Welcome, reader, to the latest Character Development Thread! These shared story exercises help budding writers develop their characters alongside the characters of other budding writers. No formal sign-up is necessary; one can simply jump right in. Just make sure to review the OP and the last few pages first.
If the length of the thread has become a bit daunting and you need a recap, or if you simply need another question about the threads answered, just post in the discussion thread
and we’ll do our best to help you out.
This particular thread focuses a bit more heavily on character interaction than usual. It is recommended, though not required, that your characters come with specific goals in mind.
Many thanks go to nrjxll, Killer Clowns, SolipSchism, Corvidae, electronic-tragedy, Darkblood Carnagefang, Strix Obscuro, Gault, Night, and gameknight102xx, among others, for helping to prepare the thread.
◊Somewhere in the vastness that is the multiverse, there lies a great city. Born from a mix of modern technologies and ancient magic, it has become a crossroads between many different realities, resulting in a wonderfully varied populace and a mostly near-futuristic cityscape.
This shining Capital prides itself on being a place of opportunity. It’s up to the inhabitants to make something of it.
- Current Time: Night (~10:00 PM)
- Current Weather: Cloudy
edited 12th Oct '15 12:20:03 PM by Yomegami
Crazy Kiwi
There was a strange period of confusion: Energy made the roof vanish and then Flamist threw the burning globe through the hole, Energy's shields took off after it - nearly dumping Gwion on the floor as he was still leaning against one when it left - then there was an explosion and a flash of light from above the clouds, then another deafening explosion and another flash from within the room and Flamist fell, spilling blood.
The man with the rifle gave a bizarre, insane-sounding speech and Gwion recognised his voice - it was the leader who had spoken earlier, finally out of hiding after most of his mooks had been mopped up.
All the insane babbling seemed to achieve, however, was to give Wulf time to react and take down the rifleman.
Suddenly, Wulf vanished before Gwion's eyes but before he could react, everything else vanished as well and he found himself in a smallish living room with Wulf.
Bewildered, he looked around. Bizarrely, his gun, baton and pack were lying on the floor, as was Ulf's cargo bag.
Then Flamist and Energy appeared - Flamist still down, Energy still covering her - then Miyuki and Akira and finally Rani and Foster arrived slumped to their knees. Wordlessly, they toppled over, their breathing shallow but rapid.
At least they're alive! He thought. Somehow, we all are.
He staggered back against the wall and fished out his cigarette packet from his vest pocket, noticing as he did so that the pocket holding his Office was hanging down uncomfortably, due to the vest being torn in an inverted L above and to the side of the pocket. Arse!
The cigarette packet had been crumpled in the fight and Gwion had to try to extract a bent cigarette and straighten it out without wrecking it - while his hands were shaking from post-combat surplus adrenalin.
There was a dull ache in the side of his face and he felt like he'd been dragged through a gorse-bush backwards.
He managed to fumble his Zippo free of its pouch when the adrenalin finally wore off and the pain in his testicles was down to merely excruciating.
Slowly, Gwion folded in half and toppled towards the floor clutching his groin. "Oh, fuck!" he managed in a strained whisper.
he'll be fine, just needs to take five...
edited 28th Mar '15 10:15:39 PM by Wolf1066
[Hotel Fantastique]
They’ve settled in a small room with two beds. Sascha walked out of the bathroom, wearing a towel. She was wiping her hair with another one. Cecile was fiddling with the radio.
“Afalina, do you copy? This is Cecile speaking…” the radio responded with white noise.
“No good, huh?” said the redhead.
“We must wait until the thunderstorm ends, I guess…” said Cecile and turned off the radio. “Are you finished?”
“Yeah.”
Cecile went off to the bathroom. Sascha got dressed. Her stomach growled. It’s been twelve hours since the last time she ate. She walked out from the room, locked the door and went downstairs, to the dining room.
One of the most important duties of the airship’s cook is to maintain the diversity of the menu. The chef’s cooking skills are also important, but eating the same, even if well-prepared, food can strongly affect the crew’s morale. And considering it’s The Afalina’s crew we’re talking about, Sascha took this “field trip” as an opportunity to enrich her dish list. She recognized some of the menu items, but she was inclined to try something more exotic (and not too expensive). Finally, she ordered something called “The Dragon’s Breath”, which actually looked like some sort of goulash. As the name would suggest, it was hot as hell – just the way she liked it, but, alas, she knew that her crewmates didn’t share her tastes. And C.B. would say that it’s unhealthy. She was trying to guess what spices they used, anyway, when Cecile came to her side, looking irritated.
