Except they have yet to Save the Galaxy from nasty giant chakrams.
No, the correct answer here is to put Chief into a Section 8 armor.
I'm sorry, what was that just now? It sounded strangely similar to the sound the ladies make after Chuck Norris finishes with them. Do I need to get you some salve? Maybe a defibrilator? Speak up. I can't hear you over the sound of your convulsions snapping your spine.
Again, Pass: Master C is easily the weakest of all his brothers and sisters. All he's got going for him is his ridiculous ploth4xx Luck. Kelly-087 would MURDER Master C in a straight fight. Linda-058 would pick him off in ways he wouldn't even freaking understand. And I can go on and on. Bottom line, if it weren't for the plot, Master C would be dead a thousand times over.
Peace. And don't start stuff you don't want to finish, ATC, especially with a friggin' Marine. The only "I quit!" Marines understand is when Congress gives us a pink slip and tell us to pull out of whatever damn campaign they committed us to in the first place. Blame the Corps for making us like that.
Again, Pass: Master C is easily the weakest of all his brothers and sisters. All he's got going for him is his ridiculous ploth4xx Luck. Kelly-087 would MURDER Master C in a straight fight. Linda-058 would pick him off in ways he wouldn't even freaking understand. And I can go on and on. Bottom line, if it weren't for the plot, Master C would be dead a thousand times over.
Are you forgetting that part about the Chief where he's the team leader containing the right balance of qualities as well as the knowhow to be the 'big brother' of sorts of his Spartan team? This 'weakness' you seem to have associated with him... It does not exist.
They didn't make him Team Lead on luck alone.
Sure, Kelly and Linda could beat him in unfathomable ways involving either a speedblitz or a bizzare riccochet off something. But can they lead a team like John can?
No. They cannot.
How about putting all the Spartans into those Section 8 armors? Then we've got something.
Quote:
Peace. And don't start stuff you don't want to finish, ATC, especially with a friggin' Marine. The only "I quit!" Marines understand is when Congress gives us a pink slip and tell us to pull out of whatever damn campaign they committed us to in the first place. Blame the Corps for making us like that
Whether or not you're a marine is not relavent to the discussion. Don't try and change the topic by turning it into a Me vs You fight, or by threatening to do so.
*EDIT: It seems that the middle of one of my lines got shredded for some reason and made incomprehensable. Fixed.*
Last edited by AdmiralTigerclaw; 2009-09-26 at 13:22.
What have we here? Too much violence, too much screaming, too much of stating the obvious!
...Peace, love and crack, I say, is what we need; the one-stop solution to SERIOUSNESS
Spoiler for Lolicon Source Text:
Quote:
Originally Posted by XenahortCharybdis
In Light of all the Lights posted thus far, I have decided we need a little DARKNESS around here.
Thus, I have decided to push forward the posting of my OC by a few days.
Not so much a new one, but a reworking of an ancient idea to better crack less brains.
So...
presenting...
Spoiler for OC - Arcadia Souran, the Twilight Dancer, Remixed and Rematched:
Arcadia Souran Callsign – Twilight Dancer
Age: ??
Height: 170cm
Weight: 47kg
Hair: Grey-black, usually held in place by 3 gold clips.
Eyes: Blue
Status: Unknown
Military Rank: Major
Mage Rank: AAA ~ ???
Threat Ranking: Alternating wildly between ‘Benign’ and ‘Bakemono (NB: monster)’
Spoiler for VERY Brief History:
A (Very) Brief History:
MC?? – Arcadia is born.
MC52 – becomes a member of the graduating Officer’s class of ’52.
MC53 – becomes commander of Enforcer Unit Origen Epsilon (E.U.O.E), nicknamed ‘The Black Mavericks’
MC54-55?? – Arcadia disappears off the map following an unknown incident; quite possibly a mission. This is definitely, though, not the end.
Spoiler for Social Traits:
Social/Character Traits:
Verbal Nail Gun: She has an uncanny ability to cut to the core of what people are trying to say, no matter how superfluous and convoluted it may get. (On the other hand, her ability at self-expression is so bad that it would take another Arkady to understand what she wants to bring across beyond the realms of the bare necessities and battle tactics.)
A Selective Lack of Awareness: When absorbed in doing something of a more mundane and slice-of-life nature than stomping the hell out of people, such as reading a book, or watching the hubbub of the day go by on some bench somewhere, Arkady becomes oblivious to her environment, and as a result may become so still that birds have been known to settle on her head and shoulders.
I Feel Like A Walking Anachronism… Sorely unaware of cultural, economic, political, military and fashion developments due to being nearly two decades behind the times, and finds modern societal trends such as co-opting work relationships, consumerism and cosplay to be utterly befuddling. This renders her somewhat susceptible to various actions of that order, as they either fly under her radar or way over her head.
Worthy Rival Radar Overdrive: In the presence of anyone above mage levels of AA+, her killing intent naturally increases, seemingly without any observable change in behaviour or expression for that matter. It doesn’t boil over, of course – that can wait till they get into the sparring arena. This trait is very much reduced when she is physically unwell for more than obvious reasons, and fluctuates depending on her existing relationship with the person.
Closet Lolicon: Has an inexplicable attachment to girls with looks, height and chest sizes that transcend age, puberty and characterization. Reactions upon sighting include picking said person up, scrutinizing them to corroborate the observable facts, and once a semi-working to working relationship is settled upon, petting, all with a relatively passive look on her face. Special: Physical Presence while doing aforementioned actions is capable of subduing almost any loli, no matter how dangerous she normally is. Well, almost.
Shutter Eye: Arcadia has photographic memory/eidetic memory – she forgets nothing she sees, including but not exclusive to, spells, actions, locations, words and maybe even What You Did Last Summer.
Passive Impassivity: Possesses a small range of facial expressions, ranging from Vaguely Unconcerned to Abject Apathy. Rare expressions include Pleasantly Perplexed, Pretty in Pink and Sinful, Indulgent Rage.
Half-Split Personality: Professionalism taken to unhealthy extremes results in clinical finishes and brutal efficiency seemingly impossible with her normal behavior set. Either that, or she’s definitely well trained. Maybe both.
Looks Like An Emo Goth: With her looks, look, outlook and her wearing her Barrier Jacket in public, who could think otherwise?
Would Make A Bad Housewife: Poor homemaking skills all-around – she has a lot to learn from certain people…But what the hell do you expect from someone who’s spent half her life in temporary holding areas anyway?
Rating: It’s…I don’t know. Overall, Arcadia is sparingly equipped to deal with life in society outside of battle, for reasons she cannot explain. Or cannot remember. Or both. That makes a great number of things that for which she can’t do either.
Spoiler for Combat Traits:
Combat Traits:
God, She’s Fast…! Arkady should never be expected to stand still. After all, a close range styled fighter without the usual shields and Panzergeist would be pretty much dead if they so much as drop their pace for an instant. Aiding her in this is her control of movement enhancement: she can shift the nature of the boosts by supplying the more refined and Resonance-capable Aether to a specific body part, allowing it to temporarily exceed by far the likes of Sonic Move and Flash Step in speed using the additional burst provided by the resulting Mana Resonance. A combination of such modifications allows her to pull off a string of attacks at a nigh unstoppable pace, to the point where standing within two meters of her is practically suicide even for skilled fighters.
Eyes From Hell: One stare from her is quite sufficient to give her opponents a rough idea of what’s she’s capable of, and if she only stares at you, she’s probably dropping a really big hint. Failure to comply will result promptly in a live demonstration, and another stare at whoever’s left. The advised course of action following this point is unclear, although shitting one’s pants, running screaming or half-assedly trying to draw and shoot at her have been proven to be non-negotiable bad ends.
Is Not Amused By Your Bullshit: Toying with her is not a good career extension option – full seriousness upon commencement of combat is strongly recommended should one desire survival. Preferring herself to cut straight to the chase, she frowns upon time-wasting, flashy attacks, or ‘that-wasn’t-my-true-form’ boasts: either way, she will kill you as many times as is necessary for you to shut the hell up. Abjectly brutal efficiency of said ignominious deaths can and will be enhanced by the aforementioned stupidities.
Has Seen It All: Being stuck in desperate corners, facing disproportionately skewed odds, slogging through blood and guts, and unspeakable whatnot else has made overpowered opponents, and formidable presences as dated as the reason why the chicken crossed the road.
Idiots Die First: As an adept tactician and strategist, Arkady has a keen sense of where exactly the points of weakness are in an enemy formation or strategy. Any obvious weakness or letting up in combat, or a stupid move, will almost certainly result in a mauling if you’re lucky, and a one way trip to the afterlife if you’re not.
Ruthless Serial Curbstomper: Do not expect any mercy when you’re on the ground half dead following her rampage; do not expect to survive the next few nanoseconds following your hitting the deck either – chances are she’ll step on your head –hard– while you’re down, or use you as a springboard to reach her next opponent: both mean that you’re probably going to need a cosmetic facial makeover, preferably based on your latest ID photo, before they can bear looking at you in the morgue, much less embalm you.
So What If That Was Low? As a member of the Black Mavs, her combat credo is practically devoid of any rules. That means examples of dirty fighting and sneak attacks, from the brilliant to the ridiculous (but all effective nonetheless), are all well and sundry for usage – so everything from low-blows to throwing hot sand in her opponent’s eyes (with the temperature upped some by a little magic) is a valid manoeuvre. So God Help Your Balls.
Rating: “…B-B-Bakemon-KEHK!!” On the battlefield, Arcadia is a completely different person from the mild-mannered, absent minded, air-headed if somewhat detached and icy NEET that she is in real life. She practically lives, eats and breathes ‘war’, far more so than anyone Nanoha and Co have met before, to the point where it is hard to say if she morphs into a brutal machine of death on the battlefield, or if she simply retreats into a safety zone outside of it. The only two ways to prevent a bloodbath in a battle she is involved in are probably to give her a fairly specific set of orders with various conditions to limit direct combat engagements – or simply to give her the opponent’s Ace to eat alive. That’ll do fine for afternoon tea. Maybe.
This duality of character is quite easily the primary reason for her complete loss as to what to do with even the fleeting peace that she enjoys at the Yagami residence…
…Hell if I know how they’re going to deal with her.
…Oh shit. Did I just say Yagami Residence?
YOU GUYS HEARD NOTHING!
*runs*
Spoiler for Unique Skill:
Unique Skill: The Souran-Gables-Archer Effect
Arcadia’s Unique Skill has its roots in what is known as the Gables-Archer Effect, presumably named for the two people who originally thought the idea up. An offshoot of Lyrical Magic, the essence of the theory was that if mana, which was normally harvested by and outputted from linker cores in only minimally purified and synchronized forms through crude processes such as shaping, condensation, or at a higher level have its basic elemental properties changed, could reach a higher level of both, then like voices in perfect harmony each would be capable of resonating with one another, greatly boosting their real-time strength when utilized.
Arcadia’s ability takes the theory to the next step: by harmonizing mana in this fashion, but rather than projecting it outwards, keeping it within one’s body and increasing the resonance level, she is able to create an ‘Phantom Song’: free mana in the atmosphere, excited into a radical and ‘semi-refined’ state by the resonance, create a constantly self-replenishing vortex of mana with her as the epicentre as mana is scattered and re-absorbed into her field. And while she does not normally exercise any active control over them, they display the general signs of being under her power, and respond to her actions and resultant changes in the Resonance Field: for example, when she prepares to slash with her cross-spear, the resulting Resonance Field shifts due to her placing more emphasis (magic wise) on her swinging arm and spear, to favour the spear’s tip as its focal point with the extraneous mana follows suit.
Thus, by the time she takes her swing, the huge body of mana would have been focused around the immediate surroundings of the spear, thus ramming her opponents in the front into much more than just the point of a magically enhanced spear; rather, they are about to be hit by a dense wall of highly excited mana first, and nanoseconds later the spear itself. This makes the field a passive boost in close-quarters combat, both in terms of attack and defence. It may also take on an active form should she so choose, manipulating the resonance levels to create anything from additional, precise vectors of attack for her spear rather than a crude wave of blunt-force pain to creating that sinister tornado of pure arcane energy that is the Unholy Spiral, even to isolating many different resonance fields at a time a la her personal specialty, Code: Artificer.
However, this is less of a stick-on advantage than it is her only choice: one of the immediately apparent things about Arcadia is that the results from this particular attempt to make reality out of theory veered way off what the original plan would have produced. Impure mana is within her body a deadly poison, and to her Linker Core a highly unstable, uncontrollable substance –that which is required to generate a Divine Buster would probably kill Arcadia before she manages to fire it– ; to add to that weakness, the refined version is not completely harmless either (though the effect is admittedly, sufficiently diluted to be negligible), and is time-consuming and no small strain to create. And given the sorely inadequate amount of it that can be produced at any given time, ranged attacks are practically out of the question until much later in a battle given other important concerns in battle, since they project mana away from the body and causes dispersal following use. Hence, her spells are limited to melee skills for most battles – ranged spells are to be used at hazard to health and safety in the combat zone, even late in the game where they are theoretically usable: while the movement of refined mana in her body is all well and sundry due to the body’s ability to continuously keep it in that refined state, and with whatever minimal dispersal there is absorbed into her Field, projecting any amount of magic outside that safety net renders it susceptible to the natural weakness of being more unstable than its lower form when outside the body, and since her body that lacks natural affinity for lower mana cannot control it well enough either without prohibitively great effort of will, she generally has no choice but to have to keep it in its refined form, or at least a semi-refined form, in order to use it. By this time, though, the battle would have already dragged out quite a bit, so usually Arcadia prefers to waste as little time as possible. Thumbs down, fellow gladiators.
Reflecting those disadvantages, she is normally reliant on her combat skills, as well as the free mana she gathers using the Resonance Field, of which a smaller version may be produced from the outset of battle, since her body is in fact capable of creating a permanently storing a basal amount of refined mana passively. Against the toughest of opponents, though, she may have no choice but to throw down with them temporarily while she generates enough energy to completely blow them away. This marks a rather major difference between her and normal mages: while normal mages get weaker as the battle drags on, she gets potentially stronger and stronger as the same thing happens – thus, in a battle, she starts off with a handicap as compared to other combatants, but if given sufficient time and space (and considering she doesn’t already lose or die by then) progressively comes out stronger and stronger, until she completely overwhelms her opponents with terrifying strength. This is usually, but certainly not always, when the amount of mana in her body has reached a saturation point, or critical mass if one prefers the term, and when continuing the accumulation of it has thereby become a non-option, and the only option available, is, of course, to let at least some part of it out to make space.
An unaccounted-for side effect of her ability is that due to the Resonance state being always ‘on’ technically at a low basal level, Arcadia gives off an ironically serene aura, which has often attracted stray animals, even leashed ones, to her. She appears to enjoy their company, at least somewhat. However, in combat her aura, as though reflecting the seeming change in her nature if not her emotional/mental state for the worse, begins a descent into a nightmarish amalgamation of darkness, with red, violet and black lightning screaming all around it, their jagged edges and wild dancing painting an altogether ethereal, but sinister scene, and becoming more so proportionately to the growth of her Resonance Field. While this may or may not be due to her emotional state; the change in the aura’s basic composition altogether is a fairly rare occurrence – more often than not, at least the Gables-Archer Theory argues in its premise, a magic aura is affected volume-wise; only the person’s presence is affected nature-wise: for example, if a fire mage is seriously pissed off, their aura of flame grows larger by far, and his or her personal presence will most certainly by appear more intimidating, but that will not constitute a change of elements from, say, fire to wind; the only real difference is that a medium-sized flame became a large one. The reason, hence, is not yet explained.
