Eeeeh.
We've gotten overexertion warnings for going in heavily on Wave Force before. I'm pretty sure going all-in on it is likely to have consequences.
Eeeeh.
Eeeeh.
We've gotten overexertion warnings for going in heavily on Wave Force before. I'm pretty sure going all-in on it is likely to have consequences.
I'd be fine with this, as long as we try to maximize the holidays out on social with the flight, and maybe others.Thoughts on going all-in on Blue Wave? 70 Instructor, 430 BW training? I know the other things are interesting but it would cut Blue Wave training to about ~2.5 50-day actions rather than about ~3.5 for ~260 points. We can probably expect a 100-day Semester Two, so we'd achieve Blue Wave right in time for the climax. The disadvantage of course is we don't get to do other things.
Instructor Meyer sends you junk data? No, it's an… abstract virtual expression of worry? You suppose that this is the equivalent of an emoji in high density comms.
Yeah, a chance to feel like she's helping in some tangible fashion should go a ways towards working off any frustration about being stuck in school when she could be swatting antagonists.I feel like continuing this line could be really good for Anna, particularly with how interested Sandra is becoming in her and her past.
It's late, so you're going to have to wait a day on me digging up the cites - but Anna's Wave Force training is not her normal levels of overexertion. It's well past it.Anna's main method of training anything is overexerting herself.
Bwahahahahahaha!!!"He's well, not really manly," you respond haltingly, "He's too… pretty, really. And short. And thin. Also he's not interested in me, I don't think."
Ann is cute, Cute!You jump up and down a little, pumping your fist in silent celebration, before slamming yourself back down into your seat and politely folding your hands across your knees
Woohoo!
wut. uh, well. at least it looks cool?With his thrusters bright with stolen energy, he essentially rides down Emily's attack in an absurdly showy spiral, cutting the attack into a helix behind him.
Yeah... it only looked cool, not actually cool.To your side, Meyer slaps both hands over her face and groans loudly. Leonhart broadcasts a second of completely blank audio. You tilt your head in considerable confusion as you try to justify what that stunt gained Koujirou.
Badasses don't look back huh, I can feel the fangirls already...Koujirou sheaths his sword and turns around.
The trail of plasma explodes.
Noo.... maybe.... Ok yes.Koujirou wouldn't try something so inefficient in an actual battle against Antagonists would he?
But it is!"Do you think Setsuna would be impressed with that?"
Emily hangs onto Koujirou's hand, sharp incredulity etched across her face. She raises her left hand up in front of Koujirou and smartly raps him on the forehead twice.
"Ow! Hey! What's that for?"
"Hm, strange, it doesn't sound hollow."
Guh... She could've been with them, but no...As you explain to the audience exactly what had happened at the end there at Meyer's prodding, you see Yukari doing the same for Koujirou and Sandra, leaning over the two and animatedly gesturing at a replay.
You've already submitted your analysis of the match.
…
You feel a little… lonely.
100% agreed-Don't mingle with those types, Anna. They're miserable people who are only happy when other people are unhappy-
...Wow, what a bitch..."I didn't answer; would be a terrible shame to destroy any illusions you have about the nature of this academy's instruction staff," Javeria lackadaisically replies.
You continue glaring, but your thoughts whirl. From her incident record, Javeria has a propensity to distort the truth and outright lie to incite disputes. She appears to be trying to sow discord between you and the Instructors right now. She is not a reliable source for her own motives.
...Instructor Meyer's eyes shift down and away for a second. "We basically allow her to do what she does because it actually helps Valkyries get out of a rut or even progress faster in combat ability."
You open your mouth to refute the words, but the speed at which you can access and analyse data damns the retort and you swallow your words. Personality variability in the idol model. Personalities not predisposed to ambition and intense emotion often fail to form personal rivalries or goals. Presence of a personally relatable antagonistic figure motivates such Valkyries. Presence of both in close proximity or even one individual massively more effective. Multiple studies, multiple sources.
yeah...
