TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The Age of Absalom

Go To

TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#176: Oct 29th 2011 at 5:46:58 PM

"These are strange creatures," remarked Nightwolf as he observed the Torchic. "Normally, animals in Earthrealm cannot speak at all. Animalities, on the other hand..."

If there was one technique Nightwolf truly mastered, it was the Animality. Most needed extra time to prepare to use it for but a few seconds. He, however, could use it for more than finishing attacks as others did. In his wolf form, Nightwolf retained his intelligence and thought. He was merely four-legged and more prone to go on his instinct in that form.

The shaman knew others would be curious about this Animality. He waited to see if any would ask what it was.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
GreyStar Wild Horse from Chaos Since: Dec, 2010
Wild Horse
#177: Oct 29th 2011 at 5:52:52 PM

"Um..." Ranma was immediately on the defensive as soon as she heard her father's name uttered by Evangeline. Crap, stupid pops! What the hell did you do this time?!

Turning to face the little girl, the martial artist looked rather uncomfortable and couldn't look her in the eyes. "Yes..." She finally uttered, apprehensive. "Genma is my dad alright, though many times I wished he wasn't... What did he do to you?" The last question was asked fearfully, as she knew that when someone knew her father, it was not gonna be good on the offspring.

Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
SullenFrog (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: I wanna know about these strangers like me
#178: Oct 29th 2011 at 6:03:08 PM

"Eh, no problem," Spider-Man replied, helping the young Keybearer to its feet. "It's what I do."

He glanced around then, taking stock of the situation. It seemed that the other members of the group had finally gotten around to introducing themselves, though it rankled somewhat that scarcely anyone had done so when he'd suggested it before; weird how these people would listen to a young girl in a rather inappropriate dress, but not to a grown man dressed in...

...Huh. Maybe that wasn't so weird, after all—or at least, less weird. So the girl's name was Evangeline, and she went by "the Girl Queen of Darkness", eh? That would explain her taste in fashion, at any rate; the way she acted made her seem far older and more mature than her apparent age would indicate, so clearly there was something unusual about her—he had vaguely heard her mention something about vampires shortly before the fight began, but he hadn't realized that she was talking about herself.

The arachnid avenger would have asked Evangeline to clarify, but he could see that something about the red-haired girl—that Ranma Saotome—seemed to unsettle her. "You know each other, I'm guessing?"


While this was going on, the chick scurried away from Satsuki's shooing motions, but not without letting out a final indignant chirp. Now that the danger had passed, it began to meander through the group, peering up at them with curiousity writ clear in its big black eyes.

Meanwhile, the fire which still blazed at the center of the circle was slowly growing in size...

The Danse Macabre Codex
TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#179: Oct 29th 2011 at 6:16:54 PM

Nightwolf noticed a steadily growing fire nearby. He looked closely at it and wondered if it was a threat. Even if it wasn't, it didn't seem to catch anybody else's attention.

"Strange," said the shaman. "A fire with no discernible source in this sub-zero climate. Are any of you here pyrokinetic?"

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#180: Oct 29th 2011 at 6:27:04 PM

"This girl's father," explained Evangeline, face carefully schooled into a bored expression despite her desire to go find a bottle of whisky, "Is a greedy, irresponsible oaf. Whilst I was exploring the lesser-known parts of Japan some fifteen years or so ago, I came across a hungry martial artist and their child. Feeling somewhat thirsty myself, I offered a simple enough choice: I would give him some food and, in exchange, I would either take a pint of blood or an engagement with his child."

"It was a stupid choice—no-one sane would engage their child to a vampire accompanied by a sadistic doll," she continued, "And from his appearance, blood would be a welcome trade for food. Yet Genma accepted the engagement and took the food. I could have stopped him but I had no need for it myself. Had I known that I was going to run across his child, and the opposite sex from what I remember, at a later date, I would have prepared a cursed ring or some such bauble for him. I don't break my agreements."

GreyStar Wild Horse from Chaos Since: Dec, 2010
Wild Horse
#181: Oct 29th 2011 at 6:54:27 PM

At the mention of the words "fiancée" and "cursed ring", poor Ranma started shaking uncontrollably. Said seizures stemmed from a combination of hatred towards the selfish patriarch of the Saotome clan and partially from the fear of yet ANOTHER fiancée to contend with. "Yes... Well... You're another person that got duped by stupid pops." it was here that the martial artist found something of a silver lining.

