<p style="font-size:0.8em;">*Calder:* Responding to feedback as it's read,
*Calder:* You're right that things like the Cecilia call are ones we'll gloss over/reference elsewhere using the new format
*Calder:* Cecilia's an established character and we don't need to play out every interaction with her
*Calder:* The Cecilia cold open was put there because that's where it best fit relative to the other logs/conversations
*Calder:* This is what the others look like:
*Calder:*
X: 20
* Sets up the details of framing Em. (2)
* Chats with Coco. (4)
* Chats with Denise. (3)
* Sets up Howard Sloan letter and interrogates Em. (6)
* Chats with Savoy again aftermath. (5)
XI: 36
* Sets up firm and undertakes first client with Wells. (13)
* Chats with Coco on Wells and Anarch politics/philosophy. (5)
* Finishes looking into Wells. (8)
* Looks into Baker. (3)
* Meets Jonah and Max. (7)
XII: 15
* Looks into Jayden. (3, after Wells/Baker)
* Talks with Jocelyn about Jayden. (6)
* Talks with Savoy about the Caymans. (2)
* Looks into Raymond. ()
* Thanksgiving. (3)
* Learns about diablerie. (1, post-Wells)
XIII: 40
* Talks with Cécilia. (4)
* Goes to Commander's Palace. (36, 12/5)
XIV: 23
* Abélia talk. (23, 12/5)
*Calder:* Each one is unified by general theme
*Calder:* X is dealing with Em/Dungeon affairs
*Calder:* XI is firm/Anarch stuff
*Calder:* XII is delving into forbidden knowledge
*Calder:* XIII is the Devillers dinner
*Peter:* and... more forbidden knowledge
*Peter:* yeah
*Peter:* I sense a pattern
*Calder:* (The Thanksgiving family convo is an awkward fit for XII, but nowhere else it could've gone chronologically)
*Calder:* Glad you liked the quick resolution with Jos, Gus, Becky
[...]
*Calder:* Abelia's true nature, as you later picked up, is a pretty big/valuable secret
*Calder:* There's some things NPCs simply won't part with for free
*Calder:* Though I can see the argument for a high DC roll to reach a deal with Gus
*Calder:* Who Caroline has one dot of Mentor in, unlike BL
*Calder:* Cecilia did bring up Caroline's hot crush at the Orpheum
*Calder:* Though even perceptive as she was ("There is no fooling a Frenchwoman when it comes to matters of heart"), she still figured you'd found a man
*Calder:* I tweaked some of Caroline's verbiage
*Calder:* But the Orpheum callback was also yours
*Calder:* You are right in observing the twins could have driven their own cars
*Calder:* Or just one car together, away from the family
*Calder:* They are pretty close. Only girls who drove on their own were the independent adults
*Calder:* If you have another suggestion for a car they could have driven though, I'd be groovy changing that in the logs
*Calder:* Large Mercedes was the classiest thing that sprung to my mind
*Calder:* (Limo feeling a little over the top as a thing for day to day driving)
*Calder:* Pic-wise I'd want to give Abelia's car a pic before Luke's, since it received the most narrative focus
*Calder:* Couldn't find a really good one of a seven-seater Mercedes though
*Peter:* Yeah, the seven seats is a killer
*Peter:* I'd pictured a big towncar, almost a mini limo
*Peter:* with seats facing each other in the back
*Calder:* They do exist, they just don't get as many glamorous pics
*Calder:* Feel free to burn that Common Sense if you want
*Peter:* Not sure if it's mentioned there in the logs or latter
*Peter:* speculated that it was the twins linked to each other
*Peter:* based on Yvette's comments on it
*Calder:* If one takes that statement at value, then Caroline did save three total lives
*Calder:* Yvette, Yvonne, Sarah
*Calder:* Abelia felt she owed Caroline for saving two
*Calder:* Glad the Malveauxes being cocks was noticed
*Calder:* We actually had a secret scene played out earlier between Arthur and Luke on the phone
*Calder:* Which was secret, because Luke told Artie he wanted to propose at the restaurant
*Calder:* And thus felt all the more justified in having them make such a big exception
*Peter:* tricky tricky
*Peter:* sneaky scenes
*Peter:* you know what sneaky scenes are, right?
*Peter:*
*Calder:* Sneaky?
*Calder:* Is that Joan from Mad Men?
*Peter:* No idea
*Calder:* Looks like the actress
*Calder:* How would you say Cecilia was observant here?
*Peter:*
*Calder:* I recall her thanking Caroline for indulging Simmone, but a dullard could do that
*Peter:* That Caroline was able to manage that walk all the way with Simmone in heels
*Calder:* Oh, that
*Calder:* I think most any woman who regularly wears heels could spot that, actually
*Calder:* The others just didn't comment on it
*Peter:* That's fair, just drove home that she caught on when things were a little weird
*Peter:*
*Calder:* It does show she could be more considerate/empathic than the others
*Calder:* As she remarked on it first
*Calder:* That's a good detail on knives vs strainers
*Calder:* How does someone cut themselves on the latter?
*Calder:* That sounds harder than with a knife
*Peter:* A lot of the industrial size / strength kitchen equipment for some reason has squared edges
[...]
