TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
The release and subsequent success of Pacific Rim had sent ripples throughout multiple industries, the worst affected being the Japanese toy market. Multiple franchises, effectively built in a precarious ecosystem that demanded a balance, were suddenly left by the wayside as children demanded the hottest new thing on the market. While some weathered this storm better than others, either due to brand recognition or a passing similarity in aesthetic to the Pacific Rim mechas and kaiju, others were wiped clean off the shelves in favor of the commercially successful and locked up in a storage shed to be forgotten...but some companies, some companies righted their sinking ships and weathered the storm.
Such is the case with Takara Co., who despite being thrust into a managerial crisis the likes of which would see many a company go under, manage to stabilize under its new CEO, Kantaro Tomiyama, who seemed one of the few willing to accept the writing on the wall and adapt to the rising tides: in order to survive, they needed to appeal to the Western market.
National Pride demanded that he attempt to make an offer to Toho first and so he did–[D100 => 1 | natural one: 1]– and was turned away, for one simple reason: Toho's CEO believed he had not bowed deeply enough, had not groveled enough for his pleas to warrant his undivided attention.
Quickly understanding the schism, and enraged at the slight, Kantaro basically walked across the street right then and there and made his plea to Sunset, directly...It was just his misfortune that–[D100 => 88]– Mike Eisner was there to witness this geas, and like the shark the American was, took immediate advantage.
"What would you like from us?" the American said across the table, hands steepled sharply, his tone like that of a roving pride of lions.
"To take advantage of your markets, to make our Micro Change and Diaclone toy lines profitable here in Nippon, and across the seas to the West." He had said simply, resolutely, allowing his translator to embellish for him, standing his ground as the predator approached.
"I think we can accomplish that," came the deeply unsettling and rumbling purr, that of a fat cat ready to sink its teeth into a juicy meal, briefly glancing at the toy's schematics, "How's about, for the rebrand, we go with...Transformers."
EA is about playing fair..in which only comes in a bundle deal along with the Bill Cypher. EAS is a dedicated electronic device that incorporates signals to allow players to watch normal television, but there is an added feature that allows it to also become a video game display for consoles adopted to the compatible Cable System – called HDMI. Not to mention it also contains an in-built speaker at the bottom of the screen (in addition to its own remote and ability to mute/disable speaker), and an added offer of a much stronger and clearer speaker as its own individual device.
The Bill Cypher is an experimental console made by the R&D Department towards a future away from standard Arcade Games and into the next millennium. To take this into consideration, the Cypher comes with its own Controller, powered by batteries. A closer look into the Console and Controller's differences to other consoles would surely paint a new directive heading:
The Hardware and Software:
A revolutionary concept that takes a step away from the standard form of arcades, and inspired by the previous forms of video games, is the development of a new cable that easily allows the console to connect with any form of screen (if it's compatible) and it would act as a display for games to appear on.
If bought the deluxe Bundle of the Cypher, a slimmer television is provided that allows the player to have access to normal signal channels while also having access to playing games on-screen through connections with the Cypher.
The Cypher includes two systems of being able to play games, one for cartridge-based games and the other for the revolutionary disc-based games. These would allow players the ability to play old and new games and bridge the gap of the two different regions of gaming.
Different Guis and Hardware that allows more processing power to handle more complex and advanced games that would allow more additions and features to be explored for the game developers to innovate ambitions for their new games.
The Sound System:
The Sound System is less of an actual playing of music, which leaves a lot of space in the console, and more of a sound processing and ability to play sounds and other music of games processed into the compatible devices that has the ability to play sound. With better computational power, sound and music can finally escape the confines of the 8-Bit blockade and can have the ability to play music on par with music and karaoke channels..however, if the game utilises 8-Bit and other simple sounds/songs, it would still work – but cleaner.
Additional Features:
Bill Cypher offers a 2-Controller port that allows the player to play with another using the same console, not to mention an experimental device that allows the games to connect using an interweb of connection with other Cypher Systems for Online Playing.
Mod Support Features offer a new way to play games: modifying them! If connected to a computer, the Lucas Electronic Arts Website holds a new tab: Steam Workshop, named after the Steam Game Engine. This Steam Workshop allows the player to publish their own mods and download mods to play Mod-supported games for free.
The S.P.O.N.G.E.B.O.B. is the first Game Engine of Lucas Electronic Arts, with features that encompasses previous arts and programming in addition to the provided research and development of newer models and experimentative ideas that would be focused for refining and a consistent update to make sure none of the Lucas Electronic Arts games would fall behind. Feedback is encouraged to oversee new groundbreaking ideas being created to advance the world of Games.
Currently, the Game Engine allows the creation of Games for Console and PC.
N/A: A great start-point for others who wants to expand the trend of Consoles, Games, Electronics that would be great for bundle deals..
How did I get the inspiration for Bundle Deals? Look at the title of the first on this post, remove "System" from it, and you can see why
For sure, Bruce being an actual person who not only learned from Lee but is also participated in a boxing olympic amd managing a clean knock out even against an aging Ali?
He will be the actor martial art, or martial art that got into acting like Johnny Cage but a more serious one.
