell? From the title, I assumed it was a simple case of her calling Katie dumb, but it kind of sounds... more serious than that.

Besides that though, this is basically a conversation I've wanted to see ever since Katie went Rambo, so I don't have much to say on it, other than that I was satisfied, and I want to see what happens now. And I feel gratified in being somewhat close with Katie's irresponsible behaviour.

Scene Sixteen

So... again, the fact that we see Rachel Zhu, Jaeger Pilot, Marshall of the Shatterdome, doing something as banal as washing dishes kind of re-enforces (in my mind) the idea of the Scroungers as a familial unit, as well as her role as the maternal figure to the group.

And, while this scene has a lot of stuff with fiVe and Vee... I'm kind of most interested in Rachel. There are a few lines where Vee glitches, or describes her pain, which I've been comparing to fiVe, but Zhu's implicit comparision of her situation and Vees (describing it as a 'transition')kind of makes me approach it in a different way... and her line about this being her community service has me intrigued. It might just be as simple as fiVe assumes, with her having accidently killed someone... but with the choice of the word martyr and all the information we've recieved about Zhu, and the prejudice she faced transitioning, I wonder if that has something to do with it.

Scene Seventeen

And... shopping and home life pregnancies. Again, fairly ordinary every-day subjects for a crack team of semi-covert operatives to be engaging in... a family on the other hand...

Scene Eighteen

MIRANDA CALLED YOU AN EXTENDED FAMILY. MY HEADCANON IS RIGHT. I WIN.

Oh, uh... besides that... damnation. I agree with Miranda; you guys were so close to getting out of there on a positive note that having it melt down at the last minute, especially after an otherwise "good" evening kind of made me sad.

And Sylvie's dream was rather... frightening? Not the right word for it; but even before Miranda said it was her memories, I had a feeling it was Significant, simply by virtue of it being a dream. As much as I do agree with Seiko- Sylvie can be a little self-pitying sometimes- that girls head must be getting crowded by now.

And the thing about Zhu crying and going to prison makes me more curious about her past.

Scene Ninetten

Huh. You know, I think I remember you mentioning an inhaler waaaay back during Act One, but I think this is the first time that we've seen the effect it has on Seiko. And what an effect; the way he was struggling, and the things he was coming out with are so at odds with how he normally acts that it was more than just a little surprising.

And the daughter of the first man he killed? I'm sure that won't ever come up again.

Besides that though... I like de Banns. No offence -since I'm enjoying the story- but I like having a level-headed, non-romantically entangled character, and I'm curious to see what happens with her from now on. Besides that though this was a good (and long) epilogue to the Act, so... yeah.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Quiver

[FeatherWriter]

Heh. If the cute Expensive Whiskey cooking scene is going to wound you, I may just have a case of writing-inspired manslaughter on my hands. I mean, Scene 16 made Joe cry apparently. ...Whoops.

[Joe ST]

THIS PART WAS SO AMAZING WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOOW you guys continue to be some of the BEST BEST WRITERS IN THE UNIVERSE

[Kobold King]

I just wanted to say thay "Under the Bells of Kharbranth" gave me chills. If it were directly posted here, I'd mash the upvote button till the forum crashed.

I'm interested in "Sydney Scroungers", but I haven't actually seen Pacific Rim yet. Is it necessary to watch the movie first, or is SS based on completely new characters and plotlines?

Edited April 21, 2014 by Kobold King

[FeatherWriter]

I just wanted to say thay "Under the Bells of Kharbranth" gave me chills. If it were directly posted here, I'd mash the upvote button till the forum crashed.

I'm interested in "Sydney Scroungers", but I haven't actually seen Pacific Rim yet. Is it necessary to watch the movie first, or is SS based on completely new characters and plotlines?

 

It's completely different characters and plot! Sydney Scroungers actually takes place about four years before the events of the movie, so there aren't even any spoilers! You're certainly not the first person to read it without having seen the movie, (in fact, I think Quiver still hasn't seen the movie ha.) The only thing that might trip you up is a little bit of the worldbuilding, but if you watch a trailer like this one, and perhaps this featurette about Drifting, that... should be enough to give you a crash course in what you've got to know. If you've got any worldbuilding questions, feel free to ask me! 

 

And I'm glad you liked Beneath the Bells! It's probably one of my favorite fics that I've written. It turned out almost exactly the way I wanted it to!

[Kobold King]

Thanks! I'll get started, then!

EDIT: Oh, "Beneath the Bells of Kharbranth". That's what I meant to say, promise. Please don't send the Featherblades after me.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Kobold King

[FeatherWriter]

Too late, I am already sending the entire group out after you... to give you a hug because you're reading Scroungers eeeeeeeeee.

[Joe ST]

yay for new Scroungers readers

[Abalidoth]

Ayyyyy new Scroungers readers!

 

At this point we're gonna need a fandom name. I nominate "Aeron chairs". >.>