Settling In

[achelord]

-1: The Vault, The Port-

If you enter the Vault, the only real way to do it is via submarine. So whenever a new sub pops into the Port, there's usually a fair amount of interest. Maybe there's some new books for the library! Maybe there's a supply of luxury goods from Elysium! Maybe there's a batch of new recruits.

It's the last one, this time. After some informal cooperation the TDM, they finally had brought Ziel back to the Vault, as they had promised. If anyone in the Corsairs could help him, it would probably be someone here, so he had reluctantly decided to hang around, at least for a little while. It probably wouldn't go anywhere interesting.

Somehow, word had gotten ahead, and there was a small crowd waiting to see if it was true who was on this submarine. Surely not THE Ziel? The youngest leader of the infamous monster hunter school known as the Dawnwings? Who spent his life protecting the people of the Empire from monsters, and who had killed a behemoth when he was 15. He was practically a living legend!

The main who emerged from the submarine somehow didn't live up to the hype. He still looked young, but moved like an elderly man. His clothes were filthy and in tatters. He trudged like he had the weight of the world on his back, dragging his massive warhammer behind him like he didn't have the strength to hold it properly.

After a moment, he realized there were people staring at him and slowly raised his gaze to actually see what all the fuss was. He saw a dozen pairs of hopeful eyes, but they were tinged with doubt. Well, that was only fair. He knew he hardly cut an impressive figure anymore.

Ziel looked back down at the ground and kept on trudging along the dock, amid a cloud of whispers. Surely THIS can't be the hero of the Dawnwings, can it?

-2: The Vault, upper reaches-

The Empire likes to consume ether crystals en masse for its power sources. It's a very profitable way of gaining ether, but it's hardly the only way. There are older methods that have fallen out of favor because they're much slower. Most mages find they have an affinity towards certain fundamental elements, and a VERY old method of cultivating power was to meditate near a source of that element.

Ziel's magic was attuned with Force and Motion, and, well, there was a near continual source of force and motion just about anywhere in Bavrecht, if you were willing to take the risk.

In the upper most chambers of the Vault, the distant rumbling of the Empire's near constant weapons testing was louder than ever. Ziel sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed, ignoring the sound. The constant barrage was close enough here that he could just barely sip at the endless force above and gradually absorb it into his core ether reserves. It wasn't much, but it was about all his system could handle right now.

That he was sitting in a random hallway wasn't a big deal. Not many people came up this high, anyway. What were the odds that someone would actually come up here and trip over him?

Comments

2

[fish4science]

Well, the odds are pretty good when someone is headed up to check the hatches. Access to the surface is needed for the occasional mad dash to recover some lost imperial prototype, before the falling shells and bombs blow it to smitherines. As part of that, you need to have a wide variety of access points to the surface-and, contrapuntally, you need to make sure they still exist on a regular basis.

Angelika has a map of tunnels, a clipboard, and a red pen to mark any tunnels or entrances that have collapsed or need repairs. She also has clumsy feet. So congratulations Ziel, there is one person in the entire Corsairs who is able to trip over you in a random hallway.

"Ack!"

[achelord]

Ziel's a big guy and his core is rock solid. Angelika felt like she was tripping over and upholstered cement block.

After she tripped over him, Ziel eventually opened his eyes and focused on the real world again. Dammit, and he had felt so sure this spot was safe.

"Are you alright?"

[fish4science]

Take some comfort in the fact that her impact with your torso was a transfer of kinetic energy? Or the fact that she seems to have weathered the spill mostly intact-save for the fact that she's rubbing her forehead as she sits up.

"I think so. I'm sorry I didn't see you, it's so dark up here."

[achelord]

"I didn't expect anyone to come up here."

Help her to his feet? Why would he do that? She seems fine.

[fish4science]

"I'm here to make sure none of the tunnels have collapsed or show signs of damage. That and retrieving things from the surface are the only reason to come up here."

It's okay, she can climb back to her own feet. Her cuteness only slightly soiled by the red ink spilled on her cardigan. "Oh no, is this going to leave a stain? I mean, it's pink already but a different shade isn't good..."

[achelord]

“I guess I’ll have to find somewhere else, then.”

That, or just not sit in the middle of the hallway. Either way this is annoying.

“If you’re that worried about staining your shirt you probably shouldn’t wear it up here.”

[fish4science]

"It's the ink from my pen, not from on the floor." Fountain pens, while

She gathered herself and looked at him, a frown on her face.

"Um, why were you sitting in the middle of the hallway?"

[achelord]

"I was cycling energy from the explosions happening up above on the surface into ether. It's slow, but reliable."

[fish4science]

"Cycling energy...from the explosions?" She puzzles over it for a moment, trying to see how that works...

Then she takes him by the hand. "You should do that over here, there's a much better place for it!" And she starts to drag him along-or at least, try to, because a 5'4" girl is rather lacking in main strength.

[achelord]

Ziel didn’t let her tug on her fruitlessly on purpose, but he was a big guy and sometimes it took him a moment to overcome his own inertia.

He did put the effort in, though. This wasn’t a great cycling location, honestly, and if there were somewhere to get closer, it would be useful.

“Fine. Show me.”

[fish4science]

"Trust me, this is going to be a much better location-just need to-ah, take a left at this corner...right at the next..." It was some distance to walk, but she was sure it would be worth it.

After several minutes of walking through the dark halls, she pulled out a key and swung open a door that lead into...a space. That was really all that could be said about it. It seemed to be an empty closet, awkwardly crammed in where it would fit-except the ceiling was incredibly high. The room was at least five stories tall, and all that was in it was a pair of-no, that wasn't a pair of pillars, it was a single enormous I-beam piercing the floor and the ceiling both.

"This is one of the main supporting columns that hold up the armor and rock that protects all of the Vault. It actually goes down from here all the way to the deepest firmament we're built on, to disperse the energy absorbed by the armor layers above us." The girl was almost bouncing on her feet as she gestured up at it. "And it's not in the hallway!"

[achelord]

Ziel stopped abruptly when she finally showed him their destiny. He slowly walked over (walked, not trudged like he normally tends to do these days.) and put his hand on the massive beam of metal. He could feel the faint vibrations coming from both above on the bombarded surface and below from the day to day workings of the Vault itself. This place was perfect for his needs.

He almost cared, for a moment.

It didn’t matter, in the long run, but it gave him something to do for now other than lie in his room staring at the ceiling.

“This is…better,” he admitted.

[fish4science]

"I'm glad my intuition was correct! Well, I'll leave you here for now-but be sure to lock the door when you leave. This is...supposed to be kept secure, you know. But I'm sure you're not a danger to our armored roof."

Right, vital piece of infrastructure. It might have been a foolish idea to bring him here-but she shows no signs of thinking this was a bad or regrettable idea.

[achelord]

Ziel contemplated for a moment if he ever could have broken something like this. Possibly, with time. Not without making enough noise that he would have drawn the entire Vault onto him. Certainly not now. Not that he was planning on breaking anything.

“I’ll do my best not to break anything.”

[fish4science]

Oh she doesn't doubt your ability, she is just unquestioning in her assessment of your good intentions. And lack of secret career as a saboteur.

"Right, I need to go and work on my checks, but good luck with your cycling energy."

[achelord]

Ziel sat back down with a sigh and went back to what he was doing without another word. It was a slow method of absorbing power, especially with his core in as bad condition as it was, but it was better than nothing.

Plus, if he sat down and closed his eyes, maybe he could get out of talking to people. It was exhausting.