HereComesTheSnow

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz: Armory, Not As Early Morning

Thankfully, it didn't appear to be the case that my muttering to myself had put the lilac-haired and well-dressed girl off in any way. I supposed I should be thankful too, because if she was willing to go so far as to dress up all professionally to see greet her family, well...

It's presumptuous of me to insinuate it, but weirdos you ran into earlier in the morning tended to be great conversation points when catching up with people. Any high schooler or former high schooler, such as myself, can at least understand that principle. Yeah, even me, who was so socially distant you could say I was the local Martian, understood how that sort of thing could go down.

But that's all beside the point. It seemed I'd lucked out and ran into someone understanding, or at least not-immediately-judgmental.

"Just a bit."

I looked up to her for a moment— and it turned out I was right. That was one sizable axe she was casually toting around in here. The me of two years ago would have probably scoffed at the notion of seeing people pick big things up so effortlessly, but he was a bit of an idiot even compared to the me of right now.

I figured explaining what I was in the middle of couldn't hurt. It would only be polite.

"I'm trying to figure out how the drill mechanism in this guy here works— It's a hand-me-down, so I've never really taken it apart and taken a good hard with it before until about now. Just kept it clean and all that."

That was pretty much the long and short of my experience with the drillfists outside of punching things, yeah. Stick around, girl, you're witnessing something rare— Lucas Schwarz using his brain.

"If I'm lucky and it's simple enough for even a dim guy like me to work out, I'm thinking I'll integrate a drill bit into the replacement I'm cooking up right now. Which'll, now that I think about it, probably turn out a little like yours."

I looked between her youthful face and gnarly weapon, wondering if there wasn't some sort of god of dissonance that all small girls in this school prayed to, before continuing on with a question that would be pretty pertinent if I was to spend more time here and potentially grill her as the more experienced party when it came to implements of death upon sticks.

"Anyways, I'm Luke, and your name is..?"

I can't just call her "that girl with the purpley hair and the suit" forever.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz: Armory, Not As Early Morning

My head was pretty much abuzz with thought and speculation by the time I stepped through the armory doorway and into the single largest concentration of firepower I had witnessed since Dad had taken me to the Police Department's indoor range on Marksmanship testing day, or however they called it.

Well, that was overselling it a little, considering we didn't have firearms lining the walls or anything, but the campus kept the guns somewhere and it tended to like having them near the melee weaponry.

It made sense, given how often the two mixed together in the kinds of experimental nonsense you would consider best left to an anime aimed at eleven year-olds. After all, it was practically blasphemous for a Hunter or Huntress to have a weapon that didn't do something crazy.

Speaking of somethings: Has something gotten into me today?

Well, anyways, though it didn't look it, I intellectually knew it, and since I'm the type of person where space for things to be intellectually known is at a premium, I made sure it paid rent and reminded me about it.

"Morning." I said to the lilac-haired, twintailed girl across from me as I plopped down at one of the many empty workbenches. She was short, cute, and...

That was funny. I looked back up at her as I commanded my watch to shift roles from "timekeeper" to "hand protection" to "hand protection as designed by a tunneling enthousiast".

And familiar.

Had I seen this girl before?

I frowned to myself, but looked back down as I pried my hand out of the watch-turned-weapon and tried to shrug it off. It was impolite to stare, for one. For two, I had seen more cute girls than I could ever hope to count whilst roaming Beacon's halls, and while I had to admit that she was more familiar than "random blonde with drills drillier than the thing I'm disassembling #37", that could be because of any number of reasons.

We shared a class. Or a dorm wing. Or a habit of circumstantially being in the same place a lot. That'd even explain the distinct sense of recency that came with her being so familiar.

There was no way in hell she had relived being a Berserk fan with Jericho, Bianca, Gratia, Beryl, and I this weekend. That would be a ridiculous coincidence that even I, notorious dullard, would not buy for a second.

It was simply Deja Vu.

I'd just been in this place before.

HIGHER ON THE STREET,

AND I KNOW IT'S MY TIME TO GO~

As if on automatic, my palms come up to lightly smack focus back into my mind, using my own temples as conduits. It was a trick Tanner had taught me, the sort of which was a lot simpler than he actually explained it. What had he said? Something about minding your head when using your hands? I didn't remember, and I honestly didn't really care to. He was family and I loved him, but he was also the vaguest bastard I had ever met, in a list that included Jericho Piper before he judged me as worthy of mission info.

