Bah, how bad can they be? It's not like they have Learning heroes with Learning less than 25 do they? Ha! Imagine having such terrible heroes!
Comedy Lead
Learning
DC 100 (reduces via obvious means)
All you need is a very rudimentary AI that can tailor its jokes to the situation, and even the most humorless acolyte can potentially take down a Cog, even if they're running for their lives.
Shame it's a Learning action, but this is tempting for if we ever decide to go hot in our conflict with Doom. Though I imagine infiltrating Cloverleaf will give us reason enough to want to put the petal to the metal to driving off the cringe.
Please note that much of this information would come over time with a New York information network or closer relations with the Bazaar.
This is where I would put my New York City infiltration network:
IF I HAD ONE!!!
Learning
Practical Mental Training
DC 130 (Reduced by multiple hero units)
Occult
Fortress of the Mind
DC 120 (Reduced by multiple hero units)
Janus: We need to investigate this security threat by every means possible. (Pass)
Mirage: I would suggest a more... traditional option. Don't overcomplicate it. (Veto)
Janus: I demand to know if the Ninja can read my mind!
The mental defense actions... actually sound pretty useful. I don't want to do them next turn, but I would be open to doing them in the next three turns. I wonder if Technor's imagination therapy action would lower the DC any?
It's hilarious how much Janus has turned around on the mental thing. He was skeptical about his memories before and now he wants to take a very difficult Occult action to solve it.
Who would we want trained doing this most? Doof is obvious. Mirage handles our Intrigue so obviously. Janus would demand to do it. Russ. It would be funny to have Moseby do it.
Reward: Known actors, dispositions, alliances, recent events, resources, threats, and how exactly all this information gets to the Bazaar in the first place.
Please note that much of this information would come over time with a New York information network or closer relations with the Bazaar.
New York: DC 135
Tobe's attempts to 'infiltrate' New York City went rather poorly and informed Xanatos that we were attempting to put feelers out. While it's unlikely he would be truly angered by further attempts, we can expect them to be more difficult.
Huh, now that I went back and checked the last Turn's actions it's easier to ask this stuff directly than to go to the trouble of establishing our own network, at least for now. @Arathnorn; can Brocamas (or even Magica de Spell) help with the DC of either action? I'd imagine we'd have to trade some sort of magical item, but I'd be totally fine giving up the Ruby Wings for example.
Dip is not inherently magical, no more than cold iron is. The magic comes from interacting with something, and what it represents to a given peoples. The Third Race is inherently magical, so they get it particularly bad, but it's the nature of antithesis. Ideas have power when it comes to magic, it's a limitation and keystone of the art.
Huh, now that I went back and checked the last Turn's actions it's easier to ask this stuff directly than to go to the trouble of establishing our own network, at least for now. @Arathnorn; can Brocamas (or even Magica de Spell) help with the DC of either action? I'd imagine we'd have to trade some sort of magical item, but I'd be totally fine giving up the Ruby Wings for example.
To be honest I am leaning towards sponsoring the Doc Hopper cape. Especially as our opening move, it feels like a really strong choice that will pay dividends throughout the entire Franchise War. Especially if we combo it with the Mad Mojo Menu as a hero less occult action next turn instead of Ley Lines. Malf does have experience with meat and spices (rainfoodinator) so he might appreciate the cook book.
Hego might hate it, but Winston would probably love it, or at least be amused by it. And apologies to Mr. Go, but Winston is the King.
I'm against Sponsoring Cape Doc Hopper, both way to low and pisses off people I'd rather not piss off.
@Arathnorn 5 More questions
Big one is if Expand Contractor Capacity still Big Ideable.
Second is if it's possible to just like... Buy a Helping Hat still in it's box and reverse engineer it. It's a publicly available product, though with the obvious risk attached of us messing with a mind control hat.
Third is if Kitsune get's a bonus to research the Third Race.
Fourth Is Cruella alright with doing Collabs?
Finally What would the required negotiations be to pass the Final Dinosaur Tech? Dinosaurs with Guns!
Given what Russ and Mezmerella are willing to tell you, your understanding of the root of sentience, and what you can pick up from the Imagination Institute, you think you can begin to piece together a program that will provide basic mental skills, much like first grade does.
