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A) will, yes.  B) won't, if both of me have anything to say about it.
Unfortunately, I think Sein started shipping i/VI someplace along the line.  Quite a feat, when you consider that she doesn't really even understand the concept, or even fully acknowledge what she's feeling.  I'm not sure how well that'll work out- for her, or for me.
**********
Entry 46 (Day 816)
Finally figured out how to make my journal Sein-proof.  Wasn't difficult, either.
All the Numbers had been made users, essentially, for the part of him that's effectively a PDA.  Uno basically had admin rights, Tre was a power user, and Cinque and Sein just had basic rights.  My own rights are, if I'm reading this correctly, someplace between admin and root; the only user who can override me is JS.  Three guesses who that is, and two of them don't count.
Sein and Cinque lost a few permissions, but I left the others alone... well, mostly.  Just set up a UAC program, so that I get the choice to allow/deny whenever they attempt to act.  That way, I can eat my convenient networking cake, and keep it safe too.
Speaking of Sein, she's been doing exactly what she said she was going to do... ambushing me, day in and day out, right up until the last few days.  It's really amazing how effective that tactic was; within a week, I went from ignoring my surroundings to jumping at shadows... and since that required me to notice said shadows, I actually did learn some sense of my surroundings.
It wasn't just front/back/sides, either.  With Deep Diver, Sein was catching from every angle- out of the ceiling and up from the floor included.  No wall was safe.  As irritating as it was at first, well... it sort of grew on me.  Rather like an irritating fungus, but it did.  Actually kind of miss it, now.
Note to self: figure out Sein's schedule, catch her by surprise, and give her a hug.  See what she thinks of that!
Anyway, now that I've passed Basic Awareness (Sein told Cinque she hadn't managed to sneak up on me in days, and not for lack of trying), I've been trying to figure out how to get to the next level without having to leave the compound.  The VR programs I've been doing (never more than eight hours a day, can't forget what overworking will do) help, but they've got one serious flaw.
They don't train me to be aware when I'm not expecting danger.
VR training has clearly defined start and end times, and requires a conscious choice on my part to initiate.  If I stuck to that, I'd learn to be aware when I knew there were enemies around, and no other time.  What I need is a way to train against multiple opponents, of varying skill levels, without any danger, without leaving the complex, and without monopolizing anybody else's time.  Yeah, right.
So I'm designing my own training tool.  It's basically a collection of possible enemies (complete with images, sounds they might make, movement data, and attacks), a timer, and an AR interface.  When it's done, all it'll do is wait a random time, pick some enemies from the list, and have Mal make me see and hear them someplace in my surroundings.  Then I'll get a certain amount of time to notice them.  If I manage it, I get points.  If not, I lose them. 
The program will keep track of my record, and let me review it at any time... that is, once it's written.  I'm having a bit of trouble with that, seeing as how I have very little skill with Device programming.  I know enough to make spells work, and a bit on how to tie them to my AR, but a full program?  Might have to get Uno's help with that part.
Always something more to do around this place.  Never thought I'd enjoy that, what with how lazy I used to be.  You learn something new every time you're yanked out of your life and stranded in the wilderness, I guess.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
You should learn everything about your tools before trying to use them in critical situations (like, oh, say combat) anyway, you know? I'd put device repair and construction fairly well up on the list as well as programming, not to mention your cyberbits. Not knowing how to repair Malleus or yourself, or to tell/teach someone else how to do it depending on location and severity of the damage, could become a major problem in the long run. Or a plot point, I suppose.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Quote:All the Numbers had been made users, essentially, for the part of him that's effectively a PDA.
Who is "him"?

