Drunkard's Walk Forums

... but I don't want to step on anyone's toes. (And I don't know whether I'll have time to write it, anyway.) So:
1) Bob (or anyone else), do you have a steampunk/pseudo-"Jules Verne" Step planned?
(If the answer to this one is "yes", then we can all ignore the rest of these questions...)
2) Does Doug speak French, or Kiswahili?
3) Does anyone have any suggestions for late-19th-century-era "power" songs? (I won't limit myself to these, but it would be nice for Doug to pick up maybe one or two songs.)
4) Just how spaceworthy can Doug get?
(Careful pondering of these questions should give more than a clue as to where this fanfic Step would take place...)
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

1) No.
2) Yes, French.
3) "A Bicycle Built For Two" -- destroys AIs.
4) "I Am A Pioneer" gives him full interstellar travel capability -- for about 3.5 minutes. He can reach multiples of light speed, he has full life support and vacuum protection, and can navigate. Of course, even at the speeds he can reach, 3.5 minutes is relatively useless...
And I won't speculate, rather, I will allow myself to be pleasantly surprised. -- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

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"A Bicycle Built For Two" -- destroys AIs.

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Oh, my...

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Of course, even at the speeds he can reach, 3.5 minutes is relatively useless...

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It's good enough to get him to orbit, though, even if he stays below Mach 1 in the lower atmosphere. If he does it at the end of the six-minute window the timeline-natives are creating, it'll be incredibly useful...
Thanks, Bob. Now to find the time to write this.
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

You're welcome; I'm looking forward to it.
And you do realize the "Bicycle" bit was just a joke, right? -- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

Yeah, I know... but getting that AI to "sing Daisy" would have some serious reprecussions.
Oh, yes...
5) How's Doug fixed for songs that let him operate underwater? How many of them let him attack while underwater? How deep can he go?
6) Are there any songs that compel a group of hostiles to drop their weapons and fight the good guys one-on-one? (I'm thinking maybe Kung Fu Fighting might do this, but I don't recall whether you had given it a different effect...)
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

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5) How's Doug fixed for songs that let him operate underwater? How many of them let him attack while underwater? How deep can he go?

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I wasn't going to comment, but I just...can't...get the image...out of my head.
Doug summoning a yellow submarine...
-- Acyl

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5) How's Doug fixed for songs that let him operate underwater? How many of them let him attack while underwater? How deep can he go?

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Um. I don't think I have anything along those lines specified. I kinda like the "Yellow Submarine" suggestion above, but I'm sure I can find something else if I think about it.

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6) Are there any songs that compel a group of hostiles to drop their weapons and fight the good guys one-on-one? (I'm thinking maybe Kung Fu Fighting might do this, but I don't recall whether you had given it a different effect...)

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"Kung Fu Fighting" has no set power yet, so it's certainly open for use. Beyond that, no, Doug doesn't have a song that does specifically that.-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

Actually, the Sgt. Pepper's song that won't leave me alone with regards to Doug is 'All You Need Is Love,' because a giant flying glove zipping around in combat is just so *Doug.*
Come to think of it, that glove would be just about Eva-hand-size, wouldn't it? Perhaps he could try that to throw a punch/grab an angel-ankle/give one of the evas a boost to their feet when his goodguy-sense overwhelms common-sense and he tries to help in the actual fight rather than watch from the sidelines.
Hm, that's shot me off on another tangent with mecha/Doug stuff - I wonder how his metatalent would react to an Anima Spiritia's song, from Macross Zero/7/Dynamite 7? When the song itself can generate massive energy beams or heal entire hospital wards of energy drained people...
- CD can't seem to keep a thought in his head todayHow many times have you stared mournfully into the coleslaw and thought "Gee, I wish I was a cabbage."
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

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Um. I don't think I have anything along those lines specified. I kinda like the "Yellow Submarine" suggestion above, but I'm sure I can find something else if I think about it.

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I'm thinking that "Yellow Submarine" might just paint any submarine in the area of effect yellow...

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"Kung Fu Fighting" has no set power yet, so it's certainly open for use. Beyond that, no, Doug doesn't have a song that does specifically that.

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Oh, good. Let's see... In GURPS terms, gives everyone in the AOE a couple of points in Karate, a Code of Honor to fight one-on-one and unarmed, and a compulsion to fight now? ("Everybody was kung fu fighting...")
This could defuse hostage situations, would make fights fair (which means the good guys lose 50% of the time), and might remove the risk of ranged attacks. All in all, not a bad effect.

