Show an affirming flame
One of the best things about music, Tina felt, was how easily a piece could be interpreted by two different listeners. Calling forth as it did powerful but unnamed emotive allusions and stirrings, a great musical performance might easily mean ten different things to ten different listeners.
With that in mind, it should be no surprise that not everyone who heard the keen of the pipes were affected in quite the same way...
What's generally seen: resplendent in full Highland dress, Tina returned the monster's baleful glare, crashing her boots down as the drums thundered and rattled to signal a halt. The music stopped for two measures; for a moment she was silent as the creature and Liliana exchanged strikes and parries—and then Tina re-inflated her bagpipes.
Now the long, sustained bass drone wound through the stadium, humming with tension. The faraway echo of low drumbeats signalled a slow, deliberate tempo, like the heartbeat of an awakening giant, and in response a thick, opaque fog swirled through what had been a sunny day. Within a few measures the cloud had smothered the entire stadium in the blank featureless gray of a North Sea fog, with visibility at less than two feet—and all the time the low drone and single muffled drumbeats echoed.
Somewhere in the fog there were voices: muffled, quiet, but numerous, and slowly building in sullen discontent, like a mob coming to a decision. Among them were several audibly female voices emanating from where Tina stood like a sentinel, piping out the low sustained drone, and silhouettes moving in the mist.
What Tina shows to the girls: Far from being an opaque pea soup blocking out the sun, the fog was reasonably translucent; just enough so to show that it was there. The silhouettes that shuffled and the voices that muttered were faded like a cinema screen in bright light: quite transparently holographic tricks.
Interestingly enough, so was the Tina who stood immobile by the stadium's entrance, piping out the long basso continuo soundtrack that underpinned the scene; she was about as realistic of a simulacrum as the other visual tricks that flitted around the stadium.
As for the real Tina, she was trotting up to where Liliana stood, mouthpiece still clenched in her teeth, cheeks still puffed: not that it seemed to affect her speech. "A bonnie good day to ye, ye wee witchy women," she said, or seemed to say, and cackled. "Wouldnae ye aall tak' a step or two back, noo? Yon eldritch beastie may be lashin' oot a bit when it's a' but blinded and deaf."
Blinded, perhaps, but deaf might have seemed questionable. Those not being exposed to the full force of the visual illusion heard a somewhat different pulse to the music: instead of the menacing low drone, there was a mirthful oompah, oompah from Tina's bagpipes, like a great slow jolly chuckle that matched the grin on her face as she piped away.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Death Scientist
The sudden appearance of multiple magi caught her by surprise, but Alessandra should've expected that.
Of course there are others. Now that I've seen it for myself, how could I have imagined that I could take it down alone?
To be fair, she thought that she'd have to work with one or two other magical girls eventually. Just not four straight from the get-go. She watched the one who identified herself as the Justice Rook got Liliana safely out of the way and asked for assistance.
A plan? I like how this girl thinks.
"If you need long range abilities, I'm your girl," Alessandra said loudly from her position.
The last magical girl to enter the stadium was using her... bagpipes? to create a diversion. This would be a crucial advantage. They needed to get the first strike in.
edited 14th Apr '15 3:07:11 AM by Thanatologist
This is my siggy. It says: This is my siggy. It says: This i—*crash**bang**smash*—*silence*—
The Man in Black
Ace, meanwhile, had a different objective. It took the span of a few seconds to locate the stadium's control booth, high up overlooking the field. Now that she had a minute to take a breather, her feet steadied under her, though not by much. Each step reminded her how sore she was, but she kept walking. Up several flights of stairs and across half the stadium, it felt like. She hoped she'd get there in time.
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth
Rhea jumped over to the nearest girl; the other person who had answered the Justice Rook. "So, shall we formulate a plan or what?"
off the shits
"I don't need any plan! Just punches!"
Lilith slides up to the figure, brandishing her cestus. The steam from her transformation is still surrounding her.
