I was wondering that too.Originally Posted by Kelnish
I was wondering that too.
It's a web novel.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
Eh, all-out brain control would probably in by pure mechanics, though he'll definitely have a couple gadgets that passively stop that nonsense in its tracks.
That said, if it's purely for the sake of having Gil as a villain, I don't like the move. He works better as a chaos factor- if you have him as a villain, he's gonna be either the final boss, or the secret really final boss. It's far better to have him as that guy who occasionally goes and crushes a villain that scares everybody, only to then turn around and go head to head with a team of heroes and kick them in the metaphorical teeth.
FGO Supports
Death by Sakura.
Beast's Lair: Useful Notes
(Lightweight | PDF)
Updated 01/01/15
If posts are off-topic, trolling, terrible or offensive, please allow me to do my job. Reporting keeps your forum healthy.
Seika moderates: modly clarifications, explanations, Q&A, and the British conspiracy to de-codify BL's constitution.
Democracy on Beast's Lair
Gilgamesh did nothing wrong.
My point exactly. Nasu didn't want him as the villain in that route, so death by black hole.
FGO Supports
Web series about a girl trying to be a superhero and falling in with the super villains instead
Slaughterhouse Nine is a bunch of Joker-like murderers and madmen who are more interested in causing mayhem and wracking up a body count than pulling a heist or anything else so mundane.
Only started reading Worm recently and got more caught up in certain fanfics...mostly Starry Eyes and Silencio.
F/GO SUPPORT
Damnnit. Now I have to finally give in and read Worm. I was doing so well ignoring it, too...
Binged All Of Gundam In 4 Years, 1 Week and All I Got Was This Stupid Mask
FF XIV: Walked to the End
Started Legend of the Galactic Heroes (14/07/23), pray for me.
Such a shame that neither has updated in months.
Not that it particularly matters at this point, I suppose...
But considering the sheer number of posts that those Worm idea/rec/discussion threads (on both SB and SV) go through on a daily basis - dozens easily, even over a hundred on some days; perhaps a dedicated story/discussion topic in the main Creative Writing/User Fiction boards of each respective forum, would result in that feedback that you may or may not be still seeking.
Granted, most of the commentary will inevitably focus on the Worm side of the fusion, but a relative handful of members will at least try to give constructive feedback on both halves.
Last edited by TimeDiver; March 2nd, 2015 at 06:40 AM. Reason: Just correcting some grammar.
Now, return to the void, in the midst of this infinite light!
AIN SOPH AUR... DEAD END SHOOT!!
Well, this is a thing. Usual high quality from fallacies, though I'm not as interested in the initial premise as some earlier ones.
Sad. But probably true.
On a related note, were there any plans to ever continue Loser's Bracket, or is that officially dead?
It's not dead, but I'm not in the right mental space to continue it at the moment. I'll probably work on it next.
0.1
---
He'd heard things about how run-down Brockton Bay was, but on actually seeing the city, he found himself a little reminded of his time in Cleveland, years ago. There was widespread and highly visible urban decay, certainly -- but places like the downtown business district were still able to maintain their commercial skyscrapers in the clean, reflective newness that came of affluence.
It spoke of perseverance; a refusal yet to give before the economic difficulties that had done in a number of the other major ports along the east coast.
The headquarters of Fortress Construction was a cuttingly modern building. Situated on the intersection of Portsmouth and Hudson, it was a fifteen story structure that housed a ground-to-rooftop atrium within its windowed eastern face. The meeting room that Shirou Emiya had been led to was situated on the eighth floor, along one of the rows of balconies that overlooked the lobby -- surrounded on three of its four sides by walls of a clear material.
Not glass, his senses indicated. A variety of transparent, non-silicate ceramic.
"Please have a seat, Mister Emiya," said his interviewer, a pretty, bespectacled woman in a business dress.
Shirou felt a little guilty about mentally pigeonholing her as a 'perfectly stereotypical secretary,' but felt that he was probably due a bit of petty revenge for enduring her repeated use of 'ii-mai-yah' as a pronunciation for his name.
"We've reviewed your application," she said, flipping through the contents of a plastic folder as he seated himself across the table from her. "I understand that you're currently registered as a resident of New York State?"
