Journal: Resolution reboot (2010/01/01)

So of course I ordered Wii Fit Plus.
fluffy: Hey, there, Wii Fit.
Wii Fit: Hello, fluffy! It is nice to see you again!
fluffy: I really do want to lose some weight.
Wii Fit: Don't eat so many snacks!
fluffy: Yes, uh, about that...
fluffy: I was hoping that if I started you up again, you'd give me a bit more positive feedback.
Wii Fit: But you are overweight!
fluffy: I know that! That's why I bought you to begin with!
Wii Fit: Don't eat so many snacks?
fluffy: Ugh, maybe Wii Fit Plus will be better.
Wii Fit: Snacks are bad for you!
fluffy [annoyed]: I know.
Transcript
[!]12 comments

Unity: Pillow talk (2010/01/04)

Tanya: Critter, ya' don't have ta worry 'bout that.
Juni: But I like doing it for you. I want you to be happy.
Tanya: I'm happy 'nuff. 'Sides, I got my own fingers 'n' toys.
Juni: Okay.
Tanya: Y'know, sometimes I think it'd be easier to be like you.
Juni: Like me, how?
Tanya: Y'know. Neutral.
Juni: I... guess, sure. Why?
Tanya: Y'think I should do that?
Juni: Where's this coming from?
Tanya: I dunno. It makes it all easier for you, right?
Juni: Tanya... it's not about being easier, it's about basic comfort.
Tanya: Yeah, an' comfort makes it easy.
Transcript
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Unity: More pillow talk (2010/01/06)

Tanya: I'm s'prised y'ain't jumpin' t' encourage me.
Juni: Why would I? It's a big decision that took me a hundred rounds to come to, and another hundred to act on.
Juni: Sometimes I still wonder if I was just overreacting to my upbringing.
Tanya: But I ain't you, and I kinda like how yer body is, all smooth-
Juni: It was like that before, too, you know.
Tanya: -an' it's not like I've ever liked bein' a girl anyway.
Juni: Oh.
Juni: I didn't know.
Juni: Just... please be sure you're not moving too fast. I don't want you to do something you regret.
Tanya: Mm-hmm.
Juni: Also, could you keep your boobs? I like 'em.
Tanya: Heh. No promises.
Tanya: C'mon, shut off the light.
Transcript

Unity: Currency exchange (2010/01/08)

[[Chandra stands in front of various images showing time/currency/current]]
Chandra: Today, let's discuss the Homin notion of equity. They profoundly believed that all goods and services should be exchanged for things of similar value. They were extremely precise in how they tracked these exchanges.
[[Chandra faces a dwindling lecture audience]]
Chandra: To this end, their concept called "[English]cash" or "[English]currency," which was a unit to measure effort-time; this is reflected in the similarity to the word "[English]current," which, among other things, means "the most recent" and "flow" - time "flows" like a river, as in "[English]cash flow."
[[Juni looks irritated, leaning against its hand]]
Chandra: "[English]Time is money" - that is, time is exchangable for a unit of goods and services. In an abstract sense, they were masters of time itself, via the "[English]time card."
Juni [thinking]: Does he have to make it all up?
Transcript
[!]4 comments

Unity: Inconvenient, A Scent (2010/01/11)

[[A Campon soldier enters Juni's office]]
Valya: You are Officer ME-LI-RÓ-SU?
Juni: Hm?
Juni: Oh, you must be Valya. I was told to expect you. What can I do for you?
Valya: I come on behalf of Campon hive Tzernikov. Mother grows concerned about Sasha.
Juni [happily]: Oh? I can't imagine why. Your sister has been a model student, and is even nearly done with her doctorate. You should be proud of her; I am!
Valya: That is the problem. It has rejected our value system by ascending in the ranks beyond its intended purpose.
Valya: You will remind it that if it does not return to hive Tzernikov it will be considered an outsider. This is a significant inconvenience for our pheromone protocol.
Juni [irritated, and stressing Sasha's gender pronouns]: Well, I'd hate for her to inconvenience you. I'll let her know you came.
Valya: It smells of you.
Juni: Yes, I'm sure she does. Good day.
Transcript

Unity: Commencement (2010/01/13)

[[Tamu stands behind a podium, before the current graduating class. He is accompanied by several of the Organeers. The graduating class includes a Campon who appears to be Sasha.]]
Tamu [eyes closed]: Congratulations to all of you, this latest graduating class. You have all done very well, and should be very proud.
Tamu: Some of you may see this as the end of your education, but it is only the beginning of a new adventure.
[[Closer to Tamu we can see that he is growing elderly, the color drained from his extremities and his various fringes blunted and frayed]]
Tamu [eyes closed]: It is easy to fear change, but we are always changing. Those who choose not to embrace change fall afterneath it.
Tamu: Every answer asks more questions; every decision creates more possibilities.
[[Tamu opens his eyes, revealing that his pupils have grown milky]]
Tamu: So it is with a heavy stomach that this will be the last of these addresses I give - for I, too, have recently remembered to embrace inevitable change.
Tamu: Let us begin our new adventures together. Good day to you all.
Transcript
[!]1 comment

