STATUS:
Loved Xenoblade 3, and I just got done with Astral Chain my friend lent me. Monster Hunter Stories 2 is next, and so far I'm liking it!
2 yrs ago
Can I make a suggeston? Instead of having the reinforcement actively damage him, why not a simple debuff to counterbalance the simple buff he's giving to the object he's touching? IE, while his quirk is reinforcing something, he himself is much more vulnerable to damage; he'll bruise more severely when struck, he'll bleed more profusely if cut, and it makes him more sensitive to pain in general. You can even take this to further levels if reinforcing larger objects or prolonging the reinforcement past the usual time limit takes more effort on the part of his quirk; he'll start becoming more sensitive to light and sound, and even changes in air pressure. It could even affect his immune system. :)
This way, reinforcing things still provides a risk to himself, which forces him to be more careful with it and dissuades him from using it on one thing for too long, while also playing into the theme of his quirk. Thoughts?
Hearing her name, Gabriella stopped walking, pulled her eyes off the hospital building and looked forward, seeing Peter approach. He looked...good. That was a relief. She had been so focused on the others she'd never really gotten a look at what his injuries looked like the previous day, so she felt terrible when she found out he was also staying the night at the hospital. It would appear whatever injuries he had sustained were not debilitating in any way.
Her relief passed as she registered the question he'd asked her. She returned only a blank stare for a moment. She wasn't fully familiar with the phrase "pay your respects", but if she recalled correctly, wasn't that normally only used when someone had passed away? Why would Peter think that was a possibility?
She looked down at the armful of boquets, and her eyes widened in realization. "Ah! Yes. Umm...I suppose it is difficult to tell. Hah. Hah hah." Gabriella resumed walking and closed the distance to Peter, mildly embarrassed by how long it took her to answer him. "I am doing the first one. I have a boquet for you, too. Please come with me, so I can find a place to put these down and find the one for you." @LuckyBlackCat With Peter by her side, she felt a bit more confident as they entered the hospital once more. She received directions from a clerk manning the counter in the lobby and headed with Peter toward the rooms her classmates were staying in. Luckily, they were all side-by-side, easy to do in a hospital that was just for students and staff of USJ. Upon rounding the corner to the hallway the rooms were located down, Gabby was pleasantly surprised to find Freya up and about as well, standing outside one of the doors.
Knowing not one but two of her classmates were well enough to be walking around brought a smile to Gabby's face, and as she approached the cat-like girl, she felt inspiration well up inside her. She couldn't walk in being dour and worried, that would help nobody's emotional health. Her smile widened, showing off her sparkling whites. Or, at least, as much as could be seen through the small forest in her arms.
"Freya! It is I, Gabriella! Peter is here, too. May we come in?"
Gabby ignored Quinn's taunts. They were nothing new to her. She'd succeeded in preventing her from chasing Eira, so she felt good.
Gabby didn't try to get closer to Quinn because she could tell Quinn was smart and experienced due to the guess she took about her quirk and the fact that she kept her distance.
Gabby got surprised by the noise from Peter's phone, but kept her eyes on Quinn to avoid getting sneak attacked. Quinn didn't try.
Gabby recognized what it looked like when Hayes was talking to someone without being visible, and decided to capitalize on Quinn not looking at her. She used her tippy toes and gentle repulsions to quickly and quietly close the gap between them.
Quinn shook Hayes off just in time to get bear hugged by Gabby. But Gabby underestimated the flexibility of Quinn's tail and got injected with anesthetic by surprise and was not quick enough to repel her stinger. Her body got too weak to keep hold of Quinn, who was free to make her escape. The next day was Saturday. It was just before 11:00 AM. Gabriella had eschewed her normal second-day workout in favour of making a visit. Gabby looked somberly upon the building that was her destination - the USJ campus hospital building. Several, or rather, the majority of her classmates had been injured to varying degrees the day prior, many of them badly enough to require stays in the hospital to recover. Gabriella herself had not sustained much injury, though she was covered in adhesive bandages for all the cuts inflicted by the swarm of birds, and had gauze around her neck to keep the entry wound inflicted by the stinger clean of infection.
Gabby looked down at the bevy of boquets in her arms, each one with a get well soon card signed by her and her family - mother, father, two brothers, sister, two grandfathers and one grandmother. Truth be told, she didn't have any idea who to hand their boquet to first. They all seemed like they could use the well wishes. Would any of them want to talk with her while she was visiting? How long should she stay with each person?
These questions and more ran circles in her mind as she approached the entrance to the building...
Having remained in her position under the hole in the ceiling in case any of her classmates needed to make an escape, Gabby hadn't much else to do except keep track of the goings-on around her as best she could. Most obviously, Renard had been attacked by a deceptively powerful villain, who had forced him through a wall and outside. She would have followed had she not had other classmates who might need her more, such as Eira who had not made it to the roof with Freya and Sofia. Above her, Peter had helped open the hole up more - her spray with the fire extinguisher having not been quite as effective as she'd hoped. She lost track of what happened to Renard until a few moments later, he had pummeled the villain back inside the room and collapsed. Freya came to his side afterward, apparently having left the roof to try to assist him. She was blown away by an electric shock from Renard - she'd seen him exert some amount of control over his electric charge in the past, so that had to mean he was in a bad state.
