#ـﮩ٨ـ 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫

[herrschicken]

@voidrifter asked:

"Alright, promise not to laugh!" From where she sits, legs crossed on the edge of her bed, Kiana flashes the Herrscher a pointed look. It's without much bite, though, and with a sigh she shoves out her hands. "Happy birthday! His face is a little lopsided, but otherwise I think he turned out okay..." Presented for Senti's inspection is an egg shaped little plush, which is rather evidently hand stitched. She's right-- on either side of the felt triangle that is meant to be its beak is an eye, though one is certainly higher than the other. It looks just like the two (much larger) chicken plushies that take residence right behind her on the bed, except instead of Senti's black or Hua's crimson, this one's feathers are purple. "See, so now you have one that looks like me, too." She looks away, sheepish.

Laugh? How in the world could Senti laugh at this? She’s ready to cry at the sight of Kiana’s gift, having to shake her head off to the side and suck up her tears like they’re pieces of her soul breaking off. Not a single one will be shed, not if her nose and eyelids have anything to say about it. She’s the Herrscher of Sentience, after all. It simply wouldn’t do her any good to show the signs of weakness.

Still, she does wonder if Hua got something different. She’d have to commune with her about it later. 

“Are you still an idiot?” she barks, grabbing the doll and bringing it to her face, still so that she doesn’t have to face the Kaslana, “He’s perfect. Don’t say anything nasty about his face! Whatever you say about his face I’ll do to your face!” 

Though she quite obviously doesn’t mean that, she does care enough to take a second look at Kiana’s Piyo. She isn’t very good at sewing, is she? Senti sighs. Somehow that makes the gift more endearing, and her usual parlor trick of things in her sentient realm seem lame by comparison. Kiana likely put real effort into learning how to make this. She worked no less hard than the rice farmers did at the start of the current era, toiling away at land with little more than steel tools. She feels a tightness in her chest: the kind she’d choke trying to describe to you. 

But it does make her wonder if this is what an earnestly-made gift can do to someone. And maybe, just maybe, slaving away at some boring task like a mortal… Might not be such a bad thing after all.

“I like him.” She speaks matter-of-factly, like she’s telling the time or some other inalienable truth. Kiana-Piyo’s flaws make him human; no amount of lopsidedness could make her hate him. As she turns to face her again, she stuffs the plush against her chest, his uneven little face sticking out from her top. He receives two soft pats before Senti speaks again.

“From now on, I’m taking him wherever I go, and I’ll be feeding him lots of rice so that you won’t worry about him growing up big and strong.” 

Does she know he’s just a plush toy? No matter, what’s more important is how the next few words struggle to fall off her tongue:

“And… Thank you. For your gift.”

[herrschicken]

@aevitium asked:

[JADE HEARTS] - If Elysia entertains the idea of fate, then she would consider the timeline of events just too perfect to be anything else. It starts with a little stall on her hunt for a gift, nestled in the warm lantern-glow of the harbor's streets. The hand written sign pinned to its front declares the purpose of its sole ware-- a profession of love. So she had, naturally, wasted not even a moment of hesitation in pocketing one. It would be the sweetest thing, she could picture it exactly in her mind's eye-- the look on her face as she realized, how she would be certain to keep such a gift with her everywhere she went for the next hundred or so of her lives, no matter how silly... What she perhaps had not accounted for, and thus paints such an encounter as fate, would be the very object of that affection walking right past her. Perfectly smoothed jade nestled in her hand, Elysia strikes. Free fingers catch on a wrist, laughter like silver bells in her throat. "Thought you could sneak past me on such a special day, hm~?" And that's when the teasing expression she wears stutters, the barest flicker of surprise for only the most trained of eyes to catch. What's the fun in doing things halfway? With a hum, and just a little bit of mischief in her smile, she presents the small heart in an open palm. "It is your birthday, isn't it?"

