Ideas Thread

[Brian]

Warg.  Based on discussion in Kitago:

What if Yasumi wasn't a projection from Haruhi, but Sasaki?  The name-anagram thing can just be a red herring to throw particularly clever observers off.

It does fit with Sasaki's comment that she wanted to befriend Haruhi when she was younger, and (in some ways) would help soften the impact of 'And Haruhi can fix everything without even noticing' while also making Sasaki's promise that she and Kyon would meet again slightly more uplifting (she's watching out for them).

If Kyoniism is thrown in, then it can be a story about Haruhi and Kyon both wanting to be normal (meaning, without powers) people doing normal things, and Sasaki doing her best to oblige two friends who have stepped down from whatever they were before to enjoy the mortal life....  Lots of angles on this one. o_o

[Arakawa]

Here's a random Touhou fic opening scene:

Spoiler: ShowHide

There are all sorts of happenings that are known as bad omens; the spilling of salt, or sinking tea leaves, or a crookedly placed altar crashing down to the floor. One particular bad omen that was becoming unpleasantly familiar to Reimu Hakurei was returning to the doorstep of the Hakurei Shrine to find Yukari Yakumo, two sake cups, a bottle, and a plate of what looked to be sashimi. The omen generally indicated severe upcoming headache for Reimu.

"Perhaps it's the wine talking, but I'm in the mood for some amusement," Yukari announced cheerily.

Reimu mutely accepted the proferred cup and sniffed at it to guess how strong it was, then hefted the stone bottle to try to estimate how much of it Yukari had drunk. In point of fact, the wine was inhumanly strong, and Yukari had already finished a first bottle back at home. Reimu's hand twitched briefly towards the plate.

"That's mine," Yukari snatched it vehemently out of Reimu's reach, "if you want to eat, I put a little lunch in your donation box, arranged around some _foie gras_. Never understood what humans see in _foie gras_, but maybe you might take a liking to it."

There was a somewhat icy pause.

"Did you know," Yukari stretched, with an ambiguous smile, "I met the most _interesting_ professor of philosophy today?"

Reimu nodded, with a slight shudder of revulsion.

"He had such droll ideas about ethics," Yukari elaborated, "won't you have a drink?"

"You know," Reimu began, "I have had a _very_ long day today, and I'm...."

"Exactly! That's *exactly* why strong alcohol was invented! You need a good stiff drink!"

"..."

However, the logic was inarguable, and the shrine maiden was soon to be found sitting next to Yukari, with her cheeks uncomfortably flushed, an empty cup at her side, and strange, momentary associations floating through her head.

"Whew," Reimu huffed, "I'm starting to think there's a reason they have a minimum drinking age in the outside world...."

"Hm," Yukari asked, "and what would that be?"

"Well, I don't know, I mean... hold on, what's your game with getting me to drink this stuff? You never do things without a reason! Is it just for a cheap laugh, or is it something more sinister?! Answer me!"

She'd stood up and was pointing her wand at Yukari threateningly. The Hakurei heirloom, which had seen considerable use in battle earlier that day, was far more intimidating than the typical shrine maiden's sealing wand. For starters, the shaft weighed several pounds, consisting of wood transmuted by strange, subtle, and arcane arts many centuries ago into a material reminiscent of modern rubberized plastic. The hollow interior was filled with prehistoric sand that had been stained with the blood of some kind of prehistoric colony of sand youkai that Yukari had been good friends with, so very long ago, in the days before they'd earned the wrath of a prehistoric youkai exterminator. The overall appearance of the thing had always reminded the gap youkai of an outside-world riot control baton. (Exactly where Yukari had seen outside-world riot control batons... is a long story.) The end opposite Reimu trailed long lengths of silvery wire with sharp hooks attached every so often, and only the charms pinned onto the hooks were written on ordinary paper, since those had a tendency to fall off in the confusion of battle. It was very obviously a cruel weapon. Even with spell card rules in place, it was not pleasant for a youkai to see it up close.

Yukari merely smiled nonchalantly and placed a hand on her heart.

"I solemnly swear on my reputation as a shameless manipulator and an inveterate bender of boundaries that I will _not_ be taking the least advantage of today's scheme to fulfil my longstanding designs on your virginity."

Predictably, this caused Reimu to splutter and flush even further, and Yukari to laugh long and heartily at her expression.

"Why, Reimu, think for a moment," she explained, having finished laughing. "I wanted to have a deep, intelligent discussion with someone outside my usual rotation. Alcohol, in a precisely moderated dose, can loosen the inhibitions in a way entirely appropriate to that end. And ordinarily, you have very strong _mental_ inhibitions against thinking beyond the question of filling your own belly. This is the only way I can induce you to direct your mental capacity to higher matters. You remind me of a mathematician I heard of once who could do no useful work without a bottle of hard liquor inside him, what was his name... ah, it's slipped my mind completely."

"Oh gods rescue me," Reimu implored the heavens, lowering her wand, "she just wants to talk."

