melodiesofkupo | Magitek Knight Looking for Adventuring Party

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Magitek Knight Looking for Adventuring Party - Need Gil! (Video)

The video opens with Connie, clad in full armor and with a gunblade at her side, nervously clearing her throat in a bedroom that has been converted to what looks like half-workshop, half weapons-testing facility, complete with scorchmarks and frost still marring the walls. Her bed has been shoved into a corner to make way for a workdesk overflowing with blueprints, odds, ends, bits, bobs, and other mechanical parts lying beneath a massive sword in a pink sheath, its blade alone easily as tall as Connie.

After standing still for a few seconds like an awkward dork, Connie says, "Um, hey! I'm Connie Maheswaran, if you didn't already know that. Today, Biggs and Wedge recovered, um, this," she scurries over to the workdesk and lifts the sword with surprising ease for someone her size, especially since she's clad in full plate armor laden with extra gadgets, and slings the blade over her shoulder one-handed. "In case you couldn't already tell, this was my, well, kinda mine, sword back home, and I'm really happy to see it again! Except, uh, there's one... problem."

Connie sighs and shakes her head. "I can still fight with it by technicality, but without the proper fixings, I can't use it for anything magitek-related. Which is a problem, considering I'm maining a Magitek Knight asterisk as my primary job, and I don't have the expertise to reforge it into a gunblade. And anybody who knows how to make this thing a proper magitek weapon on top of how to work with whatever weird metal the sword is made of isn't going to offer their services for cheap. I'm fairly certain that with school, I won't be able to get enough gil with a part time job that hires thirteen year-olds to get this to a usable state in any reasonable amount of time.

"Which is why I've turned to the other way to make gil: killing monsters!" Connie smiles cheekily. "By the way, if anybody knows why monsters apparently have gil stuffed into their internal organs, please let me know. I'm still trying and failing to wrap my head around that. Anyways, since most people tend to think that there's no way they should let a kid my age near anything remotely deadly, I should probably lay out my resume.

"I've been trained in swordcraft and battle tactics by literally the most accomplished swordswoman on my planet. I was a participant in the Second Prism War, and my dispersal count was in the dozens before I took down their leader with the help of some of my friends, who was a hypothetically perfect warrior. I've also gone on miscellaneous missions to track down and neutralize monsters native to my home world, again with the help of my mentor and best friend.

"As for my capabilities as a Magitek Knight..." This time, Connie's grin is almost scary. "Allow me to demonstrate." She strides up to the iMog State and turns it to fully face the targeting range, gently leans the giant pink sword against the table, and draws her gunblade. "Firstly, I've spent a few days working on my aim with this thing. For the sake of not burning this house down, I'll be using Blizzard Elemental bullets and lasers." She points the ridiculous weapon at the target circle, and rapidly empties the entire "chamber" of magic charge. Ice shards are clustered in the first and second rings away from the bullseye.

"But that's something anybody who's got the asterisk and hasn't put any effort into training can do. This, however, takes at least some effort." Connie flicks the hammer on the gunblade, and a several-feet long plane of purplish, glowing energy with a charged razor-sharp tip and edge envelops the sword. Gripping it with both hands, Connie slices a training dummy to pieces with calculated grace.

As the dummy's pieces fall to the floor, insides charred, the sword returns to its normal form and Connie turns back to the camera. "That is the Moonlight Module, a variation of my own design on the standard Magitek Sword ability. And now for the final demonstration." Without any further ado, Connie levels her hand at the target and snaps her ring finger. A beam of frigid blue mist filled with shards of jagged ice impacts her target, knocking it backwards and covering it entirely in frost.

"I've also incorporated a system to convert a portion of hostile elemental energy into neurological stimulus to enhance my reaction time and into a partially-charged version of the Moonlight Module, but seeing as I've already had plenty of fun nearly setting myself on fire testing the system on the armor, I'm fairly certain it's just a better idea to let that show in the field," Connie explains. "Alright. Um, that was... pretty much it. I have a Tactician asterisk as well, but I'm focusing on improving my Magitek Knight skills so I can get my Magitek Armor as soon as possible. Go ahead and hit me up if you're interested in my services!"