This is the fourteenth time Senti has struck out on a jade bet, but it feels like the forty-fourth. No matter what she tries, she just can’t get her hands on any. And sure, she could’ve just bought some off a vendor–there was one spot that sold jade accessories meant to be given to lovers–or even conjured up the ore herself. But it won’t be authentic that way. Nothing wrought by mortal hands has value to her. Instead, the prospect of earning her prize is what sets her head straight–what has her coming back, bumming mora off whoever she can. And, in the case of the romantic gift, wouldn’t it be sad to just buy one on her own? 

So whatever, she’s surfing the crowd, eyes peeled for opportunity wherever it may strike. If she has to do a few favors to get another chance, then so be it. But Elysia doesn’t demand that much of her–

It’s something worse, actually. Though that’s besides the point.

–she reaches for Senti’s attention. Or Hua’s attention, most probably. Because she knows what Elysia thinks they’ve done, but that sure as shit was not Senti at the helm. If she ever had any doubts of merely inheriting the old-timer’s memories, they’re gone now. Fizzled up like the last bit of carbonation from a drink gone flat. The way those two spent their time was negatively no-way not at all any bit Senti, not even one! Though there is… something… swirling in the back of each of the Herrscher’s eyes. A ghost of the past, reminiscent of feelings or opinions that she’s unsure are inherited, or just the product of swapping gazes with Elysia. 

Discreetly, she tugs on the chain connecting her to who Elysia thinks she is. Hurry! Get over here! Pick up the pace, old-timer! You get the idea. 

“Eheheh, guess there’s no escape from Pink Elf here.” 

She looks like a six-year old caught stealing from a candy store. Every bit of her body language is shifty, ready to bolt. But she holds up a guilty smile, a horrible lie. “O-Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve always had the same birthday, year after year. And I’ve lived many. Yes, mhm, so many. I’m very old now, y’see.” She might as well have said ‘I am Hua! Believe me!’ because even the way she chops up her dialogue sounds far-fetched. Right now, that six-year old is fumbling as she tries to come up with some excuse for how the candy ended up in her bag.

Her eyes then land on the item in Elysia’s hand. Seeing it as a change of topic (and forgetting that she is now actually stealing a gift meant for someone else) she swipes it. “For me, eh? Ahahahahahaha! You shouldn’t have! I have a great many riches now, and lots of chickens to show my vast wealth! But while you already have…” 

Black-painted nails tear at the wrapping. “This…” Senti sputters, remembering the loserish item she passed on buying for herself. Only now it’s not so loserish, receiving it from this lady. It’s something else entirely, “Th-This is… Y-you…!” 

As her fist quakes, her neck fails to hold back a tide of blood which rushes into her entire face. She hasn’t forgotten. Her memory is as sharp as Senti’s. 

That means she also remembers…

Oh no…

[herrschicken]

@sweepingthunder asked:

[JADE MYSTERY] While he did not fancy himself a gambler, Jing Yuan was not one to back out of a fun game. The man who offered could most likely be considered just above a snake oil salesman, but what is the new year if not a new risk? While several had come and gone, none of which capable of guessing the correct jade, surely that was just a matter of luck. The rocks were identical from a glance, only different in their natural shape, though even such an assumption could lead to his own demise. With a finger on his chin, eyes narrow. A line had begun to build behind the old man, waiting impatiently for Jing Yuan's guess. Yet it would not even be his own. Looking back to the woman behind him, waiting very impatiently, he would motion for her to come near. "You there, come here. You want a wager, no? That's the whole reason we are all here?" A smirk, pulling the Herrscher of Sentience in to investigate the three jade. "What do you think? Any differences you see?" It was his money, not her own, so theoretically she could completely mislead the man. If only he had accounted for this...

lantern rite !