Otherwise, Bruce being the CEO martial artist like Heihachi/Karin is also possible.
(I joked once that Bruce could basically host his own Tekken/Iron Fist tournament if he really wanted too.)
As to what style he uses, maybe kick boxing? I dont see a lot of grappling, so there is that.
The release and subsequent success of Pacific Rim had sent ripples throughout multiple industries, the worst affected being the Japanese toy market. Multiple franchises, effectively built in a precarious ecosystem that demanded a balance, were suddenly left by the wayside as children demanded the hottest new thing on the market. While some weathered this storm better than others, either due to brand recognition or a passing similarity in aesthetic to the Pacific Rim mechas and kaiju, others were wiped clean off the shelves in favor of the commercially successful and locked up in a storage shed to be forgotten...but some companies, some companies righted their sinking ships and weathered the storm.
Such is the case with Takara Co., who despite being thrust into a managerial crisis the likes of which would see many a company go under, manage to stabilize under its new CEO, Kantaro Tomiyama, who seemed one of the few willing to accept the writing on the wall and adapt to the rising tides: in order to survive, they needed to appeal to the Western market.
National Pride demanded that he attempt to make an offer to Toho first and so he did–[D100 => 1 | natural one: 1]– and was turned away, for one simple reason: Toho's CEO believed he had not bowed deeply enough, had not groveled enough for his pleas to warrant his undivided attention.
Quickly understanding the schism, and enraged at the slight, Kantaro basically walked across the street right then and there and made his plea to Sunset, directly...It was just his misfortune that–[D100 => 88]– Mike Eisner was there to witness this geas, and like the shark the American was, took immediate advantage.
"What would you like from us?" the American said across the table, hands steepled sharply, his tone like that of a roving pride of lions.
"To take advantage of your markets, to make our Micro Change and Diaclone toy lines profitable here in Nippon, and across the seas to the West." He had said simply, resolutely, allowing his translator to embellish for him, standing his ground as the predator approached.
"I think we can accomplish that," came the deeply unsettling and rumbling purr, that of a fat cat ready to sink its teeth into a juicy meal, briefly glancing at the toy's schematics, "How's about, for the rebrand, we go with...Transformers."
Honestly I was hoping that since we have Shoji Kawamori that he would be the one to create Transformers all on his own here since he would probably be inspired by working as part of Gundam and Pacific Rim, not to mention Macross with Shoji featuring the next evolution being to turn the robots into living characters. If nothing else so we wouldn't have to split profits and rights.
One of Mary's first questions after everything had settled after the birth of her siblings was to ask her daddy, because mommy was sleepy was to ask "Why are Joseph and Sarah so small? They are not big enough to play with. Not like Wally?"
Bruce O'Brian, her father smiled and answered, "You were once that small too, Mary. Give them time and they will grow like you did."
"Really? I was that little?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, but you are a big girl now." She laughed as he ruffled her hair. "And they will be with time, too. You just need to look after them and be a good big sister. Now I think we still have a small piece of chocolate cake for a well-behaved Big girl."
"Yay. Cake." And her immediate focus changed from siblings to chocolate cake.
But that sentence stuck with her. What exactly was a big girl? What did a big girl do? Hopefully, she would be told soon and not just "I will tell you when you are a bit bigger" things because, apparently, she was big now. Otherwise, she would have to figure it out herself.
She had noticed things where changing. Brandon didn't play school with her nearly as much. He did a thing called graduating, and that meant he could go and do acting things like Daddy did and got to go to more Karate tournaments. Brandon was very excited to do acting things like Daddy. That was fine because he still came to the house quite often, even if only briefly after doing an acting thing.
Karate tournaments were not as much fun for her either, because he went to more of them she couldn't go to many of them so she made sure to cheer extra loud to the ones she could go to and thank Mr Norris for taking him and his son and Brandon's friend, Eric to the ones she couldn't go to. That only left a few tournaments where the only people who cheered him on were his mom and his sister Shannon.
It was sad when she couldn't go, but she was very excited when his tournament appeared on TV. Sometimes. But more often she was left with no one to really play with. And most of the babysitter she had didn't understand basic things like muti dimensional calculus or algebra math problems with more than six variables. Brandon did , well only till you got to eight variables and then only when she helped a little but still he was better. Shannon, Brandon little sister who was still bigger than her, tried her best but she still had trouble with the simple maths that Mary had only had to help Brandon with a little. The bigger problem was that she wasn't Brandon and liked to play with Sarah and Joseph more than with her.
That made it even better when Brandon came to babysit and ensured Sarah and Joseph were okay before spending special time with her. Brandon was particularly happy talking about his current writing project, so Mary listened closely like Daddy did when he talked to Mommy or Auntie Cat who wasn't a cat like Ginger but a person, when they talked about the stories they were writing.