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The video feed flickers on to Hunk, very clearly in a recliner. He's not even holding the slate, and the fact that the edge of a table and part of the recliner's cushions are eclipsing part of his face shows just how relaxed he is. He's taken the time to angle himself in a corner of the chair so that she can at least see some of his face, though.

"So, uh..." He's chewing on something, or at least finishing the act. "Why reforge the sword when you can just modify it?" And then a handful of chips are shoved into his mouth. After a few seconds of intense chewing, he swallows and just smirks.

"Y'know, just wrap a magitek gun barrel around the base of the blade. Prob'ly a lot cheaper." And then more chips are casually inserted into his maw. Munch, crunch.

Now that was a drastic oversimplification. And just when Hunk had managed to salvage a good impression out of their meeting on the Ragnarok too. "It's... a bit more complicated than that," Connie says. "First of all, this sword is magical. Really magical. But considering that the beings that it was forged to defeat in precisely one hit aren't here on Vaikuntha to my knowledge, I'm pretty sure it wasn't disenchanted in the Interdimensional Cloud. I don't want to risk mashing two kinds of magic I barely understand together and just hope that it works out. I'd rather have some expert help.

"Secondly, there's this thing." Connie pops out a slick, black-and-purple battery from within the hilt of her gunblade. "The Moonlight Module. It was designed to interface specifically with the design of a gunblade, not just a sword with a gun on it. To my understanding, there's specific forces necessary to balance and enchant the gunblade so it can be used to channel magitek. Otherwise, the Moonlight Module will probably end up damaging Rose's sword somehow, and I would have a real hard time explaining to Pearl that this precious heirloom got broken because I decided to not put a little elbow grease into utting in safety measures."

While she's talking, Hunk keeps eating. He looks a little sleepy for a moment, but it might be the recliner. "See, what I don't get is why you want to endanger an ancient relicky heirloom thingie in the first place." He gives her a bit of a side-eye, but it's clearly compassion. And the angle he's visible in. "Especially if it's not even actually yours."

Another chip. Just one this time, so he doesn't lose momentum. "It sounds like you're trying to put a square peg in a round hole. If it ain't broke, don't fix it; just use the gunblade and keep that thing safe."

Another handful of chips.

...okay, maybe Hunk had a point. Maybe. The chips weren't doing him any favors, though. "It just feels weird to have it and not use it, I guess? If that makes any sense?" Connie sighs and shakes her head. "Okay. So, imagine, hypothetically, Yellow somehow popped up in the Dream Width, but when Biggs and Wedge got him back, you couldn't use him without making modifications to his system to allow for conditions specific to Vaikuntha. That's... basically how I'm feeling right now. Probably a bad analogy, but my point still stands."

"Well, my buddy Pidge upgraded her Lion with a cloaking device after like... I dunno, a week? I'd be fine." He shrugs, and tilts a bottle of soda into his mouth. "But Yellow's optimized for interstellar and interdimensional travel, wormholes, intense heat and pressure, and dog- er... catfights." He giggles at his horrible joke, and then shrugs. "It'd be a cold day down under, Connie."

"But hypothetically, I'd make sure Yellow is safe, trust that crazy particle barrier he sets up sometimes, and keep an eye on him. I can function without him." But Hunk wouldn't want to because come on, giant laser-shooting cat robot. "But..."

He sighs, closing his eyes and refraining from chowing down on more chips or soda. "There are some things- well, a lot of things that no amount of worrying or brainpower can solve. You don't need to have an answer for everything." Like why Shiro disappeared that one time. Or why Keith is so bad at jokes. Or why Coran couldn't go to Oriande. "So you put 'em on a shelf in the back of your mind, and you focus on what you need to do." And then he smiles.

"Whatever you think that is."

Connie just stares at Hunk for a few moments. She had never expected him to dispense such sage advice like that. Heck, Hunk could give Garnet a run for her money. "Apparently I need to start brushing up on the principles of basic common sense, because I was the reasonable, calm one back on Earth, and somehow you're completely outclassing me in that department. Thanks for the advice, though, I'll, uh, take it under consideration."

