trans_9 | Demonstration [Semi-Open]

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Demonstration [Semi-Open]

Ildraniath might be arrogant, but she wasn't vain. She didn't enjoy showing off merely for the sake of showing off. A display to intimidate or awe an opponent, yes, but simply for the sake of satisfying her own vanity? Never. Still, she looked forward to being able to flex her muscles, as it were. She needed to use her skills from time-to-time, after all. Especially because her attempts at discerning anything outside of a few minutes in the future were ending in failure.

Now that was disconcerting.

She hadn't summoned up anything just yet - no battlefields or target ranges here. Not yet. For now it was just the blank, emptiness of an unused sensorium. Ildraniath stood near the doorway, one armored finger slowly brushing over the helmet she had tucked under one arm. This ought to be interesting. One way or another.

_{[[Semi-open! Mostly for Nanoha, but feel free to drop by and bug Ildy.]]}

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Arhu had decided to take a look at the Sensoriums when he'd noticed that one of them was in use. Figuring that taking a look at what others conjured up would be more productive than, say, re-creating New York from memory, he decided to check this person's results.

He was, to put it mildly, rather disappointed. The queen - he couldn't tell if she was an ehhif or not beneath all that armor - hadn't even summoned up anything, much less anything interesting. Feeling rather put-out, Arhu wandered toward her with a cat's blatant unconcern for invasion of privacy.

"How does this work, anyway?" He used the Speech when he spoke, the language that all things understand, rather than the usual sub-vocalizations and body language of Ailurian.

Ildraniath arched on elegantly sculpted brow, feeling a mix of amusement and confusion. This looked like one of the creatures the mon-keigh occasionally kept as pets. And yet, it spoke to her. Then again, almost anything was possible on this ship, it seemed. She glanced down at him as she considered her reply.

"The Sensorium? Or do you mean me?"

"The Sensorium. I imagine you're pretty standard," he said, waving his tail through the air dismissively. "I expect this is something like a mass-spectrum solid-light substrate, but it'll be interesting to see how exactly it's affected by conscious and subconscious control."

Technobabble from a talking cat. This ship has everything.

"From what I understand, it plucks images from our heads and makes them solid and very life-like."

She paused and then added grudgingly, "Better then our own holofields, I must admit. I'm not entirely sure how they do it."

"I wanna examine the spell structure," Arhu muttered, studying the room with eyes half-closed, peeking at the underlying tangle of hyperstrings. Everything seemed to be fairly neutral right now, but that was a relative thing on Stacy, where the Bleed warped how the hyperstrings hung and moved.

"I've seen some spells that could project things fairly well, and a couple that make solids too, but nothing that can operate independantly.

"It might not even be the sort of 'spells' you're used to, you realize," she commented, letting her gaze linger on the small, furry creature. How very strange indeed.

"It's more likely to be some sort of warp manipulation than anything else."

Because obviously her way was best.

"The structure of the universe is the structure of the universe." The feline wizard waved his tail in that same dismissive little gesture, but his eyes were bright with fascination and pleasure. "The way that structure is altered and warped...that's the interesting part."

Just the person Zouichi was looking for. "Hello, Farseer," he said, bowing slightly in greeting. "The mission finished a little earlier than I thought, so it looks like I'll be able to attend the Council meeting, after all. I hope you didn't make those arrangements to record it already."

He raised an eyebrow at the empty Sensorium; he'd leave if he was interrupting, but he was curious about what Ildraniath would choose to summon up, left to her own devices.

Ah, Zouichi. Ildraniath dipped her head in a small nod of acknowledgement as he bowed. "Welcome back. I see you're none the worse for having engaged the Ohm face-to-face. So to speak."

She lifted a hand and waved it dismissively, "And think nothing of it. I was planning on using my omnicomm, in any case."

He smiled a little. "Sorry to disappoint you. Some of the others were injured, but everyone made it back more or less in one piece. Those that were a little less lucky should be resting in Medical by now."

Zouichi motioned to the empty Sensorium. "Up to anything in particular?"