That is just so very Doof. Presented with harsh unyielding reality Heinz scrapes together whatever fragments of information are to hand, jumbles it all up in his non-euclidean brain and somehow creates something that works. And does it in the span of months, while the US probably had a whole think tank beavering away at their version for years if not decades with every available resource.
Diplomacy
Televise an Interview with Bonkers Bobcat
I'm not confident that his public reputation is going to matter in the mid-to-long term. Dude is building an army of robots to fight off an extra-dimensional invasion. He will either stroll through his next election or it isn't going to matter.
Plus we are going to need all the funds we can spare if we want to fight the franchise war.
DC 120 (Tier 2 Defenses active) Martial Fallback DC 110 (Cogs)
DC 160 (Tier 2 Defenses Active) Martial Fallback DC 70 (Mustang AI)
Very interesting implications there.
My take is that the AI info is 'public' and thus protected mostly by normal legal barriers. Bureaucrats and lawyers and such. Whereas the Cogs are unpatented propitiatory tech and protected by bunkers and guards.
Which in turn implies that the 'secrets' of the Cogs could be very valuable to use or leak.
Learning
Practical Mental Training
DC 130 (Reduced by multiple hero units)
Would Russ and Mez be able to take that action? On the one hand 'universal', but on the other they seem like they have their own techniques already.
Also this is something that Russ would absolutely and immediately leak to his handler in the Gov. Whether they will use it or just try to make new counter-countermeasures we can only speculate on.
Occult
Fortress of the Mind
DC 120 (Reduced by multiple hero units)
Ghengis Khan – 7
Agent Russ – 19
Janna Ordonia – 17
Queen Lizzy – 4
Tobe and the Vagabond Ninja – 15
Kitsune – 24
Malifishmertz – 38
Kermit the Frog – 2
Quirky Miniboss Squad – 9
(contractor) Marco Diaz – 14
(contractor) Tom Lucitor – 22
Only 11 of our 28~ish heroes actually have an occult. And for 2 it is vestigial. On the other hand most of the heroes it would benefit are part of our go-to group of questers so it might still be worth it. One national action to save a dozen or more personal actions isn't bad value.
Malilfishmertz: What? You think I won't be responsible when I possess peon??!? (Veto)
Malilfishmertz: Just don't tell those serfs how to throw off my possession. I like tasting that drink you call 'coffee'.(Pass)
We really need to update his vocabulary. They are not peons or serfs they are interns. And as a councillor Mal can just order them to drink coffee for him, he doesn't need to be circumspect about it.
Agent Russ is not interested in the paperwork it takes to become a legally sanctioned wizard.
Corp action, 1 funds, 50% chance of success
Reward: Generates 1 Standing every turn until the Franchise Wars ends. Hego will hate this. Kermit will pretend it doesn't exist.
I hate this with a fiery passion. Doof has, in a feat of supreme irony, created a brand founded upon being good to his friends and allies. Betraying that for a 50/50 chance on a marketing gimmick would be terrible.
I have a potential write in to ask about the DC and outcome for:
[] Implement "Restaurant Robotics"
Stewardship action, more efficient cashiers, servers, cooks, etc for Franchise Wars, could potentially also be used in Doofrassic Park gift shops and restaurants as well, maybe minor increase in standing in [Advanced Robotics]?
I think we could have Wendy do diecast this upcoming turn and depending on the value of the above write in, follow it up with that next turn, die cast is all about quantity which would be really important for a nation-wide franchise.
Edit: Actually I think we asked something similar here and got an answer here, but didn't get info on how it would affect the Franchise Wars standing if it would do so.
Only 11 of our 28~ish heroes actually have an occult. And for 2 it is vestigial. On the other hand most of the heroes it would benefit are part of our go-to group of questers so it might still be worth it. One national action to save a dozen or more personal actions isn't bad value.
Its added with learning, a good example would be Kitsune, who would have a 41% chance to succeed the first time, but auto passes the second. Even Lizzy with her pathetic 4 Occult will be at a 76% her seccond attempt rather then a 64. Russ will be rocking an 87 after his first failure, and Khan very much appreciates the boost.
