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Post by Lorie Zetros on Oct 7, 2023 14:37:22 GMT
Ward 3, Infirmary, Field Base SakaeLorie rolled her eyes and blew up at her hair as she stared at the ceiling. She folded her arms as she continued to sit in the chair next to the bed. A privacy curtain had been installed, but she kept the part near her seat open so she could tell if there were others here. This base was located underneath a supermarket. So all sorts of things were happening upstairs. But down here, you wouldn't be able to tell it was anything other than a Bureau facility. Of course there never would be anyone. This ward wasn't for troopers who were injured. Nor was it for Volunteers, or even staff. No, it was for civilians. She glanced briefly at the one occupying said bed, Su: a Midchildan citizen who had moved here as soon as this planet was discovered. Someone who got caught up in, as Lorie had discovered, a rare case of violent crime going overboard. Overboard? He massacred dozens of bystanders. What kind of planet was this? Well... there was no way something like that was getting in here. It wasn't that Lorie was afraid of such things, of course. Rather, it was the sheer embarrassment of that one gunman acting completely contrary to every other kind of punk she had ever met before. And because she got cocky, the Vice Admiral chewed her out after she turned in her report. What did she care about those bedrock folk? The point was that that scumbag had deprived her of a good breakfast. Lorie munched down hard on some melon bread she picked up at the supermarket bakery upstairs. Sigi really wasn't kidding. This stuff was pretty good. But that was her only consolation. The wounds to her pride were nowhere close to healing... All because of some Sanktkaiserdamn cretin whose brain blew a gasket and decided to shoot up the restaurant she had so graciously chosen to eat breakfast at! The nerve! Maybe she should have broken both his arms. Then she would have been able to torture him for a little longer before ending his pathetic life... Next time, she would make sure any such criminal scum were thoroughly disabled before she would let her guard down. For now... she was stuck here watching over this civilian until the Volunteer Commission was able to get in touch with her family back home. Not exactly how she imagined spending the rest of her day, but this place wasn't too uncomfortable. At least there was a TV with TDN reception... [431/431/1]
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Recovery
Nov 28, 2023 22:30:37 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kanagi Su on Nov 28, 2023 22:30:37 GMT
After what happened to the two of them at McDonald's, which was supposed to be a place for broken ice cream machines and oily fast food turned into a shooting scene. Su fainted.
And now she's in a Field Base, lying comfortably at one of the beds there, that is until she suddenly threw her top half out of the bed, her breathing heavy and her eyes are as if she saw something scary. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, she then looked around.
(This place doesn't look like the shopping mall we went to just now…) Thinking that, her eyes soon saw Lorie right beside her.
“Ah, Lorie,” she said in a not so tired voice, her hand moving around her surroundings as if it's trying to find something—her beanie.
“Sorry, even though I said I wanted to take you for a tour…it ended up like that,” she apologised to her.
Her hand found the beanie and she wore it back on top of her head, she got off the bed and let out a huge sigh of sadness. The pictures of the shooting are still VERY vivid in her mind, replaying over and over again, but with Su’s ability to adapt quickly that memory soon became albeit a little less traumatic.
(216 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Dec 2, 2023 3:58:44 GMT
<<Karasawa's charging up, it looks like she's going for a Breaker!>> the sports commentator's voice echoed through the mostly empty room. Lorie had gotten bored of sitting around with nothing to do, so she had relocated the holographic TV screen to the ceiling above Su's bed.
It was currently broadcasting an Intermiddle match from the Third Administered World Vaizen. One of the fighters was using the traditional Midchildan style, while her opponent was leaning more towards illusions combined with sneaky strikes. Neither was something that particularly appealed to Lorie's sense of close quarters combat, but having something to occupy her brain with was better than falling asleep.
On screen, the first competitor's device glowed a bright orange as it sucked up mana from the atmosphere.
It was around that time that Su roused and apologised. Lorie watched as she groped around for her beanie, nodding when she finally found it and got out of bed. "Worry not of it," she waved her hand dismissively before taking another bite of the melon bread. "You will have other opportunities to show us around. We will be accompanying you until the Bureau can get in touch with your parents."
