Okay, it's official.
This particular Minako is a class-one bitch.
It wasn't "I'm a combat veteran and you're not" -- it was just outright nastiness. I'm hoping this is a front that she's putting up as part of her "I'm the Princess" decoy act; if it's not, this is nothing like the Minako we know.
Oh, and add another dose of confusion to the power activation issue. Big extended fight scene in this ep, and the girls all do some variety of the ridiculous windups in the middle of the action -- not the stock footage, but the moves from it, in the middle of the battle. That's pretty ridiculous. They were fighting Jadeite and one of the other Generals, and should have gotten their asses kicked because of the stupid posing and whatnot.
Venus did another zap without any preamble, but she also did the "Love-Me Chain" with a full call and stock footage scene. Not a bad effect on the attack, either.
Anyway, it's back to the drawing board as far as figuring out what's dramatic license and what's not. I'm beginning to think I should just give up and do whatever works for the story.


-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.

Given the Feb 18 snippet of DW2's chapter 15, I'm trying to recall if instrumental music does anything for Doug's powers.
Given that he appears to be cooking in the snippet, perhaps the theme music to Iron Chef might be appropriate - particularly since it was originally written to be theme music for Backdraft, a movie about firefighters Jeanne

The Heralds from Valdemar have a truth spell they can use to tell if someone's lying. Having spent time with them in DW 1, perhaps Doug can use it too (all Heralds have that power, but, white clothes aside, I'm not totally clear about if Doug was a Herald).
Whatever, I thought the chorus of this song would be helpful when questioning someone who isn't being particularly helpful themselves...

City girls just seem to find out early
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man
And she wont have to worry
Shell dress up all in lace and go in style
Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess evry form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is
Only given to a man with hands as cold as ice
So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend whos feelin down
But he knows where shes goin as shes leavin
She is headed for the cheatin side of town
You cant hide your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now youd realize
There aint no way to hide your lyin eyes
On the other side of town a boy is waiting
With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal
She drives on through the nice anticipating
cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel
She rushes to his arms,
They fall together
She whispers that its only for awhile
She swears that soon shell be comin back forever
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile
You cant hid your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now youd realize
There aint now way to hide you lyin eyes
She gets up and pours herself a strong one
And stares out at the stars up in the sky
Another night, its gonna be a long one
She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry
She wonders how it ever got this crazy
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
Shes so far gone she feels just like a fool
My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things
You set it up so well, so carefully
Aint it funny how your new life didnt change things
Youre still the same old girl you used to be
You cant hide your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now youd realize
There aint no way to hide your lyin eyes
There aint no way to hide your lyin eyes
Honey, you cant hide your lyin eyes

