Current
V. II Snail is a bitch and he should burn in mech hell
14 days ago
I didn't know the enter key works on the status bar
29 days ago
I'm gonna pre-load the bath with salts.
1 mo ago
It's not really cold until it hits, like, 20 F. And even that's gentle. It hit -14 F once.
1 mo ago
Oooh, Burger.
1
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Bio
I'm a generally chill gremlin that can be kinda particular. I grew up with plenty of electronics and video games, mostly with games like Final Fantasy, Zelda, and StarCraft. I like to blend magic and technology in my writing, bringing fantasy into space and sci-fi.
The Tribunal, here, was quite the curiosity. Regan found herself going over it. There wasn't any damage to the structure, but she could see burn marks in places. Really, now, in the middle of a forest? The structure survived, at least, so things couldn't have gotten that bad, but still.
The birds had only just started to return, but something moved in the brush nearby. She didn't turn immediately, letting them choose to emerge first. When she heard the voice addressing her, she turned. Though, the question was certainly one she hadn't considered how to answer. "Aaah, what am I doing?" How to answer concisely. The whole story was obviously going to be too much, "well, I was going South when I heard a commotion come from... Best I can figure, it was coming from here. Must have been a fire or something, I can smell the burning." Her eyes followed the noise of something running off into the woods, but she ultimately payed it no mind.
But, wait. 'What am I doing here?' That question usually had a certain angle to it, usually the other party did have business. "How about yourselves? There is another with you, yes?" She looked just past Zhulie at the bush behind her. "You're a little young to be wandering around on your own, after all. Did your curiosity bring you here, as well? ... I'm not trespassing, am I? I didn't think there was anything out this way besides some old ruins, though this is older than the ones I'm used to seeing." She focused her eyes back on the young girl in front of her, looking her over. The woods weren't always a safe place, she shouldn't be out on her own. One way or another, Zhulie would be accompanied until she found herself somewhere Regan could recognize as safe.
Serenity is a slightly short young woman. Her hair is long and changes color frequently, sometimes natural colors, sometimes not. Her eyes are a vivid green. Her manner of dress varies, but it's usually something comfortable.
Race
Human
Gender
Female
Age
25
Personality
A very relaxed, leisurely person. She likes to live in a certain way, and she isn't about to let laws stop her. Then again, the law does protect one from certain things... Which is why she has a habit of arming herself.
Reputation
Serenity has risen from a junkyard junk flipper to a premiere ship architect, renowned on the black market for luxury craft that can hold their own, defensively. Smugglers and rich folks love her ships, but they aren't cheap, either. Not for rich people, anyway.
History
Born to a poor family in the city, Caroline Staphos had too much going on in her mind and too little resources to do with it. She was always trying to scrounge some money together to fund an experiment or a prototype. Eventually, she was recognized by a local company as some young talent, and she was able to save up some money. Eventually, after a few years, the relationship with her employer soured. She didn't feel they appreciated her enough, or payed her enough, and they wouldn't cough up the dough. So she left, and took her prototype with her, along with the plans. They didn't like that. She found herself on the run, age 16. One short adventure later and she'd lost the cops, but was kinda wanted in federal space, a bounty in her head from the rather large company she'd been working for. She called on her connections to make a few purchases and took a year or two trading under the alias Serenity, and after making enough money running bulk trade runs off sometimes dubious sketchitude, she set up shop by an old ship graveyard. She built herself a station and started work on recycling the graveyard, using drones and automated systems to cut and weld while she designed. She sold her ships to smugglers, mostly. It was easy, to her, to design a ship to suit their particular needs. Some hidden cargo space here, a bit of thick plating there, and that usually did the trick around these parts. As she went, she expanded, first building a commerce dock to offer traders a place to stop, rest, and repair. Even rearm, if you didn't mind the age of the missiles. Some opened shops on her station. As her reputation grew, she started Serene Designs, primarily a ship architectural company that would dabbled in whatever Serenity deemed suitable. As more money came in, she found herself with the resources to do much more with her little corner of space. She remodeled, buying parts instead of salvaging them, and found herself enjoying some of the more indulgent luxuries available to her from her particular location.
She's been attempting to maintain a neutrality between herself and her neighboring powers. The Federation on one side, and a small regency that has refused to yield power.
Gear
Serendipity Length: 3.7km Width: 2.1km Height: 1.0km Armaments: Medium-range Laser Lancers Flak Point Defense Long-Range Railgun Artillery Array Serene Designs Laser Defense System Serenity's station, serving as her home and business headquarters. It has a bustling commercial dock that she's worked hard to build up with luxury design. The construction and repair zones are almost always busy with something. The station itself is heavily armed with a great array of beam turrets and flak cannons. There's also a set of long-range railguns mounted at several points, intended to cover all angles. The station is largely automated, with drones constantly floating about, slaved up to the station AI that Serenity programmed and continuously works on. She's gone through several prototype brains before settling on her final design. The AI manages the station functions according to Serenity's wishes, and uses the blueprints that she makes to fill orders and keep the station running and updated.
Serene One The first ship she could fly around in that wouldn't get her arrested. A large cargo ship fitted with construction drones, just what she'd need to run salvage and repair for money and begin building her new home.
Armament: Flak Point Defense Broadside laser cannons
Serene Ocean Serenity's private frigate. Armed for offense as well as defense, it is kept at the cutting edge of Serenity's research. The design is sleek and elegant, white curves following down to graceful edges. The interior is luxurious, with wooden walkways down softly white hallways. A hologram system is installed to project a number of decorations, she usually has it set to "aquarium". Length: 427m Width: 249m Height: 164m Armament: Spinal-mount Railgun Flak Point-Defense Serene Designs Laser Defense System
Serene Designs Defensive Systems Serenity has developed a unique form of energy defense. Instead of breaking shielding over the ship to discharge energy, she has managed to design a system that shapes the shields. In conjunction with another system, similar to a shield system, energy is built up in the shield and then released without ever lowering shields or making a hole in them.
