AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
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The Way of the Blue [Lantern OC]
- Thread starter AverusBlack
- Start date
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
I haven't died lol
Just been busy and needed to figure some stuff out for the stories overall direction and premise, will update soon
Just been busy and needed to figure some stuff out for the stories overall direction and premise, will update soon
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - Interlude (The Golden Lord)
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Drifting complacently through the darkness,
Covered and blinded by a blanket of little lives.
False security has lulled the madness of this world into a slumber.
Wake up! An eye is upon you,
Staring straight down and keenly through.
Seeing all that you are and everything that you can never be.
Yes, an eye is upon you. An eye ready to blink...
It passes through his mind almost without thought, like reciting a poem or stanza you practiced a hundred thousand times for four weeks in school as a child and still recall perfectly as an adult decades later. Almost automatic. He knows it's associated with music somehow, despite not being a song unto itself. Or perhaps he lost the tune, or never knew it at all, for some reason.
Nonetheless he keeps thinking it over and over as he watches the blue light wielder and his new green friend. It surprised him how quickly they managed to pass his test once they got an opening. The last time he did this, the green user went and got himself fatally shot like a stupid asshole, forcing him to work fast and slap together a set up to preserve him. Most of the facility had been dedicated to that and studying the green light itself. With Engel incapacitated he believed he had the time, but now...
Now, he needed to accelerate his plans.
His suits stealth system began beeping at him and he turned away, towards the planet below. Passing down through Psyche's atmosphere his suits beeping got a bit frantic before the stealth system finally cut out and shut down to cool off, vents on his back and sides opening up as a plume of heat passes in a wake behind him as he approaches the deck in free fall. Turning at the last moment he slams into the ground, using the ring to protect himself but not the rock he impacts, his construct-reinforced armor taking the brunt of the impact and reflecting the kinetic energy back outward, causing the stone to shatter and the force of it to radiate outwards. Houses miles away would feel the tremor and investigate. The evidence of his mere arriving would stay with the area for years to come and help cement his reputation.
Rising back up out of the small crater he's made he takes a moment to look out across the area he's landed in, not far from the seat of his ally. Though he could easily be a main player himself, doing so would have forced him to assume direct control of things. If one is to emulate a successful fear-based personality, he could do worse than Darth Sidious. Indirect control through manipulation and psychology afforded him far more freedom of movement and operation than would be possible should he assume direct political power in any organized structure. Even worse, the new blue guy seemed to have taken a page out of his book, like a light-side reflection of himself.
The rings fear meditation had changed him, he knew that. Looking back on the person he'd been when he arrived made him feel a certain level of revulsion at how fearful and weak he'd been. Of all the reflections of himself he'd met so far, only he and Red had enough of themselves left to really have any knowledge of themselves or where they'd come from, like something had split the person they'd once been and only emotionally tied memories were preserved. Whoever they'd been that person had been angry and fearful, or perhaps had caused fear. Something about it had tied into many parts of their life.
Dealing with Red had been difficult at first but got a lot easier after the ring had done its best to... re-align him. Red didn't do things in half measures and preferred permanent solutions but was far more rational than he'd ever expected the woman to be. Her rage had a calculating sort of edge. A cold, surgical anger and hatred applied with laser precision and nuclear force. Long term planning and intelligence operations were most decidedly not her strong point, which is how he'd become the point-man for deciding on how to proceed with operations for their little group. Red mostly preferred to stay in situations where things were fine, life was good and there was no reason to be angry at all. She saved that for when he had someone to point her at.
As he approached the city the sun dipped below the horizon behind him, passing below the curve of the planet and bathing the city in reddish orange light. Sprawled across the tops of cliffs broken by deep ravines with running water, the dark red and purple leaves of the trees gave the area a grim sort of look, something unquestionably played up by the architecture. The Sanrome had built their structures with elaborate curves and flourishes, gargoyles and stone faces with lolling tongues, laughing devils and saints in repentance. Serious, dour and very inactive during the day time, it was a city of the dead. Not inhabited by the dead, but for the dead. The city below him specialized in the internment, disposal, funeral rites, mummification and cremation of the dead of all the cultures of this continent. A city of priests and clergy and clerics, a city of gods and monsters.
Sometimes they even managed to be civilized, it was kind of nice.
Approaching the palace overlooking the city he doesn't bother coming in by the ground, approaching a single window overlooking the cliffs below and stepping into it lightly, standing on the sill and looking inside. The vast sprawling hallway was lit with fire light flickering and dancing like the people within, a live band playing symphonic music as gentlemen and ladies - nobles in the truest sense of the word, both in terms of social class and ethical direction - danced with prim precision. He gracefully relieved a young woman with a tray of drinks of one of them, giving a nod to her and receiving one in turn as he approached the edge of the hall, leaning against a pillar lazily and watching the dancers.
"Did your experiment fare well, Lord Fear?"
The young lady, now bereft of her tray. The dark blue-gray skin used to put him off but now he can't help but find it endearing. For a Sanrome she was almost pretty, small metal bands with chains along her ears, framing the point of the tip with a fine chain running from one ear to the ring in her nose. The black scelera of her eyes only framed the bright green of the iris and he tilted his head as he realized he'd been staring a little and not answering her question.
"Yes and no. It got a bit out of hand I'm afraid and I've lost my laboratory completely."
"Oh no! That's awful."
"A sub-optimal result, but the overall test was successful, I think. Is the Highlord here?"
"He is, Lord Fear. He's presently in another room consulting with Lady Vara but I'm sure he'll return in short order."
"No, no. Don't trouble him, let them have their time together." He waved it off lazily, sipping his wine. "Please let him know I'll likely require some time to set up a new facility. Someplace out of the way this time, I think. I chose the location poorly the first time."
"I will do that right away." She gave a slight bow, turning and heading back into the crowd as the dancers flourished and bowed together, the waltz hitting a crescendo.
When the others began to clap, he joined in too. They were running out of time now, it was true. With Blue in play it might not be long before Indigo appeared and the sealed weakened a little further. He needed to find a way to whip the others into shape before then, establish contact with Green and Blue, find the other five central batteries... So much to do.
But for now, wine and dance and pretty gothic elfen girls.
There was always tomorrow.
Covered and blinded by a blanket of little lives.
False security has lulled the madness of this world into a slumber.
Wake up! An eye is upon you,
Staring straight down and keenly through.
Seeing all that you are and everything that you can never be.
Yes, an eye is upon you. An eye ready to blink...
It passes through his mind almost without thought, like reciting a poem or stanza you practiced a hundred thousand times for four weeks in school as a child and still recall perfectly as an adult decades later. Almost automatic. He knows it's associated with music somehow, despite not being a song unto itself. Or perhaps he lost the tune, or never knew it at all, for some reason.
Nonetheless he keeps thinking it over and over as he watches the blue light wielder and his new green friend. It surprised him how quickly they managed to pass his test once they got an opening. The last time he did this, the green user went and got himself fatally shot like a stupid asshole, forcing him to work fast and slap together a set up to preserve him. Most of the facility had been dedicated to that and studying the green light itself. With Engel incapacitated he believed he had the time, but now...
Now, he needed to accelerate his plans.
His suits stealth system began beeping at him and he turned away, towards the planet below. Passing down through Psyche's atmosphere his suits beeping got a bit frantic before the stealth system finally cut out and shut down to cool off, vents on his back and sides opening up as a plume of heat passes in a wake behind him as he approaches the deck in free fall. Turning at the last moment he slams into the ground, using the ring to protect himself but not the rock he impacts, his construct-reinforced armor taking the brunt of the impact and reflecting the kinetic energy back outward, causing the stone to shatter and the force of it to radiate outwards. Houses miles away would feel the tremor and investigate. The evidence of his mere arriving would stay with the area for years to come and help cement his reputation.
Rising back up out of the small crater he's made he takes a moment to look out across the area he's landed in, not far from the seat of his ally. Though he could easily be a main player himself, doing so would have forced him to assume direct control of things. If one is to emulate a successful fear-based personality, he could do worse than Darth Sidious. Indirect control through manipulation and psychology afforded him far more freedom of movement and operation than would be possible should he assume direct political power in any organized structure. Even worse, the new blue guy seemed to have taken a page out of his book, like a light-side reflection of himself.
The rings fear meditation had changed him, he knew that. Looking back on the person he'd been when he arrived made him feel a certain level of revulsion at how fearful and weak he'd been. Of all the reflections of himself he'd met so far, only he and Red had enough of themselves left to really have any knowledge of themselves or where they'd come from, like something had split the person they'd once been and only emotionally tied memories were preserved. Whoever they'd been that person had been angry and fearful, or perhaps had caused fear. Something about it had tied into many parts of their life.
Dealing with Red had been difficult at first but got a lot easier after the ring had done its best to... re-align him. Red didn't do things in half measures and preferred permanent solutions but was far more rational than he'd ever expected the woman to be. Her rage had a calculating sort of edge. A cold, surgical anger and hatred applied with laser precision and nuclear force. Long term planning and intelligence operations were most decidedly not her strong point, which is how he'd become the point-man for deciding on how to proceed with operations for their little group. Red mostly preferred to stay in situations where things were fine, life was good and there was no reason to be angry at all. She saved that for when he had someone to point her at.
