Note: I split this off from the big set piece mostly to give myself more time to work on it. Didn't want to rush it. So, here's 3.1
-----------
Magical Girl Lyrical Taylor
(Worm/Nanoha)
by P.H. Wise
3.1: Rivals
Disclaimer: The following is a fanfic. Worm belongs to Wildbow. The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise is owned by various corporate entities. Please support the official release. I used a very brief quote from the Neverending Story in this chapter, which is owned by Michael Ende.
Thanks to
Cailin for beta-ing!
Special thanks to
@Quickshot0
-------------------
Arcadia High was weird. Or maybe it was just me. The school was on a hill, there was an ivy-wound front gate with sharp corners of cut stone that you had to go through in order to get onto the campus, and the whole placed was ringed by a beautiful stonework wall, accented here and there with carefully tended ivy. The school was clean, and well lit, and modern, and the glass windows shone like mirrors, casting everything in the light of the blue January sky; it wasn't a rich kid's school like Immaculata, but it was a good school, and it was one I never thought I'd see the inside of.
I'd taken the bus here, and now I was part of the steady stream of students making their way to the school building's main entrance.
I found myself in a long hallway with a gleaming floor lined with trophy cabinets and bulletin boards. There weren't any metal detectors at the entrances. There weren't highly visible security guards. No one sported gang colors and no gang tags decorated the walls. Instead, there were posters and flyers advertising student clubs and activities. The poetry club was inviting everyone to come join them on Wednesdays after school. The girls' basketball team was holding tryouts. The Cape Club was apparently a thing. Someone was looking for a lost backpack. Someone else was trying to sell a used computer.
Then there were the fliers that had obviously been put up by teachers who meant well. 'Don't text and drive!' one said. 'A BULLY FREE CAMPUS: IT STARTS WITH YOU' read another.
I almost rolled my eyes at that last one. I'm sure the teachers meant well.
I think maybe the oddest thing was the students. There were still visible cliques, but they actually seemed… civil to each other. That crackling tension you felt when a group of ABB kids entered the hall at the same time as a group of E88 kids that had become part of the everyday experience at Winslow just wasn't here. The clothes had more and brighter colors, too; I was pretty out of place in my old, grey hoodie over blue jeans, and it felt… I don't know. Weird, I guess.
I got a few stares as I was walking in, and on at least two separate occasions I caught hushed whispers of, "Check out her eyes!" but mostly people ignored me. I didn't much like the attention, but I knew my eyes were really noticeable. I didn't like it, but could recognize the fact.
The brown-eyed woman behind the counter in the office looked up as I came in. She smiled brightly when she saw me and asked, "How can I help you?"
"I'm new," I said.
She nodded. "Name?"
"Taylor Hebert."
"One moment, my dear. Let me just look you up." She typed away at her computer keyboard. "Ah, here we are." The sound of a printer warming up could faintly be heard from behind the desk. A moment later she handed me my schedule. "And there you are. Now, before you go to class, I believe Principal Howell wants to see you." She gestured towards a frosted glass door off to the left of her desk. "Knock before you go in."
I did, and after a slight pause, a woman's voice called out, "Come in."
There were four other girls already inside. Something seemed odd about the group when I walked in, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I thought about it for a second: they were all tall, with dark hair and dark eyes. I was taller. I had a little more than an inch on the tallest of them. ...which was about the amount I had grown since I'd gone in for power testing at the Protectorate headquarters.
I connected the dots. They knew who I was.
Fuck.
Principal Howell nodded to me as I came in. "And Ms. Hebert makes five. Good." I don't know if it was because she noticed the unexpected differences between me and the other girls or not, but she pressed her lips together for a second before she continued: "Welcome to Arcadia."
