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 Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 9:46 pm
Kinuko sat out on a Tree branch, still unsure why she had come back so close to the academy. She had gotten answers from the woman there, but still she didn't know why she still remained. There was no reason to bother that woman anymore, but still she remained near, even knowing her time would be better spent seeing her mother... seeing who she knew had to be her mother. But her mother pushed her away, saying something of an invasion of sorts directed at a tavern she stayed at. She actually felt some fear at what her mother faced, but she felt like she should be bothering the little girl, or whatever facade the old bat was wearing.
She always had a weird feeling from the woman, but now she was sure she had something to deliver even if it would just be an excuse... after all, what use was a trinket such as that. She tapped a pocket on her pack to ensure it was still there, but she wouldn't be wearing it, that was sure in her mind.
She started to sing to herself slightly as she dropped from the tree. She felt like taking her time on the trip back to the academy. Unlike Lina she wasn't completely tone deaf.
mune no naka ori tsumo ru kotoba
mitsu yakani oto mo tate zu
bou kute kasuka na sasayaki
anatahe tsunoru kono omoi
sonomama shiroi hane ni kawa runara
sono ude ni mai ochi te kie tai
sora wo koe te toki wo koe te
omoidasa emo koe runaraba
yuki ni takushi ta kono tegami wo
anataheto todoke te
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:30 pm
I’m gonna rip that girl’s wings out. I don’t even have a place to store this thing, yet.
Iri is about an hour away from the outskirts of the Kaze Dojo. Well, an hour away via one of her techniques. For another Fury, it’s about a three hour fly. At the moment, she’s back to a solid state, though. This is because she should be coming up on the object of her search any time now.
The winged woman clears the other side of a slow moving cloud and looks down. Surprisingly, her stomach lurches. It’s rare for her to travel this high up. At this point, the city below her looks as though it’s nothing but a foot wide gray blotch surrounded by a field of green. Iri is invisible to anyone on the ground without some sort of visual aid. Even the air ship for which she is looking won’t be visible at this height. That’s thanks in part to the camouflage with which it’s equipped, though. At a height such as this, any mistake can lead to disastrous results. If Iri loses focus for so much as a second, her current kaze technique could drop and the steady supply of air coming from the atmosphere below her could be disconnected. There’s just too little air up here to supply the kind of physical activity through which she’s putting herself. And it’s freaking cold as hell, too. When another cloud obscures Iri’s view of the ground, it’s almost a relief.
An odd noise catches Iri’s attention. It’s also a familiar noise. Lenora, Iri’s youngest sister, is a Siren, a blue-eyed, winged woman with a powerful voice. Traditionally, Sirens used their voices to lure prey and enemies into traps. There are other uses for a Siren’s voice, though, and it depends on the nature of the Siren. In Lenora’s case, she uses her voice to perform telekinesis and make objects invisible, to disorientate people, to deafen people, to cast illusions, and various other techniques. Most of her techniques have basis in how the vibrations caused by her voice effect objects. In this case, Iri recognizes a telekinetic pitch. Did she really think she could control the ship for the many hours it would take for her voice to carry it to the Academy?
Iri clears another cloud, and she spots it. There’s the ship she designed at age 12, the one that was built under her guidance but to which she was denied any right. It’s known as the Radiance. The part of the vessel that resembles a ship is about 50’ long with a railed deck and three levels within the hull. The hull is painted with a shade of gray similar to that of a rain cloud, and there are granite crystals in the paint to reflect light and sort of blind the eye. There are no sails. Instead, there is a sort of control box built like a podium. Set into a panel are all manner of quartz crystals. Each of these crystals has holes bore into either end, through which a piece of highly durable wire is looped. Hundreds of these crystals have been wired together and run throughout the ship from the control panel. A diagram is on the control panel, illustrating the paths of the crystal lines. On either side of the ship, a group of crystal lines have canvas stretched between them. A similar set up trails behind the ship. These structures can act similarly to a fish’s fins or a bird’s wings and tail feathers. One’s energy directs the movement of these fins or wings. Dozens more lines free flow from the ship, looking like shimmering vines. These have various uses. They are good for gripping cargo and carrying it onto the ship. These vines can grip weapons for use in combat or be used as weapons themselves. Techniques can be performed on gigantic levels once one has attained the necessary dexterity. The ship itself is made of lightweight but sturdy bamboo. This thing is built for speed, agility, combat, and stealth. And Iri’s quite proud of it. It’s not perfect, and it’s certainly not indestructible, but it’s damn good for the imagination of a 12-year-old girl living in an old world estate cut off from the rest of the world’s improvements and technology.