“I should’ve known I’d find you here”, she said, “You could’ve told me where you’re going, so I wouldn’t have to search for you.”
“You were taking the shower, didn’t wanna bother you”, lied Sascha.
“I have news”, said Cecile and sat in front of her.
“The Afalina responded?”
“No”, said Cecile, “I’ve been asking around, and learned that slavery is illegal in this world, and that the shadier part of the city is the West Side. And that only there exist passages to something called The Undercity.”
“M-mm… Sounds sinister enough for the slavers”, Sascha sent into her mouth some of the “Breath”.
“Is that meat you’re eating?” Cecile suspiciously narrowed her eyes.
“Uh-huh. Want some?”
“Not hungry”, Cecile leaned on the table, “do you not know adventurer’s number one rule about consuming meat in unfamiliar places?”
“Eat meat only if you obtained it personally?” Sascha drank from the glass, “eh, if it’s tasty, it’s edible.”
“They say that human flesh is tasty, too.”
“Slavery is forbidden, but cannibalism is not? I strongly doubt it”, Sascha finished her meal.
“It’s cannibalism only if you eat a member of your own species”, said Cecile in instructive tone, “and we don’t know if native dwellers of this world are human.”
“I think you’re just shitting me!” Sascha stood up. Cecile looked amused. “So, we’re going to the West Side, then?”
“Yes, and we need to take the PTR’s with us. We could become separated there.”
They took the PTR’s and the guns from their room, and went off to the West Side.
edited 29th Mar '15 9:08:27 AM by Millership
Spiral out, keep going.
[M's Casino]
Echo heard the request. But Theign hadn't been clear. Immediately? Or when he was somewhere quieter?
Echo was not a woman for deliberation or time-wasting. A few careful motions of her hands and arms, and the air in his throat moved. A vacuum, swiftly filled by his drink, down his throat. She'd keep an eye out for any signals from Theign, but for now, it'd do.
Crazy Kiwi
Arch Center - Bakery
Karl's eyes widened as the Professor brought forth first a ball of rock salt and then a miniature figurine of Sophie. This looked nothing like any sleight of hand trick he had ever seen – no waving of hands, no distractions, just an eye-watering effect hovering over an immobile hand and then something was there. How is that possible? He wondered."But perhaps you'll allow me to repay the favor? I can work a handful of tricks on your behalf, if you like"—that was obviously a major understatement, but nothing in his bearing indicated that he was being facetious—"and I'm excited to explore this city, if you'll have me along on whatever it is you're about!"
"I presume there are other limits," said Sir Archibald, "such as what materials you can make? It occurs to me that such an ability would enable you to make quantities of valuable metals, such as gold, unless somehow restricted from doing so." Unless it just hadn't occurred to the Professor that he could make a couple of small gold discs and get them exchanged for local currency, he thought, the man does have the air of absent-mindedness typical of the truly intelligent.
Kris nodded, she instantly could see what Sir Archibald was driving at and this was her field of interest. "Or any one of a number of minerals – carbon with the right structure, corundum with various inclusions – that you could easily exchange for money."
"As to joining us," said Sir Archibald, "I'd be delighted to have you along, although in truth we have very little to do now after a most productive morning's work. I was thinking of going to the Spire to talk with some of the other worlds' Ambassadors, but that is not urgent."
Market Street - Arch Center (Bakery)
Sophie continued to listen rather intently. Admittedly, she wasn't sure if she completely understood. Before meeting Samantha and embarking on this journey, she had just graduated from middle school and hadn't even seen much of the world beyond her hometown. By contrast, David was very obviously a learned man and more than likely knew a lot more than she did.
What she did understand, however, was that having David make them a cellphone and save them a trip simply wasn't feasible. At least she couldn't say it wasn't fascinating, if maybe a little embarrassing; she wasn't exactly expecting David to make a mini sculpture of her as a demonstration, and being made the centerpiece of an example was enough to make her cheeks a little red.
She was about to make a comment herself, but Samantha interjected before she got the chance to speak.
"What I want to know is how you're able to do all this in the first place," she said, "I mean, it's really obvious that it's magic. I'm more asking if you're drawing this from somewhere, it's just something you're able to naturally do without any outside help, or whatever."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Vencaran Shuttle]
"Actually, we do some of those things too," Harrison said, "although our demands there could probably keep less than a tenth of the fleet busy, and we're not really outfitted for research or infrastructure. We do explore quite a bit, and help in emergencies, of course."