...I couldn't help but worry that this was coming from something deep-seeded (or seated? I'm not good with words) within the psyche.

Brain problems after, what, a week? Two? Man, I bet I still spoiled a wager back home.

...Well, it was a Hunting Academy I was in. We probably all needed some sort of help. Psychologically, not just with keeping up with on-level course curriculum like me. I'm a bit special in that regard. Yay~

I shoved those thoughts aside and got to work, fishing out allen wrenches and screwdrivers of various types from the meticulously organized shelves before turning them upon my own weapon with a singular purpose: take the whole thing apart. Wanton destruction, which undoubtedly would have happened had my mother not seen fit to teach me anything, wasn't the goal. Rather, I was doing a little deconstruction. It was very different and much more on-purpose than the former. One thing in particular I wanted to get a distinct understanding of before I moved forward with the Great Schwarz Re-armament Plan.

...

...

...

I put down the wrench and brought a hand to my chin, words flowing out of my mouth in unbidden, stream-of-consciousness thought.

"Huh. I'm planning things."

It was as if a lightbulb had gone off and shown me A Starry Night where before I had assumed there to be a baby picture.

"I should eat breakfast more often."

The part of me that was still the same old conscientious and self-aware Luke felt sorry for the poor girl on the other side of the room. I must have been making things horrendously embarrassing. I promise, lady, I'm not usually this weird.

Just the normal amount.

Shaking my head, I shut myself up and got back to work, carefully removing a layer of plate armor that rested above the mechanism I was looking for. If I wanted to go forward with this plan, I needed to make sure I understood a crucial aspect of what I had here that could make or break my choice in weaponry for later.

... Didn't that girl have something long and polearmy with her? If she stuck around, I'd have to ask her about her thoughts on what I was thinking of.

Now then, to put my head to good use for a change—

How exactly did this drill work?

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Nakajima Hoshi

"Hunnnh..." murmured the blonde young woman in a completely intellectual, ponderous manner. "Tendou?"

What troubles you, Hoshi?

Less of a trouble, and more of a quibble. She didn't really have a big pinch of a dilemma right now, just more along the lines of being presented with two choices. A yes or no question, depending on how she asked it of herself.

Alright, that's fine. What are you quibbling over? A restless mind and an active one are not one and the same, you know.

Well, do I wanna eat now and avoid shopping hungry, or do I wanna get shopping done now and avoid wasting time?

Eat.

Eat?

Just eat if it's bothering you this much, trust me. A purchase made on an empty stomach always risks being heavier than you expect it to be, you know.

Nahaha, could you perhaps be talking from experience, Tendou-san?

It's improper to snicker to yourself in public, Hoshi.

I could use a Snickers...

The fairy remained as composed as ever from within the secretive depths of her hiding spot, not even rolling an eye.

I recall there being a Saizeriya around here, no?

Ooh, Saize doesn't sound so bad! Thanks, Tendou~

Any time, child.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Crimmy@Suku

forgot i needed those you know how it goes

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Schwarzes and Such

"Have fun, then." I replied, letting her leave with little more than a smile and a short wave as I rose myself. While meeting up with family was indeed on my own agenda, I had one thing I wanted to at least get done beforehand. Something I didn't need to drag anyone else off into, too trivial and hopefully too quick.

Well, probably not as quick as it'd be for most other people.

Even so, it was early. Not even eight yet. I didn't even know if they'd arrived as of yet.

I had time... Probably.

"Better make it snappy."

Just a quick jaunt in and out of the Armory to take a look at one or two things, that was all I really needed to do for right now.

---

"Column A and Column B, as it were!" came the cheery response from the taller girl. "I assume it transforms out from that suitcase— Hey, Dawn-chan?" she called, craning her neck over her shoulder to check on her little sister.

And she was met with a smirk and the hand signal that could only mean "OK" or "money", as the smaller of the two had retrieved a pencil and notepad from somewhere within her voluminous sleeves. "Primed and ready for notation!"

"Awesome, sis!"

April threw her a back a thumbs-up in appreciation. They hadn't really delegated out the task yet, but it was common knowledge amongst the entirety of the surviving family tree that April's handwriting was bad in the same way that a dumpster fire could be called hot garbage. Dawn stepping up and logging the information meant that they would both be able to use it for their reports later.

Plus, it let April ask the questions and look at things up close!

"Basically, what we need to get an idea of is what it does and how it does it. Then we need to infer on our own how we could use them in situations outside the norm-- basically, what makes them unique as Hunting Weapons compared to normal stuff. You don't need to go wrecking the whole place, but a little demonstration won't hurt!"

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Hyoukyo-senpai is just so cool and reliable...

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I'm a bit surprised you're edging her closer to Baiken rather than further away.

Looks good, though.

@Crimmy

wait for me to finish eva i'll have plenty of problems for ya

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, Breakfast Club

"Yeah, that's true. Best case scenario is me having until the end of week before I need something again..."

I steepled my hands, a small part of me wishing for a pair of orange glasses and white gloves, and racked my brain.

Quite a few images flashed to mind. Even without my remedial education on hunting and weaponry, I would have always been able and likely willing to come up with at least five variants of weapons like this. They showed up in games all the time, and while I'm no historian or enthusiast by any means, I had already learned a thing or two about the potential options provided to me by the general category of "polearms".

Halberds.

Glaives.

According to some, Bardiches and other such greataxes.

Even a Naginata wasn't out of the question, but...

The thing was, a lot of my studying the types of Grimm under Tanner's careful tutelage had been done under the assumption that I would either be landing blows with blunt force or piercing straight through with the head of a drill. I wasn't so delusional as to believe I could get by without ever knowing where I would need to, say, cut or chop at something, but with the time I have until the next sortie being measurable in days...

I needed as smooth a transition as possible.

That narrowed it down a good bit.

"Something that offers sheer blunt trauma as well as enough puncturing power to penetrate thick skulls and tough armor... A weapon I won't need to switch targets all too much for, in other words."

I looked back up to her.

"That sounds like a Lucerne Hammer to me."

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Considering like half this thread is comprised of Symphogay fans you're in the clear

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Crimmy

Luke Schwarz, Breakfast Club

...

I've made a terrible mistake, haven't I?

That was what I had been thinking then. Of course, given that I had just engineered a situation in which an aura-eating berserker would be involved with combat in the slightest, it'd have been hard to come to any other real conclusion. She was already a hard enough taskmaster when it came to intellectual pursuits, but now that combat was in the mix...

I wasn't too optimistic that these would remain simple, casual rounds of drilling or advisory.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will and then some..."

More like rounds upon rounds of adversary.

"I guess I'll dig around for one, then..." I lamented, hoping to not too openly show fear in front of her. "I can certainly ask Bianca for help with using the pointy, spear-y end of it, so that's a place to start."

And here I had just gotten used to not treating her as a wild animal, too. Forget making progress, I felt like I had actually regressed here! I can't become a friend to someone who scares me half the time!

Honestly.

Demanding teachers was one thing. In fact, I was very much experienced with them. It was why I was fine with having her lecture me through integrations without as much as a flinch, for instance. But that same Gratia, being as demonstrably vicious as she was in a fight...

Would she be able to tone it back enough for me to learn?

"......."

This wasn't actually my first time asking this question, was it?

No, no it definitely wasn't. I asked the same thing at least once before. Six months ago, in fact.

I asked it about April, when I first realized I would have to train with and under her at the Summit of Fists. How did that turn out, again?

Well...

---

"Hey Dawn?"

"Hai?"

"Make sure you have your strings ready whenever we see nii-chan."

The youngest Schwarz cocked her pretty little head in a manner not dissimilar to an inquisitive dog.

"What for?"

"Feel like I need to punch him for some reason."

"Ah."

She straightened back up with a smile.

"Sure thing!"

"Thanks, sis."

---

"I'll be sure to mind my P's and Q's when that time comes, then."

I'm not gonna die. Maybe get beat up, but not die or even get sent to the hospital. I'm a champion at getting beaten up and coming back from it.

That was what I told myself once and was telling myself again, and it had been working so far to be fair.

So why would I worry about fighting an aura-eating berserker when I had my semblance and natural grit to back me up?

...

Wait a minute