(The prayer was entirely figurative. The arrival of any of the actual gods of Gensokyo on the scene at this time would most likely have complicated the situation considerably instead of resolving anything.)

"No, don't worry," Yukari said, "we talk later. Food first."

She held out the lunch box alluded to earlier to Reimu.

Not sure where this would ultimately end up, but they go on to have a longwinded philosophical discussion.

[Jason_Miao]

Not sure where this would ultimately end up, but they go on to have a longwinded philosophical discussion.

Nothing wrong with that (If it worked for Plato...) but why do it as a Touhou fanfic?

[Arakawa]

Nothing wrong with that (If it worked for Plato...) but why do it as a Touhou fanfic?

As the issue came up on IRC, I should probably have disclaimed it differently. Basically, I tried to write any and all drabble that came to mind to get a sound check on whether the characters are coming out reasonably well. The one scene that seemed to 'flow' was Yukari appearing on Reimu's doorstep and trying to rope her into an intellectual discussion. I specifically posted the initial roping-into-the-discussion part rather than the discussion itself.

Hmm.

Will have to think if the actual discussion might fit into the middle part of some fic as an exposition on the importance of what happened before, but I'm not sure. My ideas on that count are way too vague.

But this is mostly a test to see if I'm making some progress on the characters and setting, or if I have to throw those away and start from scratch.

[Jason_Miao]

Spoiler: ShowHide

"Why, Reimu, think for a moment," she explained, having finished laughing. "I wanted to have a deep, intelligent discussion with someone outside my usual rotation. Alcohol, in a precisely moderated dose, can loosen the inhibitions in a way entirely appropriate to that end. And ordinarily, you have very strong _mental_ inhibitions against thinking beyond the question of filling your own belly. This is the only way I can induce you to direct your mental capacity to higher matters. You remind me of a mathematician I heard of once who could do no useful work without a bottle of hard liquor inside him, what was his name... ah, it's slipped my mind completely."

This sounds like neither someone who is tipsy, nor like someone with a whimsical nature in general.

Also:

She'd stood up and was pointing her wand at Yukari threateningly. The Hakurei heirloom, which had seen considerable use in battle earlier that day, was far more intimidating than the typical shrine maiden's sealing wand. For starters, the shaft weighed several pounds, consisting of wood transmuted by strange, subtle, and arcane arts many centuries ago into a material reminiscent of modern rubberized plastic.

<snip>

"I solemnly swear on my reputation as a shameless manipulator and an inveterate bender of boundaries that I will _not_ be taking the least advantage of today's scheme to fulfil my longstanding designs on your virginity."

I've read that Zun's conception of the games is that innocent girls are playing (albeit in overpowered fashion), rather than fighting.  If so, this part seems a bit off.

That said, I don't really follow the backstory of the games all that closely, let alone any fannon interpretations that have arisen.  We do have people on IRC who are committed fans of the series.  I presume you've already consulted with them; if they were okay with it, then there's likely no problem.

[Irrational Behavior]

I took Muphrid's suggestion to compile a list of all the things I know about the espers and the Organization. This is the first step to building a world for my story about a rank-and-file esper.

In short: We have a good understanding of the espers' powers, but not the organization or the closed spaces.

Spoiler: ShowHide

The espers were given their powers when Haruhi changed the world. There may or may not be different "kinds" of espers with different powers. Personally, I think that all espers have the same powers.

Gaining or losing powers:
-Org espers immediately knew about their duty, their origin, and their powers when they were received
-Tachibana says the espers were originally created by Sasaki
-The Org offered to transform Kyon into an esper
-Yuki was able to take Nakagawa's powers away

All the powers we've encountered so far are:
-Entering Closed Spaces
---Espers can bring ordinary people into closed spaces with them
---Espers can bring things into closed space with them (clothes at the least).
---Koizumi says that only Org espers can enter Haruhi's closed spaces.
---Tachibana can enter closed spaces attributed to Sasaki
-Flying and firing energy attacks in alternate dimensions
---Org espers in Haruhi's closed space
---Koizumi had 1/10th power in the cave cricket's dimension (according to anime)
-Being sensitive to Haruhi's feelings (vague)
---Confirmed only for Org espers.
-Detecting other paranormal phenomena
---Confirmed only for Nakagawa
-Espers can voluntarily lend their energies to each other
-Espers might have super-toughness for withstanding flight

The nature of closed spaces:
-Pocket dimensions containing duplicates of some chunk of the world. They can replace reality if left alone too long.
-Haruhi produces closed spaces. They're uncomfortable and have celestials.
-Either Sasaki or Kuyou can also make closed spaces. They're peaceful but nothing ever happens in them.
-A similar dimension was created by the giant cave cricket

The nature of celestials:
-They act on Haruhi's mood, sometimes destroying Kobe and sometimes moping around
-They should be too heavy to support their own body weight

The Organization (also known as The Agency):
-works together to fight celestials
-Supports the SOS brigade and its members
---Set up the murder mystery
-Is suspicious of aliens and time travelers
-Rumored to be led by Koizumi
---Koizumi denies it
-Theorizes that Haruhi is a goddess
-has internal factions, at least one supporting the status quo and at least one that wants to be proactive
---Some of these don't believe Yuki is an alien or Mikuru is a time traveler.
-is ridiculously wealthy and influential
---Partially owns a hospital
---Can put people under surveillance
---Allied with normal humans like Tsuruya's family
---Might...be in deep with the Yakuza?

