The New Math (Nanoha SI), Thread 2

[Bluemage]

My next post will be in a new thread.  Since the old thread was locked before anybody else could respond, I've reposted this post to the new thread.  I'd been intending to lock the old one in two days, when it came time for the next segment, but this also works. ^^
Tennie:  Yes, and I don't know why.
Rob:  Wow.  Just when you think you know music...
CD: 
Quite... though the parallel wasn't intentional.  I was basically
asking myself "Given Jail Scaglietti, what sort of work would it take to
support him in a (slightly) more fleshed-out universe?"The answer
ended up being something like "Lots".  That, and Uno really needed some
depth.  She was basically Mission Control and window dressing in
StrikerS- there had to be more to her than that.
**********
I shook my head.  "Should I assume that that's an understatement?"
She
turned to face me, and flicked a window over to hover in front of me. 
Reams of data scrolled past my eyes- packed with statistics and
programming code.  "This is the weekly review of the automated
manufactories."  Another five windows joined it, each one full of
coordinates and specifications.  "These are the materials purchase
orders for next week's production."  Another large window, this one
looking much more familiar, pushed them out of the way.  "This is the
budget for all the doctor's enterprises, adjusted for the recent
decrease in patent licensing fees.  And this-"
I waved my hands
in front of me in surrender.  "No more, please.  I understand."  I swept
the windows she'd sent me up, squeezing them into a form I could handle
one-handed, and tossed them back to Uno.
She spread them back
out, exactly as they were before, and went back to work, a slight smirk
on her face.  "As you can see, I'm responsible for far more than just
'helping him work'.  Think of me as Doctor Scaglietti's secretary,
assistant, and seneschal- as well as the administrator of this
facility.  Even with Flawless Secretary, I have much to do."
"Very true."  After a second, something Uno said hit me.  "...wait.  The doctor has patents?  On what?"
She
rezzed up a new window with a thought, flicking it over to me without
breaking her rhythm.  "As of last week, I've submitted eight hundred and
sixty-four patents across one hundred and twelve false identities,
covering everything from office equipment to medical procedures."  Uno's
small smile grew- I've never seen her this pleased before!  "Not
only have I made Jail Scaglietti profitable, but I'm saving a projected
fifty thousand lives every year... including roughly eleven thousand
children.  It... feels good, honestly, to know that."
Hmm.  On
the one hand, she's loyal to Doc Bastard- she'd say or do anything that
advanced his cause.  This might be disinformation.  On the other hand, I
always did wonder how the doctor afforded all those wonderful toys. 
TSAB backing couldn't pay for everything- not under the table.  I'll
believe her for now- but check it when I get access to independent
sources.
I moved forward, standing right in front of Uno, and looked right into her eyes.  "The doctor doesn't know about this, does he?"
Uno
snorted.  "I love my father, Imma, and I will serve him until the end
of my days, but the man couldn't balance a checkbook to save his life. 
He doesn't care about anything but his ambitions, his family, and the
sciences.  Even if he knew, he wouldn't care."  She sounded dismissive,
but I could see a momentary flicker of something- Doubt?  Fear?- in her expression.
I
waited a few seconds, just to set the mood, before gently smiling. 
"Why should he know?  The doctor has a lot on his mind- worrying about
things like money and patents would just get in his way."
Uno's expression didn't change much, and she didn't stop working, but I could see gratitude in her eyes.Instead
of leaving, though, I just stood there, deep in thought.  Spells need
testing.  Real-world experience best- missions too infrequent- need to
find battles elsewhere.  Bounty hunting?  Freelance vigilantilism? 
Either way, can't go as Imma.  Can't be linked to JS.  Ford Prefect
identity known to TSAB, older than I am right now.
"Hey, Uno?  I've been thinking about something I can do, and I was wondering..."

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Tennie]

Some things:

Think of me as Doctor Scaglietti's secretary, assistant, and seneschal- as well as the administrator of this facility.

(Bolded for emphasis)

So what's that word supposed to be?  It doesn't sound familiar in my head.

I'll believe her for now- but check it when I get access to independent sources.

Ah yes, "Trust but verify."  Sounds like a good idea, and I don't necessarily mean that in a sarcastic way either.

I also found a height chart for the Numbers.  Somebody calculated the heights of the Numbers (click the second button labeled "Show" to see them).  This made me wonder: in terms of height, where would Imma lie in relation to the other Numbers?