As he approached the city the sun dipped below the horizon behind him, passing below the curve of the planet and bathing the city in reddish orange light. Sprawled across the tops of cliffs broken by deep ravines with running water, the dark red and purple leaves of the trees gave the area a grim sort of look, something unquestionably played up by the architecture. The Sanrome had built their structures with elaborate curves and flourishes, gargoyles and stone faces with lolling tongues, laughing devils and saints in repentance. Serious, dour and very inactive during the day time, it was a city of the dead. Not inhabited by the dead, but for the dead. The city below him specialized in the internment, disposal, funeral rites, mummification and cremation of the dead of all the cultures of this continent. A city of priests and clergy and clerics, a city of gods and monsters.
Sometimes they even managed to be civilized, it was kind of nice.
Approaching the palace overlooking the city he doesn't bother coming in by the ground, approaching a single window overlooking the cliffs below and stepping into it lightly, standing on the sill and looking inside. The vast sprawling hallway was lit with fire light flickering and dancing like the people within, a live band playing symphonic music as gentlemen and ladies - nobles in the truest sense of the word, both in terms of social class and ethical direction - danced with prim precision. He gracefully relieved a young woman with a tray of drinks of one of them, giving a nod to her and receiving one in turn as he approached the edge of the hall, leaning against a pillar lazily and watching the dancers.
"Did your experiment fare well, Lord Fear?"
The young lady, now bereft of her tray. The dark blue-gray skin used to put him off but now he can't help but find it endearing. For a Sanrome she was almost pretty, small metal bands with chains along her ears, framing the point of the tip with a fine chain running from one ear to the ring in her nose. The black scelera of her eyes only framed the bright green of the iris and he tilted his head as he realized he'd been staring a little and not answering her question.
"Yes and no. It got a bit out of hand I'm afraid and I've lost my laboratory completely."
"Oh no! That's awful."
"A sub-optimal result, but the overall test was successful, I think. Is the Highlord here?"
"He is, Lord Fear. He's presently in another room consulting with Lady Vara but I'm sure he'll return in short order."
"No, no. Don't trouble him, let them have their time together." He waved it off lazily, sipping his wine. "Please let him know I'll likely require some time to set up a new facility. Someplace out of the way this time, I think. I chose the location poorly the first time."
"I will do that right away." She gave a slight bow, turning and heading back into the crowd as the dancers flourished and bowed together, the waltz hitting a crescendo.
When the others began to clap, he joined in too. They were running out of time now, it was true. With Blue in play it might not be long before Indigo appeared and the sealed weakened a little further. He needed to find a way to whip the others into shape before then, establish contact with Green and Blue, find the other five central batteries... So much to do.
But for now, wine and dance and pretty gothic elfen girls.
There was always tomorrow.
Last edited:
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - 09
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
"Yes, just like that. See? A gun is relatively simple, but ultimately you're limited to small caliber bullets. What kind of gun were you using?"
I thought Ren was big. I hadn't met all of the genkits personally but Magnus is the biggest one I've seen yet, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ren herself. He looks like somebody took the biggest bodybuilder they could find, pumped him up on steroids, fed him testosterone, glory and the spiritual essence of Terry Crews, then turned him into a giant bull-man. His hand is roughly the size of my head. It's genuinely impressive.
I had a 'stop, hold up' moment when Elise brought a bunch of her friends and squad mates to our practice sparring match. Ring combat practice with her is surprisingly helpful and when she pulled the ring off and began sharing it among her squadmates I couldn't help but be surprised. The idea of not having them be familiar with its use was as alien to her and them as the idea of casually handing my ring to somebody else was to me, but it's working out. Magnus is their weapons quartersmith, so he's been giving me a brief lecture on weapons crafting with the ring making a record of his knowledge as he goes over it in his mind.
His knowledge and experience, staying in the ring, becomes Elise's. Shared among her peers she's building a skills database in a way I never considered doing. Teaching lessons to the ring wasn't something I would've thought up in a million years.
"Same kind of rifle your infantry carries, but larger. It wasn't complicated."
"Naw, see, that's the stuff we use when we probably have to shoot at you but don't really want to kill you to death. I mean, anything you shoot at is gonna get holes poked in it and that's bad but it's not depleted uranium, grenades or light speed weapons. You don't see us firing electron unbonding rifles. But it's a possibility you should consider against certain classes of enemy you might run up against out here."
I nod, folding my arms behind my back. "Do you want to try again?"
He shakes his head and pulls the ring off, flicking it back to Elise. "Naw man, I wanna hit the mess. When you two synchronize again, read the files on railguns and laser-based weapons. Especially that last one, since it goes through constructs." I get a light pat on the shoulder and then Magnus is ambling away as Elise meanders over to me.
"So, what did you think? Get anything useful out of it?"
"Yeah, I think so." I nod to her. "I didn't know much about weapons but I'm getting there."
"Honestly? I'm finding it harder to form complicated devices with my ring than you seem to find doing it with yours. If I don't visualize the device in my mind it doesn't work and holding that while doing other things... It takes practice."
"Ah. That's why you wanted to do these?"
"Yeah, partially. Also because I'm not an expert in combat but I have people who are. Our strength has always been in our drive to co-operate with each other. It's why I'm comfortable letting them wear the ring, I know it'll come back to me."
"You think I should do the same?"
"If you trust us enough to, yes. Do you?"
"Oh, I don't know. See, I did only just meet y- haha!" She's just punched me in the arm lightly. "Okay, okay. Yes, I trust you guys."
"Then you should let others train with the blue ring. If anything happens to you, someone else can pick it up and in the short term, your ring can probably learn things from them."
"Speaking of... What's your rings database like?"
"Ring, give me a display version of your database I can scroll through, standard genkit computer interface."
"Okay, here you go. What are you looking for?"
"Huh, your ring is kinda talkative."
"You develop a bit when you're the only conversational partner of a person trapped in a time dilation field for about a two years."
That makes me blink. "Are you alive?"
"Not in the sense of being a creative, independently thinking entity, no. However I can extrapolate probable responses based on my interactions with Engel and by mapping his personality I can reasonably provide a simulacrum which sounds and seems a lot like a person."
"So you're his personality?"
"No."
I wait to see if there's anything else but nope, nothing. Elise shrugs, then so do I. "Hey ring, how about you?"
"This ring does not have a baseline personality simulation to map probable responses with."
"Yah, you told me that before. So how do I change your default settings?"
"Hope that this ring can become like that personality."
I hit my own face with my palm and sigh, letting it slide down my face. "Of course. I shouldn't have asked."
Elise is paging through data entries. "This is interesting. He has a bit of data on Psyche, that other planet we were above. Have you been down there yet?"
I float over to her, landing next to her and leaning in a bit to read her HUD. "No, I put off landing down there until I could upgrade myself a little. What's in store for me?"
"Looks like sandworms, fungal forests and a techno-magic based society using necromancy as a foundation for pretty much everything they do. This ring only has data on a small subsection of one continent, though. Looks like this guy went on a little tour around the area to see what's up and then got sidetracked."
"Still useful to know, though. Anything really relevant to us?"
"Dunno. Ring, what were Engel's most pressing priorities when he got stuck there?"
"Obtaining the yellow ring. Finding the green central battery. Scanning technology."
"Excuse me, what the hell is a central battery?"
"The central battery is the primary nexus for emotional light capacitor charging and serves as the main anchor point in the physical universe for the purest manifestation of emotional light. It is the draw point for the personal batteries tied to rings."
"Does this rings battery draw from a central battery?"
"Affirmative."
"Where is it?"
A location appears in my mind, a thread stretching far up out of the atmosphere, away into space. I look upwards.
"Hey Elise, feel like going for a walk?"
I thought Ren was big. I hadn't met all of the genkits personally but Magnus is the biggest one I've seen yet, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ren herself. He looks like somebody took the biggest bodybuilder they could find, pumped him up on steroids, fed him testosterone, glory and the spiritual essence of Terry Crews, then turned him into a giant bull-man. His hand is roughly the size of my head. It's genuinely impressive.
I had a 'stop, hold up' moment when Elise brought a bunch of her friends and squad mates to our practice sparring match. Ring combat practice with her is surprisingly helpful and when she pulled the ring off and began sharing it among her squadmates I couldn't help but be surprised. The idea of not having them be familiar with its use was as alien to her and them as the idea of casually handing my ring to somebody else was to me, but it's working out. Magnus is their weapons quartersmith, so he's been giving me a brief lecture on weapons crafting with the ring making a record of his knowledge as he goes over it in his mind.
His knowledge and experience, staying in the ring, becomes Elise's. Shared among her peers she's building a skills database in a way I never considered doing. Teaching lessons to the ring wasn't something I would've thought up in a million years.
"Same kind of rifle your infantry carries, but larger. It wasn't complicated."
