BlasTech

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Is she the mountain? The climber? Strong enough to be the victor? Can she best Solarel here and now?

Heck. No.

It's hard to understate the number of reasons why Isabelle is not up to winning this fight. For starters, this is her first time in this new mecha frame. Its body is faster but lighter and less durable than her Emberlight, and the difference is more than enough to throw her off her stride. And then there's the nanites - a new ability, but one she's running on instinct and which will take time to master. What's more, she doesn't know squat about Solarel beyond her name, the few highlights from her war record that are common knowledge, and the fact that she looks good in booty shorts. She hasn't done any of the research, planning and preparation work that would normally go into fighting someone in the arena.

The only things going in her favour are luck, nanite enhanced instinct and the fact that she did study the blade whilst others studied how to run megacorporations. (Note that she was also studying how to run megacorporations at the same time through an esoteric training regime known as Sleep Is For Those Who Don't Have Access To Unlimited Caffeine.)

Topping all that off though is the fact that she doesn't really want to fight you here, Solarel. She just wanted you to stop wrecking the installation and - so long as you're focusing on her - that goal is pretty much achieved. If she was thinking rationally, she'd just make a break for it - stop fighting and run. She'd preserve her mecha, possibly preserve her link to the station. It'd get her everything she should want.

But.

But but but.

She can see it in how you move. In how you fly. This is how you connect to your world. This fight is your world. And something about that means she can't deny it to you. It's stupid, and impulsive, but it's her decision in the end. It's a hand, extended, bladed and glinting. Come and take it in your ones of gold and silver. Let us dance. Let us remember this. Please.

Isabelle raises her arm upwards. Concentrating on the gesture.

Light spell.

Whiteness, brighter than anything, as the nanite-magnesium coating cooks off. It's light is blinding, overwhelming. Impossible to see through or miss. Come, Solarel. She will burn as bright as she can, in the hopes you won't forget.

[Roll to Entice again - 4 + 4 - 2: 6 - the curse of conditions strikes again.]

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Kalaya enjoys the moment, her left hand snaking down to entwine fingers with Ven's right. The cool morning air, crisp from an hour that most never seek to enjoy, brushes gently against warming cheeks, bringing with it the smells of woodfire and boiling water. In the distance, she can hear the ringing of iron that signals the hamlet's blacksmith has started their work.

"Well, I'm always happy to help. Though there's no sense trying to figure stuff out on an empty stomach." she says, grinning. "And this date was my idea, so I'm paying - no arguments about it."

Eventually though, she has to address the pale, cloaked war elephant in the room.

Wait. Pale. Cloaked. Talking magic gibberish?

"Are you Peregrine?" Kalaya ventures, smiling at the curt nod and holding out a hand that is not quickly accepted. "I'm Kalaya-Phraya. My companions and I have been looking for you, actually! I have a ... curse? Maybe? That has been laid on me that I'm looking for help to get rid of. And Dima-Phraya is in need of a witch who can help her calm the troubles between her and the river spirit. I don't suppose you'd be available for work at the moment? I have no idea what a cake-a-whatti is, but if Vee here needs it then I'm sure we can track one down. Maybe we can do an exchange?"

She's rambling as they walk, and quickly demonstrating her (poor) knowledge of theological constructs. But if asked, or if the topic of Ushua presents, she will gladly add her two coppers, and knowledge of Giriel's reading of the war-fate, into the mix.

In the meantime though, she orders three bowls of dumplings and hot tea for an outside table with a good view of the sunrise.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

(Accidental doublepost)

Huntresses of Hybrasil

The swords dance and flash - a dizzying display.

It's funny, isn't it - how words can sometimes fail people - but actions can speak oh so clearly?

You can see it in the way she fights at first - with panicked desperation. Battle, real battle, is something that scares her. It's not surprising when you consider how she reacted to the pirates and their guns. What, with the potential for people to be hurt or killed, for destruction and death, who wouldn't find things at least a little bit scary? (Don't forget, she's only Terenian, and does not have your metal-hardened scales or a Hybrasillain's claws to protect her).

But as you two duel, the fear subsides. She parries and strikes with a more comfortable confidence. She presses forward. You realise that this battle, this fighting, means something different. In a world where everyone is armoured with dense alloys, where everyone stands tall on legs of steel and adamantine. When one's arms are strengthened with servos and hydraulics and where your own self lies protected in the pilot's cage - the worries just slip away.