Armory Serenity puts most of her weapons on her defense drones, but she does maintain a small armory to arm herself in. She's got a personal shield pack, an energy pistol and a laser rifle.
Tool Kit Serenity usually carries a few essential tools with her. A little plasma box cutter, a multi tool, some custom tools of her own. Rechargeable battery arc welder… she feels naked without her tools.
Appearance: Regan has a lean chassis, with long brown heat sinks, looking like hair. The shutters in her eyes are brown, and her face is slender. She looks rather human, though her legs are somewhat bully, in support of her leg boosters.
Personality: A serious individual, Regan recognizes Crimson Nova as a very real threat to the city, herself, and those around her.
Biography: Regan had been a housekeeper for an old martial arts family before the outbreak. She was working when it happened, and was able to recognize signs of something wrong thanks to her previous survival of a maverick outbreak, where she lived last. Because of that, she was able to save her employers, even as the home was claimed by the haywire machines.
Weaponry/Abilities: An energy blaster pistol and the sword she used to escape from her old employer's house. She's got leg boosters, too
Misc: Learned some martial arts from her employer.
This was a wonderful walk through a rich forest and all, but something... Was missing. Regan was sorting through the information she'd gained from the interrogation in her head. It wasn't much, but she got a lead taking her south, to the coast. She was on her way there, when she noticed the forest was unusually quiet after the earlier ruckus. She looked around, done trying to squeeze more information out of what she'd heard earlier.
Then she heard something loud, like some kind of explosion, or like something smashed into something else. "Oh. That's different." She frowned softly, following the noise deeper into the forest. It continued for a while before it stopped. She hadn't found the source, but she remembered which way it was. She pressed onward, eventually finding an area where the leaves had been knocked off the trees, more littered the ground here then elsewhere, and they grew thicker this way. Eventually, following her direction from earlier and following the pattern of more fallen leaves led her to some kind of old ruin? Older than that old mall, that was for sure. She got a sense of power from the place, and she decided it might not be wise to intrude.
Yet, this definitely seemed to be where the ruckus from earlier was centered. No leaves had settled in the center of the area. It didn't seem like an altercation had taken place, she saw no corpse or any fresh destruction that would have been suggested by the earlier noises. She smelled burning... A fire? Probably best not to disturb whoever was within. That could be unnecessary trouble. With nothing more to investigate, the woman turned from the place and continued to wander into the woods, the gentle power of Green Earth trickling into the ground.
Sunbeam? She knew who it was without looking up, by the nickname and the voice. "Just barely, I think. You've got minutes left, Niel." Trinity had a pair of white, softly glowing tweezers in her hand, and a screwdriver in the other. She set the driver down and spun some bit by hand before sticking her hand in the sunlight from her skylight, channeling it through her body and changing the tweezers into a wrench with better grip on whatever she was holding.
"I had an appointment this afternoon, but I took care of it already. They were able to come in early at my request, and it was actually an easy solution. I was able to send them off with some instructions and one of my ready-made parts. If they need help, someone from the Electrician's Guild can probably help for less than I'd charge." She ran a few tests on repairs she'd done, sighed softly when it worked, and started closing the contraption. "I actually just finished the work I had left, too. Earlier than I thought I would." She sat the thing upright and turned it on and gave it a spin, giving it a test before she'd call it done. "Let me just give the client a call, and I'm all done."
She picked up the appliance and brought it over to the section of lockers beside the front door. There's other doors to the lockers on the outside of the shop, but you'd need the key to get in from there, and the key would not remove once used. She could remove the key from inside. She checked a sheet next to the lockers and popped the thing in, closing it back up and fastening the interior latch to prevent the door from being forced.
"I'm actually overdue for time off. It's been..." She leaned back as she crossed the shop to the phone, gazing at the work calendar, "a couple weeks, at least?" she glanced at Neil sheepishly.
The drawer opened and the phone was dialed, Trinity delivering the message of "work complete" and confirming the locker number with the client. She hung up and bounced over to the calendar, marking in the work until noontime and then scampering her way upstairs. "Lemme get my gear, hold on." She had to grab her bandolier and other support equipment. The vials and flares, that LED lantern from the Platinum age.
It didn't take her too long to come back down the stairs, pulling some hair that had gotten pinned under her bandolier out and flipping it casually over her shoulder. "I'm ready to get out of the shop. Let's go." She flipped the sign and let Niel out before locking up behind them. As they walked, she assembled a tandem bicycle with Solar Make. Well, she couldn't make the chain so well, but all the rigid parts were easy enough, and they did flex nicely, so roads weren't very rough. They could push their way along, and there were forward foot rests.
"I saw Damian and Penny drive past the shop today, have you met them? They're two of our S-classes, they've been away for... Pffff, two years?"
*She can't settle on a name. Most locals know it as simply The Workshop
Should she be feeling so stiff? Trinity stopped to stretch for the third time, taking a leisurely walk around her workshop as she did. As she did, she came up to her tracking calender, where she marked down what time she'd worked in a day by filling it in with a marker, leaving gaps to represent breaks and other time off. Mmm, that was no good. Most of the month was filled in so far. There was no way anyone from the guild was going to let her off with working today away, especially when Damian and Penny just came back. Some of them would even drag her away. She had to get her last appointment taken care of before that happened.
She grabbed the address book from the locked drawer by the landline and dialed the number for the client she was supposed to see that evening. A quick conversation later and the appointment was successfully moved to right now. Her stomach growled at her and she considered how long it would take for her client to arrive. She had a little bit of time, so she ran upstairs to get some food.