Also, as of now, due to the unknown circumstances under which Arcadia obtained this ability (indeed, that she herself would remember even the gist of it is highly unlikely; as such it may not even have been an experiment in that strictest sense that gave her this power from the first), little is in fact known about the methodology of recreating the Gables-Archer effect, since Linker Cores do not naturally possess such a powerful refining function, and the accuracy even of modern devices is practically eons off from even being able to perform such a function in the first place, thus causing there to be little space for further research into the theory.
Arcadia is implanted with micro-temporal displacement enhancers in order to facilitate rapid drop-ins and extractions. In fact, they were normally fitted with limiters that kept 20% of their overall magic strength reserved for extraction via teleportation, hence allowing for silent and largely traceless departures. Over time, some of them found ways to modify the effects of the enhancer based on their own style, and Arcadia is one-such: Instead of merely teleporting back to a fixed set of coordinates from a list of rendezvous points, she is also able to perform a teleportation to practically any location on a few conditions:
1. She must have the ‘co-ordinates’ of the place: address, whatever; but it has to be fairly specific.
2. She must have an image of said place in her mind: either the inside or the outside will do.
3. She must touch someone who has actually been to that place, hence or otherwise retrieving memories of that place through a Mind Resonance: using magic to surface memories of whatever Arcadia herself is concentrating on, i.e. the location she wants to teleport to. With that, a fairly accurate guess may be made as to the location, and hence a fairly accurate teleportation. Of course, receiving the exact official coordinates would be better, but she’ll make do.
A more specific version of this spell is Level Zero – Code: Guardian. Used at a shorter distance as compared to Void Walker, it allows her to teleport straight to where her allies are. The ally in question must be specified, and where required Arcadia will teleport straight to that person’s side, like a human ‘summon’ of sorts. Almost instant, but does not work cross-planets/dimensions. Orbital transport is possible, though, over a certain distance.
Arcadia is in a possession of a ring on her index finger that identifies her as a member of Class 1A (Top Class), Officer Cadets of MC 52. Made by Arcadia herself, each of them was custom made for one of the eleven people in their class, not only as a memento of their time together, but also as artifacts designed to enhance their own unique brands of magic to the maximum. They also identify another member of the Class from a range of 3km radius away from the user when activated. It is not yet known what Arcadia’s invocation is, and what its effects are.
With years of training, Arcadia is just about as quick on the draw as she is on the trigger, if not even faster. Her transformation is customized to be just as swift: the time it takes for her to launch Paradox from its fast draw rig within her sleeve and for her to draw the weapon out in its active form is sufficient for her Barrier Jacket to be fully formed and ready for battle.
Paradox may be also activated by telepathic command from a distance off such that her Barrier Jacket may be activated remotely via an extraneous magic sigil imprinted on the inside face of Arcadia’s uniform. It takes on the Active Form of a long black yari, a cross-spear if you will, with violet engravings.
By increasing the resonance frequency, more mana particles surrounding her may be excited into a semi-refined state that Arcadia can actually viably control without major drawbacks. Using this trait of her ability, she is able to create a Mana Double of Paradox on her free hand; all the better to dual wield with, Little Red Riding Hood. This is her standard issue mode in mass combat a.k.a. Master Chief Mode, when she isn’t going one on one with the enemy Ace, since it favours mass destruction over precision strikes – after all, spears are always better wielded in two hands.
Normally performed using her solid spear, and not the mana double, Void Cleaver is a technique built for smashing through defences such as Barriers, Shields or AMFs with a deadly combination of physical force and magic enhancement. Basically, by running refined mana through Paradox, she shifts the field’s concentration gradient to be greatest around the spear itself. At greater levels of control, she can isolate the spear as an independent field, and thus deal a far more precise and focused strike, aimed at overloading whatever defence may be in the way.
“No…you may only parley with your sword, Knight, and nothing else.”
To say that any member of the Black Mavericks, ex or otherwise, is ‘no slouch’ in hand-to-hand combat is a joke in poor taste: in fact, they were chosen as much for their genius in the manipulation of their bodies and minds as they were in the manipulation of magic. This spell, the staple bread-and-butter of all members, combines the twin aspects of body and magic into one: in effect an Assault Mode form of the Panzergeist, it’s an all-in-one “stronger, harder, faster” buff, with less emphasis on harder, more on the rest, and none at all on the innuendo.
Spoiler for Special Spells:
Ceremonial/Special Combat Spells:
Ceremonial Release – Code: Artificer:
“Battle Duress Citation Class Three. Requesting Administration ID Change to Level 1, ‘Code: Arbiter’.”
[Battle Duress Confirmation Received – Administration ID Change Request Recognized. Administrator Guardian, Level 1 Arbiter Form Is On Standby.]
“Locked, Loaded and Confirmed. Initiate Level 1.”
[Initiating.]
Level 1: Field Control
Spellbinder:
First-order Field Control/Debuff
Pinching off anywhere from one to five resonance fields, Arcadia seals her opponent’s usage of spells by using the individual resonance fields to adversely affect the opponent’s ability to gather mana from the atmosphere (by competing with the opponent’s device and Core for it) and condense magic into a useable form (the net effect of multiple resonance fields around a single spell condensation point is that mana tends to exist in a dispersed ‘limbo’ state maintained by uniform pull in different directions by the various fields, much like dipole moments in molecules.) Useful against low to mid level magic users, it is not efficient against higher tier spellcasters due to the fact that they can just use superior strength to bulldoze their way through the field’s effects. So no, there’s no such thing as blocking Starlight Breaker before it even leaves the barrel. Not even Cradle-class AMF could achieve that, let alone just this.
Spellbender:
Second-order Field Control/Manipulation
Splitting her main field into clearly delineated three parts by manipulating the concentration of resonating mana in her body – one to her left, one to her right, and another covering the larger part of her body, Arcadia is able to create a repelling, rather than attractive force by an extension of the Gables-Archer Theory called the Archer Black Effect: the two weaker ‘outer bodies’ will attempt to attract a stronger ‘inner body’, which repels both, resulting in an state that overall repels magic, with a path of less resistance running along the far sides. The effect of this attack on spells is that magic attacks tend to ‘bend’ away from Arcadia, favouring the path of less resistance along the sides; this effect decreases with the strength of the spell. This same concept works against physical attacks as well, hence forming an extremely effective fusion shield – not requiring active mana usage like a normal head-on defence shield or barrier, and not having the physical attack weakness of the AMF. The drawback of this move, however, is that due to the overall mana repelling nature of the shield, Arcadia cannot increase the size of her Resonance Field as long as the shield is active.
Spellbreaker:
Third-order Field Control/Encroachment
Essentially a kamikaze attack with a resonance field, one or more resonance fields are fired off just as the opponent’s spell has reached a critical mass, straight into the body part/device that is about to let fly, and it explodes brilliantly into a huge dispersed mass of phase disruption mana particles – this is normally sufficient to completely dispel the attack, and run a stun gun-like shock through the opponent. This works by essentially tuning the resonance field such that it may be insinuated into the opponent’s ‘flow’ of mana, and once inside, to turn on them and show its true colors. Unlike Spellbinder, however, this sacrifices quite a large amount of refined mana, rather than simply the mass of semi-refined atmospheric mana that is otherwise used, and as such has a comparatively much higher energy cost.
Level 2, ‘Code: Arbalest’: Ranged Mode Unlocked. “Come, darkest night – make known my twilight arrows under your deepening sky.”
This spell has never really seen true action, although the concept of Reverse Bombardment is known – this is due to the lack of use of attacks that utilize said concept due to the seeming impracticality of its composition: instead of bombarding an opponent from far away, this attack draws the enemy in for direct bombardment, or something more dangerous of that order, which has the unfortunate drawback of the enemy never entering critical range. It is not known, therefore, how Arcadia has been able to surmount this limitation, or perhaps adapt to it.
Level 3, ‘Code: Artificer’: This is the Full Release Mode.
Maybe if I can, I'll draw a picture and place it when I eventually update this thing again.
Anyway, it's way past bedtime here...
...Xena, out.
Shiny's response.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheShinySword
Hmm hmm hmm hmm *reading reading*
...