It was good luck that she was a female right now, so that Evangeline was probably not going to marry her (unless she shifted the other way or was a cross dresser like both of Ukyo's suitors). As such, Ranma was also thankful she didn't say anything about the Cursed Jusenkyo Springs, so the facade was kept up. After all, she didn't want the fiasco of something like his intro to Akane to happen...

Still, Ranma chafed at the thoughts of her father attempting to marry her off to a Lolita of all things. If anything, her opinion of Genma had hit an all time low. "I'm sorry for not being what my father promised you." She said, bowing down. Normally, one such as Ranma wouldn't even do such a thing, but the absurdity of the situation of Genma's newest deal with the devil made her feel sorry towards the pseudo preteen.

Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#182: Oct 29th 2011 at 7:04:15 PM

"He promised me an engagement, I accepted the engagement," said Evangeline, oblivious to the turmoil that was Ranma's life, "It matters little to me that you are female; without substantially more magic available, I am incapable of reaching a more suitable age. This seems quite interesting, too, far more so than had things played out as I first expected when offering the engagement."

SullenFrog (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: I wanna know about these strangers like me
#183: Oct 29th 2011 at 7:09:51 PM

Spider-Man remained silent for a moment, his mind attempting to process the bizarre mechanics of this situation. Unable to think of a suitable quip (and doubting that any would have been appropriate in any case), he simply turned to Ranma and said, "Your father is a terrible person. He's hardly the worst I've heard of, not by a long shot, but still—he ranks fairly high on my personal List of Horrible Dads."

As if in response to Nightwolf's question, the bird peered up at the towering*

shaman and tilted its head to one side. "Torchic, tor?"

The fire continued to grow gradually larger, the heat it generated increasing ever so slightly as it did so; it did not seem like it was about to explode into a raging inferno any time soon—far from it—but still, it was getting noticeably warmer.

The Danse Macabre Codex
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#184: Oct 29th 2011 at 8:07:31 PM

OKKA.

— At the sound of this deep, resonant voice from the blackest shadow, five score blue-armoured avian warriors barreled through the cool, heavily befogged forest, some scrabbling up trees and leaping from branch to branch. They all skidded to a halt after going a sufficient distance, peering at the creatures below and before them.

A number of them clicked their beaks in distaste on seeing those pointed ears, violet tabards, and golden triangles. There were about two dozen of them, all in mail and plate, some of whom had their all-concealing visors propped up and open, chatting while their officers were away. On the path in front of them were planted the jagged stakes that characterised a cavalry trap. The birds in armour stood still as statues, awaiting something.

Behind them, the thunderous impact of a large, steel boot came from the shadows... and the blackness moved. That was all the signal these avians needed. Their "patrons" marched. So did they, leaping from the higher ground with a hair-raising screech onto their quarry below. The warriors hacked at these long-eared infantry with long blades, killing many before they could even get into stance. Nonetheless, a handful of these birds fell here, corpses draped onto the trap. The warriors turned to what was ahead, beyond the scrambling alerted infantry, a wooden wall with ramparts blocking the path. With barely a second's thought, they swarmed towards the unlucky soldiers before the gates.

The loud click and whistle of crossbow bolts launching blended with the shouts of many more infantrymen frantically getting into position both in front of and behind the wall, muffling the growing report of marching boots and a new sound, the clattering of hooves. As the avians zealously engaged those violet-clad infantrymen for a time, the first of the "patrons" descended, cape billowing, to land with a crack like stone walls broken asunder. The black armoured figure rose to his feet, and full towering height, some of the enemy broke and fled in terror.

For the Cliff Lords had come, and this one in particular was Mighty. Exarchall, commander of the East Cohort, sub-leader of the Expedition into Hyrule, was pleased. His clients of the Fokka tribe had done well through the long, perilous march here, and then now were quickly proving themselves in combat and coordination. They were no substitute for the wrath of a Cliff Lord, but then again, what creature was? Speed had been a necessity here, something which most of his kind had difficulty admitting was their problem. His crested helm tracked left and right, unseeable eyes roving over the wall-bound crossbowmen.