She really liked his story about being a new person in America but thought it needed more dragons. She thought that daddy should make it a real story and offered to ask him, Uncle George, and Mister Mike, but Brandon said no. Brandon said he had to do things like Auditions too, because neo pot isim was bad. Mary wasn't sure whey new pots where bad but it meant that he spent a lot of time away and not babysitting. Brandon did ask his sister Shannon to do more babysitting when she told him that she was the best of the not him babysitters. At least he did Pretty Dancing even if he was too busy to take her on foot rides more than two or three times a visit. He commented that she was getting big and heavy too. Rude. She Wasn't heavy.
Mummy still did Mommy things, but she was also doing basketball things by the lake. She spent more of her time sorting that out, which, to Mary sounded like lots of hard work and not fun work like Helping Mr Mike Eisner with Lucasfilm Maffs and making the accounting department pull funny faces. Mommy still had days when she needed to lie down and not do Mommy things but Joseph and Sarah seemed not to understand and cried until Mommy came. That wasn't good because then Mummy needed EVEN MORE lie down. That meant that Mary had less time with Mummy even when she played quiet so Mommy could sleep. It wasn't Fair. She was good, and the Twins were not so why did she not get time with Mummy?
When she complained to Brandon about it, he smiled his sad smile and said it was a part of being a big sibling and growing up and while there were some good things, there were bad things about it, too. Then he had put her on his foot, gone through an entire kata, and left her laughing at the thrill. So she had no time to be sad about it.
Daddy was mostly the same, just with cuddles for Joseph, and Sarah added for them as well.
He still went to work and made movies and did kissing that Mary had to check where pretend kissing so Mummy didn't miss out on her hugs and kisses. Mary thought that he should just get Mummy to do the kissing things. They seemed to have fun on Star Wars so why couldn't Mommy come and do the kissing bits? They had stunt people for the dangerous bits the actors couldn't do, and no one was as good as kissing or hugging Mommy as Daddy, so why couldn't the actors do the acting bits and Mommy do the kissing bits.
----
Then something happened and Daddy broke.
----
Somebody had got into the house who wasn't supposed to be there. They had upset Ginger the Scottish fold Cat and Natalie the Dalmatian. Mummy had been scared, and that had made Joseph and Sarah scared. But Daddy. Daddy had gone strange. Daddy still smiled and said the right things, but his eyes were not right, and he would come and check on people at funny times. Then he had some of Grandpa's old friends come to stay. But Grampa's friends didn't do it right because instead of telling stories, reading books, and watching movies ( or sneaking Mary chocolate cake ), they stood around with guns, wore funny green clothes, and looked very serious.
Then Daddy said they were going to move to the new house. Mary wasn't too happy with the new house. First it had been built in the middle of the best bit of the land that Daddy said he was keeping to spite the government and Mary thought that he liked to have for picnics. Then the house was big and cold and had people made of marble that stood still and didn't move. Daddy said they were statues, but Mary didn't like them much. She preferred the old house with grandma over the back. Grandma wasn't here. And Daddy wasn't really either.
One of Grandpa Green friends said the house was like Blofelds. It wasn't, it was Daddy's. And why did he think she needed to be careful not to fall in love with British men? She didn't know Many British people and Grandpa said that they had done bad things to Ireland. She had watched an old movie tape with a young grandpa and his brother on it. Uncle Grandpa Finn O'Brien said that most of the bad things that happened in Ireland were because of the Irish, and working with the British would make them better. Then they said word she wasn't allowed to use and they started being mean to each other so Mary stopped watching.
Either way the only boys she would go with or turn her head for was Brandon because she would miss it when he would do some sort of interesting kick or punch. She needed to see it to cheer Brandon on properly (and try it herself when daddy wasn't watching ). Besides, when Brandon was doing the pretty dancing, Brandon seemed happiest.
The other boy she would turn her head for was Wally but that was because she needed to make sure he was being looked after too. He could make good stories when he tried but he needed to be braver if he wanted to pretend to be a Jedi properly. Wally was doing better so as long as Mary kept encouraging and remembering to let him sometimes win when he had done particularly well, he should continue to get braver.
Anyway, the new house was big and cold and had statues that looked at you. It also had buildings around it for cars and Grampas Green friends. It also had a helicopter landing at the back. If it was bigger it could be for Rockets. But Rockets were really big and really loud so maybe just the helecopters where okay. But you couldn't fly a helicopter to Space. Mary liked the idea of space and all the fun maths that were needed to go there, but she also didn't like things being too loud. Loud noises work up Sarah and Joseph and that meant that they would be grumpy and Mommy would have to settle them, which meant less time for Mary.
So maybe that was one of the big sister things she needed to do. She needed to find games to play that Sarah and Joseph could play too. Drawings was a good game to play. Drawings were quiet so Mommy could sleep. Sarah and Joseph could point things out or ask Mary to do drawings, and she could do the tricky bit of the drawings. That was something she could do while Daddy was not being Daddy, something that would help Mommy.
But what else could she do?
Then Mary had an idea.
----
Mommy and Daddy went to the Potty by themselves. They didn't get someone big to get out the plastic bowl thing, they sat on the tall Potty built into the wall rather than the small plastic car thing. They also didn't wear pads to catch accidents.