Unity: Parkside press conference (2010/01/15)

[[Juni stands behind a podium in a park outdoors]]
Juni: During the entire post-holocene period, we have been accelerating in order to gather as much hydrogen as possible, so as to feed the [English]Icarus drive's stellar fragment. This is not sustainable.
Juni: However, Zero has learned enough of how the Homin designed Unity to have come up with a rather elegant solution.
[[Juni is facing a small press assembly, including Kali, Merrick, and some random unnamed Agent]]
Juni: By steering to the galactic core, we can gather more hydrogen and raw materials, so Unity may resume its original purpose of colonizing the galaxy - albeit now without the Homin, of course.
Juni: Next question? Yes, Merrick.
Merrick: General, does this affect us in the short term?
Juni: Due to our massive angular momentum there may be some minor tremors while we change direction, but even that will take thousands of rounds. What we decide now is for our many future generations.
Juni: Zero will provide the continuity that we had lost with the Homin egress. It has quite a bit of time to adjust to such long-term thinking.
Transcript
[!]5 comments

Unity: Endgame (2010/01/18)

Ali wasn't quite satisfied with how I wrapped up Sasha's story arc, so she wrote an unofficial script for a strip to go after #246. I've reproduced it below, in case something happens to the forum (and to draw more attention to it):
[[After the graduation ceremony. Sasha is wearing graduation robes.]]
Juni: Congratulations, Sasha! Do you know where you'll go next?
Sasha: Not yet, except that it will not be back home. They have marked me not-Tzernikov.

Juni: [sadly] I know. Your sister Valya-
Sasha: Ex-sister.
Juni: uh, ex-sister, told me that might happen... You're just Sasha now?
Sasha: I am not-Tzernikov.

Juni: Sasha... you were really there for me when everything went kind of breezeways, and I don't have any siblings... if you like, you can use my name.
Sasha: Thank you, YU-NI, I am honored. But I must decline. I must earn my own hivename now, and until then "just Sasha" will be sufficient.

[[Juni sits in Zero's node room, reading something on a tablet and with a cup of hot liquid on the table next to the comfy chair.]]
Zero: Sasha's neural priming simulation data are promising. The Oracle program just might - Oh! Thinking of which, I have a memory from Seventeen.
Juni: When did it happen?
Zero: Last night, your time. Yes, you are meant to see this.
Juni: Ugh... Fine, show me.
[[Zero brings Juni into its perception, displaying a scene from Seventeen's perspective. Hira is crouching in front of Seventeen, with Tamu sitting nakedly beside her. Zero now appears quite different than before.]]
Juni: Is that a new [English]avatar? It suits you.
Zero: Thanks!
Tamu: See? This isn't so bad, is it, Hira?
Hira [Kajoshi]: Hello, little monster. Tell Juni to come here and bring Tanya.
Hira [Hiero]: Why we cannot do radio? I do not like this creature.
Juni: I wonder what that's all about. Hm.
Juni: I guess I'll schedule transport right away.
Zero: Wouldn't you rather use a pod?
Juni [hugging Zero's avatar, and ostensibly the simulation node]: Really? Breeze, yes! Thank you!
Zero [crossing its tentacles uncomfortably]: Hey! Mind my cooling vents!
Transcript
[!]1 comment

Unity: Passage (2010/01/20)

[[Juni and Tanya float in a pod, snuggling, silhouetted against the blue-shifted background of deep space.]]
Transcript

Unity: Coming home (2010/01/22)

Juni: [[Kajoshi]] Mom! I got your message, and came as soon as we could. What's wrong?
Hira: Oh, Juni! How did you get here so fast? I only spoke to that creature of yours yesterday. You have no excuse to not visit me now!
Juni: But the [[Hiero]] pods only just became av—
Hira: [[talking over Juni]] [[Hiero]] Hello, you are Tanya! It's is nice to meet you now finally.
Tanya: [[Kajoshi]] Good evening, ma'am.
Hira: Oh! You speak Kajoshi? Juni never told me that!
Juni: [[Hiero]] I've been teaching her a little.
Tanya: [[Kajoshi]] Very little.
Hira: Well, then. Hello, Tanya. Have you eaten?
Tanya: I am well-fed.
Hira: Ah, she is one to hold on to.
Tanya: [[Hiero]] Uh-huh. What's she sayin'?
Juni: It means she likes you.
Transcript
[!]5 comments

Unity: Lead-in (2010/01/25)