However, before he could say any more, they were interrupted by the bright flash of light above the city. In reply to Giun, Nami said, "the flash has a significant match with a nuclear explosion, localized approximately thirty kilometers above the Old City district. However, there did appear to be energy shields dampening the actual blast, as they blocked nearly all electromagnetic frequencies outside of visible light. There was a dampened sound shockwave as well. No damage detected anywhere from the blast, and the sources of the blast or the shields are unknown."
"I'm putting up our shields, just in case," Duan said, pressing a button on the control panel.
"Yeah, that's a bit disconcerting - it's never a good sign to see bombs being detonated over a city, even if it was shielded," Harrison said.
Sorry this took so long - ended up being unexpectedly busy yesterday.
edited 29th Mar '15 11:53:56 AM by Sonzai
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Vencaran Shuttle]
So it wasn't a nuke, at least. Thank the ancestors for small favors.
Trekesser successfully fought back an urge to laugh at Harrison's absurd understatement, knowing it was probably brought on as much by nerves as anything else. After decades in the GAN, he'd have thought he'd be a little more used to this sort of thing - though the psychiatrists always said that it was when you adjusted to danger that you should be worried.
"Should we investigate?" he asked. "There may not have been any damage yet, but that might have just been the first blast." In fact, he felt quite certain that it was their duty - or at least his duty - to do precisely that, with the only caveat being: "What's this shuttle's shields rated for, exactly?"
edited 29th Mar '15 12:31:10 PM by nrjxll
It's a bird.
City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)
Kren, the weather sure was getting violent. The latest flash of lightning had seemed unaturally bright to Garkin, but this was a whole different universe after all.
"Great!" he said to Qrlil after watching her test her communications. "Now we just need to..."
He was interrupted by a series of loud beeps from the holograph on his left wrist. "What the... who..?" he mumbled while pressing a few buttons. "Garkin."
"Oh, there you are!" said a slightly robotic sounding voice. "You really made us all quite nervous for a while. Are you alright?"
"Rolph?" Garkin asked in disbelief. "Both me and the Lander are fine, but how did you..."
"I will explain. Do you think you could open the window? Glitch doesn't like the weather."
Garkin looked up, and noticed the familiar sight of one of Rolph's drones hovering just outside the window. He turned to Qrlil. "Um, do you know if there's a button or..."
Old City - Arena (Lobby)
When the blast happened, Moreena had already turned her head towards it's point of origin. Such vast amounts of power did not go unnoticed. Was there another deity in the city? Hronok had left shortly after their battle, and even if he had returned he wouldn't have done something like this.
"I don't think it's a rocket ship," Moreena said.
edited 29th Mar '15 12:42:08 PM by Corvidae
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[Vencaran Shuttle]
"It is uncertain if we would survive a direct impact from the explosion," Nami said, "if the unknown energy shields returned as well, we would be entirely protected."
"Sounds like a good idea to investigate," Harrison said, "bring us in quickly."
"Ok," Rinai said, "just be warned if we have to dodge, it's going to get bumpy back there!"
The shuttle turned towards the city, and accelerating moderately, began descending into the atmosphere.
"Sorry, I'm just still hoping that was something intentional," Harrison said, looking a bit nervous, "I'd rather not go back to the war. Unless necessary, of course." And given what I've seen, nothing tends to phase me much any more, he thought.
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]
Qrlil tilted her head and smiled slightly at the conversation. She hadn't expected to get a chance to actually meet anyone else from Zerrimus's reality, but now that she had the chance she was glad of it.
"Er, I'm not sure," she said in response to the question about opening the window. "Though I can't say I like the weather either, so there better be a way to close it afterwards." She thought. The Spire had been fairly responsive to their needs so far, so that suggested that there was possibly some kind of basic intelligence in the building that was running things. Or maybe actual beings, though that would be an awfully dreary job...
"Can you... open the window, please?" she said to the air in general. There was a moment when nothing happened, then the part of the window in front of the drone - which had previously seemed seamless - split just wide enough to allow it in. Unfortunately, it also let in some of the rain.
Qrlil stepped well back (though not in time to completely avoid getting wet) and hoped fervently that the drone would waste no time in entering so that the window could close.