"Get ready to say your prayers, because you're about to meet REVerend Pain," She shakes her right fist," and REVerend Wrecker." She shakes her other hand.
The motors inside the cestus start spinning, making the weapons glow with heat and a dreadful droning sound, much like an engine. She slides forward in an attempt to deliver a precise barrage of blows to any eyes that are within arms reach.
"TAKE THIS, YOU FREAK!"
edited 14th Apr '15 12:34:04 PM by UndyingPhoenix
That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth
"HEY!" Rhea yelled at Lilith. Why is she attacking? She doesn't know what that thing'll do...
off the shits
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
Feeling nervous and slightly confused as the other Magical Girls show themselves, Liliana's wings wrap around her body as her grip on her staff increases. "Its, um, very nice to meet you all. Y-you're friends right? Burattino told me-" Stopping herself as Justice Rook lays a hand on her shoulder, the masked Magus speaks up. "Now isn't the time for introductions Princess Liliana, and just let us fight this Kachemetc."
Looking away from the now more nervous and confused Liliana, Justice Rook calls out to the two who answered her. "Swords and Prism, those weapons on the Kachemetc's body need to be severed from it first. Gouging out its eye will greatly limit it, then-" Hearing her fellow Rook and seeing the girl charging the Kachemetc, Justice Rook begins to draw metal to herself whilst doing nothing to intercept her fellow Magus.
The shadowy humanoids leaping in front of Lilith's cestus and getting destroyed in one hit, the Kachemetc takes this moment to- disperse into light? Said light suddenly reforming behind Lilith, the grin on the harlot half just grows as cruel laughter starts to come out as the Kachemetc's right arm is raised- Suddenly smacking Lilith aside with the cross, an explosion of light going off upon hitting her.
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
Death Scientist
"Ms. Rook over there says we should takeout that eye. This should be easy enough between the tw-" Alessandra started saying.
So, we have a hothead, do we?
Upon noticing Lilith getting counter-attacked the Kachemetc, she sent to of her prisms flying towards the fight. They grew and flattened as they went, and positioned themselves to catch the magical girl.
They're not exactly cushions, but better than nothing.
Turning back to the magus with the swords, she said, "Anyway, with two of us, we should be able to make it blind easy. First, we'll need to find out if it can protect that eye. One of your swords would be better at that, I think."
edited 14th Apr '15 5:36:02 PM by Thanatologist
This is my siggy. It says: This is my siggy. It says: This i—*crash**bang**smash*—*silence*—
That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth
"Mmhmm.." Rhea swung her hand in a lazy arc, sending two of her swords flying towards the monster's eye. "Do you think you could sever that cross with one of your prisms? I don't much like the idea of getting hit by it..." She said to Alessandra.
off the shits
Show an affirming flame
"Ye mean stay oot o' sluggin' range, or yon beastie will claim ye," said Tina tartly; it was a mystery how, since she was apparently still puffing away at the bagpipes. (Or maybe not: illusions weren't just for fooling the enemy.) "An' if it's the great bluidy eye ye wantae blind...way-ull, ra German opera's got its qualities, but..."
The bagpipes shifted beneath her arms, moving somewhat of their own accord. A moment later, the long low drone changed.
Strauss's original motif had been in C major, and a little bit of transposing was needed to suit the Highland pipes. Nevertheless, the effect was immediate.
Fog still shrouded the stadium—still transparent to the girls, still impenetrable and opaque to the creature—but for the space directly in front of the creature's eye, which cleared and flared with brilliant sun-bright light.
Even from side-on, through the protective layer of mist, the flash was dazzling. Where the equivalent of a set of arc lights were involved, it hardly mattered whether or not if the light were not—strictly speaking—real.
