The Space Opera Working Thread

Originally posted by silo13
And without teletabs let's not forget the PORTAL.

In the old story CindyMars found a portal.

She had a map.

One part of the portal was in the Center.

So, there is hope to being able to do something with that???

I don't mean to run ahead here - just thinking aloud.

Depends on where the portal went to - the cabin? the Amazon? - and whether or not the destination is changeable or "tunable".

There's also a chance that where you find one portal, you may find others, a sort of "nexus" of portals, a "Grand Central station" where your destination depends on which portal or door you walk through.

Maybe the map was to a nexus?

Okay, I'm back up and at it now...and to NENO: well, I guess I'll always be able to keep YOU guessing, eh??
Actually I had crashed at 7pm, woke up at 1, wool-gathered regarding

A) the rather daunting GIMP learning curve
(I did download it, and was subsequently advised by a graphic artist working at BestBuy that it's every bit as good as expensive Photoshop, just not as "user friendly" -- so I didn't spend my birthday money on a cheapo version...and I suppose I owe you thanks for that suggestion)

B)the Space Opera, and

C) another subject which has my interest...

not at all in that order, nor even sequentially, until 2, and since I had lain there for an hour I got up. Had a seltzer-water, couple of cigs, and went back to bed. seriously.
(it's sleep disruption from the midlife change, coupled with night sweats....but you won't have to learn that the hard way...LOL)

Anyhoo, now that I've cleared my good name.....AND we know that Dag doesn't sleep normal shifts...

I'm liking the direction this is going...esp the portal in the Center.

couple of Qs:

*Were Adam and Dag ever at the cabin?? I don't recall that. They were pretty new to Ship, too, so they'd not have known CyndyMars. She was gone when 'we' got there.

*Silo, are you comfortable with me doing Ship and the Center without you??

I had been leaning strongly toward Dag and Adam leaving the Swamp to investigate. ... and can imagine all sorts of fun'n'games going on.

*What about Muckles and the Splitter? The Splitter, I thought, is gone.
But where is Muckles now??
....

BIAD!!

Also, I had an idea at about 01:44:15 to do an exercise, all of us, which is one the apprentices (first three years of performing) routinely use at the local role-playng renaissance festival (I've been participating since 2001). We are given a "character description" worksheet, and after we are cast as a character, we write up a bio. If you guys want, I could post it here, and we could all work up our characters...

It is fun, and worthwhile for building story when interacting in an improv way with other characters...

BIAD reporting in...
I've done a write-up where all the characters are seperated -but on the
Earth that Neno indicated.
When...? who knows and where...? probably Vandalia.
Now, do you want it to waaaaaay back in time or waaaaaay-way in the future?

Oh... Wildtimes?
I was going to put Dag and Adam emerging from a cave... is that okay?

BAID reporting in.

Ahh, what the heck. I'm gonna post the survey questions and work them up for Adam and Dag anyway.

You all can do it or not, as you wish...

and, if anyone is interested, I can u2u a link that takes you to my online survey from 2005...(my 3rd season as that character - some slight changes to the bio were made every year)

So, here, then are the questions:

Name given at birth

Nicknames

Hometown, or where you were born:

Current residence

Age

Class (socio-economic, i.e. aristocracy, peasant, merchant, royal in the context of Ren Fests - but ours will of course be different than that -- or will they?)

What do you do, your main function in life/society

Have you ever gone skinny-dipping/do you know how to swim

Do you make fun of people

Favorite color

Ever committed or been convicted of a crime

Closest friends/How did you meet

Pets

Favorite type of music

Hobbies/Pastimes

Favorite food

Parents living or dead/ and how is/was your relationship with them. If dead, how did they die

Do you have family, where are they

Your sleep patterns

Most humiliating moment

Proudest moment

What do you look for in a romantic partner

Remember your first kiss

Who is your immediate overlord/boss

Favorite vacation place/spot to relax

Education history

Craziest / silliest person you know

Do you keep in touch with childhood friends

AND FINALLY:
LIST 10 THINGS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOU.

(Incomplete surveys will be ridiculed, returned to sender, and publicly mocked. Nahh, just kidding. It IS a fun exercise, though, and informative for everyone who interacts with each other in a real-life, spontaneous sort of way -- like we are doing.)

Lemme know what you guys think.