Senti instantly threw up her hands. “Why does it matter!” she shouted, wrenching the attention of bystanders behind them. That was how she felt about gambling on jade throughout the entire festival. It felt like no matter how many times she hit that wall, she just couldn’t bounce back. Part of her had believed that jade wasn’t even real–or that it at least didn’t exist in Liyue–but then she’d see someone walking around with it laden in earrings or dangling from their wrist, and she’d go scrounging for mora again, thus restarting the machine. 

That is all to say: whether it was with Jing Yuan’s or not, Senti was not gambling her own money.

“Every time, I go broke. Tch. It’s like he knows how badly I wanna win. I bet he swaps the stones out whenever I step up to the stall.” Crossing her arms and making a pouty face at Shitou, she did just that. Her eyes glazed over his before landing on the items in question. “Don’t look away, Geezer. Don’t even blink. I bet he’ll take away the jade one now that I’m helping.” 

Her nose got closer to him. Too close. Poor Shitou didn’t know what to say the whole while either–just laughed and put his hands to his chest defensively. Without breaking eye contact, Senti selected a stone. “This one.” It was smaller than the rest. Definitely less round, too. Unremarkable to the untrained eye, and for anyone fishing for something big, not sizable enough even if it was jade. “But I swear-” she made the remark through gritted teeth, “-if this one wins, I’m flipping this stupid thing over!!” 

Ordinarily, breaking rock required precision instruments. Water was a component of the process, as was a saw wielded by an expert’s hand. But Senti was impatient, and her trust at an all time low. So instead, she sought to break the rock herself, hitting it against the stall until pieces of pebble flecked away. One-by-one they broke, and with each little bit she got closer to the core, the gazes of the audience closed in. Finally, a crack echoed throughout the air. With a last smack, the stone gave way…

…and a shimmer, like the ocean’s blue, shone through underneath. 

[herrschicken]

@bloodbxrn asked:

 [SNAKE PETTING] - As the mascot animal of the year, an exhibit has been set up with several non-venomous and super friendly snakes, if you’re not afraid of these scaly babies. Where was it? Kalpas knew it was there, he felt its movements along his skin, but the drag of its tender belly scales sent odd little sensations all through his body, shockwave after shockwave, and in spite of his patting, searching hands he could not seem to find it before it moved on to another location. The big man jerked, arms at odd angles attempting to reach his back, spiraling in place like a dog that could not get comfortable, a strange little rumbling sound coming out muffled from beneath his mask. Was he...laughing...? Was Kalpas...ticklish?? Helplessly, his gaze sought out amongst the crowd someone who might assist, landing firmly on a girl – Hua? No, she looked like the rookie, but they couldn't have been more different – and he lurched forward, an awkward little hop, shaking his clothing like a wet dog. "Where'd it go, I can't find it – I don't wanna - !" He didn't want to hurt the thing, if he could help it, but his options were running out swiftly. He could only hope that this familiar stranger would be merciful to a great beast like himself...

lantern rite !

This guy again…

Senti didn’t anticipate coming to terms with her memories–of debating the essence of what she was and what she wasn’t–at Lantern Rite of all things, but destiny always had other plans. She sighed as she saw him, picking apart her cognition like grains before a wash. A Flame-Chaser. A bygone era of Hua’s that Senti might as well have been a passenger of. She remembered Kalpas, remembered fire and attitude: a geyser ever-ready to burst. 

But this?

This was a joke, right? Was he having a bad rash? No, he’d be scratching more, and probably red all over… Sweet-and-sour sauce down his pants? She had no clue. Given that it was Kalpas, any number of things could have lit his fuse. Worse still, he could’ve been doing that for no reason at all–staging some ridiculous scene for its own sake. Seriously, what kind of childish fool gets off acting like that? A scowl scribbled itself over her face as she drew close. “Honestly-” and a hand reached for his face to steady him. His vision was then eclipsed by the white of her glove. “-I don’t care what the old-timer thinks. You’re such a handful. Why do you jump around like a little grasshopper? Don’t you know that one of the snakes will eat you if it catches you?” 