Tina hadn't stayed idle, either. Even as she piped the sunrise she was skipping around the inner rim of the stadium, trusting to the mist and an additional layer of I'm not here! around herself to remain hidden. (To any observer the sound would still be coming from the spot she'd left.) She'd seen a certain redheaded sparker apparently heading for the sound control room...which opened up all kinds of potential mischief, if she was right...
edited 15th Apr '15 8:56:08 AM by SabresEdge
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
The creature's eye blinded by intense light and impaled by two blades, the harlot shrieks in pain- Before resuming its smile, beginning to singingly calling out to those who hear it. Nothing seeming to happen at first, Liliana stands up and relaxes her hold on her staff. "Why is this world / lost to evil? / People are used like tools / By those with no deserved rights / So why are these people / Allowed to use others like pawns?"
Justice Rook abruptly ending the construction of a large metal sword, she looks over the others. "The Kachemetc is, amplifying our desires. Can't you feel it inside your heads? Try to focus yourselves, onto it!" Grabbing the large metal sword with her free hand, Justice Rook suddenly darts towards it, swinging the blade at the Kachemetc only for the remaining shadow creatures to jump in the way.
Breaking down into light again, the Kachemetc reforms past Justice Rook. Holding up the blade attached to its left, the nun openly weeps as the Kachemetc begins blindly swinging it in large arcs trying to hit someone. Curiously, the sword moves through physical objects unhindered and leaving said objects intact.
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
The Man in Black
In the background, there was a sound like a chainsaw revving. Hidden under the sounds of J-pop, bagpipes, and infernal lullabies, a guitar riff began building.
"Thunder!
" The lyrics began. "Thunder!"
The music began building, drowning out Amour Perdu's melody as the whole stadium broadcasted AC/DC's Thunderstruck at maximum volume. As the lyrics paused and the music rolled into a solo, a voice Tina would recognize came over the system.
"Grab a microphone!"
edited 16th Apr '15 3:19:01 PM by Wysp
"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Death Scientist
The head that Alessandra thought of as 'evil' started singing. She felt herself becoming irritated at it.
So it doesn't defend itself directly, huh? Fine with me. I'm coming for you, monster.
She called back the two prisms she'd sent out earlier, which combined with another two into a platform. Almost forgetting about the sword-plant magical girl, she hovered nearer to the Kachemetc.
"I'm going in," she called over her shoulder to Rhea. Then to the monster, she said, "Mi scusi, mostro, pero tu dovere stare zitto!"
She used her three prisms to fire lasers at the monster, while the remaining one started charging sunlight. Alessandra was starting to ignore everything else.
I will kill you.
edited 16th Apr '15 10:08:23 PM by Thanatologist
This is my siggy. It says: This is my siggy. It says: This i—*crash**bang**smash*—*silence*—
Show an affirming flame
"Get hired!" Tina's voice was pure indignant rage that someone had the gall to overpower her bagpipe music, though not nearly loud enough to carry over the speakers, which were currently one-nil in the volume war. "An' tak' yer Aussie rock an' shoove it up—"
The stentorian bellowing stopped abruptly, and Tina swiveled on her feet, eyeing the creature in stadium centre with a rapidly growing suspicion.
Amplifying desires, huh. Well, that was good to know, although it did lead to a catch-22 of sorts. If the creature was hoping to amplify Tina's desire to rip off someone's limbs and beat them to death with the soggy end, it had just succeeded admirably. And if it wasn't, the knowledge that it had tried to manipulate her mind supplied that exact same desire just as admirably.
Pity for the monster that the someone in question was currently gyrating over there in stage centre, apparently in the hope that teleportation spam was going to make things less painful.
Besides—Tina allowed herself a sour little smile as she beelined for a microphone, keeping her visible decoy pacing on a parallel course; murderous rage might be murderous rage, but craft still took precedence—AC/DC wasn't the worst backing to have. Tricky to accompany, of course, but one could work wonders with creative use of counterpoint. She clicked on the microphone, blew into it once or twice, then muttered, not loudly enough for the microphone to catch: "noo...tae charm the claymore fram its sheathe, the brak' bottle froom its bag, an' the fightin' men to arms...Glasgow style."