Two more impacts in his wake heralded the arrival of his best Masters, Herkales and Mawrise, whom unlike him bore horns on their helms and silver runes on their armour. On seeing the rapidly deteorating position of the enemy, Herkales scoffed, Mawrise simply shook his head with a solitary 'tut!'. Exarchall raised his shield arm up to his side, marching onward, giving a curt nod. —

"ADEEEPTS!"

— The Masters roared in guttural unison,lunging out of the way. Thirty, noticeably lighter thuds later, and thirty mail-and-plate clad foot soldiers stood ready to march with their Masters. The sight of this alone was enough to break the seventy or so Hylians still in front of the gates, and they fell back behind the wooden wall, loud sighs of relief coming from within as they closed. Close to fifty crossbowmen were now up on the ramparts, picking off the Fokka (taking cover however they could) at their leisure, only a few of them focusing on the threat heading their way.

Exarchall kicked away the corpse strewn cavalry trap without breaking stride, bringing his shield up higher to block some of the incoming bolts. A distinctly foreign and throaty growl of words echoed from inside his helm. An oddly musical roar from the forest answered him, followed by those who uttered it leaping onto the field. Fourteen leonine faces on the hairy torsos of men and the bodies of horses flashed their many fangs at their patrons as they passed, unstrapping long knives ready for throwing. These, Exarchall recalled with a touch of nostalgia, were the Lynels, former enemies of his kind now serving as useful clients, the most unique cavalry in the land.

The Hylians flinched at the sight of them, and vainly tried to target these speedy chimerae, to no avail. Dozens of knives flew through the air at them, several finding their bloody mark. As the Fokka jeered and the Lynels snarled in glee, Exarchall only got closer. The officer in charge of the crossbowmen frantically bawled for a redirection of fire. One bolt struck the Cliff Lord's right pauldron, another his collar. The bolts impacted over and over again, and it wasn't until one panicking crossbowman (apparently) managed to get lucky, three meters from the gate, that the Mighty stopped.

For a moment, Exarchall's knees bent, seemingly giving way, only for the Cliff Lord to spring into a lunging sweep with his great sword, bellowing at the top of his lungs. One sweep of the blade sliced those gates in twain and knocked off part of the rampart. The Hylians screamed. A second, upward, slice cut right through the rampart, and cut off a man's foot. The Hylians began to flee.

Two of the elder Lynels sung out what the Mighty recognised as Holy Words of Wrath, fireballs of a Goddess roaring over his head from their crossed knives and into the routed crossbowmen. Exarchall nodded in gratitude at the Lynels' sense of dramatic timing, even if he found the magic itself distasteful.

Because as the Darknut officer knocked his way through the woebegone gate, the scripture inscribed into his armour and shield reacted to the magic, glowing a blessed gold amongst the fires of Hylian corpses. He saw the forward camp ahead of him, filled with dozens more terrified soldiers, all backing away from his march, a few of them even looking like they were about to throw their swords down. He saw, beyond them, the splendid vista of Faron Temple, somehow both natural and a work of mortal hands, sitting there as the most holy fortress in Hyrule.

The entrance into the place rolled open, a full platoon of much more heavily armed soldiers tramping out onto the causeway. Ironclads. Exarchall noted, after a second of fishing around for the term, hearing the sound of his own men making their way in. Just as he was about to make his next order, the Mighty spotted something in the Temple door. A Hylian knight, the commander of this detachment judging by the medals and female judging by the make of the armour, stood just inside, staring out directly at him. What truly caught his eye was the black and gold brooch suspended from her hip like an ornament.

Exarchall felt a dull burn of anger at the sight of it, but went on to order the charge as normal. He would chase this one if he had to. And he would find out where this woman had found it. Not that such information would negate the particular cost of such thievery...

edited 29th Oct '11 10:31:41 PM by Colonial1.1

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
MystyGlyttyr Bitch pills from Ship's Harbor Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
Bitch pills
#185: Oct 29th 2011 at 9:05:53 PM

Though the danger was practically long past, Adrian only now chose to pop his head up from his hiding place, glancing back and forth, then standing.