"Connie, don't forget," Hunk chuckles, taking a moment to close his eyes and take in the compliment. "You're talking to someone who supports a team that's got a hardened soldier, a loose cannon, a casanova, a genius hacker, an ancient princess, and a flamboyant living encyclopedia." The chuckle resurfaces, but this time it's a full-on laugh.

"Keeping people's wits about them is second nature to me." He looks away, and the upbeat demeanor starts to crumble, if only for a second. "I've had to keep my head on straight more times than I can remember, so I'm... kind of an expert."

He sighs, but the sigh almost immediately transitions into a small, self-deprecating chuckle.

That sounded exactly like what Steven did for the Crystal Gems, come to think of it. Now she was getting herself all wistful. Oh dear. Sighing, Connie leans against the table. "You remind me a lot of Steven, actually. Like a grown-up version of him without all the mom-related trauma. He had to do the same thing, you know, except for an unfathomably old ex-slave soldier with a hefty dose of PTSD and relationship issues, a complete void of self-worth shaped like a person, one person who is kind of like two people except not, a green gremlin who had literally zero social skills before arriving on Earth a few years ago because she was designed that way, and... Lapis. Just Lapis."

"Your friends sound... interesting." He wasn't going to say they sounded like a complete disaster, that would be rude. But he was sure thinking it, and it was clear with the way he ended that sentence. And he thought he had it bad.

"But hey, Shiro and I found each other here." So Hunk smiles at her. "Maybe Steven will turn up. And then you can have an awkward, emotional conversation about that fight you mentioned." And he chuckles, because hoo boy, it sounded like they were all messes.

And so Hunk silently praised the powers that be for making his friends be so... manageable.

Connie definitely hears Hunk's relief slash pity, and raises an amused eyebrow. She was well aware of how Steven's job was basically to toss water in a powder keg next to a wildfire. "I'm lucky that I don't have to live with them. I honestly don't know how Steven survived with Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst as his guardians after he moved in with them."

At Hunk's mention of Steven, Connie's eyes drop. "...did I ever tell you exactly why we had that spat?"

"I think you mentioned something about him going into space, but..." Hunk shrugs. Everyone's worlds had so many details, and sometimes he was surprised he could even keep track of all the names! "It sounds like you want to talk about it, though."

But then he stops for a moment, eyes going a little wider. "Do you want to talk about it?" He'd hate to assume, but he's going from an awkward reclining position to something a bit more presentable, and even wiping the chip crumbs off his apron.

On one hand, Connie really, really didn't want to talk about it. On the other, she really, really needed to talk about it, and Hunk was probably tied with Papyrus for the person best equipped to listen. She stays silent for a moment, staring at the floor, before pulling out a chair and sitting down. Before beginning, though, Connie has the presence of mind to switch the video log from public to private.

Wringing her hands, Connie says, "So, um... it all started a few months before it actually, uh, happened. I guess. Steven's dad was kidnapped by a depressed intergalactic tyrant and everybody was scrambling to find a way to get him back. But the thing is they didn't even think about including me. At all. I was begging, pleading with them to let me come, but no, they had to get moving now, who knows what would happen if they delayed for too long, and by the time I was out the door they had already blasted off. Steven apologized before he left, of course, and I can understand why they were in such a hurry, but it still hurt."

Hunk just exhaled a deep, sighing stream of air. That's rough. It resonated with some of his own experiences, and as much as he wanted to share those, he knew they wouldn't help her now. Or maybe even at all.

"Well, if they kidnapped his dad, what do you think they would do if they saw you?" He winced, and shrugged his shoulders a bit. Hunk didn't know the whole story, and he might never. "A tyrant isn't going to have any trouble aiming for someone vulnerable." And considering she sounded so hurt, so eager to go and help? She might've made mistakes.

"Plus you're small. Young. An easy target, to some people." He scoffs and sneers at the words, thinking back to times when Pidge had to deal with an enemy that thought she'd be easy pickings. "Did they know what they were up against?"

(( And then this thread wraps up with Connie doubling down on her side of the issue, and Hunk admitting he has no idea because he wasn't there, and getting her to hope that Steven shows up instead, because that's maybe happier. ))

Edited 2018-05-27 21:08 (UTC)

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Magitek Knight Looking for Adventuring Party - Need Gil! (Video)

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