Messages

61

Areas / Re: Little Russia

« on: July 03, 2019, 01:13:00 AM »

Sakura

Sakura smiled back at the cowgirl.

"Ah, OK", she replied. "Those bullets could really come in handy."

Then, she turned to the man but, before she could speak, she was interrupted by the sound of a squirrel girl crashing into the ground at great speed, before running over to her.

"Hi Nanako!" she said. "Thank you for responding to my call, I need all the help I can get here."

Then, she addressed the man.

"I'm not sure if that is the best strategy. I certainly can evacuate him, but my teleportation isn't as quick as hers, and I would have to get into range first. That would be difficult for me to do in the middle of a battle", she said. "It might be better if Nanako was to rush in and grab Shirou, and then bring him to me so that I can teleport us to safety. She's much, much faster than I am."

62

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 03, 2019, 12:48:24 AM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed, before going silent as he considered whether to accept her deal. Part of him was wary of being caught in a trap, of being forced to watch helplessly as his wife was murdered. But, at the same time, he knew that both Rin and Sakura were good people at heart, people he could trust. Besides, if he could convince his wife not to attack her, then it wouldn't be an issue.

"OK", he said, eventually, "I will accept those terms."

"I would, however, like some clarity on what, exactly, I can tell my wife. I presume I can relay the terms of this Geas to her, and explain how I was treated, but how much can I tell her about you?"

63

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 03, 2019, 12:34:57 AM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, the girl's annoyance clear.

"Well, if that's the case, then what's the harm in adding a no-killing clause?" he replied. "I don't think that you will attempt to kill her, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

64

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 02, 2019, 10:50:40 PM »

Shirou

"Yes, but what if she does start it? What if she makes a mistake, or reacts badly to what happened? I can't see why she would, but sometimes things happen that you do not expect. And, if it does happen, what am I supposed to do, stand by and watch her die?" he replied.

"If she does try to attack you, I would be happy to do my best to stop her attacks, but I cannot do that if you can just kill her whilst she's subdued, or use my attempts to stop her as a distraction."

65

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 02, 2019, 10:44:28 PM »

Shirou

"Of course, but that's difficult to do when someone is in the process of attacking her", he replied. "And it's not like I am with her all the time."

"In any case, what do you mean by 'fight'? If all you mean is that I don't attack you directly then that is fine, but I can't attempt to subdue or evacuate my wife if she's under attack by familiars and magic which I'm not allowed to protect her from. That would put her in too much danger."

66

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 02, 2019, 10:38:42 PM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, realising that she was right. If his wife had no intention of coming after them, then there was no problem with her terms. Yet, he was still worried. What if he was wrong, or if there was some loophole in the terms?

"Well, what if she shows up here just as I'm leaving, or before I find her?" he replied.

"But, yes, you're right, I don't believe she will come after you, but it's not something I can ever be certain about. I don't have any intention of helping her attack you and I will do everything I can to prevent it, I just want to be sure that she'll be safe no matter what."

67

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 02, 2019, 10:30:07 PM »

Shirou

Shirou frowned.

"What about my wife? Will you guarantee not to come after her, either?" he said. "And what happens if she comes after you? Will you promise not to kill her? Surely you can't expect me to just stand by and watch you kill my wife."

"As for not talking about you, what do you mean by that, exactly?"

68

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: July 01, 2019, 11:25:27 PM »

Rin

"I kidnapped you. That's reason enough for her. The Sakura you're describing is moat certainly not the Sakura I know." She answered curtly. "I'll draft up a geas for you to sign. We don't have time for this kind of prolonged debate."

Shirou

Shirou sighed.

"Well, the Sakura I know wouldn't knock me out and kidnap me. So, yes, it is very obvious that your version of Sakura isn't quite the same as mine. Whilst I'm sure she's upset at you for what you've done, as long as she knows that I am safe and that you have no intention of harming us, she's not going to hold a grudge", he said.

"As for the Geas, what terms do you have in mind?" he added, wondering if she had taken any of what he said on board.

69

Areas / Re: Little Russia

« on: July 01, 2019, 12:46:47 AM »

Sakura

To Sakura's surprise, instead of the familiar simply absorbing the shot, the bullet pierced straight through, leaving a massive hole in the middle of it. Then, with its integrity compromised, the shadow quickly disintegrated. With the surprised look on her face, Sakura turned back to the girl.

"What was that?" she said. "It destroyed the shadow pretty easily."

"And, yes, I agree, her teleportation is very problematic. I've got myself and my husband out of trouble using it enough times, and I'm much less proficient than she seems to be. And, whilst she can only travel to locations where she has a shadow familiar, if she has any sense, she'll have familiars dotted around the city in convenient locations, like I have, so it won't be difficult for her to escape."

"Our only option is to find a way to keep her distracted and seperated from my husband until we can evacuate him safely. If she can't grab him, she can't escape with him. Even if she does run, we'll still have got what we came for", she added.

70

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: June 28, 2019, 12:02:07 AM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed again.

"If I can explain what I signed and why, I'm sure she'll be fine with it. Sakura doesn't have any reason to want to hurt you as long as you're no threat to us, she just wants to make sure I'm safe", he said.