Again, she inflated the bag, and played a low-key accompaniment to the bass blasting from the speakers while she figured out the speaker placement. There was a limit; she had to balance the fogcloud (to help conceal the other girls), her own decoy and I'm-not-here glamour (to conceal herself), and what she was now going to do; she was a little constrained by the speaker placement, which was not quite optimized for what she wanted to do, but collateral damage should be minimal if she was careful.
(She paused to take another very quick nip from her flask.)
Tina adjusted the fingering a little on the bagpipe, and the sound changed. There was a distinct edge to the sound quality, and a shrill auditory backwash to set the teeth on edge, unintentional unpleasant out-of-phase interference effects all over.
They were nothing compared to the intentional unpleasant out-of-phase interference effects targeted on the creature, of course; those could have cracked steel and induced destructive cavitation in a water drum.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Grrr, you just hit the wrong person, idiot!"
Lilith is caught by the prisms, and springs to her feet to slide around to the back of the creature and let out another barrage.
"Let's kick it into second gear, shall we?!"
The engines in the cestus hum even faster, nearly echoing throughout the entire area, and they glow even hotter. She lets out a series of quick punches, not as precise as before, but much faster.
That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth
"Hey, wait!" Rhea felt like a broken record as she shouted to the girl with the prisms. Why is everyone?... "Okay then, suit yourself."
off the shits
kirbys mom
Indiana, Lucas Oil Stadium, 2:42 P.M.
(Just gonna get goin' here a bit awkwardly.)
Man, I was late! A girl with auburn hair was making her way inside the stadium as fast as she could. Win a ticket, then end up late to this big concert! She could hear a commotion from within. What the heck? What's goin' on in there? She hurried within and gasped at the sight before her. Hold on, is this what I think it is!?
edited 19th Apr '15 7:42:04 PM by DreamPuppeteer
came back after almost a decade. sorry for dying. trying to keep my account in place to avoid impersonation
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
Looking towards where Ace would be, the nun half of the Kachemetc openly weeps while the harlot just... stares as if reluctantly accepting the new noise. Liliana, on the other hand, becomes notably annoyed as the new music began playing, looking at the control booth as angrily as she could muster. "This is my place, my time / My words shall echo through these walls / I refuse to be second string / To some talentless hack!"
Turning towards Liliana's direction, the Kachemetc raises its sword- Before getting pelted with lasers and punches from behind. Dispersing into light and reforming several feet in the air looking down at Lilith with its sword positioned to strike her, the Kachemetc falls to the side upon Justice Rook firing five junk swords at it. Crashing into the ground, the Kachemetc gets up to see Justice Rook quickly approaching it. Sword held out, the Kachemetc stands up- And suddenly launches forward on a carpet of flames, striking Justice Rook.
Standing still in a moment of shock, Justice Rook suddenly drops her Magic Weapon and clenches her head. Looking around and seeing the Kachemetc, Justice Rook suddenly darts away from it afraid. The Kachemetc itself suddenly conjures up four barricades of light spears, sword brandished to strike anyone that approaches.
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
Show an affirming flame
There was, apparently, a bit of fuss going on at stage center where the beastie was being mobbed by magical girl attacks; Tina supposed that the witch's mind-affecting capabilities were much more intense at close range. It was a lone lucid note on a rising tide of raging indignity. "Talentless hack", now, was she?
"Oh, hear the bleatin' o' the bint, 'er bluidy concert's spoilt!" Tina's microphone-amplified voice dripped sarcasm in an offensively out-of-tune parody to Liliana's melody. She'd visibly taken the mouthpiece away from her lips yet the bagpipes continued to screech and gibber in strange ululations; resonance effects crashed into the beast like colliding ocean waves erupting into cascading columns.