(The scene is first-person, so either the pronoun's wrong or there's somebody involved that we haven't met yet.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
(I would presume 'him' refers to the Device.)
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
Yes, I should... and I'm working on it.  It's just that I'm putting most of my effort into learning how to *use* Malleus at this point in the timeline.  Like, 95% to 5%.  It's part of the plan.
Also, have you noticed how absurdly durable Devices seem to be?  It takes a lot to damage a properly designed, properly calibrated Device... and much more to actually render one inoperable.  That, and they come with self-repair abilities.  Repairing Mal isn't likely to be an issue for a long time.
I forgot to name who I was talking about.  Yes, 'him' refers to Malleus; I'll clear that up on the SB edit.(I actually have a tab of DW open when I do the SB rewrites, just so I can catch all the errors I promised to fix.)
**********
Entry 47 (Day 820)
...okay, that was difficult.
I ended up spending two more days trying to write that freaking program... before doing what I should've done in the first place, and going to Uno.  Had it back by the end of the day... and I suspect that it only took that long because she had other work to do.
Incidentally, Tre told me that Uno favors breakfast pastries- specifically, a specific flavor of scone, using a remarkably tart berry from one of the non-administrated worlds.  Taking that side trip to buy a pound of fresh berries, bring them to her favorite bakery, and bring the results (still warm from the oven) back was probably the best idea I could've had.
I'll treasure that smile for a long, long time.
Anyway, I got the program, checked it over (partly because it's a good habit to be in, partly to learn how it functions, and partly to see what Uno's programming looks like), and fired it up. 
Whoa.
I thought I was ready for the experience, having learned to detect Sein.  I thought that keeping track of opponents that couldn't swim through solid walls would make things easier.  I was wrong- unbelievably wrong, really- and paid the price for it.
By the end of the first day, I'd 'earned' a score in the negative triple digits.  Didn't even know the program was set to handle negative numbers- that alone taught me a few more programming tricks- but it is, and it did.  The problem was that I'd gotten... inventive... with the list of potential 'enemies' the program could use.
It started out easy enough.  The generic TSAB mooks were more like arcade shooter enemies than anything all that threatening.  I'd usually manage four or five of them in a row before getting tagged... and I think I went up as high as eight, once.  So, of course, the program began to throw in curveballs.
At first, it threw in Enforcer-level mages.  They weren't too different or too difficult, once I'd learned that some of them would spawn in flying, and some would shield themselves.  Then came the M-Drones; also not too hard.
I started cursing Uno when the ninja began to appear.  Couldn't believe that she'd implemented all the enemy options I'd come up with.  Then I started cursing myself, as I remembered what else I'd put in the system.
My score got really bad when the Bloodsuckers, Predators, and Specters began to appear.  Only four hours into that phase, I'd lost every single point I ever earned... and then Alma showed up.  Yeah.
Five minutes later (because Alma is FAR more terrifying 'in person' than I'd expected), I had the program offline, and was rejiggering the enemy selection and pacing code.
Twenty minutes after that, I was reverting all my changes.  Turns out that there was just a glitch in the difficulty settings- one misplaced decimal point in the dynamic difficulty function.  End result?  The program got tougher to clear at a rate one hundred times faster than expected; fast enough to go from the base setting to the highest setting in four hours flat. 
I suppose I was asking for a bug like this.  Shouldn't've named the highest setting 'Superhuman'.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
Sure. "Bug." You keep telling yourself that.

