#code geasa | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brilliantpride · 3 years

Text

It’s been a full week since the start of the Yuga. Time drags and stutters unevenly; she’ll blink, and it’s morning again, but that morning will drag on for hours and hours. Maybe it’s just in her mind, though. Yako sits against a crumbling wall, the scent of flowers still in the air, smothering. A moment to breathe... and not too soon, given the quickening approach of the Kali Yuga. She pulls her knees to her chest, watching dusk fall over the village. With a deep breath of relief, she closes her eyes for just a moment...

The walls of Dival, and the ward of Lakshmi-Bai. Full of ghosts and the people who loved them, but couldn’t make out their shapes. It made her blood boil. Dying is one thing, but not even leaving memories of yourself behind... How cruel can you get? Her shoulders shook with rage, and even when a super-OP Servant showed up---she should have run, she knows she was supposed to---she let her emotions get the better of her, and chose to fight instead. Every time she ducked out from behind Mash’s shield to launch a counterattack or try a spell, Nezha was behind her, knocking her across the battlefield with a blow to the back; at least she knows her Mystic Code is doing its job to keep her bones intact. It’s only by sheer luck that they made it out of that scrape alive, watching as Nezha’s powers converged and overloaded, causing her to melt down and disappear.

...Actually, no, that’s not right. It wasn’t only luck. If it hadn’t been for Peperoncino, she would’ve lost her cool a long time ago. She’s not Ritsu; her inexperience is a roadblock here. Her team lacks cohesion. She forgets to account for Connla’s and Cú’s geasa. Kama’s distracted. Hektor can only do so much to make up for her own weakness. Mash, Rama, Ganesha, and Lakshmi-Bai depend on her, too, even if she can’t hope to measure up to their expectations. ...No, if Pepe hadn’t been there to make up for her weakness with their magecraft, it would’ve been easy for Nezha or Ashvatthaman to take her out, and then the Shadow Border, and then...

...But that didn’t happen. They fought back. They started gathering allies. They made their way to a plague-ridden village, only to find its people completely fine, and a very angry Asclepius storming up to them demanding to know what happened to his ‘exam room’. Honestly, she could’ve punched him. He’s going to let a plague spread just to figure out a cure instead of alleviating the symptoms? It’s inefficient---it’s cruel. But that’s the kind of person he’s like. She should’ve known trying to ally with this world’s version wouldn’t work out.

They were winning. Things were looking up. Casters are pretty fragile, so in close-ranged combat, even with divine powers, they could corner him, maybe even take him out---

Then... Arjuna. Is it even right to call him that anymore? He didn’t even need to defend against attacks. Even Kama’s greatest attack...

"Kandarpa, the one who enflames even the Gods, who will never be seen again, manifests here to shoot you down to reality once more!"

...only barely scratched him. Then, with a blink, as time and space compressed and expanded in an explosion...

“Ortinax output... dropping... Wait, please... I’m not done for yet...” “You... bastard... I can’t... afford to lose... If I can’t... protect Yako and... her companions, then who...” “Oh man, oh man... I guess... I wasn’t good enough after all... Even though Karna asked me to take over for him, I just can’t...” “I’ve failed... yet again...”

No, damn it! Get up! Get up... Move... If I can just move my hand... If I can just stay standing...

...

Yet again, she’s helpless. Frozen. Why is it, every time, when it matters most, she freezes? ...Every time she’s confronted with her own weakness, she’s rather turn tail and hide behind someone else. Well, there’s no one else to hide behind! But even as she screamed at herself to stand back up...

Even as she dragged herself to her feet...

Even as she drew a runestone from her pocket, and pulled back her slingshot, aim trembling...

...Right. She had to be saved again. This time, though, it was a complete stranger...

“D-Daybit Sem Void! The Crypter with the most talent of them all!?”

And Koyanskaya besides, Yako thought. I don’t care about that now, I have to fight...! she thought, but the zombies and monsters were put down in just moments by Daybit’s Servant. The sheer power radiating from them put Yako in a freezing chokehold. There’s no way she could fight against that thing, even if she wanted to. Would she have to? Is this where her story ended?

