- Location
- in between
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
- Location
- Germany
Why not? I mean, those are non-obvious puns over a theme that fit smoothly into the sentence. This is a glimpse of the reason why punning was considered an artform decades ago.
- Location
- Georgia
I love a good pun We need new writers like Spider Robinson. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Wikipedia
To be fair, part of the problem is that many puns work by phoneme, making them less well suited to print media.
Realign 14.13
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Realign 14.13
Wednesday, August 15
Dragon looks over the screen with you, the footage of the unknown cape you encountered in the drug lab playing in a silent loop. Beside that screen, two others run through a long list of text and photographs of various capes. The fairy taps her chin. "I know I don't recognize him, but that could be for any number of reasons. He could be new like you think. He could be a small-time villain. He could even be from Europe or some other country that does not share the entirety of their information with the Protectorate. There is no way to know for sure without asking him ourselves."
"If he was a minor villain out from a different country, he would have been more confident," you reply. "He acted scared of his own shadow. Nothing about his behavior fits." The version of him on the screen rips through the wall, and you shake your head. "I still find it hard to believe he ran after getting just a glimpse of me. I'm not that scary."
"Says the girl who has one of the highest cumulative ratings ever recorded, is in the top tier of Blasters worldwide, and singlehandedly butchered the largest assembly of the Fallen I have heard of." She gives you a mocking shrug. "Of course. Why would he possibly be afraid of little old you?"
"Most of that is confidential information or just unknown by anybody else, and you know it," you cut in with a roll of your eyes. The faint smile you wear fades as another explanation for this cape's behavior comes to mind. "Hey, Dragon? Do you think maybe he was conscripted into a gang? That could explain why he was so nervous. He didn't want to be there in the first place, but he doesn't have the option of saying no."
Just like how Laura did not have the chance to be anything but a member of Winter Hill. For all you know, he might not want to be a villain at all, let alone a member of a neo-Nazi gang. His sudden and terrified exit, the exact opposite of what you expect from villains, had caught you flat-footed to the point that when you looked out the hole he made he was long gone, hidden in one of the houses or unmasked and pretending to be just a regular person. Now you are almost glad you let him go.
'Almost' because if you are wrong, if you passed up the opportunity to capture him before he committed vile hate crimes? That will be all on you.
Dragons head pops up. "Perhaps," she says as she closes the screens. "Once again, we would have to ask him. But in the meantime, we have other matters to take care of."
You frown in confusion. "What other matters?"
"Giving your friends their new toys," she answers with a smile. "They're here."
Standing up from where you were sitting on the sofa, you follow Dragon out of her break room and back to her and Tim's main workshop. Sure enough, all three of the mages Tim has been building Devices for are assembled. Laura is standing to one side, her arms crossed in what she probably means to be a haughty expression but just comes off as defensive. On the other hand, Kayleigh and surprisingly Missy are both bouncing on their feet in childlike anticipation.
"About time you came out," Kayleigh says when she sees you. "She's here, Shipwright. Let's get started already!"
«I thought you said they just arrived,» you ask Dragon.
«No, I believe I said they were here, not how long they had been here. Tim let me know they were getting impatient.»
Tim pulls his goggles down from his face to hang around his neck. "It's Tim, actually. I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the near future," he explains in response to Laura's shocked expression. "We actually have a few things to give you, but let's start with the most important."
He turns around to pick up a metal tray with a white sheet draped over it. Your eyes cannot help but drift over to Firefly and the covered cart next to the table that she is impatiently tapping. Devices are pretty small, much smaller than the lumps under the cloth, which has you even more curious about what the other things Tim made for your friends could possibly be. Perfect Storm is the only thing you ever needed in order to fight, so what are they getting?
Pulling off the cloth over the tray, Tim reveals the Devices he built to the world. All three of them look like pieces of jewelry, two bracelets and a single earring. The fact the earring is shaped like a snowflake and has a chip of some blue gemstone in it gives you a hint who that is meant for. He picks up the first bracelet, a wide cuff of silver with an almost Celtic knot design carved onto it and inlaid with black. A toss and a catch, and he looks at Missy with a grin. "Go ahead. You look like a little kid who needs to pee."
"I do not!" Her denial does nothing to hide how quickly she slips her narrow wrist through the gap in the band and twists it around, then she turns her arm this way and that to admire its appearance. "You didn't have any problems building its active form?"
"Nope. It worked fine. Just don't put it through too much abuse. That's what your other arm is for."
