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Hal Incandenza
Feb 12, 2004

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a pretty good network show, I watch it and I pretty much watch almost no TV shows at all so it must be good.

Are we supposed to write a single multi-part story or can it be one-off stories each time? Either way is fine I just want to follow the rules.

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Hal Incandenza
Feb 12, 2004

Never mind, I saw rule #2 now, not sure how I missed it.

Hal Incandenza
Feb 12, 2004

Ernie. posted:

Silicon valley and Kimmy Schmidt

Ernie I wish you had decided to participate. And that you had read your works in your glorious lilting voice.

Emmideer
Oct 20, 2011

Lovely night, no?
Grimey Drawer
Does this still have a spot? I like writing and I like popcons, I'll probably just focus on the writing aspect of this one though.

Emmideer
Oct 20, 2011

Lovely night, no?
Grimey Drawer

HiipFire posted:

edit: nevermind gently caress this sorry jon joe

That's okay this isn't real popcon, wait for winvirus's version in januaryish.

Look Under The Rock
Oct 20, 2007

you can't take the sky from me
This will run like what, eight weeks? Just so I know how to balance out posts seeing as my thing has limitations on beginning/middle/end so I don't end up with a script the size of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this

jon joe posted:

Does this still have a spot? I like writing and I like popcons, I'll probably just focus on the writing aspect of this one though.

Hey LUTR is your friend still joining? I'll give the spot to jonjoe if he's given up on support getting back to him.

Look Under The Rock posted:

This will run like what, eight weeks? Just so I know how to balance out posts seeing as my thing has limitations on beginning/middle/end so I don't end up with a script the size of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

With a full roster I believe it will be 10 weeks, with the tenth week being the final two.

Look Under The Rock
Oct 20, 2007

you can't take the sky from me

BottleKnight posted:

Hey LUTR is your friend still joining? I'll give the spot to jonjoe if he's given up on support getting back to him.

I've tried everything I can think of to try and get him logged in. I'm actually pretty pissed off, we emailed support, tried the forgot password route, it's been almost a week. Graargh.

Giving the slot to Jon Joe makes the most sense but it's a pretty stupid situation overall.

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this
Why isn't the lost password function working? D:

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
make a new account. sue lotax for the ten bux

Look Under The Rock
Oct 20, 2007

you can't take the sky from me

uranus posted:

make a new account. sue lotax for the ten bux

Pretty sure that one won't work either.

Ernie.
Aug 31, 2012

can i be celebrity judge

Ernie.
Aug 31, 2012

meinberg: A-list celrbrity
derp: C-list celebeity

Ernie.
Aug 31, 2012

ernie go home youre drunk

alright goodnight

Meinberg
Oct 9, 2011

inspired by but legally distinct from CATS (2019)
Hello friends, I hope you're ready for fantasy mecha action with a strong focus on class struggles.

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this
I'm gonna give the spot to jonjoe now since I'm working the next 5 days and don't know how much I'll be on.

Voting works like normal mafia, except it's deadline plurality. Nobody is eliminated until deadline, even if a majority is reached, that doesn't matter, you can still unvote. Post your stories whenever, I'll be off work and around at deadline next week!

EccoRaven
Aug 15, 2004

there is only one hell:
the one we live in now
I have not yet started writing. I wish this had started sooner when the Motivation Angel was on my shoulder instead of the Procrastination and Self-Loathing Devil.

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this

EccoRaven posted:

I have not yet started writing. I wish this had started sooner when the Motivation Angel was on my shoulder instead of the Procrastination and Self-Loathing Devil.

This reminds me, I will narrate (in any style) an mp3 reading of anyone's story if they wish! I may also just do this for random excerpts if I feel like it. I bought a new mic, I'm gonna use it dammit.

Meinberg
Oct 9, 2011

inspired by but legally distinct from CATS (2019)

EccoRaven posted:

I have not yet started writing. I wish this had started sooner when the Motivation Angel was on my shoulder instead of the Procrastination and Self-Loathing Devil.

Procrastination is an insidious worm, the most vile of the vile. On the other hand, I wrote a blog post tonight and I really want to play some Fallout 4.