Very interesting implications there.
My take is that the AI info is 'public' and thus protected mostly by normal legal barriers. Bureaucrats and lawyers and such. Whereas the Cogs are unpatented propitiatory tech and protected by bunkers and guards.
Which in turn implies that the 'secrets' of the Cogs could be very valuable to use or leak.
It's more that in order to steal Cog blueprints, you need to get your way into one of the factories and actually physically copy/snatch the documents from someone's desk or safe. Unlike the cars, these factories only exist in LA, smack dab in the middle of Doom's direct sphere of influence. Alternatively, you'd have to take down and vivisect/autopsy enough Cogs without alerting Doom to be able to reverse-engineer the blueprints manually, which again requires you to be in the middle of LA, where Cogs are active. Surrounded by Cogs.
By contrast, Doom sells the AI publicly; the physical risk of buying/stealing these cars and having a bunch of eggheads crack them open is nowhere near as high; enough of them make it out into the wider country that sourcing them doesn't require being near any of the physical threats Doom controls. The martial fallback DC for the AI is lower because that's just running away from police charges of grand theft auto and/or digging pitfall traps in the middle of highways of however it's done.
Would Russ and Mez be able to take that action? On the one hand 'universal', but on the other they seem like they have their own techniques already.
Also this is something that Russ would absolutely and immediately leak to his handler in the Gov. Whether they will use it or just try to make new counter-countermeasures we can only speculate on.
Given a bunch of the information is being sourced from those hero units' personal experience, no. While Russ does have access to better, more in-depth training than Mez, he is, on principle, not going to be willing to share classified government secrets even if he thinks it's completely fine for you to have them. Since the training would therefore at best bring someone to Mez's level, Mez wouldn't benefit from it.
There's a difference between being a wizard and being a wizard who works for the government. Regulating a community of reality warpers on a general level is deeply impractical, but knowing what the ones who work for your organization can do is important, which means testing, licenses, and certifications.
Its added with learning, a good example would be Kitsune, who would have a 41% chance to succeed the first time, but auto passes the second. Even Lizzy with her pathetic 4 Occult will be at a 76% her seccond attempt rather then a 64. Russ will be rocking an 87 after his first failure, and Khan very much appreciates the boost.
Yes, if you were to take both mental defense actions the DCs would be added together on the same personal actions. Most heroes would see negligible benefits, but others would indeed enjoy greatly improved chances of success.
Terrible write-in: Cox one of Doom's cars into sapience, help it lobby for the vote. By the way, hopefully, this mental protection is enough for us to be willing to send someone into Oregon. FINALLY.
There's a difference between picking a fight and "becoming at least vaguely aware of one of many potential threats". If it comes up, it'd be nice to have a foundation laid ahead of time.
Could we expand our franchise? At the moment it's just frog legs, but if we go into lab-grown meat or dinosaur steaks, we could sponsor a different flavor hero.
Could we expand our franchise? At the moment it's just frog legs, but if we go into lab-grown meat or dinosaur steaks, we could sponsor a different flavor hero.
Could we expand our franchise? At the moment it's just frog legs, but if we go into lab-grown meat or dinosaur steaks, we could sponsor a different flavor hero.
I will note that Hego is genre savvy enough to recognize what "self-declared evil mad scientist making clones of superheroes without their knowledge" might mean. Hell, I think the Hegosarus thing is literally the EXACT origin of Conner Kent AKA Superboy. Not saying it's a terrible idea, but...Let's at least ask him first, if we're gonna. Who knows, he might be down: Sidekicks and all.
This probably does not fit at all with whatever's actually happening in Hawaii right now, but I had the idea, so... Omake time, I guess.
Reality Setting In
Mira Nova was not built for a desk job.
A desk job wasn't necessarily what she was expecting when she requested this posting on Earth. Between the near Nebulon invasion, Doctor Jookiba's escaped experiment, and a bunch of older contact events that somehow managed to slip under the radar, Mira was expecting that there was going to be a lot of work that needed to be done.
