Thanks to the kind permission of Mr. Bob, I shall post a fanfic story, one that comes from a recent rereading of Davies, Biles, et al. I'm sure that you
will see the influences very clearly.

As for a title . . . that'll have to wait for a bit. Any comments will be greatly appreciated and then ignored.

Here's how the universe began, with a singularity exploding with the beginnings of
the fundamental rules of the universe. Energy from the infinite singularity spread, which became matter, which turned into stars, which turned into clouds,
then smaller stars and planets. Then life.

Here's how the universe began, with three sisters who had a question. The question
was, could they create a being more powerful than themselves? With the question came the experiment, the universe built to make the answer.

Here's how the universe began, budding from an older one, unnoticed by its
parent.

Here's how the universe began.

How will it end?

-1-

None of these things were going through Usagi's mind as she dozed serenely on her
desk, the paper beneath her head slowly absorbing the rivulet of spittle that ran down the edges of her open mouth. No, her dreams were of light and love and
the gloriously mundane. There was a knock on her door, one which failed to wake her. Then another. Nothing. The door opened and Usagi's mother peered in.
Shaking her head, she strode across the room to her sleeping daughter and shook her shoulders.

Usagi woke with a start, flinging the pen that she had clutched in her hand towards the
bedroom ceiling. It landed on her head, point first, before dropping down onto the carpeted ground. Rubbing her head, she looked at her mother with a tired
grimace. "What time is it?"

"Just after noon," answered Usagi's mother. "We didn't see you at
breakfast, and when you weren't there for lunch either, I thought I'd come and see how you were."

"I'm wishing that whichever sadist came up with mathematics would die,"
said Usagi. Standing up, she stretched, cracking her neck and knuckling the small of her back. "And my eternal curse on whoever decided that all of our
papers should be due in the same week."

Usagi went over to her large mirror and leaned in, staring at her red eyes and haggard
face. "The bruises under my eyes have bruises. And I think, no, wait, yes, I am developing a pimple on my forehead. Egad, two of them."

Mother sat down on Usagi's bed and sighed. "Much as I like to see you
study-"

"You emotional terrorist, you," interrupted Usagi, seeing where the
conversation was going.

"Ahem. Much as I like to see you study, you should have managed your time better so
that you wouldn't have to do ten things at once."

"It's only five things," said Usagi. Then she frowned. "Three things.
Five . . . three . . . ."

"In any case, you come down and eat, and then take up where you left off. The brain
needs food just like any other part of the body."

Usagi's stomach growled in agreement and Usagi herself did the same. "Let me
just wash up a bit first, then I'll be down."

"Good. I'm sure your father would like to hear how your papers are coming. And
maybe you can practice getting along with your brother."

Usagi scowled. "I'm not the one who needs to act like a human being rather than
some kind of mutant slug who thinks childish insults are comedy gold."

With another weary sigh, Usagi's mother left the room, closing the door behind her.
Usagi looked down at her desk, grimaced at the large wet spot on her paper, and then organized her desk. So she was wrong, she needed to do four things. And
she'd nearly finished off two of them. Hey, maybe she could actually sleep on her bed tonight. What a treat.

Padding to the bathroom with new clothes in her arms, she debated whether she could take
the time for a shower before her stomach put in a veto on that. Contenting to simply wash her face and hands, she promised herself a full and luxuriously hot
shower after lunch. Toweling off, she changed into new, clean clothes, feeling halfway awake now. She made to go get lunch when a bird passing by her bathroom
window caught her attention. It sat on the windowsill, still and calm, then flew away again as suddenly as it came.

Usagi looked at the city the bird flew into and smiled. Despite the sunlight burning her
eyes, she could see it was a beautiful day. Even the prospect of more schoolwork, because of which she could not go out and enjoy it, couldn't dampen her
appreciation of the day and the city.

"Good afternoon, Crystal Tokyo," she said to her home.

It said nothing in return.