Currently on the deck are four figures. Lenora, Iri’s youngest sister, is standing behind the control box. She isn’t using the controls, though. The Siren’s mouth is open wide, and she’s singing as loudly as she possibly can. The Siren’s voice is straining, though. She can’t keep this up much longer, and if her voice breaks now, the ship will drop. Not far from Lenora is a man with a raven on his shoulder. This is Xavier, the father of Iri and her three sisters. He is also a Siren. Iri’s guess is that he’s the only reason the ship has gotten this far. He must synchronize with Lenora when she tires, so that she can drop out and rest. Then when he tires, they switch out. A good plan, but a telekinetic pitch takes a lot of strain. They can’t keep that sort of routine up forever. The other two figures are Adrianne, Iri’s mother, and Dawn, Iri’s only older sibling. They have both taken up stances at the fore of the ship, and are staring straight ahead, their hands making odd signs. Judging by their actions and the flow of the air which Iri can sense from her position, they’re creating a sort of stream of air and slipping it under the hull of the vessel, taking some of the strain off of Xavier and Lenora. Gale Clan innovation and determination at its best, right here. There’s a problem, though. The ship is at a much lower altitude than Iri. And it’s getting lower as her family weakens. It won’t be good if someone spots that ship.
And it’s at that point that Iri receives word from her student. Apparently, there’s help to be had. Iri relays instructions to Jin. Then she dives toward the ship.
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:03 pm
Iri wouldn't have too long of a wait after Lina hit the rails considering the distance. Likewise the dragon girl was hard to miss, traveling looking as a gold comet along the rail lines as she raced along, almost looking like a slowed down version of the girl's shushin from the altitude of the ship.
Lina was glancing up towards the ship already somehow, wondering just how she was expected to get up that high before she grinned and slammed her hands against the rails, causing the tracks a short distance ahead to curve up. Suddenly the dragon girl was going uphill and shooting straight into the air like a bullet before she collapsed her barrier a short way below the ship, her altitude rising while the girl was spinning over and over, overshooting the ship a bit before managing a last second rai shield over the deck to slingshot her around for a landing that was nearly a belly-flop.
As Lina got up it would almost seem like the dragon girl's eyes were spinning. "Remind me never to do that again."
((I'll edit if you think the ship was too high up for her to do this))
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:35 pm
(( Nah, the ship was losing altitude. Besides, that was awesome visual effect right there! XD ))
Lenora is too wrapped up in her song to notice any disturbances. The Siren is tall, just two inches shy of six feet. Her messy hair is kept in a high ponytail. Her wings are strange, black appendages with huge red spots on the end that make her look like an evil mockery of a peacock. Her dress is made of black lace. In her left hand are two crescent hand scythes, and her right hand clutches a very large scythe the likes of which could be associated with a Grim Reaper.
The other three immediately turn to face Lina. Xavier is the only man. His wings are pitch black and a little on the small side. His hair is mostly white with age, the only remaining locks of black framing his face. He's dressed in a pair of black hakama and a black vest. On his shoulder sits a raven. Adrianne and Dawn keep up their chore, but glance back at Lina. Adrianne is beautiful in her old age. Her silvery hair trails the ground and is tied at the end. Her wings are white like Iri's, and she wears a simple white gown that falls to the floor. Dawn is an interesting sight. This Fury has wings that are black on the back, but have varying shades of black, green, and white underneath. The wings look wicked in that they end in hooked claws. Dawn's hair is chin length and dyed to match the colors in her wings. Her clothes consist of a saloon style dress, green and gold in color and a pair of striped hose. Gunblades are in holsters hanging from her dress.
"Damn, that was fast. I think I would have puked." Iri has just landed on the rear rail, balancing herself on her toes with her arms crossed and wings closed. She grins at Lina. "Really friggin' cool. Now, tell me what you think of this thing. Any thoughts on improvement would be greatly appreciated."
Iri jumps to the deck and walks to the control panel. Lenora opens her eyes this time, but keeps up her song.
"Just a little longer, Lenore. When the wings start flapping, you three can take a break."
Lenora, or "Lenore", rolls her eyes in an expressive way. Adrianne and Dawn shout their thanks back to the redhead. Xavier just nods.
Iri puts her hands just above the control panel. Considering she's never flown this thing, this should be interesting. She remembers the concept, though, so why not? Energy feeds into the crystals and flows into the wings and rear rudder. The lines light up with energy and the air stirs in response to Iri's command. The previously limp and flapping canvas and crystal line wings come to life and straighten out. Then they start to move. It takes Iri a couple of minutes to mentally project the movement of her own wings, but she does get the canvas constructs to flap in the right pattern. The rear rudder straightens out and Iri tests it by letting the ship tack left and right. She even twists the rudder into a bird's position and practices gaining and losing altitude. The ship is as responsive as she had hoped. But is it as practical as what she had hoped?