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Well, BIAD, why are they in the cave? May I fill in the immediate past history after they emerge or have you already outlined it in your head?
Are they healthy when the emerge? confused? happy? in conflict? coming as heroes or as victims? If you just let me know what condition they are in, I will fill in the whys and wherefores...and I would like to reserve that right...and I want to....
cool??

Would you post the draft here for us to look at first? Please?

ETA: "Pretty please, Cabin Boy?

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by A boy in a dress

 

Well, BIAD, why are they in the cave? May I fill in the immediate past history after they emerge or have you already outlined it in your head?
Are they healthy when the emerge? confused? happy? in conflict? coming as heroes or as victims? If you just let me know what condition they are in, I will fill in the whys and wherefores...and I would like to reserve that right...and I want to....
cool??

Would you post the draft here for us to look at first? Please?

ETA: "Pretty please, Cabin Boy?

edit on 19-11-2011 by wildtimes because: (no reason given)

Yep! I'll post it here first and I have no idea how they got there!
They're both okay... just like the others mentioned.

BIAD has agreed to fill-in your Questionaire... my God have mercy on your soul!!!

Here's what I was going to post:

The Vithian in the dark-brown robes moaned in his sleep and feeling Mucklebones'
tough-leathery arm across his chest, the old Time-Traveller seemed to purr with
contentedness. Tibbs' small spectacles lay on a small outcrop of stone beside his
heavily-lined face has if someone had placed them there on-purpose and it was this
sight that Tibbs opened his eyes to.

The taller-Mucklebones snored on and her large head lay on Tibbs' chest, the whispy
red-hairs mingled with her lover's grey bearded-ones.
Slowly reaching for his spectacles, Tibbs focused on his surroundings and as the blurred
woodland became clearer -due to the lenses, he looked on over-hanging trees and a cold-
blue sky.

"Honey...? we're here" he mumbled to the mottled-head that moved up-and-down with
his breathing, Tibbs felt a small gasp as Mucklebones came awake.
They clambered upright with groans and sniffs, Tibbs eyed the Gray tugging on her poncho
and after the Muckles' rear-view he'd just been privvy to -Tibbs announced "We're going to
have to seek out some underwear for you!"

The cool breeze brought a nod of approval from the Witch and pulling down the back of the
dark-green garment, she agreed with "Aye... there's a wind gettin' where it shouldn't"
The other view, the one that showed the dark-watered lake and faraway mountains, gave
the old couple a few moments of quiet contemplation and only the faint bird-songs invaded
the peace.

"BIAD! SILOOO! TIBBS!" came the coarse voice and glancing at the puzzled expression of
Mucklebones, Tibbs cupped his hands to his mouth and was about to answer the call, when
a long skinny-fingered hand knocked his hands away "What the hell yer' playin' at...?"
the Crone snapped "... we're marooned on a planet that we know nuthin' about and yer'
hootin' out fer' all to hear!"

Tibbs sighed in agreement of the logic and sought his handset, holding it out towards
-where the voice came from, the Vithian grinned at the recognised life-symbol.
"It's Nenothtu" Tibbs said and stuffing the device in his pocket and grabbing Mucklebones'
hand, he set off dragging the hesitant Crone with him.

The Yydryl hung in the stratosphere and scanned the planet below, Ship pondered the
recent change in her position and found no logical reason how her vast body could be
hovering over TallTown on Carbiox and then in an instant, find an unknown world on her
starboard. The results of the scans were still being analysed as Silo's eyes flickered open
and the lavendar-haired girl felt the raging hangover roll in.

"Aw..." she hissed as a promise of a belch rumbled and racing towards the sink, throwing-up
seemed to be the order of the day. Chumley decided to 'off-load' concealed-air from the
other-end of his body and the room suddenly took on a stale-like aroma.
"Sorry.." Chumley hicked and lowered his eye-stalks in embarrassment, the Regalian recalled
the empty thick-bottomed Carbiox Whiskey-bottle and groaned to himself, the window-
shades were down and a small prayer for that -was said.

"Ship... where are we?" Silo said into the water-splashed sink and silently vowed to never
drink again, any Tavern-Girl attributes that had remained from the 'Carbiox Days' -must have
been left on the planet. "Aw... gwark" she muttered as she plunged her head into the cool
water.


"Brrrrr!" Boy In A Dress stuttered and checking that nobody was near, he stepped out of the
dark-watered lake and shook himself. The recently-scrubbed red dress hung from a budding
Willow and his high-heeled shoes were parked neatly near the unlit fire.