-2-

Lunch was a rather strained affair. Father and Mother were perfectly pleasant, of
course, though they both wore similar distracted visages. The pressures of state were omnipresent, as were its trappings. Servers and valets came and went,
mostly silent, as they left small dishes of exquisite taste and immaculate design and took away the empty dishes and bowls. Usagi, her bangs still damp, had
trouble staying awake after her immediate hunger was satiated. Further, her brother, Mamoru, was sitting sullenly beside her, presumably from a parental
telling-off. What pleasure Usagi could take from her brother's chastisement was somewhat lessened by both his terrible attitude and, perhaps more
importantly, the covert kicks to the shin he directed at her. Usagi retaliated with her world-renowned pinches, sometimes to his arm or through his pants leg
(how they got world-renowned was a rather embarrassing story). Neither let their pain show on their own rather stiff faces, and Usagi even appreciated the
kicks to the degree that they kept her awake through the meal.

"Mother tells me that you've been having some problems with schoolwork,"
said her father, warm and chiding. He swirled a glass of water in his hand and lightly sipped from it before setting it down without a sound. He was dressed in
coal black, the only color coming from a single, small gold starburst that decorated his left lapel. This was, for him, casual wear for an intimate
meal.

"Problems finishing, not doing," answered Usagi. "Never enough time in
the day."

"Time management-"

Usagi put her head in her hands and groaned softly, then muffled a gasp of pain as
Mamoru kicked her again. How did he find the exact same spot every single time, no matter how she shifted and moved? Mutant freak and his mutant freak powers
of being a pain in her arse.

"In any case, you'll be finished soon, yes?"

"One way or another," she said. "Either I shall be done in two days or I
shall be dead."

Mother laughed, the long sleeves of her white blouse sliding down her arms as she lifted
a hand to her mouth.

"What is it you're doing, anyway?" said Father, after looking fondly at
his wife.

Usagi turned away to think, while at the same time making a quick retaliatory strike
against Mamoru with three rapid pinches to his arms that nearly brought tears to his eyes. "Maths, but that's mostly articulating proofs. Literature,
almost but not quite done with that. History. Biology. Finished philosophy, linguistics, civics, and economics."

Father perked up. As befitted a monarch, he took a keen interest in nearly all of those
subjects. "So tell me about them. What are you writing?"

"Stuff, lots and lots of stuff, most of it hot air and nonsense," Usagi said,
trying to evade answering. Quite honestly, the prospect of having to talk about her work was too much like doing it, a prospect that she truly loathed
returning to. That she would have to once the meal ended was making her linger over it, and she didn't think she would have the willpower to pick up her
pen if she had to talk about it. She particularly didn't want to discuss civics, which had taken a rather jaundiced look at the current political
landscape. Though she quite enjoyed being an oligarch, she had to be aware of the inherent unfairness of living in a post-human oligarchy which was verging
into a theocratic autocracy.

She was Serenity, heir to the Iron Throne, the royal princess. She was the daughter of
Serenity and Endymion, the Eternal Queen and King of the Immanent Gods, the true Monarchs of Creation, rulers of the Empire of Humanity, which had as its
capital the shining city of Crystal Tokyo. They had defeated the forces of evil, and pushed the Earth to heights of glory and prosperity that it has never
known. Or so the stories went.

The meal continued with Father turning his attention to Mamoru, catching up on how his
own schoolwork was proceeding. He answered back in a less hostile manner, though he was terse and mumbled as much as he could. Father nodded as if all was
right, though Mother pursed her lips disapprovingly.

Usagi left just as the last of the plates were being taken away and the large warm cups
of coffee (for father) and hot chocolate (for everyone else) were being served. Making her apologies, and pleading both a heavy schedule and a need for a
shower, she left, taking her cup with her.

After her shower, which was not nearly as long as she wished it could have been, she
went back to her desk. With a healthy gulp of hot chocolate to strengthen her, she took up her pen once more, set it against paper, and then fell
asleep.

This time in her dreams, she saw many things.

How do you feel about me creating a good counterpart of Lady Nogitsune? I put together a Lady Myoubu, but I wanted your approval before I went ahead and
played her.

(For those who don't know, the Myoubu are the 'good' kitsune, who serve the rice god Inari. Nogitsune are the wild kitsune.)

