Light the Signal New IC

[Anyr]

The mention of Willow sent Rebecca's eyes sheepishly groundwards. She generally prided herself on being a positive, upbeat person (at least in public); But these increasingly frequent bouts of Willow-induced rage were threatening to tarnish that image.

"Yeah, things tend to get heated when she and I meet. I could never actually hurt her, though. No amount of teasing can turn me into that sort of person."

Soon enough, Rebecca stood once again on the practice field. She idly picked up a stray metaball, and passed it from hand to hand. The young Vampire already had a fair idea of what lesson William was supposed to be learning here. And if this session went anything like her own early training, the boy was in for a rude awakening.

"Okay, here's the plan: I'm gonna take a gentle stroll down this field, with a metaball in hand. Your job is to stop me from scoring. Just snatch the ball, or hold me back. Easy, right?"

The slight upward curve of her lips suggested otherwise. Without further ado, she started moving. When Rebecca had said 'gentle stroll', she wasn't kidding. Her pace was positively sedate. William had plenty of time to try whatever he liked...

...and most likely fail. Rebecca's speed and reflexes were pathetic in comparison to William's. It would be child's play for him to rush in and grab the ball: But actually taking it was another thing. Her grip proved to be like a steel vise. And as for stopping her from moving? Well, the phrase 'irresistible force' summed things up nicely. The gap in physical power was just too high. Unless William came up with a truly original trick, his opponent would be free to saunter all the way across the field.

The aim here wasn't to make William feel weak: Because he most certainly wasn't. If he'd been the one with the ball, then Rebecca would have been just as helpless to stop him. Titanic strength was useless against an opponent too fast to hit. This exercise was meant to demonstrate the importance of teamwork. Sometimes you simply wouldn't have the tools you needed to beat an opponent 1v1. That's where your teammates came in.

[Elderand]

William first thought was that this was going to be easy. Had he been facing anyone with normal strength or been in possession of his full speed things might have turned differently.

He first tried the direct approach, simply trying to snatch the ball away but Rebecca's grip on it was impossible to break. If he couldn't snatch the ball he would try to stop her. So he simply ran at her, hoping to tackle her down from the side but he quickly found out that it was like running into a brick wall. One that kept on moving, dragging him along.

He took a few step back and shifted his brain into high gear, for a fraction of a second he found himself embarrassed and a little annoyed but processing the situation at the fastest speed the bracelet would allow him meant that he got on an even emotionnal keel in the time it took Rebecca to take 4 strides.

He'd had some success earlier with his wind to facilitate his teammates movement, perhaps he could use it to cause the reverse.

So he spun his arms, creating a set of horizontal dust devil aiming squarely at the vampire. Under normal condition he would have produced winds of tornado level intensity and perhaps that would have stopped her, these dust devils however did little more than make her dress cling to her in fairly interesting ways. Although he could have kept up the dust devil for longer hoping the situation would prove embarassing enough to loosen Rebecca's grip on the ball for the moment needed for him to run in and steal it he instead immediatly stopped this particular effort and instead ran a wide circle around Rebecca at high speed to shield her from view for the few moments it would take her dress to return to a less clingy state of affair.

He could have tried a couple more tricks, but he wasn't willing to fight dirty enough to win this particular confrontation. He could have thrown dirt into her eyes but he was half sure this would be considered a foul, he could have startled her with a surprise kiss but he was certain that would have angered her and he was very eager to stay in her good graces.

So he simply stopped and raised a hand in surrender

"I can't win this whitout cheating, or I'm not smart enough to think of a way."

He gave her a smile showing that he wasn't resentful of the outcome.

[Anyr]

All in all, the exercise went as Rebecca expected: Except for the wind. It had definitely been a mistake to change out of her Metaball uniform. Good thing that William was too polite to take advantage of that. Still, her startled 'eep' did rather undermine the confident aura she'd been going for. When her opponent threw in the towel, it came as a relief. She really needed to start thinking these things through ahead of time. Regaining her composure, she turned towards William.

"Yeah, that's what I said too; Back when I was the one taking this test. It's meant to be a no-win scenario. The moral is 'there are some battles you can't win alone'. It's also a reminder that Metaball has a lot more restrictions than real life. There's all sorts of great tactics that you're not allowed to do.

So anyway, how does the limiter feel? Are you getting used to it?"