"Well that-," Shephard cleared his throat, a deep squeak was in his voice, and afterwards it was gone. "Well that was was interesting. I'm...glad I was right in my assessment that you would all be able to handle that. I gotta say, it's a nice change to be hanging around with capable people who don't die on me all the time."

Sparky chirped from his arm, and Adrian glanced down at the bug-like alien. "Well of course I don't mean you, Sparky. You're the most capable on this team!"

Easing back into life one step at a time
kagescorpionakki Breath of the Sun from Long Ago Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Breath of the Sun
#186: Oct 29th 2011 at 9:10:01 PM

"Hey now," Bender interjects, "I sold my first born son to the devil for an army of damned robots, and you don't see him complaining. I mean, haven't ya ever tried stopping your anger, just sitting down with your father... and hitting him?" The silvery robot asks, punching the air as if to demonstrate.

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#187: Oct 29th 2011 at 10:59:04 PM

"Wait..." said Nightwolf as he looked at the Torchic. "This bird...controls fire like Liu Kang? Interesting...and it seems to have enough mastery over it that the flames are still well within its control. In all my life, I've never quite seen anything like this."

Then, the shaman turned to Bender.

"You...are you programmed to act like this?" asked the shaman. "Or is your programming deteriorating?"

edited 29th Oct '11 11:00:22 PM by TestYourMight

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#188: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:14:35 AM

Rebooting. Systems operational. All clothing on upper body lost. Large amounts of sheath damage. Weapons: None.

"What is the current topic of conversation? What is the current defensive strategy?"

MystyGlyttyr Bitch pills from Ship's Harbor Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
Bitch pills
#189: Oct 30th 2011 at 9:37:19 AM

Adrian glanced over as the Terminator came back to, then slowly and silently shuffled to stand behind Bender, working to try and keep the obvious robot between himself and the now-obvious robot.

Easing back into life one step at a time
TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#190: Oct 30th 2011 at 11:18:01 AM

"I was just asking Bender if he was programmed to act this way," said Nightwolf before turning to see the Terminator. "Are you a cyborg of some sort?"

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
GreyStar Wild Horse from Chaos Since: Dec, 2010
Wild Horse
#191: Oct 30th 2011 at 11:50:07 AM

At this point in the conversation, Ranma was shivering even more uncomfortably. "Of course I hit stupid pops back... It's just that he's such a bastard that he regularly attempts to knock me out, tie me up, and even drug me just for the sake of a free meal..." the girl said easily, as though she had to live like that daily (which she did)

And now the scum of a father had promised her hand in marriage to someone like his age morphing sensei, though this one didn't care what gender she was... That in itself put her in the worst marriage prospect possible in the martial artist's mind. "Aha... This is... Weird..." She stated, having never had a female fiancée willing to marry her female form.

Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#192: Oct 30th 2011 at 12:15:15 PM

"I'm a vampire sorceress trapped in a ten year old body and with a fluent grasp of Scots' Gaelic, English, Japanese, and a slightly antiquated grasp of French. Additionally, my knowledge of Ancient Greek, Classical Latin, and Sanskrit is surprisingly large, as is my assortment of mundane skills," said Evangeline, listing things off in her head, "Any one of these would qualify this as a strange engagement. You might need to come up with a better descriptor than that single word."

Ranma was going to be so much fun to torment.

kagescorpionakki Breath of the Sun from Long Ago Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Breath of the Sun
#193: Oct 30th 2011 at 3:11:58 PM

"Hey, you can't program Bender." Replies the robot to Nightwolf, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head... causing him to fall backwards off his stump. "Crap." Bender manages to get back up, cursing gravity under his breath.

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#194: Oct 30th 2011 at 3:15:05 PM

Perhaps you will be of more use to the plants.

— Exarchall rumbled blandly as he snapped Knight Commander Wilhemyna's neck with a simple twist of his left hand. He kicked her battered and bloody body into the water, watching with detached interest as something vegetative and toothy snapped up the corpse after it had sunk some feet. The Mighty made an about face, marching back towards the massive door, the Brooch of Office in hand.