[robkelk]

Some things:

Think of me as Doctor Scaglietti's secretary, assistant, and seneschal- as well as the administrator of this facility.

(Bolded for emphasis)

So what's that word supposed to be? It doesn't sound familiar in my head.

"Keeper of the castle", essentially. It sounds better than "head butler", "major-domo", "castellan" (sorry, Uno's female) "chatelaine", or "Girl Friday".
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Tennie]

Ah, thanks, Rob--I'd never heard that word before, not that I can recall offhand.

[classicdrogn]

So Uno has the disadvantage Dark Secret: Respectable Businesswoman? Hee.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[The Wanderer]

Instead of leaving, though, I just stood there, deep in thought.

Since italics seem to be being used to represent his own inner monologue, more or less, shouldn't this part be non-italicized? The rest of the paragraph is inner monologue, but this is narrator-voice describing his actions.

[Bluemage]

Blarg.  The Work Gremlin has been strong today... and the Idea Fairy almost absent. >.<
Very true, The Wanderer.  Already fixed.  This sort of thing happens when I'm posting in a hurry- the formatting is correct in the source file, but I occasionally overlook bits when I reformat it for the forums.
More like Dark Secret: Has A Conscience, combined with Dark Secret: Anything For The Master, but your version is funnier. ^^
Tennie, if you don't mind me asking, what country are you from?  Your writing style reminds me of somebody I know, and I'd be most interested in knowing if I'm right or not.
Rob has the right of it, though I'd point out that 'chatelaine' or 'castellan' typically denote a combined position of responsibility (administrative officer and commander of a military garrison), while 'seneschal' is typically only used for the administrative half of it.  'Majordomo' may even be a more accurate word to use than 'seneschal', but I like the less common of the two slightly better.  I could've also called her a butler, except that that particular term is typically used for male servants, and has a distinctly domestic flavor to it.  I'm rather fond of word meanings, common, archaic, and connotative all, and I tend to use each when it suits me, with no other rhyme or reason.
As for the height issue, I'm not precisely sure.  Approximately 2"-3" shorter than Sein, and visibly less mature.
**********

Today's Testing World Du Jour was a (surprisingly cold) arid wasteland, known to the few who cared by the charming name "Ghren's Folly"- after the ancient dictator who, according to myth, first ordered it colonized. 
The story (which I looked up, being a sucker for history) is that Ghren was the absolute ruler of a rather nasty empire, back in the days before dimensional travel.  His people were involved in a civil war which his side should've won easily... but were somehow managing to lose anyway.  Ghren ordered his astronomers to survey all the nearby star systems, searching for a planet he and his loyalists could escape to, with the intention of rebuilding his empire and returning some day.
Ghren received the report from his astronomers, skimmed through it, and publicly announced the establishment of the new colony in a system-wide broadcast.  Shortly after, he was informed that he'd gotten two of the planets in the report mixed up, and that the planet he'd named in his speech was actually a barely habitable wasteland.
Instead of listening, he had the messenger and the entire astronomy corps executed for treason, and redoubled his commitment to the colony plan.  He made sure his colony ships would have just enough fuel to reach the new world, just to make sure nobody would defy his will.
Ghren of Z'on died five minutes after landing, shot in the back by his own people when they saw their new world.  His people lasted forty years.  His world has grown colder over the millennia, but is no more pleasant, and no more valuable.
In other words, nobody will care if I blow up large parts of it.
[Mal, Air Comet]
"LUFTKOMETEN"
Once Sein gave me the idea, I spent an entire week learning to create my own independent gravitic forces, and another two weeks learning to implement that concept in a useful way.  The next ten days were spent upgrading the Air Cutter into the Air Comet, my new flight spell.
With the Comet cast (I could see the dark aura covering my body, writhing like deep blue flames, so I knew it worked), I focused my thoughts, making sure I had enough grav-mana linked... and went nowhere at all.
Active Momentum Canceller seems to be active, and properly calibrated relative to the planet.  No visible decrease in aura intensity.  Good.  Let's test it.  I attempted to jump, only to be pushed downward the instant I tried to push off the ground.  Note to self- momentum cancellation is finicky while on the ground.  Use for aerial maneuvers only.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Tennie]

what country are you from?

United States (Tennessee is my current place of residence and has been for over a decade now, hence the screen name).  If this friend of yours lives in the same general area then I'd be somewhat surprised (and if it turns out that the two of us actually know each other IRL, then I'd be extremely surprised!).

