[Nerroth]

In other news, I got a little... carried away with a figure photoset. Ahem.

Spoiler for Drift Extra (very pic-heavy!):

This is... kind of an experiment. It originally came from an idea I had for a photoshoot, that I'd try and do once I got myself a Generations Drift.

By the time he arrived, it turned out I had other figures on hand (as in, not lost in storage somewhere) and the idea kind of went a little... further than I had mind.


So, here goes. (Please note: this is intended to be... somewhat less than serious.)


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The white-armoured figure (his back to the floating camera nearby) took a silent breath, trying not to think of his lines as he sought a moment of inner calm. While he had spent many months since purchasing the game in question for his PSP attempting to master the dialogue, and the movement to match, he knew he still had far to go.

In any event, it was time to see whether or not he could do more then roll the lines off from a pre-prepared script in his mind. It was time to let them flow... through the moment of import itself.

In one carefully-prepared motion, he reached for the hilt of his longsword:



then swiftly turned while drawing it to one side.



Once done, he paused for (intended) dramatic effect, then lifted the longsword before him as he began his chant:



“Ware wa Kuu.” (I am the white void.)

“Ware wa Kou.” (I am the cold steel.)

“Ware wa Jin!” (I am the just sword!)

“Ware wa, hitofuri no tsurugi ni te, subete no tsumi wo karitori, aku wo metsu suru." (With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction.)

At this point, he changed into a more flexible stance, then held the longsword in both hands at the chant's completion.



“Waga na wa Hakumen. Oshite mairu!”

(I am Hakumen. The end has come!)

It was not until he had moved on to a later practice move (Hakumen's first-round victory pose) before an incredibly beautiful young woman with an... unusual choice in weaponry (and outfit design) approached him.



"One is quite impressed; but let us see if the wheel of Fate is turning for you!"

Focusing on the arrival as an opponent, rather than a person, the Hakumen aficionado prepared to exchange a mutually fierce array of blows:



Yet, in the midst of this action, he paused when, as if seeing through the lens of the floating camera nearby, he noticed her breathtaking face, and eyes, for the first time.



Unable to find words to express such beauty, he lowered his sword in silence.

"A shame," she said, coyly. "One would have enjoyed singing this song of battle together. Well, at least one cannot complain about your reaction; in your place, one might have done the same..."

While he struggled to conjure an answer, she pre-empted him with another teasing remark. "Perhaps you can at least pose with me before the camera?"



That, at least, he could do.

"Well then," she went on, "if you wish to please me further, present yourself in a more fashionable manner."

Without a concrete notion as to what constituted proper fashion in the mind's eye of the mysterious, yet imperious, lady, the white-armoured one did his best to comply.



Remaining off-camera for the time being, the woman referred to his yet-to-be-drawn short swords; one of which lay in the same door-scabbard in which he had conveniently stored his longsword. "Now, please demonstrate your other weapons, if you please."

Unable to bring himself to do anything but obey, he... obeyed.



"Hmm," she thought aloud. "Useful in their own way, but with far less character," or characters, even; "than the third."

Taking note of his wheel-shaped forearm-mounted buckers, she was led to wonder: "One is curious; to what end do the wheels upon thine arms serve?"

Once again, he found it better to respond through deeds, in place of words:



"A new chariot!" she exclaimed. Before he could query as to what she meant with the 'new' part, the driving force behind her voice re-ignited. "Turn! Show me more!"







After his third pose, she noted a strange item beneath him, yet somehow attached to him. "Be that the hilt of thine sword?"

Somehow managing to both turn perpendicular to the camera and to launch himself to one side, he showed how he was, indeed, able to store his longsword beneath his car mode; though what the road and safety association might think of such a setup would be another matter.



"Oh yes; much more distinct than my last chariot," she offered. "The difference is quite clear, in one's mind."

It was not until he had righted himself on all four wheels before he noted exactly why she could see it so clearly; a red-and-blue armoured vehicle was somehow parked to one side of him!



"Hey," the red vehicle offered, to which the white car remained silent.

"Not the big talker, eh? Well, it's probably just as well," the former chariot quipped. "She does like to be the one to do the talking..."

As a means of clarification, images from the red-and-blue one's time as her chariot appeared; offering a less-than-welcome (to the white car) insight.

"So," the red-and-blue one asked, as he transformed and sat (reasonably) comfortably, "maybe we could have a sit-down, get to catch up, and all that?"

Not immediately dismissing the idea (for what reason, the white car was uncertain), the woman rested herself...

...though after transformation, the white-armoured one's attempts to follow suit were less than successful.



"Not working out for you, then?" the third one noted; his outwardly well-meaning tone of voice betraying hints of his less than fair intention. "Maybe you should try a different way to rest yourself?"

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to go well either.



"Yeah, I suppose we should hold off on the sitting down thing for now," the red-and-blue one 'kindly' suggested.

After they stood up again, the newcomer gestured towards the closest door-scabbard. "Hey, could I, like have a look at those two smaller swords of yours?"



"I mean, I would ask," he added, "but I get the feeling you're the kind of guy who has a bit of... attachment to that third one."

Despite his better judgement (which told him to stick all three into the interloper until he stopped functioning) the two short swords found themselves in the blue-and-red one's hands.



"Ha, just like Archer!" the face-plated one declared; though of course the swords which the character in question is known for look quite different.

The woman, somehow now standing between the two others, raised her hand in salutation. "One is amused!"

Meanwhile, the faintest trace of a grumble passed the lips of the white samurai, who tried to concentrate by reading the kanji on his sword; a task which might one day be made easier if he were to ever benefit from the use of a Gundam Marker.

As the red-and-blue one continued his showing-off routine, however, the pressure became too much to bear.



"Wait!" she called out to the departing one. "You do not need to leave."

"The end..." he said bitterly, in an ironic echo if his hero's famous battle-cry, "...has come!"

"Yeah, you've clearly got prospects with that one," jumped the third, gleeful at his apparent victory.

Ignoring him, the woman raced to follow her new person of interest; eventually cornering him at a location which looked oddly similar to where they had just been.

Approaching him, after conveniently handing him back the swords she had evidently retrieved from the face-plated one off-camera, she reached over to cradle the side of his face with her outstretched hand:



"That last occurrence was... not planned for," she admitted; the first time her voice had shown any sign of apology, or humility perhaps. "As thee can see, one cannot always account equitably concerning one's past."

As he looked up to meet her gaze, her voice took a more assuring turn. "Yet, one would hope thine efforts would not be in vain; lest one lose an avenue towards a more promising future."

Buoyed by her words, the white one simply said: "Hai."


Soon after, the white samurai amply demonstrated the folly of taking a gun to a sword fight, especially one which is all too easily non-secured from its folded-in storage mode:




Before he and she rode off into the sunset; her choice of attire having the convenient side-effect of not blocking his line of sight while driving.



"Onwards!" she called out; glad that at least, she had a transforming, (occasionally) talking chariot who, unlike previous suitors...

...actually had swords.




END.