"Naw, see, that's the stuff we use when we probably have to shoot at you but don't really want to kill you to death. I mean, anything you shoot at is gonna get holes poked in it and that's bad but it's not depleted uranium, grenades or light speed weapons. You don't see us firing electron unbonding rifles. But it's a possibility you should consider against certain classes of enemy you might run up against out here."
I nod, folding my arms behind my back. "Do you want to try again?"
He shakes his head and pulls the ring off, flicking it back to Elise. "Naw man, I wanna hit the mess. When you two synchronize again, read the files on railguns and laser-based weapons. Especially that last one, since it goes through constructs." I get a light pat on the shoulder and then Magnus is ambling away as Elise meanders over to me.
"So, what did you think? Get anything useful out of it?"
"Yeah, I think so." I nod to her. "I didn't know much about weapons but I'm getting there."
"Honestly? I'm finding it harder to form complicated devices with my ring than you seem to find doing it with yours. If I don't visualize the device in my mind it doesn't work and holding that while doing other things... It takes practice."
"Ah. That's why you wanted to do these?"
"Yeah, partially. Also because I'm not an expert in combat but I have people who are. Our strength has always been in our drive to co-operate with each other. It's why I'm comfortable letting them wear the ring, I know it'll come back to me."
"You think I should do the same?"
"If you trust us enough to, yes. Do you?"
"Oh, I don't know. See, I did only just meet y- haha!" She's just punched me in the arm lightly. "Okay, okay. Yes, I trust you guys."
"Then you should let others train with the blue ring. If anything happens to you, someone else can pick it up and in the short term, your ring can probably learn things from them."
"Speaking of... What's your rings database like?"
"Ring, give me a display version of your database I can scroll through, standard genkit computer interface."
"Okay, here you go. What are you looking for?"
"Huh, your ring is kinda talkative."
"You develop a bit when you're the only conversational partner of a person trapped in a time dilation field for about a two years."
That makes me blink. "Are you alive?"
"Not in the sense of being a creative, independently thinking entity, no. However I can extrapolate probable responses based on my interactions with Engel and by mapping his personality I can reasonably provide a simulacrum which sounds and seems a lot like a person."
"So you're his personality?"
"No."
I wait to see if there's anything else but nope, nothing. Elise shrugs, then so do I. "Hey ring, how about you?"
"This ring does not have a baseline personality simulation to map probable responses with."
"Yah, you told me that before. So how do I change your default settings?"
"Hope that this ring can become like that personality."
I hit my own face with my palm and sigh, letting it slide down my face. "Of course. I shouldn't have asked."
Elise is paging through data entries. "This is interesting. He has a bit of data on Psyche, that other planet we were above. Have you been down there yet?"
I float over to her, landing next to her and leaning in a bit to read her HUD. "No, I put off landing down there until I could upgrade myself a little. What's in store for me?"
"Looks like sandworms, fungal forests and a techno-magic based society using necromancy as a foundation for pretty much everything they do. This ring only has data on a small subsection of one continent, though. Looks like this guy went on a little tour around the area to see what's up and then got sidetracked."
"Still useful to know, though. Anything really relevant to us?"
"Dunno. Ring, what were Engel's most pressing priorities when he got stuck there?"
"Obtaining the yellow ring. Finding the green central battery. Scanning technology."
"Excuse me, what the hell is a central battery?"
"The central battery is the primary nexus for emotional light capacitor charging and serves as the main anchor point in the physical universe for the purest manifestation of emotional light. It is the draw point for the personal batteries tied to rings."
"Does this rings battery draw from a central battery?"
"Affirmative."
"Where is it?"
A location appears in my mind, a thread stretching far up out of the atmosphere, away into space. I look upwards.
"Hey Elise, feel like going for a walk?"
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
If you offer me those three rings there will always be next decade.
Will it be enthusiastic?
Also girls do like long walks together or so the general idea goes. I mean it's not on a beach but spacewalks combine the romance of long walks with stargazing.
Also Also ring sharing goodness, Wonder when they will try two rings on the same person.
Chojin Patriarch
Veteran Lurker
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2019
- Messages
- 2,645
Ooh, that's some spicy action. let's dig in!
"I can't kick your ass otherwise."
Yes, this doesn't scream 'trap' at all...
No, wait, that'd only work if she were a mongoose...
"Usul, we have Wormsgin the likes of which God has never seen!"
"Big Damn Heroes, sir."
"Ain't we just."
"...No, I'm not alive, I just seem that way because I talk smart and think like my last boss."
I guess the other guys never bothered asking where their central battery is? Oh, wait, easily distracted.
See, when you said 'mantid' I immediately thought of the Thranx. It's an easy comparison. As for the city? Looks like shit went down...
Crud. Magical crystalline fungus. Safe bet the Dwarves above will definitely want to brick up the gallery and collapse it.
Oh, that just makes it so much worse...
Maybe after tossing a bundle of lit firebombs in. Ainsley can make that much easier. Assuming fire doesn't make the crystals grow faster...
Bonus! At least some of the infected can be reclaimed...
Yeah, I can see the dwarves not being that good at textile work. Yes, it's stereotypical, but there's only so many archetypes to go around...
Welp, time for a crash-course in ring combat. Unfortunately, you're gonna be taking some lumps...
Which begs the question of how he got so good... Sounds like Ainsley is not the first lightsmith he's fought.
"Oh, you're approaching me?"
"I can't kick your ass otherwise."
Oof. That's just embarrassing. Not a great showing for his first time against another ring-wielder. Completely understandable, but still...
Any other time, this'd be nice. But under these circumstances...
Evil is relative. Very few people believe they're the villain of their own story. At least he didn't do anything physical to her. Not that it excuses his behaviour, though.
Yours' and many of the readers', Ainsley... Which is a sign of good writing, making us care about the characters.
Because of course he would. Why allow an opponent any advantage?
Interesting names (Though Africa should be capitalised.) On the other hand, I doubt a lot of humans from her world could tell the difference between genkits descended from a particular species or breed. So fair's fair.
A well-read lady.
<Metal Gear Solid theme intensifies.>
Yes, this doesn't scream 'trap' at all...And Mr Chekov's put his gun on the mantelpiece...
A Bleed Torsion Generator, most likely? And now Ainsley has the specs.
At least he's learning new tricks out of all this.
Oh, this Ring AI has character already.
You'll just have to remember your CQC training, Snake Eater...
No, wait, that'd only work if she were a mongoose...And the gun's back off the mantelpiece. Also: Ouch.
"Gee, that's an awful nice everything you've got there... Be a shame if something were to happen to it..."
Whoops. Nice job breaking it, hero.
Oooh, nifty.
Guh, minion master bosses. Such a pain.
Interesting beam. Some form of Spectrum energy, or merely something like it? The equivalent of a D&D Prismatic spell, perhaps...
"Stilgar, do we have Wormsign?"
"Usul, we have Wormsgin the likes of which God has never seen!"
Good logic. Last thing you want in ring combat is being trapped in a confined space.
"Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?"
"Big Damn Heroes, sir."
"Ain't we just."
If anyone reading doesn't know: Hope and Will reinforce and strengthen each other well beyond their individual limits.
Well, he's got a name to go with the punchable face, now (Ainsley hadn't caught it before now, had he?) And Ainsley and Elise make a damn good team.
Damn straight!
Interesting. So he had the same amnesia Ainsley did when he arrived? There's a fascinating parallel.
Geez, waht a dick... I bet that was someone's field!
Hmm... So there's a Red ring wielder around too, eh? Wonder if Orange has shown up. Or maybe they went full Larfleeze and are holed up in a cave somewhere with their shinies.
Quite a bit different from the iconic DC depiction of Red Lanterns as frothing rage-beasts. I like it.
I'm reminded of the necropolitans from 'The Sandman', an entire city and its' people devoted to mastering a multitude of funerary rites.
Space may seem liek a good place, but sooner or later, something's going to ruin your day...
No doubt he's heard all the 'big guy' jokes...
Sometimes, you just really need to kill something deader than dead.
Good plan. Don't know if the rings have seeker protocols installed, but you should have a plan just in case of mortality.
"Okay, can we have that again, without the ten-dollaor words?"
"...No, I'm not alive, I just seem that way because I talk smart and think like my last boss."
The hard part is deciding what sort of personality you ope for it to haev...
That seems to be a common thing with Ring-wielders around here.
"Like a normal battery, but much, much bigger. Duh."
Heh.
I guess the other guys never bothered asking where their central battery is? Oh, wait, easily distracted.
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AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Very enthusiastic.
Corrected, thank you. I try to proofread my own posts but I still miss things sometimes.
You know, it's funny, but nobodies stopped to ask how old Elise is. Give you a hint: She's older than she seems to be
You'll just have to remember your CQC training, Snake Eater...
DATS WACIST
I don't really have a witty response to this, just the Elise in my head cackling like a loon
Oh no, she totally is. It's just not an enjoyable state of mind and cutting loose like that, she loses any sense of direction, so it's like being a living seek-and-destroy missile. Once launched you just get the fuck out of the way and let it go down from outside the splash zone.