One fixed plate of french toast later, and Trinity came downstairs to eat and wait for her client. It didn't take them much longer to arrive, though Trinity was still eating, and watching some EarthTube videos on her handheld LLD. She shut the video off and grabbed her pad of paper, turning from the workbench and motioning the customer in.
The interview was rather short. She caught on to what their needs boiled down to, and she sent them off with a ready-made converter kit. It turned out they wanted to convert their home steam power to electric power. If they needed help with installation, they could give her a call, but it was likely she might be unavailable to work, soon. Just for a little bit.
She sent them off with a smile, and was left with a choice... Go to the guild now, or try and crank out that last bit of work before she got dragged away? Maybe she could even get some work in on her secret project, heh. She decided she would at least try and finish the repairs from the morning's first appointment. If the sun stayed strong, she could probably do it.
, cause I forgot about it Minstrel Local Speciality Requip, The Minstrel Trinity has access to the Minstrel National Reserve of Instruments, as well as her private collection. She could, at one point, pull an entire orchestra quite quickly, but now she can hardly manage one guitar over half a minute. She does sometimes slip other things into her private space, but putting anything besides an instrument in the national space is forbidden.
The swordswoman hadn't even drawn her sword for this opponent. A Forest Vulcan, the lecherous thing. "Didn't know you things went after older women. Well, let me," she leaned past a punch and whirled around, driving her elbow into its ribcage and sending a shockwave through its body, stunning it and maybe fracturing or breaking a few bones, "teach you a lesson! That was it. Now…" she grabbed the monster by its fur and hoisted it up, heaving back and lifting one foot before throwing her weight forward again, "get LOST!" With a shockwave behind it, she sent the monkey soaring through the air, into the next forest over. Regan clapped her hands together before turning and continuing her pleasant forest walk, all the way back to town. Nothing else decided to bother her.
While Brianna was walking in the park of nearby Magnolia, she was humming a beautiful tune, which was a part of her childhood. It had always been her favorite song that her mother sung to her before she went to bed, living at her estate. She had always made the effort for her to sing around the children at the park since they always liked her musical talent with songs. “I hope the kids really enjoy my new songie, I picked out for them.” She had a beautiful smile on her face, all the while trying to watch her step because the last thing she would need is to trip.
Master Hadou had herself a seat in the same park, watching the children play and laugh. It was something she considered to be a great privilege in life, to watch the future generations play and laugh without worry. It was something worth protecting. Hopefully, that Vulcan wouldn't bother anyone again for a while. Lecherous thing. She took a slow, pleased breath and let her head fall back as she relaxed in the sun. I'm the only lech allowed 'round these parts, hah.
A voice that pierced the veil of reality specifically spoke to the one who had that specific thought in the park. “That’s a very interesting thought you have, there, Ma’am, or would you like to be called Master? Oh yeah, my name is Tearsy, If you are wondering.” A Beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Master Hadou directly. Obviously, there was a sword on Brianna’s waist inside of a beautifully crafted sheath, glowing a bright bluish silver glow.
Regan's eyes opened sharply as the foreign thoughts entered her mind. She sat up, scanning the park. Master will do, for now... Who was probing her mind? Enough to know to call her Master. Her eyes landed briefly on the glowing sword, but moved on. She'd heard of sentient swords, but never encountered one. This is certainly a jarring introduction, if that's what you're after. Show yourself. A name isn't the most informative thing, Tearsy. She shouldn't cause a fuss without knowing for certain there was a threat. If it was, indeed, that glowing sword, it may have no other means of communication. Wouldn't she be the fool, then. Nevertheless, she guarded her thoughts, not wanting to give anything important away.
Going by the voice, it could also have been the young lady, the owner of the glowing sword. Telepathy was a tricky thing, though, and she had no guarantee the owner of the voice was even a woman… which brought her back to the sword. The thing was glowing, it was obviously at least magical. Calmly, she stood, and walked slowly toward the humming young lady, as though to get a better listen to her admittedly beautiful voice.
The same voice pierced the veil of reality, which spoke to Regan inside of her mind, kind of giggled slightly. Tearsy had always had a certain fondness for interrupting people’s thoughts only because Brianna is too easy to interrupt much of the time. “So it is, I suppose, but you did look directly at me, Master. I’m the glowing sword on the waist of my wielder. If anything, you are pretty smart in trying to guard your thoughts from me. But I gleaned much from that first thought in question. In terms, Tearsy is what I usually go by but my name is the Sky Tears Sword of the Lyffobelt Family, their only Sentient Sword, that goes based off of emotions compared to serenity of mind.” A Beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Master Hadou yet again. Kind of hard not to know of the one of the richest families in Fiore, which sells flowers to anyone who wants them.
Brianna was still humming, while walking towards the children to give them her beautiful singing voice. One thought at a time, was flowing through her head, but something interrupted that thought when she saw someone approach her. She stopped slightly and looked directly at the older woman who was approaching her. “Uhh, what are you doing? Why are you approaching me? Hmm… what was I doing again?” Obviously, Brianna looked a bit confused and was trying to think about what she was doing from before. However, she never really saw this woman before though and kind of wondered why she did approach her.
So it was the sword. It claimed to be, but she had little reason to doubt it. The… flower people? Have a sentient sword… huh. Keeping two conversations straight was going to be an exercise, as the young lady carrying the sword noticed her approach and turned to her.
A small laugh pierced the veil of reality, inside of Regan’s head, and the beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. “Lyffobelt Family is a wonderful family after all.”
