6.3.09
Fanfic - Naruto (why am I doing this again?)
I'm not usually the type to write fan fiction. It doesn't really appeal to me, since I usually have a lot of IPs of my own that I want to dive into. For some reason though, this story has been infesting my brain, and constantly evolving a life of it's own. Admittedly, the majority of the main characters are entirely original, so it's not like I'm writing a typical slash fic. Also this is a first draft, it's gotten long enough now that I'm confident that I'll be allotting time later on to rework portions I'm not happy with. Now without further ado... actually what the fuck am I gonna name this? Aww well, I'll deal with that later.
PS. I try not to add gratuitous Japanese, but I still kept some conventions. The names are introduced last name first, I know it may seem confusing, but bear with me, it's just how the characters would say it. Also, Sensei means master or teacher and is a title. -sama, is an honorific, which generally means something along the lines of my lord, but since it isn't a stand alone word it's something that is attached to someone's name or title to show that they are high above you in rank. (Also if you have a particular crush on someone but aren't close enough to them to use any of the cutesy honorifics, but that isn't how I used it so don't worry about it.) The rest should be fairly obvious to Naruto fans, Jonin = elite ninja, Chunnin = middle rank, but qualified to lead teams, Genin = well you graduated from the academy and that has to count for something... Kekkei Genkei is a blood line trait or in other words an ability that is unique to only certain families. Kunai are knives with knothole handles that allow them to be used in close combat, thrown, or with strings/goodies attached. Kunoichis are female ninja... just ask and I'm sure I can explain anything I missed.
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Three kunoichis lounged around an aging Buddha statue by the side of the road. A light breeze wafted over them, tugging at the edges of their clothes, but not leaving a lasting impression. It was obvious the three were agitated by something, one was already pacing while another preferred to leave it at a look of annoyance. The third's face was swathed in bandage, but the slight tapping of her foot gave her emotions away.
A tall, unkempt man approached the group, idly swatting his overlong black bangs away from his eyes. "Hey! Good you're all here!"
"You're late, Sensei! It's the first time we're meeting and you're late. What kind of impression do you think your giving here?" The pacing girl bit out.
"Oh come on, it's only a few minutes... or half an hour, somewhere around there. I think. Anyways, what way is that to talk to your sensei? Not even a week old and already that headband is blocking the flow of chakra to your brain, you little brat." He folded his arms and looked down at the girl haughtily. He could tell she was biting her lip, but silence reigned for a few moments while the other two just watched in growing annoyance. "Well then, let's get on with introductions. I'm Hanaki Noano, that's Hanaki-sensei to you brats. I'll be the leader of this little train-wreck we're calling team eleven. Don't even think of giving me less than an hundred and ten percent on these missions or I might feel tempted to kick you back to the academy forever. Now then let's go in a circle, starting with the loud mouth, just tell me your names and your ambition."
The loud mouth leaned against the wall, readjusting her kunai pouch so it wouldn't interfere with her cargo shorts. "Well I'm Anato Kyoko, and my ambition is... to be more famous than even the legendary Sanin!"
"Glad to see you aim low," Hanaki cut in glibly.
Despite Kyoko's reversion into a dangerous scowl, the second girl took a slight step forward and began her introduction fluidly. "My name is Hyuuga Hanabi, and I simply wish to be one who is considered important to the Hyuuga clan." At the end she shifted slightly, as though her tan chest protector was suddenly uncomfortable.
Well, I have to say she certainly does look like a Hyuuga, Hanaki thought. He turned to the third girl when the silence seemed to be going a moment too long, "and you would be?"
"Renki Erisia, and there is somebody I must find some day. Somebody who I must be strong to find though." The bandages on her face made her mostly unreadable, but her voice was clear and intense.
"What's up with the bandages, you loose a fight with a sunburn or something?" Hanaki asked.
"She's always been like that," Kyoko added out of turn.
Erisia turned to look at Kyoko for a short moment before speaking. "I'm not sick, if that's what you are concerned with. I'm just fine with keeping them on for now, if it's all the same to you."
Hanaki looked her over in more detail, looking for any signs she might be lying about her health. The clothes she wore were generally loose, some baggy cargo pants and a long t-shirt. Her boots and gloves seemed slightly over sized though, almost as though they were padded in some way.
"Well, now that I've got you sorry lot, how about we have a little test."
"A test... aww man, I just got over the last one!" Kyoko complained.
"No whining. Here's the deal, I'm going to give you a test. If you pass the test, we get to start doing missions, if you fail the test, you train for a week before I get you guys an actual mission."
Kyoko seemed visibly perturbed, but the other two just nodded.
"Good, lets meet at training ground seven in an hour!"
The training grounds were deathly still when the last member of the trio, Kyoko, arrived. The other two were sitting with their backs to a large boulder watching a blond haired boy about their age doing warm-ups by a large tree. Kyoko raised an eyebrow at the pair who had already arrived, their shrugs their only response to the unasked question.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here? This training ground was supposed to be reserved today," Kyoko called.
"Oh hey, it's like the three I was told to wait here for," the boy responded. His auburn t-shirt was at least two sizes too big, and his shorts seemed a bit too long to be regular shorts, the overall impression being rather goofy.
"Did Hanaki Sensei send you," Hanabi asked levelly.
"Oh yeah, he said there were some students he wanted me to give a good beating to. He said it would be like a test, and you would all have to beat me in a sparring match to pass."
"Any particular order we should go in," Erisia asked.
"Order? Nah nothing like that, I'm taking all three of you on at once!" The boy dropped into a fighting pose and motioned them to come at him.
Hanabi and Erisia exchanged glances, but Kyoko barged straight forward. "Doesn't sound very fair to me," Kyoko shouted. "I'll give you a go first then."
The boy shrugged, "whatever, your funeral you know."
Kyoko charged forward, not quite in a straight line, bouncing to the side and throwing a kunai at the final moment. The boy jumped back slightly letting the kunai strike and stick in the ground in front of him. Kyoko charged in from the side throwing a punch at the boy's head. He ducked out of the way, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a tight hold. "Not bad you know, but not too good either. Left yourself way open."
Hanabi appeared off to the left of the boy, aiming a blow straight at the exposed section of his chest. He let go of his previous prey and dodged out of the way, taking a quick survey to make sure he wasn't dodging into Erisia. She stood in exactly the same spot she had occupied at the beginning of the fight, but her eyes were intently locked onto him, sizing him up. The two girls who were ready to regroup became his foremost concern again.
Hanabi rushed forward while Kyoko began the hand signs for a jutsu. The Hyuuga style was well known for being deadly with even a single glance, forcing him to keep a constant stream of dodging. Somewhere between her blows came an opening and he struck inward. His fist connected heavily with the substitution, knocking the log backwards slightly. Almost too late he saw the stream of high pressure water being shot at him by Kyoko.
The water tore through the mud clone, leaving only a vague brown shape in it's wake.Kyoko turned to check her back in time to see the kick coming, but not soon enough to dodge it. Erisia intervened this time, physically placing herself between her teammate and the boy, blocking his kick with her shin.
The two exchanged a furious volley of kicks and punches, neither gaining an upper hand in the battle. Slowly the boy was being pushed to his right though, never being given a moment to breathe and assess. Hanabi lept from a bush to his side, ambushing him with a blow aimed to his body. In an instant he shifted balance and jumped to the tree limb above them.
"Not bad. From that beginning speech I thought you'd be a bunch of push overs who wouldn't know a thing about teamwork. Well if this is how it's gonna be, I might even be pushed to treating you guys like average." Erisia didn't wait for the speech to finish, crashing her fist into the branch where he had been standing. All this elicited from him was a laugh as he disappeared backwards into the bushes below.
The three looked after him for a moment. "We need to stick together, if we get separated in there, we'll just make it easier for him," Kyoko said. "Hanabi, can you detect him with your Byakugan?"
The Hyuuga looked at Kyoko with slight unease. "I haven't quite mastered it yet... but I'll try." She made the requisite hand signs slowly and carefully, before screaming "Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes bulged and her iris seemed to crack. "I... can see a few chakra sources, but I can't see well enough to know if it's him. Their all too far away."
"There shouldn't be any animals in here, so the others are probably decoys," Kyoko observed. "Who is this guy?"
Hanaki watched his trainees closely from a fair distance. They were working together so well, and their taijutsu skills were exceptional. He had been right, he knew it now. The question was would that be a good thing or a bad thing.
His memory dredged up his conversation with the Hokage on the issue.
He stood in the Hokage's office, standing with the ease he always showed the outside world.
