[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The Barracks (Social/Prep Phase)

[Ragnarok97071]

Lena listens intently to her explanation, eyes slowly widening. That's...

 

That's interesting.

 

Not exactly an Incorruptus, and definitely easier, if nothing else. 

 

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That actually sounds a lot like

 

She pauses, staring down at the paper before continuing, scratching out the words.

 

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I have something that seems a little similar to that, though it took a little more than a little bit of something being taken out of me and put back in to make it, but still, I think I get the idea. What kind of monsters does your world have to need something like that?

 

[StormLord]

After grabbing her weapon and a few of the stray pieces of left over gold Spicy HG made her way back to the Courtyard to search for Mitsurugi.  A quick check revealed her absence so Spicy HG moved on to look in the Barracks, as luck would have it she caught Mitsurugi stepping out of a side room and making her way around a large gathering of people.

Spicy HG stepped to the side and waited to stop Mitsurugi with as much distance between them and the others as possible.

"Hey.  Mitsurugi, I just wanted to thank you for talking earlier...and give you something I think you could use more than I can."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out two tiny golden crystals, octahedrons with an opalescent sheen, each about the size of a fingernail.  Pure faith energy crystallized into a physical form.

She gave a bit of a half hearted smile, trying to brush of the shear suspiciousness of this.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki, Lena, Gozer & Dackly

 

Hiroki shook her head after reading through the note. "Just people." Monsters? The mech had definitely been helpful for fighting the monsters they'd encountered so far, but it was made to go toe-to-toe with other mechs, not the sorts of gribbly things - or soldiers - they had encountered thus far. There were the rogue science groups, she supposed; they probably used mechs, and if anyone ever did anything about them they'd have to be using mechs too. "Like I um, said, I was a tournament fighter before all, um, this."

 

Mitsurugi and Spicy

 

The goddess gave Spicy a somewhat questioning look. A gift, after the girl's apparent nervousness after so long? Perhaps she would have considered it with more suspicion, had her mind not been preoccupied with other things. Thoughts of gods and men, pity and pitilessness. "Thank you, Spicy HG." The name still felt awkward on her tongue, and it showed in her enunciation. "What is this?" It felt familiar, somehow. The crystals radiated the sort of aura that she associated with other gods. Her own was slightly different, tainted as it was after all this time, but not so much so as to be appreciably divergent from the norm.

[Ragnarok97071]

Lena frowns, fidgeting. She'd assumed that these weapons were created for something that required them originally, and became used in arena battles later as a result, but... designed specifically for these arena battles? how strange.

 

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I'm sorry, I misunderstood you, I think.

 

I assumed that these machines were made to fight something that required their strength, not just for the sake of gladiatorial combat. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I suppose my Incorruptus was developed to counter the weapons of our enemies, so I suppose that makes sense.

 

[StormLord]

"On my world we call it 'Sharicite', it's made be a Goddess or their Oracle by condensing the Share energy from the Goddess's followers."

She stopped for a second to let Mitsurugi process that and to think for herself before speaking again, this time a tad bit more hesitant, and offering up the crystals again.

"I want you to have it, because I think you will be able to do more good with it than I can."

Technically true, she couldn't do anything with them, and she sure wasn't going to let the other one have free reign with them.  Not after what she'd proven herself capable of in the past.

[Hal Henderics]

"So you know a lot about making mechs, huh?"

 

"I've got a mech of my own, actually.  But it's made out of a dumpster and a Racoon instead of magical stuff.  Well, it is made of magical stuff, but it's an Eldritch Racoon bound in ancient stone, rather than some kind of Favorlike substance."  Dackly comments, partially to herself.

 

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki, Lena, Gozer & Dackly

 

"It's, um, not just tournament matches, um, there are actual fights too. I, um, never really did that, though." An Incorruptus? From what she was saying, it sounded somewhat similar to a mech, with a rather more dramatic name. Incorruptus, unbroken. Or, if it was named by people speaking English, closer to "pure, lacking corruption." The latter was a strange way to refer to a fighting machine; it must be the former. "Um, a raccoon. . .? How does um, that work?"

[Ragnarok97071]

A... a raccoon?

 

Lena can't even really write to that, just sorta... staring at Dackly in confusion.

 

How... do you make something like that out of a raccoon?

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi

 

"Thank you," the goddess said, bowing her head politely as she took the proffered crystals.  "Share energy? It sounds remarkably similar to faith, would I be wrong in assuming they are of the same nature?" She couldn't say she'd heard of condensed faith, unless one counted an individual that was fortunate as she was and possessed a physical (in a loose sense) body of their own. And if it was made by condensing faith gathered by a goddess or her priests, that meant Spicy had to be one of those two. Perhaps that was the cause of her nervousness? Not all gods were fond of competition; an attitude Mitsurugi herself had always found somewhat silly. The Yaoyorozu no Kami were not the sorts that required exclusive faith, and so she found it rather unnecessary to demand such a thing.