"Is it gothic enough yet?" "It could be more gothic?"
For you. - Magnus
Heh.
To be fair, the ring AI's tend to be reactive rather than pro-active, so unless they know to ask, there wouldn't be any reason to and it wouldn't come up.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Updates coming in later today
Though to be fair I'm being way way more consistent and sticking to this story than most of my other hobby projects. Chronic depression makes it hard to focus on things, for real.
Though to be fair I'm being way way more consistent and sticking to this story than most of my other hobby projects. Chronic depression makes it hard to focus on things, for real.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
*Hugs*
Hey its okay, you update faster than many authors and it's better to not compare yourslef to rhen anyway everyone has different amounts of time to write, some people can bash out a chapter in minutes, others need hours or days.
The main thing to menis I'm enjoying the story. I can wait for updates. Just Don't burn yourself out okay?
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Haha, nah. That happened years ago. It usually takes me about 30-45m to write out one of these posts so it's not too difficult, I tend to shoot for a range between 1000-1500 words each depending on what's going on and how far I need to take it that day, so it's not too bad. Sometimes I just find it hard to think, like my brain is in a fog and the ideas don't come so readily. I have a rough idea of where I want to go, just struggling to work out how to get there and I'd rather delay a little than Game of Thrones the story
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On A Moonlit Walk - 01
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
It's amazing how fast flying can become mundane. Thrilling and amazing at first, it quickly becomes just another way to get around. As useful as transitioning is, when I asked about what happens when it's blocked I suddenly found a much less pressing desire to use it constantly. I like all my atoms remaining in place here instead of the Plane of Hope.
Flying out towards the signal my ring has been giving me for the 'central battery' quickly took us off-world, approaching the outer edges of the solar system. Although I couldn't physically see anything but stars around me the ring is giving me a good sense of where we are. The vast tracts of time where we're just flying doesn't bother me so much because I can woolgather like this in an environment where we're far less likely to be interrupted or attacked and Elise has been happily flying in a sitting position, browsing through her rings database on exotic technologies.
It does raise the question of what happens if we try to leave this system, though. I can't see anything stopping us but every time I try to scan past the Oort cloud the ring gets a little fucky and starts giving me 'unable to scan' returns. Something to investigate while we're out here probably but in the short term, eyes on the prize. Getting distracted seems to be a chronic problem for me, but not for Elise. The green ring seems to be helping her focus somehow, or perhaps that was always something she was good at. When we synchronize I get some of that too and the charge reserve boost is great. Having a 200% power pool while working together means both of us can fight harder without having to worry as much about holding back due to power constraints.
I glance over at Elise, flying in a laying position on my back with my hands behind my head. She's all focused on her reading, which is fine. Before she got that ring I liked her, it's true. Intelligent and focus-oriented towards whatever her goals are. She'd have made a good fit for my own ring color, I think. One of my long term goals here is to forge a second blue ring as part of my journey towards mastering the blue light and originally, I was going to give it to her, but with the green ring in play it may end up going to Samazurasha or Kurishalia instead. Which is fine.
But I never expected to really have a partner in this, not for a long time. Someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with me and do the same kind of things I can do. It's relieving to have her doing this with me but at the same time I'm not sure how to feel about the fact she seems to be becoming... a little attached? I guess I can't blame her since I sort of pulled a rescue operation for her and she ended up getting that out of it, from her perspective I probably seem like - pardon the pun, self - a knight in shining armor. Construct armor shines, right? Right. So it counts.
But I don't know how to handle it. I'm not sure I'd know how to handle it if it was a human girl flirting with me, but Elise is both my friend and a demihuman. I don't hold that against her, not really, but at the same time I don't look at naked genkits and get excited about it either. I'm not sure if that's the lack of a nudity taboo among them or if I'm just not attracted to them at all. I didn't have the same problem with Saxali. Point of fact, Noah's wife is hot. But she has the benefit of looking mostly human, save for the ears, tail and the way her eyes look. Close enough to count without quite straying into uncanny valley, just sort of overlooking it.
So what am I going to do if she decides she's falling in love with me or something?
I look away from her. I don't want to hurt her and I do like Elise, I like being around her. She's a great personality. I'm just not sure if I'm a bigot for not being into her physically or if she's just far enough outside my norm that learning to would take a little work. But frankly what the fuck is normal for me, anyways? I'm a glowing blue man who can change shape at will, fly, fight monsters. Normal fucked off down south a long time ago and is sending me 'wish you were here' postcards in the mail. Maybe I should just try to let go of any considerations for what normal is and just go with whatever happens?
"We're not far now. Any better idea of where the signal is coming from?"
I glance over at her, breaking my train of thought. "Neptune, I think. Or what would've been Neptune for me. I can just about remember all the planet names but this solar system is different from my home one."
"Really? How?"
"Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and then Pluto and all the stuff out in the Oort Cloud."
"Interesting. You don't consider Pluto to be a planet?"
"Don't... don't start. That argument had been going on for awhile when I found myself here, I'm pretty sure."
"Hah, okay. Well, when we get there, how do you want to proceed?"
"With style and aplomb." That gets me a look. "No seriously, I don't know. I'm just winging it, you think I have a plan? Haha! I don't have any plans! This is all improv, all the time."
She dismisses the HUD she'd been using to browse and rests her hands in her lap. "Ainsley, I know that. Ren literally gave me orders to be your tactical brain. So we're gonna figure out how to get to this thing safely, or we're not going in at all, because frankly you're too valuable to lose."
"Okay, okay." Neptune is almost visible now, a faint blue dot far in the distance. "We'll have to see what we find there before we can make any real plans, though."
"Perfectly acceptable. But since it's my job to browbeat you -"
"Just don't use a newspaper."
"Oh please, paper is way too valuable for now. I'd use a stick."
"That's not any better!"
"It is for me?"
Flying out towards the signal my ring has been giving me for the 'central battery' quickly took us off-world, approaching the outer edges of the solar system. Although I couldn't physically see anything but stars around me the ring is giving me a good sense of where we are. The vast tracts of time where we're just flying doesn't bother me so much because I can woolgather like this in an environment where we're far less likely to be interrupted or attacked and Elise has been happily flying in a sitting position, browsing through her rings database on exotic technologies.
It does raise the question of what happens if we try to leave this system, though. I can't see anything stopping us but every time I try to scan past the Oort cloud the ring gets a little fucky and starts giving me 'unable to scan' returns. Something to investigate while we're out here probably but in the short term, eyes on the prize. Getting distracted seems to be a chronic problem for me, but not for Elise. The green ring seems to be helping her focus somehow, or perhaps that was always something she was good at. When we synchronize I get some of that too and the charge reserve boost is great. Having a 200% power pool while working together means both of us can fight harder without having to worry as much about holding back due to power constraints.
I glance over at Elise, flying in a laying position on my back with my hands behind my head. She's all focused on her reading, which is fine. Before she got that ring I liked her, it's true. Intelligent and focus-oriented towards whatever her goals are. She'd have made a good fit for my own ring color, I think. One of my long term goals here is to forge a second blue ring as part of my journey towards mastering the blue light and originally, I was going to give it to her, but with the green ring in play it may end up going to Samazurasha or Kurishalia instead. Which is fine.
But I never expected to really have a partner in this, not for a long time. Someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with me and do the same kind of things I can do. It's relieving to have her doing this with me but at the same time I'm not sure how to feel about the fact she seems to be becoming... a little attached? I guess I can't blame her since I sort of pulled a rescue operation for her and she ended up getting that out of it, from her perspective I probably seem like - pardon the pun, self - a knight in shining armor. Construct armor shines, right? Right. So it counts.
But I don't know how to handle it. I'm not sure I'd know how to handle it if it was a human girl flirting with me, but Elise is both my friend and a demihuman. I don't hold that against her, not really, but at the same time I don't look at naked genkits and get excited about it either. I'm not sure if that's the lack of a nudity taboo among them or if I'm just not attracted to them at all. I didn't have the same problem with Saxali. Point of fact, Noah's wife is hot. But she has the benefit of looking mostly human, save for the ears, tail and the way her eyes look. Close enough to count without quite straying into uncanny valley, just sort of overlooking it.
So what am I going to do if she decides she's falling in love with me or something?
I look away from her. I don't want to hurt her and I do like Elise, I like being around her. She's a great personality. I'm just not sure if I'm a bigot for not being into her physically or if she's just far enough outside my norm that learning to would take a little work. But frankly what the fuck is normal for me, anyways? I'm a glowing blue man who can change shape at will, fly, fight monsters. Normal fucked off down south a long time ago and is sending me 'wish you were here' postcards in the mail. Maybe I should just try to let go of any considerations for what normal is and just go with whatever happens?
"We're not far now. Any better idea of where the signal is coming from?"
I glance over at her, breaking my train of thought. "Neptune, I think. Or what would've been Neptune for me. I can just about remember all the planet names but this solar system is different from my home one."