71

Areas / Re: Little Russia

« on: June 26, 2019, 02:02:07 AM »

Sakura

As the man spoke, the girl made another attempt to attack the shadow. However, the droplets of oil from the exploding bullet were simply absorbed into the shadow just as the bullets before them had been, the same fate befalling the follow-up attack. Seeing this, Sakura turned to the girl.

"As I said, they can absorb almost anything. The only chance you might have of destroying them with a frontal attack is if you have some kind of anti-magic bullet, and even then I'm not sure if it would work", she said.

Then, the turned to the man and began to answer his questions.

"My insects are familiars, so they can operate at any distance. They also have some limited level of autonomy. If I give them an order, they will attempt to fulfill that order even if they are not able to be directly controlled. Of course, their intelligence is only on the same level as that of an insect, so they can be outwitted easily enough. As for their creation, it is a relatively quick process. The limiting factor is mostly my magical energy supply, both in terms of creating them and also supporting them", she said.

"And, no, unfortunately I do not have any special attunement to her magic. I can detect the use of magical energy by any magus, if they are close enough, and the fact that I am so familiar with her magic means that I might be able to pick up on subtle things that I might miss from anyone else, but overall my ability to detect her is not significantly better than my ability to detect any other mage."

72

Areas / Re: Little Russia

« on: June 26, 2019, 01:14:29 AM »

Sakura

As the bullets hit the shadow, they simply disappeared without trace, leaving no apparent damage.

"As you can see, the shadows absorbed the bullets without a trace", Sakura said. "In fact, they can absorb almost any attack that hits them straight-on. Aside from maybe a powerful anti-magic spell, the only way to destroy them is to cut them from the edge. Do you have anything in particular that you think might work on them? If you do, it might be a good idea to test it out now."

73

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: June 25, 2019, 11:03:57 PM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed again, and frowned. He could completely understand her concerns, but what she was demanding was completely unreasonable. She was expecting him to assist her in murdering his wife, and not to even be able to explain why. So, he thought for a few moments, before giving his response.

"I do understand that you need to be able to defend yourself, but I am not willing to allow you to murder my wife without even being able to help defend her. But, I will agree to a compromise. If you agree not to attack my wife unless she directly attacks you, and to avoid killing or permanently maiming her, then I will agree to aid you", he said.

"As for what I can say, I understand your concern, but I would prefer a little more freedom to explain things. If all I can say is that I was humanely treated, that sounds extremely suspicious, she might think I'm being forced to lie, or controlled. At minimum, I would like to be able to explain why I cannot tell her any more information."

74

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: June 24, 2019, 11:00:24 PM »

Shirou

Shirou sighed. He could tell that the girl did genuinely want a solution, and he was willing to accept most of what she wanted.

"I would be perfectly willing to agree to a geas to aid you if my wife does attack, provided you agree not to harm her under any circumstances. As for keeping silent, what exactly do you mean? I am willing to refrain from disclosing the location of your house to anyone, but I need to be able to explain enough to my wife to convince her not to attack", he said.

"I am aware that, given your strength, you could forcibly wipe my memory, but that would not solve anything. I am sure that, if I show up at home with no memory of what occurred, my wife will not react well, and likely nor will I."

75

Areas / Re: Little Russia

« on: June 24, 2019, 02:34:29 AM »

Sakura

Sakura was about to answer Nanako when the girl decided instead to come up with a solution for herself.

"OK, see you in a minute, Nanako", she said, before hanging up.

As soon as she'd done so, the girl jumped down in front of her and spoke, questioning her choice to call another person.

"I called her before I even met you, actually", she said. "But I don't see how having extra help can hurt. Plus, she seems to be good at tracking people, which we will need."

"In any case, she'll be here in a couple of minutes, so it's probably not a good idea to attempt sparring, in case she gets the wrong idea. But I can demonstrate some of my magic now, whilst we're waiting", she added.

With that, she began her demonstration.

"Erschaffe Hornissenschwarm!" she shouted, and a swarm of hornets began to form behind her, before moving quickly in the direction of a nearby lamp-post.

"First of all, I can create various insect familiars with my magic. Personally, I make a lot of use of these hornets. They act a lot like normal hornets, but their stings are deadly. Alternately, if I wish, they can instead knock their target unconscious", she said. "As for her, I'm unsure exactly what she uses. I mostly came up with the specific uses of this magic myself, so she might well have come up with something slightly different. Although, I did see her create hornets in battle, at least."

"Verschwinden!" she shouted, causing the familiars to disappear.

"Next, I will demonstrate my shadow magecraft. Vertraute Schatten einsetzen!" she stated, creating a moderate-sized shadow familiar.

"These familiars can be used to shield me and to attack my enemies. Also, they can vary in size depending on how much magical energy I put in to them. Our opponent seems to have considerably more magical energy available to her than I do, so her familiars are far, far larger than I can make mine. As such, they are also far more dangerous."

As she spoke, Sakura sent the shadow creature to stand over near to a wall behind her.

"It might also be a good idea for me to demonstrate their abilities a little better. If you wouldn't mind, could you take a few shots at that shadow? It should absorb them without taking any damage", she added, before waiting for the girl to make her move.