Lenore has stopped singing by now. Adrianne and Dawn have let go of their techniques and are chastising the youngest Gale woman. Xavier is watching Iri, learning how she uses the crystals as controls.
When she's sure as to what she's doing, Iri looks back to Lina.
"Well?" She has to shout a little over the sound of the wind.
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:04 pm
Once Lina's world stopped spinning she glanced around at the three that had just noticed her. Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Her long silver hair was a bit of a mess from the rush and the landing. Her dragon horns were arced back instead of standing upright as they normally did.
"Yeah, I'm glad I had a light breakfast" she muttered a bit under her breath. She started looking around the ship itself, only stopping to look at Dawn most due to her firearms before going on to glance around some. Her mind began to focus on what Iri asked and she took in the sights of the ship in a quick once over of the surface.
"Carry some large water storage seals, boiling for around average cursing altitude if you spend extra time on it, or have someone able to heat it quick in a pinch" She muttered, looking around from a technical standpoint. "On the surface you have a beautiful design here, I don't want anything that would change that, but without some cloud cover it would stand out unless you have some other tricks? and anyway at least those seals could give you less of a profile in combat"
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:09 pm
"Did you see the paint job on the hull? Cloud gray with granite crystals. Made to look like a cloud. And when light shines on it at night, the granite crystals should obscure vision enough that the nature of the ship should be difficult to know. I left the bamboo unpainted on the deck, though, so it doesn't blind the operators in full sun. I'll have to use that water storage seal idea, though. You mean to create steam to simulate cloud cover, right?"
In an odd gesture, Lenore is suddenly in Lina's face. She doesn't do or say anything at first. Lenore just stares at her and blinks. Then she widely grins and glomps Lina around her shoulders, even wrapping her wicked looking wings around her.
"Friend of sister is my friend, too!"
Xavier smiles and shakes his head a little. Iri laughs as she continues to test the controls. Dawn and Adrianne approach and grab Lenore by the shoulders to drag her back, which leads to pouting on the youngest Gale's part.
Adrianne smiles, an expression that's warm and comforting. "My name is Adrianne. This wild one is Lenore. She's strange, but harmless."
The one with the crazy hair winks and grins. "Name's Dawn. And the quiet one is my dad, Xavier."
The one with the raven just nods again and shifts his wings a little.
Iri looks back at Lina with a smile. "My family's nuts, but we're all good people. You wanna give the ship a try?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:49 pm
((still sick so sorry for the huge delay))
"Yeah, that's more what I meant. I mean looking like a cloud during the day's a great idea, but if you get into a pinch you'd have a few decoy clouds too" Lina said, trying to consider the way the ship had looked when she had seen it with her actual vision.
Lina's eyes widened for a moment at being grabbed before she relaxed. "Friend's sister is my friend too" she said with a smile.
Lina looked around the assembled group. She turned and smiled before bowing to each in order of age as a sign of respect. "I'm Lina Kiato, it's a pleasure to meet Iri's family."
Lina raised her eyebrows at Iri's question. "What do I need to do?" she asked, moving over to inspect what Iri was doing.
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 9:31 pm
(( Meh, no problem. I'm about to go to bed, myself. Gotta work tomorrow. I just love being at Lowe's at 7 o'clock in the morning! And the twenty minute commute is so much fun that early! *heavy sarcasm* ))
Iri can't help but smile. Her family's been in a bad situation for a long time. And they've been split up for so long. To see at least the majority of them together, having fun, and even making a new friend--that's something Iri can't help but love.
The Fury focuses again, this time lighting up her energy so Lina can see where it's going and what it's doing.
"I've never relied on spells or jutsus to use Kaze. I attract the air with my energy, and will it to do my bidding. It's like mind-over-matter, or telekinesis, more than it is summoning upon specific techniques. In this case, I'm sending my energy through the crystals on this control panel, into wires, and through a long series of more crystals and wires. I just use these things to conduct the energy. When my energy gets to the desired location, I let it do its work. Here, my energy is moving the wings and the rudder in a specific pattern. The energy is also attracting the air and directing it, helping it flow under and over the wings in a direction that best helps them move the ship."
Iri pauses as she hears a bit of a ruckus behind her. Xavier and Adrianne have grabbed a hold of Lenore's arms and are dragging her toward a hatch that leads into the first of the ship's three lower levels. Apparently, she had gotten a little too curious about the wings and their operation. The strange Siren pouts and her wings flop in dismay. Dawn's laughing and playfully chastising her sister as she follows the three into the hull.