"Yes?"
"And you're in the process of completing your certification as an electrician there?"
"Yes," he replied, wondering where she was going with her line of questioning. "I've clocked about four thousand five hundred hours of supervised work in the last four years on and off, and so I'm recognized as a Journeyman."
"But you haven't completed your apprenticeship program with the National Electrical Contractors Association," she stated.
"No, I haven't."
She frowned.
"You are aware, of course, that Journeyman status as an electrician in the State of New York isn't provided reciprocation here in New Hampshire?"
Ah.
"Yes, I was, ma'am," he said. "I was intending on reapplying for certification here, and hoped that you would just accept my Journeyman status as evidence of prior work experience."
She lowered her gaze to the sheets in the folder before her.
"Based on the documentation that you've provided regarding your education, it seems that if you wouldn't have any real difficulties in obtaining acceptance at a university," she said. "Why is it that you haven't elected to continue your education?"
Shirou didn't see how this was relevant. Was she trying to gauge his willingness to apply himself?
"I wanted to take some time off school," he said. "Go places, see the country. Find out what I really want to do."
She nodded. Shirou couldn't tell if it was a good nod or a bad nod, but she started placing things back into the folder.
"There's currently a number of prospective employees hoping to obtain a full-time position with our firm, and so it may take up to a week for our selection process to complete," she said, tapping her pen. "We'll inform you of our final decision in several days. In the meantime, I've been directed to inquire as whether you would like to indicate your availability as an independent contractor for small projects and maintenance work in the coming months."
The choice didn't even take a second.
"Yes," said Shirou. "I would."
---
Shirou's mother wasn't the overparenting sort, but on the occasions that she'd felt the need to give him actual advice, she told him that he should make more extensive plans regarding his immediate future. Arbitrarily determining the duration of his stay in Brockton based on whether he could find a full time position probably wasn't the sort of choice she would approve of.
"Yeah," he said, holding the smartphone to his ear. "Wasn't really a very long interview. Maybe fifteen minutes, tops."
[Didn't get the job?]
"Probably not the full-time," he said. "I won't know for sure until next week. They said that even if I don't get in, they might call me about one-off contract stuff if the need arises."
[You know, if you just asked for it, Mom would definitely be willing to bankroll you for room and board, at least.]
She would, Shirou knew, and that was the problem.
He'd left Ithaca in an effort to find himself -- find out what he really wanted to do in life.
His childhood dream of becoming a hero of justice wasn't precisely abandoned, but growing up, he'd had to concede that he truly wasn't qualified for much more than police or rescue work. In the first place, he wasn't a cape, and he wasn't talented in alchemy or magecraft the way that his sister was; he didn't even have her academic talents. His skill in archery was good enough for sports in the professional opinion of his high school gym coach -- but for crime fighting? It really wasn't all that practical.
What, then, could Shirou Emiya bring to the table? Was becoming a rescue worker the best he could do to apply himself to the purpose of saving people?
It was for the sake of an answer that he'd embarked upon this road trip alone. Having his mother around as a safety net would defeat the purpose of doing this at all. In the end, any answer he obtained under her care wouldn't be his own.
"It's not a big deal," he said, taking a sip of his coke and looking out the dingy window of the restaurant. "A one-room place in the Asiatown here doesn't cost that much. I have enough to cover me for a little while."
[I just feel a little bad, because I'm the one who sent you to New Hampshire. I didn't think you would be doing this on your own money. I'm not even sure if Rina's really there or not.]
Shirou rubbed his temple.
"Look," he said. "You're supposed to be graduating soon. Just focus on your schoolwork, okay? Let me worry about things on this end."
His sister was silent for awhile.
[Fine,] she said finally. [But I'll be wiring money to your account first thing tomorrow morning. I won't accept any refunds!]
With that, she hung up on him, leaving him to contemplate the overly large slice of New York style pizza that still remained on his plate. Sighing, he navigated to his smartphone's photo album and located the photograph that his sister had sent him.
Standing in front of the Statue of Hercules at the University of Cornell, a smiling albino preteen stood beside a bookish, modestly dressed girl with Asian features and pale blue eyes.