*Calder:* Malveaux dickishness wise
*Calder:* Another corollary factor there is that the heads of the family have a lot more ways to exercise that (and pressure to be dicks) than the younger members
*Calder:* Orson you've seen be pretty ruthless on the times he's showed up
*Calder:* Nathan in / of his appearances
*Peter:* mhmm
*Calder:* While Matt hasn't had much direct screentime
*Calder:* Someone like Gabriel can be soft because he's a kid
*Calder:* But if Luke were to get killed by a vampire too, he might abruptly find himself expected to "grow a backbone" and grow up pretty fast
*Calder:* He'd be the last male heir of any of the brothers three if that were to happen
*Peter:* while right now Luke is sort of in that position
*Peter:* as the expectant heir apparent
*Calder:* Just engaged too
*Calder:* He always ways to a greater degree too
*Calder:* Adam being taken out of the running a while ago
*Calder:* And Westley always being a fuckup, and younger
*Peter:* Mhmmmmm
*Calder:* Last thing, Elysium scenes
*Peter:* Your mother
*Calder:* Glad all the small talk with the families was enjoyed
*Calder:* And not-so-small talk
*Calder:* There's a reason I offered XP for detailed responses though
*Calder:* You might remember a similar thing when Isa went to Elysium
*Calder:* Where I gave her an in with Wells and Jocelyn talking about dolls, gender roles, Max, and Anarch philosophy
*Peter:* I didn't actually remember that
*Peter:* just Isa staring
*Peter:* like a creeper
*Calder:* Let me dig it up
*Peter:* and not talking to anyone
*Calder:* Uh huh
*Calder:* I sure remember that
*Peter:* Either way, having those topics as something PCs can jump into is, I think, good for Elysium
*Peter:* and makes it feel like a setting to be interacted with, rather than... I don't know. Something more static
*Calder:* https://pastebin.com/ syTSsr
*Calder:* Izzy basically said fooh-fooh to that all
*Calder:* I've mentioned before that I'm not Sam, in that I won't churn out pages of prose for Wintermutes who don't engage with it
*Calder:* When PCs interact with the stuff I post, that makes it worth it
*Peter:* mhmm
*Calder:* If they fooh-fooh it, it's a waste
*Peter:* That's actually an itneresting interaction
*Calder:* Not only of my own time/patience, but the fact it literally added nothing to the game when the PC didn't engage with it
*Peter:* and one Isa, who has had a fair amount of gender role shifts, might want to comment on
*Calder:* Besides fleshing out the NPCs more to other players, anyway
*Peter:* shame
*Calder:* And showing Jocelyn having an unlife outside Caroline and the Storyvilles
*Peter:* I really appreciate that actually
*Peter:* seeing more of various characters life, seeing other interests and conversations
*Peter:* a lot of characters have felt, at least in C's interactions, too... instrumental.
*Peter:* In the literal sense
*Calder:* We can see more of that too, as Caroline socializes with more vampires
*Calder:* But I can work in more too knowing that it's enjoyed
*Peter:* 🙂
[...]
*Calder:* Turns out I actually wasn't all out of feedback on feedback
*Calder:* WRT Widney getting Caroline's calls, you could list that under a "Routines" header on the Caroline Resources page
*Calder:* That lists various SOPs of hers that hold true unless specifically declared otherwise
*Calder:* Color-wise we do bend the rules with a few things
*Calder:* Food is always in color as you note, unless I'm trying to play up how completely gross it is
*Calder:* A few other things get color if it's a particular striking component of the scene
*Calder:* Commander's Palace having its iconic teal hue still there
*Calder:* Em's last ride through a beautiful neighborhood being in full color
*Calder:* When he finally severed his relationship with Lena
*Calder:* Some of Amelie's particularly inspired (or bittersweet) wanderings through the Garden District
*Calder:* Kindred stuff is always in black and white unless it's blood
*Calder:* Cletus has some red running down his mouth
*Calder:* Nolan Moreno was foreshadowed earlier in the Amelie and Emil logs, you may recall
*Calder:* But an NPC getting their own page is usually a good sign they're going to show up at some point
*Calder:* Either directly or by proxy (Rishu through Chuck)
*Calder:* Caroline's family likely wouldn't mind either if she appeared before the city council. The Malveauxes' (political) influence is obviously stronger on the state
*Calder:* Luke's proposal was also a thing more or less wholly due to PC actions
*Calder:* Amelie's sleepover in the LaLaurie House resulted in the actions that took place in the police station, and which brought the Malveauxes and Devillers (as well
*Calder:* Mouse inadvertently stalked and frightened Cecilia, making her spend a while living with Luke
*Calder:* as Claire mentioned
*Calder:* Caroline indirectly caused Westley's death
*Calder:* Which in addition to bringing him closer to his GF through shared loss (that she could so readily empathize and sympathize with after nearly losing her sisters)
*Calder:* I talk a lot about how PC actions have consequences and how I consider that one of the most important things of the game/any game
*Calder:* That term can carry negative connotations of PC screw-ups
*Calder:* But just as often consequences can be positive
*Calder:* Or neither inherently positive nor negative (in the sense of directly helping/harming PCs), but simply a side effect of PC actions upon the larger world
*Calder:* I don't think that you, David, or Jack intended to play matchmaker between Luke and Cecilia
*Calder:* I'd planned on her being Luke's more distant (or at least discrete) girlfriend, like you'd described in her original blurb
*Calder:* But PC choices took things in a different direction, and that's always fun
*Peter:* Good and interesting points on how in game events moved their relationship along faster
*Peter:* Was just a thought on mortal focused art
*Calder:* Your own reluctance to accept praise might or might not be bleeding over
*Calder:* Caroline herself has definitely downplayed or avoided praise
*Calder:* Which the families, and especially Luke, are all about playing up
*Calder:* And making just a little over the top
*Calder:* It's part of the pageantry of their world
*Calder:* And Luke specifically being glad to toot the family horn</p>