Closet Lolicon: Has an inexplicable attachment to girls with looks, height and chest sizes that transcend age, puberty and characterization. Reactions upon sighting include picking said person up, scrutinizing them to corroborate the observable facts, and once a semi-working to working relationship is settled upon, petting, all with a relatively passive look on her face.
.... *looks over Kaon, checks height and chest* hm.... Good luck *cheery creator skips off to leave creation to the lolicons*
You read too much and too deeply...
...Hence this is all your fault, Shiny, and then Tempest's.
So take responsibility for this, my first crack:
Spoiler for Lolicon Chronicle - Part I: That Girl, She's Dangerous!:
Part I: That Girl, She's Dangerous!
It was a day when all seemed well and sundry with the world. The sun was not too glaring, the winds not too strong, the weather neither scorchingly hot nor bitterly cold nor overly humid, and the newspapers not too sensational. In fact, for a certain Noland Reninger, it was almost too uneventful, but pleasantly so such that he'd allowed himself to start -naively, he knew, but still it gnawed- hoping somewhere that such a tranquil peace might remain.
Knowing where he stood, and where he was, of course, he shouldn't have dared to try, as a scream ripping through the air (and his fantasy), and the rapid thundering of feet on the ground were presently to prove. He sighed and stood up, preparing for the worst-
"NOLAAAAAAANDDDD!!!!!"
Thunk. He suddenly found an extra weight on his head: a large hat, fopping through the air, came to rest on his crown, albeit at a rather awkward angle.
"...Vita. What is this?"
Her reply: unceremoniously seizing one of the folds of his coat, and proceeding to dive for cover underneath it, like a soldier fleeing the shell-hell of no man's land for the trenches, glancing out like a frightened rabbit, and then, confident that whatever she'd been fleeing from was not going to rain on her parade again any time soon, reached out to retrieve her hat. And finding that she hadn't qite grown enough to achieve that yet when Noland was standing up straight.
Sensing her distress (not like it wasn't evident already), he handed her the oversized, which she accepted, surprisingly taciturn. "...Now, now. What's going on here-"
"Shu-shut-up! It's nothing! Just...let me...stay here for a while, 'aight?" Vita pouted. That expression, coupled with the fact that her face was now very nearly as red as the rest of her, made it hard for the already baffled Knight to refuse. Still, some clarifications were in order, perhaps: this was far too unusual to be discounted as a mere whim on her part.
"Whatever might you want to do that for-"
"I JUST WANT TO! None of your business!" Following the outburst, the Iron Knight, likely feeling rather embarrassed and altogether discomfited with herself, seemed to moderate her stance a little. "...A-Anyway, it's just for a while! So..."
"Alright." Noland held up a hand, as though attempting to restore order to her cacophony by doing just that. "I understand. Have a seat-"
He cut himself off, as two shadowy movements at the corner of his eye caught his attention, and two cries rang in his ears."NOLAAAN!"
He recognized them immediately, of course, but only that. That and the fact that they completely ignored him following an impressively long-ranged double submarine dive under his coat as well; launching instantaneously, full-steam into their own private little conversation. He sighed - it was something he still had yet to get used to, their ability to act as though they were the only two people in the world ever so frivolously...
"Aah, thank goodness!" Vivio's heavy breathing and heaving chest told him what they'd been doing before: running scared, no doubt. But from whom...or what?
"Yeah, what the hell." Syn concurred, as she swiped a line of pespiration off her forehead. "That was just...crazy."
"...Did we lose her?"
"I...I dunno."
"Y-You'd better have! If she appears ag-gain..."
"Don't even talk about it. Save your energy for then." That was rare. Someone had actually insinuated herself into the folds of his jacket without being noticed. There were only a select few who could accomplish that, even when his guard wasn't up. And to be small enough to fit into his coat in the first place...
"W-What the hell?!"
"KYAAAA--!!!! Where'd y-you come from, Kaon-chan?!"
"Damn, don't scare us like that!"
...In any case, no one seemed to be sharing his sense of calm: Vita was already pretty jumpy, and the sudden appearance of another person in between herself and Vivio understandably became a bigger shock to both of them than it otherwise would have been. Syn was the furthest from the new addition, but she seemed perturbed enough nonetheless.
"Sorry. Anyway. Reninger." Despite standing at an unimpressive 4-feet-nine, Kaon Jin looked oddly imposing for being the commonly-dwarfed party as she crawled out from under him and stood somewhat aloof, arms akimbo and stance unwavering. Only a slight flush on her cheeks, and the irregularity of her breath gave the lie to her usual unflappability, and shed some light upon the common nature of their threat and plight. "You're protecting us from her."
"...What?" 'She'. 'Her'. It was all too vague, too fast. "A moment please - Who is this person you all speak of? I'm afraid I won't be mounting a very appropriate defense unless I am told who the enemy is-"
"SHE'S A MONSTER!"
"...What? That wasn't particularly specific-"
Syn was first, leaping to fill in the blanks in his head. "She has long flowing black hair, like in the movies!"
"She's huge!"
"And she has freaking glowing eyes!"
"And she wears black, too. Not many people do that apart from Enforcers, and then again not all black." Kaon, mercifully, had the last say, bringing the rather noisy, disorganized and short-lived inquisition to an acceptably quiet close. It hadn't revealed much, but at least he was getting the idea. "That's all you need to know, right?"
Under any other circumstances, he would have told them that distinct facial features (preferably unobscured by mysterious light sources imagined or otherwise), a more preciese estimation of height and a little less screaming would have done them all a lot more good, both in terms of tactical advantage and secrecy, but the situation appeared to dictate otherwise - a niggling feeling at the back of his mind, a flash of instinct, told him that they were no longer alone.
It seemed he was going to be saved the time of thinking after all; the girls' expressions said as much, too, their rather superfluous gasps aside.
He turned slowly. And then stared.
What the hell was this?
A black ensemble. Long flowing hair of jet mixed with a mottle of greys, like a raven's wing. Fairly average for a woman not wearing any height enhancing footwear. A pair of blue eyes that burned as though with smouldering fire within. A face as pristine as porcelain china, and quite possibly as pale - and despite that, and what he was told, an aura of a complete airhead. She looked, in a word, lost: far from being a stalker, she looked as one stumbling into garish light from utter darkness, or perhaps more pertinently, like a child ambling about in some secret garden.
Most oddly, she seemed to have completely missed his presence, despite the fact that normally, a large man with four girls smuggled away in a billowing greatcoat would stick out like a sore thumb, to say the least.
"Talk about juxtaposition, eh?" Kaon rasped hoarsely from her new location at his lower left flank.
"Indeed, confusingly so. Kaon...enlighten me: what kind of monster is this, exactly?"
Staggered breath, the immortal next to him seemingly considering the veracity and appropriateness of her next statement. "...It's a LOLICON."
An awkward silence followed that, as the position of the Knight's eyebrows settled into a unique position of positional contrast. This was getting less and less comfortable by his standards. "...That...explains a lot-"
The youngest member of the Takamachi family frowned, befuddled by the colloqualism. "Wait. What's a lolicon?"
Another silence, as three pairs of incredulous eyes fell on Vivio.
"Well, it's a person who likes-"
Noland found himself stumbling over words, his mind a little too addled to to intercept that one. Only the intervention of the summoner, her thoughts much sharper and considerably less confused, prevented the other heterochromatic from shooting her mouth right off to what would surely be disastrous effects. "Not for the young, Syn. Actually, I correct myself: it's a miracle she doesn't already know."
"What d'you mean by that?!"
"Shuttup, you lot." Vita growled. "That girl's slow, but she ain't blind by a long shot-"
"Ah." The effect that the "monster"'s first congruous statement since her entry had was shockingly stupendous: in a flash, all conversation had ceased, and all heads had ducked back into the relative safety of his coat's interior. There were a few muffled cries of annoyance as they bumped and jostled each other in their haste, but nothing his gratituously long outer layer and the distance could not handle. Still, he did not quite see the point of their overly hasty retreat: it was a leaky cover at best, and the presence of 4 all-too-visible bulges in its topography of contours rendered whatever scant visual protection against an observing eye that it could originally provide to near-nothing. It was almost amusing, but they'd been noticed, and that was no cause for good humor.