BIAD shivered violently to shake off the last of the water droplets and remembered the
tiring-flapping fish that his hair had caught, he reeled it in and made for his campsite.
The Man/Girl thought about his arrival here as he rolled the smoldering stick against the
one between his bare-feet, he was alone on a strange planet... again.
The naked hermaphrodite blew softly on the kindling and small flames lapped into the air.


Ernie and Sslar ambled along the deer-trail and the strange-looking man in bib 'n' braces
reckoned they would be feasting on venison before the evening came.
Sslar sniffed the air and picked up a familar scent, the alien and the small man were close
-she thought and wondered if the wall-eyed human with the sharp-pointed staff should be
informed. Ernie stopped and gazed around the shadows in the heavy foliage and whispered
"Ah' can smell someone" and the Xang Cat wondered if he was part-animal.

They trudged on and watched for hoof-prints.

And the final bit:

Dag and Adam woke together, the daylight could be seen leaking into the cave entrance and
after clambering over the huge boulders that blocked the pathway and after Adam was
slapped twice in assisting the lithe white-haired girl by grabbing her rear, they squinted in
the sunlight and the surrounding beauty.

"Are we the Adam and... Eve around here?" Dag said gazing at the large lake and tall conifers,
the Doctor smiled and whispered "I hope so" The cave was in a hillside and the ground
seemed to be littered with small caverns and cave-ins.

Dag took out the compass from her Pilot-Suit belt and checked for bearings "hmmm..." she
muttered "... the needle keeps swinging around?"
Adam scratched his elbow and pondered whether to make for the lake, it was better to be
near water -he guessed.

"We'll make for the lake, huh" Dag said and stuffed the useless compass into it's belt-pocket
the time seemed around midday, but she had no idea how long a day was here.

The two lovers carefully made their way down the hillside.

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Okay! I'm cool with that post. Everyone else?

And I'm delighted to hear our pal BIAD is in a disclosure type of mood today!! And i'm sure you meant "God have 'Mercy' on BIAD's..." uh. never mind.

And put some clothes on!

reply to post by wildtimes


I'd better wait to see if Silo and Neno give it the okay..

...And put some clothes on!

Yes Ma'am... (damned webcam!)

Obee kaybee...i agree, we better wait.

Today the agenda here is to rearrange my studio to allow for the newly-acquired desk I inherited from my dad. So, I'll be just a few feet down the hall there, and checking in here regularly (laptop is in the great room, not the studio -- for now)...

I'm looking forward to our next "season"!!
I also want to apologize if I've been "pushy" with the daily activity. I am not currenlty working outside the home -- so what I do in between executive housekeeping responsilibities is, read, write, study, blah blah...

Excited to see your character survey!!!
Hope the others will go along with it, too!

Oh, and it's not JUST BIAD's survey I'd like to read. Tibbs' and Muckles', too!!

reply to post by nenothtu

Depends on where the portal went to - the cabin? the Amazon? - and whether or not the destination is changeable or "tunable".

There's also a chance that where you find one portal, you may find others, a sort of "nexus" of portals, a "Grand Central station" where your destination depends on which portal or door you walk through.

Maybe the map was to a nexus?

Hard to say.
What the back story does say is CindyMars was down to her last couple of teleport tabs/balls, etc.
She had no viable means at the moment for making 'more'. (We don't know why).

What we do know is she had a map and was searching the Center for a 'tele-portal'. Silo found the portal, and a U-Man who came out of it.

The portal (in the Center) and the 'where it went' was never explained.

...the portal...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/309b2afdcca3.jpg[/atsimg]

...map...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9c8e51ba2281.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by wildtimes


BIAD has nearly finished his survey... he struggled with his long finger-nails, so
I stepped in to assist. Lawks! I never knew half of his previous life -before he turned
up on my doorstep!

There's a website that an investigator has written, I found it last year. (See Below)

Some Of BIAD's past...

reply to post by wildtimes

*Were Adam and Dag ever at the cabin?? I don't recall that. They were pretty new to Ship, too, so they'd not have known CyndyMars. She was gone when 'we' got there.

They spent a lot of time there - in their - getting to know one another phase. Pretty funny stuff that. It's where they shared their first 'kiss' and where Dag realized just 'what' she was/is. A very poignant spot for them.

