A Vista of the Void [Worm/Familiar of Zero Xover]

Poor Vista

 

Worm and ZnT? Watched!

 

This is going to go terribly wrong and I'm going to watch it every step of the way. Just don't forget language barriers. French is a thing. Or hand wave it, whatever.

 

I was thinking of going the "Void ex Machina" route, making the Gandarf runes have an automatic translator effect. Maybe I'll make Vista comment on the strange accents.

 

Vista clearly studied French in school.

 

Also, you don't see it much in canon due to Manton restrictions, but Vista is one of the most powerful space warpers ever. After Scion did his thing, Vista ended up warping across countries, if only under Khepri's 'guidance'.

Erm, let's see...powers are from extra-dimensional shards, Louise's main element is Void, so there might be some byplay there.

Anything else? Oh right, culture. Vista is a very experienced hero in an American culture where superheroes are a thing. She really shouldn't ever be holding the idiot ball on some of the more 'common sense' problems she'll encounter but culture shock is a thing. Being in Brockton Bay will make you either more open minded or even more criticizing, with very little middle ground. On the other hand, Halkeginea has a culture with nobles. Not even well-loved nobles-in-name-only, but actual blue blood nobles who don't view the common folk as much. Those cultures violently disagree, in my opinion.

...aannd, that's all the things I can think of off the top of my head that you should pay attention to.

EDIT: Wiki says her powers give her passive mapping of matter within a certain range and that she carries a Tinkertech gun 'capable of vaporizing a vending machine'.

 

This. Why overcomplicate things? People do learn other languages without magical assistance.

 

Louise should be glad she didn't summon Taylor instead.

Louise going into her "treat the familiar like a dog" routine...

And well Taylor..... can anyone say "BEEES!"?

 

1.) She's a Ward. I highly doubt she was taking a foreign language class.

2.) At the start of Worm, she's 12. As an American, 12 year olds are not taught additional languages outside of special (usually family related) circumstances.

3.) There is no point 3. I just wanted an extra number to make it look like I had more to say.

4.) Wait, I remember now. Saying, "Because magic." doesn't really count as over implicating things.

5.) If she did learn an extra language, she'd likely choose some Asian language due to ABB presence in Brockton Bay.

 

1) As a Ward, who will likely be expected to take part in Endbringer fights and coordinate with foreign capes - like Québecois - it's not improbable she might be encouraged to learn a language.

2) Depending on which school she goes to, that can be different.

3) She can totally have a family-related circumstance.

4) Why didn't the magic also fill her with the needed knowledge to actually talk to people without offending their alien values if it gave her the knowledge to use a language? Knowing French makes it less complicated.

5) Québec is not that far.

 

1.) Wards actually require parental permission to participate in Endbringer fights...which she has, nevermind. That said, There's no real communication between capes during Endbringer fights beyond the initial, 'Go with this guy and fulfill your assigned role'. I see your point about being encouraged to learn a language though.

2.) Regardless of the school she went to, she's a 12 year old Ward. The idea of her learning French fluently stresses my SoD pretty hard.

3.) ...I'm gonna stay away from this one actually. In my head, the name Missy Biron sounded white but in hindsight, I don't really know anything.

4.) I actually don't understand what you're saying here. When I said, 'Magic', I was thinking more that the familiar runes would be trying to make it easier for them to communicate, and the easiest way would be either an empathy link or some quick-and-dirty language infusions. The 'alien values' part is going way over my head. I mean, Missy hasn't actually spoken yet.

(You mean why not help the two girls understand each other's cultural values? Because those aren't a part of language, I guess? Though now that you mention it, you're right, why not? Could be part of that empathy bond the other familiars get, easy...)

5.) And I don't know anything Quebec either (I'm not a very worldly person). Do you mean it's not far from Brockton Bay?

 

The majority of the French and the French-speaking Canadians are actually caucasian, aka "white". And Québec, the French-speaking part of Canada, is just north of Vermont and Maine - a bit over 300 miles if your take a car from Boston to Montréal. It's really not much of a stretch to have Missy have some French-speaking relatives.

 

Ding Ding! We have a winner!

 

I am constantly amazed that people forget the easy fact that Saito got his language comprehension from a spell cast on him by Louise.

Translation magic in ZnT is 'casual' magic, just like flying is. A mere cantrip for the more experienced sorceror to cast. There's a reason why Mages hold supreme power, even in a world with 'guns' and 'cannons' - they're simply outclassed by the incredibly versatile and powerful magical system already in place.

Bullets? Cannons? LOL! Look at me, I am Karin the Heavy Wind. I just summoned a tornado that destroyed your town and half your countryside, and those cannon and high-end explosives you threw at me? No, my autonomous and wholly intelligent 'wind-clone' (basically a flying naruto-esque shadow clone) worked wonders by deceiving you all. I was also invisible and under a wind-shield all along.