The other factions:
-There is at least one rival faction, represented in the anti-Brigade
-There may be "bloody battles fought behind the scenes" because of the factions that want to manipulate Haruhi
-Not all relations between factions are necessarily bad; Tachibana was happy to meet Koizumi

Known espers:
Organization:
     Itsuki Koizumi
    Sonou Mori
    Keiichi Tamaru
    Yutaka Tamaru
    Arakawa
Rival factions:
Kyoko Tachibana
Unaffiliated:
Nakagawa

Anything I miss?

[Muphrid]

-Org espers immediately knew about their duty, their origin, and their powers when they were received

Koizumi's depiction of it in Melancholy does not bear this out.  See chapter five. He says specifically that he was quite confused and thought he was going crazy until the Organization took him in. Then again, this would (on it's face) contradict the idea that he is the head of the Organization.  There is some latitude, I suppose.

-The Org offered to transform Kyon into an esper

I don't quite recall this. Reference?

-Espers might have super-toughness for withstanding flight

I don't follow how toughness is necessary.

-Either Sasaki or Kuyou can also make closed spaces. They're peaceful but nothing ever happens in them.

What Kuyou can do seems more like data manipulation (like what the IDSE can do). The overlap between the concepts is somewhat vague--again, Koizumi could use his powers in the cave cricket space, but only somewhat.

-There may be "bloody battles fought behind the scenes" because of the factions that want to manipulate Haruhi

Brian mentioned this too, but I can't quite find the reference for it?


One other thing is that Koizumi claims there are few espers--on the order of 10 or so--in the whole world.

It's fashionable to treat Koizumi as unreliable (Kyon certainly does), but I think from an author's perspective, it's often (though not always) best to mostly take Koizumi at his word, or at least to be minimal in disbelieving him. Otherwise, you're just making everything up. If Koizumi lies, he should have a good reason for doing so. Every detail that is different from what he says should have some justification. I think that applies regardless of how much you deviate from his account.

[Irrational Behavior]

Koizumi's depiction of it in Melancholy does not bear this out.  See chapter five. He says specifically that he was quite confused and thought he was going crazy until the Organization took him in. Then again, this would (on it's face) contradict the idea that he is the head of the Organization.  There is some latitude, I suppose.

I don't have Melancholy on hand right now, but my interpretation has been that he thought he was going crazy because the knowledge and powers which he perceived were unbelievable. I'll check the book when I can.

I don't quite recall this. Reference?

I...don't remember. Huh. We can ignore it anyway, since it's not important to canon or my story.

I don't follow how toughness is necessary.

They were flying around pretty fast in the anime. The G-forces must be intense when they change directions near-instantaneously.

What Kuyou can do seems more like data manipulation (like what the IDSE can do). The overlap between the concepts is somewhat vague--again, Koizumi could use his powers in the cave cricket space, but only somewhat.

Vague indeed. How things actually work has never been the focus of this series.

Brian mentioned this too, but I can't quite find the reference for it?


One other thing is that Koizumi claims there are few espers--on the order of 10 or so--in the whole world.

It's fashionable to treat Koizumi as unreliable (Kyon certainly does), but I think from an author's perspective, it's often (though not always) best to mostly take Koizumi at his word, or at least to be minimal in disbelieving him. Otherwise, you're just making everything up. If Koizumi lies, he should have a good reason for doing so. Every detail that is different from what he says should have some justification. I think that applies regardless of how much you deviate from his account.

Koizumi mentions the bloody battles early in the anime. These battles might be between aliens, time travelers, and espers as well as internal. That never seems to happen in canon, though. What we see is Kyoko vs Koizumi, Kuyou vs Yuki and Fujiwara vs Mikuru.

When did he say there were only 10 espers? How bloody could those internal battles be? He's clearly lying about one of the two.

I don't see how ten people could be so influential, especially when some are high schoolers and some aren't part of the Organization. There are only three explanations I can think of.

-There are way more than 10 espers
-The Tamaru family is as rich as the Waynes in Batman
-The government or the Yakuza are, for some reason, interested in Haruhi

Koizumi lies in canon, but I don't want to make him a chronic liar or use that to justify the differences in my AU. I agree about sticking to his words in most cases, but I can't think of a fanfic that involves the espers as heavily as the one I'm planning. It's not really clear what I should do, but I need to decide and start building a plot again.

