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.
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.