Nina
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Post by Nina on Feb 5, 2024 19:10:34 GMT -6
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Feb 5, 2024 19:10:53 GMT -6
PupilsLaputaLevel: 9 | Loyalty: 11 Stamina: 7 Strength: 5 Resistance: 12 Dexterity: 1 Mentality: 0 Special Abilities: Physical Immunity, Electrical Resistance Moves: Pummel
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:13:54 GMT -6
“Welcome to the Academy!” Nina said, throwing her arms open wide for dramatic effect.
‘Academy’ was a pretty generous word for what they were looking at. It was really little more than a shuttered old shed, some overgrown weeds, and a sun bleached wooden fence. Nothing was disheveled beyond repair, exactly, but it was clear that nobody had visited in quite some time..
“What do you think?” Nina asked, nervousness creeping into her voice.
‘I was expecting something… different.’ Marta quickly admitted.
“Yea, I’ve had it for a while, but I never, ah, needed to use it before, I guess.” Nina looked over her shoulder at the golem standing behind her. She was the reason they were there that day. Her battle training for the upcoming tournament would require a lot of free space, and Nina felt it was best to do it away from the farm.
Laputa was a simple creature, and as much as Nina loved her, she was not very bright. Not even close. It felt right to be especially cautious when training her, as she could easily accidentally hurt others without noticing. Not that she would do so on purpose, of course. Laputa was typically gentle and difficult to provoke.
[9.1, 3.2, 9.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:14:36 GMT -6
It was just that, as far as Nina could tell, she was completely invulnerable to pain, making her uniquely difficult to stop if something went wrong. This, of course, also made her an excellent fighter despite her peaceful nature.
“I figured we could bring her out here for training,” Nina said, putting a hand on Laputa’s shoulder. “So she doesn’t, you know, smash anything important.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Laputa heard the word ‘smash’ and was eager to follow the command. She arched her back and came down on the fence with huge crystal fists, instantly reducing that section to splinters.
“No!” Nina jumped in front of the golem and held her hands out in a ‘stop’ motion. “No Laputa, stop!” Laputa was pulling back for another strike, but froze in place, not certain what to do now that she received two conflicting messages.
“Laputa, come here,” Nina said, beckoning her away from the fence. The golem did as it was asked, albeit not very quickly. It lumbered over to where Nina was and waited for further instruction. “Stay. Stay here Laputa.”
“Normally I’m not proven right so quickly…” Nina said with a pronounced sigh. This was not how she pictured this day going.
[9.2, 3.4, 9.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:15:01 GMT -6
‘Fascinating,’ Marta chimed in. Though it might seem like a strange reaction to the situation, she was absolutely sincere.
“Laputa is an elemental golem,” Nina began to explain. She knew that one of the reasons Marta wanted to come was to learn more about the mysterious sparkling creature. Maybe that would take her mind off the broken fence.
“They’re one of the labs’ earlier experiments. Fiercely dedicated to their masters, but they pretty much have no thoughts of their own.”
There was a pause before Nina shared the next part, for it was painful for her to consider. “I’m not even sure she understands who I am.”
‘She likes you.’ Marta said with a confident nod.
“What makes you think that?” Nina tilted her head and lifted one of her antennae with curiosity.
‘It just feels right.’
“Thank you, Marta,” Nina said. Her antennae perked up with the thought.
Nina looked down at the broken fence. On the bright side, at least they had somewhere to start the renovations. “We should mend the fence,” she said. “I think there may be, ah, supplies. In the shed.”
Marta nodded and followed Nina out to the shed. While they walked, she carefully observed the area around her, making a mental map of the premises.
[9.3, 3.6, 9.6]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:15:39 GMT -6
She glanced back at Laputa now and then, as if the living pile of rocks was about to disappear without warning. The golem sat peacefully in the grass, staring blankly up at the sky. Marta wondered what she might be thinking about, if anything.
“Oh, good,” Nina said chipperly after pushing the shed door open. “There is some spare wood here. We, ah, might have to replace more later, but for now, I think this will do.”
‘You know how to repair fences?’ Marta asked. It was a skill she never considered needing before now. Sometimes it felt like Nina knew impossibly many things.
“A little,” Nina said. “Enough to knock this back together, at least.” Carpentry was not one of her strong suits, but she did know her way around basic tools. She did most of the maintenance for the Orbaru Zu back when it started, so she had some familiarity with a variety of different things.
‘Will you show me?’
“Sure,” Nina said. Though now she was a bit worried about having to watch Marta and get the work done at the same time. It would be more difficult to teach than it would be just to do it, but she supposed she didn’t mind. “If you could, ah, actually, grab those?” Nina said, pointing out some tools and screws.