“Death is meant to be eaten. Life is meant to be sacrificed. Giving the dead freedom would never pass in my world. So I consumed them. But they tasted terrible. Proves they haven’t been eating anything decent.”

Asclepius turned tail and left. So did that Crypter, and Koyanskaya. At least for now, it seemed like they wouldn’t have to fight, but Pepe... seemed more muted since then, even if their usual exuberance came easily to them. Maybe it was just a hunch.

How that defeat singed, though. The scar on her shoulder ached. The way that attack exploded in her face felt no different than the guillotine cleave of a cursed Arondight digging into her skin, crushing her bones, as her own fire ate the rest of her skin. She could still feel the tingle and the deadened nerves. ...Or maybe that was just residual mana.

So how was she supposed to lead a rebellion? She could leave it to Lakshmi-Bai, but it seemed like... everyone here was looking at her to spearhead their operations here. Is this what Ritsu has to deal with? Could she handle it? What if she made a mistake? What if she got someone killed because of a bad decision? Especially being in charge of regular people---how would she handle that?

...Without realizing it, she was looking at Pepe again, hoping they’d help her dig her way out of this one. ...She shouldn’t keep relying on them. They’re going to have to fight. They’re only allies out of circumstance. So she should be keeping her distance, but she...

...can’t do this alone.

Yako opens her eyes, as Lakshmi-Bai stands in front of her, hands on her hips. ...It’s good to see she doesn’t have too many injuries on her, after taking arrows like a pincushion in their fight against William Tell. The people of Dival are safe for now, Bichu looks ready to hold their own against the Kali... Oh, right, there was something you wanted to talk about.

“You are going to tell me everything you know. What’s going to happen to those people when the Tree of Emptiness is cut down?” Lakshmi-Bai asks. Fury and sadness are written on her face in equal measure. Yako looks at her, with neither remorse nor grief, only...

“...They’ll disappear, along with this Lostbelt.”

A grim determination.

Lakshmi takes a moment to respond, weighing something on her own heart. “...You remind me of myself, back during the rebellion,” she finally says. “Back then, I never thought about what the future might hold. There were only things I had to do, and only one path available to me: the path of fighting to protect my homeland. So that’s what I did.” Yako can’t tell what kind of expression she’s making, as dusk gives way to night, and they both become shrouded by the near-darkness. “Tell me: is it true that you’ve erased the people in three other Lostbelts already?”

Yako doesn’t hide her head. Of course she feels like it. She wants to. She wishes she didn’t have to give this answer. But neither should she hide from the realities of what it means to take her home back. “Yes,” she says. It’s all she can say.

Lakshmi examines her for a bit, before saying her goodbyes, and leaving for the night. ...Yako should do the same. Starting tomorrow, they’ve got a rebellion to kickstart, and soon, a Kali Yuga to avert...

#journal.#t: lbiv.#fgo spoilers /#drabble.

3 notes · View notes

krinsbez · 5 years

Text

My Superheroverse: GEASA

As the DNApes was one of the more popular of my self-reblogs, I’m gonna start posting, for the first time tumblr, and sometimes, perhaps, anywhere, stuff from my personal superheroverse.

If I’m gonna go more into my superheroverse, there are some basics I gotta lay down first.

