Drunkard's Walk Forums

Like most things in Emperor Cole's capitol city, the museum was impressive. Hundreds of cultural artifacts from around the world were here, rescued from the all-consuming Devouring Earth. Karen Castle peered with interest at one of the displays celebrating Old Nihon.
While she was more familiar with the martial items on display from several of the news reports concerning the fights against the Empire's enemies and the heroes who fought in them, the more mystical side of things fascinated her. How wonderful Emperor Cole was, to inspire the heroes to fight for all of us! The bronze mirror and jewel before her had been rumored to belong to one of the great ninja princesses whose true name had been lost to the mists of time, but her reputation as the Fox of the Shadows had lived on.
Her ruminations were cut short as the wall burst in and she came face to face with the ruthless terrorists that called themselves the Resistance being pursued by the helpful and friendly Praetorian Clockwork. A stray blast from one of the combatants shattered the case holding the artifacts, and sent them flying into her chest.
She blinked, as suddenly she felt as if she'd walked from a loud cafeteria and into a hushed library. Which was odd, because the sounds of the battle were louder than almost anything she'd experienced in her life.
Ara, a voice seemed to whisper in her ear. Sono ningyo ga omoshiroi de gozaimasu ne?
She almost wanted to laugh at the fact she was going crazy, when the Clockwork finished the battle and turned on her...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Helllloooooo, Nogi!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

And the Praetorian setting makes for some interesting twists along the way. Frex: Karen may or may not be an equivalent to Kyoko/QB, but the lack of the Circle of Thorns gives Nogi less mana to play with on "awakening." So instead of Naruto's fanon chakra reserves, she's got Sakura's.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Karen stood in the shadows of Precinct 5 in Nova Praetoria, utterly befuddled at the situation surrounding her. Why was she here, and dressed in her mother's old fox hunting outfit? And what was this nonsense about her being in Powers Division? She didn't have powers!

The Voice whispered again in its maddeningly amused tone, Omoshiroi! Omoshiroi! Totemo omoshiroi de gozaimasu!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll