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Bronze Mettle (MCU/DC SI)

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The Eve
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    • I'm excited. Clint invited me to spend Halloween with his family. We took a train out to some restaurant in Jersey, just outside Gotham. Apparently it's Laura's favorite place to eat.

    I'm wearing my newly completed Avengers outfit. It's Halloween, so it shouldn't draw too much attention. It has a full-faced mask, no cape, and my hair is sensibly tied down where it can't catch on anything or be grabbed. The torso, upper arms, mask, and thighs are thoroughly bulletproof. And it has a plate skirt something like Xena's that's also bulletproof and has securely fastened pockets.

    And the whole thing is heat resistant up to two thousand kelvin. Of course I might not survive that even if it were my own fire, but it does mean I can wash my clothes with molten lava in a pinch.

    It looks a lot like the standard SHIELD blues, right down to the eagle patch on the shoulder and the holster at the hip. Empty right now, obviously. But deep red arrows run down the limbs in all the places that Aang had his tattoos. The mask is the closest recreation I could get to the Blue Spirit, except with a third eye on the forehead. It also doesn't have gloves. I tried a few designs, but found Bending to be a lot more difficult without full finger flexibility.

    I still look ridiculous. But compared to a few of the other Avengers, fakecough Superman, I look like a badass. They gave me some design input, and I insisted on even more. I'm a little proud. Maybe not up to Edna's standards. But it'll do its job.

    But since we're eating dinner, my mask is just on the table in front of me. I guess I might have thought about that before I came. I'm not terribly concerned about my identity though. There isn't a ton of light in here for anyone to recognize me by, even if I was anyone particularly recognizable.

    Natasha walks in looking positively stunning. She's the fanciest-dressed person in the whole place. She takes the seat between me and Clint. I'm not surprised she's here, even though Clint didn't specifically mention her by name. She's definitely part of his family.

    And her outfit is drawing all the eyes in the place. I don't bother to cover up where mine are straying, "You look good."

    She smiles, "You too. I like the mask. Did you go with the bulletproof version or the Heads Up Display?"

    I shake my head, "The Heads Up Display would have decreased the functional heat resistance by over a thousand degrees. I went for maximum durability."

    "I assume the pockets were your idea? You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to get mine. I had to carry a bag for almost a month."

    I laugh, "I know. They fought me on that right up to manufacturing. But where else am I supposed to carry things? I don't know how Superman does it."

    She looks down at my skirt again, "It looks like some of them are hardshell containers?"

    I nod, "Built to hold water. I'm not good enough to fight with it yet, but I will be someday. And I can't generate my own like I can fire. Some of them are reserve oxygen for the mask too."

    The waiter comes by and Natasha orders, "We'll have a bottle of the house white." The waiter writes it down and leaves. She turns back to me, "I hope you'll want some too, I'd rather not drink the whole bottle myself."

    I put a hand dramatically to my chest, "Why Ms. Romanoff, I would love some!"

    I look past her at Clint and see him browsing the menu with an amused smile, "When did you two get so chummy?"

    I throw an arm around her shoulders for show, "We went on that recruitment drive together. Besides, we're the only two ladies on the team. Might as well be besties."

    She smirks at me, "I'm not sure either of us qualify as ladies."

    I look her over again, "In that dress?"

    Laura sits down next to her husband, "Especially in that dress. Hi, Nat."

    The kids line up between Laura and me, with Cooper Johnny Blaze taking the seat next to mine again.

    Clint kisses his wife, "Are you here to rescue me? I've created a monster."

    She looks at the two of us, "Looks like a friendly monster."

    Natasha and I look at each other like 'yeah, right'. I giggle for a moment and then untangle myself to pick up the menu.
     
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    • This going quite nicely.
    I really hope they lock down the Portal with the SHIELD civil war happens since that can easily bring in Hydra reinforcement then again it would be free experimentation with their soldiers since its still a prototype.

    Say are you sure about her hero dress (not mask) it looks tacky, honesty I really dislike the SHIELD style suit plus plate skirt is a maybe, wish you did not link Xena for reference.
    I feel like assassin Korra or water tribe clothing would be better adapted.
     