Aw Fuck... No Anna no, it's not the same... It's not your fault, Fuck...-Why are you such a bully?-
Because… we had to… it's what we needed to do, but it didn't work…
"It's… done with the best of intentions. As long as the intent is good…" you recite.
Wut. We can get it back?!?! I mean yes there's not enough time to complete it within this timeskip, but we have to start from somewhere! Arrrrggghhh!!!! Besides it's not just beneficial for her, helping means other people will also finally have access to this weapon, which would shift the balances of war massively. This is basically a strategic option, and should be taken ASAP.-[] Work with the crafting elective class for revised HPP prototype.
Benefits: Completion returns fifth HPP. Uptick in UN Valkyries combat power. Crafting Class will continue working on HPP prototypes regardless of your participation.
Cost: 110 days - 1100 points. (Cannot be completed in timeskip, will be added to long term projects if selected.)
This time, there are no individual assessments in the form of written analysis, rather, assessments by entire flights. These reports are purely reflections after the match, rather than one prediction and one review. You send in a response of your own, only to find that Shuri had already covered all salient points.
Huffing in irritation, you retract your original report and work on expanding on points with your own analysis only to find Shuri doing the same. A brief edit war occurs as the two of you revise points to be more and more detailed, adding alternative points of view and arguments for and against those points.
Sandra however cuts you and Shuri off as she locks editing permissions with the note that the reply is meant to be only two thousand words with a five percent margin of error. It was not supposed to be two hundred thousand words and rapidly increasing.
Down below, Setsuna boggles at her datapad before tossing it back into storage with an exasperated huff. Sandra quickly accosts the other girl before she can fall into a sulk and the two begin to edit the report down to something manageable. Of course, neither Meyer nor Leonhart would have any issues reading and digesting the report in seconds, but it's a bad habit to form since it would confound normal humans and… probably most Valkyries cadets wouldn't have an easy time either.
You look on sheepishly as Setsuna sits hunched, her hands bunched in her twintails as she blankly watches her datapad auto-scroll through the pages upon pages of text and diagrams you and Shuri had created. You'd written around one hundred and thirty thousand words and Shuri ninety thousand in the fifteen or so seconds you two had had. You're not at all sure when the two of you would have stopped if all five minutes had been allowed.
Oh, is this the missing Superhuman Childhood Friend?5. E26 is no longer extant, refer [Detected Bohr/Einstein Exotic Wave Force Actualisation event no.4; 'First direct observation of Static Wave Force Manipulation'].
*snort*"Why is a boy in my damn class? I can't deal with this. I never had a boyfriend of my own anyway…"
No, do go on, this stuff is golden!"What do you think Anna, how do we deal with that level of denseness from Koujirou?" Instructor Meyer asks, turning her head to look at you, still leaning against the console.
The two of you had already started casting, but there is a noticeable delay in your response as you scramble to come up with an answer to the rhetorical question, allocating more and more mental resources to it. Surely Instructor Meyer isn't expecting you of all people to have an answer ready for that??? You– you didn't play around with the boys, you weren't that kind of girl!
"I– I don't know what you are talking about, if a b-boy is interested in someone, he'll let them know," you state firmly.
Yes. Firmly, you needed to quash any uncertainty about your character right now–
"What if a girl is interested in a boy, how does she let them know?"
"I– I dunno? She'd– she would have to– um, tell him?"
Meyer is now looking at you with a small smile and you unconsciously scoot a little bit away from the older woman.
"So… why don't you tell Koujirou you like him?"
You blink at that, thrown off the rails by the suggestion.
"Koujirou? Um, I'm not. Interested in Koujirou, I mean."
Why would the Instructor have that idea? You two are friends and comrades, but you're pretty sure Koujirou isn't interested in you. He has Setsuna after all.
Meyer raises an eyebrow, but leans forward a little in interest, "Oh really? Well, why not?"
You hem and haw, it felt a little mean to talk about Koujirou like this, but well, you had to dismiss any mistaken impressions the Instructor had.
"He's well, not really manly," you respond haltingly, "He's too… pretty, really. And short. And thin. Also he's not interested in me, I don't think."