And any mage whom can stack three elements can do the things above, if to a lesser extent. Kirche the slutty bimbo, is at, what, 16, capable of stacking 3 elements. And she obviously cares little about being 'powerful' and 'capable' with magic, from what we see of her. It was more of an organic development that comes from studying over several years. Fits with the 'magic system' of 'Willpower' / 'mana' they've got as well.

Uuugh... What was my point again?
Ah, yes, acquiring the language should be laughably easy when it's brought up to a teacher. Unless Louise decides to half-assedly curse Vista out of frustration, shame and embarrassment, like in the anime. (Which happened in canon - "Why don't you speak my language, you filthy commoner dog! EXPLOSION!" - Bam. Language learned).

 

In my defense, I've never actually read or watched the series.

 

The language thing is anime only. Louise did messed up the summoning in the anime. In the novels she used the normal summoning and it worked on the first try. Summoning uses the void to find the familiars and makes then able to understands the summoner. There shouldn't be any language barriers.

 

Couple points, first off I like this idea. I think you could do a great story with what you have here. However you need a rewrite, as the way you describe whats happening makes it hard to follow. Too many run on sentences, I actually only made it half way through before i Decided it was too much. Look for a beta if you have to, this isnt in NSFW so finding someone shouldnt be too hard. Your choice of 3rd person for everything is jarring as well. Have you considered writing from Louise or Missy's point of view? Some quick info on Missy here-
http://worm.wikia.com/wiki/Vista

Dont think the color of her skin was mentioned in story directly, but i would have to check if she got shit from the Empire for it. I dont think she did so most likely shes white.

Also, in the anime its a failed spell that Louise cast when angry with Saito that gave him the ability to speak. The name of the language is not french, although the world is based on western Europe in about the 1400s (and this date could be way off, dont remember the exact time period). The Country is based on France and was suppose to have a musketeer type feel to it.

With some work and a rewrite this could be amazing. Have yet to read anything with a combo like this in a ZnT setting. Most have either a normal person SI or some super powered person/creature.

Hope you keep writing as its the only way to get better, but with the current story writen how it is I shall not continue to read. Will hold out and see what you do with the next chapter before i Decide. Always hoping to read good stories.

 

Vista gives Tristain a tremendous tactical advantage.

- She can instantly deploy armies ANYWHERE on the battlefield, increasing Tristain's military projection abilities.
- Instant retreat, instant flank, instant assassination, etc.
- She can scout at extreme range with minimal risk, either by herself or using other soldiers.
- She can force multiply the range of spell casters, cannons and muskets.
- Bullets and spells will never miss when under her radius. Agnes could fire at the ground and she would still hit her target in the opposite direction without line of sight several miles away.

If she second trigger or if the Familiar Runes managed to bypass her Manton Limitation, she'll be unstoppable.

Her "Magic" will be highly prized. If she grows up here and marries, her children might trigger off of buds of her shard, creating a Noble House of Space Warping "Magic".

 

Or more likely they will fear the "magicless commoner" who has Powers.

They will seek to control her, or bind her Powers, or kill her instead.

They will not allow something like her to exist.

 

They could as well assume she has magic, just some different magic, and treat her like a familiar, or a noble.

 

Ah langue barrier? If you want to make an excuse for why she can talk just use the book continuity. Saito could understand Louise the moment he was summoned. There wasn't even a need to bind him.
Also familiars can do some weird things. Saito had clearly inhuman speed and strength as a commoner and didn't get killed for being a monster. So there is no reason for the nobles to think that her powers are some sort of heresy... unless they want to kill her that is but with a war coming up they need all the firepower they can have.

 

I would look into vista's powers more if i where you. She cant do most of this (although she could possible allow some people to move faster on a battlefield or increase the range of some, your right there). The whole point of what i think would make this story good would be that Vista is not over powered and cant just destroy any enemy, but that she can help fight and has supernatural powers other then magic. Hell if you think about it Vista might get the runes that Saito had, or another one of the familar runes.

 

Her warping powers basically negate most spells and ranged weapons aimed at her and depending on the parameters of her Manton Limit she might be capable of destroying golems and constructs at will since they're not alive.

And that's not counting her ample experience as a cape. Compared to the sheer diversity of capes a spellbook of elemental magic is easy to plan a counter against, especially if she can direct the blast of Louise explosions towards their target with perfect accuracy and shaping the detonations for maxium impact and minimum colateral damage. And while she hates to use it, there are many advantages she can get out of the harmless image she conjures with her age and lack of wand or other visible weapon, especially against nobles who will understimate her until she proves how foolish is to do so.

And the familiar runes would increase her offensive power five times over.

 

One, two. Vista's coming for you.

Three, four. She'll space-warp right past the door.

Five, six. She's coming with blood-dripping red swords, not pick-up sticks.

Seven, eight. Her bloodthirst you will sate.

Nine, ten. She's here with you in your den.

 

My American middle school taught both French and Spanish starting from 6th grade. Vista might not be fluent, but if she's going to a good school she's probably learning a second language.

 

+1 I even had Latin classes in grade school, though I had to switch to Spanish in 7th grade because my junior high only had Spanish and I think the other big local public junior high only had French.