"Other arm?" Laura asks.
The smile Missy wears is treacherous. "You'll find out sooner or later."
"Definitely sooner," you tell her, which gets the other girls' attention. For a moment you hesitate, but after a breath you charge in. You had planned to tell them after they all received their Devices, but now works just as well. It is only a few minutes' difference. "Dragon, Cassiel, and I have been working on a plan to take down the Simurgh branch of the Fallen. No one should have to go through what we did in Florida."
The other girls look at you in something between shock and worry.
"I'm going after them in a couple of days. I know you'll all be adjusting to your Devices still, and I'm not insisting that any of you come with me or even fight. But if you want to come along and make sure none of them sneak away to cause trouble later, you're all more than welcome."
"A couple of days… doesn't sound like a lot of time to get ready for something like that," Missy points out, her previous enthusiasm evaporating like dew in the morning.
You nod in agreement. "It's not. Thankfully Devices can run training simulations, or at least the advanced versions can. Storage Devices I don't know," you add, looking at Tim for help.
"They can do simple simulations, target practice or boxing rings or stuff like that. Not full-scale battles like advanced Devices. Sorry about that part, Kayleigh. Thankfully, you already have skills you were going to use instead, and Firefly said she gave you the big thing you need to get started in the whole cape business."
"The funky bullet press thing? The one that makes bullets out of nothing and supposedly makes them electrified and explosive and all that other jazz?" Kayleigh nods. "I've been playing around with it. It's… different. I haven't gotten around to shooting any of them yet."
"Please don't," Firefly all but demands with wide eyes. "I do not want to imagine what those rounds would do to a typical firearm. The results would most likely be bad."
You cannot help but ask in morbid curiosity, "How bad?"
"I fear the discharge of energy may be sufficient to rupture the firing chamber and unleash the effect on the shooter instead of the target."
"And on that cheery note, this Device goes to you," Tim says as he hands the other bracelet to Kayleigh. This one is a complete ring, unlike Missy's, and is shaped as though it was made from pink and gold wires that have been twisted together. "Make sure you activate it before you fire any of those bullets just to be on the safe side."
"That reminds me," Missy comes in, "but you never asked what I wanted my new costume to look like."
"That's because it wouldn't have mattered, isn't it?" Laura says. If you were not watching all three of them, you might have forgotten she was here with how quiet she has been. She turns to look at you and explains, "I remember how you changed your costume so you would be 'Cinder', not Calamity Witch. We'll be designing our own costumes, won't we?"
"Oooh, this is going to be so much fun!" Kayleigh says when you give Laura a nod. She wiggles her left hand to get it through the bracelet. "I'll have to give it some thought. I don't want to go with something boring like a cowgirl theme."
"I hope you realize that you've awoken the fashion monster," Laura tells Tim in a dry tone.
The Gadgeteer shrugs. "Honestly? That isn't really my problem. I'm too old for a teenage girl to try dressing me up, anyway." He picks the snowflake earring of the tray and hands it to her. "I built the active form just as we talked about, and Dragon added a training regimen she got from one of her friends who uses that same weapon.
"Just so you all know, your Devices are capable of reaching out to the teleporter pads here. You can come and go as you please without relying on the Samantha taxi. All I ask is that you don't touch any of our projects without getting the okay from Dragon, Firefly, Nostromo, or myself. Incomplete tech is delicate at best and dangerous at worst."
"Basically, respect the Tinkers' space," Laura sums up with the voice of someone who has heard that rule before and wholeheartedly agrees with it. The snowflake sparkling in the shell of her ear takes away just a little of the seriousness of her statement.
"Exactly," the brown-feathered Guardian Beast says with a nod. "Is it time for my reveal?"
"Break a leg."
Firefly rolls her cart forward and stops it in front of Missy. "Since you asked for a weapon, a weapon we have provided." She grabs one of the two cloths on top of the cart and pulls it away, revealing a small, curved handle with a textured grip. There is nothing at all attached to the handle, which makes you wonder how useful it is really going to be, but despite the disappointing appearance Missy's eyes light up as she picks it up. The handle fits perfectly in her hands. "I thought you said you wouldn't be able to have it finished in time!"
"Well, you know. Late nights have a way of getting things done faster," Tim answers with a blush.