"So you like your men big, hairy and lusty? That's something we have in common," Instructor Meyer grins at you.
"No!?" you squeak, flapping your hands to bat the suggestion away, "I– I– I'm only here to cast the competitions! No more talking about boyfriends!"
"Aww alright."
Huffing in irritation, you retract your original report and work on expanding on points with your own analysis only to find Shuri doing the same. A brief edit war occurs as the two of you revise points to be more and more detailed, adding alternative points of view and arguments for and against those points.
...I'm so jealous right now.Sandra however cuts you and Shuri off as she locks editing permissions with the note that the reply is meant to be only two thousand words with a five percent margin of error. It was not supposed to be two hundred thousand words and rapidly increasing.
Down below, Setsuna boggles at her datapad before tossing it back into storage with an exasperated huff. Sandra quickly accosts the other girl before she can fall into a sulk and the two begin to edit the report down to something manageable. Of course, neither Meyer nor Leonhart would have any issues reading and digesting the report in seconds, but it's a bad habit to form since it would confound normal humans and… probably most Valkyries cadets wouldn't have an easy time either.
You look on sheepishly as Setsuna sits hunched, her hands bunched in her twintails as she blankly watches her datapad auto-scroll through the pages upon pages of text and diagrams you and Shuri had created. You'd written around one hundred and thirty thousand words and Shuri ninety thousand in the fifteen or so seconds you two had had. You're not at all sure when the two of you would have stopped if all five minutes had been allowed.
Despite their best efforts, Sandra and Setsuna are only able to cut the word count to ninety thousand before the deadline arrives. Shuri and you both wrote in a laconic style that's basically impossible to compress, so Sandra had resorted to outright deleting the speculative scenarios and much of the for and against arguments you and Shuri had written.
Koujirou doing something stupid is a state that achieves peak probability at either seven or thirteen seconds from now.
I love it how they have calculations and predictive models for his actions. :lol>There's a pretty high chance Cadet Rokusabe will do something silly around three seconds from now, right? We did a little pattern analysis and we think that's around when anything will probably happen.
Aaawwwwwwww.You jump up and down a little, pumping your fist in silent celebration, before slamming yourself back down into your seat and politely folding your hands across your knees as Meyer throws an inquisitive glance your way. Inside however, you are still brimming with excitement.
Oooh, nice.Koujirou slams into Emily. The explosion of plasma as their melee halberds clash destroys the hasty minefield Emily had been attempting to deploy, filling the air with even more explosions as Koujirou forces Emily back.
Koujirou does another one of his weird fancy arm movements and with a flourish, Emily is suddenly being dragged after her melee halberd as the Impeller over her helmet smacks into Koujirou's rising knee. You run the motion through your head a few times, considering the move, he'd manipulated their centers of mass and axis of thrust, then locked the two melee halberds in such a way that he could drag Emily around.
...Koujirou again displays that strange sudden burst of skill that sometimes comes over him and instantly rights himself from his wild tumble. He almost delicately shifts to the side and stabs his sword into the massive wave of plasma as it roars harmlessly by. With his thrusters bright with stolen energy, he essentially rides down Emily's attack in an absurdly showy spiral, cutting the attack into a helix behind him.
To your side, Meyer slaps both hands over her face and groans loudly. Leonhart broadcasts a second of completely blank audio. You tilt your head in considerable confusion as you try to justify what that stunt gained Koujirou.
Emily halts her plasma attack and ignites her melee halberd, swinging upwards to meet Koujirou. However, his sword is still in its unusual absorb energy mode and the blade simply cuts through Emily's own melee halberd, siphoning away its plasma as it does so. Gracefully, Koujirou swings his sword, depositing the collected plasma in front of Emily. For a brief moment, it remains stable in the air, a trail of plasma following along the path of Koujirou's cut.
Koujirou sheaths his sword and turns around.
The trail of plasma explodes.
Well. That was fast.For a silent moment, he watches the streaks of light flash across the chambers and shambolic collapse of much of the central chamber, before coming to an abrupt decision. He braces himself and fires a long stream of hyper velocity cannon rounds into the central reactor, then flees.
