this is crazy

[from_scratch]

Cam is watching a new recording of Atriama, tail swishing in the gap in his couch, and doesn't stop to pause the show when he feels a summons go by.

Comments

[from_scratch]

"Yeah but I can't insta-teach-you-to-fly," Cam replies, getting himself back into a standing position.

[whole_new_can]

At the next attempt, the sword stops mid-swing. It refuses to budge, then snaps into three pieces which clatter to the ground.

"She could do that all along?"

[from_scratch]

Cam hisses and says, "How fast can you apply your power to a sword, if I make it handle first and make it through her?"

[wormcan]

"Split second at least, and I can't infuse anything that isn't there yet. But we have to try it."

[from_scratch]

"Hand out."

And as soon as her hand is posed to accommodate a sword, he makes sword straight at the Simurgh, very very fast.

[wormcan]

As soon as he starts, the intervening space fills with the densest pieces of debris from the immediate vicinity. Air rushes out of their path. Creating more sword suddenly gets correspondingly harder, but it's clearly a temporary defense.

[from_scratch]

He can create sword through all this stuff.

...

"Other hand," he suggests anyway. And when her other hand's poised he arms that one too, so defenses will have to split between two paths.

[whole_new_can]

The Simurgh solves this problem by interposing the most swordproof object available. Cam feels a wrenching sensation, and is suddenly directly between Flechette and the Simurgh regardless of how the other two move.

[from_scratch]

Cam can permit a hole through himself if he wants and the Simurgh doesn't get a say in the matter. "I'M FINE DO THE THING!" he yells before swearing loudly about having a sword through him.

[whole_new_can]

The Simurgh really only needs hesitation. Humanoid shields are good at providing that. By the time the weapon appears and gets infused, it has already missed. And Cam being visibly impaled naturally does wonders for morale.

She knocks a flier out of the sky with a barely-visible strand of hair, and then the third group of capes starts rotating in.

[from_scratch]

Ugh. Cam wrenches himself away from being impaled, this would be a bad time to be on painkillers so he sucks it up, everything heals presently. Is Flechette ready for another sword? This is at least commanding the Simurgh's attention.

[wormcan]

Flechette is absolutely in favor of more swording, but is being rotated out with the rest of her team. Keeping the most effective people at the front for as long as the timers allow is a tempting strategy; it also has an unfortunate history.

[from_scratch]

Right. Fair enough. Cam follows her, looking over his shoulder occasionally to take potshots at the Simurgh with pathetic, conventional damage.

"D'you have a range limit when you're working on arrows?"

[wormcan]

"I have a time limit." Flechette retrieves her crossbow on the way back. "Normally I make it wear out when it'll be halfway through the target, but I could maybe make a weapon last long enough for someone else to hit her with. If you can get it over fast enough."

[from_scratch]

"...Does it have to be rigid? Limit on aspect ratio?"

[wormcan]

"It works best if it's straight, so either rigid or at least under tension. There's no number for the cutoff, it just gets harder until I can't do it."

[from_scratch]

"If I hand you a string that's a noose around her wing and you yank -"

[wormcan]

Flechette shakes her head. "Wouldn't work. Anything with curves or knots in it is going to take longer than the sword trick did, and she handled that fine."

[from_scratch]

"One of those retractable dog leashes with a sword on the end for me to go stab her with?"

[wormcan]

"Worth a try. You'd have maybe fifteen seconds at most before I have to infuse it again."

[from_scratch]

Cam hands her a leash end with nanotube coiled around it and takes off and accelerates in the Simurgh's direction, with rockets attached to his feet for an acceleration boost when he's clear of anyone who might object to the fire, and when he's there there's a featherlight rapier in his hand with the hilt trailing tube.

[whole_new_can]

The bizarre combination of sword and leash counts as a single object, and is close enough to a straight line that Flechette can keep the blade infused. Whenever it expires she'll just add more with almost no time in between.

So the Simurgh severs the line. It snaps with no visible cause, and once the resistance is gone Flechette's end retracts.

[from_scratch]

It doesn't retract very fast. As soon as the tension's gone Cam makes more line between the snapped bits, just enough to connect them again so they can retract taut. He's probably going to have to do that a lot but as long as the Simurgh's dealing with this she's... probably... not multitasking as aggressively anywhere else.

[whole_new_can]

Probably is a dangerous word around the Simurgh. She does seem to be focusing on him more than on anyone else. He can tell by the perfectly ordinary rock that cannonballs through Eidolon and into Cam. It may not deal any serious damage, but conservation of momentum is on her side. She's more than capable of bouncing him around for a while.

[from_scratch]

He can take some bouncing but it does make it hard to stab her. When he gets control of his motion again he approaches, intending to anchor himself to her with keratin.