Friday, January 20...a historical day in America... This week's prompt is: Initiation HA! You thought I was going to say "Inauguration"!! Admit it -- I could see it in your eyes! Anyway, take this opportunity to initiate writing a response.

Why is it a historical day in the US???

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Originally posted by Ebonyswanne Why is it a historical day in the US???

You're right there. It will be an historical day on the international stage as well. Still, as Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of goverment, except for everything else.

Originally posted by GrumpyGhostOwl

Originally posted by Ebonyswanne Why is it a historical day in the US???

You're right there. It will be an historical day on the international stage as well. Still, as Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of goverment, except for everything else.

I just didn't want to come off sounding like Donald Trump was going to be sworn in as President of Earth (though I'm sure he and some of his supporters think he is!)

Originally posted by ElectricWhite

Originally posted by GrumpyGhostOwl

Originally posted by Ebonyswanne Why is it a historical day in the US???

You're right there. It will be an historical day on the international stage as well. Still, as Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of goverment, except for everything else.

I just didn't want to come off sounding like Donald Trump was going to be sworn in as President of Earth (though I'm sure he and some of his supporters think he is!)

Okay, missed the news in the past few days about Trump. Go Winston Churchill. love his quotes, I've reading a lot of him at the moment relating to mental health and taming the black dog.

Originally posted by ElectricWhite I just didn't want to come off sounding like Donald Trump was going to be sworn in as President of Earth (though I'm sure he and some of his supporters think he is!)

I appreciate that But yeah, it's said that if America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. During the US elections we had so much election coverage in our domestic news reports that by the time our own federal election came along I was all electioned-out (it was the longest Australian federal campaign in history - EIGHT WHOLE WEEKS!) and now we're going to get live coverage of the inauguration on News24, which I will probably not watch, not due to any anti-American sentiment* but because I have a natural aversion to listening to politicians of any stripe or nationality unless it's an episode of Yes, Minister. *My late husband was born in America and held dual US/Australian citizenship. I don't do anti-American sentiment, but I happily embrace political satire, because I firmly believe that all politicians need to be laughed at regularly to keep them from taking themselves too seriously.

Wishing to keep myself out of political discussion (mostly because I never feel like my political opinions are well-informed enough), I'll just let you in on my favourite Winston Churchill quote: "If you're going through Hell, keep going." GGO I like your story - complete with go-faster stripes. I particularly like the punishment Anderson decides on for Jason.

The Chief is wonderfully devious here.

Aussies would be over a year long campaign trail. We'd be something like... mate, get to the Bloody point!! 8 weeks is long enough of politics. (I'm surround be beautiful American friends locally IRL. Seriously I like Americans.) Gosh, way off Bradbury's Jar here! lol

Thanks, gang, for letting me know that Ugly Americans haven't ruined everything! But, as Swannie pointed out, we've gone seriously off-topic. So, please, get back to the prompt (initiation) and the responses.

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GGO -- your first story had me having a nose cola moment (well, okay, a nose coffee one, as I don't drink cola, but you get my meaning). I still remember some truth or dare games I played when I was young -- you never knew which of the two would be worse! The second one -- is this from Magnetic Attraction? I'm trying to remember which eps came before it in the Sandy Frank series, to come up with what Shay's two weirdest things are By the way, I really like how you give a voice to the rank-and-file (if you can call Shay and Alberta Jones that).

Thanks, Daniella. I always used to avoid games of truth or dare as a kid since I thought they were a bit silly. The second excerpt is indeed from a retelling of the events that take place during Magnetic Attraction. The two weirdest things are actually from that episode so you don't need to look any further. That episode was pretty weird.

GGO: That's one thing I like about the anime D Gray Man, you get to see some focus on what the support staff goes through. Would love to see the reactions of staff to the Condor being put in a centrifuge to remove metal from his head!

Originally posted by ChrisW GGO: That's one thing I like about the anime D Gray Man, you get to see some focus on what the support staff goes through. Would love to see the reactions of staff to the Condor being put in a centrifuge to remove metal from his head!

It would probably involve an intervention and Nambu being marched off to a meeting of Mad Scientists Anonymous. At Mad Scientists Anonymous they sit in a circle and talk about their feelings. They support each other through the difficulties of not buying those USB Tesla ball thingies that you see on line, resisting the urge to create the zombie apocalypse, sing 'One Day at a Time' and remind one another that it really is very poor form to bring a shovel to a funeral.

And at the risk of going off topic again, I now have this crazy idea where we do an interactive fic thing with all of the mentor characters at a Mad Scientists Anonymous meeting, discussing stuff like how difficult it is to avoid the real estate pages where they advertise crumbling castles for sale near villages with conveniently located windmills... Damn. Do I need to join fic-writers anonymous? I think I need help.

LOL

Originally posted by GrumpyGhostOwl The second excerpt is indeed from a retelling of the events that take place during Magnetic Attraction. The two weirdest things are actually from that episode so you don't need to look any further. That episode was pretty weird.

One of them wouldn't be Jason claiming control, would it? I love this ep, especially the interaction between Mark and Jason (shameless self-promotion: I've done a fic about it from Jason's POV).

Originally posted by Daniella T

Originally posted by GrumpyGhostOwl The second excerpt is indeed from a retelling of the events that take place during Magnetic Attraction. The two weirdest things are actually from that episode so you don't need to look any further. That episode was pretty weird.

One of them wouldn't be Jason claiming control, would it?

Um, no. Interactions aboard the G-Force command ship would be above the pay grade of our 'below decks' characters as a general rule - and even if they do witness anything, it's their job to pretend that they saw nothing. I always thought that Jason's actions were quite justified, and then they had to go and Zark it all up by claiming that Jason was a hothead and making it look like he wanted to be in charge for the sake of being in charge. The way I read it - even when I saw the episode as a kid - was that Mark was disobeying orders and Jason was simply doing his job as XO by relieving Mark of command and attempting to carry out the mission they'd been given. Then Zark tried to tell me what I should be thinking and my hatred of him grew ever greater. I did review this episode a few years ago and as usual, I poured forth my thoughts (and Zark-related vitriol). The review may be found here Magnetic Attraction Episode Review

Originally posted by Daniella T

Originally posted by GrumpyGhostOwl The second excerpt is indeed from a retelling of the events that take place during Magnetic Attraction. The two weirdest things are actually from that episode so you don't need to look any further. That episode was pretty weird.

One of them wouldn't be Jason claiming control, would it? I love this ep, especially the interaction between Mark and Jason (shameless self-promotion: I've done a fic about it from Jason's POV).

I forgot to ask, where is this fic of which you speak? Because now I'm curious. Also, the two weird things were: 1. The giant flying bowling ball and 2. 7-Zark-7.

GGO: On the first story: LOL! Nothing like an information dump to take all the fun out of embarrassing adults! On the second story: "Mad Scientist Club"

Okay, time to do a little catching up: "So what else do you enjoy doing on your time off, besides playing guitar and rocking out to the Demon Five?" Red Impulse asked. Jun blinked at the question. "Not exactly a subtle shift in topic," she commented. "Not meant to be. Now answer the question," Red Impulse said. He cut a quick glance to her face before looking back to the road. He could still see the small vertical line between her brows, the worried look in her large brown eyes, the set of her mouth. She looked so much like her mother at that moment that it took Red Impulse by surprise and he felt the sharp sting of missing her for just a moment before he steeled himself against letting the tide of emotion sweep him away. He had to focus on the girl with him right now and he knew if he let her continue to sink deeper into her own thoughts, she would start to reconsider the situation and then he would be stuck with the problem of trying to get her back to Nambu and her team instead of focusing on the task at hand. They needed to complete this mission, to find the information and find it fast, especially considering how quickly things were moving. The window of opportunity to find out the tie between Parnell and Reading was rapidly closing and they couldn't afford to lose a single second. Besides, he thought analytically, she needs to work more independently, away from the other four. Not only had he seen it when they had trained on their island base, just in the limited time he had been with all of them, but even Masaki and Oniishi had noted it as well. This would be considered an initiation of sorts, and as long as she was receptive to what he was trying to teach her, this could work. If she started to second-guess herself, if she began to doubt herself, then he wasn't sure there was much else he could do. So before it came to that, he needed her to get off of whatever train of thought she had been on; she was getting too closed in, too cut off. He needed to make her push back.

RIgirl: If anyone's qualified to annoy her and make her push back, it's him, hehe.