"There is a fair amount of competition between the Jonin for this position. Team Eleven have all proven themselves to be top class students in the academy. Some are saying those three will be the village's new Sanin. Why should I give a squad like that to a slacker like you?" Tsunade wasn't looking directly at him, but rather out one of the windows as if unconcerned with the answer.
"Yes, they are exceptional Hokage-sama. Anyone can see that, and I'm betting even if they won't admit it to themselves a fair number of Jonin want in on their inevitable fame. But, that's no way to train a squad. The worst thing you can do with geniuses is spend all your time fawning over how good they are, eventually you just spoil them into complacency."
"So, you'll be the guiding rod to keep them in line? You know some magic way to foster both their spirits and their skills?"
"Yes. Give them the worst assignments, work them dogs, train them till they drop and never accept what they give you as their best."
"That's insane! With an attitude like that you'll just break them without every giving them a chance!" Shizune slammed her hands down on the desk. An annoyed look from Tsunade convinced her to hastily retreat them with a blush.
"I'll consider your request Hanaki. I know you're talking from personal experience, and I respect your opinion. If I do give you this squad I will have conditions of my own for you, and you'll need to be ready to accept those. But I haven't decided yet. You'll know the assignment in due time, just like the others."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I wouldn't want it any other way."
The terms worried him somewhat, but for now he was glad to have the assignment. The three seemed to make up their mind on something and proceeded with some modicum of stealth into the underbrush. He turned his attention back to the test at hand, the first part of his plan coming into play.
The three broke into a small clearing surrounding the chakra source. The chakra points matched that of a crouching human, but the outwards appearance was that of a raggedly cut stump. Just to be sure Hanabi threw a hard punch into the trunk shattering it into splinters of wood. She turned her attention to the final chakra source, which was suddenly moving towards them.
"That's him, here he comes!"
Kyoko and Erisia assumed fighting stances facing the direction of her gaze. A kick suddenly landed on the back of Hanabi's neck, throwing her past the two. Erisia turned first and closed the distance with the boy. All signs of the stumps existence and destruction were gone.
"Genjutsu!" Kyoko began on a series of hand signs, but a few casually thrown kunai from the boy forced her to dodge backwards interrupting her concentration.
The boy disengaged backwards from Erisia, using hand signs at lightning speed. "Earth Tidal Wave!"
Erisia turned and ran as the Earth rose up between them, quickly rising above her head and continuing to grow. Kyoko was already running as well, but Erisia had to pick up Hanabi as she passed due to the girl still being dazed. Erisia held her tightly, and carried her as though she weighed less than a feather. The wave of mud behind them had grown almost thirty feet and now came crashing down at extreme speeds overtaking the runners and carrying them forwards into the receding forest.
Hanabi was thrown away at the last second, skidding across the surface of the now slowing mud. Kyoko and Erisia were both buried at least up to their chests in mud, each began struggling to break free. Hanabi began running out onto the mud to help, but the boy appeared before her. She struck forward almost slicing the air, but he ducked below the blow. A powerful uppercut ripped into her stomach, followed by a heavy kick to her chest throwing her into a nearby tree.
He looked back over at the two trapped in the mud, "looks like you three failed this test. Sorry but that's the life of a ninja. The situation can change on you in an instant." He lifted on hand and muttered a quick canceling jutsu, dispelling the transformation jutsu. Hanaki looked at the three with mild disinterest. "You hot shots look like a bunch of wet socks right now."
"Sensei!? But... you're a Jonin, how could we possibly defeat a Jonin! We're only Genin," Kyoko exclaimed.
"That's right, and don't you forget it. But while we're on the subject, that stunt you pulled early on was plain stupid. In this world of ninja there are people of all shapes and sizes who are powerful and brutally deadly. Just because your opponent looks young doesn't mean they are a lightweight."
Erisia slowly broke free of the mud, and ran over to Hanabi's unconscious form. She quickly checked the major vitals for signs of permanent damage. When it was obvious that Hanabi was coming around she turned to her sensei, "I don't see the point of giving us an impossible test."
"Of course you don't, you've never lost before in your life. Even without the chakra to use complex jutsu, you've been able to beat all your opponents with just your taijutsu. Well out on a real mission that may not be good enough, hell you may not be good enough. If you're lucky an enemy will be as stupid as you three and pass you off as just kids, stupid genin out of their depth. If you're not lucky, they'll quickly make you as dead as possible just in case."
"Sensei... when did you get here?" Hanabi asked, semi-blurrily.
"He was our opponent all along," Kyoko blurted out, finally freeing herself from the mud.
"What, but that kid...?"
"A transformation jutsu. For a while there I was afraid you'd see through it Hanabi, but you didn't use your Byakugan until the very end. And I can tell why from the way that genjutsu so easily fooled you, you still haven't mastered it. You may have pulled a fast one on your instructors at the academy, but not with me. First part of your new training regimen is to perfect your Byakugan, there is no point in having a kekkei genkai if you can't even use the damn thing," he rattled off at her.
"Erisia, you're going to be focusing on chakra control. You may not have tons, but you've got to have a jutsu or two up your sleeve. For now though, it's all gonna be chakra control. If you can't get it down to the point of controlling individual chakra points, you might as well give up your headband and go home. As for you Kyoko, not only is your chakra control sloppy, but so is your taijutsu and kunai aim. What the hell was the point of even going to the academy if you weren't going to learn the basics. Starting tomorrow, you do three hours of taijutsu practice followed by three hours of target practice, and end your day with four hours to perfect that stupid jutsu it takes you three years to use. There's no point in having a jutsu if you can't even use it during a battle."
He looked at the three thoroughly dejected faces for a few moments. "Well that's it, go home and rest up. Contemplate what happened today and how to make it not happen again. Tomorrow the real fun begins."
The sun had set, but three restless souls all gathered inside a small tea shop. Kyoko's mother and father owned the establishment, running it jointly with great enthusiasm. It was customary for Kyoko to do most of her private practicing in the large yard behind the shop, and due to the on again off again rivalry she and Hanabi had shared, Hanabi was well aware of the location. Neither of the two had known Erisia very well, the girl had always seemed apart from everyone in class. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even realized in the academy that Erisia had never lost a sparring match. The fact that she had always struggled with the ninjutsu had always overshadowed the fact somehow.
For her part Erisia had been watching the other two with a certain amount of admiration for a while now. It was easier to watch Kyoko practice from a back table of the tea shop than to get anywhere near the Hyuuga grounds, so it had become one of her preferred hang out spots without Kyoko ever even realizing it. Tonight though, it wasn't Kyoko's training that brought them together. Instead they sat around nursing various teas and picking at a shared cake in the middle of the table. An air of defeat hung palpably around the table.
"Well... that went just swimmingly, and now we won't even have any missions for the next week," Kyoko bemoaned.
"But what he said is true, we do need the training," Erisia said quietly.
"Still, it's unbelievable to expect a few rank genin to defeat a jonin..." Hanabi didn't sound particularly into her observation.
"Man, this sucks. I mean, I've lost sparring matches before, but never had somebody play around with me like that... It kind of pisses me off," Kyoko observed.
"I am... unaccustomed to failure. It is not the Hyuuga way," Hanabi added.
Erisia just sighed and leaned back, not even needing to add her assent to the mix.
"I think... Hanaki is going to be a pain in the ass sensei. But I also know now, I want to get a whole lot stronger. It's not good enough to just have high grades from the academy. I'll get stronger, and I'll beat Hanaki fair and square someday!" Kyoko stood up as she exclaimed.
"I don't ever want to loose again, either," Hanabi added, Standing more slowly.
"I'm not where I want to be, and I'll get stronger, much stronger. So strong that nothing will be able to stop me from accomplishing my goal!" Erisia stood with the other three looking into the space above at some vision of her final goal.
Erisia and Hanabi left the tea house together, their houses both being in relatively the same direction. For a few moments, they walked in silence, neither breaking the heavy silence between them. Finally Erisia stopped at an odd moment, causing Hanabi to pause and turn to her.
"Hanabi... the Hyuuga are supposed to be famous for their chakra manipulation right?"
Hanabi turned away slightly, but nodded.
"Would you, I mean if you have the time, maybe help me practice my chakra manipulation? You don't have to teach me any family secrets or anything, obviously, I mean it's not like I'm putting up a front or any- aww crap I'm rambling. Mom get's mad at me for that all the time." Erisia began slow but after the initial question she was mostly sputtering the words out in a single long string.
Hanabi blushed slightly, and then nodded again, "maybe after regular practice, I suppose."
