3rd Circuit, Video [UNSEELIE LOCKED]

[zerotohiro]

[Loki and Hiro have taken a small room in Diasbaile, mostly barren save for the wooden cabinets that seem to blend into the background. Loki would have done this himself, but there was insistence on Hiro's part of aiding in the delivery of the very, very bad news. The focus is on the two of them, and Loki speaks first.]

Hello.

This is a message of the emergency broadcast system. As you can see, our sirens are down for the moment, but I assure you that the news is none less dire.

[Loki's voice drops to something uncharacteristically serious.]

Ah, yes. So—listen up, Unseelie.

[Hiro's sitting almost a little too close to Loki, face more ashen than anyone in their court has ever seen. It's a reality they have to face and while he'd been hoping Loki would find some more information in his research, they're running out of time.]

Some of you had a vision at the beginning of August. A dream about fire and machines with shards for eyes. I didn't have the vision myself, Loki did…but we can both confirm these are real. These things are being created now and they are coming. Monsters that run on shards and blood. But there are some things you guys don't know yet.

[When Hiro stops, Loki barely glances down before he picks up without missing a beat, as if he's giving him a moment to collect himself. Loki looks perturbed at the recollection of the golems, but not nearly as pale as Hiro.]

Our dear friends the dwarves have crafted mechanical monsters, forged from melted metal and living shards. These mecha-beasts are brought to live with blood magic and runes. Not your basic run-of-the-mill runes, not even my fancy-smancy "stay out of my room" runes, but hundreds of them in intricate designs—sorcery that's very possibly lost to antiquity—all working together to bring them to life.

And if that isn't nightmare material, these large, metal machinations have keen senses when it comes to shardbearers, even those that find means of hiding themselves, if you get my drift.

There are hundreds, even thousands of them, with no exaggeration.

[The longer they stay on camera, the more Hiro finds himself shrinking into his sweater. Loki delivering the brunt of the bad news helps, but dredging up the memories is more than mildly horrifying. There's one key factor though that they've neglected to mention.]

We don't know when they're coming, but judging by the amount of time between the last vision and its turnaround to coming true, it's soon. Really, really soon. We don't know when they're coming and we don't know the full extent of what they can do or why they're being unleashed.

[A pause.] Ideas. We need ideas on how we can combat these things and how to keep everybody safe. Start using your brains and focus on what's really important here.

[The important thing, he thinks, is that this war? It's much, much bigger now than just Seelie vs. Unseelie. It's now about just staying alive.]

I would suggest highly against approaching them… [Loki glances at Hiro.] …As I’m certain we’ll offend them somehow.

[Considering the fact that there are other things…he can agree with that.] …right. Defense ideas then. Lay 'em out. [A beat. And then:] Privately, if you would. Doesn't matter if they're coming for all of us…this is still a war.

[And he sure does know that there are certain devices generated by a certain witch that can see this broadcast. He had agreed that the Seelie should know what's coming. Doesn't mean they should be privy to everything else, too.]

Not exactly how I pictured life in a giant robot series, hm?

[Though that’s meant more for Hiro. They have some questions to answer, and Hiro needs a little bit of a perk up.]

[Hiro at least gives a small grin in response, but says nothing else. Definitely Q&A time.]

[ooc: As a note! Most threads will be answered by Hiro, but he may call on Loki for assistance. Additionally, Hiro is aware Hermione's compasses can see posts on both networks so those with compasses are capable of seeing this post. They just won't be able to see the threads in this post. Have fun guys o/]

Comments

[ragnarock]

And I don't think you get that I piloted giant robots, fought giant robots, and blew giant robots back to dust. I have a damn good idea what you're talking about.

[ Overconfidence is her weakness. Er. One of her weaknesses. ]

[zerotohiro]

My best friend back home was a giant robot. I built bots, I built armor so that Baymax could fly and we fought my own creations. That doesn't mean that I think it's a good idea to go after these without a really, really solid strategy. If at all.

[ragnarock]

Maybe you did good building things at home and maybe you did good finding out about robot attackers here. But if you're just going to take potshots at my ideas without pitching your own, we don't have a lot to talk about.

[selfimage]

[ Loki rolls his head over his shoulder to look at her thoughtfully. this was already a lot for Hiro, and he didn't mind stepping in on occasion. ]

I'd say less robot, moooore golem. Something produced of blood and little bitty-bits of a much sought-over sorcerous gem.

Erm, actually ... have you activated your shard yet?

[ragnarock]

[ Ange's bullying hurr you're not doing anything right at this moment wasn't remotely fair to Hiro or a fair reading of the conversation, anyhow. ]

What?

[ UTTER BLANKNESS ]

[zerotohiro]

[Thank you, Loki, for having his back. He might let Loki drive this conversation for a little longer but Ange's utter surprise is a little funny in the face of grimness.]

Is that a "what" like you don't know what golems are, or a "what" you don't know about activating your shard?

[ragnarock]

The second one.

[ Okay also the first one. But she thinks she can put together a mental image of a golem in her head -- like an unholy cross between a Paramail and one of the larger classes of dragons. On the other hand, shard activation means nothing to her. What, the things don't come turned on? Why the hell not? ]

[selfimage]

Your shard is what brings you to this world. It's the how, if you get the drift. The how in many things ...