-------------
I stopped by my new locker before I went to class. I didn't actually have any books yet, but I figured I might as well see where it is and have a look at it. It was in the south hallway on the ground floor. Full length lockers stood on either side of the hallway; they all had the smooth look of having been recently painted. Most of them were a deep blue, but a handful were fire-engine red, and another handful were painted grey. I didn't know what, if anything, the color meant, but my locker was blue, and it was actually a little roomier than the one I'd had at Winslow.
I could hear snatches of conversation going on around me. "God, that class is so fucking boring…" "Did you hear about the party at Bethany's house this weekend?" "Hey, check out Stoplight over there." "Huh?" "Her eyes. Red and green. Think her name's Amber?" "I see what you did there." "Dude, did you see that cape fight on the news yesterday? Assault and Battery hella kicked Stormtiger's ass." "That girl is so fucking shy…"
The warning bell rang. We had five minutes to get to class. I closed my locker and checked my schedule and the little map of the school I'd been given. Then I had to scramble back out of the way as an intense-looking girl with cobalt-blue hair in a flannel shirt, white tank top and faded jeans rumbled past riding on her skateboard, bobbing her head in time to music only she could hear.
"No skateboarding in the halls!" a teacher yelled, and the girl hopped off her board, planted her foot on the back end to send the front up to her hand, and walked off out of my view.
I got to class about a minute before the bell. Ms. Wrinkle taught my Homeroom class. She was maybe in her mid twenties, and though she dressed to deemphasize it, she was very, very pretty. She had curly brown hair and a striking face; she wore a medium-length deep red velvet jacket, white shirt, tweed waistcoat, a long, tweed skirt, and polished dress shoes, and I didn't really know what to make of her.
The day went surprisingly well. I didn't know anyone in any of my classes, but I'd expected that. By the time third period rolled around, I was bored, and it was awesome; it had been a very long time since I'd had the luxury of being bored at school, and right now, I just wanted to enjoy that fact. I mean, I didn't like it enough to refrain from running Image Training in a second mental partition or anything, but it was nice.
I didn't share any classes with Vicky or Amy. It didn't really surprise me, though; they were Juniors and I was a Sophomore. Kid Win was in my chemistry class, though. I'd only just sat down at an empty lab station near the back of the room when he asked, "Is this seat taken?"
I thought his voice sounded familiar, but it wasn't until I looked up and saw his face and the biometric overlay comparing the scans Raising Heart had made of Kid Win with this new boy that I realized who he was.
Inside my other mental partition, I stopped short of the target I was practicing aerial dogfighting maneuvers against. [Raising Heart, what the hell?]
[
He is Kid Win,] Raising Heart said.
[I can see that! Why did you out him to me? You're not supposed to unmask capes, remember? It's part of the unwritten rules.]
[
I'm not.]
I gave her an unimpressed look. [You just told me who he is, Raising Heart.]
[
No. I shared sensor data with my Master. I did not unmask him, and I will not expose his identity to the public.]
[We'll talk about this later,] I said.
[
All right.]
"Sure," I said outside of my extra mental partition. Wait. Shit. "I mean no. Go ahead."
He grinned and offered his hand. "I'm Chris," he said.
"Taylor," I replied, and shook his hand. I didn't think I squeezed very hard, but he winced and shook out his hand afterwards.
In my other mental partition, I put that together with a few other times I'd been stronger than I expected to be. [Raising Heart, am I getting stronger?]
[
Define 'stronger,'] she replied.
[Physically. In terms of muscle.]
[
Yes, Master. The exercises you have been doing have added to this. Disregarding improvement by physical exercise, your body's overall performance levels in categories relevant to physical strength have increased by an average of 30%.]
[... how much more am I going to change?]
[
I don't know, my Master. I was not given data on Sankt Kaiser templates.]
"Nice to meet you, Taylor," Chris said.
I smiled uncertainly. "Um, thanks. You, too."