He cleared his throat. There was only one thing to do. "Excuse me, miss, but these ladies here are currently my charge. As such, I would appreciate it if you would...Miss-"
[Code Zero Point Five: Guardian Crasher is Active.]
[O.P.F.O.R. Threat Level: Amazing-]
-Her presence, abruptedly, without warning, disappeared off the radar. "...?"
For an instant, every nerve in his body screamed their warning klaxons, painting his body on red alert. He hunkered down, prepared for surprises, and was unpleasantly surprised indeed to suddenly find his senses flooded up to their extremities by its reemergence mere inches from of his face. She was fast, and her aura by far larger for now having taken on that sense of purpose that it had hitherto lacked. A hint of a smile played across her face as she spoke, shattering the former spell of innocuous inscrutability with one far less evidently benign. "Knight...I've decided: We duel. Whoever wins, keeps them. But if you're busy, it's a no-contest: I keep them."
Her conditions for truce completed, she stepped back. "I'll pay if anything goes kaput. Reply soon, now."
Kaon just frowned as Noland turned, tacitly seeking counsel. "She's kind to pay damages...But you know who'll be paying if she wins, Reninger."
"True, though I feel that this situation is just not appropria..."
"You're the only one here who can do it, and she's challenging you anyway...This is your fight as much as it's our's: who's with me on that one?"
The Knight then found himself the bemused recipient of 5 diverse looks: a sharp, angry glare, two imploring looks and one fleeting glance of nebulous expression and intent; all different, but all of which polled one and the same. No referendum this was at any rate.
"Well, four votes to one...I think we have a majority."
Oh, hell, Noland sighed inwardly as he turned from the totalitarianism of the 'majority' to face the lady in black again. That was fast, and unexpectedly sore for a loss - but what was he to do anyway, refuse? It was futile from the beginning anyway, he knew. Right from the moment they chose him as their shield, this fate at least was already cast in stone. "A...all right. I accept your challenge." "So, when do we begin?"
"Well..." For a moment, that lost-child look returned again, as she considered the question. But only for a moment.
"...Introductions first...You're 'Nolan'. I'm 'Arkady'. And so-"
"-We start now." And then she was in first gear, screaming in at an amazingly tight angle following a pivot and a leap to his side, her outstretched right arm bearing down on his neck. Easy, almost, too easy: a block with his left arm, then snapping his wrist around to pull her down by the shoulder, the ominous pop sound serving as assurance that his force had been sufficient to dislocate it. He sprang forward, a hand reaching out for her face and the resulting pin-down-
-was she smirking?
"Too hasty to get on top, Knight." Her body arched backwards, and her legs disappeared from view; a bad sign. Twisting rapidly to his right as they both prepared to hit the deck, he winced as the edge of her boot bit mercilessly into his back in a bare-miss graze that ran cleanly down the curve of his sternum, missing the critical points by bare milimeters, even as Noland's own blow whistled past the side of her face, drawing blood as a two armored fingers caught her cheek squarely even as she flicked it out of the way. Wrenching herself free from his now loosened grasp, Arcadia hardly missed a beat as she rushed forward, breaking the sprint with a turn, and a faint blur of a kick - that went right right over his head, the momentum giving way to a second, straight needle kick. He could only raise his arms against the impact, praying they delivered.
They did so. Barely.
Snapping to his feet, he was greeted by the sight of her knocking her arm back into place, still wearing her impassive look. Someone similarly impervious to pain she was, perhaps. "Round one...ended."
[Initial OPFOR Rating Confirmed.]
"Indeed." She was good, no doubt about it...
[Status - Most Certainly Proceeding.]
"Round two now?"
...and pretty crazy too.
"You go, Nolan!!!"
"Kick her ass, damn it, what's takin' you?"
"Like I said; just win this and we all go home."
Not like his motley crew of makeshift cheerleaders were any better, of course.
Noland grinned, bitterly.
"Well...I don't seem to have a choice, do I?"
Spoiler for Notes:
OPFOR: OPposing FORce. The ratings and advised courses of action are, of course, not real, and not something you should be trying at home.
Oh well, welcome, Noland, to the loli-doghouse: You'll survive as long as you can zenryoku zenkai being stuck between a rock and a hard place on a day-to-day basis, so good luck.
Last edited by XenahortCharybdis; 2009-09-27 at 10:55.
Actually, OPFOR stands for OPposing FORce, and refers in wargames to the enemy side. Nanoha's daily job is this, as a member of the Aggressors (aggressor being the general military term and OPFOR refering to a specific agressor unit within the US military context).
That said, it's not unusual to find the same label applied to the enemy for reals.
Further example: Forwards vs Uruz Team in an exercise. Uruz Team are the OPFOR for the Forwards.
__________________
One must forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged.Heinrich Heine.
Actually, OPFOR stands for OPposing FORce, and refers in wargames to the enemy side. Nanoha's daily job is this, as a member of the Aggressors (aggressor being the general military term and OPFOR refering to a specific agressor unit within the US military context).
That said, it's not unusual to find the same label applied to the enemy for reals.
Further example: Forwards vs Uruz Team in an exercise. Uruz Team are the OPFOR for the Forwards.
Oh Lord.
I fixed that down at the FFT...looks like I forgot something down here.
What have we here? Too much violence, too much screaming, too much of stating the obvious!
...Peace, love and crack, I say, is what we need; the one-stop solution to SERIOUSNESS
Shiny's response.
You read too much and too deeply...
...Hence this is all your fault, Shiny, and then Tempest's.
So take responsibility for this, my first crack:
Spoiler for Lolicon Chronicle - Part I: That Girl, She's Dangerous!:
Part I: That Girl, She's Dangerous!
It was a day when all seemed well and sundry with the world. The sun was not too glaring, the winds not too strong, the weather neither scorchingly hot nor bitterly cold nor overly humid, and the newspapers not too sensational. In fact, for a certain Noland Reninger, it was almost too uneventful, but pleasantly so such that he'd allowed himself to start -naively, he knew, but still it gnawed- hoping somewhere that such a tranquil peace might remain.
Knowing where he stood, and where he was, of course, he shouldn't have dared to try, as a scream ripping through the air (and his fantasy), and the rapid thundering of feet on the ground were presently to prove. He sighed and stood up, preparing for the worst-
"NOLAAAAAAANDDDD!!!!!"
Thunk. He suddenly found an extra weight on his head: a large hat, fopping through the air, came to rest on his crown, albeit at a rather awkward angle.
"...Vita. What is this?"
Her reply: unceremoniously seizing one of the folds of his coat, and proceeding to dive for cover underneath it, like a soldier fleeing the shell-hell of no man's land for the trenches, glancing out like a frightened rabbit, and then, confident that whatever she'd been fleeing from was not going to rain on her parade again any time soon, reached out to retrieve her hat. And finding that she hadn't qite grown enough to achieve that yet when Noland was standing up straight.
Sensing her distress (not like it wasn't evident already), he handed her the oversized, which she accepted, surprisingly taciturn. "...Now, now. What's going on here-"
"Shu-shut-up! It's nothing! Just...let me...stay here for a while, 'aight?" Vita pouted. That expression, coupled with the fact that her face was now very nearly as red as the rest of her, made it hard for the already baffled Knight to refuse. Still, some clarifications were in order, perhaps: this was far too unusual to be discounted as a mere whim on her part.
"Whatever might you want to do that for-"
"I JUST WANT TO! None of your business!" Following the outburst, the Iron Knight, likely feeling rather embarrassed and altogether discomfited with herself, seemed to moderate her stance a little. "...A-Anyway, it's just for a while! So..."