To begin with, the 'Verse is centered around the Global Extranormal Affairs and Services Agency, GEASA for short. It's the international organization in charge of interacting with superpowered types, aliens, magic-users, dudes in costumes, and all the other such people, collectively referred to as "extranormals". Founded in the period after WWII when the US and Soviets had realized they were going to be enemies but hadn't gotten around to admitting it yet, GEASA is organized like a deck of cards. It has four main branches, named after the four suits in cards: -Hearts: In charge of PR, interacting with governments and other agencies, etc. as well as handling bureaucratic and administrative stuff. -Diamonds: In charge of R&D, not only into superhuman powers themselves, but into the various exotic technologies and magic that crop up in such a setting. -Spades: In charge of dealing with the capture, confinement, and if necessary elimination of hostile extranormals -Clubs: In charge of dealing with friendly extranormals; includes registration, training, and providing various services. Following the card theme, personnel are ranked "Two of X" to "Ten of X". Each branch is run by an Ace, supported by a King, Queen, and Jack. The organization as a whole is run by the Black Joker and Red Joker. GEASA's remit is fairly extensive, having grown from "deal with superpowered types" to "deal with anything related to extranormals" over the decades. In order to become a superhero, one must have a license. To obtain this license, one must first fill out an application, which can be acquired at any GEASA office. The application requires one to list one's code name, powers, extant enemies, and contact info. The form also has spaces for power origin, real identity, place of residence, etc. but this is optional. The data thus submitted is 100% confidential, and is kept in secure facilities (they've had a grand total of 3 breaches in the over half a century that they've been collectign this data) After submitting the form, one waits for them to contact you, and establish dates and times to submit to a series of examinations, testing your physical abilties and psychological state, in order to determine if you've got the right stuff for the job. If you pass these tests, the next step is training. All prospective superheroes are trained in controlling and optimizing their powers, hand-to-hand combat, detective skills, their legal rights and responsibilities, ethics, how to preserve one's secret identity, and first aid. One may apply for more advanced training in these, and many other subjects, ranging from swordplay and marksmanship to xenobiology and time travel physics, to magery and exorcism. As a final exercise, the trainee is given the name of a civilian who died due to extranormal activity, and told to research that person's life, death, and loved ones; the idea of course, being to impress upon the trainee the importance of avoiding collateral casualties. (side note: this was inspired by the bit in 52 when Black Adam reminds Power Girl how many people died during Infinite Crisis) Upon completing training, one receives a license that permits one to engage in superheroing activity, testify in court while masked, and be immune to lawsuits for collateral damage and suchlike. One is also assigned a case-worker and a therapist, regular visits to both being mandatory. In addition to this, GEASA offers superheroes an array of services, including medical treatment, financial add, tutoring (for those superheroes who have not completed their educations), access to social events, etc. One of GEASA's most important tools is the Aigle family. In the early Renaissance (in my superheroverse, the age of heroes didn't start before WWII; there have ALWAYS been superheroes and villains; the numbers increased dramatically in the 1900s, and they haven't gone down since), a peasant named Aigle was found to have the ability to negate superpowers (modern science has discovered that the Aigles do what they do by generating reality-warping "exotic energies"). So did his seven children (four girls, three boys). Subsequently, said children became effectively the property of the Crown. Over the next several centuries, the Aigle family was treated not only as chattel, but as cattle, bred for their gifts cousin to cousin, sibling to sibling, parent to child. This breeding reached its pinnacle in the early 1800s, with a generation able to permanently remove powers from people they'd never met. This same generation was the first of their family in centuries to be liberated, given the same rights and privileges as any French citizen. By this time of course, the Aigles had become a rather odd and clannish bunch, with their own customs and dialect, often quite alien to that of their countrymen. Still, they took to exogamy with a vengeance, finding love not only with people outside their family, but outside their race; Jews and Gypsies, Arabs and Africans, even Indians of both types. By the 1930s, the Aigles could no longer be called Caucasian. Needless to say, the Nazi occupation was not pleasant for them. Faced with the prospect of returning to enslavement or worse, the Aigle's made the difficult decision to scatter. Some managed to smuggle themselves to other nations. Some hid amongst the people of France. More than a few simply committed suicide. And, sadly, some were captured by the Nazis, and either pressed into service against Allied superhumans or experimented on. WWII was thus a horribly traumatic experience for the Aigle family, and they resolved to never again to be so powerless. With this in mind, they joined GEASA en masse. The fledgling agency welcomed them, not only because of their gift, but because their lack of national or ideological loyalties made them ideal agents for an organization trying desperately not to be a pawn in the Cold War. Today, Aigles can be found in every branch of GEASA at every level, including the Black Joker herself, Dorothee Adelaide Aigle. Since WWII, they've become less exogamous, but the outbreeding has had the effect of weakening their gift; the most any of them can do is temporarily turn-off powers of someone they're looking at, and many cannot even do that, merely being able to weaken powers. Also, periodically someone will appear who is so strong that they are immune. In addition to the Aigles, GEASA employs other "unconventional" personnel. For example, the Diamonds branch is positively infested with variably reformed Mad Scientists; also Mad Psychics, Mad Alchemists, Mad Sorcerers…you get the idea. Speaking of personnel, each branch is further divided into general personnel and special taskforces. A small sampling: Hearts: -The Red Knights are GEASA’s Internal Affairs division. The name comes from the fact that the unit is led by Kai Ectorsson, the time-lost seneschal of Camelot. -The Enforcers, despite the rather aggressive name, are in fact a team of lawyers and diplomats, tasked with making sure the nations of the world abide by the various Extranormal-related treaties that have sprung up over the years, and taking appropriate measures when those treaties are violated.