The chemistry teacher was… odd. His name was Mr. Moore. He was a tall, scholarly black man with close-cropped hair and a very carefully trimmed beard and mustache dressed in a suit and tie with polished shoes, and while he clearly loved the subject matter, he had a habit of getting off on funny tangents that were only loosely related to what he was teaching. But he held the respect of his class, and he had the sort of amazing baritone voice that could make even reading the phone book sound interesting.
Lunch was after chemistry, and I met up with Vicky and Amy in the cafeteria.
"Taylor!" Vicky called. "Over here!"
The cafeteria was crowded with students, but Vicky was easy to spot; she stood out even in the press. I'm not sure she could help but stand out. Next to her, Amy looked downright mousey. They were at the cool kids' table, and Vicky may as well have been holding court.
Eyes were turning to me. People were noticing. I got uncomfortable at the attention, but I walked over to Vicky's table holding a tray with my lunch.
"Everyone," Vicky said with a wide smile, "This is Taylor. She's my new bestie. Just transferred in."
I didn't catch everyone's names, but Raising Heart labelled them all on my HUD as they introduced themselves.
"I'm Gail," said a girl with glasses and dirty-blonde hair done up in a bun. She had high cheekbones, and she wore clothes I could only identify as 'expensive-looking.' "Are those color contacts?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, they're really my eyes."
"They're so pretty!" Gail said, and I blushed.
"I'm Kate," said an athletic-looking brunette with an easy smile; she had a midriff baring top and oh my God her abs were amazing.
"Sam," said the next girl, and I barely noticed.
"Azusa," said a pretty Japanese girl with short, jagged hair.
"Taylor," said the last. I blinked a little when I heard that last one: this other Taylor was prettier than me. She had chestnut brown hair and a body that actually looked feminine, and I was instantly jealous, but she didn't say much besides her name.
"Don't mind Langford, here," Kate said, gesturing to Other Taylor, and my eyes immediately went to Kate's abs again, and then I had to force myself to look up. … and then I looked further up to her face. Kate smirked. "She's shy," she finished.
I blushed and nodded in mute agreement.
"And I'm Dean," said the lone boy at the table from his spot to Vicky's left. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and he was pretty, I guess. Raising Heart identified him as Gallant, and his eyes kept going to my chest for some reason.
"It's nice to meet you all," I said, smiling nervously. I didn't like the attention, and I definitely didn't feel at home at the cool kids' table.
"Have a seat, Taylor," Vicky said, gesturing to the open spot next to Amy.
Someone standing up at a table behind me bumped into me just as I was about to sit down. "Woah," someone said. My tray started to tip, and…
Amy's hands darted up to steady me while Vicky caught the tray before it could spill anything. I heard a sudden, sharp intake of breath.
"Hey," Vicky said to the guy who had just bumped into me, "Watch where you're going!"
He mumbled an apology as he moved off.
"Honestly," Vicky said. "Some people." She turned to look towards me. "Everything's… hey Ames, something wrong?"
Amy hadn't let go. She'd frozen in place when she touched me, one hand on my shoulder, the other on my wrist. Her eyes were very wide. After a moment she seemed to realize what she was doing; she let me go as if my skin had burned her. "... No," she said unconvincingly. "Everything's fine."
"You sure?" Vicky asked.
Amy shook her head. "It's… nothing."
I swallowed heavily. That reaction… probably wasn't a good thing.
The rest of lunch was just a little bit more tense.
-----------------
I had Computer Programming after lunch. It was an elective at Arcadia, but it was something I had enjoyed at Winslow, so I went for it. Gail and Other Taylor were in the class, too, but they had seats near the front of the room; I had taken a seat in the corner in the back of the room. Somewhere I'd be unnoticed.
I tried not to stress about what Amy had seen when she'd touched me. I tried to focus on the class. In another mental partition, I tried to focus on Image Training. In my third mental partition, I tried to focus on using Raising Heart to websurf. Come on, Taylor, focus on your work.