"Alright." Noland held up a hand, as though attempting to restore order to her cacophony by doing just that. "I understand. Have a seat-"
He cut himself off, as two shadowy movements at the corner of his eye caught his attention, and two cries rang in his ears."NOLAAAN!"
He recognized them immediately, of course, but only that. That and the fact that they completely ignored him following an impressively long-ranged double submarine dive under his coat as well; launching instantaneously, full-steam into their own private little conversation. He sighed - it was something he still had yet to get used to, their ability to act as though they were the only two people in the world ever so frivolously...
"Aah, thank goodness!" Vivio's heavy breathing and heaving chest told him what they'd been doing before: running scared, no doubt. But from whom...or what?
"Yeah, what the hell." Syn concurred, as she swiped a line of pespiration off her forehead. "That was just...crazy."
"...Did we lose her?"
"I...I dunno."
"Y-You'd better have! If she appears ag-gain..."
"Don't even talk about it. Save your energy for then." That was rare. Someone had actually insinuated herself into the folds of his jacket without being noticed. There were only a select few who could accomplish that, even when his guard wasn't up. And to be small enough to fit into his coat in the first place...
"W-What the hell?!"
"KYAAAA--!!!! Where'd y-you come from, Kaon-chan?!"
"Damn, don't scare us like that!"
...In any case, no one seemed to be sharing his sense of calm: Vita was already pretty jumpy, and the sudden appearance of another person in between herself and Vivio understandably became a bigger shock to both of them than it otherwise would have been. Syn was the furthest from the new addition, but she seemed perturbed enough nonetheless.
"Sorry. Anyway. Reninger." Despite standing at an unimpressive 4-feet-nine, Kaon Jin looked oddly imposing for being the commonly-dwarfed party as she crawled out from under him and stood somewhat aloof, arms akimbo and stance unwavering. Only a slight flush on her cheeks, and the irregularity of her breath gave the lie to her usual unflappability, and shed some light upon the common nature of their threat and plight. "You're protecting us from her."
"...What?" 'She'. 'Her'. It was all too vague, too fast. "A moment please - Who is this person you all speak of? I'm afraid I won't be mounting a very appropriate defense unless I am told who the enemy is-"
"SHE'S A MONSTER!"
"...What? That wasn't particularly specific-"
Syn was first, leaping to fill in the blanks in his head. "She has long flowing black hair, like in the movies!"
"She's huge!"
"And she has freaking glowing eyes!"
"And she wears black, too. Not many people do that apart from Enforcers, and then again not all black." Kaon, mercifully, had the last say, bringing the rather noisy, disorganized and short-lived inquisition to an acceptably quiet close. It hadn't revealed much, but at least he was getting the idea. "That's all you need to know, right?"
Under any other circumstances, he would have told them that distinct facial features (preferably unobscured by mysterious light sources imagined or otherwise), a more preciese estimation of height and a little less screaming would have done them all a lot more good, both in terms of tactical advantage and secrecy, but the situation appeared to dictate otherwise - a niggling feeling at the back of his mind, a flash of instinct, told him that they were no longer alone.
It seemed he was going to be saved the time of thinking after all; the girls' expressions said as much, too, their rather superfluous gasps aside.
He turned slowly. And then stared.
What the hell was this?
A black ensemble. Long flowing hair of jet mixed with a mottle of greys, like a raven's wing. Fairly average for a woman not wearing any height enhancing footwear. A pair of blue eyes that burned as though with smouldering fire within. A face as pristine as porcelain china, and quite possibly as pale - and despite that, and what he was told, an aura of a complete airhead. She looked, in a word, lost: far from being a stalker, she looked as one stumbling into garish light from utter darkness, or perhaps more pertinently, like a child ambling about in some secret garden.
Most oddly, she seemed to have completely missed his presence, despite the fact that normally, a large man with four girls smuggled away in a billowing greatcoat would stick out like a sore thumb, to say the least.
"Talk about juxtaposition, eh?" Kaon rasped hoarsely from her new location at his lower left flank.
"Indeed, confusingly so. Kaon...enlighten me: what kind of monster is this, exactly?"
Staggered breath, the immortal next to him seemingly considering the veracity and appropriateness of her next statement. "...It's a LOLICON."
An awkward silence followed that, as the position of the Knight's eyebrows settled into a unique position of positional contrast. This was getting less and less comfortable by his standards. "...That...explains a lot-"
The youngest member of the Takamachi family frowned, befuddled by the colloqualism. "Wait. What's a lolicon?"
Another silence, as three pairs of incredulous eyes fell on Vivio.
"Well, it's a person who likes-"
Noland found himself stumbling over words, his mind a little too addled to to intercept that one. Only the intervention of the summoner, her thoughts much sharper and considerably less confused, prevented the other heterochromatic from shooting her mouth right off to what would surely be disastrous effects. "Not for the young, Syn. Actually, I correct myself: it's a miracle she doesn't already know."
"What d'you mean by that?!"
"Shuttup, you lot." Vita growled. "That girl's slow, but she ain't blind by a long shot-"
"Ah." The effect that the "monster"'s first congruous statement since her entry had was shockingly stupendous: in a flash, all conversation had ceased, and all heads had ducked back into the relative safety of his coat's interior. There were a few muffled cries of annoyance as they bumped and jostled each other in their haste, but nothing his gratituously long outer layer and the distance could not handle. Still, he did not quite see the point of their overly hasty retreat: it was a leaky cover at best, and the presence of 4 all-too-visible bulges in its topography of contours rendered whatever scant visual protection against an observing eye that it could originally provide to near-nothing. It was almost amusing, but they'd been noticed, and that was no cause for good humor.
He cleared his throat. There was only one thing to do. "Excuse me, miss, but these ladies here are currently my charge. As such, I would appreciate it if you would...Miss-"
[Code Zero Point Five: Guardian Crasher is Active.]
[O.P.F.O.R. Threat Level: Amazing-]
-Her presence, abruptedly, without warning, disappeared off the radar. "...?"
For an instant, every nerve in his body screamed their warning klaxons, painting his body on red alert. He hunkered down, prepared for surprises, and was unpleasantly surprised indeed to suddenly find his senses flooded up to their extremities by its reemergence mere inches from of his face. She was fast, and her aura by far larger for now having taken on that sense of purpose that it had hitherto lacked. A hint of a smile played across her face as she spoke, shattering the former spell of innocuous inscrutability with one far less evidently benign. "Knight...I've decided: We duel. Whoever wins, keeps them. But if you're busy, it's a no-contest: I keep them."
Her conditions for truce completed, she stepped back. "I'll pay if anything goes kaput. Reply soon, now."
Kaon just frowned as Noland turned, tacitly seeking counsel. "She's kind to pay damages...But you know who'll be paying if she wins, Reninger."
"True, though I feel that this situation is just not appropria..."
"You're the only one here who can do it, and she's challenging you anyway...This is your fight as much as it's our's: who's with me on that one?"
The Knight then found himself the bemused recipient of 5 diverse looks: a sharp, angry glare, two imploring looks and one fleeting glance of nebulous expression and intent; all different, but all of which polled one and the same. No referendum this was at any rate.
"Well, four votes to one...I think we have a majority."
Oh, hell, Noland sighed inwardly as he turned from the totalitarianism of the 'majority' to face the lady in black again. That was fast, and unexpectedly sore for a loss - but what was he to do anyway, refuse? It was futile from the beginning anyway, he knew. Right from the moment they chose him as their shield, this fate at least was already cast in stone. "A...all right. I accept your challenge." "So, when do we begin?"
"Well..." For a moment, that lost-child look returned again, as she considered the question. But only for a moment.
"...Introductions first...You're 'Nolan'. I'm 'Arkady'. And so-"
"-We start now." And then she was in first gear, screaming in at an amazingly tight angle following a pivot and a leap to his side, her outstretched right arm bearing down on his neck. Easy, almost, too easy: a block with his left arm, then snapping his wrist around to pull her down by the shoulder, the ominous pop sound serving as assurance that his force had been sufficient to dislocate it. He sprang forward, a hand reaching out for her face and the resulting pin-down-
-was she smirking?