And there was, it just happened to be work that nobody from the Galactic Federation could be allowed to touch. Once she managed to get access to the planet's communications networks, it became clear that this planet was a mess that needed help on many levels. But there are reasons that the Galactic Federation usually made it a rule not to interfere with pre-space civilizations unless someone from outside the planet was interfering first, and there didn't seem to be any active extraterrestrial threats to the planet. Unfortunately.
Another thing that became very clear was that this entire mission was a horrible boondoggle built on obvious lies and mistakes piled upon mistakes.
As near as Mira could tell, the Earth government somehow managed to convince a Galactic Federation representative that an endemic insect called a mosquito was a valuable, endangered species, and effectively managed to snag protection for virtually every other species on the planet on the justification that they are an important part of the species' food chain. After mere days of examining Earth media, it became very clear that that was a lie. Dozens of languages across six continents and every one of them had some kind of advertising about how to deal with the unending, very obviously not rare, hordes of tiny, biting, insects.
If Mira ever met who managed to pull it off, she'd congratulate them on a well-executed plot. It may have indirectly landed her in this nightmare of a posting, but it also probably saved the planet, considering the kinds of measures that experiments like Jookiba's have warranted in the past.
But still, that effectively meant that Mira was stuck running a glorified prison for people that hadn't done anything wrong, all to protect a species that was in no danger of dying out, which had been neglected and poorly run for months before she got here. She gave up being a space ranger for this.
And all of that was compounded by the fact that thanks to the delay in communications caused by the sheer distance between Earth and just about anywhere of significance, she was only just now getting the messages congratulating her on her promotion to head jackboot.
Mira let out a sigh as she settled in to go through them. She may have hated the situation that she'd put herself in, but there was no reason to make the people she cared about worry over something they had no control over.
She smiled as she scrolled through the list of messages on the computer and saw a pair from Booster and XR. It had been way too long since she'd seen those guys.
She opened up the message from Booster first. Knowing him, there would be blubbering, and it would be best to get through that before the rest of the messages had a chance to wear her down emotionally.
The screen flickered to show her friend, still in Space Ranger uniform. Predictably, he looked like he was barely holding back tears. "Oh, Mira," he started, halting slightly as he thought over his words. "Well, congratulations on the commander position, and, and…" And then the waterworks started. "I miss you so mu-uch! It was already hard when you left, but now you're so far away, and, and, and, waghh!"
Mira couldn't help but smile at the display. It wouldn't be Booster if he didn't care so much.
Booster on the screen took a few more moments to compose himself before continuing, "S-sorry about that Mira. It's just, things haven't been the same since you left and we all miss you so much. But, I know that what you're doing is important and, while I'm not entirely sure what it is, I am sure that wherever this Eeh-arth is, you're doing the best you can to help it. So good luck out there and see us soo-oon!" Booster fell back into tears as the transmission cut out.
Her mood thoroughly dampened by Booster's words of encouragement, Mira moved on to XR's message.
"Hey, Mira!," XR scowled briefly as the sounds of Booster weeping in the other room came through the message. "One moment, please." Mira heard the door to the shuttle shutting as XR left the frame and just as quickly came back in. "Now where was I? Oh, right, congrats Mira! I knew if anyone besides me on our little team was destined for greater things, it had to be you, and boy did you prove me right!"
Mira couldn't help but smile. As annoying as she tended to find the little robot, it turns out being away from him for so long did wonders for not finding every comment he made absolutely infuriating.
"Anyway, me, Booster, and everyone else at Star Command know that you'll do great with this whole Gal Fed gig you've got going back and we can't wait to hear all about what you've been up to out there. So don't keep us waiting, message back soon!"
The screen went blank as the message ended and Mira's smile dropped. There really wasn't much in the way of action that she could report back to her friends, so she guessed that XR would just have to be disappointed. He wasn't the only one.
Mira sighed and skimmed through the rest of the barrage of messages, most of them from various government officials that she'd never even met but who nonetheless felt a need to signal their appreciation for a "rising star" within the Galactic Federation. She would get to them at some point, but there was only so much tolerance she had for that kind of bloviating. But there was one message that caught her eye. Near the bottom of the list, signaling that the sender probably got the news late, most likely because the messengers couldn't get in the palace, was a message labeled "From King Nova of Tangea."
For a brief moment, Mira considered just deleting the message, there was no way that any message from her father could possibly be anything good. But, on the other hand, some righteous indignation could help push away some of the general malaise.
Her finger hovered over the touch-screen for a moment before she finally committed and tapped the message.
"Mira, darling!" King Nova appeared on the screen, the proportions slightly off because Tangea's messaging system was just off enough from everyone else's to cause problems like this. Her people tended to take this as a sign that everyone else's tech was inferior for being unable to handle their brilliance.
"Now, you know that I still don't approve of this whole silly 'space ranger' thing that you have going on." A small, bitter smile formed on Mira's face. She knew she was in for the usual "Your talents are wasted, you're so much better than everyone else" spiel, and, quite frankly, she could use something to piss her off right about now.
Instead, Mira was thrown off when her father said one word, "But." Her father had never been anything but unrelentingly negative about her career choices, what could there possibly be "but" about now.
Mira focused in on her father's face, watching with rapt attention, a feeling of inexplicable dread settling on her now that she no longer knew how this message was going to go.
"But, I am at least pleased to see that you're finally being acknowledged as the better of all those monkeys you work with. Really, you should never have settled for anything less, but at least you're in your proper place above them now. I know I haven't said this recently, but I am proud of you. You're finally doing something that will prepare you for ruling Tangea when I step down, even if you do really need to train your powers more. Anyway, I suppose that's all for now. King Nova of Tangea signing off."
"I am proud of you."
The words rang in Mira's head. They were words that she hadn't heard come out of her father's mouth since she left her home world. And she was finally hearing them again here, for this. She finally wins some scrap of approval from her father, and it's for pressing her boot down on the neck of a people who aren't advanced enough to fight back.
Mira shoved the screen away and sat for a moment, trying to think of anything else besides her job, her father, or her choices in life. Finding this impossible, she brought the screen back and decided to look for something that needed to be done. She was technically off the clock right now, but she needed something to distract her and she couldn't think of anything else.
A lot of the miscellaneous odds and ends had fallen by the wayside since Commander Gantu disappeared. Apparently, he was a stickler for protocol whereas most of his crew were less so, so Mira at least had some options here.
Her eyes scanned across the screen coming across some ideas left behind by the late Commander Gantu dedicated to "protecting the native population," which she promptly deleted from the list entirely; 'Enact stricter safety regulations on 'surfing,' confiscate anti-social literature, restrict access to Hanalei beach (Shark sighting).' This whole situation was bad enough, Mira didn't have any intention of restricting the natives even more just because some of the men serving under her wanted to treat them like they were children.
She finally settled on an item labeled, 'Periodic interview with natives in contact with Experiment 626.'
Apparently, this was standard procedure with bioweapons like Jookiba's monster, and it was supposed to be done once every thirty days, Earth rotation. Nobody had made a single visit since Commander Gantu disappeared months ago.
Well, Mira wasn't exactly sure what she could get out of this Pelekai family that Gantu didn't over the years that he followed the schedule, but it would get her out of her office and away from her thoughts, and that's what Mira needed most right now.
☆☆☆
Nani Pelekai was tired.
On the whole, she had to say that being under occupation by an alien race wasn't that bad. The aliens at least provided all the necessities of life, even if their view of "everything necessary for a human diet" was a bit… limited at times, and their view of what constituted "wildlife conservation" meant a relatively low amount of interference in people's everyday lives. But still, the thought that this was just going to be every day from now on, had been every day for the past few years never went away. Nani would never see anything outside of Kauai again, and Lilo would never have the opportunity to do anything with her life beyond what the aliens considered a sufficiently "safe" profession. That was if their neighbors would ever stop glaring and whispering at her long enough to give her a chance.
Nani sighed and asked, "What am I gonna do?" to nobody. She had been asking herself that question even before the aliens arrived, and she certainly hadn't come up with a good answer since. She idly considered just going to bed early, another day wasted at home, when there was a knock on the door.
She half-considered just pretending not to be home. Better than even odds that it was someone coming around to yell at her because they can't see their family back on the mainland anymore, though they had been showing up less and less at least. But, on the other hand, it could be David, and she could use a chat with the one person still willing to risk being seen with her.