*Stuff about archaic words and such*

I'll be honest, that was actually some interesting stuff!

As for the height issue, I'm not precisely sure.

That's OK, I was asking so that I could better imagine how you'd look in relation to the other characters.

*Stuff about the history of the most recently visited world*

...Yikes, now that definitely deserved the "folly" title!  At least Alaska, which was once called "Seward's Folly", later proved to actually be quite valuable (what with stuff like gold, oil, commercial fisheries, etc.).

[Bluemage]

In order, the two of you have nothing in common but your writing styles, thank you, you'll know when I get taller than Sein, and this doesn't actually make Kidou Senshi Gundam canon in that 'verse.
After four days off, my muse is back to normal capacity.  I'm relieved.
**********
With a thought, Mal stopped neutralizing my movements.  Now to test the gravity neutralizer.  Another thought, and my aura dimmed slightly.  I jumped as hard as I could, pushing off the ground.
By the time I was fifty feet in the air, I was grinning.  No way I could jump fifty feet.  I'd say the gravity neutralizer is working.  I brought the momentum canceller back up, and felt it push me downwards as I (relatively slowly) came to a halt in midair.  Once I'd stopped completely, I ran through a few weapon kata, taking note of when the canceller worked, when it inhibited movement I wanted to make, and when it allowed side effects I didn't.
Right.  Midair performance is buggy, but promising.  Good enough to troubleshoot, instead of starting from scratch.  What about movement?
The familiar vacuum effect from the Air Cutter formed in front of me, and I screamed through the air at ridiculous speed for a few seconds, before shutting it back down.  I came to a stop panting, shaking slightly from the experience.  Right, backup propulsion works... though I don't ever want to use it again.  Let's see about the gravity drive.
Half a second later, I was flying back to my starting point.  Backwards.  This looks like it's working, too... and nearly as quickly as the Air Cutter, too!  Let's call that another success.  As I reached my target point, I felt the pull of gravity on my back switch to a push for an instant, canceling the last of my momentum, and then cut out entirely.  Now I just have to test normal propulsion.  Let's try dodging with it.
After the disconcerting experience I'd had with flight last mission, I hit the books a bit more- this time, on basic flight theory.  From what little I gathered (since I wasn't so much reading the book as skimming it for ideas and concepts), mages typically learn a set of three different aerial maneuvering spells, and switch between them based on situation.
Levitation was the simplest of the three- basically, creating a magic circle that one could stand on, in a fixed position in midair, and landing on it.  It's sort of the base skill for aerial mages, in that you can't really perform any high-power attacks without a place to stand.  The next level is high-speed movement; getting from one place to another fast enough that you can't be seen doing it.  HSM has a lot of the elements of a true flight spell, just stripped down and overpowered- perfect for the neophyte aerial mage to get experience with.
It was the third spell, true flight, that I had the most interest in.  It's not as standard as DT, but everybody seems to use the same basic mechanics... and honestly, they're pretty good.  The standard flight spell looks a lot like a vectored-thrust fusion torch probably would, and works much the same way.  Once I saw that, I knew what I had to do.
When I decided to dodge to one side, some of the mana built up around my jacket pooled on my left side.  When there was enough of it in one place (a tenth of a second or so after giving the command), it went flying into the air, the dark blue of my power fading as it left my spell.
The end result?  I was about twenty feet to the right of my previous position, nursing a light bruise all across my left side.
...I think I was missing something, there.  That shouldn't have hurt.  Does it do that when I fly forward, the way most mages do?After a short burst of head-forward flight, consciously trying to do it the way a typical mage would, I had my answer.  Yes.  Definitely yes MY ACHING LEGS!  No more conventional flight- I'm clearly missing SOMETHING there.  Gotta hit the books on that one when I get back to base.For now, let's get some of that old-fashioned ultraviolence in.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Jorlem]

Can you combo the Air Cutter with the gravity drive propulsion?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[Bluemage]

Nope.  In-universe, I didn't think to do that, as I was sort of trying to avoid using the Cutter effect to get around when I wrote the Comet.
Out of universe, I didn't think to do that because the narrative purpose of the Cutter was basically 'Baby's First Flight Spell'.  I mean, it pulls me along by making a vacuum in front of me, and having me perpetually fall into it!  It's a dumb idea in every way I can think of right now, and probably a few others I can't.
As for why I implemented said dumb idea?  Purposeful inefficiency, a lack of better ideas at the time, and a fascination with doing things in unconventional ways.  If I'd had the capacity and skill to fly by using a Futurama-style 'move the rest of the universe around me'-type effect, I probably would've, just for the heck of it.
That does give me a rather good idea, which I will be shamefully stealing for Flight Spell 3.0- Fly Harder.
**********
 