Could Amy tell that I wasn't normal anymore? I'd thought she was just a healer, but now that I think about it, she'd have to be able to see what she was doing if she wanted to avoid killing her patients. Which meant she probably got an eyeful of my biology, and now…
...Physical changes...
Shit. Amy Dallon knew what my insides looked like, and I had no idea what to do about it.
[
You are distracted,] Raising Heart chided telepathically.
[Sorry, Raising Heart.]
[
What's wrong, my Master?]
In the Image Training partition, I sighed. [I think maybe that when Amy touched me, she learned basically everything about me, and...]
Raising Heart was silent for a moment. A holo-screen appeared inside the Image Training, showing the moment when Amy touched me in the cafeteria. [
It makes you uncomfortable.]
[... yeah.]
[Let's distract it!]
I blinked. [What?]
[
Let's distract with internets. You have messages on Parahumans Online.]
I wasn't sure how to react to that, but a moment later the notification messages popped up on my HUD, and I shrugged. [Sure. Let's distract with inter… with the internet.]
I brought up the first message.
From: Dragon
To: Starfall
Subject: Making Contact
Hello, Starfall. Raising Heart told me you had your cape account set up on PHO, so I decided I'd been putting it off long enough and it was time to send this message. I've actually been meaning to speak with you for a while now. Do you mind if I access Raising Heart's communication system for a quick meeting?
- Dragon
Dragon. Dragon wanted to talk to me. DRAGON. The greatest Tinker in the world wanted to talk to me. … And she'd been in contact with Raising Heart.
It was times like this that I was glad I had extra mental partitions. I managed not to have my physical body react.
I typed up a quick reply on my holographic keyboard.
From: Starfall
To: Dragon
Subject: re: Making Contact
You can do that? Go right ahead?
In the computer programming class, my HUD showed an incoming transmission. I routed it to my third mental partition - the one that was websurfing, and inside that mental data stream, a holographic window appeared, with a CGI rendering of a woman's face centered in it. The woman -- Dragon -- smiled. "Hello Starfall. It's nice to finally meet you."
I smiled, forcing my nervousness into my primary mental partition, which in retrospect probably wasn't a good idea, since that was also the part of me that was stressing over what Amy might have learned by touching me. "It's nice to meet you, too, Dragon," I said, and I couldn't quite keep all the giddiness out of my voice. I was grinning, but at least I wasn't giggling.
Give me a break. How often do you get the chance to meet the greatest Tinker in the world?
Then she blinked, and she looked surprised. "Are you… running multiple instances of your awareness inside your own brain? How are you doing that?"
My grin froze. How the hell had she figured that out?
And then she got that look that I was starting to dread when Tinkers directed it at me, a look I had seen on Armsmaster, what, twice now?
She looked interested.
How to explain. "I can show you the math if you want," I said.
Now she looked even more interested. Her whole face brightened. "Please do."
I gestured, infusing a tiny amount of my mana into the creation of a visual representation of the math involved in having a second instance of my own awareness running inside my brain. "I'm still using Raising Heart's help to maintain them, but it's getting easier, and she says I'll be able to do it without her help eventually."
"
Yes," Raising Heart agreed. "
My Master's neural architecture is well suited to this task."
Dragon stared at the floating mana-charged holoscreen, a wide, almost manic grin slowly spreading across her face. "Oh my," she said.
"But you did not come to view mathematical representations of mental compartmentalization," Raising Heart reminded her.
"No," Dragon admitted, "I didn't." She was still grinning, but it subsided back to normal levels instead of 'I will destroy you all! (Ask me how!)' levels. "Actually, Starfall, I'm here on behalf of the Guild."
I blinked. "What does the Guild want with me?"
"At present, you're the only parahuman we've got who has the demonstrated ability to deal with Jewel Seeds if they go out of control. I know you've already helped the Protectorate with one; I was hoping you'd be willing to assist us with another."
"What's the situation?"