"Really? How?"
"Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and then Pluto and all the stuff out in the Oort Cloud."
"Interesting. You don't consider Pluto to be a planet?"
"Don't... don't start. That argument had been going on for awhile when I found myself here, I'm pretty sure."
"Hah, okay. Well, when we get there, how do you want to proceed?"
"With style and aplomb." That gets me a look. "No seriously, I don't know. I'm just winging it, you think I have a plan? Haha! I don't have any plans! This is all improv, all the time."
She dismisses the HUD she'd been using to browse and rests her hands in her lap. "Ainsley, I know that. Ren literally gave me orders to be your tactical brain. So we're gonna figure out how to get to this thing safely, or we're not going in at all, because frankly you're too valuable to lose."
"Okay, okay." Neptune is almost visible now, a faint blue dot far in the distance. "We'll have to see what we find there before we can make any real plans, though."
"Perfectly acceptable. But since it's my job to browbeat you -"
"Just don't use a newspaper."
"Oh please, paper is way too valuable for now. I'd use a stick."
"That's not any better!"
"It is for me?"
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
*Hugs*
Hugs for brain fogs.
Pink!!!!!@ pink pink pink pink! LOVE! AFFECTION! CARE! L O V E!!!!
Sorry just love love. Even tiny hints of it, platonic or romantic, make my brain happy.
Also nice to see the happiness at a partner.
When will he learn that it's less of a "my hero however can I repay you?" Situation and more that she laid claimed to him on day one and things are just getting a hit more obvious?
Has he considered HOPING really hard that he finds her sexy?
Tiny bit of pink!!!!!!
How many Hugs and hand holding sessions woukd it take for a completely pink word?
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Sweet, always nice to get a new reader.
O b l i v i o u s
Ainsley is clever, but not always smart.
About tree fiddy
On A Moonlit Walk - 02
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
"Like the phoenix, I'll rise again.
To protect my family and defend my friends.
Let all who stand against us fall,
With this light I'll lift us all."
The green personal battery - which looks a lot like two cones merging into a spherical core with a handle on top - vanishes back into Elise's subspace pocket and I drop the construct box around her protecting her from space as she recharged. Since I did my ring first I'm content to take a moment to let her acclimate as I study what's below us.
Above Neptune, situated directly in a band between its rings is... not a ship, exactly, nor an asteroid. The closest equivalent I can come up with is a castle. Floating in space. No explanation, just 'fuck you, this is what's happening to day, deal with it'. I'm sure there's a point where I'll eventually get used to that sort of thing but today isn't it.
"Okay, this is what we do. Since its your ring leading you here, you go in but I follow you at a minor distance behind. You take point and I'll cover your back and try to make sure nothing can properly trap you from the inside. Hey, did you scan any of yellows drones?"
"Yuh huh. Haven't built any of my own yet though."
"Sucks. Would've been helpful to have here. Welp, lets go plunder the space castle. Ahoy, matey!"
I follow her down as we approach it, having the ring run continuous scans. The structure itself is spinning slowly as it drifts and as we fly in there's a ripple of blue as a shield forms around the structure. I stop and turn as Elise bounces off it, looking surprised.
"You can't pass through?"
"No, but you can, obviously. Whoever built this clearly didn't want it to be easy for another color to get inside."
"So much for the plan. I'm going to go ahead."
"Wait! Ring, synchronize."
"I can't initiate contact with the blue ring while it's inside."
I drift up and exit the shield, looking at Elise. "Ring, synchronize."
"Synchronizing."/ "Synchronizing."
I pass back through the shield and pull Elise with me. There's resistance now where there wasn't any before and it takes effort to push through it with her, but after a moment we're through to the other side and I let go of her. We fly down towards the structure together and in front of us she creates a green ablative shield, puzzling me for a moment. We lower down towards what looks like an entrance and she extends it out and around us in a shell of hexagonal panels.
"What are you doing that for?"
"The moment you walk into a structure is usually the same moment ambushes happen or defenses kick in."
I nod and drift inside with her. "I don't think we'll need that. Don't ask me how, I just... don't."
The antechamber is a dark gray stone with blue lines passing through and over every surface like circuit board etchings. Leaning in I examine one of the walls, then reach up and touch -
The biggest hunting range! The success of my clan, of my family! We'll always come out on top, no matter how many try to contest us. Not in a thousand years!
- a line, tilting my head slightly as I lower it. It wasn't just like channeling the blue light with the ring, I could feel the emotion as it ran through me like my body completing an electrical circuit. Startling and a little overwhelming.
"Don't touch the lines."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, it's just intense. This entire place is being powered by the hopes of those three planets, I think. Somehow."
I drift upwards, rising into the air and following the flow of the lines, Elise following me at a distance. Drifting upwards towards the ceiling, the domed sealing -
- with a blue light sigil carved in stone at the center of it.
I press my hand against it, frowning. Nothing happens and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I don't know how to just make blue light, I need a focus...
Oh. I'm dumb.
"Elise, I'm going to try something and if it doesn't work something might happen but I don't know what."
"Gotcha." She turns to face the race of the chamber and I reach out with threads of blue light, touching the lines around me.
Guh.
I think I'm panting, it's so overwhelming. I'm experiencing the emotions like it was my own and it's as overwhelming as deep grief or blinding rage, I can't... focus...
Then it stops and blue light flows out from the sigil, out from the center of the dome above us. We have just enough time to marvel at it before a pillar of blue light slams us both into the floor!
I can't move. Too much pressure, it's suffocating. Then it's suddenly gone and I can't help but gasp, rolling onto my side. I can hear Elise doing something similar, pushing herself up.
"I haven't been pushed into the floor that hard since I got back together with my ex. The fuck was that?"
"Ow."
"Yes, ow. Hey, look."
I push myself up off the floor and look behind me at the center of the room. There's a two story tall personal battery much like the one my ring has, the core glowing in a way I'm finding hard to look directly at. 'Central' battery indeed, holy shit.
"This is where your rings power comes from? Why's it so large?"
"Beats me."
"It kinda just did."
"Smartass."
She doesn't get time for a retort because the facility glows brightly and then begins to vibrate, the blue lines around us pulsing. It sounds like something beating on the walls around us.
"Oh great, now what the hell is going on?" I form construct armor and produce a pair of railgun constructs, augmenting my armor suit as Elise does the same.
She braces as glowing orange enemies begin charging into the room!
To protect my family and defend my friends.
Let all who stand against us fall,
With this light I'll lift us all."
The green personal battery - which looks a lot like two cones merging into a spherical core with a handle on top - vanishes back into Elise's subspace pocket and I drop the construct box around her protecting her from space as she recharged. Since I did my ring first I'm content to take a moment to let her acclimate as I study what's below us.
Above Neptune, situated directly in a band between its rings is... not a ship, exactly, nor an asteroid. The closest equivalent I can come up with is a castle. Floating in space. No explanation, just 'fuck you, this is what's happening to day, deal with it'. I'm sure there's a point where I'll eventually get used to that sort of thing but today isn't it.
"Okay, this is what we do. Since its your ring leading you here, you go in but I follow you at a minor distance behind. You take point and I'll cover your back and try to make sure nothing can properly trap you from the inside. Hey, did you scan any of yellows drones?"
"Yuh huh. Haven't built any of my own yet though."
"Sucks. Would've been helpful to have here. Welp, lets go plunder the space castle. Ahoy, matey!"
I follow her down as we approach it, having the ring run continuous scans. The structure itself is spinning slowly as it drifts and as we fly in there's a ripple of blue as a shield forms around the structure. I stop and turn as Elise bounces off it, looking surprised.
"You can't pass through?"
"No, but you can, obviously. Whoever built this clearly didn't want it to be easy for another color to get inside."
"So much for the plan. I'm going to go ahead."
"Wait! Ring, synchronize."
"I can't initiate contact with the blue ring while it's inside."
I drift up and exit the shield, looking at Elise. "Ring, synchronize."
"Synchronizing."/ "Synchronizing."
I pass back through the shield and pull Elise with me. There's resistance now where there wasn't any before and it takes effort to push through it with her, but after a moment we're through to the other side and I let go of her. We fly down towards the structure together and in front of us she creates a green ablative shield, puzzling me for a moment. We lower down towards what looks like an entrance and she extends it out and around us in a shell of hexagonal panels.
"What are you doing that for?"
"The moment you walk into a structure is usually the same moment ambushes happen or defenses kick in."
I nod and drift inside with her. "I don't think we'll need that. Don't ask me how, I just... don't."
The antechamber is a dark gray stone with blue lines passing through and over every surface like circuit board etchings. Leaning in I examine one of the walls, then reach up and touch -
The biggest hunting range! The success of my clan, of my family! We'll always come out on top, no matter how many try to contest us. Not in a thousand years!
- a line, tilting my head slightly as I lower it. It wasn't just like channeling the blue light with the ring, I could feel the emotion as it ran through me like my body completing an electrical circuit. Startling and a little overwhelming.