"I heard your singing, and thought I'd like to hear it more clearly. It seemed to me like you were headed for a particular spot, so I wanted to move closer. It's not a bother, is it?" She was rather guarded, but maybe that was a good thing. Probably, yes. The sword had mentioned something earlier, first thought? First… ah! She had to keep herself from getting visibly flustered, keeping a calm face for the young lady in front of her. H-hey, now, I'm not like- Well, that thought wasn't entirely true, was it. Telepaths were so bothersome... I have morals and standards, unlike some. It was more of a joke than anything. You can read my mind to see the truth of that, at least. Regan strode slowly to the nearby fountain at the center of the square and found herself a seat. As she sat, a ball bounced toward her and almost passed as the kids chased it. She stopped it with her foot and kicked it back. "Please, I'd like to hear more, if you'd let me."
Brianna had thought some, while the woman talked, but had a smile on her face when she heard that this woman heard her singing. It made her remember what she was doing in the park in the first place. “Oh no, I almost forgot I was going to sing for the children, thank you for reminding me. And it’s not a bother.” At least, there’s some good news this woman helped her in being reminded about singing for the kids. She walked towards the fountain, which is where the children were awaiting for her. Brianna smiled happily, when the woman told her to please sing more. “Yes, I would love to sing for everyone who wants to hear it!” So much energy in her voice, it is like she always has energy to spare, a bit hyperactive. Brianna took a small bit of time, but she remembered what song she wanted to sing. She started to sing the wonderful song, which she was humming.
The sword on the waist glowed even brighter, around Brianna’s waist, which was primarily because of what Master Hadou thought next. “Trying to joke about you being a Lech, is a bit funny. It is better to be into what you like, rather than not. Or you are being a bit of a negative nancy so to speak.” The same voice spoke from the Sky Tears Sword, which couldn’t help but stop giggling at her.
Brianna had given her blessing, which left her to fend off this surprisingly forward sword. The young lady's voice was beautiful, as was the song she sang. Far be it for me to deny my appreciation of women. Regan laid down on her side, along the edge of the fountain, lounging a bit as she listened. She seemed happy just to sing for everyone, what a wonderful young lady, but… she'd forgotten what she was doing so quickly, just from that small interruption? She decided to cut the girl some slack. We've all walked into a room and forgotten what we entered it for. They’d only just met, after all.
A small giggle pierced the veil of reality, inside of Regan’s head. “Hehe, women appreciation day should be every day honestly, Master.” A Beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to her. Tearsy enjoys appreciating women including her own wielder, even though she somewhat dislikes how naive she is.
If anything, this woman and the sword were exactly the same, meaning into women by much. “If it had been a joke, you wouldn’t be trying to hold your form from blushing like a tomato.”
Anyone would get flustered after having their personal thoughts read. If you must know, I was making a comparison to the forest Vulcan I just threw into next week. Compared to that thing, I'm a saint. Jokes aren't always falsehoods. And here she was, explaining herself to a sword.
“Ha ha, ha… A Saint wouldn’t try to compare themselves to a lecherous creature as the Vulcans. Those things are quite disgusting creatures, thank god my wielder didn’t have to deal with one of those yet.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke in a slightly worried tone and emphasised yet. It would be a quite horrible thing in all honesty, Vulcans are the worst creatures ever.
Regan had to keep herself from chuckling aloud. I know I'm no saint. You aren't good with jokes, are you? Is that the sword part of you, always playing conversation straight? Heh, with any luck, that vulcan won't come back.
Tearsy gave a chuckle, “in terms, it's mostly because of the emotions of my wielders. Is why I am not really that good at joking. Vulcans not coming back would be a lovely thing.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan Hadou. As such, it has always not been good at joking, but it focuses on teasing over trying to get better jokes. “How do you like my wielder so far, Master?” Obviously, it was like the sentient sword was interrogating Master Hadou.
Brianna had always enjoyed singing for anyone who wanted to listen, her tempo of the song was perfect and she definitely had much energy. If anything, the song had a hint of a story but the one thing about Brianna, she doesn’t really understand the point of the story. It’s a bit lost on her understanding of what it means anyways. However, she completed the song and smiled happily at everyone, while she looked at the woman who was laying down at the fountain. “Thank you for listening to my song everyone! As well, my mother used to sing it to me when I was little. Hopefully everyone has a different interpretation to the song as I do not really understand the meaning behind it.” It’s a bit of an understatement since her mother didn’t really tell her the meaning behind the song.
It’s a little quick for that question, isn’t it? What, are you searching for a suitor for her? Hmph, you voyeur. I guess that's all you've got, though… A sword that was into women, would wonders never cease. Regan stood and clapped lightly, smiling as she approached the young lady at an easy pace.
It laughed slightly and it’s glow got much brighter because of what Master Hadou asked. “Perhaps. But it's mostly because of her naivety, trustfulness and wanting her to unlock what her parents didn’t allow her to experience. All because of failing a trial to wield the Callous Lightning Sword, a serenity of mind type trial. It is why she has that lightning-shaped scar on her left hand.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically told Master Hadou what’s going on with her wielder.
Her left hand? Ah, yes, so there is. This conversation with the sword had her distracted, she should have noticed earlier. I mean, she's cute, but young for me. As a true warrior should, she appreciates children, even singing for them. How long have you been doing things like this for, anyway? She wouldn't let herself be grilled by a sword.