Erisia visibly brightened, or at least as visible as the bandages allowed, "oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I won't take advantage of your kindness, I swear!"
Hanabi raised an eyebrow and turned to keep walking. The two finished the walk to where they parted at Erisia's house in silence, though a slightly less oppressive one this time.
As Hanabi walked through the door to the dojo to do some practice before bed she ran directly into her father. Though they didn't literally run into each other, she took a step back anyways, looking up into his unreadable hard eyes. Neiji and Hinata were behind him, looking somewhat ragged as though coming from tough training. The Jonin and the Chuunin turned to regard her, Neiji as unreadable as her father, but Hinata with a shy, but genuine, smile.
"Hinata," her father said sharply, "stay and practice with Hanabi a while." The leader of the Hyuuga main branch didn't need to add that it was not a request.
"Yes father", Hinata said, blushing slightly as she did every time she was given direct attention. Her father left, followed quickly and quietly by Neiji. Hanabi followed the implications her father had left and walked quickly to the center of the room and assumed a fighting stance.
The two sisters faced each other with tense fighting poses. Their relationship had never been that of normal sisters, her father's shunning of Hinata and subsequent favoring of Hanabi had put immense strain on their relationship. Still Hinata gave her a genuine smile before getting serious about the practice match. Each of them brought forth Byakugan to fight in the true Hyuuga fashion.
They circled each other for a few moments before each one went in for their blows. Hanabi's blows were sure and confident, picture perfect from the outside, and without even the slightest quaver in chakra release. Hinata was more graceful, slicing ever slightly around the expected path, and releasing a longer, almost blade like finger of chakra with every blow. The difference in experience between the two was too great for Hanabi to land any blows, but years of their father's personal training allowed her to also avoid every blow, even if just barely.
Hinata moved slightly to one side creating an opening, Hanabi attacked without hesitation striking at the older girl's kidney. The blow landed, but Hinata stood unfazed.
"You can't see as well, can you?" Hinata gave her a level stare.
Hanabi backed away, unable to completely hide the bitter surprise from her face. "That blow should have been right, that's the right location."
"You were about half an inch high, not much, but enough that I wasn't seriously damaged," Hinata said matter-of-factly. She lowered her voice slightly, "does father know about this?"
Hanabi looked at the door their father had just left, then lowered her voice slightly, "not yet."
"Spectacles may help a normal person to see, but I doubt they'll be any use in assisting the Byakugan. You need to tell someone right away, Hanabi. What if your vision gets worse?" Hinata looked at her with concern.
"I'm fine, okay. I'll handle it, nobody else needs to know, at least not yet." Hanabi gave her sister a pleading look.
Hinata looked her younger sister over sternly, obviously trying to decide. Finally she spoke, "Okay, I'll let it go for now, IF you promise to get checked by someone in the medical corp. Also, if you get any worse, and I mean any worse at all, the first thing you do is tell father. It can be dangerous for you to go into combat if you can't accurately hit a target."
Hanabi gave her sister a thankful look and then hastily excused herself before the Chuunin could change her mind. Her dreams that night were strange and frightening, of a world of pure blackness and menacing presences, but partway through she could feel the embrace of a familiar figure. Someone she felt she knew so well, and yet couldn't attach an identity to.
PS. I try not to add gratuitous Japanese, but I still kept some conventions. The names are introduced last name first, I know it may seem confusing, but bear with me, it's just how the characters would say it. Also, Sensei means master or teacher and is a title. -sama, is an honorific, which generally means something along the lines of my lord, but since it isn't a stand alone word it's something that is attached to someone's name or title to show that they are high above you in rank. (Also if you have a particular crush on someone but aren't close enough to them to use any of the cutesy honorifics, but that isn't how I used it so don't worry about it.) The rest should be fairly obvious to Naruto fans, Jonin = elite ninja, Chunnin = middle rank, but qualified to lead teams, Genin = well you graduated from the academy and that has to count for something... Kekkei Genkei is a blood line trait or in other words an ability that is unique to only certain families. Kunai are knives with knothole handles that allow them to be used in close combat, thrown, or with strings/goodies attached. Kunoichis are female ninja... just ask and I'm sure I can explain anything I missed.
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Three kunoichis lounged around an aging Buddha statue by the side of the road. A light breeze wafted over them, tugging at the edges of their clothes, but not leaving a lasting impression. It was obvious the three were agitated by something, one was already pacing while another preferred to leave it at a look of annoyance. The third's face was swathed in bandage, but the slight tapping of her foot gave her emotions away.
A tall, unkempt man approached the group, idly swatting his overlong black bangs away from his eyes. "Hey! Good you're all here!"
"You're late, Sensei! It's the first time we're meeting and you're late. What kind of impression do you think your giving here?" The pacing girl bit out.
"Oh come on, it's only a few minutes... or half an hour, somewhere around there. I think. Anyways, what way is that to talk to your sensei? Not even a week old and already that headband is blocking the flow of chakra to your brain, you little brat." He folded his arms and looked down at the girl haughtily. He could tell she was biting her lip, but silence reigned for a few moments while the other two just watched in growing annoyance. "Well then, let's get on with introductions. I'm Hanaki Noano, that's Hanaki-sensei to you brats. I'll be the leader of this little train-wreck we're calling team eleven. Don't even think of giving me less than an hundred and ten percent on these missions or I might feel tempted to kick you back to the academy forever. Now then let's go in a circle, starting with the loud mouth, just tell me your names and your ambition."
The loud mouth leaned against the wall, readjusting her kunai pouch so it wouldn't interfere with her cargo shorts. "Well I'm Anato Kyoko, and my ambition is... to be more famous than even the legendary Sanin!"
"Glad to see you aim low," Hanaki cut in glibly.
Despite Kyoko's reversion into a dangerous scowl, the second girl took a slight step forward and began her introduction fluidly. "My name is Hyuuga Hanabi, and I simply wish to be one who is considered important to the Hyuuga clan." At the end she shifted slightly, as though her tan chest protector was suddenly uncomfortable.
Well, I have to say she certainly does look like a Hyuuga, Hanaki thought. He turned to the third girl when the silence seemed to be going a moment too long, "and you would be?"
"Renki Erisia, and there is somebody I must find some day. Somebody who I must be strong to find though." The bandages on her face made her mostly unreadable, but her voice was clear and intense.
"What's up with the bandages, you loose a fight with a sunburn or something?" Hanaki asked.
"She's always been like that," Kyoko added out of turn.
Erisia turned to look at Kyoko for a short moment before speaking. "I'm not sick, if that's what you are concerned with. I'm just fine with keeping them on for now, if it's all the same to you."
Hanaki looked her over in more detail, looking for any signs she might be lying about her health. The clothes she wore were generally loose, some baggy cargo pants and a long t-shirt. Her boots and gloves seemed slightly over sized though, almost as though they were padded in some way.
"Well, now that I've got you sorry lot, how about we have a little test."
"A test... aww man, I just got over the last one!" Kyoko complained.
"No whining. Here's the deal, I'm going to give you a test. If you pass the test, we get to start doing missions, if you fail the test, you train for a week before I get you guys an actual mission."
Kyoko seemed visibly perturbed, but the other two just nodded.
"Good, lets meet at training ground seven in an hour!"
The training grounds were deathly still when the last member of the trio, Kyoko, arrived. The other two were sitting with their backs to a large boulder watching a blond haired boy about their age doing warm-ups by a large tree. Kyoko raised an eyebrow at the pair who had already arrived, their shrugs their only response to the unasked question.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here? This training ground was supposed to be reserved today," Kyoko called.
"Oh hey, it's like the three I was told to wait here for," the boy responded. His auburn t-shirt was at least two sizes too big, and his shorts seemed a bit too long to be regular shorts, the overall impression being rather goofy.
"Did Hanaki Sensei send you," Hanabi asked levelly.
"Oh yeah, he said there were some students he wanted me to give a good beating to. He said it would be like a test, and you would all have to beat me in a sparring match to pass."
"Any particular order we should go in," Erisia asked.
"Order? Nah nothing like that, I'm taking all three of you on at once!" The boy dropped into a fighting pose and motioned them to come at him.
Hanabi and Erisia exchanged glances, but Kyoko barged straight forward. "Doesn't sound very fair to me," Kyoko shouted. "I'll give you a go first then."
The boy shrugged, "whatever, your funeral you know."
Kyoko charged forward, not quite in a straight line, bouncing to the side and throwing a kunai at the final moment. The boy jumped back slightly letting the kunai strike and stick in the ground in front of him. Kyoko charged in from the side throwing a punch at the boy's head. He ducked out of the way, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a tight hold. "Not bad you know, but not too good either. Left yourself way open."