The entire complex seems to lurch– and the central reactor explodes, with Emily nearly directly above it.
Aaawwwww.You don't really recall moving, but all of a sudden you're standing just to the side of Koujirou, a few tiny flecks of marble bouncing off your Impeller.
Well, of course. It is full density solid.Emily hangs onto Koujirou's hand, sharp incredulity etched across her face. She raises her left hand up in front of Koujirou and smartly raps him on the forehead twice.
"Ow! Hey! What's that for?"
"Hm, strange, it doesn't sound hollow."
Dammit, Anna, stop plucking my heartstrings.As you explain to the audience exactly what had happened at the end there at Meyer's prodding, you see Yukari doing the same for Koujirou and Sandra, leaning over the two and animatedly gesturing at a replay.
You've already submitted your analysis of the match.
…
You feel a little… lonely.
BEAM STRUGGLE!!! Well, sort of.Rather than dodging, Syifa immediately replies with her own full power plasma caster strike. The two opposing beams collide with a huge fireball, blowing the dust clear from the air and shattering what glass had remained intact across the city.
Anna, you so cute."Yes!"
You cheer out loud, jumping in your seat slightly as Setsuna manages to completely absorb the attack with her Impeller.
Whoa. Bitch."Why?" Setsuna demands blunty.
"You actually want… this, don't you?" asks Syifa, with a broad sweep across the stands, "I don't. Not really."
There's a moment of silence between the two cadets. Syifa's hand still hovers in midair, waiting.
"I mean, what are we doing Setsuna? Really. We know who's the best Vanguard in our Squadron, hell the entire year. You better than most, " Syifa says, shaking her head.
Setsuna stays silent, fuming.
Syifa withdraws her hand and turns away, walking for the stands.
"Well, congratulations on winning the Vanguard tournament, unless you throw matches in the finals I guess."
Naughty girl, trying to keep this conversation hidden.You continue glaring, but your thoughts whirl. From her incident record, Javeria has a propensity to distort the truth and outright lie to incite disputes. She appears to be trying to sow discord between you and the Instructors right now. She is not a reliable source for her own motives.
You turn away and commlink to Instructor Meyer, there's some strange noise at first, but you brush past the weak interference in moments.
Hail to the King, baby.
Away with you, tournament arc! And with the awful people that you provided screentime to!
(But what if what they work on is Sandra?)I thought this was the funniest part of the update. Man, when Shuri and Anna finally work together on something it's going to be monstrous.
Nah, I think this was actually her trying to be nice to Setsuna. She's just terrible at it, because she's letting her negative emotions taint Setsuna's victories.
Not likely, since it was probably Anna. But if it is her, then my personal theory will be validated, at least in some part.
Big time.Nah, I think this was actually her trying to be nice to Setsuna. She's just terrible at it, because she's letting her negative emotions taint Setsuna's victories.
No, that was our town.
Hmm. Valkyrie Syndrome?
Turns out it was a lot bigger than I was picturing, I was thinking more like 900 people than 6,000.
Doesn't feel like it. Just being depressed and bitter about how much some of her classmates outmatch her. She basically said "ooh, I can win the tournament if all the top people don't enter, yeah that's meaningful."
I...think that it was closer to 900 by the end.Turns out it was a lot bigger than I was picturing, I was thinking more like 900 people than 6,000.
Hm... that makes me more inclined to spend time with her over the timeskip. I want to see what conclusions she's reaching.I may be wrong, but this first section looks like a report on Anna's home town partially blacked out and sent to Sandra at her request. She's doing some digging, I think.
Not really sufficient evidence to say, but the report did say it looked like it supported over 6,000 at it's peak, despite having been originally constructed for 900 or so. It didn't say how many there were at the end (my guess is 1).
She's... interesting. I understand the knee jerk reaction to her but this is a dark setting in many ways and if mental trauma is the cost of them not dying or getting their flight killed. That is a trade that can be... justified or atleast seen as more palatable.