It was kind of pathetic, in a way. Someone old enough to move to another planet by herself should really not require their parents counseling anymore. Outside of maybe seeing if she was doing alright, perhaps.
Still, if she was going to keep Su company until she decided what to tell the Bureau, Lorie might as well see if she could find any use for her.
She pointed up at the screen, where Karasawa unleashed that bright orange beam, combined with a veritable shower of orange mana bolts. Truly raining on her opponent's parade. "We've heard Karasawa is something of a big deal on Vaizen. But we can't seem to see anything special about her style. It appears to be plain Midchildan, perhaps with a Vaizen spin. What do you think?"
[327/758/2]
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Post by Kanagi Su on Dec 2, 2023 6:17:46 GMT
Su looked at the Tv broadcasting the match.
"Strike Arts matches huh...I've seen some of the matches live but I never had that much interest in them to know about the styles and all that. But looking at it now, yeah her style does appears like the average Midchildan fighting style." She answered Lorie.
"...wait hold on a second you said that the Bureau is contacting my parents?" She asked Lorie and slowly eyed her magic device with panic in her eyes.
{oh no, if they find out they have a TSAB magic device...No, no! Calm down Su, if you just explain the situation to them they understand. Yeah, just tell them that you were being attacked and suddenly a magic device came down to save you, just like those cheesy magical girl animes or something.} She thought.
"yeah...like that, exactly like that," she mumbled under her breath.
"Now that I think about it, I have never seen this place around here, where am I?" She asked Lorie as she looked around the room.
{Holographic TV's, beds, covers, medicines...this is an infirmary, but is there an infirmary around here before?} She thought as she continued to look around the room.
(204 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Dec 2, 2023 8:33:28 GMT
Lorie rubbed her chin in thought at the assessment. "We suppose what matters is that it is effective..." Onscreen, Karasawa jumped into the air and cheered as her victory was declared. Lorie did understand some of the value of the Intermiddle. At least, when it came to herself.
One could promote their family's name as they fought and if they were successful. The Thunder Emperor's House participated regularly, for example. Other than that, she saw little purpose for joining flashy, entertaining fights that were quite unrealistic. After all, in a real war, like those her ancestors fought, one dealt with multiple enemies at once, and the faster and more efficient the kill, the better.
Her eyebrow rose at Su's confused reaction. For just a moment. Of course, she would wonder why the Bureau was here. "It was a traumatic event, we presume." The detachment in her voice implied the Belkan noble wasn't exactly traumatised, however. Which made sense. She had seen a lot of nasty things in her three years fighting alone. "Perhaps the Bureau thinks you might wish to tell them you are alright."
Or want to go home.
At the next question, though, she paused briefly to think. "Field Base something-or-other," Lorie waved her hand dismissively. "We think it is named after this particular area of the city. The shopping district. The Bureau set this up a few weeks ago, to facilitate its operations in the south of the city."
With all the annoying things that had happened, Lorie had already forgotten what she had told Su in the morning, so now was a good time to put it in simple terms. If it turned out to be a repetition, well... too bad. She'd have to listen to it again.
"This planet is now a Special Intervention Zone, Su. The Bureau discovered there is some threat dwelling here, and now has an entire army infiltrating the native society to fight it without letting the public know."
It was still an Unadministered World, after all. Even if one were to fight a war down here, it would be fought in secret. Those were the rules.
[338/1096/3]
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Recovery
Dec 7, 2023 9:39:08 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kanagi Su on Dec 7, 2023 9:39:08 GMT
"oh right, that..." Su replied with a slight sigh.
(Well, since the Bureau contacted my family, and since I can't move around, might as well watch this match.)
She looked at the match that's broadcasted on TV.
Well this is awkward.
Su silently watched the match in pure silence with Loire beside her.
"Strike Arts... they're not used often in actual combat, right?" She asked Lorie.
"I just assumed that you know about these kinds of stuff...I mean Belkans are pretty known for their combat stuff and all," she continued.
“Most mages just use long range spells for combat, so why do some practice strike arts?” She asked again.
After all, even though Su is just your run off the mill Midchildan girl, her father used to take her to her workplace when she was small. And in there she saw a few of them practicing Strike Arts.