Missy takes a few steps to the side and fiddles with a flat slider on the handle. Bright red light just a couple of shades brighter than the spark of magic she produced with Nostromo's glove shoots out and forms into what is probably the strangest looking weapon you have ever laid eyes on. A short bar comes off the handle, and on the other end is a wide and curved portion that is pointed straight up rather than to the side the way a scythe would be. It looks almost like a farming sickle, now that you think about it, except that the curved portion is far too thick and the bulge of the blade is on the wrong side of the handle.
Taking in the eager expression on her face, you cannot help but expect that many a criminal is soon to have that appear in their nightmares, no matter how weird it looks.
"I still don't understand why you would want such a weird weapon," Tim says, echoing your own thoughts. "There's probably a reason the khopesh died with the ancient Egyptians."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Missy rests it against her shoulder. "I wanted it because it looks interesting, and I haven't heard of any other hero using something like it. It'll be unique, and that's crucial for a cape."
"Just keep in mind the tests we did last weekend. The physical version of that thing can and will hack off limbs and split skulls if you aren't careful. The sharp setting won't be any less dangerous and will probably be much worse."
Last weekend? You give the blade another look and want to slap yourself. "This is where Samantha's been disappearing all week! She was teaching you how to use that thing!"
"Well, duh. Who else could I call to teach me how to fight with it? Like Tim said, nobody uses it anymore," Missy replies. "How do I switch settings?"
"It'll always turn on in the blunt setting. If you look just below the slide, you should see a button. Push that and—"
Missy is already getting ahead of him. A low, ominous hum comes from the blade, and the outer third of the curve suddenly becomes staticky, for lack of a better description. The hum goes up and down in pitch when Missy swings the weapon across her body a few times. The smile that had taken root on her face fades, however, and she hits the button to turn it back to the blunt setting and swings the blade in the exact same 'X'-shaped pattern. Looking down at her weapon, she hefts it a few times in her hand. "Huh."
"Huh, what?"
Ignoring both Tim and Firefly, she turns the projection off and gives it another few hefts before swinging the empty handle as she had the blade. "You said this was hardlight, right?"
"Obviously."
"Is… light supposed to have weight?" The Tinkers give her a strange look, and she shrugs. "It's just, when I swing it, it has momentum. Not as much as the practice ones, but it feels like it's heavier when I turn it on."
Dragon floats over and holds out her hands. "May I?" Missy hands her weapon over, though the size difference between the handle and the fairy is comical. Also comical is the way Dragon has to kick the switch to turn the blade on and nearly drops to the ground with it. "Okay, you can take it back. She's right, Tim. It is heavier once it's activated."
"Which doesn't make sense! It's light, and light is light, not heavy!"
Dragon hold out her hands helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you, then. What did you do that was new? Other Tinkers have created solid holograms, but they are all extremely fragile. The weight issue might be related to how you went about stabilizing it."
Her question seems to soothe Tim's frustration a little, and he crosses his arms with a sigh. "Straight-up forcefields didn't work that well, you're right about that, so I stripped down the process for how Devices create Barrier Jackets to its absolute basics and used that as a guideline for the second generation of projectors. The one Missy uses for her shield was the prototype."
He used what as a guideline? You transform with a flash of light and grab the hem of your jacket. "Tim," you call to get his attention, "Barrier Jackets are partially physical. They have weight. If your hardlight runs on the same principles, Missy's whatever-you-call-it is going to be the same way."
"Um, guys?" Missy says in a quiet voice. "I didn't say that because I don't like the fact that it has weight. It just surprised me. I'm totally okay with it having a bit of oomph."
"If you like it, then that is all that matters," Firefly says with a light frown directed at her mage. She wheels the cart over to Kayleigh and gives her a broad smile. "Yours, I had fun with." Her hand closes on the other sheet and whips it off with a flourish.
As you have already admitted to Kayleigh, you are by no means an expert on firearms. Not at all. So it is not a surprise that you do not recognize either of the guns that have just been revealed. What you do notice, though, you are more than happy to point out. "Those both look really big."
"That they do," Kayleigh breathes out in delight as she picks up the one on the right.
It looks not all that different from other pistols, but one thing that strikes you as odd is the little guard around the trigger seems to curve forward to flow into the rest of the gun. The end of the barrel is also curved instead of being flat in profile. For some reason, it looks very faintly familiar, but you cannot place it. "What kind of gun is that?" you finally ask.
"I have no clue," the resident gun nut replies. "And that's almost more impressive than anything else. It looks sort of like a Walther PPK I once fired, but it's way too big."