"Well, at least there weren't any deaths."

Which was almost unheard of back home. She glanced at the Sensorium.

"Nothing in particular. Waiting for a representative of the magic department to arrive so I can demonstrate my abilities."

"Ah, that's right. Shall I stick around to help with the demonstration, then?"

He did, after all, want to understand more about how her powers worked.

"If you'd like. I've no objection."

Well, that was certainly helpful of him. She was beginning to think he was the only person on the ship who she could speak to.

Zouichi nodded. "So, what do I do? Since this is your show."

He was a helpful person! But Ildraniath could always go talk to Cargn.

"When the time comes, I imagine I'll send you up against a group of enemies. And I will guide you. Otherwise, it will most likely be a simple display of power," Ildraniath shrugged. This shouldn't be too complicated.

Nanoha hadn't been quite sure what to expect from the Farseer in person. After all, they'd only spoken over the networks, and the Eldar had hardly been polite - it had taken all of Nanoha's ample patience to speak with her calmly. But perhaps it would be different in person; perhaps it would be easier to understand each other like this.

And if nothing else, she was very excited to see a new type of magic. So she flew through the corridors towards the Sensoriums, the porthole dilating open as she neared it.

...Nanoha wasn't sure what she'd expected Ildranaith to have created in the Sensoriums, but it certainly hadn't been "nothing." Well, that was odd.

Ildraniath dipped her head in a cool nod as Nanoha entered. She looked young. Depressingly young, even by mon-keigh standards. That wasn't a good sign. Still, she was supposed to work with them. Forever how long she had to.

After her people were safe, the rest of them could rot.

"Nanoha, I take it? I am Farseer Ildraniath."

She gestured at Zouichi, "Zouichi will be assisting me for some of my less... flashy... abilities. Where would you like to begin?"

Zouichi had only met a few members of the Magical Department; Nanoha looked young, but so had Signum. Appearances could be deceiving.

He inclined his head towards Nanoha, smiling a little. "Pleased to meet you. I hope you don't mind me helping out."

The TSAB had been employing her when she'd been nine years old. Age was kind of weird where she came from. So, Nanoha smiled at the slender woman, who looked humanish but was obviously not so. "Yes, that's correct! I'm Nanoha Takamachi. It's a pleasure to meet you, Farseer," she gave a polite half-bow. "And you too, Zouichi," she said to the young-looking man. "I don't mind in the least!"

"You can begin wherever you'd like - it's up to you, after all." She paused for a moment, a hand coming to the strange red jewel she wore around her neck. "Just a moment, please!"

And then, the jewel spoke in a synthetic female voice: "Barrier."

The world around them suddenly went slightly off-colored, as if the whole thing had instantly become muted - but Nanoha smiled as though nothing was wrong. "There," she said with a nod. "That should be all the precautions we need."

Edited 2011-05-09 01:53 (UTC)

"Very well. One moment."

As much as she didn't like the idea of this ship crawlign around inside of her skull, she didn't have much choice. Besides, it was very subtle about it, for the most part. She didn't even feel it. She simply remembered a battlefield from a long time ago. A wind-swept, barren place, cold and forbidding. For some reason, both sides had chosen this place to make a stand - and dark figures came bounding over rocks, wearing armor eerily similar to Ildraniath's, but much moe angular, sharper edges and an altogether far more sinister look, with wicked blades and shuriken catapults in their hands.

Ildraniath regarded the phantoms coldly and then slid her helmet on. "Zouichi, feel free to engage."

The runes that twirled around her began to move faster and she reached out to pluck one from the air, mind stretching out, seeking Zouichi's. She would guide him through this little encounter. As good as he was, she doubted he could normally take on quite this many opponents.

There were many of them, but Zouichi was used to being vastly outnumbered. And, of course, this was a simulation. He unholstered the pistol at his side in a single, smooth motion, confirming enemy positions with a quick glance.