The sword’s voice was a bit good at teasing people, but the master’s question next was great. “To be truthful, I’ve been doing this longer than 280 years, which is how long I’ve been in the Lyffobelt Family. Seven whole generations. But your thoughts are the closest to what I want my wielder to understand.” The Beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically explained how long its been in the family for. So you've been watching young women for that long, huh? You must be happy… or frustrated. You seem satisfied, though. “Yes, I’ve watched so many women grow up into beautiful adults caring for children. It is what I live for to watch many young women around a waterfall cleaning themselves… Even though technology has definitely made an impact on that.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. Shouldn't you look for someone more her age? I'd already been given my first sword by the time she was born. That part of her thoughts made Tearsy giggle and laugh a lot, which is somewhat true but her wielder is an adult. “Her age? Brianna is only 15 years younger than you. She is 20 years old, but a more experienced woman would be much better than trying to find someone who’s suitable to her in her age bracket.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Master Hadou. It realized that it said her wielder’s name to Master Hadou but it would be better to say it than leaving it for interpretation or so the older woman could guess. A slight nervous laughter came from the sword’s voice, as well, its bluish silver glow got slightly dimmer because of its realization of what it did.
Brianna? Hah! Almost 300 years and you still made that slip-up? Tsk tsk. Don’t worry, I’ll cover your ass. Aah, but you don’t have one... "Your voice is beautiful, darling. Ah… you do know you don't have to admit that you don't know the song's meaning?" She gave a soft chuckle, smiling warmly.
After all the times it tried not to say Brianna’s name, this is the first time it has ever messed up this badly. All because of Regan’s multiple thoughts within her head, which show a specific certain displicine to the martial prowess with swords. “Y-Yeah should’ve been more careful in saying that. Whoops.” A Beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan, with a definite sweat drop type feeling to what it meant.
Brianna smiled kindly when the woman that wanted to hear her sing gave her a compliment, which she gave out a small giggle and blushed because of it. “Thanks for the compliment, ma’am. Uhh, that’s what my mother always told me but I quite didn’t get it anyway. But our family is always truthful in what we don’t understand.” A bit strange to say, but it is one of the mottos of the Lyffobelt Family.
“Being honest doesn’t mean you have to admit everything. If someone asks, then sure, but… ah, well.” The sword had a similar vision of a personal paradise, it would seem. They were more similar than she might like to admit. Though, it may have also been the sword’s peculiar perspective combined with their similarity that bugged her, just a bit. Something about the aspect of watching them grow up and still being like that after them, probably. But it was a sword, so she couldn’t really judge.
“Umm, that is good...” Brianna was nice to know people all have their own type of advice to give to her. She tries to hold as much as she can. “My father supported me, I wish he was still alive… So he could give me more advice.” It always frustrated Brianna that he died but her father knew the risks of whatever mission he was on.
Oof, heavy. “What's your name? I'm Regan.”
“That is a really nice name, Regan.” Brianna giggled cutely at hearing a question about her name, not realizing that this woman is speaking to her sword. “Brianna Este Lyffobelt, is my name, I am the firstborn daughter to Neila and the Grand Lightning Swordsman, Zachery…”
"Wh-what? Thundering Zachery is no more?" She had to stop herself from asking more questions. It was doubtful that Brianna would wish to speak of it, it would surely only serve to put a damper on her mood. They could talk about it later, maybe, if the conversation steered that way. Or if Brianna seemed open to the discussion, but, again, doubtful.
Brianna tried to smile, but it was still slightly frustrating to her that her father died. “Yes, he’s gone… the mystery behind his… mission for the Council is rather mysterious. But he’s the type to never go into detail for it.” She tried to keep on a happy smile but the feelings of not having her father helping her along the way really didn’t help. However, her family had set traditions to keep themselves with their head held up high.
“I’m sorry, I… hadn’t heard.”
“It’s alright… I recently learned of it myself… Nelia, the Rose Swordmaster knew it before me.” She loved her mother but hearing her mother cry on the other end of the cellphone was heartbreaking.
Change the topic! “You know, I'd like to treat you to lunch for your performance."
“Oh, I would love to have lunch, I am a bit hungry.”
Regan held her arm for Brianna to take, before she’d lead the way to the markets. “What do you like to have at this time of day?”
Brianna giggled really cutely about the question Regan asked. She had to honestly think about that question for a bit since it has always been mixing up Lunch with Dinner sometimes. She put her arm around Regan's arm and was being led by her to the markets. “Hmm… Usually I would go for some BBQ Sausage Sloppy Joes with a healthy salad and a sweet tea.” Obviously, Brianna usually drinks sweet tea during lunch time, but during dinner she usually gets out the alcohol. “If it was dinner, I would get out one of my expensive wines or any alcoholic beverage really with a wonderfully good steak and all the sides with it.” She giggled slightly because it's always a hard task to not have Dinner and Lunch mixed up sometimes.
”Ah, we’ll find a nice barbeque place. I can’t promise they’ll have sloppy joes, but I’m sure they’ll have something else just as good. Like ribs. Mmm, ribs.” She had to defeat her old man to even leave? … She is a bit of an airhead, isn’t she. And interference can mean multiple things, you know. Just… let me do my thing, huh? Not that you seem to have much mind to stop me. Regan reached across with her free hand to clasp it over Brianna’s, squeezing gently to comfort her.
Brianna felt Regan’s free hand, clasp over hers and gently squeezing it. She giggled really cutely, since it does help her get over the feelings of loss. It’s really nice to be cared for by people. “Yeah, it would be nice to find one. Ooh, yeah Ribs also sound good too. Hehe, thank you for inviting me!” Brianna was extremely happy about all this, being taken to a Barbecue place is great. In terms of how happy she was, started humming a tune different from the song she sang. It was a tune about eating some wonderful food. She’s so full of energy that really enjoys many things. It was a bit funny but Brianna was jumping up for joy for being invited to lunch by Regan.
“Aah, you like ribs? Tell me, ribs or steak?” Regan watched Brianna jump up and down excitedly, at the mention of going out for lunch, as much of an adult as I am, huh? If you say so... It was a nice sight, at any rate. She likes to bounce, doesn’t she.
“Ha, ha, ha… Yes, she does but it would be much better...” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan, hinting at innuendo.
Creeper.
