Thinko fixed. Thanks for that, CD.
As for elemental magic, you've given me a few good ideas- both for spells I could create, and for scenes to use them in. Did you consider that the whole 'takes so much power otherwise' is spell inefficiency (the part of the spell that makes elemental mana being remarkably wasteful), and therefore happens after I link mana? Food for thought.
As for familiarchat... wow. I did not think of that. Like, at all.
The very concept of making a familiar never even entered my mind- and I'm talking Author-Me, here. It generally doesn't, though. I'm that guy who plays a D&D wizard and never picks up Find Familiar, or picks up a Diablo 2 Necromancer for the bone spells. Call it a mental block.
You're very right that it'd be a smart move- I have mana to burn, and the subtlety value of being able to power another being without my magical limitations would be considerable. It's also unlikely to happen. First, I wouldn't think of it myself (as can be assumed by the fact I didn't think of it), and I don't see Jail bringing up the idea. Second, IC-me is going to either be against the idea of creating a sapient being that's dependent on his goodwill to survive, or in the mental trap of 'summoned ally = another unit to micromanage' that playing far too many video games have given me. Maybe both. Third, OOC-me has NO IDEA what familiar to make (I'm not a big fan of most animals, and insects are right out. I'd probably learn Starlight Breaker just to use it on my own familiar, if it were a spider.), which means IC-me would probably have a hard time with that. Fourth, the author feels he wouldn't be able to do a new character justice.
Consider it a mistake. I'm going to be making a number of those.
**********
Entry 26 (Day 156)
Happy New Year to me! As of about eighteen hours ago, year 0059 of the New Calendar ended, and 0060 began. From what I've been able to tell, this means it should be 2014 back home.
...dangit, I shouldn't have done that comparison. Now I miss my old life again.
I've been rather too busy to think about said life as of late. Of the last five and a half weeks, I spent three of them entirely on developing my first truly useful spell to a combat-capable level. It's nowhere near combat-effective, and definitely not combat-winning, but it works well enough for training and development purposes.
Speaking of training, guess where the rest of my time has gone? Hint: not where you think.
The doors opened with a hiss of hydraulics. The very fact that I could hear it told me that this was a much tougher door than most around here; most of the doors around the lab complex actually don't make hydraulic noises. They have noisemakers which sound almost, but not exactly, like door actuators. The fact that this one didn't need a noisemaker meant that this was a special door, which suggested that I was entering a special room... and the lack of anything inside it suggested another containment room. Goody. Wonder what it's going to be today?
Two steps into the room, my question was answered.
Well, ain't that a kick in the head, I thought to myself, as I picked myself back up off the ground. "What in the ever-shifting layers of the Abyss WAS THAT FOR?!"
All I got for my trouble was another painful blow- this one to the small of my back- and the cold voice of Tre in what I'd dubbed Full Mission Mode. "You are slow." I tried to get up, only to turn my impromptu pushup into a sideways roll, shuddering slightly as a fist hit the ground below where my head had been. "You are clumsy." As soon as I came out of the roll, awkwardly sitting up, she was on me again, forcing me to fall to one side to dodge a nasty-looking kick.
I managed to bounce myself up off the ground before Tre got back over to me. Even got the angle right- by the time I was standing up, I was looking right at her. Not much time before she gets over here.
[Mal? Engage Jacket.]
[ENGAGING.]
By the time my barrier jacket finished forming, the girl was no longer in sight.
WHAM!
If the power behind that blow was any indication, she'd tried to kick me in the back. Glad my barrier got up first; that one probably would've hurt a lot. This time, I didn't even have to stand up; Tre's kick had just forced me to stagger forward a few steps. I whirled back around, a blue circle already drawing itself in front of my left hand-
"IS Activate: Ride Impulse."
-only to stop in my tracks, Tre's left arm pulling my chin back. Her right hand held a violet energy blade, part of her IS, to my exposed throat.
"But you can be taught." The blade went out, and she pulled her arms back, walking around to stand in front of me while I gasped for air. "That is why we are here. Starting today, you will report to Containment Room B," she waved a hand around, indicating the room around us, "every day at 0800. Training will last until 1400."
She paused, thinking for a second. "It would be wise for you to bring a meal to future sessions. Our kind consume calories faster than normal humans, and you will need the energy." She paused again. "You have already been given knowledge of basic unarmed combat. Dismiss your Device, retain your barrier jacket, and prepare yourself!"