Ordinarily, he might rely on his targeting mechanisms to double-check his aim, but that would have defeated the point of the demonstration. He opened himself up to Ildraniath's guidance instead -- one shot per target, no hesitation. As he worked, phantom after phantom suddenly found parts of themselves suddenly, jarringly missing as the gravity shells fired from Zouichi's sidearm did their work, punching out neat holes in each opponent about a foot or two each in diameter.

As it turned out, most humanoids didn't function very well without vital body parts. Like torsos.

The two of them might have noticed a soft pink light from behind them as Nanoha morphed into her Barrier Jacket, glowing wings sparking to life on her heels to bring her into the air, where she could better observe the trial.

She couldn't help a frown. Though she preferred to use nonlethal magic, she accepted that not everyone was like her, and that she shouldn't force the issue... but still, it was never easy to watch this sort of dispassionate carnage, so elegantly coordinated as it was.

Ildraniath noticed, but didn't let it affect her judgement or her concentration. Another rune, another slight tweak as she guided Zouichi through the battle. Step just so, aim there, squeeze. Fall back at just the right moment. She never actually touched a single one of her opponents - in this particular fight, Zouichi was her weapon, as callous as it might sound. She guided him, showed him just where and when to fire, to duck, to weave. She wasn't always perfect of course - the future was always in flux - but she was on. Most of the time.

What an unusual ability. What else did Nanoha have up her sleeve?

Zouichi felt he was getting the hang of the exercise, of taking Ildraniath's instruction -- enough so that an experiment occurred to him. He closed his eyes, relying instead on her guidance to tell him where to stand, where to aim... and where his next opponent would be.

He hoped she didn't mind.

Oh, now she understood. She'd been puzzled at first, since Ildraniath hadn't been actually attacking, but now she felt little stirrings of energy connecting the two - and that explained Zouichi's preternatural accuracy and reaction time. The two were working together; or perhaps she was controlling him like a puppet?

The second was a rather disturbing thought.

Although, in theory, she could control someone just like that, she'd never actually attempted it in her life. No; this was merely guidance. And as Zouichi allowed her to guide him, she told him where to point and when to fire. She continued to pluck runes from the air as they circled her and just as quickly released them back into the pattern, moving faster and faster as they began to run out of opponents.

Even if he couldn't see them, Zouichi could sense that they'd whittled the attackers down to a handful. As the last of his opponents rent the space between them with a wickedly curved blade, he brought up his sidearm, parrying the blow with the barrel of the pistol before dispatching the creature with one last shot.

That done, he opened his eyes once more, surveying the damage. Not bad. He'd thought perhaps the Farseer's would feel like being manipulated, like having someone else pull his strings. The actual sensation was... different, somehow, difficult to describe. But if she were as efficient on an actual battlefield as she was here, he wouldn't mind repeating the experience.

Their pairing was tremendously efficient, if a bit grisly. Still, Nanoha didn't say anything from her vantage point above the battlefield, in case this had just been the first part and the duo were going to move into another exercise. It was still training for them, after all, and she was loathe to interrupt.

After a moment, Ildraniath dropped her hands back to her sides and turned to peer at Nanoha. "That's all I needed Zouichi's assistance for. The next few demonstrations are going to be a bit... flashier."

She turned and nodded at Zouichi, "Thank you for your assistance."

_{[[OOC: And Z's player has absconded to bed. I think it'll be alright if we move along.]]}

"Yes, thank you," Nanoha echoed. "I'm sure you've been very helpful!" She smiled at the young man, hiding any of her discomfort beneath that pleasant expression.

And then she looked back at Ildraniath. "So what else did you have in mind?"

"I can shwo you some of my offensive abilities, if you like," she replied matter-of-factly. "My abilities as a seer are... clouded at the moment, I'm afraid. Something to do with the ship, I believe."

"That isn't just you," Nanoha assured the Eldar. "Some people... their powers just doesn't work here, especially not when we're in the Bleed."

"But if you'd like to demonstrate those, please go ahead! The Barrier will ensure that Stacy and the others don't suffer any collateral damage, so please don't hold back."