Brianna thought a bit hard about what Regan asked, specifically. “Umm, I would rather eat Ribs with you. I like really any type of meat product.” She had a slight bit of an amazement of her words, she was happy to eat lunch with someone else anyway.
The master chuckled softly, “as you should, if you want to fight with a sword. The protein is important for your muscles.” She took the opportunity to give Brianna’s bicep and tricep a squeeze, half sizing her up and half checking her out. “There are other foods that can provide it, but meat’s really the most straight-forward.”
Brianna couldn’t help but smile at when Master Hadou chuckled at what she had said. “Yeah, I know that better to get protein anyway.” She giggles slightly when Regan squeezes her bicep and tricep, because it slightly tickles. “Yeah, I agree I like straight-forwardness of meat.” Brianna didn’t have any idea why Regan squeezed her bicep and tricep. It still tickled nonetheless, which she was a bit ticklish in every which way. “Uhh, that tickles, Master.” Of everything, Brianna remembered something important. “Oh, yeah, Tearsy, are you there? Did you introduce yourself to Regan Hadou, the master of her own type of weapon style.” She looked down at her sword, which was glowing brighter than usual, odd to say the least.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality and gave a small sigh, spoke towards Brianna and Regan this time around. If anything, she was going to play dumb with Brianna since it wouldn’t be right to tell her wielder that they have been talking this entire time. “Sweet Brianna, finally being courteous. Tearsy is my name, don’t wear it out, now you hear, Master Hadou.”
Ah, better play along. She looked around when she heard the sword address her again, as though surprised, before her eyes landed on the glow from the sheathed weapon, “oh, your sword speaks? I’ve never met a sentient weapon before. The only trick mine does is that it doesn’t cut anyone. Ah, but you mentioned… Tearsy is integral to your sword style? Interesting… you don’t often find a sword style reliant on a particular sword.” Look who’s talking. “I suppose because the particular swords are few and far between. Aah, I hope I get an opportunity to see it in action.”
“Brianna, how about you tell a bit more about yourself to Regan, it would be lovely to hear you explain yourself.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Brianna and Regan. It was a bit of a constant balancing act to keep Brianna in her own peaceful world. In terms, she wasn’t interfering but since they were talking about Zachery, it would be better for Brianna to say something about that subject.
With what Tearsy brought up, it made Brianna a bit embarrassed kind of forgot about all that minus her full name. However, with what Regan brought up really interested her too. “That’s a nifty study, but I am into wine. It would be a nice idea to try that, hehe. Oh yeah, a little bit about myself… I like using swords, Tearsy is the reason why I won against Zachery, if it weren’t for its Shifting Sword Style, I would probably be unable to defeat him and still unaware of the world, stuck at home.” The Shifting Sword Style is one of the reasons why her mother is called the Rose Swordmaster. It didn’t really interrupt her train of thought since it was an interesting time to try anything. She was definitely much happier now than she was when she learned of her father’s demise.
She defeated Zachery? Really? Did he really not hold back, even against his daughter? Such policies tended to crumble when faced with that kind of a situation. A careful balancing of his own pride and his feelings for his daughter could result in him restricting himself from certain moves or techniques, or from using his fullest power but still fighting her with great strength. She never had to fight her mother just to leave, she inherited her sword and left normally, to see the world and grow stronger from challenges her mother could not present her.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality and giggled at what Regan’s next thought to the conversation was. “Yes, it was a part of the trial to see if she was ready for the world to join the guild she wanted to. Zachery is quite scary, when it comes to never holding back. Six hours of constant fighting a duel to end all duels basically. Brianna is definitely an airhead, He wanted to show how determined a foe would be to kill her, so he used his entire arsenal of skills against her, but she lived. From that duel of attrition. If anything, Brianna came a long way to impressing Zachery to defeat the undefeatable Grand Lightning Swordsman.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. It was a hyper dangerous duel, but thankfully Brianna won with all the training she had.
Brianna saw the look of surprise on Master’s face and giggled, everyone usually gets a bit surprised by a talking sentient sword. “Yes, Tearsy loves to speak to me telepathically. She’s a wonderful person, even though sometimes she teases me. Tearsy is definitely integral to the Shifting Sword Style, right now she’s in her base form! Which uses Wind Magic and her Telepathy Magic. But it's better to show than tell the rest, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to make a scene even though I do love her second form.” Brianna was going through the motions since she loves to talk about Tearsy, it’s like a constant for her. She giggled at the entire thing, when heard the Master say the next thing. “Yeah I would love to show Tearsy’s Shifting Sword Style off!” Her facial feature was so happy and completely engrossed in talking about Tearsy.
Teases you, huh? Yeah, I bet she does… you're ticklish, too, oh jeez. Tearsy was probably listening to her thoughts right now, too. Better be careful. “Her second form requires a good release of power or something? Does she keep the telepathy magic? If you want to show it off, we can go find something to practice on after lunch. Maybe see if there’s another Vulcan about. I don’t feel bad about beating those things to a pulp. I wonder if their meat’s any good…” Her old guild master would know. Hmph.