As if on cue, the source of Kalpas’ irritation let out a hiss. Then Senti saw it–a slithering trail darting just beneath his clothes. The pieces fit together in her brain. “Aha! One has already gotten you! You’ll be a goner for sure, little grasshopper! But let me help, you can praise the Herrscher of Sentience after she sets you free-” 

And thus began the long, painful, fruitless process of trying to snatch the serpent off his spine. Senti sent her hand at him like she was spearfishing, jabbing his side or his arm or his thigh whenever she missed. And she missed plenty. Each time she was sure she was honing her accuracy, and that one more shot was all she’d need to set him free. Thus, she worked earnestly. And after, like, five minutes of prodding him with her fist, finally grabbed hold of the snake to pull off of him.

She beamed, letting it dangle off her hand. Beamed like she didn’t just put him through hell.

[herrschicken]

@generalsangonomiya asked:

[XINYUE KIOSK] Kokomi hadn't expected to meet Senti again, and yet here the warrior is, sitting across from her in the middle of Xinyue Kiosk. This time, though, their adversary is not a giant, near-indestructible Honkai Beast, but a sizeable array of elaborately-prepared dishes. There's plenty of new things to try; and the occasional familiar flavor too. There's even a couple of Watatsumi dishes on display, and she'd made sure to grab some of one for their table. "You should try this one - it has quite the nice flavor." She considers her own selection of food, and makes a choice, scooping up some of a Liyuean noodle dish with her chopsticks. The spice bursts across her senses like wildfire, but she perseveres, and once the initial flare of heat subsides, finds she quite enjoys it. "So how have you been, since our battle with that beast?"

lantern rite !

When Kokomi handed her the food, the look she got back from Senti was that of a beast being pulled from a daze. She had been so food-drunk (and actual-drunk) off the dual-striking, savory-sweet combos laden in every Xinyue Kiosk dish that she forgot someone sat across from her. She blinked. A huge gulp of sweet-sauce pork slid down her gullet. “Ehhh? I’ve never seen someone make me an offering before… It’s nice! You should do this more often, especially with this kind of food!” 

Like a thief, she snatched the Fullmoon Egg from its basket–though it had already belonged to her by Kokomi’s omission. “Ouughhh-” she groaned, popping it into her mouth and letting the flavor burst onto her tongue. “-is there anything that beats Yue-style cooking?” She spoke with her mouthful, and uncaringly too, as she shoved a second egg into her other cheek. “I feel like I’m being wrapped up by clouds…” 

Indeed she was, as was the intended effect of the Fullmoon Egg. Some even say that under Lantern Rite’s full-mooned glow, it had the ability to soothe one’s soul. Senti could very well have felt that phenomenon, as the scars of their shared battle faded into history. 

“Losing all my money,” she then snapped, “that damned jade guy is running a scam. I bet he doesn’t have a single piece of jade, eh–just rocks!” Her cheeks burned in admittance to her losses, the flames of a phoenix etched into the corners of her face. She finally gained the decency to swallow her food, though this also came with an elbow thudding against their table, and a hand reaching–begging–for the priestess.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to have some heavy pockets? I feel like giving that guy another run, showing him I’m not backing down!” 

[herrschicken]

✢⁎. HERRSCHICKEN — a closed, affiliated roleplay blog featuring the herrscher of sentience from honkai impact 3rd, AS INHABITED BY MARIA.

struggling for individuality & smashing anyone who stands in the way.

LINKS — muse / mun / stats

[herrschicken]

//starter for @creationkissed

Damn that old crone! If it weren’t for her, Senti wouldn’t have been stuck here. Here, where sunlight swirls around buildings higher than the eye can see and the roads are paved with gold, where the sharp scent of cologne clings to men’s suits like spines, and women wear dewdrops beneath their eyes. Here where the fledgeling of a human could not feel more out of place if she tried–in an existence already defined by finding what little bits of herself she can. 