-- Eagles, Lyin' EyesJeanne

Yes, I managed to eke another one out of the material I've written so far (and I am coming down to the finish line real soon, just so you know). I will warn you right now -- this passage has had some spoiler material edited out, so it's not exactly what's in the finished chapter, although the splices should be pretty much invisible.
Enjoy!
-- Bob
----------------------------
"That will be all," Kate Madigan said to the brace of disguised boomer bodyguards who had escorted her to the door of her apartment."Yes, ma'am," they replied in practiced unison, and Kate got theimpression that they would have saluted her if it would not havelooked horrendously out of place. As she watched, they turnedbriskly on their heels and marched off back down the corridor tothe elevator bank.The guard boomers went almost everywhere with her, now. Here in the Tower they were especially intrusive; she was lucky that they were content to leave her while she still was in the hall; they might have insisted on inspecting the apartment before allowing her to enter. Suppressing a sigh, she keyed the door open and stepped inside.And stopped short, the door swinging shut behind her. The foyerof her apartment was filled with enticing aroma of cooking food.Eyes wide, she sniffed once, twice. "Oh, hi, you're home!" Kate dropped her briefcase in shock as Douglas Sangnoir, clad in one of her unused kitchen aprons, stuck his head out of her kitchen and into the foyer. "Dinner'll be ready in a few minutes," he continued on blithely. "Why don't you go into the living room and relax until then?"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Just because. -- Bob
---------------------------
The sea is whipping the sky
The sky is whipping the sea
You can hide away forever from the storm
But you'll never hide away from me
The icy cold will cut us like a knife in the dark
And we may lose everything in the wind
But the Northern Lights are burning
And they're giving off sparks
I want to wrap myself around you like a winter skin
You know I'm onto your scent
We're near the end of the chase
Take a look out your window and I'll be there in the night
Your love is so close that I can almost taste it
The icy cold will cut us like a knife in the dark
And we may lose everything in the wind
But the Northern Lights are burning
And they're giving off sparks
I want to wrap myself around you like a winter skin
You've been living your life like a girl in a cage
And you whisper when I want you to shout
And I wonder why you wanna go on sleeping
When there's nothing left to dream about
But you better remember
If it's something I want then it's something I need
I wasn't built for comfort I was built for speed
If it's something I want then it's something I need
I wasn't built for comfort I was built for speed
And I know that I'm gonna be like this forever
I'm never gonna be what I should
And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while
But I know that I'll be bad for good
I know that I'll be bad for good
I know that I'll be bad for good
Your eyes are darker than sin
And I've been watching them glow
Take a chance on a promise and a roll of the dice
Put your foot on the gas, let it go, let it go, let it go
You've been living your life like a girl in a cage
And you whisper when I want you to shout
And wonder why you wanna go on sleeping
When there's nothing left to dream about
But you better remember
If it's something I want then it's something I need
I wasn't built for comfort I was built for speed
If it's something I want then it's something I need
I wasn't built for comfort I was built for speed
And I know that I'm gonna be like this forever
I'm never gonna be what I should
And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while
And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while
And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while
But I know that I'll be bad for good
I know that I'll be bad for good
I know that I'll be bad for good
I know that I'll be bad for good
Bad for good
Bad for good
For the good of some thrills on a long frigid night
For the good of the fire in your soul
For the good of the kiss let me hold you so tight
For the good of getting out of control
For the good of the action and a race in the dark
For the good of those chills up your spine
For the good of the rock and the roll in your heart
For the good of what's yours and what's mine
For the good of believing in a life after birth
For the good of your body so bright
For the good of the search for some heaven on earth
For the good of one hell of a night
For the good of one hell of a night
For the good of the action and a race in the dark
For the good of the fire in your soul
For the good of the rock and the roll in your heart
For the good of getting out of control
For the good of believing in a life after birth
For the good of your body so bright
For the good of the search for some heaven on earth
For the good of one hell of a night, for the good of one hell of a night
God speed!
God speed!
God speed! speed us away!
God speed!
God speed!
God speed! speed us away!
I'll be bad for good (God speed)
I'll be bad for good (God speed)
I'll be bad for good (God speed)
Speed us away, speed us away, speed us away, speed us away
The sea is whipping the sky
The sky is whipping the sea
You can hide away forever from the storm
But you'll never hide away from me
The icy cold will cut us like a knife in the dark
And we may lose everything in the wind
But the Northern Lights are burning
And they're giving off sparks
I want to wrap myself around you like a winter skin
I know that you can be bad
At least a little while
But if you give me a chance, give me one little chance
And give me all the love that you should
Then instead of being bad for just a little while
Then instead of being bad for just a little while
Then instead of being bad for just a little while
I'm gonna make you bad for good
I'm gonna make you bad for good
I'm gonna make you bad for good
I know that you'll be bad for good
You'll be bad for good
-- Jim Steinman, Bad For Good
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

After tucking her in, I stepped into the bathroom and used the
complimentary coffee-maker to brew myself some tea. A few
minutes later, with cup in hand, I sat down on the empty bed next
to the nightstand onto which I had emptied her pockets. I went
over the few things I found on her, and tried to make sense of it
all: a handful of the local Japanese currency (about five bucks'
worth, if the exchange rate was about the same as home in this
timeline), a few white rose petals, and a student ID card for a
private school in Japan. In her right hand she'd been holding
several pieces of white marble that looked like they'd been
freshly broken off of something architectural. And stuck in her
sleeves had been several long, very sharp thorns. That was it --
no passport, no other paperwork, no indication how she'd ended up
laying on top of me in Central Park. For all I knew, she'd
arrived from another universe just like I had.

I took the time to study the ID. Assuming it wasn't a fake, her
name was Tenjou Utena, and she was a student at an "Ohtori
Academy". She wasn't quite 14 yet, provided there was no
funkiness with calendars or time travel for either of us. I
looked up and glanced over at her sleeping form. With her height
and figure, she looked somewhat older than 13, but I supposed it
was possible. Far more odd was that, judging by her eyebrows and
lashes, her pink hair was apparently natural, a fact with which
the ID had concurred.

I sat and sipped my tea and considered this information for a
while. Curiosity warred with prudence, but in the end curiosity
won out, and I picked up the telephone handset.

In a Manhattan almost at the same point in time as my native
here-and-now, even without metahumans, it wasn't hard to find a
company with a WATS line that I already knew I could tap into
with a modicum of effort. In ten minutes, I had set up a nice,
untraceable long-distance connection, and was speaking to a very
helpful Nippon Telephone operator. She was able to connect me to
the Ohtori main switchboard, for which I thanked her.

When I got the Ohtori switchboard operator, I asked directly for
Utena Tenjou. The operator apologized and informed me that there
were no private phones in the academy's dorms, but she could
transfer me to a pay phone in Higashi-kan, the dorm where Ms.
Tenjou lived. I gave her my most profuse thanks, and waited
through several seconds of clicks for the ring tone.

The phone on the other end rang four or five times before someone
picked up. "Hello, East Hall, Shinohara Wakaba speaking," said a
young, bubbly-sounding girl's voice in Japanese.

"Yes, may I speak to Tenjou Utena please?" I asked in low tones,
so as not to disturb the occupant of the other bed.

"Sorry, she's out."

"Do you know when she might be back?"

"I'm not sure." Shinohara Wakaba's voice took on a contemplative,
musing tone. "Nobody's seen her around for at least a day, which
is really odd, because you can't really miss her, you know what I
mean?"