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
Im almost ready to post the first thousand words or so. I decided to not be stupid. Which means you probably won't believe I wrote it but I did!

Ernie.
Aug 31, 2012

BottleKnight posted:

This reminds me, I will narrate (in any style) an mp3 reading of anyone's story if they wish! I may also just do this for random excerpts if I feel like it. I bought a new mic, I'm gonna use it dammit.

this goes for me as well, i will narrate any story hal (and really anyone tbh) wants me to

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy

BottleKnight posted:

This reminds me, I will narrate (in any style) an mp3 reading of anyone's story if they wish! I may also just do this for random excerpts if I feel like it. I bought a new mic, I'm gonna use it dammit.

Motivation increased by 10x with this post

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy

Ernie. posted:

this goes for me as well, i will narrate any story hal (and really anyone tbh) wants me to

Ok I gotta finish these beers and get home to write

Quidthulhu
Dec 17, 2003

Stand down, men! It's only smooching!

My story is going to be incredibly stupid but I probably won't be able to write any of it until this weekend.

Cartridgeblowers
Jan 3, 2006

Super Mario Bros 3

Let's all post one chapter and then promise not to vote at all. Then we're all eliminated with a handful of unfinished masterpieces that will leave BottleKnight frustrated forever.

Chic Trombone
Jul 25, 2010

I'm still trying to plan my story out, I think I'm going with a murder mystery but that could change!!

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy

Chic Trombone posted:

I'm still trying to plan my story out, I think I'm going with a murder mystery but that could change!!

Im trying to write one for not this contest! I look forward to reading it and stealing your methods

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this

Little Mac posted:

Let's all post one chapter and then promise not to vote at all. Then we're all eliminated with a handful of unfinished masterpieces that will leave BottleKnight frustrated forever.

Community warned me about this! That the unpopular would try to band together and end the idyllic glory of those blessed with social graces!

Hal Incandenza
Feb 12, 2004

I'll probably have something on Saturday, haven't really started to write yet although the outline is definitely pretty formed in my mind.

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
looks like im gunna be the first one oh poo poo

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
Lin watched sunlight from between the curtains slide over little Shanette’s round cheeks as she played with her iDoll. She swung the toy by its legs, squealing and grinning as the doll reached out its tiny arms, asking helplessly and repeatedly for a hug.

Sha Sha would be three next week. Lin had already missed birthdays one and two, now she was about to miss one more.

“Are you sure you have to do this?” Tabitha, Lin’s younger sister, sat on a couch behind Shanette with her legs crossed under her flowered dress, looking down at the laughing child. “She’s getting older, Lin, she shouldn’t grow up without you.”

“I know.” The pain was still with her, though it had quieted over the past year getting to know her daughter. It was a coldness in her gut, a hollow where the child playing in the sun beside her should have grown. But work had beckoned. Saul’s sightless gaze had beckoned. And Lin had seen college funds, gene enhancements and medibots--a healthy future for Sha Sha, in the long line of zeros Pearson and Pyle had offered.

She’d said yes, and traded away Sha Sha’s present to secure her future.

In Lin’s work, the field was much too dangerous to be carrying a developing child. Sha Sha was carefully removed from the warmth of Lin’s womb, and placed in an incubation pod to complete her development. During the weeks of preparation leading up to the jump, Lin spent many long nights huddled under the thin sheets of her bunk, silent tears blurring her vision as she watched the camera feed of her growing child by the light of her phone.

When she’d returned after four months of work, the time lag had cost her just over two years with Sha Sha. Two years traded for a better life.

But the money hadn’t gone as far as she’d imagined.

“Ma and Dad would be glad to help out, you know,” said Tabitha, reaching down to play with a strand of Sha Sha’s wispy hair. “I mean, if money is the issue.”

Lin shook her head. “Not like this, they can’t. This is a big payout, it will set us up for years. She won’t ever have a worry or want.”

Tabitha sighed. “That’s what you said last time.”

“It’s a lot more money this time.” And a lot more danger. Lin subconsciously ran fingers over the ridged scars on her left forearm, up and down like rolling waves.