Gabby looked around, considering if she should make a move. There were still three other villains other than the one Renard had seemed to successfully knock out, and only she and Eira still stood. She took a guess that the villains' attention would likely turn to them next, since both Renard and Freya did not appear able to put up a fight any longer. I should make Eira's safety my next priority, then, Gabby decided.
When she turned to move toward Eira, however, she noticed that one of the villains was already making her move on her, just as predicted. Gabby wouldn't be fast enough to make it in time. If only I had something to throw!
Gabby remembered the fire extinguisher. She hadn't thrown it away after she used it - it could hit someone on their side. She dropped it right next to her after landing where it would be safe. She now picked it up and with as much strength as she could muster without her Quirk - which was a lot - she hurled it in Eira's direction, aiming between her and the approaching villain. Even if she didn't hit, she could at least delay the villainess a bit. Which would give her time to get to Eira's side.
With that done, she got to running to Eira's side.
Her plan having succeeded and having successfully alerted her classmates to the plan, Gabriella had spent the last few moments in position to launch any students who came her way upward through the hole, certain that Peter would assist them in landing safely. However, none came her way. Some like Renard and Freya were occupied with running interference, preventing the villains from harming her or their classmates while Peter and herself had enacted their maneuver. Others, most notably Eira and Sofia, were not able to make it near her due to their injuries.
That delay was all the villains needed, it seemed, as a large fraction of the horde of birds that had been surrounding them changed course, instead heading up to the ceiling to block off the escape route they had created. Gabriella gritted her teeth in frustration and looked around. They wouldn't be able to last much longer if things kept going like this. She couldn't afford to simply stand in place and hope that one of the other students could handle clearing the birds, or protecting the injured.
Well, the role of protecting the injured seemed to have been filled, Gabby noted as she looked to where Eira and Sofia were laying, seeing both Renard and Freya come to their aid. It seemed like the other students were managing to either avoid becoming targets, or fending off their attackers handily on their own, too. That left only one thing for Gabby to do - make sure to have that hole cleared before Freya got Sophia and Eira under it.
And she had a good idea of how to do it. She pushed off her right foot with a small repulsion, giving her some extra distance on the first stride as she broke into a heavy-footed run, her bare feet slapping loudly on the tile floor with each step. She rushed to one specific spot - the place the fire extinguisher that Renard deflected with his chair had landed.
Gabby grabbed the extinguisher and came to a stop. Afterward, she looked up to the ceiling, and lined up her trajectory before leaping off the ground with her repulsion to give her the extra height her muscles alone could not. With the extinguisher in one hand, she then twisted her body in the air to give herself some rotation as she approached the flock of birds blocking the hole. Making sure to have eyes closed and breath held, she then pulled the lever to let free a stream of fire retardant while spinning in circles in order to spread the substance in a wide area. If it can be harmful to humans, it is more harmful to birds, I hope.
She'd descend from the resulting cloud of white fire retardant afterward, opening her eyes and taking a breath about halfway to the ground. Unless something attempted to get in her way, she'd be able to reassume her position under the hole a moment later. Due to the lightness of the carbon dioxide infused foam in the fire extinguisher, she wouldn't have to worry about the cloud falling down around her for at least a few good moments, during which she'd have time to get some students free.
@tobiax Of course we remember it. We just...think it's stupid, and that it doesn't really contribute to making the world that much more interesting. ^^; Or, those are my thoughts, at least. Plus, you just said exactly what I mean: it's a trend, and like any trend, there's going to be people who don't follow it. I really think making the color-based naming a hard rule works against the believability of it being a trend. I'm not even saying I'm one of the people who doesn't want to give my character a colour-based name, I've already got that covered. And OOC, It seems silly to be so strict toward such a small detail. Are you sure you won't budge on this, just a little?
@tobiax Might I throw my two cents in here? I personally don't think it should necessarily be a hard and fast "rule" as much as a suggestion. It's honestly kind of hard to believe that the entirety of living sapeint people - regardless of borders, cultures, and species - all share the same view on something to the point where every single person gives their child a name that evokes a colour. ^^; I personally think, for the enjoyment of as many players as possible, we should be able to take small liberties with canon material, rather than weigh ourselves down by it.
From the time Gabby got off the bus, she'd silently followed her classmates' every step, and shared many of their reactions to the various goings-on happening within the factory. From the first crash they all heard, to the lights going out, to the large, empty lobby, the panicked-looking worker who burst in, and the explosion that rocked the entire facility, Gabby only found herself getting more tense and on-edge as time went on. It all came to a head when a person burst out of a ventilation pipe above them. Gabby had been quick enough in her reflexes to catch a glimpse of the assailant, a mask-wearing, chainsaw-wielding young woman. However, Enterprise and Hayes both acted before even she could, and before Gabby knew it, the assailant was at the far end of the room and Enterprise had punched a hole through a wall and was outside. Well, they were pro heroes, not just school staff.