Of course, she's not interested in it, in fact she didn't even practice it. She went to see a few matches with her friends but even then she just watched with minimal interest.
She knows why it's so popular though, she just is not interested in it.
Yep, she knows why it's so popular, but she's not interested in it.
(209 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Dec 9, 2023 11:45:07 GMT
It was useful to note that Su seemed to be more annoyed than elated by hearing the Bureau would be contacting her parents. Maybe it was a sign that she wasn't going to go home so easily.
Lorie finished her melon bread and raised her eyebrow as the next match began. One of the competitors was from House Dahlgrun, the Thunder Emperor's blood. This might prove to be interesting after all. It wasn't too much of a surprise. House Dahlgrun started participating in this tournament a few generations ago, and remained the only Great House to do so, after Ingvalt and Sägebrecht's representatives stopped.
Perhaps nobody else saw any particular value in it.
Su then asked a question concerning the matter of Strike Arts. Lorie turned to her and spoke, dismissively. "Strike Arts is watered down compared to the purer forms of close-quarters combat. It is, in comparison, less efficient, and more spectacular."
At the end of the day, these tournaments were a show. Nobody was going to kill anybody, and while reflexes were still important, there was an unspoken understanding that one could show off some more for the audience's sake. "We will not say it is never used in combat, but the rules of war are different from those of the arena. And you can tell which styles were developed in which field."
The young Dahlgrun, a first-timer, was unsurprisingly a juggernaut. Despite his opponent bombarding him with various spells that shattered the ring and keeping her distance with teleportation spells, his HP still held above 90%. Classic House Dahlgrun.
It would only be a matter of time before he unleashed the force of his devastating lightning-charged lance.
"Mages are practical, you could say. They are far more varied than Knights. If we are not mistaken, some Mages actually fight up close, although their Devices are flexible enough to first soften up their opponents with mid-ranged attacks." The tone in her voice was annoyed. Perhaps because she herself didn't fight at any range, and such flexibility put her at a disadvantage.
"If nothing else, it is... effective... to be good at different ranges."
Lorie gave Su an analytical look. "And how do you fight?"
[367/1463/4]
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Recovery
Dec 9, 2023 22:52:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kanagi Su on Dec 9, 2023 22:52:41 GMT
"fight? I don't know...I never fought before," Su answered Lorie's question.
(Well I DID fight before but that was me beating the living daylights out of... whatever that was, with my staff, a Hex? A familiar? I did use some long range skills I saw being used back at Dad's workplace but... that's all.) She thought.
(Now that I think about it, this magic device definitely belonged to one of the Bureau's mages, if they found out I have it...)
She gripped the magic device—which is a bracelet, tightly.
(Goddammit, how do I explain this to my family and friends? Oh you see, a shooting star decided to grant me this magic device and save my life! Whose magic device was it? Oh I don't know THE ADMINISTRATION BUREAU’S MAYBE?!)
“Fffffffff-” she mumbled under her breath but quickly stopped.
(frak!) Her mind continued.
(Wait wait wait, it might also belong to a volunteer, yeah, if it belongs to a volunteer we might be able to talk it out. But if it belongs to a Bureau mage, oh boy.) She sighed.
She sat on the side of the bed again, cold sweat down her body as she remained calm.
(Well, shit)
201 words
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Dec 11, 2023 12:32:45 GMT
Lorie listened to Su's brief response. Never fought before? Well, that was unfortunate. How was she supposed to make good use of this civilian now? Certainly not as an additional combatant. She would have to think about it...
For now, though, it seemed that the older girl was lost in thought. What those thoughts were, Lorie was not privy to. However, in lieu of any words, her body language seemed to be more talkative.
A tight grip on her bracelet, which may or may not have been a device. A short muttering under the breath, which could have been any word starting with "F", although given how drawn out it was, might have been a commoner's particular slur that she frequently heard in the years she fought as a mercenary.
A sigh... and then, some sweat. It may or may not have been a cold one.
To all this, Lorie's eyebrow only rose in implicit curiosity.
"We don't know much about common Midchildan society, but that is an interesting thing to say. Do only a few with linker cores start practising magic?"