[Muphrid]

The relevant quote from Melancholy regarding Koizumi's experience on becoming an esper:

"I don't know what really happened three years ago. All I do know is, I suddenly realized I possessed paranormal powers one day three years ago. I was really scared, I didn't know what to do. Luckily for me, it wasn't long before the 'Organization' took me in, or I would've killed myself thinking something is wrong with my brain."

And on the size of the Organization:

"You said we? That means there are other espers like you?"

"Well, there aren't quite as many as you think. Since I am among the lowest-ranked, I don't really know much, I only know there are about ten in this world. All are under the supervision of the 'Organization'".

Again, anything Koizumi says can be taken with a grain of salt, but this is certainly the picture he paints.  Chapter five of Melancholy is quite critical for getting the background right.


I personally think there may be such a small number of espers, backed by a larger group of non-esper associates.  How they would procure such backing is unclear to me, though.

[Jason_Miao]

A random plot-framework I had a few weeks ago.


The main character is a reporter, who is celebrating his birthday.  He's recently gained some notoriety for the breathtaking and controversial news that he's uncovered.  Amongst his guests are some close friends and family, including his identical twin with whom he's kept in touch.  During the party, they run out of drinks, and he hops into the car to get some more.

When he returns, everyone has been brutally murdered, and his house is in disarray.  After he's called the police, but before they arrive, he realizes that the notes on his investigations are missing, and he realizes that someone is trying to cover up something.  They probably think that they managed to kill him when they killed his twin, so he's safe...for now.  Thus, coming clean that he had survived is probably not so great of an idea.

He'll need to take on his brother's identity, and investigate who ordered the killings.

[Jason_Miao]

-Character idea I had earlier tonight-

A villain reforms, and henceforth is now a hero.  Except that he still has all of his habits as a villain.  Naturally, this includes cliched sinister laughter ("Muahahahahaha"), capturing villains in elaborate traps and explaining the fine details of the heros' plan while the villain is helpless, and a house set to explode once the captured villains escape.

I don't write superhuman stories, so I'll probably never use this concept, but the concept seems adaptable as both a main character or a slapstick ongoing sideplot to some other superhuman story.

[Brian]

-Character idea I had earlier tonight-

A villain reforms, and henceforth is now a hero.  Except that he still has all of his habits as a villain.

Interesting.  First of all:

http://www.megamind.com/

Naturally, this includes cliched sinister laughter ("Muahahahahaha"),

Good.

capturing villains in elaborate traps and explaining the fine details of the heros' plan while the villain is helpless,

Excellent.

and a house set to explode once the captured villains escape.

Er.  Might need to be careful about how you play that one.

I presume it's for comedy?

I don't write superhuman stories, so I'll probably never use this concept, but the concept seems adaptable as both a main character or a slapstick ongoing sideplot to some other superhuman story.

I think it works best as the main character, since it'll take substantial investment.  Admittedly, I don't know what the 'main' story is, but this seems like it'd be a potentially derailing side-story.  There's a lot of potential for this as comedy.  Either the redeemed villain eventually manages to (in his charming, largely inept way).  But then, that's basically the plot of the above movie.

It'd be interesting to play it, I think, as a redeemed villain that tries, but just can't quite hack it as a hero and is constantly screwing up -- either by getting distracted by the captured villains ("What?!  I thought you were working on that death ray thing!"  "Oh--  Well, you know, the <macguffin> was hard to get and..."), just being bogged down in villainous habits, etc., and then realizes the best way they can do good is by being an intentionally incompetent bad guy.  Not sure; I think I'd be willing to give reading such a story a shot, in any case.

[Jason_Miao]

and a house set to explode once the captured villains escape.

Er.  Might need to be careful about how you play that one.

That one would have to be at the end of an arc, or story.  But having the HQ self-destruct when the villain dies (or is thought to be dead) is pretty cliche, so if it can get worked in somehow, it would seem fitting.

I presume it's for comedy?

I think it has to be done that way.  While there are a few genres that thrive off of clearly delineated "good guys" and "bad guys", I can't take anything seriously when it's being spread around as an objective truth rather than propaganda.

My in-my-head title for this idea is "Recidivist", which is the learned habit of committing crimes.  It's a real problem of real criminals, so there is a way to write this an almost-serious work if someone wanted to give it a shot.  I couldn't write it myself, though, for the reason I've laid out above.

-

Romance:

Reformed hero kidnaps evilly-hot villainess to force into marriage (which is announced in society column, and such).  When the heroes who were invited to the ceremony realize that she's been kidnapped, they gently explain "Look, you're a hero now, and you can't do this sort of thing."  Villainess, once ungagged "Wait, you mean *I* need to kidnap *him* for us to get married?"  Abashed hero "Um..."

Death Rays:

Based off your mention of an incomplete death ray, the hero team finds that their enemy, an alien infiltrator is in New York, and brainstorms plans to get him.  The reformed hero ("The Reformed"?) introduces his recently completed Overpowered Death Ray Cannon that can eliminate all life for hundreds of miles all by using the remote control he has on hand.  The rest of the team explains that Overpowered Death Ray Cannons have no place on a hero team.

Many, many chapters later, as the hostile alien armada is approaching the Earth, and the heroes realize that a long hard conquest seems almost inevitable, a loud *ker-zap* (or whatever sound effect sounds more hokey) is heard...

[Arakawa]

Can't let the ideas thread go stale for more than a year!

Somehow, in the process of unclogging my brain from writer's block, I came up with this. Obviously, this would be a comedy series... I suppose it would be somewhat in the vein of Fifth Element, or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or Being John Malkovich in terms of genre. Or perhaps Idiocracy or Brazil, I dunno.

I can't describe it, except by... describing it.

THE 113th FLOOR

You would think that a skyscraper consists of revenue space, plant, and infrastructure. But you would be wrong. A skyscraper consists mainly of secrets, bureaucracy, greed and lies.

Star Towers. The largest building in the world, in the largest city in the world, in the year 31000. One hundred square kilometres and one thousand floors on the inside. Peaceful and well-run if you don't look closely -- but every inch of floor space and every centimetre-length of piping and wiring are being fiercely fought over by invisible forces... different corporations, different branches of the building administration; different factions, different egos, and even different species.

One business in particular... does not stand out among the rest. Among the millions upon millions of residents, it's almost impossible to find. But if the stars align, and you have done the Pony Oaks Pet Shop some disfavour, the talking St. Bernard dog will tell you that in the east wing of the 113th floor, sector 23-152, in a dusty back hallway off a particularly uninteresting corridor next to a stationery warehouse; through a side-door, up one flight of stairs and past a very bored private detective's office, on the left, through the second door from the end, hidden in an unmarked closet, there is a mysterious vending machine.

It sells you access to the true, unadulterated Reality. You go there, and you do not ask to buy the red pill, nor the blue pill. No, you simply ask for the white pill. Don't worry; it's entirely legal.

Your mind will be blown on so many levels.

Plot Summary (warning, contains ponies)

Spoiler: ShowHide

The main character is a resident in Star Towers, who is only referred to by his Internet celebrity name -- The Aspirational Baker (or just 'Baker'). He is an Internet reviewer (in the tradition of The Angry Video Game Nerd, or the Nostalgia Critic) who specializes in cooking equipment and nostalgic children's toys, and he is about to film the video for the 120th anniversary of his Youtube show. He's about 160 years old altogether; he's also facing a bit of an existential crisis. As he rants into his MagnaVoxel 3000 holographic video recorder:

I MEAN, WHERE DID HUMANITY GO WRONG!!?? We've invented a five buck immortality treatment, and manipulate reality on a quantum level, and... and we have free energy devices and we can violate the laws of geometry to make megascale buildings that are bigger on the inside. Oh, but we accidentally the sun at some point. And guess what we use all that free time and energy for? Toy companies putting out craploads of these STUPID PLASTIC TOYS THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST, stupid toy after toy after toy after toy after toy after toy after toy after....

{resumes recording after calming down}

Yeah, great. What a science fiction utopia. What a miserable pile of twisted metal! I haven't left my apartment in over 50 years and it took me the first 40 YEARS of my LIFE to get around to learning to cook and get my weight under control! I mean, seriously! The cheap home-delivery food I was eating actually fattens you up faster than the nanotechnology weight loss pills can take it off! And in the meantime the government is a mess, and I'm doing these reviews, review after review after review, where I'm still referencing stale, putrid memes from almost 30 MILLENIA AGO. You like your trollface, Internet? You really like it that much? URGH!

Man. That mock tantrum was way more serious than I intended it to be.

As you can see, Baker is not a happy guy. He is even less thrilled to see that his fans have flooded him with requests to review Hasbro's failed line of My Little Pony dolls from the year 30,400. Baker is not a fan of My Little Pony, and he is not a fan of creating semi-sentient cybernetic lifeforms, so this particular effort is not endearing to him:

I mean, what could possibly go wrong, right? Stick an AI in a silicon-based artificial body. Give it a small-scale quantum manipulator to simulate magic with -- where was the government even looking on this?? I wonder how the Hasbro executives came up with this idea. Probably the CEO's daughter was throwing a tantrum. "Daddy, I want a pony!" "You mean one of those plastic dolls we make?" "No, a real, talking pony!" "Well, I can't refuse my spoiled daughter anything, so off to the lab, then, I suppose... MUAHAHAHAHA!" "... Why am I suddenly scared?"

Besides... come on. My Little Ponies? What can I say about 'em? Your cybernetic pal who's fun to be with? Collect all six to unlock ultimate harmony? Yeah they're... from what I hear, honestly not bad. If you like having slumber parties with overly friendly pastel robots. But, come on... that's just not my cup of tea... well, I mean, on the bright side, at least they haven't overthrown us in a robotic invasion. That's always a good thing, right?

I suppose the real mystery is why there aren't more of these things clogging the market. You'd think they'd be more popular! I mean, from what I hear, not many of these abominations of science were ever made, and it's a notorious fact that all of the Pinkie Pie dolls were recalled, soon after being released, for unspecified reasons. There've been... the predictable ugly rumours about this, but come on guys, give Hasbro some credit here. Even they can't be that incompetent!!

Nowadays, these things fetch outrageous prices on auction sites, and I wouldn't be able to afford one even if I wanted to. Fortunately or unfortunately, 'Lauren' here has even offered to gift me a Rarity doll to do the review... but I have to regretfully decline that creepily generous offer. My apartment is not that big, and I'm not letting Rarity into it. I snarding hate Rarity! Forget it!

Although, I suppose I could look a bit more into the history behind this particular product....

Because Internet information on the My Little Ponies is scarce, Baker resolves to leave his apartment and navigate the world in person -- for the first time in 50 years -- and does about as badly as you'd expect, unable to break out of his insulting, abrasive video persona in front of real-life human beings, and unable to process the real-world implications that he is an Internet celebrity watched by many millions of people.

By sheer chance, he stumbles on the Pony Oaks Pet Shop in a seedy, run-down shopping strip on the 140th floor, and -- after persistent investigation by sheer luck -- discovers that the pet shop is secretly owned and operated by a fully-sentient Fluttershy doll. (The customers are handled by a brainless human android who is capable of doing nothing except reading newspapers and pretending to man the counter, and a St. Bernard dog named St. Bernard, who has vocal and intelligence implants enabling him to handle all of the day-to-day business at the front of the shop. Tagline: "Pony Oaks pet shop... where the pets are so good, they sell themselves!")

It is hinted that with the My Little Ponies, instead of semi-sentient play companions, Hasbro inadvertently created a completely new race of fully-sentient creatures capable of original thinking and developing their own aspirations, and they chose to shut down the program (no matter how successful) rather than continue it and have to deal with the further moral implications of playing God.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy (who is a fan of Baker's videos) realizes that Baker is a lot more lonely and pitiable and a lot less collected in person than he comes across in his videos, and makes him a sort of 'pet project', trying to cajole, persuade, or manipulate him into making (real-life, human) friends, with an annoying persistence.

On the other hand, Baker, to his own surprise, becomes involved in defending the pet shop against a buy-out. A megacorporation is trying to secure all the real estate in the area of the pet shop to renovate into a gigamall, but Fluttershy does not want to sell her share in the old shopping arcade. A conspiracy is ongoing, as an unending stream of bureaucrats, cops, lawyers, maintenance workers, and real-estate agents keep coming to the shop, trying to force her to vacate the premises in increasingly creative ways; most of them are sent away empty-handed by St. Bernard's cunning.

St. Bernard's preferred ploy is to tempt them into going to the 113th floor, where the abovementioned mysterious vending machine sells the white pill of unadulterated reality. What that means is not explained -- but a common side-effect seems to be that the people who take it get side-tracked into the single-minded pursuit of strange and nonsensical quests that only make sense to them. This is good, as it distracts the officials from their primary task of harassing Fluttershy.

As Baker tries to figure out what did happen with all those Pinkie Pies, as the conspiracy to force Fluttershy out of her pet shop turns out to have more and more frightening depths to it, and as St. Bernard's white pill scheme -- originally an embarassingly simple ploy -- starts to get more and more out of hand and the side-quests of the 'enlightened' white-pilled individuals produce an ever more complicated and dangerous tangle of events, that could change all life as we know it, Baker is forced increasingly to confront the fundamental question:

Is there anything out there that actually makes endless existence in this over-commercialized science fiction dystopia worth defending?

I think it's pretty self-explanatory what the appeal of this kind of story would be; a sort of blowing up out-of-proportion of the issue of how people spend so much time and energy on self-referential Internet subcultures....

[Dracos]

Alright.  One of the last brainstorming sessions that Brian and I had...

Probably will toss it out here in a few parts.  Then migrate it to its own thread.  Maybe I'll be dumb enough to give a swing at it.  Sadly, this is mostly just in my memory which is pretty faulty.

So, Tales of Graces F.  The hero, Asbel, is kind of a buttmonkey.  He truthfully doesn't make any unreasonable mistakes for this, and largely he's blamed for the choices of adults around him and for him eventually saying 'no, screw this.'  Moreso, what little could possibly be blamed on him were choices he made when he was an eleven year old.  But the game makes very sure you know he feels all shit afterwards is his responsibility and that he can't live up to the amazingly high super standards of the rest of the world's governments (Which basically self-disintegrate over the course of the game) and that the tremendous amount of good he does, or even noble or royal prestige is effectively worthless.  Even in post game, after saving the world (twice), reinstating the country government, orchestrating worldwide peace and cooperation, he wonders whether he's worthy to be lord of his backwater region while all the others become figures of international importance.