"Too hasty to get on top, Knight." Her body arched backwards, and her legs disappeared from view; a bad sign. Twisting rapidly to his right as they both prepared to hit the deck, he winced as the edge of her boot bit mercilessly into his back in a bare-miss graze that ran cleanly down the curve of his sternum, missing the critical points by bare milimeters, even as Noland's own blow whistled past the side of her face, drawing blood as a two armored fingers caught her cheek squarely even as she flicked it out of the way. Wrenching herself free from his now loosened grasp, Arcadia hardly missed a beat as she rushed forward, breaking the sprint with a turn, and a faint blur of a kick - that went right right over his head, the momentum giving way to a second, straight needle kick. He could only raise his arms against the impact, praying they delivered.
They did so. Barely.
Snapping to his feet, he was greeted by the sight of her knocking her arm back into place, still wearing her impassive look. Someone similarly impervious to pain she was, perhaps. "Round one...ended."
[Initial OPFOR Rating Confirmed.]
"Indeed." She was good, no doubt about it...
[Status - Most Certainly Proceeding.]
"Round two now?"
...and pretty crazy too.
"You go, Nolan!!!"
"Kick her ass, damn it, what's takin' you?"
"Like I said; just win this and we all go home."
Not like his motley crew of makeshift cheerleaders were any better, of course.
Noland grinned, bitterly.
"Well...I don't seem to have a choice, do I?"
Spoiler for Notes:
OPFOR: OPposing FORce. The ratings and advised courses of action are, of course, not real, and not something you should be trying at home.
Oh well, welcome, Noland, to the loli-doghouse: You'll survive as long as you can zenryoku zenkai being stuck between a rock and a hard place on a day-to-day basis, so good luck.
Mwhehehe, not even the slightly taler loli Syn escapes the Lolicon.
Still looking for a good moment in Vivid to introduce it (maybe next chapter will give an opening?), but after slaving away behind the computer in the bits of free time I had the past few weeks, I really wanted to get this outa here.
Spurred by Vivio's teasing and petting, I present to thee: Vivid Syn, now in teenage form.
Spoiler for imagery:
It's a good thing ten year olds aren't that worried about chest sizes yet. Vivio still has (and will probably always have) her beat in that regard.
Her device, Belkan of course, is a device created by Syn herself (although with the help and resources of the more experienced Shari and Aurion). Helskor specializes in enhancing her leg strength. This makes Syn quite fast, while maintaining a solid defense. On the downside, she has little in the way of ranged attacks beyond standard Belkan ones (which, really, don't have that much range either), and zero flight capability, though she managed to partially circumvent that last weakness by taking a leaf out of her teacher's book and partially mimicking Nove's Airliner, creating small platforms in mid-air for her to stand on and kick off, giving her limited aerial capabilities.
I kept the name Helskor, because where it was a cool name for her former bow, it is now an even more appropriate name here. In Norse mythology helskór ("hel-shoes") were put on the dead so that they could go to Valhalla.
It's Marvellous what Macronization can Do For You! /cheesy advert tune
You guys are awesome. I think I hate fanservice so much that I can't do proper ones myself, so apologies in advance if the best my works turn out is something closer to a To Aru verse novel of random scenes with serious stuff, long conversations, many explanations and little fluff. This I quote from a friend at uni.
After a bit of thought and laughs here's a revamped guy
Spoiler for edited?:
Name: Dagonet Praefectus
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Height: 215cm
Weight: 128kg
Mana Capacity: SS
Ground Combat Rank: B
Air Combat Rank: N/A
Composite Rank: B
Hair Color: Blond
Eye Color: Blue
Combat Style: Full melee no magic
Background
Spoiler for short and generic backstory:
Raised as an only child in a far too loving family, everything he desired was his. In a sheltered world, he lived sincerely believing in the existence superheroes and divine beings. He also believed if he worked hard enough, he could also become a superhero. After years of hard work reading myths and legends, he joined the TSAB to smite evil the local militia could not handle.
At the TSAB, although he had his uses his zeal and character made it difficult for him to advance. Many believed he joined as a joke and would quickly go AWOL within three months. Unfortunately for them, he stayed much longer. Due in part from winning a bet with his Lieutenant (the Lieutenant did not believe he would stay for a year), he was considered for promotion and promoted to Sergeant after fourteen months of service.
With his promotion to Sergeant, he felt that it was a sign of future glory to come. One day, while policing his base, he found a random coworker drinking on the job. What happened will not be said, but in the end his coworker was dead and he himself faced 8 years of jail time. While in jail he thought hard about his actions, asking himself why he was punished for doing something that was not only justified, but right. What he realized was that the TSAB was not an organization for true justice, it was corrupted from within and would need to be eradicated and made anew. Thus after he was released, he began his war against the tyrannical TSAB.
Personality
Spoiler for knightly personality:
Dagonet Praefectus is a proud warrior who believes he is destined for greatness. His absurdly high mana levels help maintain his belief that he is the Chosen One who will who will lead the Armies of Light to Victory over Darkness on the battlefield. Because generals aren’t known for fighting in battle, he is fine taking orders from others as long as he can lead the charge against the enemy. Actually, he is fine whenever he is slaying evil. Dagonet believes that the world is split between light and dark without a speck of gray. As long as he believes you are on the side of Light you will only see his chivalrous side.
Spoiler for weapon of choice:
Dagonet Praefectus’s weapon of choice is the gunblade Clarent. It is an Armed Device in the shape of a 42-inch longsword. It uses a magazine system to load 5 cartridges, but strangely it is located on the sheath. When both its sheath and sword are combined, its Gun Form is revealed. The magazine of the Gun Form is rumored to hold 10 high explosive incendiary saboted armor piercing hollow-point tracer flare rounds of unknown size. Whether or not it is believable is another question. Many of his comrades speculate it is in fact a fake round used to sound cooler and superior to compensate for something that needs not be discussed here. Whatever the truth is about Clarent, it really does has a nasty kick, although his heavy weight and armor helps reduce the effects of recoil.
Spoiler for same pic as last time:
Spells
Spoiler for spells befitting a true knight:
Light Sword: Performed at the cost of one cartridge, the next time Clarent is drawn it will shine with bright light. It’s not so bright that it blinds, but it’s bright enough to be seen.
Righteous Fist: A punch that when used in conjunction with his armor can instantly kill a civilian. When forming a fist, hidden blades are revealed in his armor, causing severe lacerations to the target. Most used for justifying his arguments because sometimes the truth lies in the fist. When others complain that it is un-chivalric, well they’re just picking a fight with a virtuous knight.
Voice of the Titans: Before the battle he can make speeches that can rouse tired soldiers to fight. During battle his voice is loud, clear, and inspiring even at the edge of defeat. Linguists have analyzed his voice and found nothing special about it. Perhaps it is because he honestly believes in what he yells.
Divine Comedy: Dagonet has supposedly journeyed both heaven and hell and was granted this spell from the king of justice. Divine Comedy is a passive spell that greatly improves his personal regeneration. It is only active while Dagonet is not in battle, and it can fully heal moderate wounds in a day. This useful spell allows him to smite evil more often if he retreats often.
Summoning—Knight Armor: Summons armor typical of a medieval knight. The armor appears in just the right places, negating the need to get in while battling. Usually Dagonet never needs to summon it though, as he enjoys wearing it. Unlike many other knights, Dagonet’s armor is not materialized from mana; it is made of real steel forged in the basement of his family’s home. As expected of real materials, it can defend against mass attacks effortlessly. What is unusual is its strength against magic based attacks. Armor specialists theorize that due to constant polishing, the surface of the armor has somehow gained gem like qualities. It is common knowledge that gems can generate all sorts of magical fields, although just how can mere polishing oil make steel into gems remains a mystery.
Familiar
Spoiler for faithful companion:
Name: Bucephalus
Mage Rank-if-he-were-a-mage: AA
No knight is complete without a horse! Dagonet has summoned a familiar that takes the shape of a fully armored white horse. He views his master with disdain, although he enjoys watching Dagonet’s antics out of battle. He primary role in battle is to restrain his master from being too foolhardy. Do note that Bucephalus is a far superior mage than his master.