"That is because both of the gun witch's weapons are unique," Firefly says proudly. "This one is based on PPK design, but enlarged for two reasons. First, a bigger weapon creates a psychological effect on your enemies. The original design is adequate for combat, but it is not as intimidating. Second, by enlarging the design it could be adapted for a double stack magazine, doubling the number of rounds that can be held."
Kayleigh immediately ejects the empty magazine and looks at it for a moment before nodding. "This is why you told me to start using the bullet press with 9 millimeter casings, isn't it?"
"Correct. I considered setting it for 45 caliber, but the flame witch's Device advised that you have trouble firing that size of bullet. This gun needs to be easy to wield single-handed. For the magical bullets you create, use this gun for any that are elemental in nature. The barrel is forged from a tungsten-germanium alloy, and thus it should be able to withstand the thermal and electrical stresses from firing. I cannot say the same about normal firearms."
Firefly picks up the other gun and shows it off for all of you to see. It looks like a revolver, but you are fairly sure the barrel is supposed to be at the top of the gun, not the middle. "This is a design of my own creation," the Gear says proudly. "This gun I expect you will use far less commonly, so I set the cylinder release and safety for your left hand. The underslung barrel will lower the recoil, especially important if you are firing from your off-hand.
"In addition to the overall design, the barrel is unique, just as it is in the Walther. It is a tungsten-titanium alloy this time to give it the greatest possible durability when dealing with exotic effects. The only way it could be stronger would be to create and use one of the new metamaterials I read about recently, but this will be simpler to replace when it finally wears out."
"I like them both," Kayleigh tells her honestly. She picks up the revolver in her left hand and weighs them both. "I do have to say, though, that one of them looks like serious business. The other… looks a little silly." Firefly opens her mouth, but Kayleigh gives her a scary-looking smile. "I need to ask. Do you do custom detailing?"
Firefly slowly nods.
"Awesome. Because I have an idea."
"And that is never good," mutters Laura.
If you hadn't noticed it, all the girls' character sheets have been up for a while.
Midweek again? Guess it's time to put Tim back to work. Remember that he hasSIX FIVE slots to fill.
Wednesday, August 15
Dragon looks over the screen with you, the footage of the unknown cape you encountered in the drug lab playing in a silent loop. Beside that screen, two others run through a long list of text and photographs of various capes. The fairy taps her chin. "I know I don't recognize him, but that could be for any number of reasons. He could be new like you think. He could be a small-time villain. He could even be from Europe or some other country that does not share the entirety of their information with the Protectorate. There is no way to know for sure without asking him ourselves."
"If he was a minor villain out from a different country, he would have been more confident," you reply. "He acted scared of his own shadow. Nothing about his behavior fits." The version of him on the screen rips through the wall, and you shake your head. "I still find it hard to believe he ran after getting just a glimpse of me. I'm not that scary."
"Says the girl who has one of the highest cumulative ratings ever recorded, is in the top tier of Blasters worldwide, and singlehandedly butchered the largest assembly of the Fallen I have heard of." She gives you a mocking shrug. "Of course. Why would he possibly be afraid of little old you?"
"Most of that is confidential information or just unknown by anybody else, and you know it," you cut in with a roll of your eyes. The faint smile you wear fades as another explanation for this cape's behavior comes to mind. "Hey, Dragon? Do you think maybe he was conscripted into a gang? That could explain why he was so nervous. He didn't want to be there in the first place, but he doesn't have the option of saying no."
Just like how Laura did not have the chance to be anything but a member of Winter Hill. For all you know, he might not want to be a villain at all, let alone a member of a neo-Nazi gang. His sudden and terrified exit, the exact opposite of what you expect from villains, had caught you flat-footed to the point that when you looked out the hole he made he was long gone, hidden in one of the houses or unmasked and pretending to be just a regular person. Now you are almost glad you let him go.
'Almost' because if you are wrong, if you passed up the opportunity to capture him before he committed vile hate crimes? That will be all on you.
Dragons head pops up. "Perhaps," she says as she closes the screens. "Once again, we would have to ask him. But in the meantime, we have other matters to take care of."
You frown in confusion. "What other matters?"
"Giving your friends their new toys," she answers with a smile. "They're here."
Standing up from where you were sitting on the sofa, you follow Dragon out of her break room and back to her and Tim's main workshop. Sure enough, all three of the mages Tim has been building Devices for are assembled. Laura is standing to one side, her arms crossed in what she probably means to be a haughty expression but just comes off as defensive. On the other hand, Kayleigh and surprisingly Missy are both bouncing on their feet in childlike anticipation.