So...What If...he didn't take it?  What if it wasn't worthless?  What if some friends really stuck by ya?  What if we went with that.

Synopsisy for those that don't know (Will mark when things would go off the rails):
7ish years before the start of the story, Asbel and his brother Hubert, disobeying their parents, go on an exploration of the nearby flower hill overseeing the ocean by themselves.  While there, they discover a 13ish year old looking girl who has no memories.  Asbel ends up naming her Sophie and they bring her back home, meeting their butler's sickly daughter Cheria.  Their father has no time to deal with it, as he was awaiting an important guest: the king's son Richard.  While Richard is staying there, continuing to be disobedient, Asbel makes friends with the young prince, and shows him over to Lhant hill where it's revealed that the prince's battle instructor is an assassin out for the prince's life.  Saving the prince, Asbel, Sophie, and Richard make a friendship pact that they'll always stand by each other.

After Richard leaves, Asbel is punished again and decides to rebel once more, making a trip with Sophie to the capital.  There they find Cheria there for medical treatment and also strangely Aston and Hubert.  Aston is too busy to punish Asbel, as he has made an arrangement for his second son Hubert to be cared for by a nobleman of Stratha of great influence and power.  Asbel knows none of this, but after a quick meeting with the prince, is invited with his friends to meet him after dark for a tour of the palace as trusted friends.  The group sneaks out after dark to a secret passage the prince has told them about, but the prince is very late.  Worried, Asbel leads his friends inside and they discover a horrible monster is attacking Richard.  All of the children together are no match for it, and it looks like this is the end, but Sophie reveals she has mystical powers and as the others lose consciousness fights the monster to a stop, dying in the process.  They learn this later on as they're found by adults and brought back to their respective homes. 

Asbel finds out then that Sophie is gone without a trace and that Hubert has been given away, and he will never see his younger brother again.  Arguing angrily with his father, Asbel departs his home, going off to join the royal knights to protect Prince Richard and the country instead of getting raised as a lord's son. The game timeskips from here...

In the present, Asbel has distinguished himself well, and has the respect of his peers as well as the acknowledgement of famous knight trainer Malik, a worldly and experienced knight (for all that ends up making very little sense later on).  His graduation has been delayed though, since as the son of a noble some are worried that he may have split obligations.  During an investigation of a town in Orlen Woods, Asbel and Malik find the town abandoned and Asbel skillfully fights off the strange monster with some magic power he's never known, saving many of his fellow knights.  Malik is very impressed with Asbel and says he'll recommend him for full knighthood, if he wants to take it.  The two leave the rest to keep an eye on the town and head back to the capital city Barona.

Here the past catches up with him, Cheria was waiting outside and tells him of the letters he'd never received: That his father was dead, his mother was begging him to come home, and their hometown was under assault by the Fendel military.  Asbel immediately asks his supervisor Malik to send the knights out to help Lhant and Malik agrees to start getting them arranged, but encourages him to go himself right away.  Cheria is no longer sickly, endowed with superpowers, perfect health, magical healing and a tremendous chip on her shoulder for Asbel abandoning her and the town.  She's basically cold and shitty to Asbel the whole way back.

Asbel returns to find things are terrible at home, but the town welcomes him as a leader.  He discovers Cheria's father has been kidnapped (but not killed, oh no~).  He sets forth with some men, successfully driving an offensive right into the enemy camp and saving him, then splitting off to let his men escape to town, and attempt to lure some of their tanks to Lhant hill, intending to trap them up there and send them off the cliffside.  He misjudges their power and then is saved by a suddenly reappearing Sophie, who's again lost her memories.  The two of them return to Lhant where Cheria is disbelieving at seeing Sophie exactly how she was all those years ago.

  Accepting his responsibility as Lord of Lhant and recognizing the enemy's military superiority, he immediately sends out for royal aid and attempts to deal with the problem.  I mean, what with it being an assault by an enemy country.  He figures since Malik hasn't shown up with them, that if he asks as the lord of one of their most profitable and important mining regions, they'll send help.  Of course, he's wrong. 

Still, he can't do nothing so he gathers the men, and leads a daring assault through an underground route, seeking to catch the Fendel military by surprise at night.  Sadly, they had the same idea, and do a night assault on the town while he's leading the guards there.  Lhant would be overtaken by their vastly superior military (Seriously, they're fielding armored tanks against guys with swords and arrows), but for the arrival of Hubert, leading a Strathaten military force which drives them off, and occupies the town.

Overjoyed at the return of his brother and not recognizing this also as an invasion (Since his city had been sold out to Stratha as part of Windor politics going on), he lets them help stabilize the city unopposed, and also invites them into his manor.  He's told that Windor (the country this is all taking place in) has made an alliance with Stratha and they were there to help.  Though once inside...the biggest bullshit occurs.  Normally, at this point Hubert challenges Asbel to a duel, defeats him with plot armor (He's invulnerable) and then banishes him from Lhant, leaving him and an attached Sophie to have nothing (After all, he gave up being a Royal Knight to come save Lhant).