I stood in midair, panting heavily.  So that's what it feels like to go all out. 
There's got to be something wrong with my spell designs, though.  I shouldn't have this much waste heat to deal with.  At least they blow things up well enough.
Below me lay a few square miles of wasteland.  Admittedly, it was basically a wasteland (of the barren, rocky sort) before I showed up; now it looked more like ground zero of a bombing run.  Craters of all sizes littered the ground level, breaking up what was once a fairly flat desert.  The cliffs were peppered with holes from shooting spells, some of them hidden behind the rubble that was once the top half of the mountain above.  A nearby butte still stood, but was now a perfectly rectangular prism- the ground all around it bore the marks of high-powered beam spells.
Surveying the damage, I nodded, satisfied with my work.  And it only took a bit over thirty minutes to do.  Not bad.  Could be better, of course- bigger spells, less toying around, more efficient patterns, and a bit more training- but good.
Time to go back, crunch numbers, run some sims, and train myself into the friggin' ground.  Next time, I should be able to do this in 20 minutes.
>GRUMBLE<
...oh, and get some food.  I'd forgotten how many calories high-power casting was going to take.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bluemage]

I'd like to apologize in advance for this bit.  It's far, far too infodump-y, and it makes me wonder what past-me was doing that left him so uninspired. 
There are better ways I could've delivered all that info, or at least the most important bits of it... like a training battle, with Numbers.  Readers love battles. ^^
**********
Entry 41 (Day 748)
I've been busy.  Very busy.
Since my last entry, I've made some significant revisions to every single spell I have.
Let me repeat that.  EVERY.  SINGLE.  SPELL.  Even with how new I am to this whole 'mage' business, that's a lot of work.
I started with my flight spell.  From an engineering standpoint, Air Cutter is fairly decent.  It was designed to do one thing- drag me along in any direction I chose- and it does that one thing quite well.  The spell is reliable, simple enough to control, and quite servicable.  The problem is that it isn't what I need.
In that fight on P3J-992, I found myself in need of a whole laundry list of capabilities Air Cutter didn't have.  True levitation, lateral movement, high-speed dodging, improved visibility, improved flight control... the list just goes on and on.  The first version of Air Comet could do all of that, but it was too complicated, too inefficient, and had half a dozen major bugs in it.  I basically had to rewrite it from scratch... again.
I'd used three different shooting spells at P3J-992, all of them built off the same basic mechanics to some degree or another.  From what I've seen in Scaglietti's spell archive, those mechanics had three or four glaring mistakes in them, all of which I've since figured out ways to avoid... to some degree or another.  I'm still working on finding the most elegant solutions, but my off-the-cuff solutions have increased efficiency by about 8%, and decreased heat buildup by a solid 14%.
Magic Missile had to be mostly rewritten.  The old version couldn't handle less than six or more than thirty-two missiles per casting- I always ended up making either more than I needed, or not enough to really blanket an area.  That's been fixed.  Arcane Blast had too much of a delay between reaching the target point and exploding.  Also fixed... or at least improved. 
Arcane Bolt was kind of a mixed bag.  It was supposed to be the equivalent of a Buster-type bombardment spell, but I managed to completely misunderstand what I was aiming for.  I created a continuous beam spell, when I should've made a pulsed beam.  Both of them have their benefits and their drawbacks- pulsed beams are better at penetrating armor, but can't be swept around for area damage like a constant beam- so that worked out.
Anyway, not only did I have to redesign each of my spells from the ground up to fit what I needed and work better, but I also had to revamp each and every variation of each of my handful of spells.  I have a lot of spell variants.  See where this is going?
Oh, and I had to develop a pulsed-beam long-range bombardment spell, but that's neither here nor there.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[classicdrogn]

It looks fine to me - if it stretched on too long the info-dump would get dry and boring, but given the journal format this is realistic and pretty much just setting up for the next time there is a fight - "Yes, I do have new and revised spells, it's not just pulled out of my ass I mentioned having gone over them back here." Basically, it's like saying the character stopped in at an estate sale and bought an old steamer trunk with a jammed lock - now you have justification to pull whatever fun things you like out of the box, while still having been a plausible newcomer to spell creation at first.