[Vencaran Shuttle]
Oh, positive emotions. Trekesser did not feel good about the idea of being strapped into this designed-for-a-biped seat while in the middle of high-acceleration action. Though admittedly that was all just speculation on his part; he'd never actually been in fighter combat, and he had no way to know how the force absorbent systems on this shuttle functioned.
His eyes glinting slightly, he looked at Harrison. "Where'd you serve during the war, anyway?"
It's a bird.
City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)
The drone flew inside, the window quickly closing behind it, and hovered above the table. Qrlil might notice that the thrust from the drone's jets seemed far to weak to actually keep it aloft.
With a soft whirring sound, a cone of green light was emitted from the underside of the drone. The image of an insectoid head with two large mandibles and a pair of faceted eyes appeared.
"It took some work," it said. "But I found a way to communicate through the anomaly, using Glitch as a relay. He feels very proud. Can you return on your own or should I send someone?
"The locals were nice enough to repair the Lander, but I might stay for a while," Garkin answered. "There's a few... um, things around here that I need to take care of."
"Are you sure you're alright?" the hologram asked. "Your readings are a bit... ooh." It turned towards Qrlil, apparently having just noticed her presence.
"Nice to meet you, miss..?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]
Qrlil bowed slightly at an angle of polite introduction; just because she'd heard a little about the crew of the Sword of Anwyn didn't mean she was entirely comfortable approaching them on closer terms. "Qrlil, of Skrahsis," she said, "representative-at-large. I am pleased to meet you as well, Rolph. Zerrimus has told me a little about you and your people, but I always enjoy meeting beings from new species."
She looked closer at the hovering drone. It clearly was a drone, given the way they'd both referred to it, though she admitted she'd wondered initially about that. (Zerrimus had mentioned the mroothan were fond of cybernetics, after all). But she didn't entirely recognize its technology. She wasn't an expert or even close to one, but it at least seemed possible that it might be the sort of thing she was looking for.
"What is that, exactly?" she asked both of them.
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
Ted's Canteen
You consider the proposition. "Hmm. That depends. What kind of skills do you have?" You could use more crew, but not any one could do. She said she was a starfighter pilot? You're not really in need of pilots, but if she has skills in weapons operation, she could replace Sergeant Hale and you could put him back on ship security. There was also a matter of price. If her asking price was greater to or equal then the norm, you'll have to refuse her. There were also little things, like discipline and tolerance with working with other species that were issues, but one question at a time.
You looked at the fries that Tsuki were eating, and pointed to them. "Can I have one?"
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
It's a bird.
City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)
"This is an advanced automated reconnaissance unit," Rolph answered. "Though at the moment it's being remotely guided by me. His name is Glitch. Say "hello", Glitch."
"Hello! Nice to meet you," said a cheerful but polite sounding synthetic voice. Garkin clenched his jaw, looking somewhat embarrassed. "It's a scout drone," he said.
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
The future of warfare in UC.
[Ted's Canteen]
"Like I said, I'm a fighter pilot. I have a heavy fighter, Stiletto. Escort, attack, moving small cargoes fast or because they're high value. Price depends on mission and assumed difficulty." Tsuki dropped into her surprisingly professional pilot mode. "Nothing longer than a couple days, right now. I have another job I have to make sure I get to on time."
Nous restons ici.
[Vencaran Shuttle]
The shuttle entered the atmosphere, and began decelerating significantly, although not quite as quickly as before, this time only with an apparent force of 2 g's.
"Oh, pretty much everywhere, really," Harrison said, "Battle of Vega, Terra defense, Atria offensive, Fomalhaut campaign, liberating the Hxaon homeworld, making first contact with the Vencarans, even the final battle at Virnari. I guess I just couldn't leave once it started."
The shuttle punched through the cloud layer, until the city could be seen below. Slowing to a gentle flight above the Old City, Nami said, "the apparent source of the blast was somewhere in this vicinity. Exact cause or source is still unknown." Visible on the viewscreen was a virtual overlay of the old city, indicating a circle of probability around what looked like a small abandoned mall.
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[ARENA LOBBY]
"How do you know?" Lara asked. But then something went off in her head. She observed how Moreena had reacted to the explosion before it even happened. As if she had predicted it.
"You...knew that was gonna happen?"
[EYE'S CREAM PARLOR]
Genocide screeched as the detective's bullet tore into his leg, getting embedded in the muscle.
