[CW: Unfinished] Story Fragments

[Chevaleresse]

. . . "You know, we should probably find some physical weapons. It's not easy to recharge once we use up energy, and we know that we can defeat our enemies with conventional weapons. Plus, who knows? I haven't tried it, but I'm sure I could probably make a pretty kickass gun using magic and a regular one as a base."

"Yeah, but who's gonna give machine guns to teenagers? It's not like people just leave them laying around for anyone to take, and this is going to take more than some crappy shotguns and hunting rifles." The girl raised a good point. Heavily armed teenagers tended to send bad messages already, and given that they would be needing military-grade weapons to make a dent in their opponents, acquiring said hardware would definitely end up attracting the wrong kind of attention.

"Still," Takeshi replied. "I don't feel like dying because I pissed away all my energy defeating little baby monsters and crap. There's a military base close to town, I'm sure we could probably take something from there." Raising his hand, he cut off the protests that were already beginning to form. "It's the military, and we have magic. They can buy new ones, and we're not gonna get caught. It's illegal, yeah, which I don't like, but it's for the greater good."

"I can't really argue with that. We're kinda in a corner here," another boy added. "Might as well." . . .

. . .He came around the darkened corner, LMG slung across his shoulder and cradled in one arm while his sidearm was held with the other, fingers wrapped around the handle but importantly off the trigger. Time seemed to slow down for what happened next.

Immediately on the other side of the corner, a police officer with his firearm at the ready was waiting. Near-terror showed on the man's face; it was hard to tell his age or experience in the dark, but no amount of training prepared a normal human for the sorts of activity that had been going on this night. In his startlement, the officer fired his weapon once. Takeshi immediately threw himself sideways and began transforming as the world seemed to stretch out. The change seemed to creep down his arms and up his legs as the projectile seemed to lazily fly toward him. As soon as his hand was changed, he dropped the pistol and grabbed his blade, calling it out of what seemed to be thin air in a flash of green light, and brought it toward his attacker in a defensive reflex.

The whole action happened in less than a second, and the remains of the officer will not be described here, but Takeshi flashed back to his human form gasping in pain. The bullet had found his mark before his body had been magically toughened, and the damage was more than simple pain. A gasp rang out from an observer as Takeshi crumpled to the ground, vision going dark as each breath brought him excruciating pain. . .

. . . "You ever think we take ourselves too seriously?" Takeshi flashed white as he transformed back to normal midsentence, forcing the girl who had fixed him with a flat look to blink. "Yes, I'm saying this. Shocking, I know. But seriously, there are strong emotions other than rage and determination. Maybe if we stopped worrying so much and tried to enjoy ourselves we'd be able to harness more energy? Just saying."

"Yeah, but when's the last time someone changed the world by having fun?" She wasn't always fond of her role as the voice of reason, which was evident in her tone of voice and in her face, but someone had to do it. They were all supposed to be particularly emotional, after all. . .

If you want to leave commentary, feel free to do so. These are just basic ideas rattling around in my head that I wanted to get down, and I figured I would share them. This'll be updated haphazardly but it will be in this thread. Basically, I'll be both writing actual story and worldbuilding here, so please do offer suggestions and criticism.

[Chevaleresse]

Characters thus far:

Name: Takeshi

Gender: Male

Appearance, untransformed: Blonde hair a few inches past shoulder length, with the occasional curl. Somewhat lean facial structure, angular without being particularly harsh. Bleached blonde hair, with brown eyes. He possesses a fairly average, somewhat lean build, and is neither particularly athletic nor particularly out-of-shape. His features are fairly expressive, and emotions on his face are rarely difficult to perceive. Often dresses in fairly plain clothes, with a fondness for layers; he feels exposed without at least a jacket on. Usually spotted wearing well-worn jeans, with a combination of a solid white tee, sweatshirt, and jacket, with variances depending on the weather.

Appearance, transformed: Long, thick silver hair that defines part of his silhouette, with almost winglike layers, descending to just over his hips. Facial structure remains the same, but eyes turn an unusual (and recognizably unnatural) shade of teal. He gains several inches in height, and his build becomes far more athletic. Like everyone with a contract, his wardrobe varies based on his emotions when he transforms, but many elements remain fairly consistent. Black predominates, as all basic elements of the wardrobe are black with silver accents. He wears a long black cloak, occasionally with even longer tails. When exerting magical power, a bright teal color shows, trailing the relevant motions and any objects or attacks manipulated with this power.

Personality: Overemotional, like most people selected for contracts. Has good ideas, but rarely takes the time to quite think them through. Quite impulsive. Somewhat naive. Loyal, but not overly friendly. Can be harsh at times.

Weapons of choice: Normally a ridiculously long sword, with a light machine gun for less energy-intensive offense.

Name:

Gender:

Appearance, normal:

Appearance, transformed:

Personality:

Weapons of choice:

[Chevaleresse]

The world thus far.

Core concept: Essentially magical girls, but not restricted to only females. Find a balance between realism and fantasy.

How do people get their powers? not sure

1. Alien or otherwise otherworldly species

a. being charitable by allowing certain individuals to fight monsters

b. somehow benefiting from the creation of magical heroes

i. harvesting energy somehow, a la PMMM

ii. monsters prey on them as well as humans, they need the protection

1. species is native to Earth and simply hides?

2. species is nonnative, wants to stay here but is harassed/threatened

c. operate on blue/orange morality, their motivation is incomprehensible

d. trying to preserve/observe Earth for entertainment or scientific reasons, need enemies cleared away

2. Inducted by previous magical people (how did it start?)

possibly needs a contract of some variety

wishes granted, or powers considered the benefit of the contract?

How do powers actually work?

-powered by emotion

-stronger emotion allows more efficient usage of energy (same effort, more results), but simultaneously makes it harder to conserve it

-as a result, teenagers are almost always selected

-you have a more or less set amount of energy to harness in a given amount of time, this amount can grow with experience

-energy regenerates slowly over time, faster if one experiences strong emotion frequently, also regenerates with normal things like sleeping, eating

-attacking with low energy reserves is excruciatingly painful since it draws energy directly from your body

-transformation begins at the extremities and often results in visible physical change, as well as making the body drastically tougher than a regular, unarmored human

antagonists? idk

1. monsters

a. existing naturally in the world

b. generated by humans

a. happen because of excess emotion

i. caused by negative emotion (fear, despair, etc)

ii. caused by all emotion

iii. caused by both with a bias toward negative

b. happen because of lack of emotion - people stop caring, cut themselves off from emotion, etc

c. natural byproduct of human existence - ties with both of the above

c. generated by otherworldly race - unsure of how

d. b and c

1a. what kind of monsters

a. mythological: based on dragons, unicorns, basilisks, tarrasque, etc

b. mix-and-match critters

c. demonic

d. all of the above

e. something else