#I know for a fact they’re too busy helping w evacuations to actually manage to detour and save any of it too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thegc4life · 4 years

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*in Dabi voice* That so? How sad, poor little WyvernSpirit. Hawks with prosthetic legs is a concept that has haunted me too. Maybe above the ankle, but below the knee? Amputation 😔 there I said it directly. Last page of chapter 267, doesn't Hawks' leg look kinda long and weirdly detatched 'cause of the angle and being hidden behind Tokoyami's hand?

Anonymous said:

Continuing. Common known fact: When Wyvern gets stuck on a concept they really fall down that rabbit hole hard. - Sincerely, the anon that placed helicopter sound effects over Keigo's feetsies. (Hint: Helicopters are chop-chopping :)

--00--

Okay. OKAY. You lot! ALL of you! Do you know what you have done to me?! I have thought about this, relentlessly! I have nit, I have picked, and I have formulated plans and you have given me horrible, horrible ideas! That I am implementing now because god damn it you’ve infected me with- with the chop-chopness! All of you!

@stitchthepaleontologynerd I haven’t gotten to your ask yet, it’s coming up boy howdy, but you’re included in this!

How dare! How daaarrreee!

Now you get to suffer with me! Look at what you’ve done! Look at it!

(For all you lovely doves *side-eyes the wrong-doers* that are not horrible influences, if you do not want any spoilers for Hawks-sensei do not read below the cut. It is a detailing of a trauma I was planning to use but is now so much bigger, so much WORSE, and will pop up in later chapters as the same flashback styles as I’ve had already. Warnings for verbal and emotional manipulation as well as threats of physical abuse. It’s sad. You’ve been warned.)

So...

Originally planned: We all know (unless our minds were tired and blended that one little speech bubble that showed up a total of one time) that Hawks was trained in negotiation tactics, verbal manipulation, and such. Head Canon wise, in the story I was going to have it that as he grew up Hawks could, technically, ask for anything he wanted and get it but he needed to make a compelling argument for why he should be allowed to have what he asked for (hint: he often failed these until he stopped asking for things that were ‘useless’). I was going to hint at this, here and there, to do that slow build horror that is so prevalent in the Hero Commission.

And then Chop-chop happened.

So. Now there is this.

Hawks keeps failing his negotiation training outside of training scenarios. His trainers and the President wanted him to keep asking for things so that he could learn how to manipulate and negotiate at the drop of a hat. But whenever he asked for things it was always ‘silly little things’ like going outside for a bit to fly, or to get something that actually tasted good instead of all gross food he was served for every meal, or to be able to take his Endeavour doll with him to training so that it could watch on and give him encouragement.

You know. Silly things.

He always failed these because he could not come up with a strong enough argument for why he should be allowed to do these things.

So they got... a little mean.

Longer training hours. He was always given the choice of not staying later than usual, so long as he could provide a ‘valid’ argument to his trainers why he didn’t need to work harder. ‘I managed that new aerial trick three times in a row with no mistakes’ he would say. ‘Yes, but you messed up the other one halfway through’ they would say. And he would tell them that it was new, of course he didn’t get it down right away. And they would say, ‘exactly, so we need to train more.’

Eventually, Hawks would get to the point where he would say ‘I need to be able to stretch my body in a certain way to make that move. I should go to my room and practice stretching like that. I will have it perfected next time.’

And they praise him for good thinking and say ‘yes, Hawks, that is a good idea’ and he gets all happy because Praise, and he goes from training with them... to training in his room as though he managed to convince them of anything.

He makes progress. He gets better at speaking, and manipulating, and redirecting. But not fast enough. Not good enough.

So they step it up a bit.

“Your feet’ they tell him. They are unnatural. They affect how you walk, how you stand, they look odd and lethal. He is supposed to be a comforting figure, he can’t be like that if he as talons that could rip off someone’s arm.

They’ll just have to go.

Hawks, understandably, freaks the fuck out. He doesn’t want to have his talons surgically removed. To have his feet braced and wrapped until they were re-formed into a ‘normal’ foot. To have anything they were telling him.

He argues with his trainers. Screams at them for the first time in the two years (because yes, he is still very young) he’s been here. He leaves without permission. Goes to his room. Screams and shakes and holds his Endeavour plush while praying the real thing will come save him.

In comes the President.

‘Hawks,’ she says, long after he has exhausted himself and is just staring blankly at the wall. ‘I heard what happened. You don’t want the surgery, do you?”

And of course he doesn’t, who would want that?

“I understand’ she says, and Hawks believes her because she always seems to understand more than he does but he doesn’t want her to this time because when she understands him she makes him understand her.

Which is exactly what she does.

She tells him why she thinks it is a good idea to get the surgery. While he is exhausted, empty, and numb she tells him all the horrible things in the world people see and how his feet might seem scary. She gives statements, but they seem... weak? They are less substantial than usual.

“The surgery will be next week,” she tells him and he breaks and he breaks and he breaks.

“Unless.”

Unless he can convince them otherwise. Unless he can negotiate. Manipulate. Make them see things his way.

“I want you to be happy, Hawks,’ she tells him, using the pads of her fingers to brush his hair out of his face before she goes and he leans into the warmth and wants, wants, wants. “If you think there is a different way, that there is something that should be done differently, all you have to do is tell us. You’re a smart boy. If you really think your feet are fine as they are, then there must be a reason they’re like that right? You just have to tell us what it is.”

So he tries.

Day one, he fails. They take x-rays of his feet for the doctors to look at while they prepare. ‘I’ll never walk the same’ isn’t a good enough reason when they have specialized physical therapists there to make sure that he will.

Day two, he fails. His handler tells him the time he was scheduled for. Early in the morning, right after he wakes up. “It will slow down my training,” isn’t good enough either. ‘you’re a fast learner’ is praise he always wanted before, and now all it is is a bullet in his lungs.

Day three, he fails. They use a practice dummy to help teach him how he is going to have to wrap his feet when everyone else is too busy to help him. “It’s going to hurt” and “I’m scared” are not the reasons of a hero. He’ll get over it.

Day four, he fails. No one brings it up that day. There is an entry on his calendar though. Circled. Blatant. He doesn’t argue that day. He doesn’t know what to say.

Day five, he fails. He asks his trainers if there is any way for him to use his feet, as they are, as a hero. They tell him they have never worked with avian based quirks before, how could they possibly know if his talons would be useful? He snapped at them, saying they did just fine telling him how to use his feathers when no one else in the world had the same quirk as he did. He had to do extra laps that day, until he was too tired to argue anymore.

Day six, the day before the surgery, the President comes to visit him again. He stayed up all night, even with how exhausted he had been, because this was his last chance.

“I can keep them covered,” he tells her. Tells the room. The faces that hold the decision in their hands. “I have to wear shoes outside anyway, it’s easy to keep them covered. They help me balance in ways most people can’t. It makes me a better fighter. If I run out of feathers, I will still have a weapon. A last resort. I can learn to walk normal. It will be easier to learn with feet I am used to then ones created for me. My toes are flexible and strong. If I train them I can use them in emergency situations to save more people. What if my arms are broken? My feathers gone? I can still use my feet to evacuate people.”

More, and more he talks. He tells them everything he can possibly think of that make his feet an advantage instead of an anomaly. He doesn't’ say ‘I like them’ or that he likes to curl his toes around the bottom bars of his bed when he has a nightmare. He doesn’t tell them that he likes the feeling of the tiles beneath his talons as they ‘click, click’ when he walks. He doesn’t tell them that they help him perch and that he’s afraid if they take them he won’t be able to do that anymore and he doesn’t know if he could handle losing that too.

His trainers look thoughtful. His handler is nodding.

The President smiles.

After everyone has left she gives him a hug. It’s small, and stiff, but he feels like crying.

“I am proud of you, Hawks,” she tells him. “Keep this up.”

And when they talk about his hands, he wins. When they talk about his staring he doesn’t... he doesn't win but he gets a compromise. A visor, to hide his eyes. When they talk about his sharp teeth, he almost loses but then he wins and the President smiles at him again. She doesn't’ hug him, that time, but he’s too old for that now so it’s okay.