"About time you came out," Kayleigh says when she sees you. "She's here, Shipwright. Let's get started already!"
«I thought you said they just arrived,» you ask Dragon.
«No, I believe I said they were here, not how long they had been here. Tim let me know they were getting impatient.»
Tim pulls his goggles down from his face to hang around his neck. "It's Tim, actually. I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the near future," he explains in response to Laura's shocked expression. "We actually have a few things to give you, but let's start with the most important."
He turns around to pick up a metal tray with a white sheet draped over it. Your eyes cannot help but drift over to Firefly and the covered cart next to the table that she is impatiently tapping. Devices are pretty small, much smaller than the lumps under the cloth, which has you even more curious about what the other things Tim made for your friends could possibly be. Perfect Storm is the only thing you ever needed in order to fight, so what are they getting?
Pulling off the cloth over the tray, Tim reveals the Devices he built to the world. All three of them look like pieces of jewelry, two bracelets and a single earring. The fact the earring is shaped like a snowflake and has a chip of some blue gemstone in it gives you a hint who that is meant for. He picks up the first bracelet, a wide cuff of silver with an almost Celtic knot design carved onto it and inlaid with black. A toss and a catch, and he looks at Missy with a grin. "Go ahead. You look like a little kid who needs to pee."
"I do not!" Her denial does nothing to hide how quickly she slips her narrow wrist through the gap in the band and twists it around, then she turns her arm this way and that to admire its appearance. "You didn't have any problems building its active form?"
"Nope. It worked fine. Just don't put it through too much abuse. That's what your other arm is for."
"Other arm?" Laura asks.
The smile Missy wears is treacherous. "You'll find out sooner or later."
"Definitely sooner," you tell her, which gets the other girls' attention. For a moment you hesitate, but after a breath you charge in. You had planned to tell them after they all received their Devices, but now works just as well. It is only a few minutes' difference. "Dragon, Cassiel, and I have been working on a plan to take down the Simurgh branch of the Fallen. No one should have to go through what we did in Florida."
The other girls look at you in something between shock and worry.
"I'm going after them in a couple of days. I know you'll all be adjusting to your Devices still, and I'm not insisting that any of you come with me or even fight. But if you want to come along and make sure none of them sneak away to cause trouble later, you're all more than welcome."
"A couple of days… doesn't sound like a lot of time to get ready for something like that," Missy points out, her previous enthusiasm evaporating like dew in the morning.
You nod in agreement. "It's not. Thankfully Devices can run training simulations, or at least the advanced versions can. Storage Devices I don't know," you add, looking at Tim for help.
"They can do simple simulations, target practice or boxing rings or stuff like that. Not full-scale battles like advanced Devices. Sorry about that part, Kayleigh. Thankfully, you already have skills you were going to use instead, and Firefly said she gave you the big thing you need to get started in the whole cape business."
"The funky bullet press thing? The one that makes bullets out of nothing and supposedly makes them electrified and explosive and all that other jazz?" Kayleigh nods. "I've been playing around with it. It's… different. I haven't gotten around to shooting any of them yet."
"Please don't," Firefly all but demands with wide eyes. "I do not want to imagine what those rounds would do to a typical firearm. The results would most likely be bad."
You cannot help but ask in morbid curiosity, "How bad?"
"I fear the discharge of energy may be sufficient to rupture the firing chamber and unleash the effect on the shooter instead of the target."
"And on that cheery note, this Device goes to you," Tim says as he hands the other bracelet to Kayleigh. This one is a complete ring, unlike Missy's, and is shaped as though it was made from pink and gold wires that have been twisted together. "Make sure you activate it before you fire any of those bullets just to be on the safe side."
"That reminds me," Missy comes in, "but you never asked what I wanted my new costume to look like."
"That's because it wouldn't have mattered, isn't it?" Laura says. If you were not watching all three of them, you might have forgotten she was here with how quiet she has been. She turns to look at you and explains, "I remember how you changed your costume so you would be 'Cinder', not Calamity Witch. We'll be designing our own costumes, won't we?"
"Oooh, this is going to be so much fun!" Kayleigh says when you give Laura a nod. She wiggles her left hand to get it through the bracelet. "I'll have to give it some thought. I don't want to go with something boring like a cowgirl theme."