Sorry to disappear on the high-20s low 30s redsides last night, my connection zorched from a brownout due to Sudden Thunderstorm...
''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

Rather, this will be a tentative list of ports-of-call.
Terra: Of a personal preference, Captain Corcoran will try to land/pick up passengers as close to the United States as current politics will allow. In times when handwaved vehicles are allowed in US Airspace, if he doesn't have to cater to the whims of a particular client, he prefers to "land" at Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire, so he can see his family. When money drives the decision, however, he usually takes on passengers in New York City, Los Angeles, and Saint Petersburg, Florida. In more reactionary climes, Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver.
Luna: Port Tranquility and Kandor [I think they're far enough apart "globally" to merit seperate trips]
Mars and Environs: Port Phobos, with Shuttle Service via the Pearl Forrester and Angela, Tabitha Doe's converted 1985 Checker Cab.
The Belt: Liberty. This is usually a crew stop, and the passengers are usually known enough by the crew at this point to decide whether they're allowed to visit.
Jupiter: This is usually a fly-by en route to...
Saturn: This is as far out as the Pinafore usually gets on a normal Gondolier run. In fact it's the most paid-for destination for the beauty of it.
Venus: Usually Crystal Tokyo unless the passengers have a more specific destination in mind.
These are, of course, subject to change.
''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

Hello, all! Had some ideas that I wanted to run by concerning Benjamin's ship, the Magnificent Midnight. I felt that since Handwaviumized items
can be influenced with music, then why not the Midnight as well? So, here's an additional entry I'd like to add to the ship's quirks...

Musically Inclined: While not necessary to her regular functions, the Magnificent Midnight does gain minor, if quirky, enhancements from
certain songs (Benjamin blames the collected works of Drunkard's Walk he was reading at the time of her 'waving ). Here is a listing of
known enhancement-producing songs and their effects:

Quote: The Beatles - Blackbird

As odd as it may seem, Midnight remembers her time as an ordinary SR-71 Blackbird (if you could call such an existence ordinary) and her time as an
'ornament' at Kelly AFB was very bad for her. When Ben plays this song for her, her mood always brightens and efficiency levels pick up at least ten
percent. This effect lasts all day if done as a 'wake-up' song, a quirk similar to the space-shuttle type wave-craft.




Depeche Mode - Photographic

This song reminds Midnight her original purpose as a high-speed reconaisance craft and, when outside The Limit, enables her to perform
deep-space photography with stunning clarity and resolution while in FTL mode. If played inside The Limit then she just starts taking snap-shots of whatever
the heck she likes (imagine a kid controlling a spy-satelite - "I see you!").




System of a Down - Chop Suey

To sum it up in two words: Suicidal Tendencies. When played, Midnight goes on a berserker rage and will ignore any battle-damage short of a
major system failure. Benjamin, of course, doesn't play this song except in the most dire circumstances.

Two false starts, three complete restarts and way too freaking long later, it's finally done. I was going to hold off on posting for a while, but fuck it. Here's the story. I hope you like it, 'cause otherwise I'm going to chew my own face off. Om nom nom nom. --Mal

Ebony, how is this? (Once more my skull models take a battering in the name of heroics) The tattoos, front and back are Mayan.

http://www.magma.ca/~revdark/catorce01.jpg



Back

http://www.magma.ca/~revdark/catorce02.jpg

Curiously enough, I think we may have all missed something. Allow me to quote from the patch notes for tomorrow's patch:

Quote:Enhancements
• Traded combined
Hamidon Enhancements (i.e. marked with a “+” or “++”) will now retain
their Combined “+” or “++” attributes when traded.

Heh. We're currently located in Florida, visiting relatives...We have our computer, -but-, we're in an area about to get hit by that Tropical Storm. So
if you don't hear from us, then we're caught in it. ^_^; Hope you're all well!

Or more properly, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu.

A rather cute little "Magical Girlfriend" anime, as far as she's only "magical" in personality.

First three eps and I already like the characters immensely.

Premise: Yuuto is a fairly normal guy, who lives with a "Bottle Fairy" teacher and his sister/cousin/whatever. At school, he's pretty blah and
normal, and reacts with indifference to his otaku friend's hobby. One day while returning a "Collector's Edition" Manga Anthology to the
school library (seems his friend has pull with the head librarian), he discovers that the school's resident "Perfect Girl," Haruka Nogizaki, has
a secret she doesn't want noised about: she's a closet otaku. His reaction to the secret leads to the "wacky hijinks" of the series.
''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