[Art/Writing] Jairus: Merry Christmas

[Jairus]

Yay, more of my silly haiku. And for once it has absolutely nothing to do with my normal writings. It's just something related to the idea that something is truly beautiful only because it doesn't last. Unlike my first four, these are meant to be read together. I was originally going to write them and then edit them into a four line poem with seventeen syllables to each line...

A rose is lovely:
But would that be true if it
Never once wilted?

Summer ends. The fall
Begins. Leaves fall. A winter
Frost shall be here soon.

The world dies for a
Few cold months, then life begins
Anew. Flowers bloom.

A thing of beauty
Does not last forever. Treasure
It while you still can.

And now because I'm bored, you see, a little thing before I go. This metric prose is simple, yes? And yet just watch how nice it flows when read aloud or in your mind. Staccato beats a rhythm makes, a simple prose that helps it go. And now since I've run out of words, good night, adieu, and well-earned rest!

Um, how did the rhythm flow? And, um... good night!

EDIT: Shoot, nine pages? Dang. And if anyone's curious, here's what my original idea for that collection of haiku would have worked.

A rose is lovely: but would that be true if it never once wilted?
Summer ends. The fall begins. Leaves fall. A winter frost shall be here soon.
The world dies for a few cold months, then life begins anew. Flowers bloom.
A thing of beauty does not last forever. Treasure it while you still can.

There. Stupid, right?

[Jairus]

I kind of ended up using haiku and unrhymed iambic prose to ban a few people over in the Ban Game, so I thought I should save them here. These are basically all of the haiku and verse and iambic prose things that I wrote.

The wind blows the smell
Of flowers in the air, while
I ban Ren Gaulen.

I don't dislike them,
I just want to write other
Things. VSMIT is banned.

No worries Ren. Instead a step,
A pattern of two beats in four!
Meantime, be banned! Enjoy my form,
Whilst I write duels in skycraft war.

Why die, my friend? Please live instead!
I ban you not, what time's we've got
Before our time is at an end.
Stay blade and live, please stay my friend!

My goodness... iambic tetrameter and it sort of rhymed.

'Tini is banned. I stop this here,
Before these quotes take over game.
Cease these quotes, or else I swear
Haiku again I'll write out here.

Besides, I bet Shakespeare would have felt fine with someone doing it their way.

It's not quite how I see the world... it's just a vision of my mind and sometimes how it ticks. Anyway, you're banned VSMIT.

Darkdragon's banned because rather than rhyme with words I wrote with an iambic step.

Ren Gaulen, I ban you because your joy is so infectious. Stop it.

Behold! A one-line haiku!

Slowtini is banned. So live with it, or don't. I do not really care.

That last two are kind of weird, and related to those four line haiku I wrote last night. Basically, I write a haiku and then bring them into one line. It really isn't a haiku, but it's kind of fun in a weird way.

Anyway... I'll try to do something tonight.

[Cogidubnus]

I don't know enough about Haiku to comment about the different line breaks you seem to be employing. If I had to guess, I'd say that the line breaks are there for the simple reason that it provides a sense of distinction between the sets of syllables. A pause, if you will - while simply reading through them start to finish would be more prosaic than poetic. Some poetry is distinguished as poetry only because of the creative use of line breaks, so, it could be in that way considered an integral part of the form.

As far as your Haiku on the rose and progression, it reminded me of this:

A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden, and the Amaranth said to her neighbor, "How I envy you your beauty and your sweet scent! No wonder you are such a universal favorite." But the Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice, "Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a time: my petals soon wither and fall, and then I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut; for they are everlasting."

Greatness carries its own penalties.

I'm also not familiar enough with Haiku forms of poetry to know if it's common to link sets of them together. I like what you have there, however. Oddly, some of them actually fit the Haiku form very well even if you don't link them with the others.

Bannination poetry provides excellent bannination material, also. The third one down is my favorite, although unless I've counted wrong, the meter is eight, nine, nine, and eleven - I also don't know if you meant to write it in a meter.
Also, iambic tetrameter -can- rhyme. It's called blank verse if it doesn't, I believe, but there's nothing saying it can't.

[Jairus]

I don't know enough about Haiku to comment about the different line breaks you seem to be employing. If I had to guess, I'd say that the line breaks are there for the simple reason that it provides a sense of distinction between the sets of syllables. A pause, if you will - while simply reading through them start to finish would be more prosaic than poetic. Some poetry is distinguished as poetry only because of the creative use of line breaks, so, it could be in that way considered an integral part of the form.

Good point. I'm already considering this stuff prose, rather than poetry. Those mono-line versions read a little funny, though I doubt the same feeling would carry across into a paragraph or something similar. I may have to experiment.

As far as your Haiku on the rose and progression, it reminded me of this:

A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden, and the Amaranth said to her neighbor, "How I envy you your beauty and your sweet scent! No wonder you are such a universal favorite." But the Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice, "Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a time: my petals soon wither and fall, and then I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut; for they are everlasting."

Greatness carries its own penalties.

Heh... neat story. I like that.

I'm also not familiar enough with Haiku forms of poetry to know if it's common to link sets of them together. I like what you have there, however. Oddly, some of them actually fit the Haiku form very well even if you don't link them with the others.

I don't believe that it is. I have read that haiku is supposed to be composed after a form of meditation or a period of thinking, to try and capture a moment in the verse. Most Western composers seem to treat it like a quick game or something, which is kind of how I treat it as well. I guess I like to convey a couple of linked moments rather than one.

Bannination poetry provides excellent bannination material, also. The third one down is my favorite, although unless I've counted wrong, the meter is eight, nine, nine, and eleven - I also don't know if you meant to write it in a meter.
Also, iambic tetrameter -can- rhyme. It's called blank verse if it doesn't, I believe, but there's nothing saying it can't.

I was trying to write in a meter, but I guess I fudged it. Oh well, I prefer blank verse anyway. If you get the iambic bit right (the stressed/unstressed) it creates a nice rhythm that can just lead you along. It's why I find Shakespeare so fun to read an perform... it's the step he used. Plus, if you get people moving in a rhythm you can screw with them by altering the rhythm slightly.

[Jairus]

Just another short scene. This is a bit further into the story than "Wanderer's Arrival", and involves Treyl and Kiyo having their first "moment" together. Okay, that could be read wrong. Basically, Trey is a kid with all of these dreams and aspirations, and Kiyo is trying to figure out a way to help him accomplish that. Anyway, it's a little expositional, but it's rough. And it might not end up used.

Flight Training

   Treyl was in the process of learning an interesting bit of trivia that he had never considered before: Skycraft were not silent. Quiet they may be, but there was always some sound of engines moving or the wind rushing past the hull. Something as small as the Junior just didn't have the space or separation to completely block the background sounds. All in all, it meant that the neophyte flyer was not having a restful night's rest.
   It was the point that the cabin clock chimed three bells that he finally gave up and lurched out of his cot and began stumbling in the general direction of the galley, hoping to find something that could knock him out for the night. This was also the first time that he realized that the metal deck was slightly heated, warm enough that his bare feet weren't too cold, which meant that he didn't have to pull on his boots over his socks. One less thing to worry about. Out the hatch, around the corridor, and into the main passenger area...
      "Good morning, Treyl."
   It took about three seconds for Treyl's exhausted brain to comprehend that Dreksa was currently sitting at the mess table leaning over a book, and a few more seconds to recognize the steaming mug of tea he was currently drinking and the two spare mugs next to the tea pot, and yet a few more seconds to realize that he was wide-awake and didn't seem to be suffering from insomnia. There was only one word that Treyl's mind could dredge up...
      "What?"
      "I said, good morning." Was he... bemused at his confusion? He seemed to be. Treyl, meanwhile, walked over to Dreksa and very carefully poured a second mug for himself.
      "Would you like some tea?"
      "Funny." It was gloriously hot, and strong too. It served to wake Treyl up a bit, which wasn't quite what he had wanted. "You couldn't sleep either?" he asked as he slouched across from Dreksa.
      "Nah, I was just taking a watch and decided to catch up on my reading when it was over." He turned a page and kept reading.
      "Watch?"
   And now Dreksa spared him a look. "You thought this ship flew itself?"
   Treyl felt a little embarassed. "Well, um..."
      "Didn't think about it?" Treyl kind of shrugged at this point.
      "Hehe..."
      "Thought not." Dreksa continued reading, but he seemed to be paying a little less attention to the book: it seemed to be a history of the Salem Kingdoms from what Treyl could see. "Ships while on the move always have someone at the helm or on the bridge, and skycraft are no different. I know a bit about piloting, so I offered to take first watch, and Kiyo took second watch."
      "So Kiyo's in the cockpit?" Treyl asked as his eyes darted over to the closed hatch that led to the front of the ship. There was no mistaking the gleam in his eyes: most of the crew and passengers asleep, and a pirate on the bridge who had offered to show him the ropes earlier in the day.
      "You seem interested. Why not pop in and learn a few things?"
   For a moment, Treyl wondered if Dreksa had been reading his mind...
      "Now what would make you think that?"
      "Get out of my head!!"
      "Usual response. For the record, I'm not reading your mind. I just know facial expressions, so it was more of an educated guess."
   Treyl seemed to sigh quietly. "So, you can't read minds."
      "Now I don't recall saying that." The grin Dreksa flashed briefly had probably been stolen from a predator at some point.
   There was a very brief awkward silence before Treyl very cleared his throat and finished his mug off. Dreksa took a moment to both refill Treyl and his mugs, and then filled the third one. "Here, take this to Kiyo. I bet he'll appreciate it."
      "Right. Thanks."
   Dreksa had gone back to reading by the time Treyl had closed the hatch behind him. Maybe he does it deliberately to creep me out, he briefly wondered. He shook his head and kept down the corridor to the bridge.
   The view outside was incredible. The Junior's cockpit, perched as it was on the front of the teardrop-shaped vessel, was granted a panoramic view of the starry night sky, of the scattered clouds above and below them, and of a brilliant waxing gibous moon above. Far below, the waters of the Central Sea reflected the moonlight.
   Kiyo was seated in the pilot's seat, but he didn't seem to be doing anything. In fact, he had a book out, and was reading something that Treyl couldn't make out, and barely seemed to be noticing anything else. Not the dials, not the controls, not the environment, and not the teenager behind him.
      "Ahem," Treyl coughed.
   The pirate craned his neck around. "Ah, tea. Excellent." He took the time to fold a page corner down and close the book before accepting the offered mug with his right hand. Treyl gave the book a look: it had a man that might be called a "swashbuckler" in a silk shirt and eye patch brandishing a rapier while his left arm was wrapped around what could only be described as a "saucy wench."
      "'Captain Gale and the Treasure of the Vestal Temple'?"
   Kiyo smirked from above his tea. "A classic. Have you ever read Captain Gale?"
      "Can't say that I have," Treyl said as he sat down in the co-pilot's chair. The chairs were heated too... probably a good thing, since the cockpit felt a few degrees cooler than the rest of the ship.
      "Hn. It's a long-running series. Bit trashy, but I enjoy them. Been reading them since I was a child."
      "Really?"
      "Yes, really. However, I'm not going to talk about my past." He looked over at a dial. "We should be into Halzard in about twelve hours."
      "Um... why aren't you steering?"

... Okay, I'm too tired, and there's only about a page and a half of this idea to go. Just a little over a thousand words here... note to self, one page approximately 500 words. I'll finish it tomorrow. Good night.

[Tapewolf]

Looks good so far.  Out of interest, what level of technology is this?  Modern, futuristic or steampunk?  It was a little blurry on that point.

[Jairus]

Looks good so far.  Out of interest, what level of technology is this?  Modern, futuristic or steampunk?  It was a little blurry on that point.

It's sort of a combination of clockpunk, steampunk, and magitek. Here's the post where I sort of talked about their world's tech level, and here's where I talked about this ship in particular. I believe the technical term is "schizo-tech."

[Jairus]

Okay, I don't think I'll get anything up tonight (sorry to my three or so readers), so here's another quick haiku or two.


Engines high up in
The sky. People traveling
To other places.

~

No distance or time
Is too great to keep us two
Apart forever.


Thank you.

EDIT: Two more...

The clock keeps ticking,
But the words won't leave my head.
Why can't I write them?

Late at night, early
Rise. School in the morning, yet
I refuse to sleep.

[Cogidubnus]

The second of the four is my favorite, there. The last line specifically, if you did that on purpose, was quite good, and made me smile.

[Jairus]

The second of the four is my favorite, there. The last line specifically, if you did that on purpose, was quite good, and made me smile.

Mine too. As for "Apart forever..." I think I intended that. I certainly wanted to use "forever" in there somewhere, so it ends up working out.

The last two were just something I wrote last night because I felt like complaining about what a terrible procrastinator I am.

[Jairus]

And now the continuation!

      "Yes, really. However, I'm not going to talk about my past." He looked over at a dial. "We should be into Halzard in about twelve hours."
      "Um... why aren't you steering?"

Flight Training, Part 2

      "And then what happened?!"
   Whatever words Cornelius was going to say next abandoned him as the question abruptly derailed his train of thought. Considering that he had also been partially reenacting the fight scene with a broom while he had been narrating his story, he also stumbled over his own feet and successfully crashed to the floor. Well, at least it got a bit of a laugh from the people in the Cralatav Inn.

...

Just kidding.

Flight Training, Part 2

   It was a question of some importance to Treyl, given how the skycraft was a few thousand feet in the air, and no one seemed to be steering it.
      "Junior's got it for a while."
      "Huh?" he asked.
      "Automatic pilot. I give it a set of coordinates, and Junior takes us there."
      "Really? I thought only the bigger ships could do stuff like that?"
   The pirate took another sip from his mug. "Well, I've made a few changes ever since I "borrowed" her from a Korinson shipyard."
      "Korinson shipyard? So this is a Salem vessel?" There was a tone of accusation in the teenager's voice, and Kiyo caught a slight tremble in the boy's hand that spoke of his anger. "You stole a warship that could have helped us win the war?"
      "Yes it is, and no I didn't. She and her sister prototypes were scheduled to be scrapped. We stole the most completed one and ran with it. None of them were a part of any war effort. Besides, this was ten or eleven years ago, something like that... in other words, before your cold war boiled over."
      "Oh," Treyl said in a quieter voice, as if he'd deflated slightly. "Sorry. It's just..."
      "You have a lot of rage and hostility directed towards the nation that conquered your homeland and killed your king?"
   Blink. "Um, yeah."
      "A word of advice, if I may? Move on with your life. No power in the world can reverse what has happened in the past, or give back the ones you have lost."
      "Lost?"
      "Captain Dukai told me about your sister. And how she had talked about your parents."
      "He's no captain anymore," the boy spat out.
      "True, but that's a discussion for another time. You were wondering how Junior had an automatic pilot for a skycraft of her size."
   It took Treyl's mind a moment to shift gears in the precense of the shift in conversation. "Um... kind of."
   Kiyoshi turned back to his control panel, and briefly ran a finger underneath a handful of dials and displays, with a few twitches on his part speaking of years of familiarity with his ship. "She was originally a blockade runner, but we've extensively modfied her since then. The swing wings are not an original feature, for example. Nor is the power core and differential engine we stripped from an Imperial corvette."
      "A corvette? Really? Isn't that a little overpowered?" Treyl asked in surprise.
      "Indeed. But we need every bit of that power, both computational and reactor-wise." He turned a few more lights on in the cabin, until Treyl imagined that it would look like a gleaming eye on the dark ship. "The new engine has been rebuilt to handle all of the control surfaces for this girl, while the original was rebuilt to serve as an automatic pilot. I input a set of coordinates here," and he waved a hand in the direction of a set of dials and switches with a row of numbers displayed through a window showing a series of brass gears that would indicate the setting, "and the engine steers us in that direction."
      "Wow. And you don't have to do anything else?"
      "Well, not quite," the pirate explained. "It's more or less a straight line, and the engine can't handle anything more than that. You still need someone in the cockpit to account for wind and weather conditions, as well as disengage the engine when you get into a fight."
      "That's happened?"
      "On a few occasions. Nothing Junior can't handle, but I prefer surviving to winning. We tend to run at the sight of danger."
      "Yeah, but what if they come back? Your enemies, I mean."
   Kiyoshi shrugged. "Keep running. It's worked for me so far."
      "So what are you running from?"
      "Nothing that concerns you."
   The thread of conversation ended there. The cockpit was silent with the exception of the wind outside the screen and the occassional ticks of gears and once the chime of a bell to mark the quarter hour. Then...
      "How do you fly this thing?" the teenager asked in the tone of one not really expecting an answer.
      "I was wondering when we were going to get to that question." He set the now empty mug down on a panel next to him and turned his attention to the controls built around the chair. "Center stick controls pitch and roll and weapons, left side stick controls yaw and hovering altitude, right handle controls thrust. The dials in front of the main stick are air speed, attitude, altimeter, turn indicator, heading, and ascension indicator," and he pointed at each in turn, "this dial is how much power we have, this one indicates how much power is going to the lift rings and engine rings, this panel shows major systems and their status, and this one controls defensive barriers and shields." He looked over at Treyl and wrapped his hands around the two sticks that stuck out from the main stick. "You've got a main weapon trigger underneath your pointer finger, a sliding tab control under your left thumb to adjust the lift rings, another sliding tab under your right thumb to dial in the responsiveness of the controls, and a main gun trigger on the left control and a missile control trigger on your right, but weapons are usually handled by the copilot or main gunner. And that's the basics. Questions, or do you want to give it a try?"
   Treyl looked up from the controls. "Really? I can try?"
      "Of course. The ship's still locked onto automatic control, so it's not like you can crash us or anything. All you'll be doing is deviating us slightly, and the engine can handle that. Go on." He even waved his left hand a little to spur him on. The boy needed no further urging. Within seconds his hands were in an identical position to the one Kiyoshi had been in. "Just a moment: I turned those controls off so that they wouldn't get bumped or something." He reached up to a pair of small levers on the ceiling - just aft of the screen - and flipped the right one.
   An almost silent shifting of gears occurred somewhere below the deck, and the next moment the controls began to move in Treyl's hands, responding to the variables the differential engine was putting through them to control the flaps and lift rings.
      "Steady. Don't force it," Kiyoshi warned. Treyl had actually been trying to force it, and the ship was bucking a little more than it had been before. "Slow and steady does it. A gentle hand for what you're doing. Slide the right tab to its lowest setting." Teryl did so. "That way, whatever you do won't be too big: it's more suited for docking or maneuvering controls." The boy nodded in understanding. "Good. Gentle."
      "Should I keep my fingers away from the weapons?"
      "The levers can toggle between different settings: the weapons controls are currently off for the copilot's station."
      "Okay!" the boy exclaimed excitedly.
      "Relax. Deep breaths. Don't get too excited on your first time."
   Treyl nodded, and did what he was told.
      "Excellent. You're a good listener. And not halfway bad for a beginner. Okay, now here's what we're going to do..."
   The two of them sat for about an hour, Treyl asking questions and Kiyoshi giving answers, Treyl following directions and gradually learning more and more about how the Shepherd Junior flew, until finally Kiyoshi sat back and let the ship off of the automatic pilot, and for a few minutes Treyl Noel actually flew...


FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!

Okay, a word on the controls: it's supposed to be a combination of an airplane and a helicopter cockpit, and I obviously based the controls and the setup on a normal cockpit. If anyone who has actually flown or knows how it's properly done has any ideas, I will gladly take them.

In the meantime, questions, comments, etc. etc. etc.?

Yay! Almost 1500 words! I think.

EDIT: And for Cogi in case he drops by...

The stars in the sky
Point out the way we should be
Traveling towards.

EDIT #2: On Cogi's advice, changed a few words around and also added a few descriptors to make it clearer who's talking.

[Cogidubnus]

The only negative comments about the story above are purely technical. There are places in which it isn't entirely clear which speaker is speaking, but don't take my word on this too seriously, as it is late and I am about to go to bed, and thusly, not entirely with my correct wits.
There was one spot where I thought you might want to switch your words up a bit.

"A corvette? Really? Isn't that a little overpowered"
      "Indeed. But we need every bit of that power, both computational and power-wise."

You repeat the word power twice in the last sentence, and while one is able to understand what you mean, it isn't immediately clear, and I think that you might consider switching the words up. Strength, perhaps, or changing a bit of syntax.

On the more positive side, your description is clear, and you paint a vivid picture of the cockpit without being too detail-oriented. All in all, I like it very much. I await the next installment eagerly, sir. 

Also, the haiku is rather Tao, although I'm not sure if it's meant to be. *ebil grin*

[Jairus]

The only negative comments about the story above are purely technical. There are places in which it isn't entirely clear which speaker is speaking, but don't take my word on this too seriously, as it is late and I am about to go to bed, and thusly, not entirely with my correct wits.

Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you what? I'll sneak in and fit a few names in there, maybe a few actions too.

There was one spot where I thought you might want to switch your words up a bit.

"A corvette? Really? Isn't that a little overpowered"
      "Indeed. But we need every bit of that power, both computational and power-wise."

You repeat the word power twice in the last sentence, and while one is able to understand what you mean, it isn't immediately clear, and I think that you might consider switching the words up. Strength, perhaps, or changing a bit of syntax.

How about "computational and reactor-wise?"

On the more positive side, your description is clear, and you paint a vivid picture of the cockpit without being too detail-oriented. All in all, I like it very much. I await the next installment eagerly, sir. 

I thought I was getting too wordy in there for a bit, but this makes me feel a bit better. Hm... I'd better figure out a scene to write next then.

Also, the haiku is rather Tao, although I'm not sure if it's meant to be. *ebil grin*

Probably not. Unless my mind is doing things without telling me again. It does that sometimes...

[Jairus]

Because I don't know what I'm doing up at four AM, I'm going to write something.

Giant Robots are
Made of Awesome and Win. No
Questions asked. Period.

A Super Robot
Ignores the laws of physics
And then does cool things.

A Real Robot just
Pretends to follow physics,
And still does cool things.

Thank you.

[Ren Gaulen]

Nice haikus. I like the "Real Robots" one most. The first one is a little bit awkward, though. Too much punctuation for a haiku. But it's still nice.

[Jairus]

Nice haikus. I like the "Real Robots" one most. The first one is a little bit awkward, though. Too much punctuation for a haiku. But it's still nice.

How about this...

Giant Robots are
Made of Awesome and Win, period.
No questions asked.

How's that?

Incidentally, what do you think of "Flight Training" when you get a chance to actually read it?

[Ren Gaulen]

Oh, that's better. And I'll definitely comment on "Flight Training".

[Tapewolf]

It made an interesting read.  As for the engines, try "in terms of raw thrust", unless they have some kind of decoupled drive system, like a diesel-electric train.

[Ren Gaulen]

Finally read the "Flight Training", and it was quite interesting.

Flight Training, Part 2

      "And then what happened?!"
   Whatever words Cornelius was going to say next abandoned him as the question abruptly derailed his train of thought. Considering that he had also been partially reenacting the fight scene with a broom while he had been narrating his story, he also stumbled over his own feet and successfully crashed to the floor. Well, at least it got a bit of a laugh from the people in the Cralatav Inn.

..Wat? ..Just kidding.

[Jairus]

Finally read the "Flight Training", and it was quite interesting.

Thanks.

Flight Training, Part 2

      "And then what happened?!"
   Whatever words Cornelius was going to say next abandoned him as the question abruptly derailed his train of thought. Considering that he had also been partially reenacting the fight scene with a broom while he had been narrating his story, he also stumbled over his own feet and successfully crashed to the floor. Well, at least it got a bit of a laugh from the people in the Cralatav Inn.

..Wat? ..Just kidding.

It's from The Cursed Castle of Stalcaire. Unless I'm still waking up and haven't realized that you know that...


Haiku time!

A normal patrol,
But something approaches fast.
It's a Gundam! It's

Descending from high
And armed with seven blades. This
Gundam... I love it.

The mission goes well,
And the Feddie crew lies dead.
The white suit rises.

Like god from on high,
The suit on wings of light comes.
Is this... an angel?

Yay. Poetry that only Gundam nuts will get.

EDIT: I realized that I screwed up my meter earlier, so here's a fixed version.
EDIT 2: Fixed it again. Much better.

Giant Robots are
Built whole from Awesome and Win.
No questions asked.

[Jairus]

As a bit of a joke, I have converted my three giant robot haiku into the Three Laws of Giant Robotics. Like the Three Laws of Robotics, these are in order of importance, but they don't really supersede the next one.

The Three Laws of Giant Robotics
The First Law
Giant Robots are built whole from Awesome and Win. No questions asked.
The Second Law
A Super Robot ignores the laws of physics, and then does cool things.
The Third Law
A Real Robot just pretends to follow physics, and still does cool things.

EDIT: realized that the third haiku was missing a syllable, fixed it, and am now on my way to fix the other one.
EDIT 2: Centered it so it looks cooler.

[Jairus]

This is kind of written in the style of an idea I dropped a few years ago.

Zander vs. Sentinel

   Panama City, early morning. An explosion rocks the city, followed by the sound of intense fire. Two Zander combat avatars in a dark-red paint job dived for cover, while a third stumbled as bullets punctured its frame.
      "Red Hawk Six, what's your status?"
      "Five, I am damaged and out of commision! Ejecting Core Module!"
   A massive POOMF! shook the ground and a blocky module shot up straight into the air before it unfolded into a vaguely aerodynamic shape to fly away. On the ground, the humanoid frame currently lacking a torso, backpack and head collapsed to the ground, its body damaged by focused machine gun fire from a handful of civilian mecha fitted with weapons and an armor-piercing round from a building nearby. One of the two Zanders turned its machinegun on the soldiers driving the mecha and shredded them before joining the other damaged unit under cover of an office building. Then the voice of an observer came over the link
      "Sir, Six is outside the battle zone. Recovery units are being dispatched to her position!"
      "Understood." Five took the time to reload his Zander's own rifle, scaled and designed to be wielded by the six meter tall mecha. The bulky unit was crouched behind a building: someone out there had an armor-piercing gun, and the building would give his unit some extra protection to keep it from being a killing shot even if it went through the building. It had already damaged his unit's right arm and left leg: schematics indicated that the servos for the cabled rocket punch were disabled and the left movement tread was damaged, so he wasn't going to be doing any high-speed dashes along the road any time soon. The other unit had been luckier and had managed to avoid damage from the attack. Inside the torso cockpit, Five flexed his hands around the two control sticks, watch his own unit's hands flex in their quasi-phantom limb status, and then spoke into his mic. "Observer, do you have a pinpoint yet?"
      "Nearly... got it! Uploading to your cockpit now." The display came alive and one of the wraparound screens projected a smaller video showing the scan of the building that the armor-piercing round had come from. There was a small cluster of heat in the structure... enough for a handful of people at least. Five reached his Zander's arm over and laid a hand on Four's shoulder, and then engaged the touch link to prevent someone from picking up their signal
      "I've got them."
      "Yes sir."
   Five had done this before. Rookies would dramatically throw themselves around the corner in an attempt to cover the area in bullets in an attempt to take out the target: this was wasteful, stupid, and suicidal. Instead, Five selected a grenade from his Zander's hip holster, primed it, and threw it long-hand.
   BOOOM!!!
   The soldiers in the building had probably seen this trick before, and they didn't react by shooting at the explosion. They were, however, distracted enough to give Five enough time to stick his head and arm around the side of the building, and fill the site around the anti-armor crew with bullets.
      "Good shot, Five: looks like you got 'em," the observer called out.
      "Thanks. Is Six recovered yet?"
      "Not yet, but soon."
      "Good." Four and Five stood their Zanders up until their heads were level with the top of the second floor, and walked around the side of the building. "We'll move on to the next site..."
      "Gyahh!!!"
   The scream carried over the commlink, and somewhere a dozen or so blocks over a Zander exploded. The heads-up map of the area selected the site where the Zander had gone down and was about to launch it's core module... and the IFF signal went red. Signal lost. The module hadn't ejected.
      "Twelve! Twelve! Eleven, what's going on?"
      "It's a mech sir, a model I've never seen befoorree..."
   Eleven's signal went dead too, and a second later Ten's module shot up in the air as the computer registered his Zander's deactivation.
   Three units down in less than ten seconds. And it was a unit Eleven had never seen before...
      "Red Hawks, this is Ten! It's a new model, a LeNner model!"
   League of Nations. A new prototype, perhaps? Well, there was only one way to find out.
      "Four, let's move."

...

If you want me to finish this little thing, just say so. And no, this is not going to be a part of a book or anything like that, it's based on a bunch of notes and ideas I wrote for a mecha series that I decided was never going to get written a long time ago. But I will finish this, if anyone wants me to. I'm actually having fun figuring out the duel coming up.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? WTFs? Suggestions? Anything? Pretty please...

EDIT: Changed "mecha" to "avatar" and "loader" to "mecha."

PS:
The ground quakes, the skies
Turn red with smoke. War has come,
And we must now fight.

Like knight to battle,
the white mecha steps onto
The launch gantry. GO!

[Jairus]

Okay, this is why you should never stay up until 1 AM instant messaging with someone: it impairs your judgement. Which is probably why I promised I'd write this. It's a joke, it really is. Well, anyway...

So now, to the tune of Bonnie Tyler singing "I'm Holding Out For A Hero" from the Shrek 2 soundtrack, Jairus is proud embarrassed to present Pagan singing "I'm Holding Out For Regina."

May the gods (and Amber) have mercy on my soul.


Where has my fair demon gone,
And who keeps us apart?
Where's that winged psychopath
Who tears straight to my heart?
Isn't there a blood knight upon her bony steed?
Late at night, I toss and I turn and dream
of who I need...

(Chorus)
I need Regina!
I'm holding out for Regina till the end of my life!
She's gonna be sweet
And she's gonna be great
And she's gonna come straight from the fray!
I need Regina!
I'm holding out for Regina till the end of this strife!
She's gonna come fast
And she's gonna come strong
And she's gonna come from her new prey!

From the time that I first saw her
In my darkest fantasies
Somewhere out across Furrae
She's waging her brutalities.
A demon's wings that split the sky and never know defeat!
It's gotta be this demon girl has swept me off my feet!

(Chorus)

And when the time comes that Amber then allows
Herself to finally spin your yarn
I will swear to be there and you'll
Never be alone!

Through the wars and the walls' and the pain
And that Cubi you hate!
I can feel her approach
While her time I await!

(Chorus)

...

Don't kill me.
And I also kind of wrote this bit too...

An unknown life, an unknown past,
Our time apart can never last.
You'll come to me, I know you will
A heart's desire be fulfilled.

... and thanks to this bit and the stuff up top, we now know that I will never go into song writing. Still, not bad for an hour's work.


As a reward for reading all of this, have some Ork haiku!

This dakka not 'nuff.
Moar dakka needed here, now.
Never 'nuff dakka.


PS: I'm not sure if Pagan actually hates Abel...

[Ren Gaulen]

*song*

There's only one thing needed to be said:

That is all.

But actually it was really good.

This dakka not 'nuff.
Moar dakka needed here, now.
Never 'nuff dakka.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

[Jairus]

*song*

There's only one thing needed to be said:

That is all.

But actually it was really good.

Thanks, but I don't think it's happening again. Now to PM Pagan with the link...

This dakka not 'nuff.
Moar dakka needed here, now.
Never 'nuff dakka.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

I take it you approve.

So, should I finish "Zander vs. Sentinel?"

[Tapewolf]

At this rate, I suspect Regina is not going to live up to his expectations.

[Jairus]

At this rate, I suspect Regina is not going to live up to his expectations.

Neither do I. To be honest, apart from the beginning and the chorus, I basically did this by myself, so I might have gone a little over the top. Just a little, mind you. So... yeah. Good night.


The God Emperor:
He stands above all others.
He is the highest.

[Ren Gaulen]

The God Emperor:
He stands above all others.
He is the highest.

FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

[Jairus]

One last haiku, and then I'm going to bed.

He walks in darkness
And his blade protects the light.
Ren Gaulen stands tall.

But, seriously, should I finish "ZvS"?

[Ren Gaulen]

Sure. You absolutely must finish it. I liked it.