[Elderand]

"It feels strange. It doesn't seem to lower my potential, just block my access to the higher level of speed. So I can run at the maximum speed it allows and never get tired. It's like being able to walk normaly but not being allowed to run. Or obeying the speed limit when driving I suppose. I don't have a license."

He looked sheepish for a moment "Sorry about the wind, I didn't think that one through"

"Did you have to take any other test asside from this Kobayashi Maru thing ?"

[Wdwune]

"Hey, look at that," says Orlando as he watches, with obvious amusement in his eyes, as William and Rebecca leave the scene. "William just blasted Rebecca's worries away in a blink of an eye."

The whole situation with Warren playing the mariachi-like song made it almost comedic.

"Well, it's pretty obvious that Willow's tongue may seem sharper than my blade, but now looking at you two," he addresses at Willow and Sayuri, "she has a knack for making friends without using her magical abilities as well."

[Anyr]

"Other tests? Not really. The recruitment was really lax. A friend of ours just got a bunch of us together and said 'hey, wanna be in a Metaball team?'. We all just followed his lead. He handled nearly all of the strategies and schedules, so that everyone else was free to just focus on the game. Now that he's gone, the team is kinda stumbling."

There was a lot of affection in Rebecca's voice when she spoke of her departed friend. Despite the casual words she used, it was pretty obvious that this wasn't just some random acquaintance.

"That's why Garrett is so big on talking strategy with everyone. He's looking for someone to fill Charlie's shoes."

[Elderand]

The tone of voice didn't escape William. It seemed there was a lot of story there but he wouldn't pry, partly because he thought that she'd share more if she wanted to and partly because he might not actually want to hear this particular story, something were better left in the past.

"Well Henry seemed rather keen on working on tactics at least so I think Garret may have found a remplacement."

He looked around at all the players now doing their own things.

"I don't envy him, it will be like trying to herd cats."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Garrett watches the display between Rebecca and William with clinical interest. He hollers out to Thomas to get onto the field next, and calls out to William. "We'll try reversing this for you this time William. Take the ball. Start at the 60, and try to run it in. Thomas will attempt to stop you." Thomas is the gravity-alterer. He doesn't seem to be much of a talker and just nods politely to William as he takes his place on the field and waits for the speedster to start up. In the meantime, Garrett asks Henry, "what are your thoughts based on what you just saw them do?", 'them' meaning Rebecca and William.

Now that John had walked away from Sayuri, Bryn felt like she could approach. "Sorry about your friends," Bryn says with rather more empathy than most of the other players had shown in regards to the bugs, even though she herself, hadn't assaulted any of the insects on the field. "I thought maybe I could help you come up with some ideas on how you can use them in ways that won't get everyone squashing them. I'm somewhat familiar with having to come up with inventive ways to be helpful in something like metaball, given that I don't have super-flashy powers like most everyone else on the team. Really, I'm only here because I'm the only person with healing powers that Charlie knew well and all teams are required to have one."

[darklink_shadow]

Sayuri nodded at Bryn. "I would appreciate any input or help in that regard. The only plan I have for that currently is to breed ants with harder carapace. Chitanium is a substance that Tank ants, a breed of my father's invention, grow for a carapace, but those ants require a more expensive diet. That would mean I could have fewer of them, but they would be stronger. I'm only concerned that they would be too dangerous for the game. Their mandibles can bend steel and crush concrete. And they are quite large, roughly the size of a cat. Every other species I know of is too easily killed. Perhaps Henry can help think of something, though perhaps not. He seems to be only interested in chemistry."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn

"I'm sure you can think more specifically than I can, since you know what they can do more than I, but instead of using them against the players, why not use them against the field? Disable traps or clear paths for teammates or things like that. Maybe eat a path through a jungle field. It'll keep them mostly out from underfoot of the teams, and less likely to get squished and still be really useful for us. Although those big ones sound really impressive, even a bunch of small ones could gum up those rotating wheels we had on this last play, right?"

[gremlin-pult]

Garrett watches the display between Rebecca and William with clinical interest. He hollers out to Thomas to get onto the field next, and calls out to William. "We'll try reversing this for you this time William. Take the ball. Start at the 60, and try to run it in. Thomas will attempt to stop you." Thomas is the gravity-alterer. He doesn't seem to be much of a talker and just nods politely to William as he takes his place on the field and waits for the speedster to start up. In the meantime, Garrett asks Henry, "what are your thoughts based on what you just saw them do?", 'them' meaning Rebecca and William.