I do hope at least one of the new spells is a pudding grenade, using spatial compression to hold 30 cubic feet (3x3x3.33 as a cuboid) of custard in a hand-grenade sized package, keyed to destabilize and expand when the container bubble is disrupted by sufficient force. Because a) training tool, and b) lols.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Bob Schroeck]

Because a) training tool, and b) lols.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bluemage]

Thanks.  The information does serve a useful narrative purpose- I was just worried about the way it was presented.
If I did something like a pudding grenade, it'd be more of a one-off than an actual spell, on account of local magic not really doing conjuration.  I'd have to track down and purchase the contents, load the spell, and then take it into battle.  Now, if I had Potterverse magic, well, you know how some of their spells require you to name what you want them to target?  I'd have a goop grenade spell designed like that.  Probably start with pudding flavors, and expand from there to jello, mud, oobleck, flubber, honey (and learn how to conjure insect swarms and/or transfigure bears), superglue, and tanning lotion.
**********
Entry 42 (Day 749)
Had to break the status update into two, on account of the length.
Working with the Numbers is, honestly, a lot better than I'd imagined at first.  They're a lot more pleasant now than they were then.  I suspect it's the relative calm period we're going through right now- without a major offensive in the works, they have time to relax... as much as they ever do.
Uno is pretty much what my first impressions of her suggested- a loyal follower.  She's very much a servant, in the 'expert valet' sense; her own person, capable of disagreeing with her master, but loyal enough to put his ends before her own.  Actually, that's not quite right.  Loyal enough that his ends are her ends.  Very calm, very rational- not the chattiest of people, but that suits me well enough.  We work well together, but that's about it.
Tre... doesn't change much.  She's always been about four parts seriousness and one part emotion.  I've found that her emotions are both deeper and more varied than they seemed at first glance... that, and I can really relate to feeling something, not being entirely sure what it is you're feeling, and having no clue how to express it on top of that.  It's surprisingly endearing, at least now that I'm looking in on it from the outside.
Cinque was a pleasant surprise.  I'd expected her to be less personable than she is.  I knew family was a big deal with her- maybe I just didn't factor in the effects of me actually BEING family?  Anyway, I'm going to see if I can loosen her up a bit, to the point where she can fit into civvie society.
Heh.  If I can manage that, I'll have the best little sister ever.
Speaking of little sisters, I've gotta say I like Sein.  She's just fun, you know?  Well, not just fun.  Smart, too- though you'd be forgiven for not noticing it right off.  There are so few cheerful smart people in the worlds that it's hard to associate the two.  Still, it's nice to have somebody who a) is open with their emotions, and b) isn't a few Numbers short of a team.
Thing is, I know the activation order.  Quattro comes next... and it's about the right time for her to wake up.  This is going to suck.  It's going to suck royally, and worse yet, it'll continue to suck for years to come.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Tennie]

If I did something like a pudding grenade, it'd be more of a one-off than an actual spell, on account of local magic not really doing conjuration.  I'd have to track down and purchase the contents, load the spell, and then take it into battle.  Now, if I had Potterverse magic, well, you know how some of their spells require you to name what you want them to target?  I'd have a goop grenade spell designed like that.  Probably start with pudding flavors, and expand from there to jello, mud, oobleck, flubber, honey (and learn how to conjure insect swarms and/or transfigure bears), superglue, and tanning lotion.

If I were you I'd also want to add in several different types of slick and slippery materials in there.  It'd be kinda hard to cast spells when you're too busy trying--and failing--to keep your own footing, am I right?

a few Numbers short of a team

I'll admit, I got a good chuckle out of that one!

Quattro comes next... and it's about the right time for her to wake up.  This is going to suck.  It's going to suck royally, and worse yet, it'll continue to suck for years to come.

Well, there may be some slight hope for you.  Perhaps you could end up changing Quattro's personality...or perhaps not.  Only time--and some effort on your part--will tell the tale...

[classicdrogn]

As long as she never uses that Dark Helmet hairstyle I'll be happy, though cuter glasses wouldn't hurt. I prescribe preemptive trips outside for ice cream and to feed ducks at a park, because who can be uptight and evil with a cone of chocolate-drizzled deliciousness to eat before it gets on your hands? And, well, cute little duckies. Enough said.