(Imma wanted a program that would help him prepare for the unexpected. Having the difficulty jump that quickly was certainly unexpected - and something I can easily see Uno doing on purpose.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
It's not a bug! It's a feature! Big Grin
... Who's Alma?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:
... Who's Alma?
Some sort of videogame character I've only heard of in passing.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
Quote:ECSNorway wrote:
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:
... Who's Alma?
Some sort of videogame character I've only heard of in passing.
I think I recall an EarthScorpion fic that used her.  Some sort of psychic horror thing, IIRC.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
She's the driving force behind the events in the game F.E.A.R. [  A powerful psychic, abused and tortured by her father and then entombed beneath the Project Origin research facility for 20+ years when she got a little hard to handle. She spends most of the game appearing as a creepy looking little girl in a red dress in the corner of your eye, and liquefying most of the Delta Force soldiers deployed during the game.
-- 
Kewl.  I too wish to dress up as an F-4 next Halloween and celebrate 
the triumph of thrust over aesthetics.
-- Anthony de Boer
Blegh - Horror holds very little interest for me - it uses many of the same mechanisms for building tension as mysteries, and inspires the same irritated desire to just close the tab or put the book back on a shelf and read something good instead.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Blargh.  Yuku ate my post on Thursday, and then refused to let me re-make it.
Also, due to GAMING AWESOMENESS this week, I won't be around to post on Thursday (for SB), or Friday (here) of this week.  ANYWAY.
The thing about Alma is that she's a (questionably) living killfield in the shape of a girl.  You don't fight her; you run, or you get liquified.  Her inclusion in the program was supposed to get me looking for subtle cues, picking up on when she appeared fast enough to NOT LOSE, and force me to pay attention while running from an insurmountably superior foe.
Rob, my original intention was that Uno was just a biiiiiiiiit too focused on her other project, and her finger slipped.  My new intention is that she did it on purpose- not just to provide a surprise and force me to get better faster, but to get me to dig through her program and learn how it ticked, so that I'd absorb programming skill by osmosis.  Funnily enough, the 'error' I'd chosen works just as well for both purposes- simple to make unintentionally, and subtle enough that I'd have to go over the code with a fine-toothed comb to find it.
**********
Entry 48 (Day 842)
You know, I wanted to start this entry off by saying that I'd gotten the awareness problem licked.  Still could, but it'd only be a half-truth.
The program, as developed, has ten different difficulty settings.  Every step up increases the enemy spawn rate (usually by setting up group spawns), decreases the amount of time I get to react before I lose points, and unlocks additional enemy types.  Some steps also make specific enemies more dangerous.
I'm currently this close to mastering level three.
I can deal with the basic human enemies (mostly HECU Marines and TSAB mooks) just fine.  The Imps aren't a problem, either- I know their audio tells like I know my own mind- nor are the varren.  Where I end up slipping up are the Jackals and the TSAB Enforcers; both have shields, forcing me to focus on getting around or through them before I get the points for them, and the Enforcers move around a good bit.
They aren't hard on their own, mind you.  In a group, though, they're awfully good at drawing my attention away from other threats long enough to take down my combo.  I can deal with them without loss maybe six times out of ten.
When I miss that, well... I end up getting hit in the back.  Don't know what does it.  Don't know how it happens.  Just going along, sensing and clearing, watching my points go up, and then WHAM!  No matter how fast I sweep, I never find that one.
If I can iron out those Enforcer groups, and figure out what the heck keeps hitting me in the back, I'll be ready to start level four... ready to rejoin combat operations... and ready to go out alone again.
And when that happens, well... I owe Lada an arm.
Entry 49 (Day 852)I got it.  I FREAKING GOT IT.  I've finally mastered level three.

Boots on metal- left, 4.1 meters.  Rustling fabric suggests TSAB mage.  Turn, [Magic Missile, 20, group 10], shoot one group- multiple contacts, all directions.
About face, shoot four groups- hit four Marines.  Duck Imp fireball- no damage- counter with group six.  Refresh while dodging plasma pistol fire."He's doing remarkably well, isn't he?"
"Obviously.  Keep watching."
Claws on metal- sound suggests multiple animals, coming from behind.  Send three groups, open door to left, enter behind ready missiles.  Room cleared, two exits- move to cover both.Two more varren survived- Jackals behind.  Split group to the varren- eyes on the other door- three groups to the Jackals.  Steer in from above- good!  Room clear- hall clear- move to next door and refresh.
"Are those enemies working together?"
"Yes.  On this difficulty level, some of the opposition routines are able to cooperate.  The varren-'Jackal' interaction is an example that I expressely created."
"Quiet!  I'm trying to watch!"
Next room is- oh, no.  Two Enforcers, eight mooks, spread out.  Should be tough.
Fire all twenty, spread shot.  Dodge volley- cancel refresh- load new while they shield/recover. 
[MM, 60, group 15]- two mooks survived.  Five groups to roof- Enforcers to both sides, watch them!- two to mooks, rest straight at Enforcers.  Bring five groups down.
"I've seen enough at this point.  Imma has demonstrated ample situational awareness by my stand-"
"Watch, and wait.  He's not done."
Correct aim.  Enforcers shielding forward- hit from above.  Mooks gone- air movement from behind-BLOCK-KNIFE!"WURT WURT WURT!"
BZAP.
"...the auditory cues included voices, Uno?  Why?"
"It was Imma's idea, Cinque.  He said that the simulation was more realistic that way.  I agreed."
"What is that thing, anyway?"
"I don't know.  The database Imma gave me simply referred to it as an 'Elite'."
"An elite what?"
"An elite combatant.  Witness how quickly it moved.  How well it hid.  Imma chose his enemies well."
"...I believe you're right, Tre.  Is he ready?"
"Uno.  Did Imma know what was coming at him before he saw it?"
"Not in the sense you're asking.  He didn't know where the enemies would be, or how many would appear in each location.  He knew roughly how competent they would be, and had previously defeated every type except for the Elite.
I would say this battle was no more rehearsed than yours are."
"...then yes.  He is ready.  Operation Kneecap will begin in two weeks."