Hanabi appeared off to the left of the boy, aiming a blow straight at the exposed section of his chest. He let go of his previous prey and dodged out of the way, taking a quick survey to make sure he wasn't dodging into Erisia. She stood in exactly the same spot she had occupied at the beginning of the fight, but her eyes were intently locked onto him, sizing him up. The two girls who were ready to regroup became his foremost concern again.
Hanabi rushed forward while Kyoko began the hand signs for a jutsu. The Hyuuga style was well known for being deadly with even a single glance, forcing him to keep a constant stream of dodging. Somewhere between her blows came an opening and he struck inward. His fist connected heavily with the substitution, knocking the log backwards slightly. Almost too late he saw the stream of high pressure water being shot at him by Kyoko.
The water tore through the mud clone, leaving only a vague brown shape in it's wake.Kyoko turned to check her back in time to see the kick coming, but not soon enough to dodge it. Erisia intervened this time, physically placing herself between her teammate and the boy, blocking his kick with her shin.
The two exchanged a furious volley of kicks and punches, neither gaining an upper hand in the battle. Slowly the boy was being pushed to his right though, never being given a moment to breathe and assess. Hanabi lept from a bush to his side, ambushing him with a blow aimed to his body. In an instant he shifted balance and jumped to the tree limb above them.
"Not bad. From that beginning speech I thought you'd be a bunch of push overs who wouldn't know a thing about teamwork. Well if this is how it's gonna be, I might even be pushed to treating you guys like average." Erisia didn't wait for the speech to finish, crashing her fist into the branch where he had been standing. All this elicited from him was a laugh as he disappeared backwards into the bushes below.
The three looked after him for a moment. "We need to stick together, if we get separated in there, we'll just make it easier for him," Kyoko said. "Hanabi, can you detect him with your Byakugan?"
The Hyuuga looked at Kyoko with slight unease. "I haven't quite mastered it yet... but I'll try." She made the requisite hand signs slowly and carefully, before screaming "Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes bulged and her iris seemed to crack. "I... can see a few chakra sources, but I can't see well enough to know if it's him. Their all too far away."
"There shouldn't be any animals in here, so the others are probably decoys," Kyoko observed. "Who is this guy?"
Hanaki watched his trainees closely from a fair distance. They were working together so well, and their taijutsu skills were exceptional. He had been right, he knew it now. The question was would that be a good thing or a bad thing.
His memory dredged up his conversation with the Hokage on the issue.
He stood in the Hokage's office, standing with the ease he always showed the outside world.
"There is a fair amount of competition between the Jonin for this position. Team Eleven have all proven themselves to be top class students in the academy. Some are saying those three will be the village's new Sanin. Why should I give a squad like that to a slacker like you?" Tsunade wasn't looking directly at him, but rather out one of the windows as if unconcerned with the answer.
"Yes, they are exceptional Hokage-sama. Anyone can see that, and I'm betting even if they won't admit it to themselves a fair number of Jonin want in on their inevitable fame. But, that's no way to train a squad. The worst thing you can do with geniuses is spend all your time fawning over how good they are, eventually you just spoil them into complacency."
"So, you'll be the guiding rod to keep them in line? You know some magic way to foster both their spirits and their skills?"
"Yes. Give them the worst assignments, work them dogs, train them till they drop and never accept what they give you as their best."
"That's insane! With an attitude like that you'll just break them without every giving them a chance!" Shizune slammed her hands down on the desk. An annoyed look from Tsunade convinced her to hastily retreat them with a blush.
"I'll consider your request Hanaki. I know you're talking from personal experience, and I respect your opinion. If I do give you this squad I will have conditions of my own for you, and you'll need to be ready to accept those. But I haven't decided yet. You'll know the assignment in due time, just like the others."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I wouldn't want it any other way."
The terms worried him somewhat, but for now he was glad to have the assignment. The three seemed to make up their mind on something and proceeded with some modicum of stealth into the underbrush. He turned his attention back to the test at hand, the first part of his plan coming into play.
The three broke into a small clearing surrounding the chakra source. The chakra points matched that of a crouching human, but the outwards appearance was that of a raggedly cut stump. Just to be sure Hanabi threw a hard punch into the trunk shattering it into splinters of wood. She turned her attention to the final chakra source, which was suddenly moving towards them.
"That's him, here he comes!"
Kyoko and Erisia assumed fighting stances facing the direction of her gaze. A kick suddenly landed on the back of Hanabi's neck, throwing her past the two. Erisia turned first and closed the distance with the boy. All signs of the stumps existence and destruction were gone.
"Genjutsu!" Kyoko began on a series of hand signs, but a few casually thrown kunai from the boy forced her to dodge backwards interrupting her concentration.
The boy disengaged backwards from Erisia, using hand signs at lightning speed. "Earth Tidal Wave!"
Erisia turned and ran as the Earth rose up between them, quickly rising above her head and continuing to grow. Kyoko was already running as well, but Erisia had to pick up Hanabi as she passed due to the girl still being dazed. Erisia held her tightly, and carried her as though she weighed less than a feather. The wave of mud behind them had grown almost thirty feet and now came crashing down at extreme speeds overtaking the runners and carrying them forwards into the receding forest.
Hanabi was thrown away at the last second, skidding across the surface of the now slowing mud. Kyoko and Erisia were both buried at least up to their chests in mud, each began struggling to break free. Hanabi began running out onto the mud to help, but the boy appeared before her. She struck forward almost slicing the air, but he ducked below the blow. A powerful uppercut ripped into her stomach, followed by a heavy kick to her chest throwing her into a nearby tree.
He looked back over at the two trapped in the mud, "looks like you three failed this test. Sorry but that's the life of a ninja. The situation can change on you in an instant." He lifted on hand and muttered a quick canceling jutsu, dispelling the transformation jutsu. Hanaki looked at the three with mild disinterest. "You hot shots look like a bunch of wet socks right now."
"Sensei!? But... you're a Jonin, how could we possibly defeat a Jonin! We're only Genin," Kyoko exclaimed.
"That's right, and don't you forget it. But while we're on the subject, that stunt you pulled early on was plain stupid. In this world of ninja there are people of all shapes and sizes who are powerful and brutally deadly. Just because your opponent looks young doesn't mean they are a lightweight."
Erisia slowly broke free of the mud, and ran over to Hanabi's unconscious form. She quickly checked the major vitals for signs of permanent damage. When it was obvious that Hanabi was coming around she turned to her sensei, "I don't see the point of giving us an impossible test."
"Of course you don't, you've never lost before in your life. Even without the chakra to use complex jutsu, you've been able to beat all your opponents with just your taijutsu. Well out on a real mission that may not be good enough, hell you may not be good enough. If you're lucky an enemy will be as stupid as you three and pass you off as just kids, stupid genin out of their depth. If you're not lucky, they'll quickly make you as dead as possible just in case."
"Sensei... when did you get here?" Hanabi asked, semi-blurrily.
"He was our opponent all along," Kyoko blurted out, finally freeing herself from the mud.
"What, but that kid...?"
"A transformation jutsu. For a while there I was afraid you'd see through it Hanabi, but you didn't use your Byakugan until the very end. And I can tell why from the way that genjutsu so easily fooled you, you still haven't mastered it. You may have pulled a fast one on your instructors at the academy, but not with me. First part of your new training regimen is to perfect your Byakugan, there is no point in having a kekkei genkai if you can't even use the damn thing," he rattled off at her.
"Erisia, you're going to be focusing on chakra control. You may not have tons, but you've got to have a jutsu or two up your sleeve. For now though, it's all gonna be chakra control. If you can't get it down to the point of controlling individual chakra points, you might as well give up your headband and go home. As for you Kyoko, not only is your chakra control sloppy, but so is your taijutsu and kunai aim. What the hell was the point of even going to the academy if you weren't going to learn the basics. Starting tomorrow, you do three hours of taijutsu practice followed by three hours of target practice, and end your day with four hours to perfect that stupid jutsu it takes you three years to use. There's no point in having a jutsu if you can't even use it during a battle."
He looked at the three thoroughly dejected faces for a few moments. "Well that's it, go home and rest up. Contemplate what happened today and how to make it not happen again. Tomorrow the real fun begins."
The sun had set, but three restless souls all gathered inside a small tea shop. Kyoko's mother and father owned the establishment, running it jointly with great enthusiasm. It was customary for Kyoko to do most of her private practicing in the large yard behind the shop, and due to the on again off again rivalry she and Hanabi had shared, Hanabi was well aware of the location. Neither of the two had known Erisia very well, the girl had always seemed apart from everyone in class. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even realized in the academy that Erisia had never lost a sparring match. The fact that she had always struggled with the ninjutsu had always overshadowed the fact somehow.