His reaction only lasted a second, as he quickly regained his senses enough to ignore the pain and refocus his attention on Joshua.
Soon, the incident was repeated by a flash of light flooding through the windows, distracting the monster.
Effectively having his time for recovery extended by these two instances, Joshua leapt to his feet. He dove to his enemy, swinging a punch at the creature's jaw with his right hand. It hit, and so did the next one from his other hand. After that, he rammed his knee into Genocide's stomach, while at the same time taking a gel-grenade from a pouch.
Making a movement like an uppercut, Joshua flung the capsule at the beast's face, where it exploded on contact.
With his opponent momentarily blinded by the substance, the Blindman leaped backward and landed on the second table back. With the other table acting as a stepping stone, Joshua took a long stride and leaped into empty space.
Time slowed down for the two, as Joshua's fist crashed down on the substance covering Genocide's face, hitting him in proxy.
Finally, Genocide laid in a spread-eagle, defeated posture, with the victor's fist still resting on its target.
Joshua breathed in both relief and exhaustion.
edited 29th Mar '15 6:44:36 PM by TroPartner
Attitude is prohibited
[Old City >>> Day-Khan House]
When she got to him, and the shields surrounded them, she was still expecting the worst. She pushed him to ground and covered him as best she could. Moments later, a loud explosion, a bright flash... But no heat. She looked up, looked around. Everything was intact, save for the hole in the ceiling. "So..." She muttered. "The girl didn't loose control?" The crack of gunfire put her on edge again. She snapped to her feet and saw the man with the rifle. More of a threat than the handguns that she'd seen, but still nothing that worried her too much. She grabbed her metal case and was about to open it, to pull out her sword and cut the man's gun in half, possibly along with his arms, when Ulf - or some feral animal that looked like Ulf - jumped on the man and started slashing him. There was another shot, but it didn't slow the animal down much. He'd gotten a few swipes in, when abruptly, he disappeared. Then Gwion, then the two children. She turned to Akira...
And then suddenly, she was somewhere completely different. Miyuki looked around, totally bewildered. Akira had come with her, and at the moment, he was still on the ground, extremely confused. He slowly sat up, and she crouched down next to him. "Are you..?" She said.
"I'm fine." He said, clearing his throat. "Don't worry... Where are we? How did we get here?"
"I don't know." She said, frowning. "But the others are all here too." She briefly glanced over her shoulder at them. "Most of them appear to be injured, but alive." She paused, and lowered her voice. "Akira... I was... For a moment, I thought that..."
He stared at her blankly, expectantly, but she did not continue. "Never mind." She said, at last. "I suppose I'll go look around."
She stood, and without waiting for him to reply, took a couple of steps towards the centre of the room, surveying it, its contents and the people around her. Almost immediately, she stumbled upon her sweater. Or rather, what remained of her sweater. She picked the hoodie up off the ground; it was tattered, ripped, slightly singed and heavily stained with the blood of her enemies. She sighed quietly and slung it over her shoulder. She moved to take another step but stopped mid-motion and looked down. She turned her ankle to look at the back of her shoe and found it completely shredded, as was its counterpart, as were the back of her jeans at her calves. Visible behind the torn denim was two other metal plates, identical to the ones on the backs of her arms, and like those, slightly smaller than the ones on her back, each with the same kind of thruster on it. The force emitted by them had evidently destroyed her pants and shoes. She sighed again and kicked off the remains of her sneakers, revealing that her bodyglove even encompassed her feet.
She walked back to Akira, who was sitting up against the nearest wall, dazed and confused, and dumped her sweater next to him. She took off her jeans as well, put them on top, and then put her shoes next to the pile. "I guess I'll need some new clothes." She said to him. "So much for trying to be inconspicuous."
Not entirely dead.
[Khan House]
Energy looked up, seeing that they were in a safe place. He didn't even think of relaxing.
Immediately, he looked at his fallen friend. She was bleeding less, but that was little comfort when he got a good look at what state she was in. Her breathing was shallow, almost deathly, and the bleeding hadn't stopped entirely.
The cold grip of panic wrapped around the young boy's chest, and he began to babble to himself.
"What do I-what am I-oh god how do I-how do I stop the bleeding?!"
His hands darted out before immediately retracting again, terrified of making it worse. His hands trembled badly, and he began to claw at his own face in anguish. His best friend might die in front of him, and he had no idea what to do.
He looked around desperately.