*Silo, are you comfortable with me doing Ship and the Center without you??

Anyone can do 'Ship' - it isn't up to me.

As for the Center?

The Center's pretty complicated with back story, but, as log as you stick with working on what's already there - staying in 'tune' with the back story I've no problem with it at all. Lot's to go back through though. Let me see what I can find. There's the 'Light Beings' (that are not really 'beings') so to speak - and some 'voices' in Silo's dreams by the water. Vague but important stuff.

reply to post by silo13


Ohhh, that's right! I was thinking that all happened somewhere else...I'll go back and reread it...
I recall their first kiss, etc. I promise I did read ALL of the Dag/Adam posts...

okay, sorry about that!

Are you cool with doing the survey? I'm going to...while taking breaks from my studio project...

reply to post by A boy in a dress

The only problem I have with the whole scene - They Yydryl would be too big to be on three legs looking for firmer ground. I mean her 'stomach' the Center has mountains in it. Like the Rockies. And valleys. It's HUGE.
I wouldn't care normally it's just the back story wouldn't really support it.

Beyond that - it's all great. Though Silo's going to separate from the group for a while. Maybe go looking for the portal and end up somewhere leaving poor Chumley in charge? Depends on what the rest of you do.

reply to post by silo13


Okey-dokey... you hard-hearted... STOP THAT NOW, BIAD!

Sorry about that, yeah... sure, I re-jig to suit.

reply to post by wildtimes


Do you wish me to post BIAD's Questionaire here?

reply to post by wildtimes

Name given at birth - Silo13. Not born. Made. In LAB. 12 siblings - all dead.

Nicknames - Silo

Hometown, or where you were born: - LAB

Current residence - Dunno

Age - She's not old, not young.

Class (socio-economic, i.e. aristocracy, peasant, merchant, royal in the context of Ren Fests - but ours will of course be different than that -- or will they?) - She's just Silo.

What do you do, your main function in life/society - Keeper of the Center and Assistant to Ship.

Have you ever gone skinny-dipping/do you know how to swim - If she gets in water she will die.

Do you make fun of people - Every chance she gets - with heart though, never mean.

Favorite color - Gray, she loves gray.

Ever committed or been convicted of a crime - She's commited many but only against LAB.

Closest friends/How did you meet - Her friends aboard SHIP.

Pets - Carpet would take offense.

Favorite type of music - Anything Earthy that isn't headbager.

Hobbies/Pastimes - Knives, guns, and learning about 'old earth'.

Favorite food - CindyMars chocolate cake.

Parents living or dead/ and how is/was your relationship with them. If dead, how did they die - None. Though there is a segment where one of her bio-contributos on the U-Man side was a very important scientist. Another story line I'd like to clean up.

Do you have family, where are they - explained already

Your sleep patterns - where and when she can.

Most humiliating moment - When she realized she had her panties and bra on backwards at Cindy-Mars cabin.

Proudest moment - Telling Ernie Neno was her 'boy'.

What do you look for in a romantic partner - Swarg. Always Swarg.

Remember your first kiss - Swrag.

Who is your immediate overlord/boss - Ship.

Favorite vacation place/spot to relax - Earth

Education history - Hundreds and thousands of earth 'memory disc'. Any language, everything to do with old earth, but, false teeth. Somehow ta slipped her memory.

Craziest / silliest person you know - Carpet. Such an intricate twine of personalities.

Do you keep in touch with childhood friends - she would if she could.

AND FINALLY:
LIST 10 THINGS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOU.
1 - If she gets fully immersed in water she will die.
2 - When she loves - it's all the way - devotion, all that crap.
3 - She misses CindyMars but is scared of her at once since the birth of Neno.
4 - She adores BIAD and wants to 'grow up to be just like him'.
5 - Her eye-stalks are her pride but her pain at the same time.
6 - She wants to be more U-Man.
7 - She loves old earth movies and to dance and sing.
8 - She wants a purpose but not an obligation besides Ship and the Center.
9 - Without Ship and the Center she'd be 'off Center'.
10 - Not telling. Every Silo-wanna-be-U-man needs some secrets.

(The above are not in order).

Originally posted by A boy in a dress
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Do you wish me to post BIAD's Questionaire here?

Entirely up to you!! Here or in a u2u? I don't think they need to go in the Opera thread...it's more an exercise for us all to get to know the cast better..