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
As for elemental magic, you've given me a few good ideas- both for spells I could create, and for scenes to use them in. Did you consider that the whole 'takes so much power otherwise' is spell inefficiency (the part of the spell that makes elemental mana being remarkably wasteful), and therefore happens after I link mana? Food for thought.
As for familiarchat... wow. I did not think of that. Like, at all.
The very concept of making a familiar never even entered my mind- and I'm talking Author-Me, here. It generally doesn't, though. I'm that guy who plays a D&D wizard and never picks up Find Familiar, or picks up a Diablo 2 Necromancer for the bone spells. Call it a mental block.
You're very right that it'd be a smart move- I have mana to burn, and the subtlety value of being able to power another being without my magical limitations would be considerable. It's also unlikely to happen. First, I wouldn't think of it myself (as can be assumed by the fact I didn't think of it), and I don't see Jail bringing up the idea. Second, IC-me is going to either be against the idea of creating a sapient being that's dependent on his goodwill to survive, or in the mental trap of 'summoned ally = another unit to micromanage' that playing far too many video games have given me. Maybe both. Third, OOC-me has NO IDEA what familiar to make (I'm not a big fan of most animals, and insects are right out. I'd probably learn Starlight Breaker just to use it on my own familiar, if it were a spider.), which means IC-me would probably have a hard time with that. Fourth, the author feels he wouldn't be able to do a new character justice.
Consider it a mistake. I'm going to be making a number of those.
**********
Entry 26 (Day 156)
Happy New Year to me! As of about eighteen hours ago, year 0059 of the New Calendar ended, and 0060 began. From what I've been able to tell, this means it should be 2014 back home.
...dangit, I shouldn't have done that comparison. Now I miss my old life again.
I've been rather too busy to think about said life as of late. Of the last five and a half weeks, I spent three of them entirely on developing my first truly useful spell to a combat-capable level. It's nowhere near combat-effective, and definitely not combat-winning, but it works well enough for training and development purposes.
Speaking of training, guess where the rest of my time has gone? Hint: not where you think.
The doors opened with a hiss of hydraulics. The very fact that I could hear it told me that this was a much tougher door than most around here; most of the doors around the lab complex actually don't make hydraulic noises. They have noisemakers which sound almost, but not exactly, like door actuators. The fact that this one didn't need a noisemaker meant that this was a special door, which suggested that I was entering a special room... and the lack of anything inside it suggested another containment room. Goody. Wonder what it's going to be today?
Two steps into the room, my question was answered.
Well, ain't that a kick in the head, I thought to myself, as I picked myself back up off the ground. "What in the ever-shifting layers of the Abyss WAS THAT FOR?!"
All I got for my trouble was another painful blow- this one to the small of my back- and the cold voice of Tre in what I'd dubbed Full Mission Mode. "You are slow." I tried to get up, only to turn my impromptu pushup into a sideways roll, shuddering slightly as a fist hit the ground below where my head had been. "You are clumsy." As soon as I came out of the roll, awkwardly sitting up, she was on me again, forcing me to fall to one side to dodge a nasty-looking kick.
I managed to bounce myself up off the ground before Tre got back over to me. Even got the angle right- by the time I was standing up, I was looking right at her. Not much time before she gets over here.
[Mal? Engage Jacket.]
[ENGAGING.]
By the time my barrier jacket finished forming, the girl was no longer in sight.
WHAM!
If the power behind that blow was any indication, she'd tried to kick me in the back. Glad my barrier got up first; that one probably would've hurt a lot. This time, I didn't even have to stand up; Tre's kick had just forced me to stagger forward a few steps. I whirled back around, a blue circle already drawing itself in front of my left hand-
"IS Activate: Ride Impulse."
-only to stop in my tracks, Tre's left arm pulling my chin back. Her right hand held a violet energy blade, part of her IS, to my exposed throat.
"But you can be taught." The blade went out, and she pulled her arms back, walking around to stand in front of me while I gasped for air. "That is why we are here. Starting today, you will report to Containment Room B," she waved a hand around, indicating the room around us, "every day at 0800. Training will last until 1400."
She paused, thinking for a second. "It would be wise for you to bring a meal to future sessions. Our kind consume calories faster than normal humans, and you will need the energy." She paused again. "You have already been given knowledge of basic unarmed combat. Dismiss your Device, retain your barrier jacket, and prepare yourself!"
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.