ETA: Doesn't Vita conjure the metal balls for Schwalbe Fliegen? Or are they just stored by her Device to be used at need? (Where does she get them, in that case? It's not like fist sized metal balls are commonly available on Earth...) Whichever is the case, I'm sure it would also work for Custard-tillery.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Bluemage]

All the effort, Tennie.  I'm the one telling the tale, right? ^^
Look, CD!  It's a bag... and it's mixed!
I have plans, and they probably aren't going to be what most of you (QUIET, readers-who-keep-visiting-my-head!) will suspect.
FAKE EDIT:  Yes.  Yes, she does conjure solid, iron-esque spheres... but does anybody else ever do it?  Maybe anybody who isn't an ancient Belkan construct?
I'm of the opinion that conjuration is (unless a reader can show me the fault in my assumption) a Belkan magic trick (heh), making it a) difficult to learn, and b) incompatible with both Malleus and my own casting skills.  The doctor might have the information on how to do it.  There's a chance the Saint Church would.  Hayate might well be able to look it up, but that would require me to meet up with her, convince her to give me the info, and then have a decent excuse to give the doctor afterward.  My natural paranoia says no to that.
Asking Vita herself has all the same risks as asking Hayate, minus the 'why didn't you bring back the ancient Belkan relic of power' question, plus the natural risks of attempting to convince Vita to do something... which are considerable, and full of hammers.
**********

So there I was in the lab, standing next to with everybody else in the dark again.  We were all waiting in our own fashions- Tre standing at attention, Cinque waiting patiently, and Sein bouncing up and down slightly, glancing at the door every so often.
As for me, I was dealing with the wait in my own particular way.This is it.  The big one.  The one we've all been WANTING NOT TO HAPPEN OHGODS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH QUATTRO NOW MAKE IT STOP
Yep.  My own particular way.  
After a bit of that, I managed to mentally slap myself upside the metaphorical head with an allegorical trout, and get to scheming.Okay, so I know Quattro.  She's not complex.
Quattro is, at heart, what happens when you make a sadist too weak to harm others physically, and smart enough that she doesn't have to.  She's smart, she's observant, and she'll use any and every weakness she can find to make everybody around her (with the exception of the doctor) suffer.  In short, a clever bully- and I know the trick to dealing with bullies.
If anything, behavioral or emotional, that Quattro gets off of me WILL be used against me, either as a weakness to exploit or a strength to undermine, the trick to surviving her is to go full Beefeater.  Give her nothing to work with.  No opinions, no emotional responses, no behaviors outside of what's necessary to defeat the enemy- nothing.  If I have to show her some aspect of personality, it should be faked.  Hide the buttons I have, and let her push the ones that don't do anything.
It's not going to be fun, but I've been that being for over a decade before.  I can do it again.  At least my plans will get me out of her range often enough- I can relax a bit outside the base.
I would've gone on in that vein for some time, but that was when I heard the door to the next room open.  I can hear two distinct strides.  She's here, and Uno's with her.
When I looked up at the door, every thought I had going came to a screeching halt, all at once.  It was all I could do to keep the surprise off my face.  Right, that's Uno as expected, and there's...
 BWAH?!  THE HECK?
The cyborg next to Uno was clearly the same smug snake I'd watched Nanoha befriend so many times back at home.  Same face, same hair color, same apparent age... but everything else was worryingly different.
This wasn't Fake Quattro.  There were no silly glasses, no funky mutant side-pigtails... and best of all, not a trace of oversaccharine fake cutesiness.  On the other hand, it wasn't True Quattro either.  The Quattro in front of me had her hair in a bob cut, almost reaching her shoulders.  She had no cape, either- just the standard Number bodysuit.
The physical alterations were one thing, but her behavior?  That was what really shocked me.  This Quattro wasn't the clownish act I was used to, nor was she the smug, self-assured psychopath who put on the act to begin with.  If I had to describe the way she looked, how she moved... I'd have to call it hesitant.  Maybe even scared.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[robkelk]

Ah - you're treating canon-Quattro's sadism as a reaction to how she was treated early on?

Have Imma be the gentleman he so often is, and Quattro will react to that and develop in ways completely different from canon - which means the rest of us will have no idea how the story's going to proceed, except in the broadest brush-strokes. Well played.

(Oh, and what do you mean, "silly glasses"?)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Tennie]

...Oh boy, if Quattro hadn't always been the sadist that we know and love (to hate, anyway), then I wonder what it was that made her so.  At least, this time around you're there to change things completely.  This'll have some interesting repercussions by the time that 0075 rolls around...

In any case, I honestly can't wait to see what you have in store now!