Mary was pretty good at not having accidents but the big white Potty was a bit tall for her to reach. Getting Natalie the dalmatian to lift her up every time was also a bit tricky because Natalie did that best when Mary was wearing a onesie, but if Mary was wearing a onesie it was hard to get the onesie off and then on again so she could go and then have Natalie pick her up and put her down again. Daddy didn't need Natalie to pick him up either. That meant she needed to find a better way. So, if she couldn't get picked up, she needed to find something or several things for her to stand on Instead.
The first was easy an old speaker box from the music room could be pushed over and then pushed into the bathroom. It was acceptably sturdy and already a little beat up. Then, one of the the yellow telephone books with lots of numbers. Then, the other yellow one because it still wasn't tall enough. Then the white one. The books were heavy and had to be brought one at a time. Finally, Mary had to climb the pile which was hard and then sit on the edge of the toilet and then scoot back with her arms just right so her bottom was over the hole and an arm gripped the edge of the toilet seat in Infront of her so she didn't fall back.
Then, she had to pull herself forward. And then get down. And then put everything back where it came from.
Bother.
Going to the toilet like a big girl was hard.
At least washing her hands and brushing her teeth was easier. She just needed to knock the hamper over. Climb along the edge of the sink and hold on with one hand while washing the other and then swap.
Daddy made funny faces when he saw her doing that. He almost looked like proper Daddy for a bit, with expressions that went up to his eyes. Then he went back to being wrong.
But he had been proper Daddy for a bit. And it had been when she had been a big girl, so she needed to do more big girl things so she could get Proper Daddy back. Just like playing quietly made Mommy stop needing to lie down.
After getting Mary settled after the near heart attack of seeing Mary hanging off the sink Bruce O'Brian took a short walk around his highly fortified mansion to calm himself down. Not because he was paranoid or anything just in case some intruder had gotten past his private army in his heavily defended compound. He felt his heart rate increase as he caught sight of a few things being out of place. Three phonebooks were inexpertly stacked into the telephone nook. A set of scratches on the marble floor led to an amplifier lying on its back in the music room. Following the scratches the other way to the bathroom showed a washing hamper knocked over and toothpaste and soap smeared with little handprints on unexpected parts of the sink.
A quick check showed the toilet had the seat left up.
He almost made it out of the room before he thought to check the Potty.
Empty and dry like it hadn't been used.
Then, the diaper pail. Also, empty.
But Carrie had not said she had changed Mary.
She hadn't learned to toilet herself on her own, had she?
It wasn't possible, was it?
There was No way he was missing those kinds of achievements while he was keeping them safe, was he?
----
One of the other things that the big people did was take Natalie for a walk. Usually, it was Daddy, but sometimes it was Mommy. Natalie loved going for a walk, getting very excited whenever anyone went near the hangar where her lead was kept. Natalie was a big Dalmatian and she was brilliant to ride on. She was even big enough to pick Mary up by the back of her onesie. But Natalie was finding it harder to do recently. She was also getting more grey in her fur and wanted to go on shorter walks, play less, and sleep more. That was a bad part of being big. It was Harder for some people to pick you up when you asked. Mummy grunted a little with Effort, but Daddy and Brandon still effortlessly lift her into the air. Mary was a little worried that if she got too big, she wouldn't be able by anyone. Then how would she get cuddles and kisses?
But Daddy was broken, and if fixing him meant she needed to be bigger then she would be a Big Girl and do Big Girl things even if it meant she didn't get cuddles and kisses. Joseph and Sarah needed Daddy's cuddles and kisses.
Getting the lead wasn't hard. It was as simple as grabbing the long dangling part and pulling on one end. The lead ended up clanging on the floor, and a somewhat surprised-looking Natalie peered around the doorway, followed by the usually lazier Ginger, the Scottish fold cat. Natalie looked halfway torn between being excited at going for a walk and worried that she wasn't sure she should do this.
That was silly. Mary was a big girl now, or trying to be to fix Daddy, and big people walked dogs.
So she did what Daddy always did when he took Natalie for a walk. "Natalie, sit."
Natalie sat, the concerned expression on the dog's face, warring with the excitement in her tail of possibly going for a walk.
Mary took the lead and tried to connect it to Natalie's collar, but the spring in the clip was too hard for her to pull open enough to go on the loop of Natalie's collar.
Natalie's tail stopped wagging.
That wouldn't do. No tail wag meant that Natalie wasn't happy. Natalie should be happy to be going for a walk. Taking Natalie for a walk was a Big Person thing; to fix Daddy, she needed to be a big person.
So Mary improvised and tucked the lead through the collar and then through the handle loop. Then, holding on to the clip, she nodded in satisfaction. The lead was almost right, and Natalie could walk with her. The lead was backward but somewhat securely attached to Natalie, so it would probably Work. Being Big was hard.
Then, it was just a matter of opening the front door. Again. The handle was out of reach, but as it was a lever design, it was simple to flick the lead over the handle and pull slightly, making the lever go down and pull the handle open.
Now the magic words daddy said before the walk. She puffed herself up big, trying to sound like Daddy.
"Natalie, time for walkies". Natalie obediently trotted up next to her but with much more reluctance than normal.
Then, as they sat down the path, Ginger the cat, who always stayed behind, started following closely.