"Well, while William's powers on their own, used purely for running, would be of somewhat limited use in procuring the ball fom miss Rebecca, There is plenty that could be implemented. The wind tunnel he created with his arms was clever, but would have been better used if Miss Rebecca had been flying, and thus much easier to knock around. As for taking the ball from one with superstrength... William could of course simply hit them at high speed, but since it is unclear whether he or the target could get through that unharmed, I would not recommend it. Against any other super-strong foe than miss Rebecca I would have perhaps considered running around them at high speed. This would create a vaccuum inside the circle, thus slowly depriving them of oxygen. Worst case, they faint, and can be carried of otherwise unharmed. Best case, they panic and would most likely thus be much easier to handle. But all in all, A person with superstrength is not the optimal foe for William, at least not until he finds out what further tricks he can achieve with his speed. I would recommend him to avoid such confrontations, and go for simply slowing them down until a team mate with more suitable abilities could aid." Henry summarized.

He thought for a moment longer before continuing. "As for miss Rebecca herself, I think she did what was wisest in the situation. Had she flown she would have been much more vulnerable to the strong winds. And any attempt to attack or catch William would most likely have been futile. Being patient and waiting it out at first was wise."

Glancing towards the others on the field, Henry once more cauht sight of Sayuri, and his guilt at his earlier actions blossomed again. "Edward, please take note. What do we have that could possibly enhance miss Kim's insectile friends?"

Made through chemical reactions? Nuthin' tha' won't take lots o' money 'n time to make.

"I see..." Henry mused "Well, I wish to create something for tomorrow. it would seem we are breaking out the specialty kit earlier than planned."

Really!? but ye were so insistent we should no' tinker with tha' until we were more settled, with room and lab...

"I am aware of that Edward. But I have found that to be an inadequate solution. We shall once more embark upon uncharted seas. Tonight."

Yeeeesss! I finally get ta play with th' laws o' nature again! Ahhahahhaahee! I 'ave so many plaaans...!

[Elderand]

Garrett watches the display between Rebecca and William with clinical interest. He hollers out to Thomas to get onto the field next, and calls out to William. "We'll try reversing this for you this time William. Take the ball. Start at the 60, and try to run it in. Thomas will attempt to stop you."

William gave a friendly smile to Rebecca "I'll be right back" and zoomed onto the field once, grabbing a ball as he went. He gave a nod to Thomas "On your go".

When Thomas gave the signal William started running, keeping his eyes on the boy he kept changing direction at random acting surprisingly like a giant human fly, turning on a dime in a chaotic zigzag pattern that nonetheless took him inexorably closer to the other end of the field. He could hardly afford to go in a straight line if he had to keep going 60, he would give too easy a target.

[DoctorFaust]

"Hey, if you guys are going to be practicing, I've got a bit of a trick that might help you get some more out of it." Warren stops the Mariachi music with a sudden screech, cranes his neck back, and shouts, "KI-GA-KURU-I-SO-U!", breaking out into a song that sounds...almost punk-ish, though definitely not American.

Spoiler

Show

Going to be using my support powers for the first time, basically casting Cat's Grace/Inspire Courage.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Thomas's first trick is to make the ball heavier and heavier until it feels like it weighs a couple hundred pounds.

[Elderand]

Luckily, William was in good enough shape that he could carry that much weight, running all the time keep you fit, but it did slow him down. So he poured on more speed to counteract the added weight, still he was now approaching the limit allowed by the bracelet.

Time to do the unexpected, he changed direction and headed straight for Thomas, rotating one of his arm to create a dust devil that would fling dirt and grass into the other boy face as he ran past him.

[darklink_shadow]

Sayuri rubbed her neck and nodded. "More of a supportive role? I believe I am to be in defense. Shouldn't I focus on stopping the rival team? I am not very knowledgeable about Metaball but I'd think that... that... um..."

Sayuri wavered and suddenly stared, engrossed, at Warren. "What...?"

A racorous noise erupted from her bag and dozens of chattering mandibles could be heard coming from the apian creatures inside. "The music. It's so..."

Too many minds cried out at once, all suddenly filled with energy. It was too much for Sayuri, and her mind was a buzz. It took her several seconds to blink and get a hold of herself.

As she looked up, she realized the contents of her bag, literally hundreds of normal sized wasps and dozens of larger ones swarmed about in the air, while bees sought out honey with an unusual vigor. Down below, the ants shifted, less interested in the music, but filled with furor anyways. But with no tasks to do, they merely waited, and let it be known that they were ready for whatever.