Brianna smiled happily, when Regan asked those questions about Tearsy’s Second form. “Yeah, it requires a lot of my magic power for Tearsy to shift her form from what it starts out to its second form. Her Telepathy Magic is apart of her core being, which means no matter what form she is in, she’ll always have her Telepathy Magic. It is one of the core tenets of the Sky Tears Sword as a whole, her shifting ability is quite beautiful. Uhh, I could try to practice on a Vulcan since it would be lovely to kick something’s ass with my Shifting Sword Style. Umm, I have no idea if Vulcan Meat is good to eat though...” Brianna was so happy in talking about Tearsy and getting so hyped for showing off is always so awesome.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality and giggled at Regan’s thoughts. As such, it was like the sword was awaiting for some thoughts from Regan to tease or something. “Yes, I definitely do tease, Brianna, a lot. She’s so cute when she gets tickled. I wonder what type of spots you are ticklish… he, he. Oh sorry, I might as well leave you again… since your thoughts are quite interesting.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. Of all times for the sword to interject would be Regan’s own thoughts. However, the sword did go back to silence, while it was resting within its beautiful sheath. “You know, I’ve heard that expensive wine and cheap wine don’t taste any different for the price,” it had been something she tried herself, though she had chosen more che I’m more for a strong beer, myself. Stouts are one of my favorite kinds. Ooh, or a good rum cream, if I just want to sip. If you like tea, have a long island. We can have a drink over lunch for the occasion.” Spend the afternoon into the evening with the young lady, and then take her… she’s traveling, so not taking her home. She’ll find out where Brianna was staying later. Shouldn’t stay with her, that’s too fast. She hadn’t exactly made her own arrangements for where to stay, though, but she wasn’t opposed to camping.
Brianna couldn’t really understand that expensive or inexpensive wine tasted the same, but Regan knows that difference. She has a smile on her face for now understanding there’s a difference by Regan’s knowledge on wines. “Oh… I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. I heard about some study or something, and I tried it out myself, too. I asked a barkeep to set me up with some expensive glasses and some cheap glasses… more cheap than expensive... I closed my eyes, tried ‘em out and tried to pick out the expensive ones. Couldn’t tell a difference. Then again, I’m not really into wine, so maybe you should try it out, too?” She looked at the lady on her arm. Something about such a pretty young thing on her arm made her happy, but she wouldn’t allow herself to get too wrapped up in that feeling.
“A Long Island Tea sounds like a really great thing to try. Hehe, yeah drink over lunch for the occasion!” She was excited. It has been awhile since she tried something new anyway. If anything, she had always seen A Long Island Tea on the menu at those types of shops but never knew it had alcohol in it. She cutely giggled at the whole thing, it's always nice to meet new people who knew more things than her.
“Heh, shall we extend our plans into the evening? We can do our tasting over dinner.”
“Yes, why not! Evening is a wonderful thing and dinner is also another wonderful thing.” She was all for the idea of having lunch and dinner with Regan.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality, yet again, with a slight giggle to it. “At least, my wielder isn’t underage for you, she’s as much an adult as you are, Master Hadou.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan Hadou with a much better understanding of what’s going on. As an adult, Brianna has much more choices than she did as a child living in the Lyffobelt Estate.
Seriously, though, could you not be such a creeper? “You know, If you’re looking for a mentor, I’ve only been wandering around as it suits me for the last year or two. My full name is Regan Hadou, current Master of the Hadou style of swordsmanship.”
“Sure, I would love to be mentored by you. You are such a nice lady. Hadou Style of Swordsmanship, what does that entail?” Hearing a new style of swordsmanship always interested her since she uses the Shifting Sword Style form of Sword Magic. Meaning, she had a cute look in her eyes and on her face.
“The Hadou Style teaches to subdue your opponent with minimal harm. Sometimes, that isn’t possible, it is true. Unfortunate, but true.” Breaking bones was the preferred method of victory, if harm must be done, and then debilitating attacks, like cutting tendons. Bones heal better.
Brianna had to figure out how to respond to the Hadou Style, which took her a bit while it was going through her head. “Uh, that’s definitely interesting it makes sense that you don’t want to cause harm. But luck of the draw usually will cause more harm if they don’t cooperate with you.” It was the best she could respond with since it sounds like a unique style compared to the ones she learned.
“Yeah, it is difficult, usually, to subdue an opponent without causing them some amount of harm.” It was why her style actually did not rely heavily on the sword. They could discuss it more over lunch. ”We also couple swordplay with magic. I can send shockwaves out through my sword or my fist, for example.”
“Swordplay is always fun with magic. Shockwave Magic is an interesting magic to use with swordplay.” She had a happy smile on her face because she so enjoys magic that works well with swords. Brianna couldn’t help be happy and giggles slightly at the same time. If anything, she’s grateful she met Master Hadou.
“I’ve been beating up vulcans and saving merchants as I travel, things like that.”
“Those monkeys always give me the creeps.”
“Yeah, they’re assholes, don’t ever get caught by one. Thankfully, they aren’t that tough.”
“I must thank you for taking my wielder under your wing, Master. If anything, you will help her, why would I interfere, when I am a part of her reason why she’s outside of her estate and living her life to her fullest now. As such, not many people have dueled the Grand Lightning Swordsman and succeeded in defeating him, with the reason he never holds back. My wielder defeated her father in single combat to even leave her home.” A beautiful young adult female’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. Hopefully, what she said peaked Regan’s interest since the Grand Lightning Swordsman, was one of the greatest of the Magic Council’s Enforcers.
Brianna shivers at what Regan Hadou said about those annoying monkeys. She didn’t really realize they could capture people like that. “Ehh, I don’t want to know what they do to people who they capture… that sounds so wrong. Better to not walk in the forest to hopefully not deal with those Vulcans.” It was something she didn’t want to think about.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality, yet again, with a bit more of a giggle more like a laugh. It was a bit of something that feels funny, because hearing that from people is like a common place outside of a massive estate that Brianna lived for most of her life. “Out of everything, you are the first person I’ve met that actually is serious about what you thought. It is nice after all. Some people are just focused on many other things over the little things, like confidence.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. The sword’s glow got a bit brighter, while glowing a bluish silver glow. “Yes, I see real growth in Brianna over what she was like as a little girl.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically responded to Regan, because it's true she has grown up beautifully. Mostly has her mother’s figure but as a 20 year old woman over, how old Nelia is.
Dishonesty in one’s own mind will only hinder one in combat.