[Jorlem]

Regarding the conjuration thing, how is that, in practice, different from a 'hard light' holodeck style hologram of the substance in question? Also, it might be worth considering that most people don't use combat conjuration because of the disinclination towards mass-based weaponry, not because the techniques are lost.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[classicdrogn]

o_o This is Imma with Flat-What face

But yay, no uncanny hair!

Now, Operation: Good Girls Get Ice Cream must begin, to provide systematic positive reinforcement of desired behaviors as opposed to becoming a witch with a capital B.

What was Quattro's special Cutie Circuit skill anyway? Was she illusions-girl?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[robkelk]

What was Quattro's special Cutie Circuit skill anyway? Was she illusions-girl?

Yes, she had the Silver Cloak.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bluemage]

So before I respondify, I'd like to run something past you guys.  One of the things I don't feel I handled properly in the DW draft is my power level- more precisely, the minimum power draw limit.  What I was trying to do was to present a meaningful limitation on my abilities, by a) making me expend more power per spell than my opposition, and b) rendering subtlety difficult, if not impossible.  I don't think I managed it.
The point was to set my minimum possible power level high enough to be significant overkill for most situations, but not so high that I couldn't get things done.  Too high to make most basic spells, up to and including a typical flight spell- work.  High enough that a working spell produces worrying amounts of overkill- like, "sure I can take a shooting spell and make four bullets with it, but they're going to be the size of your chest' levels of overkill.  Part of the problem is that I don't have a real sense of where my limits are, both at the top and bottom ends.
DW-Magic Missile, version 1, is literally incapable of producing any less than six bullets, each the size of one of Nanoha's typical shots.  Is that too much?  Too little?  V1 topped out at 32 shots in a volley.  This feels too low.
I suppose what I'm asking is how ranks scale in the 'verse.  If an A-rank power expenditure has a value of 1.0, what rating does an AA-rank expenditure have?  Here's what I know so far:
SSS: Theoretical maximum power, possibly achieved by Saint Kings only.  Demi-godly, if not divine.SS: Living tactical nuke (10-100 kiloton explosive capacity).  Hayate (or Presea Testarossa) at full blast.S:  High-level mage.AAA:AA:A: My minimum power output.  Overkill for one-on-one combat, except against Aces, preferably in aerial battles in evacuated areas.
Not included in this scale are the partial ranks.  A+ and AA- are different rankings in this system, and there should be a difference between them.
At the moment, I think each letter you go up the scale should mean more than the last.  The jump from AA to AAA is bigger than the jump from A to AA, and the jump to S is bigger still.  Going from S to SS should be a dramatic, if not insane, jump- this fits with how there are only two SS-rank mages (Vivio might be anywhere from AA to SSS, depending on when in the timeline you look at, whether or not you count Relic-induced juicing, and canon fiat) known.
Rob:  Sort of.  The sadism is a reaction, yes, to something that hasn't happened yet.  It might be possible, assuming a relatively normal person in place of me... but that would be a major divergence.  I'm writing *me* here, not a properly socialized human being, and it's about bloody time for something other than 'LOL Imma just makes friends w/ all teh Numbarz'.  I've had it too easy.  As for the glasses, they're a bit too big for her face, and go opaque too easily- part of her disguise, don'tcha know.
Tennie:  That would be telling.  If you want to know, look up Canon!Quattro's history.
Jorlem:  We've talked about the holodeck part, but I want to reiterate.  The mass weapon point is made of Good Idea, and I will most likely steal it.  Thanks again.
CD:  ...'special Cutie Circuit skill'...?
o_o
Anyway, funny you should mention it.  Quattro didn't start out with an IS.  Food for thought.
**********
I managed to get my thoughts back on track before she and Uno got across the room.  ...okay, this wasn't what I was expecting.  Different Quattro is different... but is she really?
The way I see it, there are two possibilities here.  One, this Quattro is just as much a psychopath as the canon one, and she just chose a different disguise for it this time around.  Two, she's not crazy, and this is her real self.
In the absence of any real data, the safest approach is to stay the course, and assume the worst.  If I do that and this really isn't an act, then I risk not forging enough of a bond when the time comes.  What should I do?At this point, the two of them had reached our end of the room.  By this point, the doctor had lost interest in the whole discussion; instead of his overdramatic spiel, Uno made the introductions, motioning to each of us in turn.  "Everyone, this is Quattro, our newest sister.  Quattro, meet Tre, Imma, Cinque, and Sein."
Everybody else moved in close to Quattro to greet her.  There were introductions, attempts at conversation, an attempted Sein-bearhug (stopped in time by Tre, thankfully)... all the sort of things I expected my new 'family' to do.
The only difference was that I wasn't part of it.  I was still standing in the same spot as before, frantically trying to decide whether to block her off or let her in.
After a good minute of this, I quietly snuck out the door, retreated to the containment room, and fired up the practice range.  At the time, I wasn't really thinking in words- I just felt an overpowering need to blow something up, wear myself out, go unconscious, and worry about my next move in the morning.

