The Light 1.2
Older-than-Time
[Eating My Muse]
- Location
- Somewhere in the Sol System
- Pronouns
- He/Him/ThatIdiot
Here's chapter 3. And threadmarks are a Thing! Also editted so it looks nicer and extra lines were added to improve flow.
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My Guardian is fast.
That was my major thought as Taylor sped through the city at an impressive (for a standard human, according to my databanks) twenty-three point seven miles per hour. Initially, she kept to a well-paced jog but after a little encouragement from me cheering her on, she sped up.
Considerably.
As we traversed the city, I updated her HUD to take advantage of the varied architecture and obstacles to teach her a little about her basic abilities as a Guardian.
Why the heck am I so Calm?! I need to be panicking. I really feel like I should be panicking right now! Hell, SHE should be panicking! Not giggling as she hurtles through a city fast enough to break her everything if she smashes into something!!
Safety of Guardian Prioritized. Updating databanks...[Guardian Physiology: Physical Alterations]
Huh...so she's a LOT more resilient. Holy fudge, she can tank AP bullets?! An overshield?! And this is all basic?
So caught up in these revelations, I almost didn't notice Taylor coming to a stumbling halt. Turning my attentions back to her, I discovered her staring at the route I had set. We were in a messy dead end alley with a scattered array of garbage, debris and an abandoned Nissan sedan at the very end. The route had her going onto the car, up the walls...and across the rooftops?
"...Ghost? A-are you there?"
Oh, she was talking!
"Yes, Guardian? Is there something wrong? Because we really should be on the move. Sources indicate this neighborhood as being 'Empire 88' territory."
She sank onto the ground, leaning against the wall of a building. She took a shuddering breath...and proceeded to silently cry. Shit, my Guardian is crying. There's a crying girl and I have zero ideas on how to get her to stop!
"I-I...I can't-This is all just a dream. There's no way this is real. You keep calling me 'Guardian' and I have powers and...I'm calm. I'm calm after suddenly having powers and there's you and..."
She blabbered on for a bit, but I got the general gist. The euphoria of freedom from that locker and having powers had faded. The run had given her time to think. And boy, did she have a lot of thoughts.
Mostly depressing, pessimistic thoughts.
"...-o I'm wondering...why me? Why'd you choose me, Ghost?"
I paused, hoping my subconscious would answer but that douche was silent for once. So it fell to me to explain something I had no idea about and console a pessimistic teenage girl with horrifyingly suicidal tendencies if this Psychology database was right...
"Ghost?"
"I chose you...because you were the one I was searching for. I don't know where I come from or how I got to your school. I don't even know why I was searching for you in particular." I rematerialized in her palms and she held me up to her face. "All I know is that I was lost and searching for my Guardian. And that search led me to you. You are my Guardian and I'm your Ghost. That's all there is to it."
She didn't seem very convinced...and now she's hugging me. She hugging me and crying and I'm pretty sure my angular shape is poking her uncomfortably... But her embrace feels kinda nice and it is making her feel better...I hope.
She and I stayed like this for a bit (three minutes and twenty-two seconds to be exact) when we heard a shuffling sound...and footsteps. Taylor jerked her head towards the sound as I dematerialized. There, at the other end of the alley near some garbage cans, were four men in black leather jackets decorated in swastikas.
Nazi's. Lovely.
"Well, well, well. Lookie what we found here. Some Tinker girl crying in an alley on Empire turf. Fancy looking armor, ain't it? Bet Kai-..."
Wow. That was so stereotypically thuggish I was embarrassed to even consider myself an analogue of a male.
Taylor was actually calm enough to keep her head and ask, "Ghost...what do I do?"
I suddenly received a burst of information from the AI portion of myself. A battle plan: methods for incapacitating the thugs using the combat knife on Taylor's hip and acquiring the third thug's pistol. All outlined on her HUD for her to implement.
"Guardian, you'll need to take them out. Prioritize targets as designated by your HUD. Using the plan presented, no major injuries should occur and you'll be better armed after incapacitating them." Taylor stayed silent as the four men closed in on her. Then I remembered that Taylor was still a fifteen year old teenager, not a soldier...Plan B then.
"Or you could run along this route I just made. Come to think of it, I'd actually prefer you running. Less likely of you getting shot...you could go with the first plan. I got your back, either way. Just take your pick."
She stood there as they got closer and closer…
"Guardian...uh, Taylor. The gangsters are getting a lit-" And like a bullet, she took off. Taylor bolted away from the Empire thugs and leaped over the Nissan without a second thought. Other Me was supplying her subconscious with typical Guardian movement techniques and maneuvers. And boy did she use them.
Full tilt sprint at a building with a sliding dodge to evade the gunshots followed up by a perfectly executed series of wall jumps got her onto the roofs within thirty-eight seconds.
'Oh my god, did I just do that?!'
Also turns out that Taylor and I could could communicate internally. Neat.
'Yes, your physical parameters have reached peak levels in accordance to your body frame, musculature allowances and specie limitations. All part of the basic revival package when becoming a Guardian. You should probably keep on running, just in case. Those idiots are calling backup and I can't keep intercepting their signals forever.' Technically I could, but we'd have to stick around to keep their phones in range of my jamming efforts.
She sped off across the roofs, utilizing her 'Double-Jump' to traverse the large gaps between buildings. It was around a block from her home that she had a sudden thought that echoed ominously...