    Jrin said:
    Say are you sure about her hero dress (not mask) it looks tacky, honesty I really dislike the SHIELD style suit plus plate skirt is a maybe, wish you did not link Xena for reference.
    I feel like assassin Korra or water tribe clothing would be better adapted.
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    I'm not sure how Water Tribe clothing would be more fitting than any of the other four nation's apparel. Water isn't even SI's preferred element. The same argument could be made against emulating Airbender tattoos, but she was working off the Avatar she remembered best. The whole thing looks okay when I put it together in my head. But if you really don't like it, you can imagine whatever functionally identical ensemble you want. I don't have plans for the exact appearance to be important, except maybe the mask.
     
    when you gain more skill in airbending would you incorporate some things into your armour so that it has more wind resistance?
    like, to help you slow your decent?
     
    Krazyfan1 said:
    when you gain more skill in airbending would you incorporate some things into your armour so that it has more wind resistance?
    like, to help you slow your decent?
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    Right now it's basically as armored as it can get without getting in the way of full range of motion. It would be easier to redesign from the ground up than to try and incorporate something like glider wings into the current suit. But also, with wearing any amount of armor there's a philosophical dissonance that would make Airbending difficult. Airbending is evasive. Your enemy can't attack the wind around them. You don't need armor because either you aren't where the hit will strike, or the hit will strike where you aren't. Even if armor wouldn't get in the way, it would allow the mind to settle into thinking of itself as an object that could be hit, which is counter to the Airbending mindset.
     
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    As an Avatar, you have to have the air's ability not to be where the hit is. Plus the earth's endurance of attacks while being hit. Plus the water's flowing with the hit as you redirect the energy, while using the fires attacking while being attacked. This is why becoming an master Avatar is harder then a master one element bender. The ability to shift from one form to another on a dime, as well as dressing and using tools from one style to the next.

    But Fury or someone is likely working on that for equipment and stuff. Enhancing or unenhancing as needed.
     
    what about something where, if the outer armour is damaged too much, bits fall away to reveal something that can help with dodging?
     
    Amazing how there's no standard for this yet, even though people have been writing about telepathy for over a century. How would you guys like me to format telepathic dialogue, once it shows up?

    **With This Ring uses double asterisks.**

    ["Stephen King used quotations inside brackets."]

    <Animorphs used chevrons.>

    {Some publishers apparently encourage braces.}

    Doctor Sterns tells me, 'Or indented italics, with single quotes.'​

    ~And yet others use tildes.~

    And other authors and publishers use different fonts, although I don't want to give my most loyal readers traumatic flashbacks. Or I could just always make it clear in context. But that might get seriously repetitive.

    Regular thought-based telepathy is ironically easier, and has already come up with Loki. But most human telepaths tend to prefer the less invasive "brain intercom" style, which requires the use of actual specific words. And that needs formatting so it doesn't just look like vocalization.

    Let me know which one reads the most naturally. I'm guessing the first, but I wanted to check because I know not everyone likes Zoat's particular quirks. I'm tending towards chevrons or tildes right now, because they seem the most commonly accepted elsewhere.
     
    I like italics with no quotes, personally. But if you're going to use chevrons, maybe use the ‹Lightweight ones designed for use as quotes› or «the doubled version». ⟨Or maybe the tall version⟩. But <these> are greater-than and less-than signs, and aren't really designed to look good typographically surrounding text.
     
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    I kind of like the different colored text, like in Taylor Varga. However if you ever plan on posting this to fanfiction . net or similar sites they don't always allow for that. Sterns is my next favorite.
     
    For people voting for chevrons, do you specifically prefer <exactly like this>, or do ‹the ones I showed› in «my post above» look better?
     
    Random832 said:
    For people voting for chevrons, do you specifically prefer <exactly like this>, or do ‹the ones I showed› in «my post above» look better?
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    Truthfully, that'll come down to whichever variant is easier for the author to write/type.
    While Greater-than/Less-than aren't necessarily ideal, they have a distinct ease-of-use advantage in being a mere SHIFT operation away on most keyboards.
     
    Xavier Bronze said:
    As Aries pointed out, I'm more likely to use something I can actually type. Is there an easier way to work with the other kinds of chevrons than copy/paste?
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    On windows, you can use ‹alt-0139 alt-0155› «alt-0171 alt-0187» (all digits entered on the numeric keypad with numlock on).