Fighting is one time where she can be free. Free of the fear that follows her whenever she's outside the cockpit. That dogs her steps as surely as the press. Battle is a means of escape. Of expression. Of testing skill and ability. This arena of toy robots and toy fights means she can fight as she wants to be. Not as she's forced to be. By biology, position and expectation. By worries of collateral damage and hurt people. By fear of pain and loss.

Now, that answers your first question - what about the second?

Well, here the answer gets a bit harder ... In this fight, as she locks blades with you, swords sparking, you get the sense that she's trying to redirect you, keep you away from destroying more of the facility, of the history that lies unplumbed. She's fighting, in short, to protect. And in doing so, you can tell that she's fighting all the harder for it.

But still she holds back - she doesn't want to hurt you, strange as that may seem. She's only trying to put an end to the destruction.

If you want her to fight you truly - with all of her ability and heart? Then you may need to make her fight to protect something from you. Something she truly cares about. This facility and the pirates in it are not good candidates. They've hurt her too much and she knows too little about them.

(To be clear, you might both still be surprised by her reaction should you threaten harm on them. But they just do not hold the strings on her heart to motivate her as deeply as some other things may)

Perhaps if you look further afield. Something in TC space. Her siblings or her charity work might give you more insights. It won't feel great, you may have to play the villain, but if you really want that kind of a fight, then that's the price you'd have to pay. Provoke her, ultimately, to fight with all the strength of anger and fear.

But there might be a different way.

You can sense the chains restraining her as you fight - chains of fear, of responsibility, of her own guilt and anger. What do you know of her standing, family and destiny? Have you looked into them? Do you know how much they hold her back even as they shape her into the thing that they want her to be? How do you break these ideals?

Well you're already doing some of that by simply showing her this adventure. Out here, in the blue expanse of Aoi, their pull on her is weakened - a moon far away from the celestial body she orbits. But that tether is as unbroken as gravity. They will pull her in again, eventually.

The truth is she cannot escape them, those ideals that enslave her, on her own. She is just not strong enough. For her to truly break their bonds, she needs someone to help her - to give her a push and to hold her free, lest she slip back into the well.

Do that, and she may fight you with a spirit freed of its shackles. And while she will still stay the final blow, she will fight you with all that she has - from a place of love.

Tell me though, Solarel, all this fighting - one has to wonder where it leads.

Solarel, what do you hope is your future?

And how can I get you to have a place for me in there?

[Rolling to figure out a person: 1 + 3 = 4 - Will ask one of the Chosen's questions in addition to the one from Solarel's last move]

Huntresses of Hybrasil

You say you love me? How can that be true?

You don't know me, you don't know anything about me.

You say you love me, yet you never saw me before now.

You say you love me, yet you hurt me.

Do you know what it's like, to feel what you did? The tearing, the brutality - the echo of having part of yourself carved out by a hundred tonnes of metal and fire? Isabelle's senses resonate within the facility. She feels the Kathresis as it tears through level after level - and with that warning, she's already watching as you soar up above her on wings of white flame. Her eyes snap to you even as you target lock activates. And her hand reaches out to you ...

In a practiced gesture.

It's instinct, it's reaction before thoughts. It's imagination, running scenarios through her mind again and again so that when, against all rationality, the scenario comes true, the pathways are well trodden. Cloud! At her command, the nanobots around her burst forth from the floors and walls, shredding metal and material - and the Enkindler disappears behind a shimmering veil right before your beam can strike home.

Hide! Defend! Protect!

The floors themselves reform and shift, throwing themselves in the way of your missiles.

Stop!

Do you see her now, Solarel? In the flittering glimpses you get between explosions and smoke? She's moving. She's dancing. She's coming to you. Weaving amongst the flames and the missiles that remain. Dodging them by hairs and breaths as she gets closer and closer.

Do you see her now? How she moves? It's not the same as the Trelesani did previously. It's not like any other creature you know. Terenian, Hybrasillan, Zaldarian - something is off about the way your opponent runs. Isabelle wouldn't be able to explain it either - she's just listing to her blood, which now sings in red and silver.

The facility begins bombarding you with transmissions - old geists broadcasting on whatever they can - new spamware from Terenius - some strange audiobook about a woman and her mecha - all these things and more begin to flood your receivers and sensors.

Do you hear her now? Do you hear her calls amidst all that white noise? Or are you so fixated on the fight, the thrust, the sword, that you have no mind to spare for the tinny voice buried in those transmissions - a plea to stop?

Tell me, Solarel, what do you see and hear?

And ... do you like it?

[Rolling to entice 6 + 2 - 2 = 6 - unfortunately, Isabelle's conditions make it a fail. Have at her Thanqol!]

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Ven!