"Someone, anyone...help her! I-I don't know how to fix..." It was all too much, and he began to break down right next to the wounded girl.
edited 29th Mar '15 8:14:50 PM by gameknight102xx
[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]
Qrlil inclined her head to the drone. "Hello to you as well, Glitch," she said politely. She glanced curiously - and a bit nervously - at Zerrimus. He'd said there had never been any true AIs developed in his reality, but...
"It's not... sapient, is it?" she asked. "Er - if you are - I mean no offense by the question, of course." Funny how her training could still fail her around synthetics; she'd been awfully socially clumsy when it came to Godsgift earlier as well.
"Anyway," she added to Rolph, "Zerrimus and I were just in the middle of attempting to see what we could negotiate between just the two of us. But if you can contact higher authority, that might help matters some."
[Vencaran Shuttle]
If Trekesser could have done it comfortably in the gravity - and if he hadn't guessed it might have come off wrong - he would have facepalmed. (It was a gesture he'd picked up from his human roommate at the academy). Okay. Should have seen that coming. If you ask about a war you don't know anything about, of course you're not going to have heard of any of the answers. Though some of the things he could guess at them were interesting. The humans of Harrison's reality hadn't met the vencarans until during the war? And the enemy had occupied the hxaon - he assumed that was the name of the large reptilian species - homeworld at some point?
As the shuttle eased out of its dive, he looked at the viewscreen. "All right. So it doesn't look like there was any serious damage or casualties - unless there's something else you can detect? That's probably a good sign, then. Whoever did this was either improbably lucky or unlucky, or they knew what they were doing."
Or it wasn't done "by" anyone at all - but that seems unlikely. Always assume action until proven otherwise.
Professional Recluse
[Old City-Khan House]
Wulf
Skin tore and blood poured, he was glad. Close, so close.
A flash of light burned into his eyes, a confused and very angry lycanthrope fell to the carpet. He landed on all fours but his right arm collapsed out from under him. He growled in annoyance and wildly glanced around the room. When no challengers presented themselves he dragged himself into a fairly distant corner and began gnawing on the wound trying to get the bullet out, yellow eyes occasionally flicking around the room.
[Visitor's Terminal-Cab]
Katya
The city lights were beautiful. She let her eyes wander over the spires and tips of the skyscrapers lining the streets. She almost forgot how much she hated vehicles, they were too close in. Like the tanks of the Great Patriotic War, too small a tomb for five comrades. Like the medical center she found herself in the city seemed too clean, it would take some getting used to.
The cab ground to a halt, tovarishch Rikael ran a strange piece of paper through something plastic and stepped out, she followed. The rain wasn't as cold as the snow of the motherland but the wind bit with a surprising chill. "That's the place. Come on, let's get out of this rain. I'm sure eating something will have you feeling better." comrade Rikael indicated the strange building, her stomach growled in sympathy and she followed her inside.
Stoned hippie without the stoned. Or the hippie. My AO3 Page, grab a chair and relax.
[Market Street—Arch Center (Bakery)]
David thought to himself. "I presume you're familiar with the periodic table of the elements?" Judging by his tone, it was not meant to be an ironic or sarcastic question. "Lower elements on the table are, generally, easier, because their subatomic makeup is simpler. Easier to memorize and conceptualize. When you get into compounds it begins to get more complicated, but sodium chloride is simple enough."
He tilted his head. "I don't see why gold would be any different. It's up there in complexity, certainly, with 79 protons, but making pure gold is just a matter of remembering the right numbers. An atomic weight of 196.97, give or take a little bit of precision, one valence electron, and..." The air shimmered above his hand again, but then he clenched his fist as Kris spoke and nothing appeared. "Wait. Now I see what you were getting at! Sorry, sorry, I've never been much of a subtext fellow, and we don't really deal in 'precious metals' on my world. I'm afraid I am restricted from deliberately creating currency—not by any sort of mystical injunction, but by simple economics. This kind of magic is not hard, after all. It's reasonably technical, but anyone can do it with instruction. And I shudder to think what would happen if everybody and their auntie started making money out of thin air and pouring it into the economy."
To Samantha's question, David tapped the side of his nose, smiling.