Was this a special big person thing, waking a dog and a cat? It was another simple matter to step around some building supplies, out the front gate and walk outside. Then, it was just a matter of going down the path to the park proper.
It always seemed like a fantastic journey when she was in the backpack on Daddy's back. But when she woke herself, it seemed like a very long walk.
But this was what big people did, so she steeled her resolve, gripping the lead's wrong end tight and set out. Ignoring the side eye of Natalie and Ginger as she went. This was to be a big persona and fix Daddy.
Step after step, she went further than she had ever been without Daddy or Brandon with her. Insects buzzed, her feet started to get sore, and she felt thirsty but had gone to no more than two of the new buildings. Daddy was big, and daddy always went much longer than this.
Natalie and Ginger kept pace, looking at her like she was breaking a rule. But she was doing the right thing. She was a big person now; big people took Natalie for a walk.
Then, one of Grampa's green friends came. She told him she was taking Natalie for a walk. He did that sort of panicky look with his face like Daddy did whenever she jumped from a high place onto him. Then the man said that the weather was hot and Natalie looked tired. Did Natalie want to go home early?
Natalie indicated yes and started to pull Mary back to the house. And then push her when Mary did not go fast enough. Ginger also tried to push her, but when Grampa's friend came close, Ginger got between her and Grampa's friend and hissed at him.
Grampa's friend backed off when she lectured Ginger on not being rude, but she couldn't do it properly because Natalie was still pushing her back to the house. Then Grampa's friend laughed and said she was like a mini Dolittle.
She wasn't a Dolittle. She did lots of things, like Pretty Dancing, trying to be big, and Fix Daddy.
Seeing that Ginger wasn't listening, Natalie was pushing her to get her to go home, and Grampa's friend was snickering at her Mary did the reasonable thing and humped at them like Mummy did when everyone was being silly and walked home. That just made Grampa's friend Laugh louder.
It was hard, but she got there without being carried. She thanked Grampas's friend for walking with her. He opened the door and watched as she untangled Natalie's collar from the lead and slung it around the hook before waving goodbye to him and going and finding a place to sit for a bit.
She was happy she had taken Natalie for a walk like a big person, but her feet HURT.
----
A piece of Paper on Bruce's desk showed the fortress, how far Mary had gone, and where Sargent Smith had found her and persuaded her to turn around and return.
A door is opened, revealing a small child is sleeping splayed out on the bed with feet elevated. Small blisters painfully evident from a too long walk in shoes that weren't suited. Hostile eyes from a cat and dog peer out of the gloom.
The child whimpered from the light.
The door is shut again.
There is a silent thump as a large, troubled man collapses against the wall outside the room onto a cold marble floor. Statues seem to make silent accusations from their pedestals.
-----
Mary was frustrated. Joseph and Sarah were being loud and messy. Mommy needed to sleep.
They were making the whining sound they usually made before Mommy fed them or Daddy got them a bottle. But they had knocked the toys out of the crib for the sixth time, and Mary was tired of putting them back in. Daddy should be here, but he wasn't. Daddy was taking to Grandpa's friends somewhere outside, and Still wasn't Back.
So Mary had to be Big instead.
So why did they Whine and Knock the toys over?
Maybe the toys weren't good enough?
Mary sighed to herself there really was only one extra special good toy in the house. Kermit O'Brian was the Kermit doll that she had played wiggle with Mr Henson and Kermit. It was an awesome toy, but it was HERS, except People are more important than things. Brandon had taught her that when he looked at Fakes about his daddy after his daddy died. So if Brandon Really needed Kermit O'Brian, she would give him Kermit O'Brian.
And she supposed that if it would Settle Sarah and Joseph, she could give them Kermit O'Brain too.
She just didn't want to.
Joseph Made the Grizzle sound and knocked a stuffed bunny out of the crib again.
If Mommy didn't wake up soon or Daddy didn't stop taking to Grandpa's friends soon, she would have to do something.
Sarah knocked a teething ring out of the crib, her grumbling, momentarily eclipsing Josephs.
Mary sighed and looked at Kermit O'Brian.
It wasn't crying, not yet, but it was going that way.
Mary knew meetings were important, but Joseph and Sarah needed Daddy to make them a bottle.
Joseph and Sarah needed Mary here to keep them settled until Daddy got the bottle so they didn't disturb Mommy and make her need more naps.
This was all so much easier when Brandon or his sister Sharon were here. They could look after Joseph and Sarah much better because they could reach the bench and the bottle warmer. Better than she could.
But they were not here. Brandon said he would hang out at Lucasfilm, and Shannon was at something called school.
Joseph grizzled again, Looking for something that wasn't there and attempting to grasp it.
Mary sighed and turned to her Stuffed friend.
"Now, Kermit O'Brien, I need to make a bottle warm for Joseph and Sarah. You need to look after them while that happens. Can you do it?
She made Kermit O'Brian wiggle his Head a Yes, just like Mr Henson did with Kermit.
"Good"
Mary grabbed his arm and spun him around, once, twice and three times before letting go and watching him spin as he went up and over the rail and plummeted down on Joseph and Sarah.