Kalaya stirs at your touch, blinking owlishly at the person who has woken her up at - what time is it? It's dark out. For an aspiring knight, she is pretty hard to rouse. You would've thought she'd be ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

There's a flash of recognition, and Kalaya stiffens once she sees just who's standing over her. Her reaction is unexpected enough to make you frown in confusion. Is Kalaya not happy to see you? Is she scared of you? Maybe arriving in the dead of night was the wrong move. Maybe arriving at all was the wrong move. After all, your - is it okay to call you girlfriends? - anyway, she's a knight after all. And could well think of you as a threat.

You look closer at her eyes. They are frantically flicking between your face and the bedsheets. And she's turning redder.

Ohhhhhhhh.

Releasing your hand lets her give you a desperate shooing motion - so you and your companion shuffle outside.

Kalaya!

Pants pants pants pants PANTS. Where are your pants?

You have just enough time to scribble a short note to Petony - don't want the other knight worrying after all - before you silently slip out into the hallway to go on your date. So caught up you are in your girlfriend's presence that you don't even register the other person immediately.

Instead, you opt to list off the various potential locations the two of you can go! After all, that teahouse you passed by on the way into town looked really quaint, but depending on the time it might be better to grab breakfast at the dumpling bar near the cliff. It advertised early opening and you can sit there and watch the sunrise together! Or you could go for a walk back down the mountain to the stream you crossed yesterday. It's full of fish and looked great for a swim, or just to sit down with a book. By the way, she'd brought some of their old favourites out of her rucksack.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Emptiness ...

Loss ...

It hits suddenly and hard enough to make her stumble. Is this what it's like when you die? The shutting down, the disorientation, geists without a master, a body without direction. She feels the facility's reactors beating slower and slower, the turbines as they stop breathing and the lights going out.

Despite their brief interaction being rather hostile, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of sadness at the passing of Trelasani. All the history now gone, all the thoughts and experiences swept into the ether. It was a tragedy.

But it is also an opportunity.

Isabelle pauses on her walk - why had that voice sounded so much like her mother?

Think about it. The history, the technology. Nobody to care for it, protect it. It will be lost to time or fall into the wrong hands.

Whose hands are we talking about here?

Theives, pillagers, pirates. Those who would use it to kidnap and steal. Those who already kidnapped you. Why do you think they wanted to test you so badly? It was to prove that they can lay claim to it! But they didn't count on you walking off. And now you're the only person now who can stand between them and whatever lies in this installation.

Isabelle grits her teeth as she stares at her right hand, the nanobots have done a great job of repairing the damage - but she can still feel the pain from where they sliced her. That cold-ice creeping up her hand as they made their way into her body ...

What are you going to do, dear?

"Tate!" she snaps, hurrying towards the waiting mecha. "Tell me about this facility's protocols - what is your purpose now that Trelesani is dead? What is it that you need a guardian here to do?"

[Rolling to figure out Tate - 5 + 3 + 0: 8. How can I get you to acknowledge me as the facility's guardian? What do you hope to get from the presence of new races here?]

Question asked, she'd process the answer later. Right now, she presses her hand to the Mecha's side - willing it to open.

Enkindler.

Name given, she steps into her new body.

--====----

Eighty six point seven billion
Eighty five point six billion
Eighty four billion
Eighty billion
Two billion
Nine hundred million
Two point eight million
Forty eight thousand
Sixteen
Four
Two
and.

One.

Just one.

One woman. Floating in the void.

Now that was ... something.

Enkindler's CFD spins up, crackling with white lightning as joints long still start to move. Isabelle flexes her hands and both flesh and metal move in unison. A thought and the displays form in front of her eyes, showing her the hanger from a much greater height than before. She commands the nanites around her and they obey - extending down from her right arm, longer, longer, stronger, sharper. A single monofilament sword, its edge as sharp as physics allows.

Her eyes snap to where the pirates are and Isabelle stalks forward.

Tate, get me a visual if you're able to. I want to know what I'm walking into.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

ASSOCIATE: GESTURE - INTENT: MOVEMENT - ACTION: REMOVE NANITE WALL IN PATH

The ground is cold on Isabelle's feet as she walks through the facility. Those boots had been expensive, but more importantly they'd been comfortable. Do you know how hard it is to get a properly comfy pair of leather boots? Even with all their money and the most expensive brands, she'd never been able to find a pair that fit just right from the get-go. You'd always have this period of sore feet and blister bandages until they eventually moulded correctly.

She missed her boots.

ASSOCIATE: GESTURE - INTENT: PROTECTION - ACTION: REFORM NANITE STRUCTURE INTO BARRIER. MIN THICKNESS 20mm.

