We do have no clue what's going on beyond the basic frame of the season 1 plot still happening. Half of this plane is fully original and the other half is changed to the point that Hayate is near-unrecognizable.
And Fate has 5 years of extra training. She's going to kick our ass.
Well, yeah, the first time, except the battle strategy of the Agni line is probably super offensive, because who needs defenses when you're literally immortal? It'll be like playing nuclear tag, except we only need to win once to make it stick. Presumably. Unless Agnestraya's charge levels are for basic functions instead of shooting giant laser beams, but what's the odds of something as silly as that?
The real problem is stopping her from hurting anybody else.
.... Wait, our training schedule is pretty canon-Nanoha-like, isn't it? We've barely done anything other than train since we got powers. Inevitable with SV at the wheel, I guess.
Are you telling me that if you got magic powers you'd get tired of playing with them within a couple days? It'd be one thing if we kept this up for months or years, but it hasn't even been a week since we caught fire.
Well, yeah, the first time, except the battle strategy of the Agni line is probably super offensive, because who needs defenses when you're literally immortal? It'll be like playing nuclear tag, except we only need to win once to make it stick. Presumably. Unless Agnestraya's charge levels are for basic functions instead of shooting giant laser beams, but what's the odds of something as silly as that?
The real problem is stopping her from hurting anybody else.
Well she did build Bardiche, a top-tier Intelligent Device in a setting where all the best toys are relics from ancient civilizations' lost technology.
...I wonder what Device she built to give Alicia when (NOT IF!!!) she (INEVITABLY!!!) revived her?
Alicia is in stasis right? We've got a device that knows how to transfer people into new bodies, and the location of an Angi Medical center. food for thought.
This all assumes that the incident happened at the same time as it did in canon, and wasn't shifted tofether with the ages of people involved. Unless I missed it being stated.
Also, 14 years old Fate is right at the age of teenage rebellion.
Another five years of desperately trying, and failing, to obtain Precia's love would only make Fate crazier. So I could absolutely see Fate pushing herself too hard and causing permanent damage like Canon!Nanoha did. While admittedly Fate doesn't have cartridge technology, a contributor to Nanoha's injury, she does have years worth of serious physical abuse** and no medical facilities outside basic first aid. That's not even getting into how her mental state, which even with Arf's help has almost certainly further deteriorated, would affect her combat ability.
*That's her deciding that fighting six Jewel Seeds, the thing causing her hand to explode in Exhibit 1, at the same time is a good idea.
**Fair warning the image is, unsurprisingly, disturbing.
If we do end up picking up a few helpers here we should, in addition to normal combat training, teach them to fight with us as a team. That way if we get in combat with someone stronger than us we'll, hopefully, be able to make up the skill deficit with numbers without having to worry, too much, about friendly fire.
in MSLN we see.
Mid-Childean - Long range and bombardment
Ancient Belka - predominantly Melee/close range with physical weapons
Modern Belka - One Vs One Combat specialized , came about with Nanoha and Fate's successful integration of the cartridge system into their Intelligent Devices, basically the MMA of magic systems.
personally I hope that the Agni system is Mid to close range, to take advantage of their superior body specs, and ability to coat themselves in fire, because they can't grab you if you're on fire.
Actually, Ancient Belka has TWO categories, going by Hayate:
-Knights, primary close combatants with physical Devices who use augmented melee to beat faces in.
-Artillery/Priests/Royals, PURE ranged combatants with unison Devices who forgo ANY close and mid range combat entirely for grand scale magical attacks
If we do end up picking up a few helpers here we should, in addition to normal combat training, teach them to fight with us as a team. That way if we get in combat with someone stronger than us we'll, hopefully, be able to make up the skill deficit with numbers without having to worry, too much, about friendly fire.
[X] Ask Agneyastra to start playing the market to gather money and resources.
[X] Have Agneyastra do a deeper background check into Hayate Yagami. Her situation is unusual, and that worries you. You'll approach her when you know better than there aren't any government conspiracies or alien evil bunnycats watching her. Or at least know where they are so you could preemtively burn them all. Something is wrong with her situation, and you need to know what before approaching her.
"Yes, Princess."
[X] Ask Agneyastra about Rare Skills and explain what you know about yours.
You try your best to shove down the part of you which doesn't want to explain your abilities to anyone. Agneyastra isn't a real person and answers solely to you. Since you doubt any other humans would survive a journey across planes, Agneyastra might be your only permanent partner. Neglecting to tell it about your abilities would be unreasonably paranoid.
You spend several minutes trying to determine phrasing, then give up and decide to just get on with it. Agneyastra won't judge.
"Agneyastra, my other abilities might not fall under the category of 'Rare Skills'. My soul was altered to let me use a different kind of magic in exchange for generating magical waste in my soul. The grief seeds I showed you earlier can remove said waste."
"Who tampered with your true self, Princess? Where do they live?"
"It... wasn't a person." You manifest a handful of flame and eat it. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. "And that brings me to yet another thing: while the set of all worlds you know of make up what you know as the multiverse, they all fit within a single plane. There are other planes, and I can travel between them. I'm not sure if the rules of each plane are all the same, but there is a type of magic common to all of them. Large areas can produce one of five colors of mana: Red, White, Blue, Green, and Black. I can bond to an area, which lets me pull mana from it even if I'm not on the same plane. Red mana seems to be associated with emotion and Blue with knowledge, but I don't know about the rest yet.
"The zero-point energy generator is an heirloom, and produces Red mana. I produce some myself, and I'm bonded to the city I came from, which provides Blue and Red mana. The city we're in now will provide Red and White mana once I bond to it, although that could take weeks or even months."
You hesitate, debating whether or not to tell her about your language abilities and origin. Your mind says it would be a good idea, but you're afraid Agneyastra will leave you if you do tell it. You almost grab your pendant, intending to amplify your courage, then stop. You can do this without its help. And anyway, wasn't Agneyastra there when you told Naomi about your gift of tongues?
"I can speak and read any language. But most importantly... I'm not sure I'm actually a royal Agni. It would make an awful lot of sense, but-" ("HALPING!": 1d100=86) "Your fears are invalid, Princess." Agneyastra interrupts. "Agneyastra did not anticipate the subversion of its confirmation protocols. After it learned the princess was capable of such a feat, it made plans to double-check and ensure Agneyastra would not be serving a false user. Once Agneyastra was repaired, it compared the true self of the princess to those of the royal family. Allowing a margin of error to account for external meddling and any Rare Skills, it indicates the princess is a descendant of Prince Surya.
"Even if the civilization which created this unit has been destroyed, that does not change Agneyastra's primary directive: to serve the royal family, directly or indirectly. This unit will serve you for the rest of its existence, Princess."
You can't help the wide grin that breaks across your face at the double dose of good news. However, Agneyastra isn't quite done yet.
"Unfortunately, as the princess was born on a different plane, it does not appear she has been educated properly. This unit will work on teaching the princess her rightful position in the multiverse. You are superior to all other forms of life, Princess. Treating ordinary humans as equals only encourages heresy, as they will soon believe that to be true."
You cover your face with one hand and sigh.
[X] Agneyastra spoke about disconnecting from Artificial Vessel. How one would go about doing so?
Once the warm and fuzzy feelings have mostly faded, you move on to the next topic. Magical space princess or not, you're still stuck in a rather dangerous set of planes. If you want to follow through on your desires, you will need more power, even if it only ends up being used to keep you safe. Considering how fun it is to play with fire, safety probably won't be the only thing you use it for.
"Earlier, you mentioned disconnecting my soul from my body. How would you do that?"
"Moving the princess's true self far enough away from her artificial vessel would be the safest method, although the princess may experience some disorientation during the process. This unit recommends the princess create another artificial vessel to occupy before she disconnects."
-[X] What kinds of medical improvements can it make "in the field" as it was?
"Basic cognitive and physical enhancements."
-[X] Would it be better to do the procedure in the Agni medical center?
"Affirmative. As the princess has no Linker Core Agneyastra could pull magic from, this unit cannot implement most improvements. With access to proper medical facilities, Agneyastra could avoid that limitation."
[x] Approach Nanoha Takamachi.
-[x] Refuge in audacity. Demonstrate your magic, tell her that you're a magical space princess, and offer to have Agneyastra teach her some magic.
--[x] In exchange for being our friend.
Biting one lip, you stare at the park bench where Nanoha is sitting and staring off into space. Nobody else is around. No other human on this planet knows who you are or what you can do. You really shouldn't be terrified of meeting one girl two years younger than yourself.
Reason says all that. Experience wants to flee back to someplace safe and never emerge again.
"If the princess is having difficulty determining the best way to approach Nanoha Takamachi, this unit could explain for you, Princess."
[] Accept Agneyastra's offer. Drop it off and flee.
-[] Don't return after it's finished explaining. Just do something else while it's training Nanoha.
--[] Practice your magic.
---[] Red mana control.
---[] Pyrokinesis.
---[] Red constructs.
-[] Return after it's done explaining.
[] Proceed as originally planned.
[] Write-in
For the record, letting Agneyastra explain is not a trap option.
I was having serious trouble with the Nanoha scene and today promises to be extremely busy, so I wanted to get this out there before we went yet another day without an update. Since the HALPING roll was so high anyway... Agneyastra interrupt!
"Unfortunately, as the princess was born on a different plane, it does not appear she has been educated properly. This unit will work on teaching the princess her rightful position in the multiverse. You are superior to all other forms of life, Princess. Treating ordinary humans as equals only encourages heresy, as they will soon believe that to be true."
[X] Accept Agneyastra's offer. Drop it off and flee.
Don't you mean GLORIOUS we are the ultimate being, a god among m- er women we shall be exalted by our peers...
plus being the queen with the self-confidence lvl of an ant seems funny to me.
This is that elusive point, the one referred to in the meme about pressing on past it, and then continuing even further to see what happens. Can't let mere fear of social situations hold us back, we're a verified genuine magical space princess of fire and explosions love and justice!
Though fire and explosions are definitely fun too, and we're sure that they can be used to further the cause of love and justice.
This is what I love about MGLN's Devices; so many of them end up with warm-fuzzy moments with their user. Jade might be an orphan who was abandoned by everyone but now she finally has someone who will never leave her.
"Moving the princess's true self far enough away from her artificial vessel would be the safest method, although the princess may experience some disorientation during the process. This unit recommends the princess create another artificial vessel to occupy before she disconnects."
So, if I'm reading this correctly, this also suggests Agneyastra can act as a spotter for any "soul gem without body" experiments. Not needing a body, especially since our soul gem is invulnerable, would be useful, if we can still be aware of our environment and use (non-MGLN, anyway... all indications so far are that a linker core would be tied to the body) magic.
Its prob THE funny option, considering that agneyastra will prob attempt to upvote us like hell, were the Exalted Princess, and Nanoha can be our servant type of conversation
We need to be able to stand up for ourselves.
We can't rely on our Device for everything.
Especially not socializing. We'll never get better if we keep relying on others to do it for us.
While I'm sure Agneyastra could succeed - the Dice permit - I think we shouldn't rely on a crutch when it comes to this particular subject.
That being said...
[] Ask Agneyastra to describe how she plans to convince Nanoha.
Because why not?
EDIT: Changed vote to the first one. We really have to learn the Art of Social Actions.