'...wait, what do you mean by revival package?!'
Damn...I was hoping she forgot about that...
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Tell me your thoughts, please!
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My Guardian is fast.
That was my major thought as Taylor sped through the city at an impressive (for a standard human, according to my databanks) twenty-three point seven miles per hour. Initially, she kept to a well-paced jog but after a little encouragement from me cheering her on, she sped up.
Considerably.
As we traversed the city, I updated her HUD to take advantage of the varied architecture and obstacles to teach her a little about her basic abilities as a Guardian.
Why the heck am I so Calm?! I need to be panicking. I really feel like I should be panicking right now! Hell, SHE should be panicking! Not giggling as she hurtles through a city fast enough to break her everything if she smashes into something!!
Safety of Guardian Prioritized. Updating databanks...[Guardian Physiology: Physical Alterations]
Huh...so she's a LOT more resilient. Holy fudge, she can tank AP bullets?! An overshield?! And this is all basic?
So caught up in these revelations, I almost didn't notice Taylor coming to a stumbling halt. Turning my attentions back to her, I discovered her staring at the route I had set. We were in a messy dead end alley with a scattered array of garbage, debris and an abandoned Nissan sedan at the very end. The route had her going onto the car, up the walls...and across the rooftops?
"...Ghost? A-are you there?"
Oh, she was talking!
"Yes, Guardian? Is there something wrong? Because we really should be on the move. Sources indicate this neighborhood as being 'Empire 88' territory."
She sank onto the ground, leaning against the wall of a building. She took a shuddering breath...and proceeded to silently cry. Shit, my Guardian is crying. There's a crying girl and I have zero ideas on how to get her to stop!
"I-I...I can't-This is all just a dream. There's no way this is real. You keep calling me 'Guardian' and I have powers and...I'm calm. I'm calm after suddenly having powers and there's you and..."
She blabbered on for a bit, but I got the general gist. The euphoria of freedom from that locker and having powers had faded. The run had given her time to think. And boy, did she have a lot of thoughts.
Mostly depressing, pessimistic thoughts.
"...-o I'm wondering...why me? Why'd you choose me, Ghost?"
I paused, hoping my subconscious would answer but that douche was silent for once. So it fell to me to explain something I had no idea about and console a pessimistic teenage girl with horrifyingly suicidal tendencies if this Psychology database was right...
"Ghost?"
"I chose you...because you were the one I was searching for. I don't know where I come from or how I got to your school. I don't even know why I was searching for you in particular." I rematerialized in her palms and she held me up to her face. "All I know is that I was lost and searching for my Guardian. And that search led me to you. You are my Guardian and I'm your Ghost. That's all there is to it."
She didn't seem very convinced...and now she's hugging me. She hugging me and crying and I'm pretty sure my angular shape is poking her uncomfortably... But her embrace feels kinda nice and it is making her feel better...I hope.
She and I stayed like this for a bit (three minutes and twenty-two seconds to be exact) when we heard a shuffling sound...and footsteps. Taylor jerked her head towards the sound as I dematerialized. There, at the other end of the alley near some garbage cans, were four men in black leather jackets decorated in swastikas.
Nazi's. Lovely.
"Well, well, well. Lookie what we found here. Some Tinker girl crying in an alley on Empire turf. Fancy looking armor, ain't it? Bet Kai-..."
Wow. That was so stereotypically thuggish I was embarrassed to even consider myself an analogue of a male.
Taylor was actually calm enough to keep her head and ask, "Ghost...what do I do?"
I suddenly received a burst of information from the AI portion of myself. A battle plan: methods for incapacitating the thugs using the combat knife on Taylor's hip and acquiring the third thug's pistol. All outlined on her HUD for her to implement.
"Guardian, you'll need to take them out. Prioritize targets as designated by your HUD. Using the plan presented, no major injuries should occur and you'll be better armed after incapacitating them." Taylor stayed silent as the four men closed in on her. Then I remembered that Taylor was still a fifteen year old teenager, not a soldier...Plan B then.
"Or you could run along this route I just made. Come to think of it, I'd actually prefer you running. Less likely of you getting shot...you could go with the first plan. I got your back, either way. Just take your pick."
She stood there as they got closer and closer…
"Guardian...uh, Taylor. The gangsters are getting a lit-" And like a bullet, she took off. Taylor bolted away from the Empire thugs and leaped over the Nissan without a second thought. Other Me was supplying her subconscious with typical Guardian movement techniques and maneuvers. And boy did she use them.
Full tilt sprint at a building with a sliding dodge to evade the gunshots followed up by a perfectly executed series of wall jumps got her onto the roofs within thirty-eight seconds.
'Oh my god, did I just do that?!'
Also turns out that Taylor and I could could communicate internally. Neat.
'Yes, your physical parameters have reached peak levels in accordance to your body frame, musculature allowances and specie limitations. All part of the basic revival package when becoming a Guardian. You should probably keep on running, just in case. Those idiots are calling backup and I can't keep intercepting their signals forever.' Technically I could, but we'd have to stick around to keep their phones in range of my jamming efforts.
She sped off across the roofs, utilizing her 'Double-Jump' to traverse the large gaps between buildings. It was around a block from her home that she had a sudden thought that echoed ominously...
'...wait, what do you mean by revival package?!'
Damn...I was hoping she forgot about that...
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Tell me your thoughts, please!
Last edited:
Just add a few dings and scratches for character, and wa la!