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
"ZAUBERRAKETE"
Eight blue bolts, the smallest number I could manage, shot out of the circle I'd created.  They blasted right between two tripods I'd set up, and splashed harmlessly against the target... which then proceeded to rip itself off its stand, bounce off the ceiling, and land back in place.
[SENSORY LINK ESTABLISHED.  DOWNLOADING RECORDS.]
[Collate and map dimensional distortions.  I want a topographical map of the local space-time before, during, and after the event.]
[ACKNOWLEDGED.  PROCESSING DATA.]
...
[PROCESSING COMPLETE.  DISPLAYING RESULTS.]
I knew it.  Initiating the gravity effect instantly created a local space-time distortion, consistent with the sudden presence of a grav field in the area... but the grav field is many times larger than the space-time distortion would suggest.  Why is that?
Fact: grav-element mana is more efficient than non-elemental mana at dimensional transfer.  Fact: dimensional transfer is primarily a space-time manipulation effect.  Fact: dimensional transfers using grav-mana impart zero force, aside from that necessary to move the traveler, to anything or anybody on either end of the transfer.
Hypothesis:  The expression of the gravity element can be controlled, and used to produce different effects.
First test: Intent.  Maybe, since I cast the spell trying to cause gravity, I get gravity.  If I cast a spell with the intent to warp space, perhaps the degree of spatial warping will increase.
Second test: Mathematics.  If I create a space-time manipulation spell that doesn't directly depend on gravity, and feed it grav-mana, will it function?

I grinned wolfishly.  Time to go to work.
*****
[MAGIC MISSILE.  CASTING.]
Focus on warping.  Bending space... bending space...
WHOOSH.... THUNK.
[DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION UNCHANGED.  REPEAT?]
[Yes.]
Think of black holes... general relativity... effects of approaching FTL...
WHOOSH.... THUNK.
[DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION UNCHANGED.  REPEAT?]
[Yes, drat it all!]Alcubierre... alcubierre... alcubierre...  
WHOOSH.... THUNK.
[DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION UNCHANGED.  REPEAT?]
[...no.  I think we can consider Test 1 unsuccessful.]
[CLOSING LOG.  BEGIN TEST 2?]
[...not yet, Malleus.  I think I'd best take a break.]
[ACKNOWLEDGED.]
*****

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
Ah, yes - how the scientific method really works.

(Form hypothesis, test hypothesis, discover hypothesis is wrong, go back to square one.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Oh, yes.  Cackling madly- while occasionally fun- is quite optional.
**********
Okay, it's time.  [Begin Test 2.]
[LOADING MM-DT01.  CASTING.]
WHOOSH.... SPLASH.
[DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION FAILED.]
Drat.  [Okay, next.]
[LOADING DT-MM02.  CASTING.]
WHOOSH... SPLASH... tinktinktink.
[MINOR SPATIAL DISTORTIONS DETECTED.  STORING DATA.]
Interesting.  [Next!]
*****
[LOADING MM-DT06.  CASTING.]
WHOOSH.... SPL-VWORP.
Talk to me, Mal.  [What was that?]
[SCANNING.  SCANNING.]
[Verbose mode, please.]
[ACKNOWLEDGED.  OBJECT NOT DETECTED IN AREA.  MAGICAL SIGNATURE NOT DETECTED ON PLANET.  NEGOTIATING ACCESS TO DIMENSIONAL SENSOR ARRAY.  ACCESS GRANTED.
MAGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.  OBJECT IS ON VAIZEN. OBJECT IS ON P7X-142. OBJECT IS ON P1B-047. OBJECT IS ON P3J-407.
MAGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED.  OBJECT IS WITHIN DIMENSIONAL GRID A083-G172-N003.
ERROR- RESULT QUANTITY MISMATCH.  REDIRECTING SENSORS.
ERROR RESOLVED.  REDESIGNATING RESULTS 'OBJECT FRAGMENTS'.  ESTIMATED VOLUME OF FRAGMENTS IS 45.2 PERCENT OF ORIGINAL OBJECT.  SCAN COMPLETE.  ENDING VERBOSE MODE.]
...that was more verbose than I'd wanted, but remarkably informative.  Definitely NOT what I was looking for.
[Next.]