"Don't touch the lines."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, it's just intense. This entire place is being powered by the hopes of those three planets, I think. Somehow."
I drift upwards, rising into the air and following the flow of the lines, Elise following me at a distance. Drifting upwards towards the ceiling, the domed sealing -
- with a blue light sigil carved in stone at the center of it.
I press my hand against it, frowning. Nothing happens and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I don't know how to just make blue light, I need a focus...
Oh. I'm dumb.
"Elise, I'm going to try something and if it doesn't work something might happen but I don't know what."
"Gotcha." She turns to face the race of the chamber and I reach out with threads of blue light, touching the lines around me.
Guh.
I think I'm panting, it's so overwhelming. I'm experiencing the emotions like it was my own and it's as overwhelming as deep grief or blinding rage, I can't... focus...
Then it stops and blue light flows out from the sigil, out from the center of the dome above us. We have just enough time to marvel at it before a pillar of blue light slams us both into the floor!
I can't move. Too much pressure, it's suffocating. Then it's suddenly gone and I can't help but gasp, rolling onto my side. I can hear Elise doing something similar, pushing herself up.
"I haven't been pushed into the floor that hard since I got back together with my ex. The fuck was that?"
"Ow."
"Yes, ow. Hey, look."
I push myself up off the floor and look behind me at the center of the room. There's a two story tall personal battery much like the one my ring has, the core glowing in a way I'm finding hard to look directly at. 'Central' battery indeed, holy shit.
"This is where your rings power comes from? Why's it so large?"
"Beats me."
"It kinda just did."
"Smartass."
She doesn't get time for a retort because the facility glows brightly and then begins to vibrate, the blue lines around us pulsing. It sounds like something beating on the walls around us.
"Oh great, now what the hell is going on?" I form construct armor and produce a pair of railgun constructs, augmenting my armor suit as Elise does the same.
She braces as glowing orange enemies begin charging into the room!
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AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
Such is the way of things. Has he actually gone into the details of Genkit relationships? Like do they use the dane signs as humans or has she been doing some kind of subtle thing that marks him as hers?
Also amusingly I just realised they have matching rings.
Three hugs and half a handholding session? Or three hundred and fifty hugs and handholding sessions?
.... well fuck guess we know who prefers to be on the bottom.
And is a kinky cutiepie.
Perhaps they are merely jehovah's witnesses who fell into some orange paint on the way over?
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Find out next time on
The AI personality schema's are different and the green/blue light vibe nicely together but Ainsley can actually do this with other colors. Blue plays well with pretty much everything to the right of green but clashes with everything to the left of it, at least in this setting. I can't speak for others.
Nobody:
Elise:
It's not just her, innuendo and talking shit are long standing military traditions the genkits are happy to carry on. Elise is like a cross between Pinky Pie and Aisha LaBourn. She has all the restraint and tact that Imp never had but at her core, same energy.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
Yay!
And in the latest updoot Ainsley was thinking about giving Elise a ring. Marriage time!
So dqmn cute.Nobody:
Elise:
Ah that does sound fun, and yeah military guys and girls can be pretty lewd.
Do any genkits have a kink for humans? Gotta be a few furry equivalents amongst them.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Probably? In truth I haven't thought on it much but they're pretty diverse, as diverse as humans. They've assimilated into a bunch of different countries on their homeworld - 23 if I recall correctly - and while they're driven to co-operate with each other as a kind of ongoing cultural zeitgeist, they're still part of those nationalities. It's like being a religious denomination living in a country, you're still a citizen but you have this other cultural momentum going as well. Every genkit has free reign to visit or go to City Zero but most of the ones living in other countries don't consider themselves Zerosi.
On A Moonlit Walk - 03
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Both of us brace but there's little point as they split off from the door, surrounding us. Some of them are recognizable. Skal are among them and I can see a Tovari but most of them are species I don't recognize.
They're lining up around us, hovering above the floor. One of them strays a bit too close to a wall and the second it touches one of the blue lines it spazzes out and flicks out of existence as though disrupted. Elise is on edge, tail puffed up behind her and I can't say I disagree very much.
When the girl walks in, it's obvious who their master is. Mocha skin, black hair, bright yellow eyes, black tail and ears. Tovari. Or looks like one, at least. I'm not sure if I should assume every ring user is a reflection the way yellow was, considering how Elise got her ring. When she strides into the room it's with an imperious, demanding air about her. Looking around the room as though we ought to be bowing or something, looking down at us as she tilts her head back. Her tail lashes once, then she looks up at the central battery behind us.
"Mmm. I suppose I win that bet. Lord Fear thought you would attack the constructs the moment you saw them. Vara figured you'd wait and attack me." She smiles humorlessly. "Hiiiiii."
"Who are you and why are you here if you're not here to attack us?"
"Oh, just an interested party. I'm not here to steal that or anything. Point of fact, here you're rather powerful. It's why we're having this conversation here instead of that quaint little town of yours. It's nice there, you know. I rather liked the food."
"You went to Durjak?"
"Mmhmm. I'm Mina. You think of Nemesis - Lord Fear, I mean - as your enemy, yes?"
"That's how it tends to go when somebody attacks you the way he did, then drags you off."
"Well, I'm not. I was but we came to terms." She circles her finger, pointing it at the floor. "Took some time, though. Him and Red..." She shakes her head. "Insufferable. I'm not very interested in playing their games or participating in their schemes but we're on diplomatic terms and I'm being compensated for having this conversation with you."
"I'm not hearing the 'why you're here' part of this."
"Yes, yes. About that." She gestures up at the constructs. "Do you like them? They're the reason that I'm not part of their little group. You see, when you destroy one of my construct-lanterns, it respawns from the ring. It uses a little power, it's true, but it's negligible. What happened with Nemesis was his version of a test."
"A test?" I look over at Elise as her environmental shield cuts out for a second, leaving only her suit to protect her. I make a gesture at her and I can see her visibly try to reign herself in. "He thinks of that as a test? Well I hope he fucking liked it because he lost his whole testing area."
Mina actually smiles at that. "Yes, he did. Excellent job. The reason he did it is because we have... Mmm, larger problems besides the local color. But having some sense of how fucked up he is, he knows he couldn't come talk to you about this directly, so he sent me. I approached you here because frankly, I'm a one-girl army and this is the least likely place for you to want to start with a fight."
"Yes. Probably." I fold my arms behind my back, watching her. "Why. The fuck. Are you. Here."
She sighs. "Because he actually wants to work with you and wanted to make sure you wouldn't be dead weight the way Engel was. He tried working with Engel but Engel had other ideas on how we should be going about this and wasn't much interested in the big picture. Nemesis threw him through the same gauntlet he tossed you into, gave him the same escape opportunity and Engel let himself get shot. The whole thing was a big miscalculation on his part."
"So he decided to do it all over again?"
"You have to understand - and you would, being who you are - that while he's very clever at times he can be exceedingly absentminded and stupid in other ways."
"No. No, I don't."
"Well then that's on you. But what it comes down to is this. He wants to talk to you, both of you, in a sort of conference. Red, orange, yellow, green and blue all in one place having a nice chat, with me being the neutral party."
"So what's your color for, then?"
"You could just ask your ring."
"He asked you."
"True enough. My ring is powered by avarice. I need to want things, so... I want to be here, having this conversation and I want that conference to happen. You may bring whomever you wish to feel self-assured, but it's not going to be a fight and it concerns a matter for all of us."
"Well, that sounds like you should give me the short summary here and now."
"And ruin the surprise? Oh honey, you really need to teach this boy about foreplay."
"It's a work in progress."
"Fair enough. Four days. Where would you like to hold this?"
"Giving us the option of choosing the venue?"
"Of course. Aside from the fact you likely feel wronged by him, despite the fact you gained another ring in doing so, he doesn't actually have any animosity towards you. That's just how he works, how he thinks."
"The castle above Durjak will suit us nicely." Elise gives me a look but I can't tell what it is behind her helmet. "There's enough space there for what he has in mind and there's nothing stopping them from attacking us there anyways, Elise."
That gets me a silent nod from her and I look over to Mina. "Rings off."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"When we hold the meeting, all of us will remove the rings and place them on the table. We'll hold the meeting unpowered so that nobody can do anything... unfortunate."
She clicks her tongue. "And you're making this a condition of your accepting the proposal?"
"Yes. We will only agree to meet if they approach and immediately disarm themselves. My oath that they'll be granted safety while there."
"They won't like it but I'll make them come around to that. You're far more reasonable than they ever were, it's kind of nice." She smiles winsomely at me. "Maybe I'll stick around after, you seem kind of sweet."
That gets a low growl from Elise, making me wince internally. Mina just shrugs and smiles. "Or maybe not." She snaps her fingers and the construct lanterns flow into her ring. "Do try to behave in the meantime. Oh, and this?" She gestures at the battery. "Don't try to move it. It's less accessible out here and I was only able to breach the shield because when you pulled green glitter here through, you weakened it. You'll understand why it's so important at the meeting. Ta-ta."
With that she turns and zooms back out of the building, leaving us to it.