"Very well."

She took a few steps away and summoned up another wave of faceless attackers. She allowed to get close - very close - and then a rippling shockwave of energy and pressure rolled out from her, sending them flying like nine-pins. As one picked itself up for a charge, she extended her hand. There was a smell of ozone, a crackling of energy and warp-lightning danced from her fingertips. The smell of charred flesh filled the air as the energy found its way through armor and skin.

Her target collapsed.

It was strange, to fight beings that did not truly have minds, but still did in a sense. An illusion of the mind and the warp. Very sophisticated. She allowed another wave to come at her and this time, a roiling, crackling storm of warp energy surrounded her, bolts of warp lighting jumping between her and the ground and her targets. This was much more destructive, leaving sections of the (simulated) ground charred and blackened. Her next attacker was a single target.

He simply dropped dead in his tracks, trickles of blood and ichor running from his ears. She finally paused, taking a deep breath. It did take something out of her, to do this nonstop - but she had trained for it.

"That... is the gist of it, I believe. I can fling heavier objects than people, of course, but that takes more effort."

Nanoha dipped lower in the air to get a better look - and while she didn't quite cringe at the dispassionate, grisly way the Eldar dispatched of the foe, she couldn't quite hide the distasteful look on her face at the smell of roasted skin. They weren't real, of course, but to see something simulated die with blood streaming down its face never sat well with her.

Once Ildraniath was done, however, the wings on her heels lowered her down to only a few feet over the ground, so they could talk more easily. "It's very impressive," she said after a moment's consideration. "Your big lightning blast... is it targeted on an area, or on individuals? That doesn't seem like the sort of thing you'd want to cast on a melee group where you have allies, right?"

Nanoha probably would've hated Ildraniath's home universe. In the grim darkness of the far future, there was only war. She chose not to comment on the distaste, though. The mon-keigh would learn, eventually.

"It's an area-of-effect. Useful for groups of enemies. Not something I would like to catch my allies in, however."

Cargn thought that on a weekly basis, probably. It wouldn't have surprised Nanoha if Ildraniath were to do the same. Still, she nodded. "All right. The rules of everyone's magic are different, after all. It's good to know what we're dealing with."

She touched down with a light noise. "You've demonstrated your own magic, and I thank you. Do you have any questions about what I can do, too? It's only fair."

"Well, what can you do? You're... not a psyker, are you?"

She didn't feel like one, anyway.

"I'm an aerial mage of the Mid-Childan style," Nanoha explained. "I'd be happy to demonstrate what that entails."

She reached up to the jewel around her neck once more. "Raising Heart, Set Up." Given that she was already in the blue-white Barrier Jacket, it wasn't much of a change - but the jewel spoke again in its synthetic voice. "Raising Heart Excelion: Stand By, Ready."

The jewel shone brightly for a moment before metamorphosing into her weapon's staff/spear form, the red core at the spearhead the only indication that it had been the same object. The wings at her feet once more glittered, lifting her up to about the Eldar's face height. "I specialize in medium-to-long-range bombardment magic," Nanoha explained. "But I have a few tricks I can rely on for close-range fights, too."

"Now that is an entirely different sort then what I am used to. Do you rely on a your staff there for your power? Or is it an innate part of you?"

Because knowing that might come in handy if she ever had to take her down.

"It's a little bit of both," Nanoha explained. "For all mages like me, our power comes from our Linker Cores," she placed a hand on her chest, "Which is - think of it like a special magical organ that everyone has, even if they don't know it or can't detect it."

"But the spells that use that power are more like very complex computer programs and mathematical equations. It's possible to use magic on your own, but our Devices handle most of the execution for us. Think of it like a calculator; you could do the math on your own by hand, but this is much quicker."

She held Raising Heart out in front of her, pointing it at the sky. "Most mages will know a few spells they can quickly use on their own without Device assistance, but the most powerful ones will almost always be used through your Device."

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Demonstration [Semi-Open]

Hope you don't mind, one seer to another...

Not at all!

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