It was an ignorant statement, and went against what she was taught at home, but a lot could happen in three years. It shouldn't hurt to ask, right?
[210/1673/5]
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Recovery
Dec 24, 2023 1:43:48 GMT
via mobile
Post by Kanagi Su on Dec 24, 2023 1:43:48 GMT
Su thought for a while on Lorie's question.
"Well yes, people with linker core still practice magic, but since Midchilda is pretty much not so strict on the magic side of things, learning magic is optional for us."
"In Midchilda, there's lots of variants of magic, and there's a lot of ways to learn magic. If I remember correctly there's specific magic schools you can enroll to in Midchilda and also, if you want to learn strike arts you go to coaches, and if you want to be a TSAB agent when you grow up you uh…. You uh…”
(Nice job Su way to go you don't even know how to explain your FATHER’S PROFESSION! Well not like I know because I never asked, oh well.) She thought to herself.
“Yeah I don't really know how you become a TSAB agent.” She said with a disappointed sigh.
Disappointed at herself, she is.
She looked at the TV again, the match was already over and the next one had already begun.
“Now that I noticed, most of these Strike Arts users use Belkan magic systems, I rarely see any Midchildan or even Vaizen systems, why is that, I wonder?” She asked Lorie.
(201 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Jan 2, 2024 15:07:53 GMT
Lorie wasn't one to care about a planet's efficiency when it came to the use of magic, so long as it wasn't Vindler. If her planet was going to go anywhere, it needed to be more forceful with how its people taught magic. Too much freedom was bad for a nation's strength, after all. Such excess of liberties led to licentiousness and decadence. Weakness.
Of course, she wasn't about to say all that in a Bureau facility, of all things. "It sounds like Midchilda values freedom quite highly." Now, anyone listening was free to make what they would of that statement. "You even have multiple avenues of learning."
She stood up and stretched, noting the next match. More of the same, it seemed. "On our world, Vindler, the State completely oversees magical education."
And for her, that made them better than Midchilda. But she wouldn't say that, of course. It was too inconvenient a place. Instead, Lorie took the opportunity that Su presented with her own particular question.
"It is quite amusing, how the Belkan style exploded in popularity almost a century ago." They were a vestigial, self-destructe power. And yet somehow, their influence lived on. "We believe it was around that time that word on Belka exploded in the news. The Book of Darkness incident, if we are not mistaken." Before then, the few remaining Fiefworlds quietly kept to themselves, doing little to exchange their culture with the rest of the Dimensional Sea. Especially given the many decades of recovery after the war.
In a way, the involvement of the Wolkenritter in assisting the sealing of the Book ushered in a renaissance, as outsiders became interested in the previously closed-off Belkan style. Suddenly, they weren't the evil conquerors anymore.
At least, that was Lorie's theory. Who knows what the real reason was?
[303/1976/6]
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Post by Kanagi Su on Feb 15, 2024 4:22:00 GMT
"Yeah, it was The Book of Darkness incident that made a lot of people aware of Belka," Su answered.
She got out of her bed and stretched her back with a slight groan.
"Well, I think I'm okay now, so can I leave here?" She asked Lorie while pointing at the exit which is a steps away.
While doing so, she eyed her bracelet again.
(If possible, I want to give this bracelet back to its original owner as soon as possible, now that I think about it, are they even here? No they're definitely here, if they weren't, this bracelet wouldn't have magically fell down from the sky.)
"The question now is...is it a TSAB agent who dropped this or is it a volunteer like Lorie-san?" She mumbled to herself.
(Wait, did I ask myself this before? I have a feeling I did...)
Soon her stomach rumbled very loudly, and she slowly blushed.
(Oh right, we were supposed to go eat at McDonalds...until that shooting happened. And that was supposed to be my breakfast as well.)
She shoved her hands into her pockets...nothing.
"Damn it, why didn't I go to Daiso before coming here< I could've bought some food there," She mumbled.
(206 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Feb 20, 2024 0:37:14 GMT
There was a little bit of affirmation at least, so far as Lorie was concerned, with what Su had said. Not that it was a surprise. There was an obvious correlation, after all.
