With the recent announcement by Naoko Takeuchi of a new, live action Sailor Moon TV series in Japan (to premiere in October), It's obvious that this is once again a live franchise. I still plan on doing the Step -- it's not been abandoned -- I'm merely lowering its priority dramatically. Fortunately, the nature of the framing device I'm using for the story allows me to release it just about anywhere in the Walk.
My apologies to anyone who was holding their breath for this one.

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

RE a beamsat strink on doug, or other unpleasantly loarge quantities of boominess applied to his person, and surviving it:
My own mental imgae is that his helmet would end up flipped down over his eyes (but not in time to keep his face from having been soot-blasted entirely black in the blast), and that he would push it up, breath heavily for a moment, then irritatedly pronounce, "Ooooh, he makes me very angry; very angry indeed!" while a Black Box equipped buma either looks on dumbfounded, ir takes the opportunity to skedaddle.
Given the V&V explosives mechanic that was described in some other recent thread, this could actually be a feasible result... and that scares me.
- CD
--
"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

For he has led to my thinking of Potter.
So, it occurs to me that some fun could be had with the fact that, not only is Doug essentially a Muggle, he's more specifically an -American-.
In Britian.
Other things...
Doug, to nobody in particular, after Draco calls Hermione a Mudblood -again-: "What in Sam Hill's a Mudbood?"
Doug, after having the above question answered: "Mr. Malfoy, I cannot compel your beliefs. Nor, as a stranger in a strange land, can I pass judgment upon your reasons for them. As a member of the faculty of this school, however, I am not only able but -obligated- to ensure a mannerly and congenial environment for the students... a goal which is utterly incompatible with what general testimony and my own background tell me is a racial slur of the very worst kind. Fifty points from Slytherin."
Doug turns, walks away, stops dead as Malfoy whispers something to Goyle. Malfoy gets an 'oh shit' look on his face. Doug, over his shoulder: "You may call me what you like, Mr. Malfoy - I have no fear of anything you might say. But, given that you have already been warned very specifically, and given that a level of respect is due a teacher from a student, I must take an additional hundred points from Slytherin."
Malfoy goes purple and splutters a bit. Doug: "Shall I make it two hundred?"
Malfoy, on the verge of apoplexy: "No. Sir."
Doug: "Good. Good night, all. It's nearly curfew."
Ron opens his mouth to say something snotty, but Harry grabs him and Hermione and drags them off before Malfoy recovers.

Later, Doug will discover that the other Slytherins have given Draco a thorough pounding for losing so many points, and is quite horrfied. Malfoy -absolutely- refuses to snitch, even to the point of facing down Dumbledore about it.
Later still, Draco to Ron, after Ron has a major disagreement with his parents about something or other: "There's precious little worth anything in the Weasleys, but there is enough I'll tell you this: The first responsibility anyone has is to support their family in anything and everything, and to mean it. No matter what you really think."
Of course, none of this should be taken as suggesting that Draco -isn't- a poisonous, snobby, obnoxious little shit, just that, like Snape, that doesn't make him -evil-.
And, since I recently saw bits and pieces of the second movie, I'll take issue with some of their interpretations: It always seemed to me, reading, that Salazar Slytherin was, in word, deed, and soul, one of the -good guys-, and that he would probably be absolutely horrified at what's become of his house. The Slytherin creed, the -true- one, isn't "Power at any price" or "Purity of the blood" or any such bullshit - it's "Conscience is better than rules."
And -that's- why the Sorting Hat wanted him there - it remembers.
Blessed be.
-n
===========

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

It's too recent for Doug to know it, but boy is it topical...
Evanescence - Where Will You Go
Youre too important for anyone
Theres something wrong with everything you see
But I, I know who you really are
Youre the one who cries when youre alone
[CHORUS:]
But where will you go
With no one left to save you from yourself
You cant escape
You cant escape
You think that I cant see right through your eyes
Scared to death to face reality
No one seems to hear your hidden cries
Youre left to face yourself alone
[Chorus]
I realize youre afraid
But you cant abandon everyone
You cant escape
You dont want to escape
Im so sick of speaking words that no one understands
Is it clear enough that you cant live your whole life all alone
I can hear you in a whisper
But you cant even hear me screaming
[Chorus]
I realize youre afraid
But you cant reject the whole world
You cant escape
You wont escape
You cant escape
You dont want to escape
===========

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

Fan author/artist Dave Menard has completed two new pieces of DW artwork. I haven't yet put them up on my website, but since I thought folks would like to see them, you can find them here. Enjoy!

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

This may become an entire "Bonus Theatre" scene, if I get the time and inspiration to turn it into one. As it is, though, it's worth a laugh.
"All right, Daley, take the boys and surround the house!""Cheese it, it's the cops!""Hide me! Hide me!"..."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
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

If you are a fan of Symphony of the Sword, go see the announcement I made in the EPU forums' Marketplace area. You probably won't be disappointed.

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

I wonder how Doug would handle the world of Hunter X Hunter.
It's basically a world that's like ours, only very different. Though it has airplanes, the internet, telephones and what-all, it also has pirate ships and most importantly the magical, martial art "Nen" ability.
It's a world of cheap lives and child killings and killer children.
gon, our hero, is a simple kid who decides to become a Hunter, a supra-legal "hunter" of anything, from rare food to criminals, inspired by his absent father. He meets up with various companions and a dangerous enemy in the brutal Hunter test, a test designed to kill.
There's Kurapica, who is after revenge against a group of robbers who killed his people for their eyes, and Killua, a child of assassins who didn't want to be one himself but doesn't mind casually murdering people who annoy him.
It's a fun series by the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho and the husband of Naoko Takeuchi.

The storyline that OAV2/Volume 13-15 is on is the Greed Island storyline, wherein Gon and Killua are "inside" a video game that Gon's father designed, where they are transported to an island that is modelled on rpg games. If you die in there, you die for real, your body transported back to the "real" world.
I think that Doug, regardless of if he is in the greed island storyline or not, would be both intruiged and horrified by this world that has such a harsh philosophy. I'm sure that he'd try to "reform" Killua and maybe even Kurapica, but how successful he might be, I don't know.
-murmur the fallen
"there is only one man who would dare to give me the raspberry---Lone Star!"

You know, I realize that I never got around to introducing myself.
Gweepings! I am MURMUR THE FALLEN. I am an alien from Nebula M78, coming to Earth to save all of humanity from the giant rubber monsters that plague your peaceful globe.

This is something one or two fanfic authors have made use of, and I can't believe it is a product line that Genom would ignore...
Can't you just see this Buma Puppy (TM) looking up at Doug with those, big, big, puppy dog eyes, and him not being at all sure what to do about it?
Of course, once you Adopt A Puppy, your life can get so much more interesting!
Is this the sort of strategy that Madigan might try? [evil grin]
...
"Buma Kitten! Even if it does get flushed down the toilet, half an hour in the washing machine on 'plush', and it will be as good as new! Guaranteed never to burst out of it's fur in a grusome but effective fashion!"
[grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind