02-18-2016, 11:13 PM
Armor rattled yet again as Captain John shifted his weight, not quite sure how to react to Hatate’s proposal. His lackeys remained as disturbingly still and professional as before, possibly under an order not to move unless their leader were to give them a signal.
“You totally don’t have any reason to decline, right?” An accusatory tone appeared in her voice, her smile seeming more sinister than it had just been. “Unless you have, like, something to hide.” Sparing a quick glance through her viewfinder, she zoomed the picture up to his face.
“Thou dares question my honor?” the Captain’s voice grew sharper. For a moment, the reporter wondered if she was perhaps a bit too pushy there. His hand shot up to his visor, but before he could close it, Hatate pressed a button on her camera. Light flashed faster than he could slide the visor down. A garbled exclamation of pain escaped the knight, and he stumbled backwards, clutching his face. Two arms reached out, one from each of the knight’s flanking him, and caught the Captain before he could fall completely. Despite the fact that her actions could have easily been interpreted as an attack, the remaining two figures did not move from their spot.
“Woah, did I like, push a button or something?” There was a measure of surprise to her voice. She hadn’t expected him to be that defensive against accusations. Just like the other two soldiers stayed in their place, Hatate remained in hers. “Sorry, I totally didn’t mean to insult you like that.” Her apology was entirely half-hearted, giving it more keep them from attacking her than anything else. With the aid of the two of his comrades, Captain John was quickly back on his feet, visor up and face flushed from the heat of the flash. Now on less friendly grounds, the four dismounted.
“And I apologize for reacting so... aggressively,” he growled a similarly half-assed apology.
“So,” Hatate began slowly, glancing to and from all five of them, “You called me a ‘Prime’ earlier. What does that mean?” She absently flipped through a few settings on her camera as she talked, switching it over to rapid shot mode in case they tried anything. That was doubtful, however. It was probably that she just struck a very sensitive nerve with Captain John.
“A Prime...” the knight trailed off for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure how he wanted to explain it. “A Prime is one who was summoned directly by Omni.”
“Someone summoned directly by Omni,” she repeated quietly, using her camera to make a permanent note of it. There was little doubt in the tengu’s mind that he was leaving something out. After all, it was much easier to control someone when you controlled the information they knew. It’s why propaganda was a thing. She was a reporter, however, she knew what questions to ask. “Summoned directly by Omni,” a sentence repeated a third time, “So, like, there’s other ways to be summoned?” Continuing the ploy of just fiddling with her phone, Hatate discreetly turned off the flash.
“Er,” the Captain hesitated for a brief moment, but kept his body-language to a minimum. She found it difficult to read his face. “There art also Secondaries, who hath been summoned in by Primes.”
“Secondaries, summoned by Primes,” she repeated him again, still taking notes. The camera tilted sideways with a lazy flick of Hatate’s wrist, now ready for a landscape shot. Taking pictures discreetly was always difficult. Their obvious unfamiliarity with cameras really helped the photographer out immensely, however. She spared a quick glance towards her viewfinder, making sure everything was lined up, a glance that didn’t last more than a moment. “So Primes can summon people, huh?” Her voice covered up the telltale click of her rapid-fire shutter. “Then they can, like, summon other stuff too, right?” By extension, ‘they’ also included ‘her’. “Ah, like, the armor you’re wearing or the weapons you’re carrying!” Everything she had gleaned from her rather one-sided conversation with the Captain seemed to match up with what Omni had said. With Omnilium, you could shape the world, or something like that.
“That is correct,” Captain John said slowly. His lips continued to move, ready to form more words which would never come.
“That’s like, a totally powerful ability!” Whatever he intended to say next was quickly cut off by Hatate’s excited voice, a bright, friendly smile on her face. “And like, you’re part of an army. Camelot? So you’d totally want to recruit people with this awesome power!” With her voice fading off slightly, the knight made to speak again, and was again cut off. “Well, I’m a reporter, so I’m not really useful to an army.” She shifted her weight back a bit, camera back up for portrait shots, and quickly set the flash back on. There’s no way they’d let her go just like that, if Primes were as powerful as he’d made them out to be.
Of course, her excuse was a complete and total lie. Hatate was a tengu and an experienced journalist. They could totally use her as a spy or something. That wasn’t something that she really wanted to do, however. She just wanted to get back to Youkai Mountain and keep on writing her newspaper.
“Arrest-” the Captain began his order, armor clanging as his hand shot up to his visor once again, only to be cut short yet again as Hatate’s camera flashed once, causing him to reel back, but not yet fall. Four more times her camera flashed, all in rapid succession, only now her target was changed. With incredible speed, she had shifted the last shots to be focused on the armored figure nearest her, the one furthest to the right, who had brought their spear to bear. A muffled shout of pain escaped the knight, and they too stumbled back.
A small whirring sound started up from her camera, and the knight on the far left lunged at her, spear flying past the tengu’s side as he tried to cut off her escape. The soldier to the immediate right of the Captain drew their sword at the same time. Hatate’s free hand shot to her side, pushing the spear and hopping on top of it. At this, the knight drew their sword and slashed at her legs in one fluid motion. She hopped over the blade, her camera giving a relieving ‘click’ as she landed again. The remaining two knights surged forward as Hatate tilted her camera to landscape, and five quick flashes hit the whole group.
“You totally don’t have any reason to decline, right?” An accusatory tone appeared in her voice, her smile seeming more sinister than it had just been. “Unless you have, like, something to hide.” Sparing a quick glance through her viewfinder, she zoomed the picture up to his face.
“Thou dares question my honor?” the Captain’s voice grew sharper. For a moment, the reporter wondered if she was perhaps a bit too pushy there. His hand shot up to his visor, but before he could close it, Hatate pressed a button on her camera. Light flashed faster than he could slide the visor down. A garbled exclamation of pain escaped the knight, and he stumbled backwards, clutching his face. Two arms reached out, one from each of the knight’s flanking him, and caught the Captain before he could fall completely. Despite the fact that her actions could have easily been interpreted as an attack, the remaining two figures did not move from their spot.
“Woah, did I like, push a button or something?” There was a measure of surprise to her voice. She hadn’t expected him to be that defensive against accusations. Just like the other two soldiers stayed in their place, Hatate remained in hers. “Sorry, I totally didn’t mean to insult you like that.” Her apology was entirely half-hearted, giving it more keep them from attacking her than anything else. With the aid of the two of his comrades, Captain John was quickly back on his feet, visor up and face flushed from the heat of the flash. Now on less friendly grounds, the four dismounted.
“And I apologize for reacting so... aggressively,” he growled a similarly half-assed apology.
“So,” Hatate began slowly, glancing to and from all five of them, “You called me a ‘Prime’ earlier. What does that mean?” She absently flipped through a few settings on her camera as she talked, switching it over to rapid shot mode in case they tried anything. That was doubtful, however. It was probably that she just struck a very sensitive nerve with Captain John.
“A Prime...” the knight trailed off for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure how he wanted to explain it. “A Prime is one who was summoned directly by Omni.”
“Someone summoned directly by Omni,” she repeated quietly, using her camera to make a permanent note of it. There was little doubt in the tengu’s mind that he was leaving something out. After all, it was much easier to control someone when you controlled the information they knew. It’s why propaganda was a thing. She was a reporter, however, she knew what questions to ask. “Summoned directly by Omni,” a sentence repeated a third time, “So, like, there’s other ways to be summoned?” Continuing the ploy of just fiddling with her phone, Hatate discreetly turned off the flash.
“Er,” the Captain hesitated for a brief moment, but kept his body-language to a minimum. She found it difficult to read his face. “There art also Secondaries, who hath been summoned in by Primes.”
“Secondaries, summoned by Primes,” she repeated him again, still taking notes. The camera tilted sideways with a lazy flick of Hatate’s wrist, now ready for a landscape shot. Taking pictures discreetly was always difficult. Their obvious unfamiliarity with cameras really helped the photographer out immensely, however. She spared a quick glance towards her viewfinder, making sure everything was lined up, a glance that didn’t last more than a moment. “So Primes can summon people, huh?” Her voice covered up the telltale click of her rapid-fire shutter. “Then they can, like, summon other stuff too, right?” By extension, ‘they’ also included ‘her’. “Ah, like, the armor you’re wearing or the weapons you’re carrying!” Everything she had gleaned from her rather one-sided conversation with the Captain seemed to match up with what Omni had said. With Omnilium, you could shape the world, or something like that.
“That is correct,” Captain John said slowly. His lips continued to move, ready to form more words which would never come.
“That’s like, a totally powerful ability!” Whatever he intended to say next was quickly cut off by Hatate’s excited voice, a bright, friendly smile on her face. “And like, you’re part of an army. Camelot? So you’d totally want to recruit people with this awesome power!” With her voice fading off slightly, the knight made to speak again, and was again cut off. “Well, I’m a reporter, so I’m not really useful to an army.” She shifted her weight back a bit, camera back up for portrait shots, and quickly set the flash back on. There’s no way they’d let her go just like that, if Primes were as powerful as he’d made them out to be.
Of course, her excuse was a complete and total lie. Hatate was a tengu and an experienced journalist. They could totally use her as a spy or something. That wasn’t something that she really wanted to do, however. She just wanted to get back to Youkai Mountain and keep on writing her newspaper.
“Arrest-” the Captain began his order, armor clanging as his hand shot up to his visor once again, only to be cut short yet again as Hatate’s camera flashed once, causing him to reel back, but not yet fall. Four more times her camera flashed, all in rapid succession, only now her target was changed. With incredible speed, she had shifted the last shots to be focused on the armored figure nearest her, the one furthest to the right, who had brought their spear to bear. A muffled shout of pain escaped the knight, and they too stumbled back.
A small whirring sound started up from her camera, and the knight on the far left lunged at her, spear flying past the tengu’s side as he tried to cut off her escape. The soldier to the immediate right of the Captain drew their sword at the same time. Hatate’s free hand shot to her side, pushing the spear and hopping on top of it. At this, the knight drew their sword and slashed at her legs in one fluid motion. She hopped over the blade, her camera giving a relieving ‘click’ as she landed again. The remaining two knights surged forward as Hatate tilted her camera to landscape, and five quick flashes hit the whole group.
![[Image: ZpWQiiu.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/ZpWQiiu.gif)