For her part Erisia had been watching the other two with a certain amount of admiration for a while now. It was easier to watch Kyoko practice from a back table of the tea shop than to get anywhere near the Hyuuga grounds, so it had become one of her preferred hang out spots without Kyoko ever even realizing it. Tonight though, it wasn't Kyoko's training that brought them together. Instead they sat around nursing various teas and picking at a shared cake in the middle of the table. An air of defeat hung palpably around the table.
"Well... that went just swimmingly, and now we won't even have any missions for the next week," Kyoko bemoaned.
"But what he said is true, we do need the training," Erisia said quietly.
"Still, it's unbelievable to expect a few rank genin to defeat a jonin..." Hanabi didn't sound particularly into her observation.
"Man, this sucks. I mean, I've lost sparring matches before, but never had somebody play around with me like that... It kind of pisses me off," Kyoko observed.
"I am... unaccustomed to failure. It is not the Hyuuga way," Hanabi added.
Erisia just sighed and leaned back, not even needing to add her assent to the mix.
"I think... Hanaki is going to be a pain in the ass sensei. But I also know now, I want to get a whole lot stronger. It's not good enough to just have high grades from the academy. I'll get stronger, and I'll beat Hanaki fair and square someday!" Kyoko stood up as she exclaimed.
"I don't ever want to loose again, either," Hanabi added, Standing more slowly.
"I'm not where I want to be, and I'll get stronger, much stronger. So strong that nothing will be able to stop me from accomplishing my goal!" Erisia stood with the other three looking into the space above at some vision of her final goal.
Erisia and Hanabi left the tea house together, their houses both being in relatively the same direction. For a few moments, they walked in silence, neither breaking the heavy silence between them. Finally Erisia stopped at an odd moment, causing Hanabi to pause and turn to her.
"Hanabi... the Hyuuga are supposed to be famous for their chakra manipulation right?"
Hanabi turned away slightly, but nodded.
"Would you, I mean if you have the time, maybe help me practice my chakra manipulation? You don't have to teach me any family secrets or anything, obviously, I mean it's not like I'm putting up a front or any- aww crap I'm rambling. Mom get's mad at me for that all the time." Erisia began slow but after the initial question she was mostly sputtering the words out in a single long string.
Hanabi blushed slightly, and then nodded again, "maybe after regular practice, I suppose."
Erisia visibly brightened, or at least as visible as the bandages allowed, "oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I won't take advantage of your kindness, I swear!"
Hanabi raised an eyebrow and turned to keep walking. The two finished the walk to where they parted at Erisia's house in silence, though a slightly less oppressive one this time.
As Hanabi walked through the door to the dojo to do some practice before bed she ran directly into her father. Though they didn't literally run into each other, she took a step back anyways, looking up into his unreadable hard eyes. Neiji and Hinata were behind him, looking somewhat ragged as though coming from tough training. The Jonin and the Chuunin turned to regard her, Neiji as unreadable as her father, but Hinata with a shy, but genuine, smile.
"Hinata," her father said sharply, "stay and practice with Hanabi a while." The leader of the Hyuuga main branch didn't need to add that it was not a request.
"Yes father", Hinata said, blushing slightly as she did every time she was given direct attention. Her father left, followed quickly and quietly by Neiji. Hanabi followed the implications her father had left and walked quickly to the center of the room and assumed a fighting stance.
The two sisters faced each other with tense fighting poses. Their relationship had never been that of normal sisters, her father's shunning of Hinata and subsequent favoring of Hanabi had put immense strain on their relationship. Still Hinata gave her a genuine smile before getting serious about the practice match. Each of them brought forth Byakugan to fight in the true Hyuuga fashion.
They circled each other for a few moments before each one went in for their blows. Hanabi's blows were sure and confident, picture perfect from the outside, and without even the slightest quaver in chakra release. Hinata was more graceful, slicing ever slightly around the expected path, and releasing a longer, almost blade like finger of chakra with every blow. The difference in experience between the two was too great for Hanabi to land any blows, but years of their father's personal training allowed her to also avoid every blow, even if just barely.
Hinata moved slightly to one side creating an opening, Hanabi attacked without hesitation striking at the older girl's kidney. The blow landed, but Hinata stood unfazed.
"You can't see as well, can you?" Hinata gave her a level stare.
Hanabi backed away, unable to completely hide the bitter surprise from her face. "That blow should have been right, that's the right location."
"You were about half an inch high, not much, but enough that I wasn't seriously damaged," Hinata said matter-of-factly. She lowered her voice slightly, "does father know about this?"
Hanabi looked at the door their father had just left, then lowered her voice slightly, "not yet."
"Spectacles may help a normal person to see, but I doubt they'll be any use in assisting the Byakugan. You need to tell someone right away, Hanabi. What if your vision gets worse?" Hinata looked at her with concern.
"I'm fine, okay. I'll handle it, nobody else needs to know, at least not yet." Hanabi gave her sister a pleading look.
Hinata looked her younger sister over sternly, obviously trying to decide. Finally she spoke, "Okay, I'll let it go for now, IF you promise to get checked by someone in the medical corp. Also, if you get any worse, and I mean any worse at all, the first thing you do is tell father. It can be dangerous for you to go into combat if you can't accurately hit a target."
Hanabi gave her sister a thankful look and then hastily excused herself before the Chuunin could change her mind. Her dreams that night were strange and frightening, of a world of pure blackness and menacing presences, but partway through she could feel the embrace of a familiar figure. Someone she felt she knew so well, and yet couldn't attach an identity to.
RBeat Sprite Work
One of the things I'm coming to realize is that the difference between pros and amateurs is that professionals tend to iterate a lot when their working on something. Never settle for the first draft as it were. Consider this the first draft, more drafts to come obviously.
5.3.09
Proposition 8 - My Opinion
The more fools we, that when faced with not but a discomfort, would legislate our own right to oppress ourselves. To what end does any state take the reigns of self governance and in it's own bravado declare it's own unalienable right to oppress those who would seek protection from it. Indeed, why had we in so much fervor supported those who bled for our rights, if we would not accept the responsibility of bearing tolerance to others that all who have sought the protection of a state may live in the equality we had hitherto promised.
How quickly we forget, and chart the wisdom of those past as mere words. The rights which were declared unalienable are to, at earliest convenience, be overturned. Not our silence, but our loud approval greets the thought that even the barest majority of voices has the right to silence all others. Were I not already a depressed misanthrope, this would surely push me over that edge.
A foul people by any measure who would take the moniker of one who had reveled in perfect love, and use it as a shield behind which to excuse their bigotry. I should say, the human is a foul creature from the start, and cease to live in such amazement of the insanity and cruelty they display. Unfortunately, I have hope still, though desperately unfounded, primarily due to my inability to bear the conception of a future in which we cannot change these base instincts.
Still... yeah, we're fucked. (I'm not entirely sure who I mean by we.)
How quickly we forget, and chart the wisdom of those past as mere words. The rights which were declared unalienable are to, at earliest convenience, be overturned. Not our silence, but our loud approval greets the thought that even the barest majority of voices has the right to silence all others. Were I not already a depressed misanthrope, this would surely push me over that edge.
A foul people by any measure who would take the moniker of one who had reveled in perfect love, and use it as a shield behind which to excuse their bigotry. I should say, the human is a foul creature from the start, and cease to live in such amazement of the insanity and cruelty they display. Unfortunately, I have hope still, though desperately unfounded, primarily due to my inability to bear the conception of a future in which we cannot change these base instincts.
Still... yeah, we're fucked. (I'm not entirely sure who I mean by we.)
4.3.09
Politics
I've always wondered how it is, that I live in a country where the firmest show of support for a political position... is to throw more parties for it. Maybe I'm just too serious to deal with the society around me.
1.3.09
Exchange
I've been wanting to get my arse back into EVE or playing Left4Dead lately. Unfortunately, I just really have no money whatsoever. The thought has occurred to me, that I could probably do 10-12 page comic books about someone's character in exchange for an EVE Game Time Card or a 20 odd page comic book for Left4Dead. But before I put up anything official about it, I was wondering if sounded like the kind of idea people would be interested in...
Part of what concerns me is at present moment I'd be doing it entirely on a 4x6 tablet, which pretty much guarantees some shaky line-art as the natural tremor of my hand prevents me from drawing a straight line with that kind of magnification.