When he’s sixteen, he knows he’s gotten really good at it. Because they try to take his Endeavour doll away. And it makes sense, because it’s- it’s a toy. Of course he doesn’t need it when he’s sixteen. He’s surprised they hadn’t tried to take it sooner. But he’d prepared for this, he knew his trainers and his handler well by then and he talked circles around them until they forgot what they asked in the first place. He got them refocused on training, on stats, on preparations and then he made sure it was always out of sight so they never brought it up again.

The President asked him, once, if he still had it. He shrugged, asked about how his results in his last combat simulation were, and she had looked so unimpressed that he knew she had known. But she hadn’t said anything. Because most of the time, if he managed to convince everyone else, she would let him keep something.

And he was grateful.

--00--

Look what you monsters have done. T-T I hope you’re happy!

Seriously though, you guys just love giving me the angst thoughts. Like, dang. I love and hate it. I still love YOU of course, but I hate the evil thoughts you give me! Please continue! But don’t!

#adorable bean response #i need a new bean post for asks that are most certainly NOT adorable #hawks sensei #hawks #takami keigo #the president is... blegh #look at what you’ve done!#look at it!

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beacon-of-chaos · 7 years

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Defenders of Aura - A Battle Century G Campaign Diary

Session 9 It's nearly time for the Chinese fleet to arrive. Each of us is preparing for the battle to come... Juyon is working on his mech when he's approached by a young lady- Fiona: If it's Sara Wong tell her to **** off. GM: It is Sara Wong. Fiona: Oh god. -who begins talking about... her life story? (Paraphrasing a lot here, it's been a while and I barely remember this) Sara: We're not too different, you and I. Your grandfather taught you, my father taught me. We both have a certain bond with technology, wouldn't you say? Juyon: Get to the point, Sara. Sara: Do you truly believe your Grandfather's spirit resides in your mech? Juyon: Well, no. It's a metaphor. I don't actually think my grandfather's heart beats within it. Sara: That's a shame. Juyon: Uh... Creepy. There was then a frankly uncomfortable conversation about death, though I'm afraid I've forgotten most of it at this point. Something about dying a hero, I think. Anyway, Sara leaves and Juyon is left incredibly puzzled. Elsewhere, Sinclair is monitoring radio frequencies when he detects a hacking attempt coming from inside the base. He attempts to get a security patrol to look into it but the communications go down as he tries. The hacker seems to be downloading videos. Sinclair: From the security cameras? GM: No, seems to be from an outside source. Sinclair: Huh. I'll attempt to lock them out of the system. GM: You don't need to, it seems they've already locked themselves out. Sinclair: My work here is done! Despite having "solved" the problem, Sinclair decides to see if he can find this hacker. There's a console in a rarely used corridor and using it is a teenage girl. She quickly apologises, saying she was bored and only trying to find some youtube videos since there wasn't any wifi, due to the base being on high alert. Sinclair responds that that's all well and good, but who is she and how is she such a good hacker? The girl responds that her name is Ajini and she is the daughter of General Gana of the Africa forces. Ajini: So you have to be nice to me. Sinclair: Debatable. She asks Sinclair why Aura is gearing up to fight the Chinese. Why not just let them take what they want so no one gets hurt? Sinclair responds that while he doesn't really have a lot of experience in human behaviour, he understand that people who make demands of you don't necessarily stop making demands if you give in. They just take and take until you have nothing left. Adacia responds that Sinclair sounds like her father. The young lady then decides that Sinclair needs to find her some entertainment. Sinclair takes her to the combat simulators for some mech practice (it's basically a video game, right?). And for once Sinclair can choose a mech with actual weapons! Spectre is working on his mech when Eric approaches him. A new battleship, the Argo, had been built and is ready for combat against the invaders. Eric is a seasoned mechanic now, having worked with Spectre on mech building for years. He lets the doctor know that he wants to join the Argo's crew as an engineer. Spectre: We've never been apart before. Eric: I know, but I think I can do more good with them. You don't really need me to help you anymore. Spectre: Promise me you'll stay safe? Eric: As long as you do the same, yes. They give each other a big hug. D'awww. Meanwhile, Ax is meeting up with his band mates. Together they decided that while their lead is