The Fury shrugs her wings and sheepishly smiles at Lina. "As least Lenore won't be interrupting. Anyway, this is designed as a training exercise. It's a way to help energy and elemental users think outside the box. How would you make this thing fly? Remember, too much Rai could burn out the crystals, melt the wires, and burn up the sails. How would you solve this problem?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 9:46 pm
Lina nodded for a few moments before thinking. "Obviously my usual methods wouldn't work then" She sat down suddenly, crossing her legs, then taking a thinking pose. "The crystals give me a bit of a hold up since in the recent past I'd usually work with ones suited to more then I could give," She rubbed the sides of her head for a few moments. "The obvious answer would be to figure out how much I could get out of the system, and use around 50 percent of that at most if I follow my standard... Obviously I can't exactly mimic your ability to send your energy to direct the air for me... I suppose I could do something with repelling magnetic forces for forward momentum, but would the wings handle holding the weight of the ship before it built up momentum?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:18 pm
Iri nods her head affirmative. What she hasn't mentioned until now is the size of the wings. The ship is about 50' in length, 20' at its widest point, and a total of about 24 feet deep. The wings have a total span of around 100', and are about 40' at the widest point of their spread.
"Use just enough energy to command the wings, stiffen them into place, and they'll glide the ship for a considerable amount of time before it starts to lose altitude. The wings are oversized for that use. Stiffen the tail, and only use a little more energy, and you'll be able to steer with it. You should have plenty of time to build up momentum that way."
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:27 pm
Lina listened and nodded occasionally as she took in these details. "This ship could definably stand up with the best of Sarket's old fleet. And from what I can gather so far probably be much more interesting to deal with then anything else it's size."
Lina looked at Iri then glanced around the ship to get a better feel for the wingspan. "Still want me to give it a try?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:47 pm
Iri nods again and sends out one last pulse of energy. The wings stiffen and the ship begins to glide. Iri steps away from the control panel to let Lina take control.
"My energy will stick around for about a minute more before the wings collapse. You should fill the lines with your energy before then. That diagram in the middle of the control panel shows you which crystals control what lines. It takes a little getting used to, but once you've felt the ship out with your energy, you may not even need the diagram again. Go for it!"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:07 pm
Lina nodded, starting out light with her energy, attempting to polarize the wings. Her goggles were still over her eyes, but Iri would seem some little green light coming from under the tinted lenses after Lina took her only glance at the diagram. She tried to focus and let her energy flow out into the wings through the different lines. Attempting to keep them steady and positioned as needed. She sent small attempts to adjust their course to the tail.
"How's it look?" she asked after a few moments of experimenting and trying a few simple course corrections.
She tried to sort out the diagrams before asking. "And what method would be the best for me to manifest the energy to build up momentum? Erm, which Lines could take the most load?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:27 pm
The Fury quirks her head, thinking to herself. She's no Rai expert, so that's a problem that's hard for her to solve.
"Well... You can manually pump the wings with your energy. When you do it, kind of imagine yourself extending into the crystal lines and manipulating them. I've seen you as a dragon. Just think through it as your energy are the impulses in a body, the lines are the nerves, and the lines stimulate the movement in the wings. After a while, the process should become reflexive. Or..."
Iri spreads her wings and levels them to match the ship's wings. Then she curls them in and kind of forms twin barrels on either side of her.
"Curl the wings in. Then form light electrical currents in the lines. They're durable, and so is the canvas, so they can take some heat but not too much. If it's possible, use the new proximity between the lines. Maybe form a ball of Rai in the wing barrels. It should act as a method of propulsion. And when you tilt the barrels, you should be able to adjust altitude. Do the same with the tail, halfway curling it, and form another ball of Rai sort of behind it. When you turn, the ship should turn, and it'll add more thrust. Sound like a viable plan?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:53 pm
She tilted her head for a moment, trying to think it over. Her eyes squinting for a few moments as she thought over the problem before she grinned. Her energy ran along the tail of the ship. She started to loose a bit of altitude to build up the initial momentum as Iri had suggested, mirrioring a dragon's flight to begin with. "Hmm, this method wouldn't work for many Rai students though, knowing how to fly like an animal isn't something taught without instincts or a lot of crashes."
"Everyone might want to brace themselves. This might give more acceleration then I'm aiming for since I don't know the ship's weight too well yet..." She adjusted the wings a bit, bringing them in slightly before letting the tail relax, even though she was saturating it with electricity. A small surge released from the wings, looking like one of Lina's usual Rai orbs where it gathered, and given Lina's look of immense concentration she was controlling the energy entirely on her own as the orb drifted away from the ship. After a few moments she changed the polarity of the tail section, as the ship would be pushed away from the magnetic field the girl was controlling.
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