Erm, well, in this case it's the how these terrifying blood and metal monsters will be finding you. Shards. Everything boils back to shards.

[ he taps the center of his sternum, his eyes still on her. ]

And I don't doubt that's what they're after. That means you, as a shardbearer, are a sitting duck, even with charms and what-not to try and hide it. They can sense the signatures.

If you want to fight, you have to fight fire against fire. Shards against shards. Blood against blood. Sacrifice against sacrifice. Now, two of those options don't sound all that great, eh?

[ragnarock]

... I know what shards are, smartass. It's "shard activating" I haven't heard about.

[selfimage]

At least we don't need to go over the obvious.

[ he presses his chin into his palm, looking at her through the locket with the other. ]

Tell me then, what do you know about the bit of the Uaine Cridhe inside of you?

[ don't be an asshole, Loki. ]

[ragnarock]

Can't go home without it, comes out if I die, it's the reason I'm here, need to collect them to stop the Void.

[ She sounds utterly disinterested -- this is the bare minimum she needs to survive, and she hasn't sought any other magic out. She's gotten so used to the idea of someone who doesn't have and won't have magic that pursuing magical self improvement hasn't even been on her radar. ]

I'm a Norma. That stuff isn't supposed to matter to me.

[zerotohiro]

You're missing some of the bigger pieces about what the shard can actually do for us. [How it can be trained, how people's worlds are also destroyed, that fun string of thought.]

What's a Norma?

[ragnarock]

[ She grinned again, a little wild. This is something she used to be in denial about, ashamed of. But now it's a matter of pride. When she speaks, she's not bitter -- more like a teenager teasingly trying to scare a younger kid with a ghost story. ]

A violent, anti-social monster who rejects the Light of Mana, kept alive only to pilot Paramail and kill even bigger monsters.

[ She drops the ghost story tone, becoming blunt matter of fact. ]

In other words, we can't use magic.

[ It has no actual impact here. Mana resistance was only keyed to Mana, and Mana was technically super science rather than magic anyway. Norma-ness isn't a general anti-magic and has no effect on Ange's shard in this world.... But her experiences had a psychological impact. She thinks of herself as someone who can and should get by mostly with physical skills and technology rather than magic (the Endless Song being a prime exception),such that she hasn't looked into upping her shard stats or anything.

[zerotohiro]

[Oh Ange. Originally, Hiro had been pretty pissy when the conversation started and truthfully he's still a bit unsettled...but that sort of mentality makes a little more sense.]

And now you're in a world where we're kept alive thanks to our monarchs and we're asked to fight the war for them and kill other monsters. [Or people. Whichever you'd like to call them.] I don't know if you've noticed but, uh, I'm kinda just human. [A wave of his hands.] It's not like I can use magic at home either, but the shard changes that. It's...a lot more valuable than you think, if you know how to train it right.

[ragnarock]

[ Well, getting sent to a death camp doesn't justify Ange being a raging bitch to people she doesn't know well, it just explains why she's a raging bitch to people she doesn't know well. ]

If magic works for you, then it works for you.

[ She's completely honest -- other people using magic doesn't bother her in the least. She didn't begrudge Mana-users the fact that they could use Mana... she begrudged Mana-users the fact that they were huge hypocritical dicks. ]

But magic isn't who I am. Flying and cannons and swords are who I am, and I know how to use them to take down living things and machines.

[selfimage]

As much as I'd love to continue arguing, I'm going to point out that the methods used in your world may not exactly bode well here.

These metal machines—shard and blood based—are borne from magic. When i said fight fire with fire, I meant every word of it. The problem arises with what kinds this world seems to gravitate toward.

Believe me, the shard is the lesser of the three evils.

[ Loki never liked sacrifice in his magic. he knew it was essential for some things, not in the way that you'd think, not the one-for-another kind of way, but in the way that certain offerings were needed to produce a desired affect.

to change the course of reality, something was needed as a catalyst for reality to listen. ]

[ragnarock]

[ You know what is a great catalyst? Good post-apocalyptic old fashioned asswhoopin'. ]

Will and firepower can take down anything. People who use use weird powers as a crutch forget about that.

So if you're just going to say "only magic can do anything," then you're right, there's nothing for us to keep arguing about. Thanks for the heads up about what's coming, but no thanks for the rest.

[selfimage]

There are those that use their firepower and will as the same.

Well then, if your resources manage to make something budge, let us know. We've plenty of will and firepower to go around. I've oodles of it.

Don't die.

[ragnarock]

Same to you. Not until you get to see how wrong you are, anyway.

[selfimage]

I'll bake you a cake if—and only if—I am.

I'd rather be wrong than die terribly. Well, that and the crux of the multiverse to crumble. Terrible, awful, etcetera, etcetera.

[ragnarock]

I don't want cake.

[selfimage]

Then bask in your own satisfaction.

[ragnarock]

[ It's clear from the way she rolls her eyes without a trace of irony or self-awareness that she does that every day anyway. ]