out fighting on the front lines that they would help evacuating the citizens of Neovara to shelters in case the worst happens. Ax shares some works of wisdom with them. Ax: First of all, no bottling anyone! Bandmate: There are few problems that can't be solved by bottling someone. Ax: NO bottling anyone! And no setting fires either! Ori, I'm looking at you. Orion: Aw, you're no fun, Ax. Don't they sound like a fun bunch? It's all a bit of banter though and the group shares a tender moment too. Eric shows up here too, and tells Ax he looks up to him. The singer responds by giving Eric one of his limited edition band tour jackets. Finally, Fiona is in the cafeteria getting lunch when Nina Burgess approches her. Nina: Tensions are high at the moment. How are you feeling? Fiona: Fine. Nina: How do you think the battle will go? Fiona: I think we have the best plan we could come up with, considering the circumstances. Nina: ...You know I considered you for the leadership position as well. Fiona: I thought you might... Nina: You could have done well. But we needed a front man, someone charismatic. We've had so many recruits join up thanks to the work you've done. I hope you understand. Fiona: Ax is doing a good job. I'm okay being the one with the ideas. Nina: I'm glad. Back in the simulator, Sinclair is getting his metal butt handed to him by a teenager who's never piloted a mech before. I suppose that's what you get when you pilot a mech with no weapons for a living. (natural 1 vs natural 10 on a d10. Thems the breaks). Ajini is about to deal the final blow when the base alarm goes off. Battle stations! Sinclair: Oops, would you look at the time! I guess we'll call this one a draw, but good job, you nearly got me! See you later! We gather in the war room. So, what's the situation? Have the Chinese fallen for our ambush? Did they avoid it somehow? Actually the reality is the Chinese fleet has... vanished. Sinclair: Job done then! Who's for badminton? Ax: Depends. Do you play that as badly as you pilot in the simulator? Sinclair: *death glare* While we search for our foes, we discover a strange signal coming from orbit. We're not exactly sure what it is, but it seems to just be space debris. We try and get camera footage from a nearby satelite. As we do, another signal starts up nearby. And another. As the cameras move into place, we see what definitely looks like debris parts, clustered into a circle. And then another one appears, quickly at first, before slowing down and moving into place in the circle. Nina realises what's happening: The Chinese have launched their own portable warp gate into orbit, disguised as pieces of debris that we'd just ignore! Fiona: Oh, that's clever! We order the ships in orbit to fire on the warp gate, but before they can move into position three Chinese battleships warp through. We're in trouble. A message from the Chinese General is broadcast down to the surface, demanding that we surrender. No chance! Nina orders us to get up there and destroy the ships and the warp gate before the rest of the fleet arrives. How are we going to get up there in time? Being fired up out of a specialised mecha railgun. Sounds... fun? As we make our way to our mechs... GM: Ax, make an awareness roll. Ax: 6? GM: You feel a sudden stabbing pain in your side. You turn around to see Sara Wong, clutching something in her hand. Ax: S-Sara? ...Why? Sara: You want to be a hero, right? Kill the bad guys and save the world? Become powerful and die in glorious battle? Ax: ...W-what did you do!? Sara: You'll see. For now, you have a fight to win. And with that, she lightly pushes Ax with a single hand... and sends him flying into his mech. Ax: Did she just kill me? GM: No. In fact, you feel great. Better than ever. Ax: ...Huh? GM: You feel stronger, more alert, more confident. Like you could take on the world. Ax: The biofuel! She injected me! GM: You get +1 to ALL of your stats this session. Character and mech. Ax: Awesome! The rest of us don't notice anything as we are busy being launched out of a cannon into space. Sounds dangerous but we have some kind of g-force damping system in place to stop us turning into paste and scrap metal. We get our mission orders: The Cruel Odysseus and the other Auran ships will take on one ship, the Nauls will fight the other. Our job is to take out the third ship, or at least cripple it enough for a ship to get past and destroy the warp gate. We arrive within range and slow ourselves as much as possible. We have one major advantage that we didn't have when fighting the Ebon Order ship: These ships don't have mechs. We're just dealing with the ship's guns, and most of those are designed to fight other ships; they're too slow to hit us. Fiona attempts to hail the ship and offer them a chance to surrender but there's no response. How rude. Juyon, Fiona, and Sinclair begin moving towards the ship, while Spectre lays down cover fire with his laser cannon, adjusting the