Spades: -Special Protocol Armed Response Operations, or SPARO, units are the GEASA equivalent of SWAT teams, tasked with providing paramilitary backup to both regular agents and superheroes. SPARO troopers are highly trained, well-equipped, and can go head to head with just about any special forces unit in the world (barring the Gurkhas, of course) and come out on top. The SPARO’s finest hour was undoubtedly Operation: GEMINI, when seven SPARO teams invaded Hell. I’ll be talking more about Operation: GEMINI later, as well as about a particular team. -The Curse-Breakers, sometimes also called the Witch-Finders (a term they hate, BTW), are tasked with hunting down minor Black magic practitioners (the big stuff tends to get handled by mystic super-heroes) and cleaning up their mess. The Curse-Breakers are known for being very leery of the word “witch”, preferring the term “maleficars”. They also tend to get apoplectic when people mention old-school witch trials and the Malleus Maleficarum.

Diamonds: -The Forecasters are a team of psychics, oracles, mystics, and computer programmers who use a combination of ESP, prophecy, divination, and computer modeling to predict the future. Their record is spotty (they have a tendency to be either kind of vague or so specific that nothing can be done), but they have managed to provide warning of several major crises and many more minor ones, so they’re kept around. The head of the unit is a firm believer in Cartomancy via regular playing cards, and all members of the unit have at least some skill in the art. They unsurprisingly also have a reputation as card sharks. -The Brave Little Tailors are a team of scientists and sorcerers tasked with finding ways of working with people with “lesser” powers, and enhancing them into “big league” status. Their work is somewhat controversial, and due to unfortunate incidents in the past, they are very carefully monitored.

Clubs: -Team Hollywood is made up of publicists and copyright attorneys, tasked with helping superheroes license their names and images for various products, and making sure that they get the most bucks for their bang, if you catch my meaning. It is rumored that certain elements within the Hearts branch feel that Team Hollywood’s responsibilities fall under their bailiwick, and so a certain amount of rivalry exists. -The Cleaners are the unit sent in when a superhero’s identity is compromised. It is their task to evaluate the damage, determine what steps need to be taken to fix the situation, and then take those steps. This can range from coming up with cover stories, to bribes, to memory wipes, to making like Witsec. Over the years, GEASA has developed its own unique culture. Part of this is a collection of slang and terminology of their own creation. A small sampling:

-VILL: Used the way ordinary cops use “perp”; as in “The vill calls himself Krimson Komet.” Is simply a shortened form of the word “villain”. -BOKE: An attack by a giant-sized animal; as in “We’ve got a spider boke in Cleveland.” Some years ago, the there was a bit of a craze amongst Aigile children for The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, a book by Daniel Pinkwater, in which Hoboken, New Jersey is “terrorized” by a giant chicken. This led to attacks by giant monsters being referred to as “hoboken chicken emergencies”, which was subsequently shortened to “hoboken chickens”, then “hobokens”, then just “bokes”.

-DEAD FISH: A situation that is spiraling out of control; as in “I’ve got a real dead fish on my hands here.” In the 1970s, GEASA’s Ankara office received a package containing a dead fish. A comedy of errors subsequently ensued, in which a series of mistakes, misunderstandings, and misguided attempts at revenge and/or humor resulted in various GEASA offices sending each other increasingly large packages of dead fish, culminating six years later in the Pentagon Liason Office receiving a package containing two and half dead hammerhead sharks and seven seahorses. At this point, an embarrassed Red Joker stepped in and put an end to the practice.