Their grizzling stopped as they were buffeted by the falling toy. They momentarily looked like they would cry before Sarah grabbed Kermit O'Brian by his blue suit and Joseph by the front flipper.
Mary nodded in satisfaction "Now, Kermit O'Brian. Look after Joseph and Sarah and Mary will get bottles.
And with that she walked out of the room.
One thing Mary liked about the new place was that the floors were all marble. Yes, there were some rugs. But the rugs didn't go to the sides of the rooms; there was marble along the edges. So if she took her shoes off and got a bit of speed, she could slide along the marble in her socks like she had seen the people skating on ice on TV. It was fun, and she could go fast.
So she did that, giggling as she slid past Daddy's office as the green men kept talking to him.
The kitchen was bigger than the one at her house, but it still had most of the same things. The difference was a battle warmer on the bench near the fridge. There was a funny thing that Mommy used that was kept under the bench to fill the bottles, but Mary didn't need that.
The fridge was easy to open; just a matter of pulling on the bottom edge, and the entire door opened. Getting the bottles was easy as there were several in the door. Mary picked up one for Joseph and one for Sarah, carefully put them to the side, and closed the fridge door.
Next, she borrowed a magnet from the fridge and opened the tea towel drawer next to the sink.
If she pulled it out and stuffed a towel in the side, she could stand on the full drawer and then pull herself onto the top of the bench. Putting the bottles on first, she could lift them up as well.
It wasn't nearly so hard in this house because the benches were lower. She couldn't have grown that much, could she? Yes, she was trying to be big, but it wasn't working that well yet, was it? Either way she didn't need to get Natalie to help this time.
She walked along the bench from the sink to the bottle warmer, put the bottles in, and then pressed the button to make them spin and warm.
While waiting, she sat on the side of the counter, swinging her legs and singing to herself to a tune completed by the regular Wizz wizz of the bottle warmer. She didn't know the tune's name, but it was something that Mommy was working on for her friend Queen. It was something about rocking. Mary liked to be rocked by Mommy when she could.
She hoped that Kermit O'Brian was doing a good job Looking after the twins.
The machine finished, and she lifted the almost too-warm bottles out of the machine. Now, to get them to Joseph and Sarah safely.
She carried them one at a time back to the sink and then put them carefully above the tea towel drawer. Then, she carefully climbed down to the draw, not needing to drop onto her diaper, Like she used to. She then lifted the bottles to the tea towel drawer, lowered herself to the floor, and repeated the process.
Maybe she was getting big. She hadn't needed to use the diaper as a landing spot at all. She smiled to herself. That meant she could use big people's ways of getting down, like that super roll that Brandon did to get down from high places.
That looked like fun. But it wasn't the job Mary was doing right now. So she carefully wrapped each bottle in a tea towel because they were still hot. With one under each arm, she walked back to the twins carefully so as not to fall over and make a mess.
As she walked past the office, Daddy was still talking to Grampa's friends and saying something about going to recheck the perimeter. They said there was a Defector from the Communist Party of China.
Mary knew what china was, a type of bowl or plate. Communist was Red. She knew what a defect was, something that wasn't made right. And she knew what a party was and how it had special bowls and stuff.
So that meant that Daddy, instead of making sure Joseph and Sarah were having a bottle, was going to see about a red broken party bowl. People are more important things. Daddy was Broken. So Mary needed to make sure she did big girl things to Fix Daddy faster.
Joseph was chewing on Kermit O'Brian's arm when she arrived. Sarah was pulling at Kermit's bow tie, but neither was grizzling too badly.
Mary nodded. "Good job, Kermit O'Brian.
Mary carefully put the bottles on the floor and reached over to the crib. She picked up the teething ring, checked where Joseph and Sarah were and pushed it into the gap just her next to the caution sticker.
The side of the crib violently fell down, coming to a stop just before decapitating Kermit O'Brian.
Mary nodded to herself and put the bottles onto the bed. Exactly as expected. Now, the tricky bit.
Joseph and Sarah were not big, but they were still too big for Mary to properly pick up. But if Mary held the bottle with some help, they could sit, and Mary could help them drink.
Joseph was still chewing Kermit, but Sarah was Looking at Mary. That meant that she would try to Help Sarah first.
"Now, Sarah, I have your bottle for you.
Sarah turned and tried to sit herself up.
Mary nodded in satisfaction and climbed onto the Cot to help.
She pushed at Sarah's side until she was in a sitting position propped up by soft toys. Then Mary backed off the Cot, picked up one of the bottles, and unwrapped it from the tea towel. It was still quite warm. Mary dragged it onto the bed and sat down in front of Sarah, lifting the bottle onto her shoulder so it was about right for Sarah to balance it and shuffle forward so Sarah could reach.
Sarah quickly got the idea and started drinking, using her smaller hands to support the bottle a little.
Joseph remained quiet, chewing on Kermit and watching.
Surprisingly, Sarah quickly finished her bottle and surprised herself by burping. Then she slumped back with a look of satisfaction on her face.
Mary was happy the bottle was heavy and holding it balanced on her shoulder was HARD.