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
Why did I hear that "Next." in Bugs Bunny's voice, a la the ending of Rabbit of Seville?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
"Did I use the word 'pieces', Marella?"

"You did, sir."

"Most unfortunate."
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
I am somehow reminded of Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest: "It turned inside out and then exploded!?"

I have a feeling we found our Weapon of Last Resort.
Heh, now you just have to name it. I was always fond of "The PLORT Gun" for Partial Liquefaction Of Remaining Target, but "That Technique" and variations are popular too. Dimension Scissors is nicely evocative, given the effect shears the target and spreads the bits across several destination worlds. Dimension Plunger would also work, because anything it hits is pretty well and truly flushed away.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Lessee what I can come up with...

Vagabond Express
Because it sends you packing to several destinations in a most expedient fashion.

Splincher
Named for the phenomena in Harry Potter where an improperly performed apparation has dire effects.

Explodicate
for when simply exploding them just won't do...

Manure Spreader
Do I really gotta explain this one? Wink
...y'know, I never even considered weaponizing that effect.  That's officially going in my Escalation Box (for enemies who are tougher than mages, and less deserving of survival), once I get the kick in the pants necessary to get me to develop it properly.
I'd just wrote that as 'okay, I need to illustrate that I'm successfully warping space-time, but that it's REALLY not ready for prime-time'.  It was supposed to just be flavor.
Thanks for the name suggestions, but I find most of them lacking in gravitas and/or sufficient levels of geekiness/awesome.  I like 'Vagabond Express' the best, if only for the rationale.Tempted to refine the spell and name it 'Nirvana' (because it'd make you one with everything), but even that doesn't seem quite right.
**********
[LOADING MM-DT27.  CASTING.]
WHOOSH.... VWWWWW-ZAP-K-KSSSHHHHHH!
...okay, what in the Seven Hells was that?!  [Malleus!  Analysis!]
[TARGET OBJECT UNCHANGED.  TARGET VOLUME UNCHANGED.  TARGET DENSITY UNCHANGED.  DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION DETECTED, LASTING 0.23 SECONDS; TARGET LOCATION EXPANDED BY FACTOR OF 1000 DURING DISTORTION.  TARGET LOCATION SIZE UNCHANGED.  TARGET-]
[...wait.  So the space occupied by the target was... stretched... for a short time?  It was the same size, but that size occupied more space for that time?]
[DATA SUPPORTS YOUR CONCLUSION.]
[Scan matter at the edges of the expansion area.  Any sign of disruption?]
[PROCESSING...NO EFFECTS DETECTED.]
[Extrapolate.  Given the information on hand, what would happen to a living being caught partially within, or traveling through, such a disruption?]
[PROCESSING...PROCESSING...NO RESULTS FOUND.]
[Clarify.  You mean that there would be no effect, or that you lack the information needed?]
[AFFIRMATIVE.]
...sigh.  My Device is a smart-ass.  I should've seen this coming.
[Get me all the literature on the subject.  I want journals, theoretical models, and any spellwork done.  Test 2 is over.]
[AFFIRMATIVE.]
Heh... finally.  Just what I was hoping for.  All I need to do is fine-tune it.

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.
No, no, no! Steve Martin said that sometimes he likes to get small!
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Oh my. Little Brother won't be so little anymore. Wink
...Did Imma just work out the Akimichi super-sizing jutsu?

Of course, if he can make it work the OTHER way as well... Ant-Man?
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