[9.4, 3.8, 9.8]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:16:03 GMT -6
‘Yes,’ Marta nodded, gathering everything that was pointed at. ‘I am ready,’ she said, holding up an armful of tools.
“How are you doing, Laputa?” Nina asked, looking over her shoulder at the golem. She continued to sit in the same spot, looking up at the sky blankly. She seemed to be watching the clouds, though perhaps that was giving her too much credit.
“She’s fine,” Nina noted aloud before turning back to the fence. First, she would need to get rid of the broken pieces. She briefly looked up at Marta before looking back down at her own gloved hands. It was probably best if she did this part. It often did not occur to her how dangerous some things could be for people, since she didn’t have the same problems. With Marta around, she was suddenly hyper-aware of potential hazards like splinters in a way that she was not usually.
Nina grabbed all of the largest splinters and carefully collected them into a pile. Then she pried the twisted and worn old nails out and set them aside as well. She very intentionally created the piles so that she wouldn’t lose any pieces. This was something she was quite used to, as an Orbaru or other creature eating a lost bolt would be quite an emergency.
[9.5, 4, 10]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:16:32 GMT -6
“There, now we just need to put the new one in,” Nina said, pointing to the empty space where a board once was. The damage wasn’t so bad after all, which was a bit of a miracle considering how big and strong Laputa was.
“One of us will have to hold the board in place so, ah, so the other one can drive the nails in,” she explained. “Which, ah, which one do you want to do?”
Marta consulted the tools in her hand for a moment before responding, ‘I think I should do the steadying.’ She didn’t really know how any of these tools worked, and though they looked simple, she had to imagine there was at least some skill involved. As much as she wanted to help, she also didn’t want to hold everything up.
“Good idea,” Nina said. She likely would have said that either way, but that didn’t really matter.
Nina used her magnetic influence to stick some nails to her forearm, eliciting a surprised giggle from Marta. It made Nina’s antennae perk up to see Marta’s unfiltered joy about something she considered mundane.
“Okay, are you ready?” she asked. Marta nodded. “Take that, and hold it, ah, right… about here,” she gestured to the area she wanted the board to be.
[9.6, 4.2, 10.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:16:54 GMT -6
It was her turn to be surprised as Marta was able to lift and swing around the large board without too much of a struggle. She was stronger than she looked.
“Great, now it’s going to, ah, shake around a lot, when I, you know, hit it, so just stay firm and shout out if you’re, ah, having any trouble, okay?” It was easy for her to forget that Marta was not speaking out loud, but it probably didn’t matter either way.
‘I am ready,’ Marta announced, holding the board where she thought it should go based on the other ones around it.
Nina carefully knocked the nails into place to support one side of the board, then the other. It was a lot easier to do this with someone helping her, she noticed. Normally she did everything alone, so it came as a bit of a surprise, though she almost wanted to laugh at herself for being surprised by something so obvious.
“There, one down and… well, we can fix the other ones later, I guess,” Nina said, looking down the fence and thinking about how long it would take to do every single board. Perhaps some day they would get to it, but they had better things to do on that day.
[9.7, 4.4, 10.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:17:44 GMT -6
‘It is beautiful,’ Marta said with a smile. She liked to see her own handiwork, it made her feel an odd sense of pride, even if it was just one section of a fence.
“Laputa!” Nina called. The Golem slowly turned to face her. “Come here, Laputa,” Nina said firmly, pointing at the ground in front of her.
Marta always liked to watch and think about the way Nina spoke to her creatures. She commanded their attention so easily, at least from her perspective. She wanted to learn this skill, so she observed Nina carefully. She really was a natural with creatures in a way that Marta felt like she might never be.
Laputa lumbered over to Nina, then Nina led her around the fence to the gate so she could come in without breaking anything else. It didn’t really make a difference whether they were inside or outside of the gate, but it made Nina feel a bit better. This space was hers now, and she was determined to make use of it. Breaking it in with Laputa’s tournament training would make it feel like hers, she thought. Finally, she could really have something to call her own after all this time.
[9.8, 4.6, 10.6]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:18:28 GMT -6
Marta grabbed a notebook and headed over to Nina and Laputa. She looked at the Crystalline Golem from a distance, as she was still a bit wary of the large creature. She saw how easily she smashed up the fence, so she wanted to be cautious until she got to know her better at least.
‘Laputa is… an Elemental Golem, yes?’ Marta asked, flipping her notebook open to an empty page.
“Yes, a Crystalline Elemental Golem,” Nina said. “She is a rare variant, the labs calls them ‘very special’ releases. She is similar to the more common Earth Elemental Golem.”