"I hope you realize that you've awoken the fashion monster," Laura tells Tim in a dry tone.
The Gadgeteer shrugs. "Honestly? That isn't really my problem. I'm too old for a teenage girl to try dressing me up, anyway." He picks the snowflake earring of the tray and hands it to her. "I built the active form just as we talked about, and Dragon added a training regimen she got from one of her friends who uses that same weapon.
"Just so you all know, your Devices are capable of reaching out to the teleporter pads here. You can come and go as you please without relying on the Samantha taxi. All I ask is that you don't touch any of our projects without getting the okay from Dragon, Firefly, Nostromo, or myself. Incomplete tech is delicate at best and dangerous at worst."
"Basically, respect the Tinkers' space," Laura sums up with the voice of someone who has heard that rule before and wholeheartedly agrees with it. The snowflake sparkling in the shell of her ear takes away just a little of the seriousness of her statement.
"Exactly," the brown-feathered Guardian Beast says with a nod. "Is it time for my reveal?"
"Break a leg."
Firefly rolls her cart forward and stops it in front of Missy. "Since you asked for a weapon, a weapon we have provided." She grabs one of the two cloths on top of the cart and pulls it away, revealing a small, curved handle with a textured grip. There is nothing at all attached to the handle, which makes you wonder how useful it is really going to be, but despite the disappointing appearance Missy's eyes light up as she picks it up. The handle fits perfectly in her hands. "I thought you said you wouldn't be able to have it finished in time!"
"Well, you know. Late nights have a way of getting things done faster," Tim answers with a blush.
Missy takes a few steps to the side and fiddles with a flat slider on the handle. Bright red light just a couple of shades brighter than the spark of magic she produced with Nostromo's glove shoots out and forms into what is probably the strangest looking weapon you have ever laid eyes on. A short bar comes off the handle, and on the other end is a wide and curved portion that is pointed straight up rather than to the side the way a scythe would be. It looks almost like a farming sickle, now that you think about it, except that the curved portion is far too thick and the bulge of the blade is on the wrong side of the handle.
Taking in the eager expression on her face, you cannot help but expect that many a criminal is soon to have that appear in their nightmares, no matter how weird it looks.
"I still don't understand why you would want such a weird weapon," Tim says, echoing your own thoughts. "There's probably a reason the khopesh died with the ancient Egyptians."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Missy rests it against her shoulder. "I wanted it because it looks interesting, and I haven't heard of any other hero using something like it. It'll be unique, and that's crucial for a cape."
"Just keep in mind the tests we did last weekend. The physical version of that thing can and will hack off limbs and split skulls if you aren't careful. The sharp setting won't be any less dangerous and will probably be much worse."
Last weekend? You give the blade another look and want to slap yourself. "This is where Samantha's been disappearing all week! She was teaching you how to use that thing!"
"Well, duh. Who else could I call to teach me how to fight with it? Like Tim said, nobody uses it anymore," Missy replies. "How do I switch settings?"
"It'll always turn on in the blunt setting. If you look just below the slide, you should see a button. Push that and—"
Missy is already getting ahead of him. A low, ominous hum comes from the blade, and the outer third of the curve suddenly becomes staticky, for lack of a better description. The hum goes up and down in pitch when Missy swings the weapon across her body a few times. The smile that had taken root on her face fades, however, and she hits the button to turn it back to the blunt setting and swings the blade in the exact same 'X'-shaped pattern. Looking down at her weapon, she hefts it a few times in her hand. "Huh."
"Huh, what?"
Ignoring both Tim and Firefly, she turns the projection off and gives it another few hefts before swinging the empty handle as she had the blade. "You said this was hardlight, right?"
"Obviously."
"Is… light supposed to have weight?" The Tinkers give her a strange look, and she shrugs. "It's just, when I swing it, it has momentum. Not as much as the practice ones, but it feels like it's heavier when I turn it on."
Dragon floats over and holds out her hands. "May I?" Missy hands her weapon over, though the size difference between the handle and the fairy is comical. Also comical is the way Dragon has to kick the switch to turn the blade on and nearly drops to the ground with it. "Okay, you can take it back. She's right, Tim. It is heavier once it's activated."
"Which doesn't make sense! It's light, and light is light, not heavy!"
Dragon hold out her hands helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you, then. What did you do that was new? Other Tinkers have created solid holograms, but they are all extremely fragile. The weight issue might be related to how you went about stabilizing it."