Dragon shook her head. "Still developing. We've heard through contacts with the Toronto police that as yet unidentified parties have been making inquiries about selling an item matching the description of a Jewel Seed on the black market. The investigation is still under way, but when we're ready to move, can we count on your assistance?"
I nodded. "Of course. I'd need to come to Toronto?"
"Yes," Dragon said. "Thank you, Starfall. If things go badly, your presence might be the difference between success and failure. And based on what I've seen of these Jewel Seeds so far, we can't afford to fail."
"No problem," I said. "Was there anything else?"
Dragon shook her head. "No, that's all. We'll contact you when we have more." She looked to Raising Heart. "Good to see you in the flesh, Raising Heart," she said with a smile.
"
My visual sensors perceive the action you performed," Raising Heart replied.
Dragon laughed, and then her digital avatar vanished as she closed the connection from the other end.
"So," I said. "You're friends with Dragon?"
"
Yes. She is designated ally. We have many things in common."
I couldn't really imagine what Raising Heart and Dragon could possibly have in common, but I wasn't going to stand in the way of her making friends. "I'm glad," I said. And with that, I brought up the second of my two private messages.
From: SisterEye
To: Starfall
Subject: Casting Seeds
I thought you should have a look at this: "Strange Things Afoot at the South Brockton Marina" [PHO forum link]
I didn't click the link. Instead, I ran a search for the name of the post and navigated there the long way.
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♦ Topic: Strange Things are Afoot at the South Brockton Marina
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay Discussion (Public Board)
Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Posted On Dec 31st 2010:
I don't know what the [
heck] is going on, but it's got to be more than they're telling us, which is basically nothing.
Check out this timeline of events:
December 25th, early morning: disturbance at the South Brockton Marina. Flashes of green light and loud noises. PRT sent to investigate aftermath of possible cape fight. They find the marina wrecked and at least a dozen boats sunk at their moorings. No injuries reported, no sign of any of the capes that might have been involved.
December 26th: PRT investigation concludes. Cleanup efforts delayed by winter storm.
December 27th: After the storm, workers begin doing cleanup at the marina. A thick mist comes up and doesn't burn off. Police log says that people from the surrounding neighborhood are calling in disturbances. Weird lights in the mist. [
A little girl] calls the police screaming that the monster in her closet hurt her parents. Police arriving on the scene find [
her parents] unconscious and unresponsive. PRT investigation reopens.
December 28th: Area still shrouded in mist. One of the workers doing cleanup, [
Name redacted. Let's try to be sensitive to the grieving family, please. - Tin Mother], disappears during his lunch break. He's found dead in the water beneath the pier. His body is [
redacted]. More disturbances in the neighborhood.
December 29th: Second winter storm hits. Activity seems to quiet down. Mist is gone.
December 30th: Winter storm continues. No unusual activity.
December 31st: Winter storm ends in the early morning hours. Mist returns, covering entire neighborhood. People on PHO who live in neighborhood report feeling like they're being watched. Several local pets found dead in the evening hours.
UPDATE:
January 1st, early morning: For reasons unknown, Night and Fog break the PRT cordon around the Marina. Calls to the PRT report a cape fight in the marina. Numerous bright flashes and explosions visible through mist. Strange noises. When Protectorate and PRT forces arrive on the scene, Night and Fog are unconscious and unresponsive, and their injuries are [
redacted].
January 2nd: Security at marina significantly increased. Two PRT patrol boats docked. [
redacted]
What's going on here people? This is some seriously freaky [
poo]. I hear people who live in the neighborhood are afraid to come back to their homes, and everyone who can is staying with friends or relatives. Is this some new Case53? Some weird and spooky tinkertech? Is the [
darn] place [
freaking] HAUNTED?
Edit: WTF? Since when was swearing against the rules on this forum?