On an unrelated note (but still DW-related)... I was looking through the DW FAQ (for tidbits for my fanficsquared), and came upon this entry. I have ...issues... with the example you used at the end... (Let's just say there's a reason she was the second character I thought of for my anime meganekko gallery.) Couldn't you have picked someone else, like maybe Sayoko?
Edit: The fanficsquared is now at 3k...
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Rob asked:

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5) How's Doug fixed for songs that let him operate underwater? How many of them let him attack while underwater? How deep can he go?

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Bob replied:

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Um. I don't think I have anything along those lines specified. I kinda like the "Yellow Submarine" suggestion above, but I'm sure I can find something else if I think about it.

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Don't laugh, but what about Ashman and Menken's Under the Sea? (yes, the one from The Little Mermaid) A couple lines could be used as attack triggers if taken literally ("Nobody beat us", "That's why it's hotter under the water"), otherwise it's a pretty neat underwater party song (and a really original animation sequence)

The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?
Under the sea, under the sea
Darling it's better down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we're devoting full time to floating
Under the sea, ha ha...
Down here all the fish is happy
As after the waves they roll
The fish on the land ain't happy
They sad 'cause they in the bowl!
But fish in the bowl is lucky
They in for a worser fate
One day when the boss get hungry
Guess who goin' be on the plate?
Wo-no, under the sea
Under the sea
Nobody beat us, fry us and eat us
In frickazee
We what the land folks loves to cook
Under the sea we off the hook
We've got no troubles, life is the bubbles
Under the sea (under the sea)
Under the sea (under the sea)
Since life is sweet here, we got the beat here
Naturally (naturally-ee-ee-ee)
Even the sturgeon and the ray
They get the urge and start to play
We've got the spirit, you've got to hear it
Under the sea
The lute play the flute
The carp play the harp
The plaice play the bass and they soundin' sharp
The bass play the brass
The chub play the tub
The fluke is the duke of soul (yeah)
The ray, he can play the lings on the strings
The trout acting out
The blackfish he sings
The smelt and the sprat
They know where it's at
And oh, that blowfish blow!
Yeah, under the sea

Under the sea
When the sardine begin the beguine
It's music to me (music is to me)
What do they got, a lot of sand?
We've got a hot crustacean band
Each little clam here know how to jam here
Under the sea
Each little slug here cutting a rug here
Under the sea
Each little snail here know how to wail here
That's why it's hotter under the water
Yeah, we in luck here down under the muck here
Under the sea
Jeanne

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www.jhedge.com
go.compuserve.com/Comic


Jeanne Hedge
www.jhedge.com

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

"Under The Sea" was just recently suggested by someone over in "The Game..." area; I'll admit it didn't occur to me right away. I still have yet to sit down and think of other possibilities for that question, though.-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

Oh, and I'll need a Gate song. Is Country Roads (either the original by John Denver or any of the covers) available?
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

It certainly is.-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

In Fic-o-vision (C) (Trademark pending)
Captain Nemo. I knew that name. The Nautilus. I knew that one, too. However, the ship I was on looked more like my lab in MegaTokyo than the Age of Steam masterpiece from the Disney movie or the version from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that Sana-chan had taken me to see.
How she ever convinced the director to cast a Japanese girl as Pollyanna, I'll never know.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Sangnoir!" Jean said to me as he adjusted his glasses. He continued in fractured, but passable English. " 'Ave you seen Nadia or Marie? I 'ave been looking since we parted, and yet I cannot find zem anywhere!"
Meh. Just a drabble, and, I hope, a good guess.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

An extremely good guess... Here's the start of the fic, as it stands right now:

Local date unknown, Local time unknown

Once again, I opened my eyes and didn't see the face of the woman I wanted to see more than anyone else. Was I ever going to get home?
"He's waking up!" That was a child's voice, and she was speaking French.
I sat up and looked around. I was on a tropical beach, my cycle a few yards inland. I could have arrived in a worse place; hell, I *had* arrived in worse places in other worlds. A young girl and two teenagers (a girl and a boy) were looking at me with concern. "At the risk of sounding cliched, where am I?"
"I wish we knew," answered the older girl. "We just washed up on this shore a couple of hours ago."
"And then you showed up out of a ... hole in the air," added the boy. "What scientific principle allows for movement of that sort?"
I smiled at the boy. "That's a long story, lad, and we have other things to do if you just washed ashore. I assume you survived a shipwreck; where's your lifeboat?"
"It isn't a boat," said the younger girl. "It's the captain's cabin! I want to see him again."
"So do I," whispered the older girl.
The boy pointed out to sea. "It's caught on that reef, sir." Sure enough, there was a metal pod caught on a rock at the edge of the atoll. "I was going to build a boat and try to salvage what I could from it, but we decided to wait until you were awake before leaving you alone. Did I do the wrong thing?"
"You should have left one person here while the other two started salvaging what you needed ... but I'm glad you stayed to watch over me. By the way, we should introduce ourselves. My name is Douglas Sagnoir, but my friends call me Doug."
"I am Jean Ratlique," replied the boy, "and these are my friends, Marie and Nadia."