The knock came again and Nani got up, calling, "I'll be right there!"
She opened the door and found neither of the two possibilities that she expected, instead, she found herself face-to-face with an alien and she immediately tensed up.
Several terrifying possibilities ran through Nani's mind. She had heard that a few of her neighbors had been relocated to open up room for new wildlife areas, was that what this was about? Had Lilo been antagonizing them again? Nani was pretty sure that she finally stopped pushing her luck on that front after that horrible Gantu man had berated the both of them for the better part of an hour, but you could never quite tell when it came to her sister. A paranoid part of Nani's brain that never quite shut off whispered in her ear that they had found the social worker's old report and were deciding that it was grounds to take Lilo away from her.
Nani gulped and hesitantly asked, "Um, can I help you? Miss…?"
"Nova, Commander Nova, I mean," The alien stammered out. She was a lot more human-looking than most of the aliens that had settled on the island, if it weren't for the big promotion ceremony that they broadcasted, Nani almost would have thought that she was a super instead. "Anyway, yes! I just noticed you haven't had your periodic interview about Experiment Six-Two-Six recently, and I just wanted to get that all squared away!" She continued, slightly manic sounding in a way that did not fit the broadcast that Nani had seen.
Nani held back a groan. She had thought that she was finally free of this when Commander Gantu vanished. It had become clear to him quite quickly that neither Nani nor Lilo knew anything useful about Stitch, nor had they been "affected" by its presence. But he still showed up, every month, like clockwork to just lurk in her home and watch them for an hour, a massively unwelcome presence that only made it so that any doubts about the Pelekai family's connection to the invasion were thoroughly dispelled.
But still, Nani forced a smile onto her face and said, "Of course, come in." It didn't pay to be rude to government officials, that was true back when humans ran the island and it was just as true now.
"Alright, thank you," Commander Nova replied with a smile that seemed just as fake as the one that Nani was wearing. "Now, how about we get started with-"
"What is she doing here?!" A voice demanded and Nani froze. Lilo had come in from the other room and she was holding a hammer.
Nani had to hold herself back from screaming, she should have noticed when the Elvis record stopped playing. Nani spoke up in as placating a voice as she could manage, "Now Lilo, she just wants to ask us a few questions about-"
"No!" Lilo shouted and Nani cringed, terrified about what might happen next. "I don't want to talk to any of them anymore!"
Nani's eyes widened, "Lilo, no!"
But it was too late, she threw the hammer directly at the very important alien official and ran off to her room crying. Nani looked back at Commander Nova in terror and was only slightly relieved to see the hammer pass through her harmlessly, causing her to blink in confusion. She was still terrified of course. That wouldn't have hurt Gantu either, and he certainly wouldn't have let that slide.
"Um, okay. I hate to ask, but was that because of anything specific or…?" The Commander asked.
Nani's racing heart slowed a bit, at least if she was asking questions, she wasn't jumping to the worst possible thing.
"Oh, well, she still hasn't really gotten over S- The experiment. You know, we adopted it as a pet, and she thought it was just a regular dog at first, so…"
"So, we basically killed her pet before imprisoning her and everyone else," the Commander said sadly and more understandingly than any of the other aliens that visited ever were.
"Well yes, but we do know better now," Nani replied, placatingly.
Commander Nova just sighed and said, bitterness and regret thick in her voice, "For all I know it basically was a dog, it wouldn't be the first major screw-up about this whole mess."
Nani blinked a few times before hesitantly asking, "W-what do you mean?"
"I mean that, for some reason, the Galactic Federation decided to trap a population of sentient people in a wildlife preserve in an attempt to save a species that isn't even at risk from anything besides the Galactic Federation!" the Commander suddenly burst out, as if she had been holding onto that outburst for a while and this was the first chance that she'd had to let it out. "And now I'm here! Did you know I used to fight dictators and slavers?! Well, I guess the shoe is on the other foot now, isn't it?! And there's no way out of this, because…" Mira stopped mid-sentence before sadly concluding, "And I should not be complaining about this to one of the people that I'm oppressing."