In other news, I'm starting to get down to work on some modeling for a portfolio and demo reel. I figure I'll try and pick up some contracts in that while I wait for things to get from point A to point D in my life. No real surprise here, but faces are still a pain in the ass. >.>
Part of what concerns me is at present moment I'd be doing it entirely on a 4x6 tablet, which pretty much guarantees some shaky line-art as the natural tremor of my hand prevents me from drawing a straight line with that kind of magnification.
In other news, I'm starting to get down to work on some modeling for a portfolio and demo reel. I figure I'll try and pick up some contracts in that while I wait for things to get from point A to point D in my life. No real surprise here, but faces are still a pain in the ass. >.>
28.2.09
Birth - Simulated Space Ships
I tend to keep Birth off to one side of my mind at all times. To some extent the entire project suffers from feature creep, but rather than the usual addition of more and more features, instead it's constant addition of depth to already planned features. A fair amount of this is just that I had never completely decided on the granularity of the simulation to begin with.
So for the last few hours, I've been whiling away the time reading about ion thrusters, and trying to decide on some sort of formal design for the engine of the space ship. Since no engines exist that exhibit the capabilities needed for our theoretical ship, this means a strange walk into "who the fuck knows" land, as I try and guess what parts a non-existent engine could possibly need. Some portion of this is obvious, there must be some form of reaction and some form of exhaust. Whether they are separated parts as they are in a car engine, or contained in the same space as they are in an ion engine is a bit of a hard debate. In large part, it works best if the only segment of the engine exposed to space is a single metal part much like the body of the craft. That way the functional segments of the engine are all available for on-site maintenance and repairs.
But significant questions must remain, does the engine produce the electricity or does it run off electricity? Does it require coolant? Is the reaction explosive in nature, corrosive, or expansive? An explosion would be more like a traditional rocket, it would require large amounts of fuel and also oxygen. Engine based off the basic Ion engine design tend to be highly corrosive to their parts, but require no oxygen and therefore can be very hot but will never explode. Expansive on the other hand gains force from the rapid expansion of a gas in a contained space with release in only the intended direction of force, which can be a pretty low maintenance but fuel expensive method. Technically the first and third methods are almost exactly the same, since an explosion is simply the hot and violent expansion of a source fuel. Perhaps a super high pressure containment unit which leaks a small amount of high explosive material into a blasting chamber would be the ideal form of those two.
The underlying model of the Ion engine on the other hand is high maintenance, ultra low (compared to rocketry) thrust, but super fuel efficient which allows for greater top speeds since it can run significantly longer. Most importantly though, although the engine itself is fuel efficient in terms of momentum/L, it requires an outside source of electricity in order to run. This brings a whole new barrel of monkeys to the field, should it be supplied by batteries, a motor, or a miniature power plant? It would be very understandable for larger ships to feature nuclear reactors, but what are the limitations to that? Should all big ships have nuclear reactors or only military ships? Could this mean a bunch of ships with really big standard ICEs?
Of course, if I was purely interested in making a narrative based game based entirely around piloting this would hardly matter. But since the beginning birth was intended to be largely simulation. Partly because without these levels of simulation it would be impossible to ever play the part of an engineer like Kaylee for instance. Perhaps I'm very strange, but I think it would be fun to see how long and how well you could keep a ship running on a shoe string budget.
So for the last few hours, I've been whiling away the time reading about ion thrusters, and trying to decide on some sort of formal design for the engine of the space ship. Since no engines exist that exhibit the capabilities needed for our theoretical ship, this means a strange walk into "who the fuck knows" land, as I try and guess what parts a non-existent engine could possibly need. Some portion of this is obvious, there must be some form of reaction and some form of exhaust. Whether they are separated parts as they are in a car engine, or contained in the same space as they are in an ion engine is a bit of a hard debate. In large part, it works best if the only segment of the engine exposed to space is a single metal part much like the body of the craft. That way the functional segments of the engine are all available for on-site maintenance and repairs.
But significant questions must remain, does the engine produce the electricity or does it run off electricity? Does it require coolant? Is the reaction explosive in nature, corrosive, or expansive? An explosion would be more like a traditional rocket, it would require large amounts of fuel and also oxygen. Engine based off the basic Ion engine design tend to be highly corrosive to their parts, but require no oxygen and therefore can be very hot but will never explode. Expansive on the other hand gains force from the rapid expansion of a gas in a contained space with release in only the intended direction of force, which can be a pretty low maintenance but fuel expensive method. Technically the first and third methods are almost exactly the same, since an explosion is simply the hot and violent expansion of a source fuel. Perhaps a super high pressure containment unit which leaks a small amount of high explosive material into a blasting chamber would be the ideal form of those two.
The underlying model of the Ion engine on the other hand is high maintenance, ultra low (compared to rocketry) thrust, but super fuel efficient which allows for greater top speeds since it can run significantly longer. Most importantly though, although the engine itself is fuel efficient in terms of momentum/L, it requires an outside source of electricity in order to run. This brings a whole new barrel of monkeys to the field, should it be supplied by batteries, a motor, or a miniature power plant? It would be very understandable for larger ships to feature nuclear reactors, but what are the limitations to that? Should all big ships have nuclear reactors or only military ships? Could this mean a bunch of ships with really big standard ICEs?
Of course, if I was purely interested in making a narrative based game based entirely around piloting this would hardly matter. But since the beginning birth was intended to be largely simulation. Partly because without these levels of simulation it would be impossible to ever play the part of an engineer like Kaylee for instance. Perhaps I'm very strange, but I think it would be fun to see how long and how well you could keep a ship running on a shoe string budget.
26.2.09
The Dream
Lately, I've found myself very torn. I've held two great dreams in life for a long time now, two things that I always wanted to accomplish. The first is to be a game designer, the second is to be an artist, preferably within the games industry. The two have had me torn at odds for a long time now, Game Design I value more, but I have a harder time completing anything in it, even simple projects. Art on the other hand, I've been building a huge amount of work experience with, but still remain hugely limited, like I'm always struggling just to catch up with the coat tails of the artists around me.
The greatest problem though, is that recently a third dream has emerged, and without my even realizing it has completely overshadowed both of those dreams. This one though, is probably the hardest of all to accomplish.
My dream is to build a school, of sorts. I'm sure that most people who know me, and my opinions of the education system, would be very surprised by that. Of course, I hardly plan on becoming a teacher or a professor at a present institution, since the teaching itself is not my dream.
Ever since I was young, I knew I was in the top ten percent of my classes, of my school, possibly even my city. You have to understand I'm not saying that to boast, most of my readers will have probably done as well or better. I was born in a lower middle class family, my father had training in nuclear school while in the Navy, but nobody in my immediate family had, or has yet gotten, a college diploma. I primarily blame this on us all being rebellious fucks, but each of us had... other factors as well.
There have been a number of major roadblocks in my life, my father pushing me out of the school system, and then into college too early, my depression, the simple fact that my family has always been too poor to really afford college, but not poor enough to qualify for any sort of aid. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm a rebellious fuck as well. ~.^ (I'm also mortally afraid of my own shadow, which doesn't help.) My thought is... is this really all that uncommon a story? How many gifted losers are there, out there, right this minute. People who, like me, had the smarts to succeed, but not the tools, not the support system, not the environment.
The school in my mind is not a school as the current education system would consider it. It would be open to high school age on up. The curricula would be solid, I actually strongly believe in the importance of basic education, but it wouldn't be the focus. The focus of the school would be a place for the individual to heal, to be with people like them, to challenge their own personal roadblocks, and to face the world again with a set of tools to support their own unique brands of genius. There would be no regular grading, I'm completely against it. My current thought is tests, though not necessarily the standard variation of test we have now. It's important to me the atmosphere be non-judgmental, it's not about when a student completes their courses, or how well. The point is for the student to develop their own wings, capable of carrying them through the rest of their life.
I'm sure there are some who will think my dream is too kind. But having observed first hand the results of wings broken by life, I find the current system too cruel for my taste. Still, I face a significant challenge, how can I form this particular dream into a reality. As it stands... I have no idea.
The greatest problem though, is that recently a third dream has emerged, and without my even realizing it has completely overshadowed both of those dreams. This one though, is probably the hardest of all to accomplish.
My dream is to build a school, of sorts. I'm sure that most people who know me, and my opinions of the education system, would be very surprised by that. Of course, I hardly plan on becoming a teacher or a professor at a present institution, since the teaching itself is not my dream.