But the Job wasn't done. Joseph started to fuss as Sarah closed her eyes and tumbled to her side onto the soft toys.
Mary sighed and got off the bed to get Joseph's bottle.
Joseph was harder. Joseph's bottle was not as warm despite being still wrapped in a tea towel and Mary first had to get him to let go of Kermit's arm.
He didn't want to, and it took Mary pushing the arm into Joseph's hands before he let go with his mouth, and then Mary could pull him upright.
Then, it was a matter of holding the bottle on the shoulder again so Joseph could drink it.
It was hard because Joseph still wouldn't let go of Kermit O'Brian, so Kermit was In the way. Still, he finished the bottle fast and got to the end with a funny sort of crossed-eye look.
Then there was a problem. Joseph didn't burp. Instead, he looked annoyed, and then he started to whine.
Mary huffed. That meant he had swallowed too much air and needed to burp.
Well the solution to that was to pat him on the back till he did.
But Mary could not do the patting on the back hard enough because she wasn't Big enough to pick up Joseph and lay him on her arm and pat him on the back. But if Joseph Didn't Burp, his whining would wake Sarah, and then both of their whining would wake Mommy, which wasn't RIGHT.
Mary was frustrated.
Then she saw Kermit again lying in the bed with his head stuck under the rail arm being chewed on by an increasingly upset Joseph. And his body lying behind Joseph.
Mary nodded and stood.
She pulled Joseph's arms until he was standing and then let go.
His legs didn't quite support him, and he landed on his bottom and then fell back onto Kermit's body.
He looked briefly shocked, like he was going to cry…then he burped, giggleed, turned over, and snuggled into Kermit as a pillow.
Mary nodded to herself. Job done.
Mommy had been able to keep sleeping.
The next Job would likely be….
She wrinkled her nose.
She wasn't big enough to do a good job changing nappies.
She needed a properly big person.
Good thing Daddy had finally left his office
Mike Eisner had a telephone in his office. Well, strictly speaking, he had a telephone connected to a small switchboard so he could take several calls and leave people he didn't like (Sid) on hold for indeterminate amounts of time. He had even gotten one of the wizards from ILM to Hook up a player that played some of Lucasfilm's best music over the line so anyone on hold had something to listen to ( so he could rub yet another of Lucasfilm's successes into Sid's Face. )
Nevertheless, there were specific numbers that, when rang, didn't go through the pre-screening switchboard and then to the music but immediately reached his phone.
One such number was from the private office of Bruce O'Brian's new fortress. So when it rang, he immediately answered.
"Bruce, what do you need?" He barked into the phone.
"Sorry, Mr Mike, this is Mary, not Daddy."
Shocked, he modulated his tone. Mary, what do you need? Is your daddy there?
"Daddy is here, but he is still taking to the Green Men. There was a broken red party bowl. Sarah and Joseph need their diapers changed soon. The nursery is a mess. Brandon says he took you to the cleaners for me. I don't Remember, so it must have been when I was really little. Do you still know the number of the cleaners? I need help cleaning Sarah and Joseph. Or if you could find Brandon or Shannon, they know how to do the cleaning."
A few emotions crossed Mike's face as he struggled to understand what he was being asked.
"So, you need someone to help you change Sarah and Joseph and clean the nursery. And possibly act as a babysitter."
"No, I don't need anyone to sit on Joseph or Sarah. I need help to change their diapers." Her tone changed from grumpy to hopeful "I can do some Maffs for you and make you smile, and the accountants make funny faces again?"
Mike turned and looked at a packet of documents labelled Aptitude Test on his desk.
"I might have some things that are not just maths for you to try. Doing well on that would make me smile."
"Thank you Mr Mike." Came the cheerful reply.
"You are welcome, Mary. I think I know where Brandon is. But even if I can't find him, I will have someone there soon. "
"Uncle Robin is also good at changing diapers too."
"I will try Brandon First. Will you be alright?
"Yes. I gave Joseph and Sarah their bottles, and they are sleeping now."
"Good Girl Mary. Call me immediately if you need anything else. "
"I will, Mister Mike. Thank you."
He put down the phone.
And found himself with his head in his hands.
Bruce had no idea what he had there. Worse, Bruce was right there, and Mary still needed to call him. Bruce had to get his head on straight and fast or…
Mike wasn't sure what he would do, but if Bruce wasn't acting in Mary's best interests, he would. And that started with getting Brandon over there as soon as possible.
Mike Eisner reached out and dialled a number on his phone. "Jennifer, please get Brandon Lee or his mother, Linda, on the line. Security reported Brandon tearing strips of the clowns who hired out soundstage 4 Fifteen minutes ago. I don't think he has left the lot yet. Get a car with a phone out there and find him if possible. Tell him I need him for an urgent job and his sister, if not him."
Brandon liked to think of himself as a typical teenager most of the time. Someone Stuck between being big enough to do most things but not quite big enough to be an adult.
Yes, he wanted to be on screen, like probably half the population of the US. At some point, anyone who had watched any movie or TV show had wondered if they could be an actor.
