((Collab between Duoya and Letter Bee))
Chaldea Base
Daniel wanted to meet with his new partner, Charlotte, before the singularity began. He already knew quite a bit about her from what information Chaldea was willing to release, but he wanted to sow the seeds of a good working relationship anyway. So he walked the corridors, hoping to find Charlotte at random - He knew she'd be setting something on fire, so she might probably be in the training rooms? Either way, Daniel had plenty of time to seek out his future partner - Hopefully they can have a decent chat first before resolving time problems!
Charlotte was indeed nearby, as the sounds of grunting and smell of burning wood indicated. Having left the door wide open, Charlotte was exercising in one of Chaldea's weight rooms and training her magecraft as well. Her breathing was somewhat strained, and it seemed she had been training hard for at least an hour. Maybe it was the stress of her new environment, or the difficulty in meeting the expectations of so many strangers. Whatever the case, the girl seemed noticeably more upbeat than she usually did, which was saying something given her personality.
Entering the room, Daniel waves and says, "Hello, sorry to interrupt, but mind if we talk? My name is Daniel Palailogos, and I'm your new partner!"
Speaking of partnerships, Daniel should also try and collect some of the alchemic potions he had been brewing in one of Chaldea's spare observation rooms. After all, he can only make them a few times per day.
However, making new friends was more important, especially as many of Daniel's existing friends disappeared after a few weeks. And yes, he had suspicions about that, especially with the homunculi and 'designer baby' children he had played with back in his youth. Despite that, Chaldea can still be reformed and still deserved his loyalty. The Church and the Magus' Association were worse.
So he waited for Charlotte to respond.
Chalotte seemed to jump into a defensive posture at the sound of Daniel's voice, similar to a cat that was tapped from behind. She immediately turned around, and lowered her barbell in order to more carefully appraise her visitor. Her eyes seemed to inspect Daniel similarly to a prisoner inspecting fresh inmates before she broke into a broad smile and introduced herself.
"Greetings, Daniel! It's nice to meet you! So far everyone here has been pretty okay, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt!"
She quickly paused her rather curt greeting with a bombastic pose, similar to what one would expect from a Saturday Morning Cartoon Hero. She continued her introductions undisturbed by the crude transition.
"I go by many names far and wide! Champion of all that burns, Burning Soul of Justice, Ultimate Warrior Supreme... However, seeing as we will be partners for the time being, I grant you the right to call me whatever you wish!"
She dropped the pose when she was done speaking, and went back to her weight, talking as she did so.
"Unless you want to stick to a first name basis, I'm cool with that too."
Daniel smiled, trying not to be infatuated as he was saving himself for other boys, "First name basis, then! And those are all cool titles!"
He looked around at the burning wreckage of the training room and said, "And you're strong, too! I'm already honored to be partnered beside someone like you."
Then, he looks from side to side, "So... Not to be Don Juan - I had to spend all my Command Spells to get him not to sleep with my parents and focus on Chaldea's other personnel instead - But want to talk about what types of boys or girls you like, or would you find that vulgar? If the latter, let's talk about favored fighting styles! I use plastic toy guns - Toy versions of Nonmages' weapons - to get people to underestimate me before I strike them with bursts of explosive liquid and various poisons..."
Charlotte finished her last set that required a barbell, and decided to shift to Magecraft training. It helped that Daniel had just started talking about their fighting styles, since she saw it as a chance to brag about her prowess.
"I don't really deal with those kind of things - it's pretty boring to be dating and doing that kind of stuff when you could be adventuring, or doing something super badass!"
A small ball of fire appeared from the bandages covering her arms as she spoke, lightly floating in the air in a wave-like motion.
"I'm always willing to share my secret to my countless victories, however! I burn things - as a matter of fact, you could say I'm the greatest in the world at burning things! I plan on asking Caster for pointers if he has any, but not..."
Charlotte paused, suddenly remembering that the person she was talking to actually said something before she began monologuing.
"Wait, you use guns? Even if you're not firing musket balls, how do you reload at a decent speed? I thought guns needed gunpowder!"
Daniel said, "They used to. However, a century or two ago, new chemical explosives were developed, starting with nitrocellulouse. Now, at present, actual guns can have cartridges of twelve bullets each planted into a stock, and once the safety is off, the firing mechanism can then ignite the explosive compound inside the bullet and fire it through the barrel - What we call the long pipe that makes up the part of the gun which faces the enemy's front - When the trigger is clicked. Note that those kinds of guns are restricted to people 18 and above in many countries, so again, I use the toy version."
He draws the Alchemic Blaster, a plastic gun which operated through pump action, and said, "Basically, in the mundane world, children play with toy guns which are filled with water, which they squirt at others through a pump-action mechanism that uses the pressure of the human finger on the trigger. My version uses the same thing, only the pumps are engraved with tiny runes or script which boost the force of the explosive compounds, poisons, or healing potions shot towards an enemy or in the last case, friend. That and instead of filling the gun directly with the compound, I use cartridges of my own which contain a compressed version of the compound in question."
Daniel then drew a small rectangular cartridge from his belt and loaded it into his 'toy' gun's stock, then pointed it at an already-wrecked target, "Each cartridge is good for three to six squirts."
Then he shot at the alread-wrecked piece of training equipment, the glob of liquid starfire hiting it, blowing it up, then causing the pieces which were left to keep burning until they were molten metal. Blinking, the boy said, "Okay... I did not mean to do that."
I hope I didn't show her up! he thought, before blurting out, "I know you can reach higher temeperatures, though. That and your Flame Magecraft is still superior in that you can prevent yourself from targeting civilians or turn the fire off if it unintentionally hits one. Actually, that must be the greatest challenge of the task we're going to undertake, saving people and not burning innocents who were just in the wrong place and time..."
As Daniel talked in the beginningm Charlotte adopted a blank starshe commonly had when something was far above her understanding. It wasn't until he actually used the weapon that Charlotte started to nod, releasing an excited and guttural laugh as the training dummy she had been assaulting blew up and melted. She rushed up and clapped the boy on his shoulder, shaking him lightly as she did so.
"That's what I call a demonstration, hell yeah! You're alright if you can pull stuff like that off, Braniac! You gotta show me more when we get out on the field, we could raise hell if we team up."
She paused slightly and raised her chin however, sporting a smug grin.
"Could be better though - you're right when you said I can get it even hotter, and my control is a bit better... I think? Never tested that part, huh..."
Charlotte shrugged and made her way to the door, leaving her weights lying on the ground and not bothering to clean them up.
"At the very least, good to know I didn't end up with a lame partner that didn't get how sick fire is, y'know? Anyways, I gotta hit the canteen for breakfast - see you around, chief."
Daniel waved and said, "Goodbye and thanks!"