"Trap?"
"Probably."
"Sounds like a party."
"I'll bring the little hats."
"What about this?"
I look back at the central battery. "We should move this structure. Or... I should, I guess."
"That's fine. I'm reluctant to leave you on your own, though, in case she comes back."
"Eager to guard my innocence, eh?"
"Pfft. Okay, fine. I'll go talk to Ren and calm her down when she finds out the guy who attacked us is coming back for a chat."
"Will she be a problem?"
"Not if we don't put them in the same room. I'll work it out." She waves and then zooms out, leaving me with the central battery.
Now, where to stash this so Mina won't find it again?
They're lining up around us, hovering above the floor. One of them strays a bit too close to a wall and the second it touches one of the blue lines it spazzes out and flicks out of existence as though disrupted. Elise is on edge, tail puffed up behind her and I can't say I disagree very much.
When the girl walks in, it's obvious who their master is. Mocha skin, black hair, bright yellow eyes, black tail and ears. Tovari. Or looks like one, at least. I'm not sure if I should assume every ring user is a reflection the way yellow was, considering how Elise got her ring. When she strides into the room it's with an imperious, demanding air about her. Looking around the room as though we ought to be bowing or something, looking down at us as she tilts her head back. Her tail lashes once, then she looks up at the central battery behind us.
"Mmm. I suppose I win that bet. Lord Fear thought you would attack the constructs the moment you saw them. Vara figured you'd wait and attack me." She smiles humorlessly. "Hiiiiii."
"Who are you and why are you here if you're not here to attack us?"
"Oh, just an interested party. I'm not here to steal that or anything. Point of fact, here you're rather powerful. It's why we're having this conversation here instead of that quaint little town of yours. It's nice there, you know. I rather liked the food."
"You went to Durjak?"
"Mmhmm. I'm Mina. You think of Nemesis - Lord Fear, I mean - as your enemy, yes?"
"That's how it tends to go when somebody attacks you the way he did, then drags you off."
"Well, I'm not. I was but we came to terms." She circles her finger, pointing it at the floor. "Took some time, though. Him and Red..." She shakes her head. "Insufferable. I'm not very interested in playing their games or participating in their schemes but we're on diplomatic terms and I'm being compensated for having this conversation with you."
"I'm not hearing the 'why you're here' part of this."
"Yes, yes. About that." She gestures up at the constructs. "Do you like them? They're the reason that I'm not part of their little group. You see, when you destroy one of my construct-lanterns, it respawns from the ring. It uses a little power, it's true, but it's negligible. What happened with Nemesis was his version of a test."
"A test?" I look over at Elise as her environmental shield cuts out for a second, leaving only her suit to protect her. I make a gesture at her and I can see her visibly try to reign herself in. "He thinks of that as a test? Well I hope he fucking liked it because he lost his whole testing area."
Mina actually smiles at that. "Yes, he did. Excellent job. The reason he did it is because we have... Mmm, larger problems besides the local color. But having some sense of how fucked up he is, he knows he couldn't come talk to you about this directly, so he sent me. I approached you here because frankly, I'm a one-girl army and this is the least likely place for you to want to start with a fight."
"Yes. Probably." I fold my arms behind my back, watching her. "Why. The fuck. Are you. Here."
She sighs. "Because he actually wants to work with you and wanted to make sure you wouldn't be dead weight the way Engel was. He tried working with Engel but Engel had other ideas on how we should be going about this and wasn't much interested in the big picture. Nemesis threw him through the same gauntlet he tossed you into, gave him the same escape opportunity and Engel let himself get shot. The whole thing was a big miscalculation on his part."
"So he decided to do it all over again?"
"You have to understand - and you would, being who you are - that while he's very clever at times he can be exceedingly absentminded and stupid in other ways."
"No. No, I don't."
"Well then that's on you. But what it comes down to is this. He wants to talk to you, both of you, in a sort of conference. Red, orange, yellow, green and blue all in one place having a nice chat, with me being the neutral party."
"So what's your color for, then?"
"You could just ask your ring."
"He asked you."
"True enough. My ring is powered by avarice. I need to want things, so... I want to be here, having this conversation and I want that conference to happen. You may bring whomever you wish to feel self-assured, but it's not going to be a fight and it concerns a matter for all of us."
"Well, that sounds like you should give me the short summary here and now."
"And ruin the surprise? Oh honey, you really need to teach this boy about foreplay."
"It's a work in progress."
"Fair enough. Four days. Where would you like to hold this?"
"Giving us the option of choosing the venue?"
"Of course. Aside from the fact you likely feel wronged by him, despite the fact you gained another ring in doing so, he doesn't actually have any animosity towards you. That's just how he works, how he thinks."
"The castle above Durjak will suit us nicely." Elise gives me a look but I can't tell what it is behind her helmet. "There's enough space there for what he has in mind and there's nothing stopping them from attacking us there anyways, Elise."
That gets me a silent nod from her and I look over to Mina. "Rings off."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"When we hold the meeting, all of us will remove the rings and place them on the table. We'll hold the meeting unpowered so that nobody can do anything... unfortunate."
She clicks her tongue. "And you're making this a condition of your accepting the proposal?"
"Yes. We will only agree to meet if they approach and immediately disarm themselves. My oath that they'll be granted safety while there."
"They won't like it but I'll make them come around to that. You're far more reasonable than they ever were, it's kind of nice." She smiles winsomely at me. "Maybe I'll stick around after, you seem kind of sweet."
That gets a low growl from Elise, making me wince internally. Mina just shrugs and smiles. "Or maybe not." She snaps her fingers and the construct lanterns flow into her ring. "Do try to behave in the meantime. Oh, and this?" She gestures at the battery. "Don't try to move it. It's less accessible out here and I was only able to breach the shield because when you pulled green glitter here through, you weakened it. You'll understand why it's so important at the meeting. Ta-ta."
With that she turns and zooms back out of the building, leaving us to it.
"Trap?"
"Probably."
"Sounds like a party."
"I'll bring the little hats."
"What about this?"
I look back at the central battery. "We should move this structure. Or... I should, I guess."
"That's fine. I'm reluctant to leave you on your own, though, in case she comes back."
"Eager to guard my innocence, eh?"
"Pfft. Okay, fine. I'll go talk to Ren and calm her down when she finds out the guy who attacked us is coming back for a chat."
"Will she be a problem?"
"Not if we don't put them in the same room. I'll work it out." She waves and then zooms out, leaving me with the central battery.
Now, where to stash this so Mina won't find it again?
1eragon33
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- May 10, 2020
- Messages
- 73
... that was the single most stable wielder of the orange light ever and wonder how the heck that is possible. also their MIGHT be a tiny issue with the Red removing their ring given that 90% of the time the Red Light replaces their heart with a construct and removing their ring would kill them without a Blue, or Purple around to heal them
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Just a matter of knowing what she wants and how to get there, really. Oranges stability seems directly perpendicular to how raw ones exposure to it is. In DC Canon there was no orange central battery per se, only what Larfleeze had. In this story, one exists out there someplace, so Mina's getting roughly the same exposure to the orange light that Paragon Paul's corps is getting and while not all of them are the grand virtues of dedicated sanity, having an overall direction really helps make for a stable orange lantern.
As for red, well... We'll see.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
Touch fluffy tail?
Mina is going to WANT those two to hook up. They are adorable.
Also I may have smiled like a loon when I read that line.
Mina is fun. But I be honest, orange text at that exact moment makes me think of one of two things.
One, she genuinely means it and considers him, cute fun sweetie and WANTS to lewd him. Two, she may be so hooped up on orange light that even though that sentence should probably have Violet light in it from the tone, it's orange anyways.
Your bedroom? Because if Elise has anything to say, Mina won't ever step foot into her man's bedroom.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
lol.
Mina and Elise might surprise you. Elise is just good at banter and not taking things too seriously is all
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
So Mina has a shot?
Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!
I wonder how Genkits perceive poly relationships?
mastermenthe
Mint Thistle
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2018
- Messages
- 330
Being a actively endangered species, by way of past military genocide attempts, I would say quite accepting, so long as it's functional.
On A Moonlit Walk - Interlude (City Zero)
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Emil Tychorus Luther was is not happy.
Standing in the middle of a vast warehouse space, the other infantry around him are lined up in rows, standing relaxed, talking to their teammates. So long as they don't break formation or act disruptively to operations there's no reason to treat them like drones, so they don't. Friends are making cracks at each other, reassurances given, promises made. The few who are theologically inclined among them say quiet prayers but religion isn't something the Zerosi ever really picked up readily and tended to be a good indicator of who had immigrated to Zero instead of being born there.
Not that it mattered. Not to him, anyways. He watched as techs did last minute quadruple-checks to make sure everything was in place and ready, pallets of supplies being lined up, the new mechsuits lined up in front of those with their chests splayed open so the pilots can relax while they wait. It was a much larger force than they'd originally been planning to send but they'd had some indication that this might be necessary and the preparations had been underway long before the first group went though.
