One step I'd like to see is in the world of Gunslinger Girl.
I don't know if this has been suggested yet or not, but I think it'd make a nice place for a step.
On the one hand there is quite a bit of combat in the series, but most of it is the type where Doug would be useless, since I can't really see him supporting either the terrorists or the Social Welfare Public Corperation.
You see the Corperation uses childern as the basis for their combat cyborgs, and brainwashes them to be happy with their fate.
I can never quite decide wether the series is upbeat or depresing, but te tone is certainly unique and it would take a great writer to preserve that, and that world needs a real hero.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie...
The wind blows hard against this mountain side
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road
My heart is old, it holds my memories
My body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again
Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light
When I was young I thought of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could be
Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light
-- Mr. Mister, Kyrie
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Real Emotion, the opening song to Final Fantasy X-2, sung by Kumi Koda, lyrics by Kenn Kato, music by Kazuhiro Hara.
What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
ano hi kokoro no kanata ni egaiteta basho ni iru
tohou ni kuretetari suru keredo mou modorenai
I pictured myself somewhere far in my heart that day
It becomes dark in the distance, but I can no longer return
yume ni mita katachi to wa
nanimokamo ga chigau
genjitsu ni wa... memai sae suru
The shape I saw in my dream
Is different from everything
I become dizzy from reality
riaru na sekai ni yureteru kanjyou
maketakunai
mou tada hashiru shikanai kono mune ni
kikoetekuru
kimi wa hitori jyanai
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose
The only thing I can hear from my heart is
to run.
You are not alone
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
kesshite furimuki wa shinai anata ni wa toyoranai
nanika ga areba kanarazu suguni kite kureru kara
I won't turn back, I won't rely on you
Because if something happens, you'll always come to me quickly
ima boku ni dekiru koto
sore wa shinjiru koto...
shinjitsu nara kono mune ni aru
The only thing I can do now
is to believe...
The truth is in my heart
riaru na sekai ni yureteru kanjyou
sasaeru no wa
sou anata ga oshietekureta subete
ima no watashi
daraka, hitori jyanai
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Holds me up
You taught me everything I know
That is me now
So, I am not alone
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
riaru na sekai ni yureteru kanjyou
kanjitemo
anata ga me o tojita nara soko ni iru
kizuna ga aru
dakara, hitori jyanai
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Even if you feel it
If you close your eyes, I will be there
There is a bond between us
So, you are not alone
riaru na sekai ni yureteru kanjyou
maketakunai
mou tada hashiru shikanai kono mune ni
kikoete kuru
kimi wa hitori jyanai
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose
The only thing I can hear from my heart is
to run.
You are not alone
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
I can hear you
What can I do for you?
I can hear you

Now, then, why do I call this a pseudo-telepathy song? Well,

Quote:

---

Even if you feel it
If you close your eyes, I will be there
There is a bond between us
So, you are not alone

---

Well since I'm on a Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band kick I figured I'd suggest some more of their song.
For when you have to be in Katmandu
"Katmandu" - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (Live Bullet Album)
lyrics at www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob...21915.html
Yet another gate song by Bob Seger
"Get out of Denver" - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
lyrics at www.bluestraveler.net/lyr...enver.html
Enjoy
Shawn Earl
using music to channel something for his german essay

Did the Transformers, as a cartoon concept, exist in Warriors World?
A friend of mine just gave me (another!) copy of the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack, and so I was listening to it (did I mention that it's probably my favorite single 80s collection of music?) and my brain fixated on Doug for some reason (probably to get it away from the Transformers stuff), and it kind of lodged inside the old yabbo...
The Touch: Does not use it except it world-shattering emergencies. Gives him utter, complete and total combat superiority. Unfortunately, once the song runs out... so does he, at the level of a failed (or successful!) Walk.
Instruments of Destruction: sonic attacks?
Death of Optimus Prime: does Doug get anything from instrumentals?
Dare: amps his improbability (!) so that no matter what happens to him, he lives through it. (He may be UNHAPPY, but he'll be ALIVE...)
Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way: superhuman speed and near-invulnerability. The Cannonball Effect.
The Transformers (Theme): ....I have no idea. It scares me.
Escape: another instrumental.
Hunger: this is a highly negative song, and may turn Doug into a life-force vampire. One of those he keeps around for 'no other choice in the matter'.
Autobot/Decepticon Battle: another instrumental.
Dare To Be Stupid: No net effect - this is probably the default song Doug lives under. Brazil has decided you're cute.

