voidtreckernet | Armor Up?

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Armor Up?

[She waves when the camera comes on, immediately pointing downwards to indicate where the subtitles will be as she signs. Her hands start to move, gently, signing her words. The text appears, as it does, at the bottom.]

Greetings, fellow travellers. Or prisoners. Not really sure which we are. Possibly both.

[A slight pause]

I mean, this also seems fairly close to a penal battalion, but that's more philosophy than I'd like today. But in any event, I'm General Amaya, soldier of Katolis, for those who don't know me. As a Knight of the Realm, I'm meant to serve on the front line, as you may have guessed. Which is significantly more difficult without my armor.

[She gestures at tunic she's wearing, which she'd picked up on the last mission.]

And I'm going to apologize in advance for my...take charge nature during missions. I promise that I do know what I'm doing, but I also promise I'll listen to reason when I'm dealing with things I don't know. Which, around here, is a lot.

[She offers a kind smile, pulling her shield and sword into view.]

And while these are my main offence and defence - I'm feeling pretty naked out there - is there anybody on board who can forge armour? I'm not sure how I could repay the favour right now, but it'd definitely be at least a few owed.

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She nods.

Now is fine, on the way if you're up for it.

"Very well."

She makes her way there as soon as she can. She's not been in the library too much - but it's definitely one of the better places to meet someone, certainly.

She looks carefully for the other.

No need to look carefully, it was hard to miss him, He was perched on the large rock that left him at eye level with the average adult human male on the train. His large staff was resting at an almost impossible angle beside him. Three books floated around him. One in front, one to one side, and a notebook and pen to the other side. When he heard her come in the books all vanished into the gem in his glove, along with his pen, and a new notebook came out. "Do you choose to not speak out loud, or is there a difficulty to it?" Because he could set up a translation spell if she was alright with that.

She frowned a bit at that, at first, not sure what he meant by that - until it clicked with her, and she shook her head.

She tapped her ear, then began signing again, her SCA translating for her.

Deaf from birth. I read lips and sign. Never spoken a word in my life, don't plan on starting now.

"That's fine," he said, and his notebook turned and transcribed his words for her magically as an added aid. "I did not know if the SCA would translate, and if it did not I was going to offer a transcription spell like the one that you used on the network. But I see that it is clearly not needed. I will keep the spell where my words are recorded for you, however, if you do not mind. As you do not know the word Pharle, I suspect I may use other words unique to my world." Shadow had made a point about him trying to remember that somethings were unique to Ceiphro. "So having them written out could help you to understand them, I suspect."

"If you have some time after this, however, I would be fascinated to speak with you at length about how lipreading works, with regards to people who naturally speak other languages but have been translated by the magic of the SCA. I have been trying to teach my son to read and write more effectively, and I suspect that there is a fundamental difference between the language of my world and that of his that the magic simply cannot bridge, for I know him to be quite intelligent. The level of difficulty he has with my lessons makes me suspect a deeper issue. The more I can learn about different ways to interact with magical translation, the sooner I can formulate a course of study that will better help him."

She nodded.

You're welcome to talk, but I'm pretty sure the answer is just that the train makes it all appear as it ought to for me. As far as I'm concerned, you're all speaking my language. I suppose there could be exceptions - have you tried non-verbal means?

She paused, indicating her hands before signing again.

Sign is pretty effective, I find.

"I have not considered sign, but if my boy is unwilling to put in the effort to read and write, I am not certain that he would take the time to learn this. Which is sad, because it is fascinating."

"It is also off topic. You needed armor, yes?"

She shrugged. It wasn't for everyone. Her hands moved again.

Hopefully there will always be alternatives. I wish you fortune with that. And I'm working on that, yes.

"Then this is at least a place where my aid can bear fruit and be productive. I am a pharle. Or rather, I trained with a pharle to help her learn her craft. I can serve as one in her absence. What exactly did you require?"

I'm also talking to Q'uila, too - namely, I'm a knight. Without my armor, I'm a bit naked out there on a mission. I can't properly protect others with just a shield. Not if I want to come out of it without some new and interesting holes in me.

"Are you looking for evolving armor, or standard?" He had no clue who or what Q'uila was.

She tilted her head at that.

Evolving armor?

He nodded. "That is significantly more difficult to make, especially since the material needed to craft it cannot be created. In my world, fetching it is a quest that few are brave enough to undertake, and fewer still succeed at. Here it is somewhat easier as we can simply purchase it from the train." Which, he thought, was convenient but robbed it of much of its grandeur. "For most people, I recommend regular magical armor instead. Evolving armor decides what it wants to be. Regular armor we can customize to your designs."

Well that's the strangest thing she's ever heard, or at least in the top five. So she blinks a few times, in obvious surprise.

Decides what it wants to be. Well, that is something I cannot even vaguely understand but would really want to see.

"How to explain it..." He considered. "Evolving armor and weapons are created based on the person who handled the Escudo when it was retrieved, or the one the person creating the items intends them for. But that connection is superficial, because the understanding is. Who we are changes as we learn and grow. So the armor and weapons evolve as we do. They become more bonded to the person they were made for and better able to serve them, but they touch our deepest strengths, ones we may not even know we had. Then we need to learn to adapt to them, even as they adapt to us."

Well that makes sense. But it's still incredibly weird.

Wow. We've got nothing like that where I'm from, and we've got some pretty strange magic.

"Every world seems to have its own fascinating magic. Shall we stay with regular armor, then?"

She nods, gesturing at him to continue.

"What exactly do you seek? Full body? Helm? Gauntlets? Something different than any of those?"

[She shakes her head.]

Got it in one - full body and helm.

He nodded. "So like mine, then."

Says the munchkin in what looks like a cloth robe and gemmed circlet.

Which she has a lot of questions about, and points at the circlet, raising a questioning eyebrow. Doesn't exactly scream 'helm.'

"You want to make sure you have a larger gem as well?" Yes, he misunderstood.

She shook her head, signing.

No, that doesn't look like a helm to me. Does it, too, transform?

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