She switched off the TV as the civilian got out of her bed and asked if it was alright to leave now.
Lorie sighed and stood up, setting the remote control down on a nearby table. "If you're feeling better, then we just have to clear you with the officer in charge." There wasn't any news yet concerning her parents, so it wasn't like she needed to stay here if her vitals were alright.
She could attest, Su only likely would have trauma or "emotional damage", as some of the native videos put it.
Su muttered something while looking at her bracelet. Lorie could only raise an eyebrow. Not that it was any of her business to find out what this commoner was fussing over, but now that the TV was off, she had nothing to distract herself with anymore.
The self-proclaimed Archon hated small talk. Whenever the steward would try to teach her how to do it properly - because it was a common political tactic - she would find herself zoning out. But as Sue complained about not going to another food establishment, well...
"You aren't short on funding, are you? We advise against pawning off that bracelet just to get food. Especially since there are plenty of rations available here and in other Bureau bases."
It was probably the dumbest thing to say, but without understanding what Su had said under her breath, then Lorie could only guess based on body language and the things she could hear.
[282/2258/7]
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Post by Kanagi Su on Feb 24, 2024 12:30:44 GMT
"Well I feel a lot better now after a good..."
Su looked at her phone.
"10 or so minutes rest, and I have enough money to at least treat you and myself to croquettes...and I really want to eat breakfast now." Su sighed.
(What a day today...) Su thought to herself.
"The officer is just up ahead right, I'll go and tell them that I'm okay now." Su said as she started taking the stairs upwards exiting the infirmary.
"Oh right, after that I need to buy groceries, and also finish my assignments, and I hear that they're on offer as well..."
Su mumbled to herself while exiting the infirmary, both to remind herself what to do when she got out of the base and to shove whatever happened at McD into the deepest depths of her mind, never to resurface in her memory again for the future to come.
Of course, before this, Su had already knew the rising terrorism rates in Kamihama thanks to the news. Yes, not crime rates, Terrorism rates, and the ways these mentally insane people commit said terrorism is very...gruesome.
A few weeks ago, one random blew up a pair of old couple near her high school on a weekend, and there was no survivors, even the terrorist themselves committed unalive Then a month before that, multiple orphanages were raided by terrorists, and there were no survivors, the terrorists died the same way as the one mentioned above. And now, a random terrorist gunned down loads of innocent people and committed banzai. ...Yep
(261 words)
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Post by Lorie Zetros on Feb 28, 2024 13:12:21 GMT
"Yes, just upstairs." Lorie followed as Su made her way out of the ward, and up the stairs to the base atrium. Perhaps she had underestimated that girl's resilience. Most civilians exposed to such things for the first time would be terribly shaken.
A lot of rookie soldiers would also be shaken unless they went through particularly violent and gruesome training that would already shake them up from the get-go.
Needless to say, Lorie herself had already moved on to be callous towards such things, given her upbringing and three years of experience in mercenary work.
The Atrium was a larger area, with a far larger amount of traffic. Bureau personnel scampered about in paradoxically ordered chaos, each one identifiable by the particular colour of their uniform. The Navy with their blues, brown for Ground Forces, and Air Force people in white...
The less frequent ones who wore civilian or unregulated attire were either Volunteers, or undercover agents.
"What are croquettes?" Lorie asked as she directed Su over to the OIC's desk.
Said Officer was Ground Forces, with her brown Type-B everyday working uniform practical yet professional. Currently, she was focused on something on her holo-screen, which she had rendered opaque, to prevent anyone from just looking at her work.
Lorie cleared her throat. "Excuse us, Captain."
The officer waved her hand and the screen disappeared, allowing her to look at the two girls with disinterest. Her eye lingered on Lorie for a moment before a small holoscreen appeared just in front of her face, about the size of a large eyewear lens. It flashed green. "Volunteer Zetros, was it?"
It must have been a facial recognition app, Lorie figured. "Ja, we are Volunteer Zetros." Loathe as she was to go by that form of address.
"And..." The Captain glanced at Su for a couple of seconds. The app screen flashed yellow. "One Citizen Kanagi Su. Yes, what can I do for you?"
[321/2579/8]
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