Entry 43 (Day 750)
What was that.  WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!
I think I just did something monumentally stupid.  Long story short?  Quattro's not what I expected.  She's not acting like a psycho, she's not acting like a clown- if anything, she's closer to a nervous, introverted schoolgirl than the deceptive sadist I was expecting.
When I noticed this at the usual new sister meet-and-greet, what did I do?  Nothing smart.  The smart move would've been to lie like a rug, pretend to be all excited, and watch her like a hawk.  The less smart move would've been not to engage- to just acknowledge her, and keep quiet.  Oh, and watch her like a hawk.
Instead I froze up.  I freaking froze up like an idiot... and then I ran.  Spent the evening blowing up stuff until I couldn't even stand.
What was I thinking?
So Quattro wasn't who I'd expected.  That shouldn't have thrown me for a loop like that.  I've known for years that no plan survives contact with reality without a few changes- why should this one be any different?
If anything, this is a great opportunity for me.  There's a non-zero chance that this Quattro isn't actually the psycho I expected.  If that's the case, I could've had one less enemy to deal with... and one more sister to stand by my side.
...that's the real issue, isn't it?  Family.  If she's faking, she's a danger, and I need to steer clear.  If she's honest, she's family, and I need to treat her like it.
If I treat her like family and she isn't, I open myself to betrayal.  If I treat her like the Quattro I know and she isn't, I lose a potential ally, friend, and sister... and run the risk of helping make her into what I fear.  It all boils down to one question: can I let her in?  Can I trust this new Quattro, knowing that she may very well use that trust to hurt me?
Dangit, I've always sucked at trusting new people like this.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[classicdrogn]

I can't really help you with the power level thing, not having followed essentially any MSLN after I finished watching S - and honestly, I tend strongly toward the munchkin side of the force when it comes to sentoku-ryo. I mean, I got bored ... wait, I lost a day? Damn, two days ago then, and had the vague notion of doing a Dungeon Crawl fic so I started building a Mekton character, it being the system I know best.

Then I got just a taaad bit into the project-obsession zone (see above, though doing it when I had a high-ish fever from a chest cold likely has something to do with that) and what I ended up with is a human-sized android whose chassis costs as much as a small starship (long rant about build snipped) and not because I suck at optimizing without a big budget, one of the accessories is a gravbike with a price tag between a mass market pickup truck and sports car and which flies at escape velocity. Granted, you need an android, space suit, or personal shield rated for reentry to use it, but that's still 25,000mph and change, for the price of an ammo clip for your standard mook mech gunpod.

And... I have completely lost the point, like Jail pondering the pretty shiny non-euclidean gravity engine.

(Goes back, rereads post) Nope, gone. Anyway, yeah, kind of dropped the ball on the new sister, there. Since if she's evil and thinks you distrust her you're screwed, and if she isn't and you do distrust her you're possibly even more screwed, best to get cracking on your apology and so on. Given that Imma's status of knowing about a possible future is known to Jail & co., just having been shocked at how different she was from what Imma expected would probably do as long as it was followed by the assertion that he likes this Quattro much more.

Honestly, even if the only change is visual design, ten thousand percent improvement. Could hit twenty with a long Lara Croft braid.

(And you thought you were safe from braiding hair when the resleeving didn't Qwaar you! Keep dreaming, onii-san!)

Her being a blank-board as far as Cutie Circuits go (HAHAHA! Now I shall NEVER stop using that description!) is interesting - could she end up with something different, if Imma being there means they can swipe some ancient relic, gadget, or gizmo that was either successfully defended or just not found the first time? I'm not sure what that might be - most of the other cool single-effect powers are covered or near enough by the rest of the Numbers, and wide scale illusions are pretty good anyway. Maybe some low-grade time hax, like being able to Time Stop/Super-Haste for a (subjective) second or two as a dodge action - that would be cool and useful but not overpoweringly so, and completely different from her canon ability.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows