How to Make a Radchaai Entertainment, Friday

[1000yearstoolate]

"Good morning, everyone!" said Amaya with her very standard take-charge greeting, because she sometimes forgot what it was like to have a co-teacher who would actually contribute her own weight sometimes. "And welcome back! Hopefully, you've had some more time to think about your characters and develop them a little bit more, because today? We're going to figure out how they go together and we want you to start putting together a plot!"

Which had been previously researched and discussed by the teachers during a very professional meeting that was absolutely not a date, Nina, who wasn't even in this class but Amaya was still a bit incredulous about the insinuation, even if she'd rather die than acknowledge that there had been a insinuation, much less incredulousness about that insinuation.

...ahem. Anyway.

"A plot can obviously be about many different things," Seivarden continued. "But some subjects are less suitable for a Radchaai entertainment. We don't want it to be dull, or about all those boring things in life that no one cares about."

Like skel farming.

"We should have action, drama, romance, but how do you accomplish this with your characters?"

"We're of course," Amaya added, "here to help guide you," from terrible ideas, "towards what might work best, but this week will be a lot like last week, where it's all a bit of brainstorming and coming together to get this thing really rolling!"

Comments

Sign in

[1000yearstoolate]

Plottingly!

Listen to the lecture

[1000yearstoolate]

And possibly pick up on the vaguely passive aggressive doubt in your teachers' voices.

Workshop the Plot

[1000yearstoolate]

What is the setting? What has brought these characters together? What are they trying to accomplish and what are their obstacles and set-backs? Do you actually want to make an effort into a quality entertainment, or do you want to horrify Seivarden so much that she decides to just scrap the whole thing and lecture about gloves and tea and why skel is actually terrible for the rest of the session?

Talk to the Teachers

[1000yearstoolate]

When they ping in.

Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

When she pings in.

OOC

[1000yearstoolate]

Because skel farming shouldn't end the world.

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden was here, and she would have opinions on any unsuitable plots. This was a Radchaai entertainment after all.

Re: Sign in

[howareyanow]

Wayne

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[special_rabbit]

Amaya was there and would be trying her best to support Seivarden in any crusades against terrible, unsuitable plots.

After all, she'd expect her to do the same if anyone went so far as to suggest a musical...

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat was most certainly there, and she was definitely going to wait and see what her fellow actors were going to say about potential plots before deciding whether she was leaning toward actually trying to make this work or just straight up sabotaging the whole thing and going along with the path of least resistence.

While carefully trying to make it look like she'd at least put in the effort to prevent it from going that way...

Re: Workshop the Plot

[howareyanow]

And that was when Wayne, covered with several bandages in a way that you just knew there were plenty more under that flannel, pulled out a large prop device that had clearly been cobbled together out of stuff he'd picked up at the scrapyard, and launched into his suggestion.

"This is a state-of-the-art skel grower made son's you can grow it fresh right on the ship. I'm the scientist behind it. We've got it. Bad guys want it. There's yer plot."

Re: Sign in

[sexy_giraffe]

Tahani al-Jamil

Re: Workshop the Plot

[sexy_giraffe]

"Where's the romance?" Tahani asked.

Re: Workshop the Plot

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had been about to just to say 'No', when Tahani asked her very relevant question. Now she had a bit of a dilemma though.

"The romance is clearly missing," she said, acknowledging what Tahani had said. But she was well aware of the risk that Amaya would become far too interested in the... prop and support the skel plot.

"And that doesn't look like a skel grower. It looks like a weapon. We need something to make explosions, don't we?"

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

That would be far too easy.

"So what do you think?" Seivarden asked.

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat's smile may have been a touch wan.

"Your idea of making Wayne's prop a weapon was a good one," she said. "The Lord of the Radch would certainly be invested in keeping a dangerous weapon out of enemy hands."

And, in this story, no one would make the mistake of giving it to Seivarden Vendaii.

Re: Workshop the Plot

[howareyanow]

"I s'pose it could be a weapon," said Wayne, squinting down at the prop.

He wasn't about to touch the romance, though. He'd made a whole prop, someone else could make a romance! He sort of felt he had no pig in that farm, anywhey.

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

"It makes sense, doesn't it," Seivarden said. "As if she would care about a skel farm. I suppose we have to come up with a good character for him who could actually handle a weapon. He's not really good as a hero though."

She looked at Tahani.

"I suppose we have to make do."

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"I was about ready to suggest we at least make it related to tea," Tisarwat mused, "if he still insisted, because tea, I could understand. But I do think Tahani could make for quite a commanding lead."

Wayne? Well. Wayne was definitely best suited as a grunt, and even though Tisarwat didn't think he'd take offense to it, she'd.feel a little bad saying it.

"He could always sacrifice himself for her in a dramatic finale as well."

Re: Workshop the Plot

[special_rabbit]

"And I'm not sure," Amaya ventured, knowing it was hopeless but also knowing she couldn't NOT make the attempt, "the ro...the romaa..." She cleared her throat, "the romance is entirely necessary, really..."

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

"Oh, that's perfect. Tahani gets a grand romantic scene at the end when he dies in her arms. And Amaya gets lots of explosions."

Re: Workshop the Plot

[1000yearstoolate]

"Amaya," Seivarden said, kindly but firmly. "We do need a little romance. And it sounds like Tahani really wants her character to have a romantic storyline."

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"And I think," said Tisarwat, who apparently didn't feel so bad as to keep this one to herself, "the best performance Wayne could hope for is probably as a corpse."

She meant it with love, Wayne, really!

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

"You're definitely right," Seivarden said, amused, glancing at Wayne.

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat's own amused glance followed for a moment, but instead of continuing to harass the poor skel farmer to be, she turned her attention thoughtfully to Seivarden.

"I hear you have a new place," she ventured, figuring they'd exhausted discussing the class until more developed and could switch to more sociable things.

Of course, Tisarwat had also heard that this new place involved a date...

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

"I have," Seivarden said. "With daylight. I need some more furniture, but at least I could have Amaya come over to watch entertainments."

She grinned. "Researching for the class."

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"I've just gotten furniture for my new place," said Tisarwat, trying to ignore the sinking feeling that went with that grin, but she had asked, hadn't she? "I'm thinking I'll finally have that party that Nina keeps pestering me about soon.

"Speaking of which," she added, "the radio seems to have had a much different idea about this 'research'."

Which would be incredibly unfair, if true!

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

Now Seivarden glanced in Amaya's direction. "Don't mention it to her. Nina is just terrible. If Amaya was ever going on a date, which I doubt will ever happen, she'll make sure that the squirrels are properly bribed."

She added: "Where do you live now?"

Re: Talk to the TA

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwatvfollowed Seivarden's eyes again, as she made sure to add 'sufficient squirrel bribery' to her list of things to keep in mind.

"The apartment below Groovy Tunes," she then answered, "with Breq."

Re: Workshop the Plot

[sexy_giraffe]

"I really do," Tahani said emphatically. "She could romance the...scientist? Or possibly the bad guys?"

Re: Workshop the Plot

[1000yearstoolate]

"Probably the scientist," Seivarden said, who despite it being acting preferred a part where she didn't have to romance one her students. She suspected it was futile to get Amaya to romance anyone.

She'd get to the point where she and Amaya were playing the bad guys.

Re: Talk to the TA

[1000yearstoolate]

"I don't know who Breq is," Seivarden said. "Good that you have found a place though."

It would spare her the awkwardness of feeling obliged to offer Tisarwat a room.