Juni [Kajoshi]: So how has Tamu been, anyway? He doesn't tell me so much, lately.
Hira: Oh, he is fine. Perhaps he is slowing down in his old age, but the children are dear to him.
Hira: They all call him [Hiero]"uncle lizard."
[[Tanya rubs Juni's shoulders]]
Juni: I'm glad. He sure seems to be enjoying the hubshine here.
Juni: So... about your message. It seemed quite urgent.
Hira: Ah, not so urgent, but very important, yes. Please join me in the temple.
Juni: [Kajoshi] I see. [Hiero] Tanya, I've got to go inside. Sorry, but you need to stay out here.
Tanya: Okay.
Hira: [Hiero] But to not going too far! [Kajoshi] Come on, Juni.
Transcript
[!]1 comment

Unity: Family matters (2010/01/27)

[[Juni is in the foyer for the temple; Hira remains dressed]]
Hira: Someone in the village has had a parth, and the mother is much too frail to care for her. Do you think that the South would make a good home?
Juni: Sure, I guess. Why, has someone from there offered to adopt her?
Hira: Well, not exactly.
Hira: This child is very special, and I was hoping you would want to adopt her, what with being unable to have children of your own.
Juni: I hadn't really thought about it one way or the other. Why me?
Hira: Two parths of the same mother are not too different than if one parth had the other, yes?
Juni: Pretty much. Why, is this not the first time the mother--
Juni: Oh.
Juni [stunned]: OH.
Transcript
[!]4 comments

Unity: Fetch (2010/01/29)

Hira [Kajoshi]: So you see why you're the most obvious prospect.
Juni: Yes, I... wow, a sister? Why didn't you tell... wow.
Hira: So you'll adopt her as your own?
Juni: Oh, yes! Definitely, but I need to tell Tanya first...
[[Hira claps]]
Hira: I have already arranged for that.
[[Eugene leads Tanya in, naked]]
Tanya [Hiero]: Sorry t'come inside but th' li'l red kid insisted all nice. Dang, it is warm here.
Juni [Kajoshi]: Really, mom? Bringing an outsider into the temple?
Tanya [Hiero]: Still dun get why I gotta be nekkid, though.
Eugene [Hiero]: Is just a thing.
Hira [Hiero]: So what is another old rule? Male [Kajoshi]broodwitch, you're married to [Kajoshi]outsider, it is all good.
Hira [Kajoshi]: Eugene, fetch the child, please.
Eugene [Kajoshi]: Yes'm.
Hira [Hiero]: Juni and Tanya, this is someone to show you.
Tanya [Hiero, softly]: You folk are weird.
Juni [Hiero, softly]: Yeah?
Transcript
[!]1 comment
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2010/01/25: The home stretch!

I thought maybe I'd try doing all of the last 5 in one week but I definitely don't have the time to pull that off. I apologize in advance for the weekend splitting the coda up oddly.

2010/01/13: Hey, transcripts are falling way behind

[!]1 comment
I'd appreciate if some folks could help out. Normally I'd do a bunch myself but my wrists are crapping out again.

In other news, the remaining Unity script is now fixed in place, aside from the minor edits that always happen when I do the layout. It will definitely be ending with #255. At the current rate, that puts it at about February 3 (assuming I don't have a post schedule slip or a bunch of must-do journal comics that push Unity back or whatever). So if you want to make any guest art to run after Unity completes, February 3 would be an excellent target! You can of course email it to me at fluffy[at]beesbuzz[dot]biz or send me a PM via the forum or whatever.

2010/01/06: Finally working on "improving" the comments here

[!]5 comments
One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the comment threads here is about having to register to post comments; since comments are handled by a forum, people tend to assume that they have to register to post, which is not the case. I'm finally pulling in some of the code from my blog to try to display comments inline as part of an entry, which I think makes it less obvious that it's a forum and makes it more obvious that anyone can post a comment.

Obviously there's a lot of kinks to work out but I'm working on it. I wanted to get the functionality in place first. So, let me know if something particularly baffling happens; for example, I'm sure that somewhere in the archives there's some comics which have a colliding "basename" and so they'll try to have their comment pages at the same URLs as each other. This is yet another artifact of how my Movable Type hacks work. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to resolve. But there may be other technical problems as well. We'll see.

(Edit: According to SELECT entry_basename,count(entry_id) AS n FROM mt_entry WHERE entry_blog_id=5 GROUP BY entry_basename ORDER BY n ASC; there shouldn't be any colliding page names, at least.)

2010/01/04: How close we are

Today's Unity is #242, and begins the epilogue proper; #255 will be the last one. Feel free to, I dunno, make guest art, talk about the story in the forum, ask questions about things that happened previously, or whatever.

As I've said before, though, just because Unity (the series) will be over doesn't mean there won't be any more stories set in Unity (the ship). I have a few ideas banging around for other stories set in their universe, although for now I'm looking forward to working on something else for a while. Whatever I do will, of course, continue to be published right here on this very site/RSS feed/LJ syndication/whatever.