"Warren! What is that?! You've excited them more than I have ever seen! It's... it's not too much, but it feels strange. I suddenly want to fly and burrow and protect and collect... I feel pumped! I want to do something."

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Thomas isn't blinded by the dust and dirt, but he is distracted enough to let William run by and to release the gravity pull on the ball. Almost instinctively, he spikes the gravity in a circle around him intensely enough that, not only does the dust and grass fly to the ground around him, but a small indentation is left in the grass around his feet from being compressed under its own suddenly greater weight. William is able to make it to within a few yards of the goal line before Thomas is able to recover, and shift 'down' for William to be to his right.

Bryn meanwhile isn't nearly as entranced with Warren's music as Sayuri appears to be. Still, she can't keep from smiling as she responds, "Well, for one, these are just tryouts right? You might end up on offense, but even on defense you could use the insects to tip the field itself in your favor. And while they're fighting the field, you yourself can try to tackle or intercept on defense." She doesn't seem bothered by the swarms of bugs-- which, given her natural healing abilities, isn't too remarkable, even for a teenage girl-- although she does add at the end, "That's a LOT of bugs."

[Elderand]

"ah merde" is all William has time to think before he is sent carrening off to the right, his momentum carrying him off until he crashes unto the bleachers.

[Wdwune]

Orlando takes a brief walkabout around the field to listen the technical reunion.

"Well, while William's powers on their own, used purely for running, would be of somewhat limited use in procuring the ball fom miss Rebecca, There is plenty that could be implemented. The wind tunnel he created with his arms was clever, but would have been better used if Miss Rebecca had been flying, and thus much easier to knock around. As for taking the ball from one with superstrength... William could of course simply hit them at high speed, but since it is unclear whether he or the target could get through that unharmed, I would not recommend it. Against any other super-strong foe than miss Rebecca I would have perhaps considered running around them at high speed. This would create a vaccuum inside the circle, thus slowly depriving them of oxygen. Worst case, they faint, and can be carried of otherwise unharmed. Best case, they panic and would most likely thus be much easier to handle. But all in all, A person with superstrength is not the optimal foe for William, at least not until he finds out what further tricks he can achieve with his speed. I would recommend him to avoid such confrontations, and go for simply slowing them down until a team mate with more suitable abilities could aid." Henry summarized.

"In that case," Orlando mutters for himself, "the only way out for a guy with super strength is to jump outside the circle. At least that is what I would do. The bright side is that other team members could set up an ambush in case the super strong guy jumps out. Any mid-ranged specialist could do it; Henry, John, Edward, Nanoha-chan or even Sayuri-chan."

He sighs in resignation. "Too bad the rules don't allow weapons on the yard."

"Hey, if you guys are going to be practicing, I've got a bit of a trick that might help you get some more out of it." Warren stops the Mariachi music with a sudden screech, cranes his neck back, and shouts, "KI-GA-KURU-I-SO-U!", breaking out into a song that sounds...almost punk-ish, though definitely not American.

As the practice goes on, he overhears Warren's new song from afar. "Hey, that one's good for lifting the spirit! Not bad." As he returns to his initial spot, he mutters, "if Warren is not accepted in the metaball team, I'm pretty sure he deserves to be the head cheerleader. His ability is perfect for supporting roles."

Bryn meanwhile isn't nearly as entranced with Warren's music as Sayuri appears to be. Still, she can't keep from smiling as she responds, "Well, for one, these are just tryouts right? You might end up on offense, but even on defense you could use the insects to tip the field itself in your favor. And while they're fighting the field, you yourself can try to tackle or intercept on defense." She doesn't seem bothered by the swarms of bugs-- which, given her natural healing abilities, isn't too remarkable, even for a teenage girl-- although she does add at the end, "That's a LOT of bugs."

"I have to agree with Bryn here," Orlando intervenes rising a hand gently. "You have a versatile ability, Sayuri-chan. I'm pretty sure you can find many creative ways to use it on the field without harming anyone."

[darklink_shadow]

Sayuri grins wildly. "Yeaaaah. Lot's of ways. I'm sure. I can't think of any right now... but that's what practice is for. I'm used to using my powers to cripple criminals so they can't escape. Nobody seems to care much when I poison criminals, so long as they survive. Hey, do you guys want to go... do something?"