The sword’s voice pierced the veil of reality and gave a small sigh of agreement in what Regan had said. “Definitely true, in that case. All the while, Zachery never had any of that within his head during that six straight hours of a duel. I should know, I was talking to Zachery while he was dueling Brianna.” Tearsy’s voice telepathically spoke to Regan. The sword had been speaking to Zachery the whole time? She might know something more, then. She’d have to have a good conversation with it. Between the telepathic interference and whatever this Shifting Style entailed, it must have been something to keep up with. If there was ever a lesson to show her the determination of an adversary, it would be his own death… The young lady had endurance to speak of, to fight against her father for so long. You wouldn’t guess such strength or vitality, to look at her. She must be quite fit. She still had her doubts of Zachery bringing his all against her. Maybe he used all his techniques, but did he really use them to their fullest? She just couldn’t see it happening, from the perspective of him as her father and from the perspective of her actually defeating him. Then again, maybe his age had been catching up with him. After all, if she had the truth of it, he had fallen in battle. Was his loss to her an omen, then? She should meditate on these thoughts later, now was not the time. There were other things at hand.
Regan Hadou Somewhere in the Fiore countryside
After that nice little mini vacation in Magnolia, it was time to get back to it. Regan had a whole guild to track down. She'd heard rumors from several merchants, of a local thuggery of dark mages. Not a guild presence, but she didn't really have enough information to say what it was, either. Just that they have appeared on the roads around this place. If they were staking out this area, they might be someone she was looking for.
The bounty hunter checked her handheld LLD (Liquid-Lacrima Display) map. "It's supposed to be around here. Cause it's that road, and that road, and..." She put it back in her pocket, figuring she'd just wander around a bit more and stumble on it. As she did, meandering through some local woods, she started to hear some kind of commotion. A hustle and bustle. Now curious, she wandered further in, carefully watching her step for traps.
She found a building that would seen abandoned, if it weren't for the number of people she could see coming and going. It wasn't crowded, but it was clearly occupied. She saw tarps and other coverings hung in the air to cover from being seen from above. There were shopping carts outside that the people were using, was this some kind of secret market? This couldn't literally be a black market, could it...? Well, she could probably find a lead here. Tidius needed to peddle his wares somewhere, this seemed perfect. There didn't seem to be a dress code, so she pulled out a hand basket and made her way inside.
At first glance, it seemed like a regular department store, but as she wandered further in, she noticed details. The way the shirts were decorated, for one thing. Depictions you'd never find in a regular store, like certain pubic figures getting murdered. Definitely black market. As she went further, she found an entrance to an underground area. There was a whole shopping mall, sitting abandoned. As she looked closer, there was a lot of steam infrastructure in the building, old and broken. An old steam mall that was abandoned because of the war, 30 years ago? Interesting, but not why she was here.
It was a magic shop she stopped in front of. She looked the shop over, noting the "no questions" and "don't touch" signs. That makes business difficult to conduct, doesn't it? Committing the instructions to memory, she entered the shop. Regan nodded to the shopkeep before looking over the wears he offered. Her eyes stopped on a Holder-Type Make magic. They were calling it "Energist Maker". Holder Make? That wasn't anything she'd ever heard of before. The device itself seemed to be just a rod of some sort. "Show me this one."
The shopkeep came around the back of the counter and plucked the very one Regan was eyeing, holding it in his hand and activating the magic. The rod extended with a glowing golden material, almost like hardened light, "10k."
"Oof. Hold on now, it's a Make. Mould it." The shopkeep obliged her, forming it into a disk and then pinching at it with his fingers. The substance bends and flexes to his touch. He then holds up a piece of paper and cuts through it with his newly-formed chakram. "Mmm, ok. 6k."
They haggle back and forth before landing on 7k, and Regan leaves with a new lead in her hand. It wasn't much to go on, but she could follow the trail of this piece of merchandise. She had a feeling she knew where it came from.
Before she could make it far, a group surrounded her. She tucked the holder magic artifact away, eyeballing the thugs that had come from the surrounding woods to corner her like this.
"Sorry, lady, you need to join our loyalty program before you shop here." One of the goons spoke.
"Oh? That's the first I've heard of it."
"Yeah, tell you what. We'll run a special, just for you." His tone was rather threatening. The group chuckled, flashing brass knuckles and brandishing bats.
"Oh yeah? What wonderful news, sign me up." Were these even mages? No matter. The first one charged her and met her blade swiftly. Pain flash through his body before he fell, his body in shock and not realizing it wasn't harmed. As quickly as it had come out, the blade was back in its sheath. "Was that the sign up procedure? I think we're done."
The leader hesitated before ordering his other two companions in to attack her. The first, she deflected his knuckles off her sword and countered with a cut across his guy. As she did, she kicked the third assailant and launched her with a shockwave into a tree, and then had to twist past a spike of ice coming her way from the leader. A mage! Regan charged him, sword in hand, chopped another icicle in half and ended the fight with a cut from his hip to his shoulder. They'd all wake up soon, but she needed information. She carried that young lady she kicked earlier off to somewhere she could tie her up and question her.
I'm a generally chill gremlin that can be kinda particular. I grew up with plenty of electronics and video games, mostly with games like Final Fantasy, Zelda, and StarCraft. I like to blend magic and technology in my writing, bringing fantasy into space and sci-fi.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm a generally chill gremlin that can be kinda particular. I grew up with plenty of electronics and video games, mostly with games like Final Fantasy, Zelda, and StarCraft. I like to blend magic and technology in my writing, bringing fantasy into space and sci-fi.</div>
op2024
Voltus_Ventus
Xaltwind
TokyoPewPew
datadogie
Horangi
Lemons
wintersoldier
Remram
Snowdrops