Her question seems to soothe Tim's frustration a little, and he crosses his arms with a sigh. "Straight-up forcefields didn't work that well, you're right about that, so I stripped down the process for how Devices create Barrier Jackets to its absolute basics and used that as a guideline for the second generation of projectors. The one Missy uses for her shield was the prototype."
He used what as a guideline? You transform with a flash of light and grab the hem of your jacket. "Tim," you call to get his attention, "Barrier Jackets are partially physical. They have weight. If your hardlight runs on the same principles, Missy's whatever-you-call-it is going to be the same way."
"Um, guys?" Missy says in a quiet voice. "I didn't say that because I don't like the fact that it has weight. It just surprised me. I'm totally okay with it having a bit of oomph."
"If you like it, then that is all that matters," Firefly says with a light frown directed at her mage. She wheels the cart over to Kayleigh and gives her a broad smile. "Yours, I had fun with." Her hand closes on the other sheet and whips it off with a flourish.
As you have already admitted to Kayleigh, you are by no means an expert on firearms. Not at all. So it is not a surprise that you do not recognize either of the guns that have just been revealed. What you do notice, though, you are more than happy to point out. "Those both look really big."
"That they do," Kayleigh breathes out in delight as she picks up the one on the right.
It looks not all that different from other pistols, but one thing that strikes you as odd is the little guard around the trigger seems to curve forward to flow into the rest of the gun. The end of the barrel is also curved instead of being flat in profile. For some reason, it looks very faintly familiar, but you cannot place it. "What kind of gun is that?" you finally ask.
"I have no clue," the resident gun nut replies. "And that's almost more impressive than anything else. It looks sort of like a Walther PPK I once fired, but it's way too big."
"That is because both of the gun witch's weapons are unique," Firefly says proudly. "This one is based on PPK design, but enlarged for two reasons. First, a bigger weapon creates a psychological effect on your enemies. The original design is adequate for combat, but it is not as intimidating. Second, by enlarging the design it could be adapted for a double stack magazine, doubling the number of rounds that can be held."
Kayleigh immediately ejects the empty magazine and looks at it for a moment before nodding. "This is why you told me to start using the bullet press with 9 millimeter casings, isn't it?"
"Correct. I considered setting it for 45 caliber, but the flame witch's Device advised that you have trouble firing that size of bullet. This gun needs to be easy to wield single-handed. For the magical bullets you create, use this gun for any that are elemental in nature. The barrel is forged from a tungsten-germanium alloy, and thus it should be able to withstand the thermal and electrical stresses from firing. I cannot say the same about normal firearms."
Firefly picks up the other gun and shows it off for all of you to see. It looks like a revolver, but you are fairly sure the barrel is supposed to be at the top of the gun, not the middle. "This is a design of my own creation," the Gear says proudly. "This gun I expect you will use far less commonly, so I set the cylinder release and safety for your left hand. The underslung barrel will lower the recoil, especially important if you are firing from your off-hand.
"In addition to the overall design, the barrel is unique, just as it is in the Walther. It is a tungsten-titanium alloy this time to give it the greatest possible durability when dealing with exotic effects. The only way it could be stronger would be to create and use one of the new metamaterials I read about recently, but this will be simpler to replace when it finally wears out."
"I like them both," Kayleigh tells her honestly. She picks up the revolver in her left hand and weighs them both. "I do have to say, though, that one of them looks like serious business. The other… looks a little silly." Firefly opens her mouth, but Kayleigh gives her a scary-looking smile. "I need to ask. Do you do custom detailing?"
Firefly slowly nods.
"Awesome. Because I have an idea."
"And that is never good," mutters Laura.
If you hadn't noticed it, all the girls' character sheets have been up for a while.
Midweek again? Guess it's time to put Tim back to work. Remember that he has
- Supervise the PRT's Gears (max 6 slots, 1 tech point for every 3 slots)
- Help out the Enforcers (max 6 slots, 1 tech point for every 3 slots)
- Pop Grey Boy's bubbles (max 4 slots, 3 bubbles per slot, 0 tech points)
- Resurgerize Missy and adapt her old arms (2 slots, 0 tech points)
- Build advanced Devices for members of Operation Pentagram (2 slots each, 1 tech point each, max 6 slots)
- Build a pair of teleportation portals as proofs of concept (6 slots, 2 tech points)
- Analyze Sparky's cannon (3 slots, 1 tech point)
- Something else from the "Ideas for Tim to Build" threadmark
- Write-in (subject to my approval)
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ReaperofInterest
Herald of Disaster
Alright, so we still want Standstill to take the Infinite Enhancement template, right? If so, I'd suggest that we have Tim build two Boost Devices so we can start stockpiling for the sacrifice. Apart from that...Grey Boy Bubbles maybe?