Magic
Spoiler for so far familiars can do some magic so:
Lone Stampede: Movement magic that enables Bucephalus to rapidly charges at the enemy. Used to get Dagonet close to the enemy so that he can begin smiting them, although sometimes Bucephalus ignores his master’s command to stop and slams into the enemy.
Invisible Path: An invisible road that only appears where Bucephalus’s hoofs lie. It is Bucephalus’s take on flight magic, allowing him to gallop in the air.
Great Shield: Bucephalus’s greatest shield meant to protect both rider and horse. Unfortunately, his master tends to ignore the benefits the shield can give, preferring to close in by himself, taking the enemy’s attack straight on.
Hoof Smash / Hoof Kick: An attack by the powerful hooves of a horse. Because horses are stronger than humans, this attack carries powerful force, capable of causing severe blunt trauma.
Burning Breath: Dagonet first imagined his familiar would be a great dragon, but instead got a white horse. However, Bucephalus managed to have fire-breathing abilities similar to a firedrake.
Summoning—Toxic Sludge: Dagonet also imagined his familiar would not need to do un-knightly acts such as defecating. This turned out true, although not in a way he imagined it. Bucephalus stores his manure in hammer space. When using this magic, it creates a magic circle above the target location, and a river of horse manure flows, creating a fatal trap for the weak hearted.
Flash of Hooves: The spell that allows characters to escape in times of comedy. Allows Bucephalus and Dagonet to retreat 100 km in mere seconds.
Random things
Spoiler for small bit of randomness:
Dagonet loves children because they are more willing to listen to his tales of adventure.
Part of his success is because he shows up as a SS ranked mage on mage scans, causing either retreat or overdeployment.
Originally he wasn't supposed to be my first oc here, but while I was writing a bit of crack got into my head and I couldn't resist.
To be honest I haven't decided anything with him but when the crack starts rolling it's hard to stop typing...
Spoiler for no edits, just for lulz:
“You’re under arrest for killing civilians and causing unrest in this city. Disarm and you will get a fair trial.” ~A generic line said before capturing criminals flies from Nanoha’s mouth.
“So says the White Devil. Your illusion magic is useless against my eyes, as they can see only truth. Revert to your manly form and get down here and face me as a man!” ~Unlike other criminals, Dagonet seems more concerned with other, more important things.
“Eh? But I’m a woman.” ~Nanoha is distracted.
“Hmph. We do not believe the words evil men spout!” ~Like his eyes, his ears only hear truth.
“Master, you’re creating illusions for yourself.” ~So the wise familiar speaks.
“Really Bucephalus?” ~He remains doubtful. Could his eyes and ears of truth be wrong!?
“Of course. Do you have a problem fighting a woman?” ~The wise familiar thinks too far.
“Only righteous women, my steed. I slay all evil instantly, no thought required.” ~He seems to have agreed Nanoha is in fact a woman.
“I need to capture him now, but he has escape spells that move him even faster than Fate! Is there anything you can do, Raising Heart?” ~Meanwhile, Nanoha is brainstorming for a way to negate the Flash of Hooves spell.
[There is a solution master.] ~The ever resourceful Raising Heart answers.
“That form? But we haven’t used it in a while. I’m a bit rusty with it and I’m sure it’s tiring on you.”
[Everything will be all right master.] ~Has Raising Heart ever said no? Well at least there’s no risk this time.
“All right, I trust you. Raising Heart, Befriending Mode!”
[All Right. Befriending Mode. Set up complete. Befriending field in place. Escape is not an option.] ~Once befriending mode starts, there is no escape.
“If you will not descend to fight me on land I will take my battle to the air! Bucephalus, let’s go!” ~Bucephales gallops up in the air…
“Diviiiiine Busterrrrrrr!” ~in time to take a befriending beam.
“Master, you idiot! I could have protected you! Why did you choose to jump away from me into the spell!” ~He didn’t think the beam could stop him.
“Real men…need no magic…nor tricks…in battle…against…evil….”
“I’ve beaten your master, familiar. Will you surrender as well?”
“I am the ox head horse Bucephalus. When my master falls, I will fight in his place. Lone Stampede! Hoof Smash!” ~Spell spam here.
“! Ahhhhh!” ~Nanoha fails to defend! She falls safely onto the ground.
“Summoning—Toxic Sludge!”
“What is…this…disgusting…thing….” ~Paralyzed by disgust.
“Master, we must escape. I cannot hold off against her much longer.” ~The wise familiar cannot sense the befriending field is still up.
“Steady yourself, Bucephalus. The enemy is turning to insanity; the dark sludge oozing around her must be her evil side. Soon the White Devil will become Black and any innocent lives will be lost. As a stalwart defender of justice I must put an end to her quickly! Activate Light Sword! The sword of light shall always triumph over darkness.” ~Need that speech before the final charge.
[Reactor Purge] ~Raising Heart offers a solution.
“Haaa…haaah…thank you. We’ll end it quickly as well. Raising Raging Heart! Zenryoku Zenkai! Starlight Breaker!” ~Zenryoku zenkai--the last step in the befriending process.
“Ahhhhhh!” ~I’m bad at expressing sound in words; insert some more painful voices here.
“They’re not dead…that was at point blank….” ~Of course they didn’t die; no one dies when they’re making friends.
“Your power…is amazing…. I now see…the true path…of justice…. If you will allow…I will join you…and build a new world order.” ~He sees the one true path!
“Eh?”
“What are your orders, my Queen?”
[Befriending Successful]
Well, this fellow is certainly very funny
Just a thought. Maybe, if you are going to continue work on him, it would be a good idea imho to give him some spells that are actually useful. It's hard to imagine that he could stay in the TSAB for more than a year and not learn something that's more utilitarian.
Unless, of course, he IS that stubborn . Or his accomplishments (if any) actually came from Bucephalus
Still looking for a good moment in Vivid to introduce it (maybe next chapter will give an opening?), but after slaving away behind the computer in the bits of free time I had the past few weeks, I really wanted to get this outa here.
Spurred by Vivio's teasing and petting, I present to thee: Vivid Syn, now in teenage form.
Spoiler for imagery:
It's a good thing ten year olds aren't that worried about chest sizes yet. Vivio still has (and will probably always have) her beat in that regard.
Her device, Belkan of course, is a device created by Syn herself (although with the help and resources of the more experienced Shari and Aurion). Helskor specializes in enhancing her leg strength. This makes Syn quite fast, while maintaining a solid defense. On the downside, she has little in the way of ranged attacks beyond standard Belkan ones (which, really, don't have that much range either), and zero flight capability, though she managed to partially circumvent that last weakness by taking a leaf out of her teacher's book and partially mimicking Nove's Airliner, creating small platforms in mid-air for her to stand on and kick off, giving her limited aerial capabilities.
I kept the name Helskor, because where it was a cool name for her former bow, it is now an even more appropriate name here. In Norse mythology helskór ("hel-shoes") were put on the dead so that they could go to Valhalla.
That look... That selection of outfit... Why does it look so familia-.....
KEROKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
@__@
PS: Syn's VA isn't going to be Chiba Saeko... is she?
I see. As it were, having the zero historic knowledge I have, I decoded it using what I see in the human body, which is the xxx-encaphalon in your brain.
With Bu meaning 4, that's how I got the understanding of "4 Heads".
Thanks for the heads up. Always good to learn something everyday.
EDIT: It takes a trap to break another trap huh?
But after seeing you fall for Nadeko... I know for certain. YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANYTHING ABOUT MY IMOUTO! >=3
2009-09-26, 11:02
Author
I think I hate fanservice so much that I can't do proper ones myself, so apologies in advance if the best my works turn out is something closer to a To Aru verse novel of random scenes with serious stuff, long conversations, many explanations and little fluff. This I quote from a friend at uni. 