“And will it be two years again?” asked Tabitha. “Or will it be four, or five? She won’t even know you when you get back, Lin.”

“I’ll send holos.”

“Lin...”

Lin ignored her, and stood, pulling her squirming daughter up into her arms. She squeezed Sha Sha then held her back to get a good look at her curious little face. Her stubby nose and light blue eyes, just like Lin’s.

“You know I’ve got to go away for a while, don’t you little one?”

Sha Sha nodded.

“And you know I’m going to miss your birthday, even though I really want to be there?”

Sha Sha buried her face in Lin’s neck. “Yes,” she mumbled.

“Well, since I’ll be away, that means I have to give you your present today.”

Sha Sha looked up, her cheeks red and eyes sparkling. “Right now?”

“Yes, honey, right now.” Lin set her down. “You wait here with auntie Tabi, and I’ll be right back.”

In the privacy of her room, Lin ran a hand through her short, blond hair and let out a shaking sigh. Two duffel bags sat on her sheets, bulging with clothes and necessities. Being near them she could imagine she was already gone, away from it all flying through that impossibly twisted space to a new, unseen world. The idea brought her a cool relief.

Knowing she was about to be separated from Sha Sha made being with her almost unbearable. Lin could feel herself trying to hold back her affections in order to save herself pain after they were apart, but feeling cold toward her baby girl was the last thing she wanted to do. The dichotomy of emotions inside her was tiring. So tiring.

She unzipped the side pouch of one duffel bag and slid out a pink and blue wrapped box, about the size of a paperback. She sighed again, and prepared a smile.

Sha Sha leaped out of Tabitha’s lap as Lin returned. She clapped her hands and hopped up and down at the sight of the wrapped box. “My present!”

Lin knelt next to her. “Yes. Happy birthday, little one.”

Sha Sha tore at the paper with soft, clumsy hands, exposing the sleek, chrome packaging beneath.

Tabitha gasped. “Lin, did you really?”

“What is it, mama?”

Lin took the box from her daughter and thumbed it open, slipping out the two circular, reflective surfaces inside. “These, are quantum mirrors,” she said, holding them up so Sha Sha could see twin faces shining back at her.

“What are they for?”

She handed one mirror back to her daughter, who set it carefully on the ground before her, and rubbed one tiny finger on the surface. Lin tapped at the reflective front of her mirror. “These surfaces have gone through a process called ‘quantum entanglement’, which means that they will always be connected, no matter where in the universe they are.”

“Connected?” said Sha Sha.

“That’s right. And if I change one of them, the other will change too, instantly, no matter how far apart we are.” Lin held the mirror up so that it reflected her face. “So if I want to say hi to you, I can press this button, and-” Lin pressed a small button at the base of the frame, and her reflection froze, becoming a still image on the surface of the mirror.

The moment she pressed the button, Lin’s smiling face appeared on Sha Sha’s mirror, too.

“It’s mommy!” Sha Sha cried out, and hugged the mirror as if it were a favored stuffed toy.

“That’s right,” Lin laughed, and coaxed Sha Sha to hold up her own mirror. “Any time you want to say hi to mommy, just look in your mirror and press this button, and mommy will get a nice picture of you.” She guided Sha Sha’s tiny thumb onto the button, and the girl squealed at seeing her face appear on the mirror in her mother’s hand.

“Lin,” Tabitha said warily. “How did you afford that?”

“I took out a small advance.”

“Lin...”

“Please, Tabi, just let it be for once.”

They played with the mirrors, transfering images of Sha Sha’s favorite toys. All the while the clock turned forward, and the duffel bags in the other room grew heavier and louder in the peripheral of Lin’s mind. When the knock on the door finally came, it shattered the tension like tempered glass.

Lin took a breath, cold adrenaline filling her lungs. “That will be Saul.”

Sha Sha sensed the change in atmosphere, and tears sprouted in her big eyes. Tabitha held her as Lin answered the door.