Thinking of her hair color and the rather... unique... ensemble
Utena had been wearing when I found her, I chuckled. "Yes, I
believe I do."

"Anyway, can I take a message? I don't live here, but Utena's my
best friend in the world, and I usually see her a couple times a
day."

For a moment, I almost gave in to the urge to do the
compassionate thing and let the girl know that her friend was...
what? Eleven thousand kilometers away and recovering from the
combined effects of an avalanche and getting impaled on a sword?
But my common sense -- which usually spends its time napping or
reading comic books -- chose that moment to stand up and kick me
in the brain. "No," I said softly, "that's okay. I'll call back
tomorrow. Thank you very much."

"Oh, no problem!" she chirped. "Bye now!"

"Good-bye," I echoed with a smile, and terminated the call. Then
I spent a few minutes undoing my phone phreakery and thinking
about what I'd learned. Utena looked to be from this universe,
all right. But how the hell had she ended up in Central Park,
battered, scratched, fingernails broken, and run through from
behind by a sword?

My usual response to weirdness in unusual -- which is to say,
"normal" -- circumstances is to look for magic. So after hanging
up again, I turned around on the bed, settled my eyes on the
sleeping girl, and lowered myself into magesight. I hissed as
soon as I did.

God-touched.

That was the only thing I could call it.

The girl had the strangest aura I had ever seen -- a human aura,
no doubt, but blended with it, or more precisely, grafted onto
its golden glow, was the tricolored helix that until that day had
for me always marked a Celestial of some sort. It was not at all
like Ayanami Rei's aura, which had manifested its Celestial
component normally; instead, this was... attached. Almost glued
on, for lack of a better description. Weird.

What was she? Had someone, some being, tried to *make* a demigod
or a godling, using a spare human and a handful of the cosmic
Forces that comprised a divine aura? She sure as hell couldn't
have been born that way.

Did she know what she was?

Did she even want to know?

I sat there in the darkness and nursed my tea, her deep, sleeping
breaths the only sound in the room -- the only sound save for a
single word she muttered in her slumber: "Anthy..."

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Police sirens sound.
"All right, Daley, take the boys and surround the house!"
"Cheese it, it's the cops!"
"Hide me! Hide me!"
"Hide me, too! Hide me, too!"
Thud! Thud! Crash!
"All right, robot, where's Quincy? Where's 'e hiding?"
Zoom! "He's not in this stove!"
"Oho, so he's hidin' in the stove, is he?"
"Would I turn on the gas if Quincy wuz hiding in there?"
"You moight, robot, you moight."
"Well, would I thow a lighted match in this stove if my good
friend Quincy wuz hiding in there?"
*boom*
"All right, robot, you've convinced me. I'll look for Quincy
in the city."


-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.

I've got a dream 'bout an angel on the beach
And the perfect waves are starting to come
His hair is flying out in ribbons of gold
And his touch has got the power to stun
I've got a dream 'bout an angel in the forest
Enchanted by the edge of a lake
His body's flowing in the jewels of light
And the earth below is starting to shake
But I don't see any angels in the city
I don't hear any holy choirs sing
And if I can't get an angel
I can still get a boy
And a boy'd be the next best thing
The next best thing to an angel
A boy'd be the next best thing
I've got a dream 'bout a boy in a castle
And he's dancing like a cat on the stairs
He's got the fire of a prince in his eyes
And the thunder of a drum in his ears
I've got a dream 'bout a boy on a star
Lookin' down upon the rim of the world
He's there all alone and dreamin' of someone like me
I'm not an angel but at least I'm a girl
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
(Before you know it's begun)
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin (Tonight is what it means to be young)
Let the fire be started (Before you know it it's gone)
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic to come
No matter what it seams
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothing's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
Tonight is what it means to be young
-- Fire, Inc. (as "Ellen Aim and the Attackers"), Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young, from the motion picture "Streets of Fire"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Disc One:
Tom Lehrer - The Elements: Every time a specific element is mentioned, a 500lb anvil of that substance manifests at a position within Doug's area of effect, which one being his choice. Gaseous elements appear under extreme pressure, and therefore -appear- to be explosions.
Ozzy Fudd - Kill the Wabbit: Doug is the Rabbit. Everybody else in range is a Fudd. Backfire, obviously.
Jim's Big Ego - Stress: For three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, Doug is Too Much Caffiene Man.
Ivor Biggun & The D. Kups - Bras on 45: ...Shadowalker probably doesn't let him play this one.

Disc Two:
Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan - Tennessee Bird Walk: Doug's area of effect is caught in the middle of the described migration (a phenomenon that only the song itself can adequately describe).
Loudon Wainwright III - Dead Skunk: Stinking Cloud. Any questions?
The Toyes - Smoke Two Joints: It's like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, only without the hallucinations.
Blessed be.
-n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

These would be steps where Doug doesn't do anything except glean music and leave quickly.
For example, if he wound up in a "Seinfeld" world anywhere but New York City or Los Angeles, he'd have nothing to do.
And... would he get to do anything in the universe of FLCL?
''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