He had tested out of high school, but that was not unusual either. He had both extremes of the usual reasons teenagers stopped going to school. So-called behavioural difficulties, otherwise Known as idiot classmates who kept picking on him for no good reason and specialised tutoring that allowed him to skip grades.
Yes, he was interested in martial arts and actually quite good at it. So were his best friends, their Dad and the closest thing he had to a father figure.
Yes, he knew about stunt work, but that was again because of His Mom's work and the stuff his not-quite Dad did.
Yes, he had a limpet that followed him everywhere, but she was pretty alright herself. Besides being a reasonably reliable cheer squad, she invariably thought that what he was doing was "Rad". So did practically any teenager with a younger sibling.
About half the girls who saw him interact with her also informed him that it made him more interesting. Some of them were starting to become inexplicably fascinating themselves.
Sure, he had access to Lucasfilm lots, but it was more open-air and accessible than most people thought. Besides, half of LA was being used as a film set at any time, and security was more reasonable here at Lucasfilm than at the mall.
So when he was walking past a stunt filmed in one of the secure back soundstages at Lucasfilm and saw about three serious safety violations, he stepped in and demanded they stop immediately. Incensed at the risks being taken, he more or less stole the script from the director, quizzed him and the actors on the purpose and goal of the shot, and ordered the camera moved and angle changed to hide additional crash mats while keeping the stated feel of the scene. I got them to practice the scene twice and only then let the director film it. He flagged down one of the stuntmen he knew from the gym and dragooned him in as safety inspector for the crew for the rest of the day. Then he signed the script to say who ordered the changes and stalked off still in a huff that the film crew would be so reckless. Another ten injuries in the month, and Lucasfilm's insurance goes up by another hundred thousand. Mary had shown him the numbers. Worse, someone could be crippled or killed. Compared to that, half a day's pay for a stuntman who knew what they were doing was peanuts.
It was only as he had rounded the corner and heard the director ask the stuntman why everyone just let the kid do that, and have the stuntman snort and tell the director the kid was Brandon Lee. That was the end of the discussion. There were no questions of where or how he got the authority, no questions about his credibility, no questions about his right to sign off for a company he was pretty sure he wasn't employed by. Like he was a full-sized adult
Normal kids didn't do that. Normal kids get chased off and do not have what amounts to middle managers told to shut up and listen to what he said .
Lost in thought, he almost didn't notice one of the studio cars pull up to him until an assistant jumped out carrying a radio phone.
"Call for you, sir. Mike Esiner is on the line. Insisted it was urgent. The car is for when you are finished talking."
Brandon held his hand out for the phone and answered it.
Normal teenagers sure didn't have the studio head send a car for his personal use for an immediate assignment, but teenagers got told to go and do some babysitting all the time.
Normal teenagers didn't have pint-size geniuses as sort of littlest sisters who were sure that the teenager could fix whatever the problem was.
"Understood Mr Eisner. I will pick my sister up from school, Tell my mother what's happening, and we will head to Bofields. If you send the package to the front gate, I will collect it as we pass."
Brandon hung up the phone and gestured towards the car. Brandon, the average teenager, was nowhere in his Posture or in His voice, Squire Brandon might have been there somewhere, but it was almost entirely the Knight of Lucasfilm and particularly Champion of Lady Mary the Genus who cooly informed the assistant that they would be going the front gates first and depending on the next call he made either to a school next or straight to Bruce O'Brian's mansion.
As he sat in the back of the car and felt it accelerate as he dialled his mother's number, he reflected that normal teenagers also didn't get to play around with car phones while being chauffeured to locations in expensive cars when they had a babysitting job. Normal teenagers didn't do that at all. Sometimes, it was good to be different.
He just hoped that Mary was alright and her weird obsession with being Big hadn't caused an issue. If it had well, Brandon was big enough to sort it out whatever it was.
What Mary has been up to and why Mike might have thought it was possibly a good idea to go around Bruce's back.
Brandon said he had to do things like Auditions too, because neo pot isim was bad. Mary wasn't sure whey new pots where bad but it meant that he spent a lot of time away and not babysitting.
Honestly I was hoping that since we have Shoji Kawamori that he would be the one to create Transformers all on his own here since he would probably be inspired by working as part of Gundam and Pacific Rim, not to mention Macross with Shoji featuring the next evolution being to turn the robots into living characters. If nothing else so we wouldn't have to split profits and rights.
Issue is is that Transformers was heavily inspired by Diaclone, which should already be around since last year in 1980. Because of that, I felt it was more realistic that going for a modified version of OTL* where everything gets pushed up by three/four years as a result of the Pacific Rim upset would be a more interesting take.
There's also the fact that, since they're really hurting, it wouldn't be too hard to set things up in a way to eventually absorb the company in a merger further down the road, especially with Mike in charge of the initial negotiations.
Oh hell no! We're not making the same mistake Warner and Burton did with their version of Batman Returns.
Though now that I think about it, our version of Penguin is much more faithful to the comics than what Burton did...I do wonder if it will be more iconic though.
At least we are making sure to show the slow splitting of Harvey's mentality so next film makes sense if he becomes two face.