    On mac, you can use option-shift-3 option-shift-4 option-shift-" option-'.

    (I got nothing for the tall version)

    Though I'm not quite sure what's wrong with copy/paste. Or doing a global search/replace after you've already written a chapter - depending on the text editor you could even save it as a macro.
     
    Random832 said:
    On windows, you can use ‹alt-0139 alt-0155› «alt-0171 alt-0187» (all digits entered on the numeric keypad with numlock on).

    On mac, you can use option-shift-3 option-shift-4 option-shift-" option-'.

    (I got nothing for the tall version)

    Though I'm not quite sure what's wrong with copy/paste. Or doing a global search/replace after you've already written a chapter - depending on the text editor you could even save it as a macro.
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    None of those commands are working for me, for whatever reason. Find/Replace could work. The small chevrons look a little unintuitive to me, though. And the tall ones are hard to distinguish from parentheses at first glance.

    〈How do people feel about this version?〉
     
    Jrin said:
    That's fine since its not poking out.
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    There is another flaw. If you select the text you can see that, typographically, it's over twice as wide as the visible symbol.
    lllllllll〈〉lllllllll〉〈lllllllllll
    ^There are no spaces in that line. But I think I can work around that pretty easily just by removing the spaces that usually go before and after quotations. Example in in-story formatting:

    I hear Apocalypse's voice in my mind,〈There is only darkness for you, and death for your people. I will command a great and terrible army, and we won't stop until every light has been extinguished.〉I try to throw a fireblast, but he's preventing me from moving my own body. I fall to my knees,〈You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength. I am the end. And I have come for you.〉

    The same thing, with less than/greater than and spaces:

    I hear Onslaught's voice in my mind, <There is only darkness for you, and death for your people. I will command a great and terrible army, and we won't stop until every light has been extinguished.> I try to throw a fireblast, but he's preventing me from moving my own body. I fall to my knees, <You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength. I am the end. And I have come for you.>

    Now in what other people have been calling Sterns notation:

    I hear Grodd's voice in my mind, 'There is only darkness for you, and death for your people. I will command a great and terrible army, and we won't stop until every light has been extinguished.' I try to throw a fireblast, but he's preventing me from moving my own body. I fall to my knees, 'You are strong, human. But I am beyond strength. I am the end. And I have come for you.'​
     
    Xavier Bronze said:
    There is another flaw. If you select the text you can see that, typographically, it's over twice as wide as the visible symbol.
    lllllllll〈〉lllllllll〉〈lllllllllll
    ^There are no spaces in that line.
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    Ooh. That's actually your font, it doesn't do that for me (which is a problem itself for your workaround), probably an artifact of the fact that that particular pair is meant for use with East Asian scripts

    Try ⟨these⟩ instead. Which I thought were the ones I pasted.

    Anyway, did you know that «these» are actually used as quotes in some languages?

    Xavier Bronze said:
    Now in what other people have been calling Sterns notation:
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    I like the single quotes and italics, but the indentation is a bit awkward when combined with descriptive text.

    I'd use unitalic for emphasis rather than bold, but that's just a matter of personal taste, just pointing it out so you have another trick in your toolbox
     
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    Random832 said:
    Try ⟨these⟩ instead. Which I thought were the ones I pasted.
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    Those look really similar to (parentheses) to my eye. Granted, I don't really use parentheses. But they have an accepted meaning that isn't telepathy, so I'm worried about it being obstructive for some people to read.

    Random832 said:
    Anyway, did you know that «these» are actually used as quotes in some languages?
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    You mentioned that. Maybe if more people than just you were showing active support, I'd change my mind. But as-is they just don't look good or read well to me, personally. So I'm more likely to use something else as long as everyone else is fine with it.

    Random832 said:
    I like the single quotes and italics, but the indentation is a bit awkward when combined with descriptive text.
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    The italics can also be a little awkward. I usually use italics for word emphasis. I know unitalicizing for emphasis is the standard workaround, but that's always seemed weird to me, even though it makes logical sense. In the example I bolded for emphasis, since I don't usually do that. But that might have its own problems. And a lot of people don't like reading large swaths of italics, which some dialogue could turn into.

    But I guess since there's no standard, every potential method has problems. I just have to pick one.
     
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