Here on the way back, he's met by other nameless knights, who attack him for being a traitor to the crown.  So basically he's betrayed on all quarters.  From there he goes to try and see Richard to figure out what's going on, and finds Richard near dead from a Coup attempt, rescuing him and carrying him out of Barona getting him all the way to Gralesyde where his mighty ally Duke Dalen (technically someone who should be Asbel's equal but treats Asbel as a common grunt), leads an army to help Richard out.  Richard's been possessed though by that monster from years ago, and slowly destabilizes as the campaign proceeds, becoming completely mad by the time they put him back on the throne.

<Desynopsis>

Okay, I think we've got enough to start.  What if things toward the end there went a bit differently?

Asbel has been training in combat for seven years among not only the best Windor has to offer, but also unknown to him, under one of the best Fendel had as well (Malik's an expatriate).  Hubert meanwhile while a trained warrior, also spent a lot of time being raised as a nobleman's son.  His loss to Hubert is bullshit.  So this time, he doesn't lose.  Hubert issues his insane declaration that they should fight...and as soon as things aren't going his way, shows Asbel the truth of the world.

His men shoot Asbel in the back, carrying him out by the underground sewers and dumping him outside by himself.   Sophie, in her alien way, makes her way outside and finds him.  No one cares where a thirteen year old stranger girl is going in the mix as Stratha's military is getting the defenses organized to hold the mining city (Apparently the most important one in the world for all everyone treats it's rulership like backwater hicks).  Helping the wounded Asbel, the two of them make their way to a cottage, resting there as he tries to patch his wounds and recover, feeling utterly betrayed by his younger brother.

Searching him out as a 'traitor to the crown' is not two nameless Knights...but Malik, who on hearing the claim said he'd go get him himself, mainly feeling responsible for the young lad he'd considered his student.  Malik isn't interested in subduing Asbel by force, he's concerned for the young lad and wondering what's going on and how Asbel has gone from going to save an important city of Windor to being declared a traitor.  Finding the wounded Asbel, Malik helps patch him up and talk to him.  The two piecing things together and finding stuff doesn't fit.  There wasn't any public alliance with Strata, Malik had encountered tremendous resistance with getting the royal knights to move out the last few days while Asbel was out there, and Asbel was as loyal to the crown as ever.  Asbel though is a bit bitter at being declared a traitor by his close friend, having trouble believing it.  At Malik's insistence the young man rests and they wait a night before heading out to Barona on foot, thinking to sneak in and figure out what's going on.

Meanwhile, that means that the wounded Asbel isn't arriving in time to save Richard.  In that tunnel and that time, Richard is run down and murdered by the treacherous knights who've sided with Archduke Cedric.  He awakens once more, the monster inside having murdered them all and put him back together.  Worse, without the steady friendship of Asbel, the light of hope being dangled in front of him, Richard gives up.  He wanted a peaceful world and as long as things went this way, people would always betray one another, so with the power of the monster he slaughters his way back to the throne room, halting the coup in its place, slaying Archduke Cedric, and taking a bloodthirsty hold on the city.

Arriving the next day in Barona, Asbel's group find all royal knights are being wanted, and the guards themselves are trying to kill them from the getgo.  Driven off, they are left in kind of a hard spot.  They can't go back to Lhant, which is occupied by Hubert and Stratha and would kill them.  They can't stay in Barona, where Richard is doing the same, and working on draining out the massive Cryas that provides much of the power and wind for the country (Slower, cuz he's been burning power like crazy and isn't as strong right now).

Even heading south has its risks, since there is a fortress there and they have no idea if that fortress is caught up in the crazy.  Malik, having lived through a revolution before, reads the writing on the wall, and suggests they might head to Fendel, and get lost in the countryside for now, so as to survive.  A bitter Asbel agrees.  The most reasonable route would be to catch a boat to Warrior's Roost, an island off the coast of Gralesyde, run by Duke Dalen.  Heading south to see if they can find a way through the fortress (Maybe bluff their way through), they find the gates locked up hard...and encounter a curious scientist out there...the way too awesome Pascal.  The youthful gal Pascal clings to Sophie, finding her amazing on sight, and demands to join along with the group (pretty much what she does in canon too).  Not knowing or caring of their circumstances, she teams up with them, and when they discuss trying to get around the fortress, she introduces them to the underground mystic ruins where she'd seen a hologram of Sophie earlier.  Using this hidden route, the group makes its way to Gralesyde where rumors of the mad coup are already reaching, sneaking past without saying a word to Duke Dalen who's trying to gather his own troops to go see what's going on in Barona.  Getting on a boat to Fendel, successfully escaping the country Windor, the group makes it way to Fendel.

And I'll write some more of the idea later.