wavelength to ignore the enemy shields. Ax, on the other hand, begins moving directly towards the gun batteries, opening fire with his bazooka and dealing large amount of damage. The other mechs main targets are the anti-mecha turrets at the front of the ship. Juyon moves in close to attempt to cut the guns apart but is unable to pierce the armour (note: Juyon's player was suffering from a string of bad luck this session, never rolling higher than a 3 and getting four 1s in a row. He did not pray to RNGesus that day, clearly). Spectre overcharges his laser for an explosive blast and Fiona moves in after with her anti-warship sword. Sinclair attempts to hack the turrets to attack each other, but their systems are strong and he only manages to disable one. Ax, meanwhile, is getting a little cocky, hammering the gun arrays so much that he blasts a hole in the hull through them. We all notice he's acting strangely, but we don't get much communication from him. Then he does something... scary. He fires something into the ship through the hole he just made. A spare reactor core, which he then detonates. No one's even sure where he got that. We don't notice the explosion, but we do notice life signs heavily diminishing as the radiation from the core begins slowly killing the crew. There are many cries of "What the Hell, Ax!?" But he doesn't seem to be listening. He makes a willpower check and rolls low. GM: *to Ax* It all makes sense to you now. Everything is clear. This feels amazing. You are unstoppable. After a couple more rounds of combat, there's a warning from our sensors; the Chinese ship is overcharging its shields. If we don't stop it quickly the resulting energy burst will fry us. Fiona moves in to try a risky maneuver and disable the shield generator with melee attacks. Ax hefts his weapon at the shield generator... GM: Roll a willpower check. Ax: ...11? GM: It would be so easy. All you have to do is pull the trigger and blast them to pieces. But you come to your senses just long enough to see Fiona there and you lower your gun. Fiona: Phew. Ax, we need to talk. Fiona tears apart the shield generator. The overload triggers inwardly, crippling the shields and leaving the ship defenceless. Heavy weapons fire comes from the distance and disables the rest of the weapons. It's the Auran ships who have just finished dealing with the other ship. We turn our attentions to the warp gate. We take a few pot shots with our weapons and deal some damage, but it's not enough to destroy them before more ships begin pouring out. We have, however, damaged it enough to send the new ships wildly off-course and a transport ship flies directly at us! Uh oh, time to bolt! We jet away from the battleship as quickly as possible, but the shockwave from the impact sends debris flying and we take some damage. Worse still, more ships are incoming. Nina tells us we're going to have to attempt re-entry. Fiona: Is that even safe? GM: Normally yes, but if your mechs are damaged that could make things dangerous. Fiona: Well I'll be fine then! Thanks, by the way. Sinclair: *just finished repairs on her mech* No problem! Everyone else: Uh oh. We drop into the atmosphere and the GM makes us roll checks which we all pass with varying degrees of success. We land scattered on an unihabited island North West of Soko. Sinclair ends up stuck in the sand on a beach up to his neck (Well, 3/4 perfect landings isn't bad). Ax rolls another willpower check and fails. This causes him to begin burning up, some incredible energy flowing through him and he loses the ability to concentrate. He can do nothing but scream. Fiona attempts to break him out of the mech by ripping the cockpit out. GM: Another willpower check. Ax: *rolls low* GM: This really ****ing hurts! You feel everything that your mech does and it's like she's trying to tear you apart. Fiona, a burst of energy flings you away from Riggnarok. Fiona: Dammit, can't anyone do something? Juyon steps up. There's an access hatch on the side of Riggnarok. If he can just get to it... GM: Roll athletics. Juyon: ****! Another 1! GM: Oh for the love of- here, use my dice instead! Juyon: *rolls another 1* The GM rules that Juyon makes it up to the hatch, but slowly and with a few injuries from the energy field. Eventually he's able to get inside the mech and sees Ax screaming while floating in the middle of a swirling mass of energy. GM: What do you do? Juyon: I punch him in the face! GM: He falls unconscious and the vortex stops. And THAT is the end of the session! <=To Be Continued|/|\ Man that was a good one. Awesome from start to finish and with some brilliant roleplaying from everyone, but especially Ax. I feel like this is the longest journal I've written, too. Or at least the one with the most dialogue. Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...postcount=1278

#battle century g #campaign diary #rpg #mecha #longpost

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