[OOC][PLOT][ARC 1] Planning for Season 1 - The Retcon

[robkelk]

I've dashed off the start of Garnett's first scene and added it to the wiki for prereading and double-checking that this is the way we intend to take the character.

While I'm waiting for feedback there, I've also done retconning on my SI's first scenelet. Presented for your amusement, and keeping in mind that this will immediately follow a much longer introduction to the setting as a whole that shows much of the sense'o'wunder that's only implied here:

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 7th, 2016
6:54pm ET


Ottawa. Capital of Canada and home of one end of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "A big city with a small-town feel," as one of the local radio stations put it. One of the claimants of the name "Silicon Valley North." Home town of A Tribe Called Red, Amos the Transparent, the Five Man Electrical Band, MonkeyJunk, and The Reverb Syndicate, to name a few, but still a city with a stereotype of rolling up the sidewalks after six o'clock. A city with enough restaurants that, if you can afford it, you can try a different country's cuisine every night a month without repeating a country.

Compared to all that, being the place where Rob Donaldson grew up doesn't seem to matter... until you realize that it was his knowledge of the city that let him see the signs that something odd was going on.

First was the ad that was enough to lure him out of retirement and his previous home at a cooperative apartment (where he'd sometimes been on the board of directors) while he waited for his pension to kick in:

Are you xenophobic? This is not for you. We dearly need an open-minded person. He or she must be in good health, fluent in English with some French, some knowledge of business practices or property maintenance essential, willing to assist the people around him or her. Permanent employment, pay and lodging, opportunities to learn and teach. You must apply in person at 2176 Blossom Drive, Ottawa.

He'd pointed out the ad to the owner of the forum where he'd read it, since that forum didn't normally accept ads... but the copy of the ad on the forum owner's feed ended with a different address in a different country altogether. They'd decided that this was odd enough that somebody should investigate it in person.

Second was the person who'd interviewed him. Or, rather, the megami who'd interviewed him, straight out of Ah! My Goddess. Not one of the Norns, but rather a girl who called herself Ere, one of their... bridge bunnies, for want of a better title. Ere had shown Rob enough Divine magic to establish her bona fides... and she'd also warned him that he'd be working with the Other Side more often that he'd be working directly with Heaven.

Third was the building itself. "I thought this was a two-storey place." Rob was looking at a small apartment building, less than two dozen units, and three storeys tall. "The extra apartments actually hurt; there's no way we can make a place this size break even."

"It won't be forever," Ere replied. "And you can get government subsidies to help."

Rob bit his lower lip, then shook his head. "That money dried up years ago."

"You can get government subsidies to help. I'm sure."

"Well, when a Goddess says she's sure, even a Goddess in training, I'll just have to give it a try."