This was wasting time - she should rush to the mecha bay, shouldn't she? At least there, she'd be in something that would protect her. Something that would enable her to fight back. Something she could, if nothing else, potentially use to jump back to Akkar.

It wasn't Emberlight - but it'd do the job. So why wasn't she running for the exit - so to speak?

She missed Emberlight.

ASSOCIATE: GESTURE - INTENT: CONFUSE FOE - ACTION: CREATE CLOUD FROM AVAILABLE MATERIALS

This whole adventure wasn't really shaping up how she'd thought it would. Getting kidnapped was never part of the plan, but getting dragged out here, hurt, and then discarded without a thought - that upset her. In the stories, the heroine would be captured but all the action would revolve around her - her daring escape attempts - the trials her captors put upon her - the attempts of her friends and family to rescue her.

Would they get her message? Would they even be coming?

This wasn't a story. This was ... unfulfilling. Empty. Questions without answers. Echoes in the deep. Wasn't there meant to be some deeper meaning to all this? Some growth opportunity? Some purpose? She wished she knew more about what this Trak'tho civilisation had been about. Had more time to study it. Had more chances to interact with it.

Instead, here she was, wandering and wondering. An empty facility with a headache and nobody to talk to. Tate would probably help there - but she didn't know what questions to ask. It was the classic 'unknown unknown' problem.

Today sucked.

ASSOCIATE: GESTURE - INTENT: CONCEALMENT - ACTION: TURN OUT LIGHTS IN ROOM AND ACTIVATE SOUND DAMPENING.

C'mon girl. Get. it. together. Solarel might need your help.

Why would she even want it? It's not like we're that good at fighting anyway. Tournaments aside - have you ever fought in a battle, a real war? What could you even hope bring to the table? Might as well find a corner to curl up in and wait it out.

You're not even worth keeping as a prisoner. Those pirates didn't even care that you got away.

Solarel cared. At least a little bit. She called you 'cute'.

Is that all your worth is? A 'cute' from someone you don't even know?

Isabelle's hand tightens into a fist.

Look, what are your options? Stay here, keep playing with your new nanite friends and re-creating abilities from those fantasy stories you read, or actually go and do something? If you want to get out of here. If you want to help. If you want to be worth something; you have to at least try.

ASSOCIATE: GESTURE - INTENT: ATTACK - ACTION: TURN INDICATED SURFACE INTO MOLTEN METAL AND PROPEL IN DIRECTION INDICATED.

The wall in front of her melted away, revealing the elevator to the hangars. Isabelle stepped through, frowning.

She missed her stories, and today really sucked.

But she'd make a fight out of it - even if for no other reason than to spite a bunch of indifferent pirates and a heaping of cosmic bad luck.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

"I'm glad you're on board!" replies Kalaya, giving Petony a hug and not totally misinterpreting her comment. "I was worried you'd think it was a terrible plan."

Stepping up, and shouldering her equipment, she gives a small huff.

"Kinda wish we'd bumped into you before we'd walked all the way here" she says, directing the joke at Dima "But we want to help, so I guess our path is set! Back up the mountains!"

And so she sets off again, pulling Machi along behind her.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

The question on what her new "powers" could do was an interesting one. Could she get the nanites to do rapid construction and replication in the same manner that the spirit had when fighting Solarel?

She waves her hand at the floor, tracing a circle. Nothing happens, of course. This isn't magic, it's technology - the idea of incantations and gestures being the prompt for something to happen was laughable and silly and Isabelle should really stop reading those stupid books because they are full of brain-rotting ideas.

She gestures once more at the wall just to be sure.

Okay, well, in any case, a spare mecha - one that is combat ready - is a definite invitation. Or rather, it was a gigantic neon sign that lit up "your Way Out" in flashing bright orange lights. Okay, so maybe "combat" ready was a stretch, given it had no weapons, but when you're in a ten-meter tall suit of superdense alloys and metal and your main opponents are only carrying pistols, the need for a gun is pretty moot.

Tate? Can you please provide an outline of the rapid-construction and effect abilities that the nanites in this area have? Could they, for instance, make a hole in the floor down to the next level where the mecha bays are? Or create a barrier to protect me?

Second query: Will the nanites respond to any of my instructions, or is there a limit to what I can ask them to do?

Third query: What range can I ask them to make an effect? Is it possible to - for instance - fuse the landing gear of the pirate's shuttle to the tarmac?

Isabelle stares at her hand for a minute, inspecting the now-healed cut.

Fourth query: Can the nanites be made to respond to my gestures and other verbal cues?