Two hours had been spent fighting through this holy ground. Two grueling, puzzling hours. The Hylians had two hundred more men and women stationed inside, and used them to fight for every last room of the place, forcing Exarchall to bring in the rest of his expeditionary troops. Even the ones with those irritating puzzles had to be fought through. His remaining Fokka were exhausted, as he had used them to either force the strange windvanes to stop, or to move. It didn't exactly help that the infernal boomerang had been in the Knight Commander's hands.

Ridiculous. He had thought, as he wrenched open door after door. Why must a temple have such puzzles for the faithful to pass through to the holiest room? Their temple had no need for such exclusive instruments to pass through. Oh, the faithful needed zeal, determination, and not an insignificant amount of muscular strength to succeed, but any Cliff Lord or Lady could be tested in that manner. Simple equality.

And at the end of this trek, after defeating the woman in combat, he had interrogated her. Apparently, she had just found the brooch here, one day, just out of the blue. That was the answer she had stuck with. So while she had not stolen it, no foreigner was to ever wear such a signifer of honour and power, especially not as a trinket.

Leaning against the gigantic door, about to roll it open again, Exarchall found his gaze drawn to the brooch again. Something felt strange about it, even though it looked, felt, and even weighed the same as the real thing. Like it was half-present. He shook his head, bringing the device closer to his chest... Only to hear and feel it clang into place on his armour. A clipped, stern, female voice (the Mighty placed it as sounding like a Hylian) suddenly emanated from it.—

Connection established. Bearer positively identified as Mighty Exarchall, designation ZU-4. Acquisition complete; now initiating emergency planar shunt...

— Exarchall growled, attempting to tear the brooch off with his spare hand. But it would not budge. As the signifer flared up in blinding, radiant light, so too did the Mighty's scripture covered armour blaze gold and turquoise, making him look like a Phantom of old. His best Masters were the last sight he saw here, hurriedly throwing the door open to see what was the matter. His thought here was how frightened these otherwise great and proud warriors looked... —


—And then there was ice. And cold. And skies devoid of life.

The Mighty quickly rose to his feet with a small "Hrrumph", looking over his new surroundings not with surprise or fear, but with an annoyed question of his exact position. —

" This is Not Snow Head."

—The Cliff Lord stated aloud, matter-of-factly. He had read about those frozen lands, and even they could not truly be described as wastes compared to this. He squinted on catching sight of eighteen or so metallic-looking stumps a short distance away, then noted what his suddenly cold-blasted nose was telling him: There were people here. He began trudging his way to these stumps, the brooch once again catching his eye. The golden portions of the insignia had seemingly become crystalline, a maxim of the Mighty in abbreviated form set into the centre. His eyes ached when he attempted to read the tiny text lines beyond that. Shaking his head, he now studied the faint imprints in the ice, and the smells which came from around them, deciphering each. —

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#195: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:00:20 PM

Question issued by unidentified subject. Issuing response.

"I am a cybernetic organism. I am a Titanium Cobalt endoskeleton beneath a sheath of live flesh."

New unidentified subject detected. Combat systems online, artificial adrenaline system online, engaging defensive stance.

TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#196: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:04:16 PM

"I don't intend to fight you," said Nightwolf. "It's just that your cybernetics are remarkably different from those I've encountered so far. My name is Nightwolf."

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#197: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:28:25 PM

Statement and identification issued by subject Nightwolf. Issuing statement.

"I am Cyber Research Systems Model 101 Series 850 Infiltration-Combat Unit, constructed in the year 2018, several years after the near annihilation of humanity. My defensive stance is not due to you."

TestYourMight Stealth Bomber from Not Winnipeg Either Since: Nov, 2010
Stealth Bomber
#198: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:31:04 PM

"It is an honor to meet you," said Nightwolf. "What makes you take the defensive stance?"

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!
Vox Since: Dec, 2010
#199: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:32:25 PM

Connor glanced in Evangeline's direction at the mention of Scots' Gaelic, but said nothing.

Interesting...

GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#200: Oct 30th 2011 at 4:36:32 PM

Question issued by Subject Nightwolf. Issuing response.

"The subject that has appeared close by, and has issued a statement."


Total posts: 1,505
Top