Ever since I was young, I knew I was in the top ten percent of my classes, of my school, possibly even my city. You have to understand I'm not saying that to boast, most of my readers will have probably done as well or better. I was born in a lower middle class family, my father had training in nuclear school while in the Navy, but nobody in my immediate family had, or has yet gotten, a college diploma. I primarily blame this on us all being rebellious fucks, but each of us had... other factors as well.
There have been a number of major roadblocks in my life, my father pushing me out of the school system, and then into college too early, my depression, the simple fact that my family has always been too poor to really afford college, but not poor enough to qualify for any sort of aid. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm a rebellious fuck as well. ~.^ (I'm also mortally afraid of my own shadow, which doesn't help.) My thought is... is this really all that uncommon a story? How many gifted losers are there, out there, right this minute. People who, like me, had the smarts to succeed, but not the tools, not the support system, not the environment.
The school in my mind is not a school as the current education system would consider it. It would be open to high school age on up. The curricula would be solid, I actually strongly believe in the importance of basic education, but it wouldn't be the focus. The focus of the school would be a place for the individual to heal, to be with people like them, to challenge their own personal roadblocks, and to face the world again with a set of tools to support their own unique brands of genius. There would be no regular grading, I'm completely against it. My current thought is tests, though not necessarily the standard variation of test we have now. It's important to me the atmosphere be non-judgmental, it's not about when a student completes their courses, or how well. The point is for the student to develop their own wings, capable of carrying them through the rest of their life.
I'm sure there are some who will think my dream is too kind. But having observed first hand the results of wings broken by life, I find the current system too cruel for my taste. Still, I face a significant challenge, how can I form this particular dream into a reality. As it stands... I have no idea.
25.2.09
The Meme got me.
In response to Ysh's Meme tagging me.
I present you EVE screenshot number 6.
This is my Celestis, my first cruiser. I used it to hop around the higher end of low sec, clearing drone bases for loot and glory. For a while I even tried some exploring with it... didn't work out for me for some reason.
Other than that...
I had the initial glimmer of an idea for this on Monday... truth is I haven't got much of an idea what to do with it. The core concept was a cross between a motorcycle and a snowboard, basically allowing urban snowboarding... though possibly even higher speeds. Maybe I'll work on something resembling a skate clone to put it into, I've also wanted to work on a project involving high speed movement.
I present you EVE screenshot number 6.
This is my Celestis, my first cruiser. I used it to hop around the higher end of low sec, clearing drone bases for loot and glory. For a while I even tried some exploring with it... didn't work out for me for some reason.
Other than that...
I had the initial glimmer of an idea for this on Monday... truth is I haven't got much of an idea what to do with it. The core concept was a cross between a motorcycle and a snowboard, basically allowing urban snowboarding... though possibly even higher speeds. Maybe I'll work on something resembling a skate clone to put it into, I've also wanted to work on a project involving high speed movement.
23.2.09
The Beast is Back!
My personal computer (the Beast) has, with the help of a power supply aptly named "Beast Power", recrossed the river styx and is currently running just fine.
What does this mean for me? All of my installed games are back. All of my project data is back. I once again have access to professional level photomanipulation and 3d modeling tools. My entire music library once again at the tips of my fingers (sadly I'm not sure it'll ever recover from the hdd wipe of last year though.) Reference Material!
What does this mean for you... don't actually know yet, I'll get back to you on that.
What does this mean for me? All of my installed games are back. All of my project data is back. I once again have access to professional level photomanipulation and 3d modeling tools. My entire music library once again at the tips of my fingers (sadly I'm not sure it'll ever recover from the hdd wipe of last year though.) Reference Material!
What does this mean for you... don't actually know yet, I'll get back to you on that.
21.2.09
Mechanic: Prayer
I haven't sat down and designed a full mechanic in a while. Let's see if I still have the touch.
Variations:
Blessing
Curse
Sealing
Summoning
Sub-Mechanics:
Alignment
Sacrifice
Lore
Alignment is your relative standing with a particular Spirits. A spirit you have a good alignment with will grant you more power than one with neutral or enemy status. Alignment is a floating scale between 0 and 100.
Sacrifice is the ability to power the prayer yourself by sacrificing something of high enough power/worth to activate the prayer. Levels of sacrifice are item, power item, drop of blood, ounce of blood, digit, appendage, incarnation (you will respawn), soul digit (permanent), soul appendage (permanent), soul (permadeath).
Lore is your ability to decipher the make-up a prayer from it's effects. The exact source prayer is needed in order to counter it's effect.
Lash Back happens when the prayer is invalid or the power source does not cover the whole cost of the prayer. Lash Back will begin a countdown, at which point the character must either sacrifice items enough to make up the power, or it will be sacrificed from their body automatically to cast the prayer. A powerful enough Lash Back can consume the supplicant's soul. If even the soul of the supplicant is not enough to pay for the prayer, the prayer will simply fizzle at end of countdown, and the player will take a 60 second silence effect.
Basic Prayer Mechanic:
A prayer is something the player says in chat. It cannot be a macro, it must be typed directly.
/prayer [prayer type] [aoe var] [power level var] [effect] [duration var] [power source] [target]
/dispell [target] [power source] [duration] [effect] [power level] [aoe] [prayer type] [your power source]
Prayer Words (making it up as I go):
Au - Blessing
Ku - Curse
Lu - Sealing
Hu - Summoning
Oon - Self
Ion - 5 meters
Hoon - 10 meters
Hion - 15 meters
Goon - 20 meters
Gion - 25 meters
Foon - 30 meters
Fion - 35 meters
(r - 4, i - 5, y - 6, j - 7, t - 8, e - 9)
Wano - Target
Ooa - Flea
Ioa - Cantrip
Hoa - Lesser
Foa - Minor
Ioa - Standard
Joa - Higher
Eoa - Greater
Hooa - Greatest
HHoa - Legendary
Ori - Instant
Hri - 1/10 second
Hori - 1 second
Iori - 5 seconds
Hoori - 10 seconds
AriHri - 1 hour
AriGri - 2 hours
EriHri - 1 day
EriGri - 2 days
Era - Permanent
Shutho - Strengthen/Weaken
Whutho - Speed Up/Slow Down
Dhatho - Increase Health/Decrease Health
Hitho - Heal/Damage
Kitho - Cure Blind/Blind
Iatho - Luck Up/Luck Down
Motho - Cure Silence/Silence
(more to come, I'm sure)
Blessings:
Blessings are always buffs. A blessing gains additional power if the spirit powering it is a sympathetic aspect to the effect being used. A blessing may target a player, an object or players/objects in a range around the supplicant.
Curses:
Curses are always debuffs. A curse can only be powered by sacrifice. Items that are naturally sympathetic to the effect will give a bonus in power when sacrificed. Items imbued with power from a god with sympathetic attributes give an additional bonus. A curse can target a player, an object, a place, or players/objects in a range around the supplicant.
Seal:
A seal can be either a buff or a debuff. A seal can be powered by anything, but gains no bonuses from sympathetic power sources, instead sympathetic power sources make it a buff, while antipathetic sources make it a debuff. A Neutral power source will trigger Lash Back. Seals effect everything within target range. A seal may target a player or a place. A soul-seal is a seal that has been powered by sacrificing a portion of the soul, the sacrificed soul material is not destroyed until the seal is destroyed. (Sacrificed soul parts also cannot be used as a power source)
Summons:
A summon calls a player or ally from one location to another. Summons may be powered by anything, and are cheaper if target is sympathetically aligned to power source used. The syntax for a common summon is simpler, requiring only "[prayer type] [power source] [target]". A summon with full syntax is considered a summoning soul-seal, it can only be powered by sacrificing a portion of the soul and can only target mobs. Summoning Soul-Seals allow the player to summon the target anywhere any time at minimal cost, the summon is then capable of growing more powerful, and gives it's summoner a natural buff when not summoned. A supplicant must have good alignment with the mob's patron spirit, or it can cause the seal to fail or a lingering debuff. (When a player is summoned, they have the option of not accepting the summon, this will not cause lash-back with the summoner.)
Imbuements:
An Imbuement is technically a seal, though considered separate for our purposes. Imbuements can only target items, and have no outright effect. An Imbuement places power of the type used as a source into an item, allowing it to be sacrificed for that power at a later date. If it is a weapon, then the player will gain damage benefits related to it's type. Those benefits are proportionally limited by the players alignment with the source of the power imbued in the object. A weapon Imbuement that involves the sacrifice of a player's body or soul is instead proportionally limited by time spent holding the weapon and number of times it is used to attack and can only effect damage output. An item can only be imbued once.
