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Misc episodes

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 2:00 am
by KnightRandom
59411:

I wanted to start out by writing a relatively light episode that would help me get back into more intensive threads, but that didn't really turn out to be the case. It's another revisiting of the Betrayal by Moonlight setup, but with a twist.

Although things don't look good for Tamery with the Dragon's forces in control of Croix Keep, she doesn't have to be dead. Demons aren't necessarily known for telling the truth, after all.

The insinuation that Andrea has Feelings about Astra isn't something we've broached before but it the potential for it is pretty clear from the original episodes--what with Andrea going out in quest of romance and immediately finding her. The werewolf stuff in the Betrayal by Moonlight proper was pretty subtexty too, with Astra and Andrea giving in to their inner beasts and then waking up together naked. Traveler made this kind of subtext explicit in that other werewolf thread.

I spent a lot of my life as a fairly strict Catholic and there've been a couple times in the past when I wanted to write queer relationships or attractions but felt I wasn't allowed to. (JH correctly guessed at one of them back in the day.) Thankfully I'm over that now, and my life and writing are a lot better for it.

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:22 am
by JH
I can see that I'm going to have to do a lot of rereading to refresh my memory. For instance I have no memory of Tamery whatsoever.

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:59 pm
by JH
I'm now up to speed, including having read the branch leading into this storyline that tells us how Astra came to be outside Croix Keep. (Which is important, as we learn that she is infected with lycanthropy.) Unfortunately I'm going out this evening, so shan't have time to write anything till tomorrow.

Incidentally, the back-story also includes [Episode 1507]: A timid young girl comes in, bowing several times. She speaks barely above a whisper, "Milady called?" "Yes, I did." Andrea pauses a moment. "You're new here. What's your name?" All the castle servents knew not to fear her, she had always treated them with kindness. "M-my name?" The girl is clearly surprised that it would matter. "It-it's Tamery."

So Andrea and Tamery only meet each other for the first time as our story begins.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 3:48 am
by KnightRandom
OK, I've edited it lightly to reflect that.

As far as werewolves go, I got an exhaustive book about werewolf legends at the latest library book sale (The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers) so hopefully I'll find some useful things there.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 9:59 am
by JH
Excellent.

I've just read your 73460, which I like a lot. However there seems to be a typo right at the start: Belinda opened her eyes. She remembered tripping over a rock trying to escape the Ancients. That should be Carola.

I'm just a little sad that Belinda is no longer a bunny-girl. :) (That Matthias is no longer a bunny-boy doesn't bother me.)

Episode 100027

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:53 pm
by JH
I like 100027. I wonder how many people will pick up on the Who in-joke in option 3? :)

Meanwhile, I've just reread the whole story-line that leads to 73460, and now my brain hurts! The snag about rereading stories is that you notice some of the little inconsistencies that inevitably have crept in.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:28 pm
by KnightRandom
I'm just a little sad that Belinda is no longer a bunny-girl. Smile (That Matthias is no longer a bunny-boy doesn't bother me.)
Many of my friends in tumblr fandom would disagree. :wink:

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:28 pm
by KnightRandom
And yeah, the whole Pyramid saga has been written over a period of... 16 years now, god. I'm not surprised.

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:09 am
by JH
I'm now working on my response to 73460. Even if Fred and Astra have managed the slay the dragon, I don't think there's been time for news of that to reach Caemlyn yet. Although our four heroes' diversion via Vaeren's fortress cost them a couple of days, subsequently being brought to Caemlyn via the Ancients' ship would much more than make up for that, given that the journey from the dragon's caves to Caemlyn was said to take a week. (Admittedly that was for those on foot, but even if Fred and Astra commandeered horses it would probably still take them four days.) So though options 1 and 2 are tempting, I think I shall take option 3.

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 9:35 pm
by JH
I'm leaving 110422 to Anableps to continue.

I'm off on vacation on Sunday, and will be offline until I return home on Good Friday, so a lack of any episodes from me won't mean that I've lost interest..

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:05 pm
by KnightRandom
Have fun. Hopefully that'll give me time to answer all my threads!

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:07 pm
by KnightRandom
Oh and if you thought going back through Pyramid of Balance gave you a headache, I'll be getting back to Borderlands soon. :twisted: Though I have extensive notes about the backstory, cultural stuff, and random-ass prophecies I can post.

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:56 am
by JH
Wow! I wish you luck with that, and eagerly await whatever you come up with.

Re 110486, I like your take on the evil within Andrea much more than my own initial thought on it. It's much more nuanced.

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 6:04 pm
by JH
Regarding Borderlands, sadly it doesn't look as if the plot synopsis that Y had on his website has survived the demise of Geocities, as the Wayback Machine site doesn't seem to have it. I suppose that, along with Betrayal by Moonlight, it's probably one of the two longest stories here. I remember that Y's and Wolfrun's ideas of how Borderlands should develop gradually tended to diverge from my own, so that in the latter part of the story you can occasionally see signs of a tug-of-war. One thing that was going to happen, but we never got around to, was to bring Astra back "on-stage".

Incidentally, if you would find it useful, I do have a copy of the Betrayal by Moonlight synopsis, which Traveler hosted on his site but which was largely written by me. (Everything else on Traveler's site was wholly his own work, though.) I also, only about six months ago, wrote for my own convenience a synopsis of the Dragonfire story - what I call the long story that involved Elaine and co in addition to the usual crowd - which you would be welcome to have if you wanted it. (I did also put it up as a post in Reaibn's forum at http://ontheline.lastrevelation.org/ but that's not very helpful just at the moment.)

There are some other synopses by Reaibn himself also to be found on that forum, some of stories that began on NEQ but subsequently transferred over to Horsehockey.

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 4:48 am
by KnightRandom
Finally finished rereading Borderlands. There's a lot of great texture and details. There's a good basic synopsis at 50185 but there's also a lot of other stuff going on--in my notes I identified 17 loose ends. My episode will deal with 4 of them.