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

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How she ever convinced the director to cast a Japanese girl as Pollyanna, I'll never know.

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Oh, that is so perfectly Sana.
Hmm. You know, she's probably done a version of The Parent Trap, too...
Geeze, what if there's no Lindsay Lohan in that world, and it's all Sana? -- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

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Local date unknown, Local time unknown

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Rob, I'm really looking forward to this. At the very least, it gives me a good reason to finally buy "Nadia" and make Peggy watch it with me. -- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

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Rob, I'm really looking forward to this.

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Thanks.

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At the very least, it gives me a good reason to finally buy "Nadia" and make Peggy watch it with me.

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Be sure to buy the two box sets - they have all three of the soundtrack CDs as bonuses.
-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I'll have to do that. Thanks!-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

and the boxsets are VERY nicely priced. 30-40 dollar range for 20 in one set, plus ost(s), and 19 in the other, plus the movie, and more ost(s)
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

... skipping merrily along to deepdiscountdvd.com...-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

Well, if you've got a Best Buy handy, that's where I found them for that price. I was surprised, too. 20 episodes of an anime(almost a complete season, depending on the show) in the 30-40 dollar range? Very impressive, given it's rare to find a complete set under a 100 dollars.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

ddd.com has the first box set for 29.95. Once I balance my checkbook and confirm I can spare it, I'll be making an order...-- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.

Picking up from where I left off...

DRUNKARD'S STAGGER: BLUE SKIES, BLUE WATER
By Rob Kelk
Based on the "Drunkard's Walk" fanfic cycle, created by Bob Schroeck
and "Fushigi No Umi no Nadia", directed by Hideaki Anno

M. Sagnoir stood up and walked over to his odd vehicle. I quickly
followed him. "Excuse me, sir ...?"
"Jean, call me Doug, please."
I nodded. "What manner of vehicle is that? It looks like it could be a
motorized bicycle, but I've never seen a bicycle shaped like that
before."
"You got it in one, Jean; this *is* a motorcycle. It can do a few other
things, too." He opened one of the cases and withdrew a helmet, then
tossed it to me. "Put that on, get on, and we'll go take a look at the
captain's cabin."
"But, sir ... Doug," I quickly corrected myself, "there is no road-way
from here to there for your motor-cycle."
He smiled, then spoke in English. "" He seated himself on the motor-cycle, started its
engine, then toggled a switch, which caused the vehicle to lift slightly
into the air.
"Incredible! How does the motor-cycle fly, sir?"
Doug smiled. "Happy thoughts and pixie dust, Jean."
"That is *not* a scientific answer, sir. You may as well have said that
it's because the motor-cycle is coated with cavorite." *****
He stopped smiling. "I'm sorry, Jean. You really want to know, don't
you?" He went on after I nodded. "There's a device in here that
smooths out the gravitational depression created by the motorcycle,
reducing the attraction between the Earth and the cycle to as close to
zero as I can get it. That lets the vectored thrusters built into the
cycle lift it and me."
"I think I preferred the pixie dust explanation, Doug. At least I could
understand that."
"I guess I shouldn't have expected someone your age to be familiar with
Einstein's gravitational theories ... What is it, Jean?"
"Who is this M. Einstein?"
"Who is Einstein? Okay, I suppose I deserved that for my joke ..."
Doug stopped speaking as he looked at my face. "Jean, have you *really*
never heard of Albert Einstein?"
"No, sir."
He looked puzzled. "But ... that pod ... Jean, exactly what *is*
today's date, including the year?"

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***** Depending on when H.G. Wells came up with Cavorite, this might have to be changed...

Bob, should I continue this here, or move it to another forum?

(Edit: Now to re-watch the relevant episodes, so that I can answer Doug's question.)
-Rob Kelk
(Edit #2: H.G. Wells, not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... )
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I like, Rob! Can't wait to see more. But I need to send you some material from DW5 Chapter 2 to maintain continuity in the way the bike's grav tech works.
As for where to post the story, well, here's fine for now. But maybe I should create a new forum area for fanfic^2... -- Bob
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Chaos isn't really chaos if it isn't Lawful part of the time.