Trooper1023
Look, sir! Droids!
- Location
- NYC USA
Standstill wants to brawl on the front line. Give her EK.
QuietlyObserving
The Railgun That Walks Like a Bear
- Location
- Here.
Hey, wait a second. Engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever.
Mystearica
Quoth the Raven
- Location
- meditating over Titan's Tower
Gee Watches, SIX FIVE slots? What ever will we do with that many build opportunities?
52TrenchCats
Secretly 52 cats in a very large trenchcoat
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Either that's a typo, or this story is going in a REALLY weird direction.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
I guess my strikethrough got eaten in the copy-paste.
This is what I get for typing most of this up on my iPad during a flight.Either that's a typo, or this story is going in a REALLY weird direction.
or some other? minor villain or from a?
Just so you all?
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
I say one advanced device, and the we deal with Sparky's cannon so that we might just be able to use something similar at the next EB fight
Hm... I have a few ideas:
[] Plan Arm and Weapon
-[] Resurgerize Missy and adapt her old arms (2 slots, 0 tech points)
-[] Analyze Sparky's cannon (3 slots, 1 tech point)
[] Plan Nanite and Device
-[] Analyze Sparky's cannon (3 slots, 1 tech point)
-[] Build Boost Device (2 Slots)
[] Plan PR and Prep
-[] Pop Grey Boy's bubbles (max 4 slots, 3 bubbles per slot, 0 tech points) x 2
-[] Build Boost Device (2 Slots)
-[] Help out the Enforcers (max 6 slots, 1 tech point for every 3 slots)
[] Plan Arm and Weapon
-[] Resurgerize Missy and adapt her old arms (2 slots, 0 tech points)
-[] Analyze Sparky's cannon (3 slots, 1 tech point)
[] Plan Nanite and Device
-[] Analyze Sparky's cannon (3 slots, 1 tech point)
-[] Build Boost Device (2 Slots)
[] Plan PR and Prep
-[] Pop Grey Boy's bubbles (max 4 slots, 3 bubbles per slot, 0 tech points) x 2
-[] Build Boost Device (2 Slots)
-[] Help out the Enforcers (max 6 slots, 1 tech point for every 3 slots)
- Location
- Here
Someone who has a clue about guns provide an explanation for the second one?
Calamity Witch: Now I have a teen magical girl squad
Ho
Ho
Ho
Ho
Ho
Ho
FictionPack
Monochromatic Ursine
- Location
- Tennessee
- Pronouns
- He/Him
How about?
1 slot grey boy bubble pop
2 slot Armed Missy
2 slot Boost Device
1 slot grey boy bubble pop
2 slot Armed Missy
2 slot Boost Device
Angurvddel
I am Large. I contain Multitudes
That and unless he's from Canada he'd almost certainly have a noticeable accent unless he's specifically been taught to emulate an American one.
- Location
- Internet, The
Thanks for the snippet.
skulls
Now that she's got her costume outfit, Kayleigh can just spend all day flying around doing air donuts and parkouring off skyscrapers
Doctor_Hayden
Plant-Katto
- Location
- Morioh, 1999
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I thought we were giving Standstill Extinction Knight. Because she wants to be a frontliner, I thought.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
- Location
- USA
Definitely favoring "Resurgerize Missy" (this changes her limbs to use Mana instead of bio-energy, right? Any other benefit like fitting more toys from that?) and doing as much as we can to get ready for Standstill. Not as sure about whatever spare slot may be left for that... can we allocate partial time towards a "Boost Device" , since its an ongoing project? Especially since its raw materials rather than strictly meant to be used.
Standstill I'd much rather prioritize over the cannon, social time limits are a thing, and grey boy bubbles remain a lengthy project not directly relevant to plot for people who've been as they are for years. And Pentagram is its own agency with a research budget and not our bloody problem unless they want to pay us enough to care
Standstill I'd much rather prioritize over the cannon, social time limits are a thing, and grey boy bubbles remain a lengthy project not directly relevant to plot for people who've been as they are for years. And Pentagram is its own agency with a research budget and not our bloody problem unless they want to pay us enough to care