The insects dart around randomly, full of excitement.

[DoctorFaust]

"That, my friends, is the power of rock!" Warren replies, grinning broadly. "And this is but one of my many powahs!"

[Wdwune]

"Hey, do you guys want to go... do something?"

"You mean after your practice? Sure! What do you have in mind?"

[Mekboy]

Willow felt the music wash over her and revelled in the feeling. Fairies tend towards extremes when in comes to emotions, and this was no different.

"How do you do that? I feel awesome! Like I could burn down the world and dance in the ashes..."

With a gesture, fake fire danced across her hands. The heat from it felt extreme, but not uncomfortable. L

And then the moment passed. The initial feeling of impossible power dissipated and Willow was left standing wide-eyed and breathless.

[Anyr]

Rebecca was a bit mystified by everyone's reaction to the music. It seemed to have really spoke to them. Oh sure, it was good; But 'burn down the world' good? She didn't think so. Ah well, each to their own. Even if Rebecca herself wasn't that impressed, she was glad to see the others (especially Sayuri) having fun.

And then William crashed into the bleachers. In a trice, Rebecca was by his side.

"Are you all right?!"

[Elderand]

William looked up from the ground. He was still holding the ball and appeared somewhat dazed by the crash. Which probably explained his next words were said aloud.

"Oh, voilà une très jolie demoiselle." (Translation: Here comes a fair maiden/ a very pretty girl)

He shook his head to clear it before answering the question, wincing as he attempted to stand up. "Whoever made these uniforms knew their stuff." I placed a hand on his ribs letting out a groan "Just bruised I think." Even as he spoke, minor scratches on his face started to fade, a benefit of a high metabolism.

"Are you hungry ? I'm hungry"

A moment later it dawned on him that he was talking to Rebecca

"Sorry, stupid question, must have hit my head harder than I thought"

He took a few stumbling steps forward and reached out to steady himself by grabbing her arm, closing his eyes.

"Please tell me when the world stop spinning"

[Anyr]

Fortunately for William, Rebecca didn't speak French. She offered her services as a leaning post for as long as it took him to recover.

"It's not a stupid question. You just said 'hungry' instead of 'thirsty'. And yeah, I always am. As for the spinning, I'm afraid you'll have to be the judge of that."

[Elderand]

He took a few deep breath, his metabolism working on overdrive to heal what was clearly a mild concussion, after a few moments he was well enough to stand on his own.

"Do you eat ? I mean can you ? I could really go for a dozen steaks right now" as if to punctuate his words, his stomach started rumbling, nothing depleted his energy like having to heal

[Anyr]

Even after William stopped leaning on her, Rebecca kept a close eye on him. She couldn't be sure how effective his healing really was. Best to keep him focused and engaged.

"I tried eating some normal food once. Let's just say that my carpet paid the price for that little experiment. It's a shame. I miss sharing meals with everyone. It's almost enough to make me get a 'bag lunch' from the cafeteria; But those just aren't the same as drinking it fresh from..."

Rebecca trailed off. Her mind had just realised what her careless mouth was saying. Stupid stupid stupid.

"Erm, so, steak! You like steak? I remember liking steak too. It's...good."

[Elderand]

William nodded

"Big juicy bloody steak or roastbeef with fries and salad." Evidently he wasn't quite back at full capacity or he wouldn't have mentionned the word bloody, if only out of politness.

As it was his stomach rumbled again and he looked embarrassed.

"I should go to the cafeteria, I'll get better faster if I have something in me."

[gremlin-pult]

Henry was trembling with barely controlled energy. That music... It jarred him to the very core of his being. He wanted to jump, to run. He felt like doing one of his experiments... No, too ineffective. He wanted to do all of them at once!
such energy, such power!

William's fall brought Henry back to the present, but he thought better of moving to help, as Rebecca was there almost immediately. "Miss Rebecca's aid will probably be more of use than mine..."

Yep.

Instead Henry felt himself moving towards the others, more specifically the Young man with the guitar.
"Excuse me, good sir." Henry said with a polite nod to Warren, and a more slightly more familiar nod to Orlando and the rest "Might I inquire as to how you produced those... Riveting notes? I know that music can affect a persons mood or behaviour, but I have never before experienced it to such extent. It was simply spectacular."
After a moment, Henry shook himself, and offered a hand with a slight blush.
"Oh, I-I am dreadfully sorry, where are my manners. Henry Bennetts, at your service."