"Rina, hm?" he asked, carefully lifting his pizza and taking a bite.
---
Fifteen minutes by foot from Wendell's Wieners, Shirou's casual progress back to his building was cut short by flashes of light and a series of oddly blunted explosions -- strange, echoing blasts that seemed faded with distance, originating from maybe several streets away.
'A cape fight?' he thought.
It was just after seven in the evening -- not late enough that the nearby shopping district would be entirely deserted.
There was a chance that bystanders would be injured.
Shirou broke out into a run.
The destination wasn't as far as he imagined. Two blocks off at a T-intersection thankfully free of pedestrians, a group of Asian gangbangers had gathered around a young woman leaning bonelessly against a section of brick wall. The black robe that she wore was somewhat torn and damaged -- stained darker in places by blood -- but it managed still to somewhat conceal her decency.
Judging by the lecherous looks on the gangers' faces, that wouldn't last for much longer.
"Figured the boss' new squeeze was just a nutcase with a nice bod," said an older teen with a messy attempt at a goatee, "but this gear of hers is gonna be a real game-changer 'round here."
He kicked the girl in her side, laughing.
"You capes think you're so far above us common types," he said, squatting down in front of her and touching her chin with the tip of a switchblade. "Doesn't take much more than a concussion to keep you from usin' yer powers, and suddenly you ain't so different from the rest of us, huh?"
Incoherently, the girl moaned.
"Don't fuck her up too much, Jinny-boy," said one of the taller ones, chuckling. "Boss said he wants her alive, and we only got a bit of time before the Protectorate comes runnin'."
"Yeah," said goatee, "but he's never minded taking leftovers before."
"I'd step away from her if I were you."
Goatee turned his head, standing as Shirou entered the intersection from a side-street.
"What'd you say, kid?" he asked, pushing his way through the group. "'Step away from her?'"
"That's what I said, yeah."
Goatee swaggered closer.
"You know who the fuck we are?" he asked, holding his switchblade before him. "We're the Boyz, and you don't get to talk like that to us."
Shirou entered the man's guard and delivered a punch to his gut -- not enough to seriously injure, but sufficient to keep him out of any confrontation for a little bit. The gangers went momentarily still as their friend collapsed to the ground, dropping his knife and clutching his abdomen.
"I'm not from around here," said Shirou, "so no, I really /don't/ know who you are."
The larger man who'd referred to goatee as 'Jinny-boy' was the first to react.
"You little fuck!" he shouted, rushing at Shirou.
With an aikido take-down that he'd picked up from a high school self-defense course, Shirou guided the force behind the attack into a textbook throw and hold, applying pressure to the wrist of his now-grounded assailant. Three meters behind him, a pistol was simultaneously drawn; evaluated; submitted to environmental awareness in time for him to react. With his free hand, he fished a couple of quarters from his pocket, tossing them and knocking the weapon from the grip of the would-be gunman.
The gunshot issued harmlessly into the air.
"I'm what the PRT would call a Brute 2, Thinker 3," said Shirou, schooling his voice and his features so as not to let on that he'd avoided being shot almost entirely by luck. "Interested in trying your luck against me?"
Only two pistols remained between the ten uninjured gangers, and there was no sign of whatever explosives or tinkertech they'd deployed against the girl; Shirou estimated a fair chance that they would fold to his bluff.
Though he was lucky enough to have not encountered firearms in the context of street fighting before, punks like these weren't all too uncommon, and prior experiences had fostered a working hypothesis that pack behavior didn't come about without a lot of insecurity to go around.
Of course, if the guns gave the gangers enough confidence to try for a kill, it would probably end badly for everyone involved -- Shirou included.
"Back off," said goatee, pushing himself off the ground. "Everyone, back!"
The group's bravado seemed to melt at the barked order, and they began to cautiously move away. Shirou let the larger man up from the ground, keeping his eye to the group for false moves as they vacated the intersection. Goatee was the last to go, holding his stomach as he fixed Shirou with a hard glare.
"Don't think we'll be forgetting this, kid," he said.
Then, Shirou was alone with the girl -- free to finally exhale in relief that the gangers hadn't had the guts to call him out on the garbage he'd been spewing. Pacing over and kneeling beside her, he reached to pull her upright.
With an uncoordinated swing of her arm, she slapped his hand away.
"D- ... don't touch me, chink!" she spat.
Shirou had only a split second to roll aside. Goatee's switchblade -- the one that had been pressed against the girl's chin -- flew at him, passing through the space that his head had occupied only moments prior. Overshooting, it corrected its trajectory, jerking about in the air and launching itself at Shirou again.
'Telekinesis?'
Pausing against a street lamp before ducking, Shirou followed with his eyes as the blade planted itself into the metal surface -- and through it. The upper part of the lamppost crashed through the roof of a nearby sports car, and the knife -- somehow only slightly damaged -- shot at him again.
Reinforcing his arm, Shirou tossed a nearby trash bin into the path of the knife. For a moment, the obstacle slowed the flight of the projectile; but in the next, it was driven back at Shirou, slamming through the display window of the shop behind him.
'If she weren't concussed, her aim would probably be better,' thought Shirou, warily watching the shop as he paced backwards. 'Why just use the knife, though? Is it because she isn't focused enough right now to control more?'
Unsteadily, the girl was now standing, supporting herself against a wall.
"Look," Shirou shouted at her. "This is a misunderstanding! I'm not here to hurt you!"
A whistling sound was all the warning he had before a steel beam entered the range of his structural analysis -- crashing into the car he was standing besides as he scrambled away. There was a metallic screech as it lifted again, suspending the car in the air like a forklift.
As he reached the end of the intersection -- five meters from where the girl was standing -- the wreckage of the vehicle slammed into front of the building, exploding in flames.
Carefully, the girl limped toward the wreckage, eyeing the fire through her facemask as if to confirm that her attack had met its mark.
"Sorry about this," she heard.
An arm enclosed itself around her throat, lifting her into the air. In panic and confusion, she began to withdraw the beam from the burning wreck with her power -- and then fell limp. Unsupported, the steel slammed violently to the pavement.
Shirou released her, setting her body gently to the ground.
'Some hero I am,' he thought, panting and surveying the damage and debris strewn about the intersection.
Pulling his phone from his coat pocket, he made to dial emergency services -- but felt a human presence that suddenly manifested behind him, pressing the stirrup of a crossbow against his spine.
"Don't move," said a feminine voice. "I'm with the Protectorate."
Before he could say anything, the speaker tapped the communicator on her ear.
"Shadow Stalker here," she said. "I'm at the scene. Rune from the Empire is unconscious, and I've just apprehended the new ABB cape responsible."
Last edited by fallacies; March 5th, 2015 at 06:50 AM.
What's the date, here? At least 2009 to late 2010? Or even later, as Sophia's (seemingly) claiming Protectorate membership, as opposed to Ward status?
Seeing as this looks to be post-high school graduation for Shirou by at least several years, did the Fifth War still take place 50 years earlier than expected?
Or did certain interested parties (permanently) close the proverbial door on said ritual, so there's just going to be no Fifth War, period?
Last edited by TimeDiver; March 4th, 2015 at 04:45 AM.
Now, return to the void, in the midst of this infinite light!
AIN SOPH AUR... DEAD END SHOOT!!
It's "later" (slightly before the start of Worm canon). This is an AU, so things are subtly different. To put things in context, Shirou was in high school in 2007, when the 5th War would've normally taken place.
The Grail War is still central to the fic's overall plot, but it won't be in the beginning, and it won't be the 5th Heaven's Feel of Fuyuki.Seeing as this looks to be post-high school graduation for Shirou by at least several years, did the Fifth War still take place 50 years earlier than expected?
Or did certain interested parties (permanently) close the proverbial door on said ritual, so there's just going to be no Fifth War, period?
Last edited by fallacies; March 4th, 2015 at 05:20 AM.
5th war took place in 2004.
Yes, I'm aware.
You said Shirou was in high school in 2007 when the 5th war would have normally taken place.
Right. But the full line reads like this:
This is an AU, so things are subtly different. To put things in context, Shirou was in high school in 2007, when the 5th War would've normally taken place.
Reply With Quote
NA
JP