[Hal Henderics]

"It's as simple as can be, you see, I was stealing a dumpster from behind a fast food restaurant, when I found a cute little critter rooting around in the garbage.  Since I wanted that garbage, and the critter was a twisted abberation against nature, I blasted it with petrify.  Gozer here is an Earth Elemental, he knows his way around rocks better than anyone alive."

"So he made the statue full of soul energy start... Letting that soul energy out!"

 

"Suddenly, I've got a bunch of paper and plastic from the garbage, and a Giant Steel shell, and a Power source!"

 

"Does that explain it?"

 

"If you don't believe me, the fountain in the courtyard is made of petrified skeletons that Gozer set to spew out soul juice too!"

 

[Stalkerkain]

"Funny, I don't ever recall being referred to as 'Saint' Jeanne d'Arc in life. Oh right, that's because you can't canonize someone who is alive. Especially not those who were called 'witch' and 'heretic'," she glared. She had decided she had just about enough with Bridgett. Talking with her was going no where, and Jeanne felt she would rather be anywhere else. "I don't need to be patronized, so take your empathy and burn it alongside the rest of you."

 

Jeanne d'Arc has left the Barracks

 

"Ah... and there she goes. I suppose it was only a matter of time," Soryn sighed. He turned to Bridgett with a more sympathizing look. "Try not to take it too personally. It will probably take her a while to adjust to her new surroundings. Hopefully she will warm up to people over time." he said with uncertainty.

[rustytengo]

"I...its okay I'm not good with people... I should of know better than to say things when I don't know anything about her." Bridgett said as she cast her eyes down to the floor looking sad.  "You Handled your self admirably My Lady." the monotone of Morning Arrow chimed for the first time in a while at Bridgett's words. Bridgett's face lite up a bit as she smiled at the return of her friend  "Oh....every things done now?" She asked. "Yes, reconfiguration complete...Limiters Bypassed.....and Gleipnir ready for use." Mornings Arrow chimed once more hesitating as it mentioned Limiters. "Also Greetings thank you for taking care of My Lady. It is appreciated." It chimed once more directed to the others in the room instead of Bridgett.

[Chevaleresse]

Fountain in the courtyard. . . ? She'd passed it on the way in, but hadn't really noticed it. Or much of anything, really, she was far more concerned with finding a quiet place to rest. Not that she'd been particularly successful in that regard (and she still wanted to just go and take a nap,) but she supposed this conversation wasn't the worst possible alternative. Her brow furrowed. A steel shell, paper, and plastic was all well and good, but unless it was some sort of high-grade polymer. . . "How, um, did you get it to hold together? Dumpster plastic, um, isn't usually very um, structurally sound."

[Hal Henderics]

"Petrification.  I bet you can imagine how useful a dumpster full of plastic, paper and garbage is when you can turn anything into stone for free."

 

"If you look at those crystal balistae outside, I made those out of river water by digging some trenches by a river for molds."

 

"I'm basically the best."  Dackly says with self-assured confidence.

[StormLord]

Spicy HG snapped herself back into focus to reply after a second or two of thought.

"It's umm, exactly that, Shares are really just a fancy way of measuring faith.  Generally in a percentage too, so like if half the population of an area was channeling their faith into a Goddess she would have fifty percent of the Shares of that area."

Of course, with four or more active at once any of the Goddesses getting even 30% of the Shares would've given her a notable advantage over the others.  Not that it really mattered anymore she guessed, she was here and either way something had been happening on the mainland.  Three new Goddesses out of nowhere allying with Plutia of all people and a rogue terrorist group actively antagonizing them.  Things would definitely be different by the time she got home again.

[Chevaleresse]

"I see." It felt strange to strictly quantify something like faith to her. Then again, that Moriya goddess had likely considered things in such ways. Mitsurugi glanced down at the crystals in her hand. Solid prayers, in essence. I need only reach out and accept them. . . The crystals melted away into nothingness. "You must allow me to repay this gift someday." She couldn't, now. She was honestly not sure how Kanako had split her faith with her partnered earth goddess, though she was certain she could work it out eventually given the will and desire; as it were, though, she was barely clinging to existence as it was. A pity all of the ones she had met were devoted to such distant gods, so demanding with exclusivity. "Is faith exclusive in your world, then?"

[StormLord]

Spicy HG gave a slight, if genuine, smile.