I actually have an opening for that one now... enough to warrant moving it over here. There's not likely ever to be any more of it though.
(For one thing, I see Doug as intervening to defuse the Eddie/Frank conflict, which while morally admirable and so forth does toss much of the rest of the script right out the window. For another, let's face it, most of Doug's lines would be obscene. Hilarious, but obscene.)
(Perhaps this one could be opened to all interested parties? Then again, that might provoke a flamewar over the "proper" AP responses.)

This, thought Douglas Q. Sangnoir, is not how it's supposed to go.
It was a simple sequence of events, repeated so many times by now he knew exactly what to expect: Open a gate to some other world, enter it, fall asleep, wake up already on said other world. He never experienced the interdimensional transit as anything but the occasional odd and vivid dream.
Not this time. This time, as far as he could tell, he was fully conscious astride his gravbike... and drifting in the midst of a dead-black void. He might have assumed that he'd jumped into a dead or failed universe, if it weren't for two things:
1) his inexplicable failure to suffocate and die in hard vacuum; and
2) the oddest sensation of movement, in a direction he couldn't quite place.
No, Doug was going somewhere, of that he was certain. But the getting there was getting... boring.
Nothing but darkness, like a sensory deprivation tank, or a blank movie screen...
Movie screen?
I'm getting punchy in here. But what the hell... Doug waved a hand at nothing and declaimed:
"And God said... Let there be LIPS!"
And--
much to his amazement and amusement--
--there WERE Lips.
And they were good.
The collossal disembodied mouth opened and began to sing...
Michael Rennie was ill the day the Earth stood still
But he showed us where we stand...
"On our FEET!" Doug caroled joyously. It was weird, it was bizarre, but for once on this long strange trip he was certain he knew exactly where he'd be landing next.
And he already had a good idea what he'd be doing when he got there.
This was going to be fun...
--Sam
"Whip me, beat me, mistreat me... make me write bad checks!"

I have now read all of Cat Tails and JLAint. I haven't felt that obsessed since I read all of Eryie's works or DW.
So, I'm asking you, my friends, to point me in the direction of some other masterpieces. That might be off the path of my usual FFML hauntings.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel

This is a copy of a post I just made over in the "Locating IST" thread.

Okay, here's the scoop. SJ and I hammered this out last night in email.
I wrote Steve and asked what it would cost for me to buy back the rights so I could do my own electronic second edition, PDF format. He counteroffered letting SJG actually handle the production and distribution, and I naturally said "yeah".
The main complication to this plan is that SJG has several big projects on its plate right now. The primary one actually works in my favor -- that's their new electronic publishing division called E23 -- intended to do this very thing. (I wasn't even aware that they were trying to set this up, so I know that I must have sounded rather stupid and/or uninformed in my emails... oh, well, I can agonize over that later.) The thing is, it's taking longer to set up than they thought, and SJG can't do the project until E23 is up and running.
So basically, once E23 starts selling stuff, a PDF version of IST will go into the pipeline, with the caveat that I get to bring it up to date and all that. This isn't graven in stone, yet -- I called it a "non-binding handshake" deal, and Steve didn't disagree. But I'll tell you, things are looking very positive.


-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

Winamp is feeling nasty. This song came up in the queue right when I started typing a paper. Exactly NOT the suggestion I need. But I thought it could make Doug's opponent feel half drunk and convinced they just got dumped, only to find fraternal solace with their friend who wears that weird helmet all the time
Reel Big Fish- Beer
she called me late last night,
to say she loved me so
it didn't matter anymore,
i say she never cared
and that she never will,
i'd do it all again
i guess i'll have to wait until then
if i get drunk well, i'll pass out
on the floor now baby
you won't bother me no more
if you're drinkin' well, you know
that you're my friend and i say
i think i'll have myself a beer.
she called me late last night, to say
she loved me,
so..? but i guess he changed her mind
well i should have known it wouldn't beall right,
but i can't live without her
so i won't even try...
if i get drunk well, i'll pass out
on the floor now baby
you won't bother me no more
if you're drinkin' well, you know
that you're my friend and i say
i think i'll have myself a beer.
maybe some day, i'll think of what to say.
maybe next time i'll remember what to do,
she looks like heaven, maybe this is hell,
said she'd do it all again,
she'd promise not to tell!
If i get drunk well, i'll pass out
on the floor now baby
you won't bother me no more
(and she said)
it's ok boy cause you know we'll be good
friends
and i say, i think
i'll have myself a beer.---------------
Oh crap. I've got Destiny.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

Since "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ended last season, and "Angel" has been announced to be cancelled at the end of this season, and the putative "Ripper" shows no sign of getting out of the wishful-thinking stage... what are the chances of that world's being revived as a possible setting for a Step?