“Good day, Ms. Elder.” The man at the door stood over six feet tall, thin as famine and with a grin like death. He wore a black and green jacket with the back-to-back P’s of Pearson and Pyle embroidered on the right shoulder, and tight, blue jeans that made his thin legs seem unnaturally long. His cheekbones were prominent, giving his face the contours of a skull. Where his eyes had been remained only ridges of wavelike scars that poured down his cheeks like wax. At the center of his forehead, a black lens winked at the end of a cortical shunt that led directly into his brain.

“Are we ready to go?” he asked.

“Yes, give me a minute.”

“Of course.” Saul said. “The plane leaves in an hour.”

Lin waved him inside, then took Sha Sha from Tabitha, holding the sobbing child close. “Mommy has to leave now, darling, but remember to send lots of kisses and love with the mirror, okay?”

“Who is that man, mama?” said Sha Sha, peering over Lin’s shoulder.

Lin looked back at Saul. The constant movement of his head as he pointed his cortical lens gave him a strange, birdlike appearance. “He’s mommy’s friend. We work together. I know he looks scary, but he’s... he’s very nice.”

Sha Sha clutched at Lin’s shirt and cried some more.

“I have to go now, little one. I promise I’ll be back soon and send you pictures on the mirror, okay?”

Sha Sha just cried. Tabitha took her, and Lin felt that sick, cold feeling in her gut return like an old friend as she went to her room for the duffel bags. She slipped her mirror back into the side pouch, then grabbed one bag in each hand.

She hesitated for a moment, a spec of doubt tickling, itching like dust in her eye. Why was she doing this? Nothing was really forcing her to go. It would be a simple thing to get an earthbound job making enough money to give her daughter a perfectly prosaic life of safety and comfort. A mediocre, normal life. Wasn’t that okay? It was okay for hundreds of millions of families, why not her?

For a moment her mind was blank. She stood there, loosely gripping the duffel bags, staring at the wall on the other side of her bed. She was leaving her daughter, and she didn’t know why.

An instant later, rationalizations and justifications flooded her like reinforcements bursting into the room. Sha Sha would have a better life, mediocre was not good enough. It would only be a few years and then she’d have the rest of her life to make it up to her. It was so much money, it would make her a bad parent to turn it down. The college fund she could buy Sha Sha would get her into any school--

“Lin?” Saul called from the other room.

“Yeah, coming.” She hefted the bags and returned to the living room.

Tabitha and Sha Sha looked at her, one holding back tears, the other letting them flow freely. Saul took one of the bags from Lin and opened the door.

“I’m going to miss you,” she said, kissing Sha Sha's wet cheeks and smoothing her silk soft hair one final time. “I’m going to miss you so much.” She turned to her sister. “Take care of her, okay?”

Tabitha nodded.

“I’m going to miss you,” she said to Sha Sha again. “I...” There was nothing else to say.

“Goodbye.” She gave a final kiss, and followed Saul out the door, out of the house, and out of her daughter’s life.

EccoRaven
Aug 15, 2004

there is only one hell:
the one we live in now
terrible ##vote derp

Hal Incandenza
Feb 12, 2004

EccoRaven posted:

terrible ##vote derp

shut up quantum mirrors are really sweet :glomp:

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
'quantum' is a magic word that makes anything possible

George Kansas
Sep 1, 2008

preface all my posts with this
Long John Silver's

Chic Trombone
Jul 25, 2010

bleh, was hoping to have time to write this weekend but it was both long and terrible so i haven't gotten a word done. oh well, i should definitely have some time tomorrow

Meinberg
Oct 9, 2011

inspired by but legally distinct from CATS (2019)
I'll write when I'm good and ready too!

Emmideer
Oct 20, 2011

Lovely night, no?
Grimey Drawer
I already have mine written but I'm thinking of changing the perspective from third person omniscient to third person limited.

derp
Jan 21, 2010

when i get up all i want to do is go to bed again

Lipstick Apathy
Just post it you nerd

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Meinberg
Oct 9, 2011

inspired by but legally distinct from CATS (2019)

jon joe posted:

I already have mine written but I'm thinking of changing the perspective from third person omniscient to third person limited.

Editing is for people I'm going to vote out.

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