"My dear," he said, "I can tell you that the energy I require can be drawn from the world around me or, in a pinch and in small amounts, from myself. I'm afraid I can't go into further detail regarding its nature without inducting you into the Tseik Collaborative. We, er, have something of a monopoly on it. Mostly it's the money-making problem—can't risk people knowing, as they say, 'just enough to be dangerous'."
edited 30th Mar '15 7:54:56 AM by SolipSchism
[Vencaran Shuttle]
The shuttle flew to about a block away from the abandoned mall, where it then hovered a few stories above the street. "At this range, I am detecting weak lifesigns, most likely injured humans," Nami said, "I am not detecting any anomalous energy readings or power sources. There appears to be a hole in the roof which was created quite recently, possibly where the explosive originated from."
Off to the side, they could see a smallish dark-blue shuttle approach the mall as well. It was blocky and had a shape vaguely similar to a turtle shell, although it was about the size of a double-decker bus, or half the size of their current ship. This is the ship Harrison, P'jwakh, and Ivin came in on, and P'jwakh had it pick her up from the hotel and fly over here.
"Need some help?" P'jwakh said over the intercom.
"P'jwakh! Great, you got the message?" Harrison said.
"Yes - everyone else is back at the embassy. They want me to investigate the incident to make sure there isn't a security risk," P'jwakh said.
"Sounds good," Harrison said, then turning to Giun, he said, "what do you say, you want to check out the building?"
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Vencaran Shuttle]
Ooh, nice ride. I want to meet this P'jwakh.
"The way I see it, we pretty much have to, don't we?" Trekesser replied. "I mean, not sure if it's a great idea - if there's any other blasts staying in the shuttle might be a better idea, and while I don't know about you, I'm not really trained or equipped right now for search and rescue. But there's injured people in there who need help. I'm sure the city's own emergency response teams are on their way" - he was correct; as the shuttle's sensors could probably detect, both ambulances and Capital Security vehicles were heading towards the mall - "but we're the ones that are here right now."
Thank the ancestors he hadn't changed out of his uniform like he'd originally considered. Its military-grade smartcloth had a variety of functions that might help here.
At least the building didn't seem damaged beyond whatever had caused the initial blast; there were no secondary fires or smoke. Though that raised the question - "Nami, can you tell what kind of injuries those humans have?" He seriously doubted it, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
edited 30th Mar '15 12:33:37 AM by nrjxll
alriiiight. let's deus ex machina this bitch.
i'm gonna be the kanye best like no one ever wasOld City —> Day-Khan House
All she saw was white.
For the past 5 minutes during the blast, Rani had been almost completely catatonic and blank. Her feet were still floating off the ground, but it's not like she noticed. Everything around her was a blur.
She almost didn't see the bleeding girl on the floor. She almost didn't see the giant.. wolf-like.. thing that just killed a man in front of her.
Sadly, she had. And it took all the spirit she had left to keep from throwing up then and there.
Of all the things she wanted for the day, the last thing she desired was to let several people get almost killed in front of her. Friend or foe.
Her voice was choking when she finally cast. Et dissuo, she had whispered, and the girl's feet floated slowly to the ground. Foster had the right idea in mind to cast the same thing.
When her senses finally came back, Rani turned to her partner, now standing up, and waved for him to call off the restoration spell. There were more important things to save energy for, there were people bleeding and dying. And for all the mistakes she had made today, letting them do just that would be not one of them.
She raised her hands toward the little girl on the floor, whispering something over and over again. A healing spell. Not a miracle exactly but enough to keep her alive and at least stop most of the blood.
The girl turned yet again to her partner, he was still shaking a little but his mind was clear enough. "Take us to Banshee, Foster."
His eyes were wide and tearful, he was trying not to break. He shook his head.
"We've got to do this, man." she told him, her voice getting shakier by the second. "It's the only way."
Foster looked up at her, a little sullen. He knew what she was talking about, sure, but.. he knew it would be damn near impossible.
She had enough.
"Listen to me. Do you want them to get arrested, or shot, or worse? Do you want to make another stupid fucking mistake? DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE THEM TO DIE?"
She was clearly not feeling well, tears were streaming and her normally well kept hair was out all over the place. The fight hadn't left her in the best mental state. Foster shook his head quickly, half out of compassion for the people around him, half out of fear for Rani's near-legendary scorn.
He finally agreed.
The two took a few deep breaths together, joined hands, and very slowly but very surely began casting. They sent out the wolf that resembled their friend first, then the man with the metal arm. They struggled to hold themselves up when sending the little girl and the little boy, and then were kneeling on the ground after sending the two soldiers.
Then, they took all they had left and sent themselves, falling completely unconscious once they reached home.