Marta scribbled some things into her notebook, looking up every now and then to observe something new about Laputa. Laputa, not having received further instruction, simply stood there staring at Nina and waiting for what would happen next.
‘Is she made of … glass?’ Marta said, finally reaching out to touch Laputa for the first time. Her surface was surprisingly rough, like a stone, rather than completely smooth like glass. That made Marta think her assumption might have been incorrect. She was translucent, but glass was not quite the right word. There was something strange about her composition that Marta could not quite put her finger on.
[9.9, 4.8, 10.8]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:19:17 GMT -6
“Almost,” Nina said with a nod. She could see why Marta thought that. “She is made of crystal. Think of something like… a diamond, like that.”
Marta nodded, then made a few more scribbles into her notebook. That made much more sense. Plus, she had to imagine that a creature made of glass would shatter easily, making it a poor option for a fight. Though she had never seen glass quite so solid before, so perhaps she was wrong. A lot of things about this creature were coming as a surprise to her.
Feeling more bold after making successful contact with her before, Marta ran her fingers along one of Laputa’s stones. It looked as if Laputa was put together from many stones linking up, though she could not see what joined them together. She had to assume that whatever force made Laputa a living creature also contributed to her unusual physical construction. A magical component of some kind.
It was easy to see that Laputa was more magical than biological, which Marta felt connected to. Though she did not really know exactly what her own genetic makeup was, there was clearly a magical component. Something of elemental light. Could it be a golem?
[10, 5, 11]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:19:41 GMT -6
She had the thought in the back of her mind, but she did not ask. Perhaps someday she would unravel the story of her own creation, but not that day.
‘Tell me more about her abilities,’ Marta said, finally looking up from her notes. Surely such an interesting creature had some secrets to hide, and she knew that Nina would know what they were.
“She is a, ah, somewhat straightforward creature,” Nina said. Not in the way that she was boring, of course, but that she had a very simple battle strategy. Smash. Don’t get smashed. That was pretty much it.
“Her crystal body makes her immune to most kinds of damage,” Nina said. She didn’t like to test it, of course, but she knew that it was almost impossible to harm Laputa by non-magical means. “She’s susceptible to magic, of course, but otherwise she’s quite indestructible.”
‘This is why you chose her for the tournament,’ Marta nodded along.
“Yes, exactly. She, ah, doesn’t have any magic of her own, though. Some of the golems, ah, they can wield their element, like the Fire Golems can use their fire to burn, you see, but Laputa doesn’t have that. Instead she is more… physical.”
[10.1, 5.2, 11.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:23:58 GMT -6
In a way, it was as if Laputa was a ‘physical’ version of the elemental golem. Perhaps that was why she was considered a special release.
‘I see,’ Marta said. She took a few more notes and looked back up at Laputa. ‘Does she have any unusual care needs?’
It was a funny way to ask ‘does she eat?’ which was the actual question she wanted to ask. Did a creature made entirely of magical crystal eat, sleep, or even breathe? It didn’t seem like it, but she wouldn’t know unless she asked. Well, she could test the hypothesis, but she did not want to risk harming Laputa.
“Golems consume their element by absorbing it,” Nina explained. “For Laputa, that means crystal, which I give her by giving her a bed of mineral rich sand to rest on. She doesn’t seem to sleep, but she will rest by going dormant when she is not active. Unless I ask her to do something, she doesn’t, ah, do that much on her own. It’s kind of like she just waits wherever she stops for further instruction.”
The bit about resting was added almost as an afterthought, as Nina herself was not a creature that slept in any traditional sense of the word.
[10.2, 5.4, 11.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 12, 2024 3:24:17 GMT -6
She knew it was vital for most living things, but she happened to have found two exceptions in herself and Laputa.
‘Interesting,’ Marta said, continuing her notes. Laputa was a very unusual creature in her composition, so it made sense to her that she would also be unusual in behavior. A creature without a fleshy body would not need to sleep or eat, not in the traditional sense anyway. That all felt right to her, though this was her first time hearing anything like it.
“I guess she would probably be pretty, ah, dangerous if she wasn’t so loyal,” Nina mused aloud. She had never really thought about that before, but considering how strong and relatively indestructible Laputa was, she could seriously harm someone if left unchecked. Not to mention all the poor fences out there.
‘Do you think it was on purpose?’ Marta asked. She brought her pencil to her lip while she pondered the question.
“What do you mean?”
‘The laboratory, they created the golems, right? Their temperament must be intentional,’ she mused.
“I suppose so,” Nina nodded with the thought. It had never occurred to her before that the labs would intentionally limit the intelligence of a creature, but now that she heard the theory, it did sound very plausible.
[10.3, 5.6, 11.6]
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