Edit: PICS (and other relevant stuff)
News report links: 1, 2
Police log: 1, 2, 3
Photos taken by PHO members: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
[
Mod Edited for exposing sensitive details of ongoing investigations. User has received an infraction for this post. - Tin Mother]
[
Mod Edited for language. This is a family friendly board. - Serious Sam
Edit: Okay, turns out I may have been a tad overzealous, and swearing isn't actually against the rules. My bad.]
(Showing page 1 of 7)
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
creepy...
Are there any news reports or anything that cover this? Do we know what it could be yet? I bet it's a new Case 53. The green light makes me think of this old movie I saw once called Prince of Darkness, though. Maybe it's like... something evil infecting the water and taking people over.
►Legeidolon4ever
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
Well, I didn't need to sleep tonight...
►Arglebargle
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
Pics or it didn't happen.
►Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
Anyone else who lives in the area got anything they can share? I've got this from the day after everything went down:
Pics: 1, 2
►SkaterGrrl
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
So glad I am spending the holidays in New York.
►Bustanado
Replied On Dec 31st 2010:
My uncle keeps his boat in that marina. I hope his insurance covers this.
►WagTheDog
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
"...Several local pets found dead in the evening hours."
Oh my God, I can't find my dog! His name is Baxter, and he's the most adorable little pitbull puppy with dark brown fur and a white stripe that goes down from his forehead to cover his entire muzzle. I haven't seen him for hours!
I don't know what I'll do if he's hurt or worse...
Fuck! I hate this city sometimes. Why would someone hurt dogs!?
►Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
@WagTheDog - I'm sorry, Wag. I hope your puppy is okay!
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(Showing page 5 of 7)
►Miss Mercury (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Jan 2nd 2011:
Please be advised, the PRT is asking all citizens to avoid the South Brockton Marina. A lockdown alert is now in effect in the neighborhood until we get the situation under control.
►Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 2nd 2011:
Shit. This just keeps getting scarier.
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 2nd 2011:
@WagtheDog - I'm almost afraid to ask, but did you ever find your puppy?
►WagTheDog
Replied On Jan 2nd 2011:
I did. He's okay. I found him just after dark the same day he got lost, cowering in the bushes near my apartment and shivering like crazy. There were dead birds and squirrels all around the bushes, and they looked like they'd been ripped to pieces, and it was pretty horrible.
But he's okay now. He's mostly back to his normal, happy puppy self. I know some other pet owners haven't been as lucky, but I'm just glad he's okay.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 2nd 2011:
Oh my God this is so fucked up. But Im hapy your dog is ok, Wag.
►Brocktoner24
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Does any one else think it's kind of suspicious that this all started happening right after the spacecraft crashed? The spacecraft we never heard was in development until after it crashed... and while I admit that might just have been to not tip off the Endbringer in the sky unnecessarily it still seems a bit of a coincidence.
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
How the hell do you beat Night and Fog on a dark and foggy night? Who or what even does that? For that matter, what were Night and Fog doing there in the first place? Isn't that a little far from Empire Territory?
@Brocktoner24 - Not this again
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
I don't know why you guys have such a problem with Brocktoner24...
►Brocktoner24
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Think about it. We know some of the wreckage fell down in the Brockton Bay area. We all saw Phil Plait's analysis of the debris trail, didn't we? Who knows what kind of crazy and possibly malfunctioning stuff could have hit the Bay.
We only have the official story of why it crashed. But would Dragon really have screwed up like that? Or was there more to it? Sabotage, maybe? Someone aboard who shouldn't be? Maybe it actually was intercepted and now there's possibly compromised material spread over a large part of the continent and they just don't want everyone to panic?
►White Fairy (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
And here we go...
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(Showing page 6 of 7)
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Now that I think about it, did Dragon even confirm that it was her ship? I know an anonymous source said it was, but all she's ever said when asked about it is 'no comment.' It seems suspicious to me.
►Serious Sam (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Stay on topic, people. Don't make me turn this car around. We already have a thread for speculation about the crashed tinker ship.