Nani blinked in surprise. She knew that people had tried to explain to the aliens that mosquitos weren't endangered, were common even, but this was the first time that she'd ever heard one of the aliens say it.
There were a lot of questions that Commander Nova's little breakdown there raised, but there was one big one that Nani had to ask. "So, if you know that, is there anyone you could tell to make this… go away?"
Suddenly, Commander Nova's eyes widened, "No, no, no, the people up top can not find out about this, do not tell anybody that I just said any of that out loud. If word of what a mess this is gets out, it would embarrass a lot of very powerful people. They tend to be the type to bury their problems. Most likely under a mountain of plasma fire."
With that horrifying image now firmly lodged in her brain, Nani hesitantly asked, "So, what are you going to do?"
Commander Nova sighed and answered, "Try to lighten up how hard I'm pressing down the boot on all of your necks? That's about all I can do."
She just seemed so… defeated. Like everything was going wrong for her all at once and there was nothing she could do to fix it.
Nani had no idea why she was empathizing with this woman after her people had spent the last few years wrecking her and everyone else's lives. But…
"You know, you could try to come over again tomorrow, while Lilo's at school."
The Commander looked up in surprise and then responded with, "Oh, no. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. I was trying to get my mind off of… everything and I apparently thought it was a good idea to make that your problem. Probably not great for your social life if you get seen with us too much."
Nani smiled awkwardly, "Well, it's already pretty much dead, so not sure how much worse you could make it."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that we adopt a blue dog that doesn't act like a dog and does things a dog shouldn't be able to do. Three days later, aliens invade, the dog's gone, and we're not allowed to leave the island ever again. It didn't take people long to put the picture together."
"Oh." Commander Nova frowned before adding, "Sorry for ruining your life even more than we did to everyone else."
For some inexplicable reason, Nani found herself compelled to say something that might actually get her neighbors to attack her in the street if they heard it. "You know, I'm actually kind of glad that this happened."
Commander Nova boggled at her, "What possible reason could you have to say that."
"Well, the day that everything happened, the government, the Earth government, I mean. They were coming to take Lilo away from me and, and… I may be a pariah that can't get a job because everyone hates me, but at least I still have my sister."
Mira let out a breath and said, "Well, there's silver-linings for everything, I guess."
"Yeah," Nani replied, softly.
A beat passed before the Commander hesitantly asked, "So you said that Lilo would be at school tomorrow? What time would that be?"
Nani startled slightly before answering, "Oh, um, seven-thirty to two o'clock."
"Okay, then I guess I'll see you then. Unless something comes up?"
Nani recognized that the Commander was giving her an out, in case she managed to come to her senses. Instead, Nani just replied, "Yep, sounds good."
"Alright." The Commander gave her smile before heading out the door. "See you then."
Nani waved goodbye before sighing and wondering what she was thinking. But that was something that she'd deal with later. For now, she headed upstairs, she had an upset sister that needed comforting.
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In the light of all of the new information and actions that get included in a new turn, as well as a new turn being a time of planning and deliberation, especially for turns where we are doing a research agreement or collaboration such as the upcoming turn (and the special Negaduck prep action that we definitely want to do but have no idea what it is yet), I had a proposal for the QMs that should hopefully help make the voting process smoother, and encourage more creativity with write-ins and settling questions before voting gets underway so we're less likely to have to go with our gut and do a major and sudden voting shift because of a minor detail that we didn't know about until a question was answered in the middle of voting.
What if, when the turn is posted, rather than having a moratorium of 3-4 days, there is instead a 24 hour period where we can ask all of the clarifying questions and write-in suggestions that we need to ask, then after that cut-off, any remaining questions shouldn't expect an answer (QMs can still answer if they like but we shouldn't expect it).
Then, once the QMs are able to post the answers to this final batch of questions, a shorter moratorium of say 12 to 24 hours will begin, and then we vote as normal.
Big reason for this is that I feel there is a status quo where we very rarely suggest a write in after a new turn is posted because we don't expect an answer in time for it to be realistically considered and voted on, questions as well but to a lesser degree. With this idea, the moratorium doesn't begin until after the questions are answered so there is no more issue.
