Ruth's (u)OWBC Presents: The Middle Child, or, Rock Paper Scissors (Act II)

[esmeiolanthe]

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[simlili.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on winning the challenge!
You can now get rid of the pesky killing ghosts, too :D

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, yes. But I still have one Plot to finish up, and I am darn well going to finish it! ...But not until after I'm done moving.

I'm glad you're all caught up enough to read the latest installment. Did you keep on enjoying it even after Old Adam lost a bit of the Nose? :)

Thanks for reading and commenting! :D

[lorinsv60.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can't believe Ruth's is almost wrapped up! Congrats on officially completing the challenge :)

I laughed when after all that confusion (I had to reread parts of it three times to keep it straight), boom! Rulez change, instant happy rezolushuns!

As soon as Pitti-Sing said Beaudelaire was poor as a rat, I thought, whoa, Nickel & Dimed was part of The Plot setup. Cool!

I've sure enjoyed reading this over the years, not to mention the distinct pleasure of seeing Old Adam grace its pages ;)

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Lorin! And eeeeeee, thank you for using Officially like I do! Did you ever see the video clip that explains the joke? I think I posted it once in a special feature...

The Rulez change was totally Gilbert. In the original, they cheated by drawing cards -- one drew the king, one the ace. The one who drew the ace was the winner, but in the last ten minutes of the nearly three-hour show, it's revealed that the ace legally counts as lowest so all the second act that you just spent an hour and a half watching was irrelevant, and happy endings all around. I don't know if I've mentioned, but it was this particular opera plot that made me decide to make the OWBC Gilbert & Sullivan themed.

Oh yes, I've been setting up a couple of Plots cross-story for a couple of years now. Was the "whoa" moment worth the work? :)

I'm so glad you've enjoyed the story! It's been a lot of fun to play and write and fit together, and I've enjoyed all your comments. Thank you so much for following along -- and of course thank you for reading and commenting! :D

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, which parts did you have to reread multiple times. Could I have written it better, or was it just too darn Wacky to follow?

[lorinsv60.livejournal.com]

I probably watched the video clip at the time, but I don't remember it, I just know that you italicize the "O" and that's how I always see that word when I'm in Ruth mode.

Whoas are always worth the work, don't you think? ;)

[lorinsv60.livejournal.com]

It was a combination of Wacky and reading it late on a work night, nothing wrong with the writing :)

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I think whoas are always worth it! :)

Here is the clip that explains the joke. It's traditional for Sir Joseph to emphasize the "O" as if it's a word all by itself. This actor says it more or less as I hear it in my head, and the slapping his palm for emphasis is a nice touch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciZpIKrzqw

You can find versions that don't have Sir Joseph emphasizing the word strangely, but then, you can also find versions of "With cat-like tread" that are sung quietly... but it's deliberately written as the loudest song in the show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJg6Duzzf4

[amylu1988.livejournal.com]

Well done on completing your (u)OWBC Esme! :D

I really enjoyed this, so much drama and I loved all the set-up with the fiance(e)s. Poor Casilda having so many changes to her betrothed in such a short space of time!

Looking forward to the final plot, and well done again. :)

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Amy! :D

I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the story! I had a lot of fun getting everything set up correctly -- some of it took a long time! This particular Plot, with all the changes of fiancee (because in the original, it was one man and four women), was the plot that made me decide that the OWBC was going to be Gilbert & Sullivan themed. I mean, can you get any more Wacky than this?

I am looking forward to getting my computer back so that I can play out the final Plot. I've been setting that one up for ages too, and I hope that at least one reader will go "Whoa!" when it's complete.

Thanks for reading and commenting! :D

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

Esme, hope you are okay and moving and settling into your new job, just realized I totally missed this.

I will admit I am quite confused by 3 fiancees, but it's amusing. G&S usually lose me along the way then I pick up at the end lol.

Maybe Olga isn't goth, maybe she was just disguised as one... And while Cas might not be happy, the coat rather goes with her hair.

Congrates on finishing the challenge!

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to get settled in now, but I sure have a lot to learn! I had three full weeks of training before I got my first case, and now I have someone scrutinizing every single thing I do on my new cases. (This is a good thing! It's a very complicated process, and it's easy to make mistakes. Without oversight, I would have made some dumb, time-consuming mistakes already.) But back to the story!

There are actually 4 fiance(e)s: 1. Dongsool, 2. Alec, 3. Caryl, 4. Beaudelaire. And yes, it's extremely confusing, but that's the way Gilbert wrote it. This is the Plot that convinced me to play an OWBC, by the way. :) I hope you stopped being lost by the end of this!

I think Olga has always had a tenuous devotion to the Goth lifestyle. It's the gloves she likes more than anything, I think. I may do some recharacterization of her later. I downloaded your latest lot, by the way, and I'm thinking maybe Olga and Caryl will start out there.

The coat does indeed go well with Casilda's hair! I don't think Casilda dislikes the coat -- *I* was the disappointed one. I want lots of different Wacky transition outfits, darn it!

Thanks for the congratulations! I've had fun with this challenge, and it's not over yet. I still have Nanki-Poo and Deadeye to partner off, because it's just not a proper Gilbert & Sullivan show unless everyone has a partner at the end. :)

Thanks for reading and commenting along the journey! :D

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

The little shack? Hope everything there works as it should, I didn't play test it.

Your new job sounds challenging but that's good, should make it more interesting. I hope the people there treat you better than that last place.

Lol those transition outfits can be rather interesting. My most outgoing sporty uni graduate grew into that very dull suit, I'm sure she was trying to rip off all the way back to main hood.

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

If I come across any play issues while playing Olga & Caryl in that little starter, I'll be sure to let you know, so you can make a note in the download post or something. I need some folks to live in the not-so-nice part of town, and that seems sort of Goth...

A challenging job is good, and thus far I'm being treated better. Also, there is a union at the new job, and unions are very VERY good things for making sure you get treated well.

I always hope for interesting outfits in the Transition Outfit Lottery, and I rarely get them. :(

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

How's your new place?

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying it so far! It's a studio, where I had a one bedroom before, but it's a large studio, about the same square footage as I had before -- just minus the wall. I have more closet space here, and a bigger and better air conditioner, and a DISHWASHER. Plus, the heat is included in the rent, which is really important because it gets down below zero here in the winter. (That's zero Fahrenheit, which I believe means it gets below -17 Celsius.) I'm a five-minute walk from work, and about a ten-minute walk from my parents. I'm a full 45 minutes from my sister and her family, but that's way better than being three hours away on an airplane! I'm close to the library, a gym, a grocery store, a bank, a park, multiple restaurants, the train, and many of the major bus routes. I chose this place very carefully, and I chose well. Now all I have to do is finish unpacking...!

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

Shoot!-17C! Well there go any plans I had of coming to visit. We think it's an exceptionally cold winter if we get bellow -2C. It sounds nice though and close to everyone/thing is a bonus. I hope you don't have to walk to work in -17C? I can hardly even imagine what being that cold is like.

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

Well, just come visit in the summer, then. As a bonus, summer for me is winter for you, so you'll get some pleasant weather instead. It's between 26 and 35 in the summer, and not humid.

Because it gets so cold here, there are tunnels and/or enclosed walkways between almost all the buildings downtown so that you don't have to go outside in the cold and snow. I both live and work downtown, and if I take the long way to work (through the walkways), it takes me 15 minutes to get there. (The short way is 5 minutes, but I do have to go outside for that.) I have never been here in the winter, and it is going to be very dark (it's pretty far north) and very cold, so we'll see how I survive...