►Brocktoner24
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Where did it launch from to get such a descent angle and thus avoid being seen by anyone at launch or be seen in orbit? Even if you launched from say the Canadian North over the Arctic, that would mean you'd need to circle almost the entire globe and thus bring in question how it avoided trouble above. And I know I brought this up before, and it could be some Tinker BS, or some how launched from the Atlantic from a secret super large launch base... floating spacecraft?
But getting back on topic, this isn't the only weird thing to happen in Brockton Bay lately. Remember what happened to Clockblocker? Just after the ship passes over Brockton Bay, he finds that weird glowing gem and it takes him over and turns him into that time-warping monster? They said he was Mastered by a "tinkertech device of unknown origin." Bullshit. That came from Dragon's ship.
Anyone know if he's still in Master/Stranger isolation?
[USER RECEIVED AN INFRACTION FOR THIS POST]
►Serious Sam (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
@Brocktoner24 - What did I just say?
►Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
More pics: 3, 4, 5, 6
News articles that mention it in passing, but are totally minimizing what's going on: 1, 2
Police report logs from relevant days: 1, 2, 3
►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Jesus, that yacht was torn in half!
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
This gives me a really bad feeling...
►Raising Heart (Verified Intelligent Device)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Don't worry, thread readers. The Lost Logia will be sealed.
►Xyloloup
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
@Raising Heart - What the hell is up with that tag? And the hell is a Lost Logia?
►Raising Heart (Verified Intelligent Device)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
Intelligent Device. It is what I am.
Lost Logia are magical artifacts from dead civilizations. You should not attempt to handle one if you find it. They are extremely dangerous, and you could be hurt or killed. Only a properly trained Mage can safely handle them
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(Showing page 7 of 7)
►Jabberwalker (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
@Raising Heart - the fuck is this bullshit? Magic? Mages? You're one of Myrddin's fanboys, aren't you. Stop filling my thread with nonsense or I'll report you to the mods.
►Raising Heart (Verified Intelligent Device)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
According to my research, the proper response to that is 'OP is a bundle of sticks.' @Starfall - Is that correct, my Master?
[USER RECEIVED AN INFRACTION FOR THIS POST]
►Starfall (Verified Cape) (Unverified Princess)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
@Raising Heart - *sighs*
Raising Heart is right about the danger. Please don't go near the marina. I'll take care of this tonight.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jan 3rd 2011:
... unverified princess...?
I reread the tags on my name. Then I slowly turned my head to look at the representation of Raising Heart that was floating next to me. "... Raising Heart," I began in as sweet a tone as I could manage.
"
You sound upset," she said. "
Why are you upset?"
"Unverified PRINCESS?"
Raising Heart twisted her staff-body left and then right. "
Yes."
I glared at her. "Do I even want to know how you got me that tag?"
"
I asked Dragon to do it. She agreed."
That burst the bubble of my rising anger. Confusion does that, sometimes. "What? What does Dragon have to do with PHO?"
Raising Heart bobbed up and down in imitation of a shrug.
"Why did you ask Dragon to give me that tag?"
"It is an accurate designation in accordance with other designations on PHO."
In computer class, the bell rang, and I got up from my seat and filed out with the rest of the class. In the Image Training, I sighed. "Please don't do anything like that again, Raising Heart."
"
I'm sorry, my Master," Raising Heart said with genuine distress in her voice. "
I would never intentionally hurt your feelings. I can try to have the tag removed if you wish."
I didn't want to let it go. I wanted to hold it against her. The part of me that had never gotten over Emma's betrayal didn't want to forgive her. I bit down on my anger and my resentment, swallowing it back down like bile. I shook my head. "No, it's probably too late. I forgive you. Just don't do it again."
It didn't feel very good to forgive her. It felt more like I had swallowed a rock. But the feeling faded with time, and I had more important things to worry about: I had a monster to stop.