-KOSCH: The act of a government, police force, corporation, or other non-GEASA organization being uncooperative; as in “The local cops are kosching me.” In the mid-1980s, the Soviet government came into possession of several artifact that had belonged to the undead sorcerer Koschei the Deathless. Rather than handing said artifacts to GEASA as obligated by treaty, they decided to experiment with them. Subsequently, the CIA tumbled to the project; rather than calling in GEASA as was their treaty obligation, they decided to sabotage the project. Due to not really grasping the forces being dealt with, said sabotage resulted in Koschei being restored to (un)life, and subsequently going on a conquering spree. Rather than do the sensible thing and call on GEASA’s expertise, the Soviet government tried to deal with the situation themselves. Two months later, they realized they were out of their depth and made the call. At this point, the situation was beyond the ability of the normal protocols to contain, and specialized plans had to be enacted. However, since the Soviets did not know what precisely went wrong, they were unable to provide the data for said plans. It took another three months for the CIA to admit what THEY had done, finally giving GEASA the full story and thus the ability to produce appropriate countermeasures. By this point, thousands of people had been killed or traumatized, and millions of rubles worth of damages had been produced. While GEASA maintains bases all over the world, and offices in most major cities, their two primary bases, where the Jokers hang out, are REBEL YELL and the Shark Islands. REBEL YELL is a space station with a somewhat complicated history. See, back in the ‘50s, there was a wave of bokes (although, the name wasn’t coined until decades later). Given that the nations of the world had other priorities (like pointing nukes at each other), it fell to GEASA to deal with this sort of thing. One attempted measure was the creation of the Iolaus Missile, which upon detonation releases a sonic wave set at a frequency designed to mess with the inner ear of giant-sized critters. It doesn’t work on all kaiju (many of them aren’t quite big enough and some of ‘em don’t have ears), and it usually isn’t lethal, but it helps to soften up about 80% of the oversized beasties. The problem was that frequent as they were, bokes weren’t common enough to make producing enough Iolaus’ for global coverage cost effective. In the ‘70s, after a particularly unpleasant event, in which the time spent setting up an Iolaus strike cost way too much in both lives and money, the superhero Johnny Reb suggested to his GEASA handler that the Iolaus’ be deployed from space. GEASA took this and ran with it, resulting in a network of Iolaus-armed satellites being put in orbit; a network codenamed REBEL YELL in honor of the idea’s originator. In the ‘80s, an alien force took over one of the RY satellites, and began modifying it into a massive fortress, a beachhead for an invasion. The invasion was thwarted, but the satellite-turned-station survived, and GEASA took possession of it. The rest of the original RY network was eventually decommissioned, but the station remained, and is the primary HQ of the Red Joker. The Shark Islands are a group of three islands (referred to as Big Shark Island, Little Shark Island, and Castle Island, respectively), that are right smack in the middle of the waters held by the Republic of the Shark People (which is exactly what it sounds like), and thus, are the only land the Shark People claim. As gesture of good faith with us humans, the Shark People generously loaned them to GEASA on a permanent basis. Big Shark is not only the primary location for trade and diplomacy with the Shark People, it is also home to the HQ of the Black Joker. Little Shark is kept aside as a training area for GEASA agents and rookie superheroes. Castle Island is not, in fact an island, but an Island Beast (a sea monster so huge that plants grow on it’s back and it is easily mistaken for an island when it isn’t moving) made undead and obedient by a magician who built a castle on its back. The magician died centuries ago, and GEASA took possession of the “island”, the castle, and the vast assortment of magical goodies inside the castle during the ‘60s. Today, the castle is a storage vault for confiscated magic stuff, as well as a laboratory for research into said magic stuff.

#Original Story Idea #My Superheroverse #GEASA #In Hindsight #the whole thing with Johnny Reb is a bit yeesh #At the time I though it was clever but #well #you'll find out why I thought it was OK #when I get around to talking about him

0 notes