No, the thing that didn't make sense was why that wasn't the end of things. The chainsaw girl still stood, looking quite ready. No ordinary villain, then, no - this was a person able to equal a pro hero. And worse yet, more appeared. Gabby frantically took in as many details as she could lookng in both directions. No doubt they were all equally dangerous villains. They were surrounded. And there was one more outside, preventing Enterprise from returning to their side. And what were they? A single pro hero and a small group of first-year students.
We're outclassed.
Gabby's mind went to work. They villains, six in total, had blocked off all the exits. Even if they tried to leave through the technically unguarded front door, they'd be stopped. it would be convenient if there was an exit closer to them.
Gabby's planning was interrupted by the lights dimming once more as the auxilary power ended, leaving the room swaddled in the red blanket of the emergency lighting. At the same time, from the left corridor came a huge swarm of birds all at once, the malevolent maelstrom of mallards rushing into the room and swirling around them. Yet one more thing that would make having a closer-by exit convenient.
Gabby looked up. The factory looked like it had more than one floor from the outside, but it was clear from the inside that it was simply a complex of large rooms like this, meaning going upward would mean going out to the room. She didn't know for sure whether there was a floor below them, so it would be a safer bet to try upward first. The ceiling was quite high - the lobby as a whole was maybe half the size of a small grocery store, but the distance to the ceiling was full-size for sure.
I could leap up and make a hole myself...but then how many of us would be able to follow? No, it would be better if I had something I could throw...
Gabby turned to find Peter among the group of students, shielding her face from the pecking and scratching of the birds as they came in. Her bulk meant they were mostly just flesh wounds anyway. She held out her large, muscular arm in his direction, offering him her hand.
"Gabby thinks it is time to leave! Peter! Help me make exit!"
If Peter chose to aid Gabby in her plan and took her hand, she would close the distance between them, making sure not to bowl over her classmates, and place her hands on his hips. She would bend her knees and take a breath in, doing her best to ignore the scratching and pecking, and then, in one motion, hurl Peter upwards with all of her might, using her Repulsion to give him the extra "oomph" he would need to have enough velocity to pound through the metal ceiling. After that, the rest would be up to him and his quirk.
Assuming he successfully made a hole in the ceiling, Gabby would do her best to repel and falling shrapnel away from her classmates, then take a position in the middle of the group with her knees bent and her hands cupped in front of her, ready for someone to place their foot in her hands so she could hurl them upward.
"Gabby will toss you up! One at a time, let's go!"
Gabby's smile disappeared hearing Eira's retort, disappointed at having failed to convince her to not be so negative. She wasn't even wrong, per se - it was definitely not ideal to people to be getting hurt at every possible turn. Gabby just wished she looked at the bigger picture and see how her attitude wasn't helpful if things did go wrong.
Still, she hadn't snapped back at her or anything, which Gabby supposed was as good a result as she could expect from the oft grumpy young woman. It would be a waste of energy to debate her any further if she was intent on having a sour mood, so Gabby stayed silent and turned to face forward in her seat. The next moment, Mr. Hayes was standing in the aisle a few feet behind her, addressing Renard and Freya's complaints regarding the practice exercise. She couldn't resist the smirk that made its way to her face as juvenile thoughts played in her head: You got in trou-ble, you got in trou-ble.
With a sharp exhale she pushed that voice back to the rear of her mind where it belonged, allowing her to focus on Mr. Hayes words of encouragement. Set her own expectations, he said, and make sure to surpass them every day. Gabby nodded her head as a more adult smile stretched her lips. That was advice she could get behind, no questions asked. Though, she had a feeling not all of her classmates would feel the same way. Not because they weren't trying, no, but because she was sure they saw Mr. Hayes as harsh and distant. They might be paying attention less to his words and more to how he said them.
Not long after that, their principal, as well as the bus' driver boarded, and they were on their way. Enterprise, despite her corporate and, frankly, capitalistic-sounding hero name, was a beacon of warmth and enthusism. Sitting so close to the front of the bus, Gabby couldn't help but find her attitude infectious, especially considering how starkly it contrasted both Eira and Mr. Hayes. As Enterprise went into stories of her work as a professional hero, Gabby wore a wide grin. It was almost as good as watching lucha libre matches on tv with her grandpas! Gabriella only wished she could have done a little audience participation - every time Enterprise reached the high point of a story where the day was in the process of being saved, Gabby wanted to cheer, and each low point made her want to shout words of encouragement. She resisted those urges, both to avoid interrupting the story, and to avoid embarrassing herself. Upon reaching the factory, Enterprise split them into two groups. Gabby tilted her head in contemplation, realizing that the groups were split by arranging everyones's names in alphabetical order then splitting them down the middle. That meant one group had her, Peter, Renard, and Sophia all together, and the other group with, comparatively speaking, frailer-bodied heroes, which seemed imbalanced to her. Wait, why does that matter? This is not training anymore, is just a field trip. Gabby is so silly.
Shaking those thoughts out of her head, Gabby threaded her arms through the straps of her backpack and stood up, but was sure to let her classmates go ahead of her before stepping into the aisle and off of the bus.