(Someone had to be focused on the job at hand while angry Scots defended the honor of their culture. To some annoyance Tina realized that she wasn't summoning an army of screaming Highlanders to swamp Liliana in broadswords and broken bottles, and probably couldn't do so no matter how much she wanted to; all the bagpipe's focus was on blasting the K creature with acoustic hammerblows. Maybe it really did embody some strange, sensible part of her psyche—or maybe it was just hungry and unwilling to let go of a potential victim. That realization snapped her back to reality for a bit: kill creature first, avenge cultural honor later.)
"Name o' the wee man, ye crazed bampot! Ye can ha'e yer bluidy microphones back when Ah'm doone callin' Tschaikovsky wi' em!" This coincided with a tearing cannon roar underlying the unearthly bagpipe screeching over the speakers—the audible side lobes of a focused magical effect, targeted on the creature, that gave it the illusion of an army of Tinas at extreme close range, within the sword barrier, claymores out for the kill.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"HEY! MORON! YOU HIT LIKE A GIRL! No, wait, I hit harder than you. WORSE!"
She enters her invincibility stance, trying to draw the attention of their enemy towards her, leaving the others able to focus attacking on it. It was dangerous, and desperate, but worth a try.
Death Scientist
A burst of savage joy. I hit it! Followed by: Ignoring me, are you?
Alessandra let fly with the charged prism's laser' twice as strong as the others. No luck against the light barrier. This irritated her even more, though at the back of her mind she could feel her anger subsiding a little.
Let's see how you do against eight.
She hopped off her platform - which returned to its composite prisms. All eight hovered above her, seven in a semicircle with one at the center of the arc's radius. Then they all started charging. Alessandra only vaguely noticed that the music was all over the place, and the girl she had caught earlier had taken up a guard stance of some sort, as if preparing receive a blow.
edited 22nd Apr '15 6:08:58 PM by Thanatologist
This is my siggy. It says: This is my siggy. It says: This i—*crash**bang**smash*—*silence*—
That's just how it is on this bitch of an earth
Rhea faltered. She gripped her head, agitated by the Kachemetc's song, and sank to her knees.
off the shits
kirbys mom
It had finally sunk into the tan girl that she needed to do something. She pulled out her bracelet, and within moments, had transformed.
"Death Bishop here! I'm gonna help you guys out!"
came back after almost a decade. sorry for dying. trying to keep my account in place to avoid impersonation
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
Hearing Tina's words, Liliana points her staff at the fellow singer and Magical Girl. "I won't let anyone / Bring me down again / So here are my words / I..." Blinking, Liliana lowers her staff as she looks terrified, her gaze going between Tina and the Kachemetc. Tightly clenching the staff close to her chest, she fearfully steps away from the Kachemetc.
Noticing the illusion Tinas within its light barricade, the Kachemetc strikes at them and doesn't even notice the prisms being charged. Lilith's taunt, however, gets the harlot half to look at her with its perverse smile now one of angry mockery. Both sides suddenly ignoring the illusion Tinas, a strange voice rings from them. "Your sins shall now be manifest / So says us, your dark embodiment / And when we're done / We'll absorb our stolen sisters / So we may destroy the rest of your kind"
The light barricades suddenly fading away, two new arms grow right outside the eye. These arms removing the weaponry growing out of their secondary arms, the two new arms hold them together- The sword and cross fusing right before everyone. With that done the Kachemetc becomes of a beam of light, with a carpet of flame following it as it travels towards the Temperance Bishop. Its back turned to her nonetheless, the Kachemetc begins humming again in its new strange voice, reaching out calmness and madness towards Alessandra's mind. Finally it summons multiple constructs resembling a fusion of the light spears and dark humanoids it called forth earlier.
edited 25th Apr '15 12:33:37 PM by Kkutwar
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
"Hm? Who are you? I know you just said you were the Justice Rook, but... Never mind I'll get your name later. I have a ranged attack." She demonstrated by summoning a few swords and letting them float around her.
off the shits