He thought of Elise and bowed his head. Of all the things he'd done in his life, the people he'd killed or hurt in combat, the injuries he'd taken, he'd always faced the pain with a kind of stoic inevitability. It didn't matter how much he screamed or panted, it always hurt the same anyways, so there was rarely any point in bitching about it or getting worked up. It only stressed him out more. But emotional pain wasn't something he'd ever really learned to deal with, he'd never gotten the opportunity. From one fight to another he'd been a soldier, privateer, then officer.
Even having Elise, the moment he knew of her, the decision to be involved in her life had never been a decision at all. If Senya had fought him over it, he'd have dragged her through legal hell until he had access to his daughter. That hadn't been necessary and it'd been the main reason he'd agreed to come back to Zero at all, a path which had only led here. If he'd known back then that it would lead to Elise joining the ZMI in his footsteps he probably would have rethought the decision.
"Sir?"
He turned his head, looking at his aide. Charles nodded to him. "It'd just about ready, sir."
"Thank you, Charles."
"I wish I was going with you, sir."
"No you don't."
"No, I don't."
He smiled, turning to face the boy. "I was once married too, lad. I know what it's like. When you're in love, all things in the world seem to turn on its axis. I wouldn't drag you away from that but I appreciate the sentiment all the same,"
"Was, sir?"
"She died three years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear it, sir."
Patting Charles on the shoulder, he gently turned the red panda towards the stairs and stepped around him, a non-verbal invitation to walk together. "It's fine, Charles. I imagine it goes some way to explaining why I fought so hard to go through with this myself."
"I know you'll find her, Emil. I used to regret it didn't work out with her. Until..." Emil nodded. "She's resourceful and intelligent, she'll be okay. She might be a huge goofball but that's just the Senya in her. She's half you, too." He chuckles. "You're gonna get there and find her ruling a small country or something."
Emil smiled a little. "Knowing her? Either that, or we'll find a giant crater. Do me a favor, Charles?"
"Sir?"
"Senya has a memorial down in the hall of the dead. If we don't return, I'd appreciate it if you saw to making sure it was well taken care of."
"Of course. Fortune go with you, Emil." They shook hands, hard. "It's been an honor to know you."
"Take care of that wife of yours, boy. We're ageless, but not immortal." Charles nods and steps back, allowing Emil to turn and head towards the gate.
"Alright, listen up!" The conversations die out and every person in the room focuses on him. Backs straighten, formations tighten up and the mech pilots sit up and get into position. "This will probably be a one way trip. You knew that coming down here, you've been told time and again. But this is it! This is the last chance! If you're gonna back out, say so now because the moment that gate turns on our lives here are over. Whatever's on the other side of that gate is gonna be it for us. If you want out, say so now."
Nobody says a word to him as his eyes sweep the room. He smacks his tail on the deck behind him and nods. "Good. Button up, get ready." Behind him the gate is beginning to hum, a sound steadily increasing as he's been talking. "It's time to go get our fucking people back."
"HA!"
The sound is accompanied by the left boot of every soldier on the deck and two of the mech's stomping at the same time, an agreement that shakes the room. At the same moment the gate behind him activates, the space inside it curving out and away in a way which hurts to look at for too long.
Reaching behind his collar he pulls his helmet on, ears flattening under it. Picking up his rifle he flicks the safety, checks the magazine and turns towards the aperture as the first squad of infantry line up behind him.
"Let's move, people!"
He didn't know where his daughter was and that made Emil very, very unhappy.
He hadn't spoken to her in nearly two months.
He'd fought, begged, bribed, pulled favors, leaned on old guilts and burned every bridge he'd had to in order to be here himself, leading this effort. He'd alienated old allies, pissed off old friends who couldn't talk him out of it. His life in Zero was as over as if he'd died. But it didn't matter.
He was going to get his daughter back.
And if there are gods, they'd better prioritize helping anybody in his way because they'll need it.
Standing in the middle of a vast warehouse space, the other infantry around him are lined up in rows, standing relaxed, talking to their teammates. So long as they don't break formation or act disruptively to operations there's no reason to treat them like drones, so they don't. Friends are making cracks at each other, reassurances given, promises made. The few who are theologically inclined among them say quiet prayers but religion isn't something the Zerosi ever really picked up readily and tended to be a good indicator of who had immigrated to Zero instead of being born there.
Not that it mattered. Not to him, anyways. He watched as techs did last minute quadruple-checks to make sure everything was in place and ready, pallets of supplies being lined up, the new mechsuits lined up in front of those with their chests splayed open so the pilots can relax while they wait. It was a much larger force than they'd originally been planning to send but they'd had some indication that this might be necessary and the preparations had been underway long before the first group went though.
He thought of Elise and bowed his head. Of all the things he'd done in his life, the people he'd killed or hurt in combat, the injuries he'd taken, he'd always faced the pain with a kind of stoic inevitability. It didn't matter how much he screamed or panted, it always hurt the same anyways, so there was rarely any point in bitching about it or getting worked up. It only stressed him out more. But emotional pain wasn't something he'd ever really learned to deal with, he'd never gotten the opportunity. From one fight to another he'd been a soldier, privateer, then officer.
Even having Elise, the moment he knew of her, the decision to be involved in her life had never been a decision at all. If Senya had fought him over it, he'd have dragged her through legal hell until he had access to his daughter. That hadn't been necessary and it'd been the main reason he'd agreed to come back to Zero at all, a path which had only led here. If he'd known back then that it would lead to Elise joining the ZMI in his footsteps he probably would have rethought the decision.
"Sir?"
He turned his head, looking at his aide. Charles nodded to him. "It'd just about ready, sir."
"Thank you, Charles."
"I wish I was going with you, sir."
"No you don't."
"No, I don't."
He smiled, turning to face the boy. "I was once married too, lad. I know what it's like. When you're in love, all things in the world seem to turn on its axis. I wouldn't drag you away from that but I appreciate the sentiment all the same,"
"Was, sir?"
"She died three years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear it, sir."
Patting Charles on the shoulder, he gently turned the red panda towards the stairs and stepped around him, a non-verbal invitation to walk together. "It's fine, Charles. I imagine it goes some way to explaining why I fought so hard to go through with this myself."
"I know you'll find her, Emil. I used to regret it didn't work out with her. Until..." Emil nodded. "She's resourceful and intelligent, she'll be okay. She might be a huge goofball but that's just the Senya in her. She's half you, too." He chuckles. "You're gonna get there and find her ruling a small country or something."
Emil smiled a little. "Knowing her? Either that, or we'll find a giant crater. Do me a favor, Charles?"
"Sir?"
"Senya has a memorial down in the hall of the dead. If we don't return, I'd appreciate it if you saw to making sure it was well taken care of."
"Of course. Fortune go with you, Emil." They shook hands, hard. "It's been an honor to know you."
"Take care of that wife of yours, boy. We're ageless, but not immortal." Charles nods and steps back, allowing Emil to turn and head towards the gate.
"Alright, listen up!" The conversations die out and every person in the room focuses on him. Backs straighten, formations tighten up and the mech pilots sit up and get into position. "This will probably be a one way trip. You knew that coming down here, you've been told time and again. But this is it! This is the last chance! If you're gonna back out, say so now because the moment that gate turns on our lives here are over. Whatever's on the other side of that gate is gonna be it for us. If you want out, say so now."
Nobody says a word to him as his eyes sweep the room. He smacks his tail on the deck behind him and nods. "Good. Button up, get ready." Behind him the gate is beginning to hum, a sound steadily increasing as he's been talking. "It's time to go get our fucking people back."
"HA!"
The sound is accompanied by the left boot of every soldier on the deck and two of the mech's stomping at the same time, an agreement that shakes the room. At the same moment the gate behind him activates, the space inside it curving out and away in a way which hurts to look at for too long.
Reaching behind his collar he pulls his helmet on, ears flattening under it. Picking up his rifle he flicks the safety, checks the magazine and turns towards the aperture as the first squad of infantry line up behind him.
"Let's move, people!"
He didn't know where his daughter was and that made Emil very, very unhappy.
He hadn't spoken to her in nearly two months.
He'd fought, begged, bribed, pulled favors, leaned on old guilts and burned every bridge he'd had to in order to be here himself, leading this effort. He'd alienated old allies, pissed off old friends who couldn't talk him out of it. His life in Zero was as over as if he'd died. But it didn't matter.
He was going to get his daughter back.
And if there are gods, they'd better prioritize helping anybody in his way because they'll need it.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
And meet his son in law?
Also nice update, Good to see a badarse normal solider about March out into the middle of things.
With mechs. Because mechs are pure win.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
- Messages
- 557
Why have tanks when you can have mechs?
All-terrain, faster mobility, super strength. Zerosi take science very seriously and approach everything with a sort of pragmatic rationality.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 718
I wonder what their entertainment industry is like?Why have tanks when you can have mechs?
All-terrain, faster mobility, super strength. Zerosi take science very seriously and approach everything with a sort of pragmatic rationality.
Or their approach to immigration attempts.