Variations:
Blessing
Curse
Sealing
Summoning
Sub-Mechanics:
Alignment
Sacrifice
Lore
Alignment is your relative standing with a particular Spirits. A spirit you have a good alignment with will grant you more power than one with neutral or enemy status. Alignment is a floating scale between 0 and 100.
Sacrifice is the ability to power the prayer yourself by sacrificing something of high enough power/worth to activate the prayer. Levels of sacrifice are item, power item, drop of blood, ounce of blood, digit, appendage, incarnation (you will respawn), soul digit (permanent), soul appendage (permanent), soul (permadeath).
Lore is your ability to decipher the make-up a prayer from it's effects. The exact source prayer is needed in order to counter it's effect.
Lash Back happens when the prayer is invalid or the power source does not cover the whole cost of the prayer. Lash Back will begin a countdown, at which point the character must either sacrifice items enough to make up the power, or it will be sacrificed from their body automatically to cast the prayer. A powerful enough Lash Back can consume the supplicant's soul. If even the soul of the supplicant is not enough to pay for the prayer, the prayer will simply fizzle at end of countdown, and the player will take a 60 second silence effect.
Basic Prayer Mechanic:
A prayer is something the player says in chat. It cannot be a macro, it must be typed directly.
/prayer [prayer type] [aoe var] [power level var] [effect] [duration var] [power source] [target]
/dispell [target] [power source] [duration] [effect] [power level] [aoe] [prayer type] [your power source]
Prayer Words (making it up as I go):
Au - Blessing
Ku - Curse
Lu - Sealing
Hu - Summoning
Oon - Self
Ion - 5 meters
Hoon - 10 meters
Hion - 15 meters
Goon - 20 meters
Gion - 25 meters
Foon - 30 meters
Fion - 35 meters
(r - 4, i - 5, y - 6, j - 7, t - 8, e - 9)
Wano - Target
Ooa - Flea
Ioa - Cantrip
Hoa - Lesser
Foa - Minor
Ioa - Standard
Joa - Higher
Eoa - Greater
Hooa - Greatest
HHoa - Legendary
Ori - Instant
Hri - 1/10 second
Hori - 1 second
Iori - 5 seconds
Hoori - 10 seconds
AriHri - 1 hour
AriGri - 2 hours
EriHri - 1 day
EriGri - 2 days
Era - Permanent
Shutho - Strengthen/Weaken
Whutho - Speed Up/Slow Down
Dhatho - Increase Health/Decrease Health
Hitho - Heal/Damage
Kitho - Cure Blind/Blind
Iatho - Luck Up/Luck Down
Motho - Cure Silence/Silence
(more to come, I'm sure)
Blessings:
Blessings are always buffs. A blessing gains additional power if the spirit powering it is a sympathetic aspect to the effect being used. A blessing may target a player, an object or players/objects in a range around the supplicant.
Curses:
Curses are always debuffs. A curse can only be powered by sacrifice. Items that are naturally sympathetic to the effect will give a bonus in power when sacrificed. Items imbued with power from a god with sympathetic attributes give an additional bonus. A curse can target a player, an object, a place, or players/objects in a range around the supplicant.
Seal:
A seal can be either a buff or a debuff. A seal can be powered by anything, but gains no bonuses from sympathetic power sources, instead sympathetic power sources make it a buff, while antipathetic sources make it a debuff. A Neutral power source will trigger Lash Back. Seals effect everything within target range. A seal may target a player or a place. A soul-seal is a seal that has been powered by sacrificing a portion of the soul, the sacrificed soul material is not destroyed until the seal is destroyed. (Sacrificed soul parts also cannot be used as a power source)
Summons:
A summon calls a player or ally from one location to another. Summons may be powered by anything, and are cheaper if target is sympathetically aligned to power source used. The syntax for a common summon is simpler, requiring only "[prayer type] [power source] [target]". A summon with full syntax is considered a summoning soul-seal, it can only be powered by sacrificing a portion of the soul and can only target mobs. Summoning Soul-Seals allow the player to summon the target anywhere any time at minimal cost, the summon is then capable of growing more powerful, and gives it's summoner a natural buff when not summoned. A supplicant must have good alignment with the mob's patron spirit, or it can cause the seal to fail or a lingering debuff. (When a player is summoned, they have the option of not accepting the summon, this will not cause lash-back with the summoner.)
Imbuements:
An Imbuement is technically a seal, though considered separate for our purposes. Imbuements can only target items, and have no outright effect. An Imbuement places power of the type used as a source into an item, allowing it to be sacrificed for that power at a later date. If it is a weapon, then the player will gain damage benefits related to it's type. Those benefits are proportionally limited by the players alignment with the source of the power imbued in the object. A weapon Imbuement that involves the sacrifice of a player's body or soul is instead proportionally limited by time spent holding the weapon and number of times it is used to attack and can only effect damage output. An item can only be imbued once.
20.2.09
Release
"Listen, Ms. Glaswel-" He began in a calm reassuring tone.
"That's Mrs. Glaswel. It took four years hard fucking to earn that title, so I'll thank you not to forget it." Her manner was anything but reassuring. She shifted ever so slightly in her seat, but it gave the distinct impression of a snake coiling before a strike.
"Yes, well, Mrs. Glaswel... I'm afraid the company is undergoing some, restructuring."
It had been quiet on that particular floor of that particular building until just then. A sort of cloying silence had hung in the air, bringing with it a distinct sense of foreboding. That was changed in an instant.
"I'm FIRED!?" A few more moments of indistinct shouting and even less distinct middle management run around speak passed before the door flew open. "Yeah well you can take your 'inappropriate conduct' complaints and shove them up the nearest..."
Later that night
"So how was work today?" Her wife was leaning back further than her chair was designed to go, the foot she wrapped around the leg of her desk providing only a tenuous amount of support. The drawings scattered around her desktop ranged from barely started to almost complete, without any one really seeming to be the focus of the desk space.
"I... was." She started but couldn't bring herself to finish.
"Oh, you was. Sounds fascinating, care to elaborate?" The twinkle of mischief in her wife's eye set her on edge even more.
"I was fired, okay!" she snapped, glaring off into some unknown space to avoid having to look into her lover's eyes. The chair came crashing to the ground, spilling the young brunette artist out at her feet. She looked down incredulously as the laughing started, but then found herself joining in despite the tears she could feel forming in her eyes.
It was a short drop down to the ground where laughed together for a while. Finally the tears took over and all she could do was sob while the young brunette held her close. "We can't help it now," the artist mused, "might as well just relax tonight. We can worry about what to do about this tomorrow. So... what do you want for dinner?"
"Chinese." She half sobbed.
"Chinese it is then."
* * *
Hmm... I don't feel like this one has a proper ending. Oh well, I just wanted to get something written for now, maybe I'll come back and make some changes later.
"That's Mrs. Glaswel. It took four years hard fucking to earn that title, so I'll thank you not to forget it." Her manner was anything but reassuring. She shifted ever so slightly in her seat, but it gave the distinct impression of a snake coiling before a strike.
"Yes, well, Mrs. Glaswel... I'm afraid the company is undergoing some, restructuring."
It had been quiet on that particular floor of that particular building until just then. A sort of cloying silence had hung in the air, bringing with it a distinct sense of foreboding. That was changed in an instant.
"I'm FIRED!?" A few more moments of indistinct shouting and even less distinct middle management run around speak passed before the door flew open. "Yeah well you can take your 'inappropriate conduct' complaints and shove them up the nearest..."
Later that night
"So how was work today?" Her wife was leaning back further than her chair was designed to go, the foot she wrapped around the leg of her desk providing only a tenuous amount of support. The drawings scattered around her desktop ranged from barely started to almost complete, without any one really seeming to be the focus of the desk space.
"I... was." She started but couldn't bring herself to finish.
"Oh, you was. Sounds fascinating, care to elaborate?" The twinkle of mischief in her wife's eye set her on edge even more.
"I was fired, okay!" she snapped, glaring off into some unknown space to avoid having to look into her lover's eyes. The chair came crashing to the ground, spilling the young brunette artist out at her feet. She looked down incredulously as the laughing started, but then found herself joining in despite the tears she could feel forming in her eyes.
It was a short drop down to the ground where laughed together for a while. Finally the tears took over and all she could do was sob while the young brunette held her close. "We can't help it now," the artist mused, "might as well just relax tonight. We can worry about what to do about this tomorrow. So... what do you want for dinner?"
"Chinese." She half sobbed.
"Chinese it is then."
* * *
Hmm... I don't feel like this one has a proper ending. Oh well, I just wanted to get something written for now, maybe I'll come back and make some changes later.
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