"Hey, what are friends for?  And I think you helped me a little more than you're giving yourself credit for."

She shifted a little awkwardly, she hadn't expected to *meet* another Goddess, much less be on decent speaking terms with her.

"Anyway, no not really.  Plenty of people choose to put their faith in multiple Goddesses, especially when there is some sort of threat that causes them to work together instead of squabbling in the Console wars, but that's just politics. It's just that there is only so much someone can do before they have to start giving up important things to worship any more, like sleep or food."
 

[Chevaleresse]

"That makes sense. Faith in my world is a simple matter, one that requires little time out of one's everyday life. Some are more devoted than others, of course, but most of the gods in my world demanded -" A slight, but noticeable stumble "- only small dedications." She shook her head slightly, more at herself than anything else. She really needed to stop that habit of her mind wandering when she was in conversation with others, it was quite rude. Besides, she had questions to ask of this Spicy HG. "Pardon my intrusiveness, but you still seem uncomfortable around me." She left the statement as an implied question, one that puzzled her. She sensed a similar aura from Spicy herself, it was unusual that one possessing such would be intimidated by a god.

[StormLord]

"I uhh..." She sort of sighed weakly and frowned, too late now.  After a second she began again slowly.  "So...The Goddesses of my world are made when a mortal girl deemed 'worthy' (by some likely arbitrary cosmic force) eats something called a CPU Memory.  Nobody knows when or where these Memory units appear and they always disappear shortly afterward so most of them are never even found.  The Memory lets her condense Shares into a usable energy, ties her lifeforce to the Shares, and lets her channel them activate a Hard Drive Divinity to transform into an avatar better equipped for most of her divine powers."

She paused for a second, considering something before pressing on.

"The thing is most HDD forms cause a minor personality shift, usually something to make the girl act more regal, or mature, more like the higher power she's using.  Sometimes though it causes more of a personality swing, one of the Goddesses for instance is normally ditsy and air-headed, but becomes sadistic and torturous when she transforms."
Spicy HG took a deep breath and looked up very seriously at Mitsurugi.

"I have one of these CPU Memories, but my HDD form makes me take on an entirely different personality, one that scares me almost as much as the people She tries to kill.  Remember I mentioned Goddesses fighting in something called the Console War?  Well the first Goddess I met tried to crush my skull against the concrete with a five ton hammer, before so much as saying 'Hello'."
She took a moment to adjust herself, having gotten a little worked up by the end there.  She continued much more softly and with a slight frown.

"I know I shouldn't have assumed you'd be anything like that, but fighting in a big group like this I can already feel some of my powers returning, making Her stronger, and I don't want to accidentally let Her have control.  I'm not sure if I'd be able to wrest it back before She dealt permanent damage to something or...someone."

[Chevaleresse]

Mortals becoming gods by some sort of higher force choosing them. . . An odd thought, worship following divinity instead of the other way around. This "HDD Form," though, seemed a bit less strange. There were gods that had multiple aspects that they could embody, and those not always being the same exact being was not unusual. It seemed she was having difficulty with one of her own aspects; it was an issue she'd never had to deal with, herself. Not to mention the ones with other divinities. "I see. I cannot fault you for the scars of experience, I suppose. I would offer help with your war aspect, but. . ." Nobody I could ask is alive for me to do so. ". . .such a thing was something I was never plagued with."

 

Hiroki, Dackly, and Lena

 

She had just turned them to stone? That was convenient. . . though the properties of stone weren't that useful for mech building anyway. Too heavy, too brittle. Mostly useful because it was cheap, but there was no real point to concerning oneself with material costs when it came to the kinds of battles she fought in. "Um, where is this um, mech?"

[rustytengo]

After what seemed like a long time of silence Bridgett figured that neither of the other two wanted to continue talking and since the person who had dragged her into the middle of the talk was gone. it was rather easy for her to excuse herself and leave the area.

 

 

Bridgett leaves the barracks 

[StormLord]

Spicy HG stood there sheepishly and nodded softly as Mitsurugi spoke.

"I'm sorry again.  I guess this is something we're going to have to figure out on our own.  Thank you for trying to understand though."

She straightened up and looked around, noticing the Barracks was almost empty at this point and people were probably gathering for the next fight.

"I think I've taken more than my fair share of your time at this point, I should let you be in peace until the next fight."

With that Spicy HG made her good byes and wandered off to some other part of the Castle.

[Hal Henderics]

"It's in the castle, and whoever made that barrier locked us out, and that kinda pisses me off.  If I had some parts, I could try to produce another mecha, but it would be a bit of a crapshoot."  Dackly says, scratching the back of her head.