‘Here’ is Penacony. The reverie is so bright it burns her eyes. Try to imagine her surprise when they finally land on someone they know.

“You!” 

She greets Durandal with her fists. And they aren’t punching in any warm or friendly kind of way, no. Senti is mad. She believes with all her heart that her adversary is experienced enough to block her blows, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t going for the kill. “You owe me, dammit! He was mine! You took him from me!!” 

No, Senti is not wailing over a lost love interest. The way she screams is less agonized and more plain irked. Like Durandal had eaten leftovers she intended to cook into egg-fried rice; the way she reacts now is just a display of how over-the-top she can be. “I was right there–I had him on the ropes! I was going to show Kevin who was stronger, once and for all… And then you…!” 

Her dialogue cuts itself short and she winds up for another strike. Again, not a pulled punch, but something so straightforward, so brutish, that were it to actually put a dent in Durandal, she’d have deserved it. 

“Dammit!” Frustrating, her heel slams into the ornately-decorated ground. It leaves a nasty mark–the kind that wouldn’t go unnoticed in Penacony. Is she acting out of line? Most definitely. The reality of their situation is that she probably needed Durandal to show up back then, that her tricks alone would have come close, but not quite made it against someone with every contingency possible. She paces a few loops in deep thought. Eventually, her face glows with what looks like a fresh idea: 

“Oi, I’ve got it now… If I can beat you, then that surely means I can beat him up, right?” The law of power-scaling dictates as much. Everyone knows that people are only a measure of their strength, and that a move that works against one person would surely work on anyone they’ve defeated. Senti’s hands find her hips. She tilts her chin up in a boast of supreme intellect, infallible reasoning, and logic without a single hole. 

Poor Durandal.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s how you’ll make it up to me for stealing my prey. Name your game! We’ll play, and I’ll beat you, and The Herrscher of Sentience will stay on top!” 

✧ ;- night-scouring gleam

[herrschicken]

//starter for @currentlyoffwork !

     Dearest Scribe,

A most concerning matter has sprouted for Sumeru Akademiya. As of today, a strange, silver-haired vagabond is beginning to harass our scholars. She is loud, obnoxious, & brutish, but boasts the strength to match all of these qualities and then some. Our attempts to reason with her have failed. As of my hastily scribbling down this letter, she has shouted something we don’t understand and attacked another Matra guard. The weapon is some kind of bludgeoning tool, but strangely, no one has been left dead or permanently disfigured… Perhaps a little bruised, though.

It is of my understanding that this letter comes across as desperate, but the current situation calls for a specific set of talents. I sincerely hope you understand, and can come to our aid posthaste–

…

The letter arrives at Alhaitham’s desk by the hand of a rather frazzled looking student. They don’t appear to be the one who wrote it (probably lesser in seniority) but are likely just as shocked. The exchange is wordless. They know that everything that needs to be said, has been said in the distress message. How fortunate that the Akademiya has such passionate writers.

But beyond the description of their situation, the author seems to have included precise directions to the site of activity–just outside Sumeru City’s gate–as well as moderately detailed listings of the current weather conditions. Almost as a ‘just in case,’ just in case The Scribe would find them useful to know beforehand or couldn’t look out a window to see for himself. In any case, desperate times call for desperate measures. If he wants a measure at how desperate the times really are, all he needs to do is look into the shaking eyes of the acting courier. 

It’s bad.

Should he choose to accept–first of all, the student will undoubtedly be pleased–but more importantly, he’ll arrive to a scene of absolute chaos. Lots of shouting, thrashing, and attempts at calming a raging fire ending only in providing it with more fuel. The letter was not kidding when it made the claim that ‘subduing her is useless.’ The figure in question looks like she could crush all of Sumeru City like a nest of gnats if she were irked enough.

Should he choose not to… The student will look mortified! Their Scribe–their savior–abandoning them to the wilds to face that beast outside their walls?? With how ferociously she fights, she will either exhaust the entire guard or kick up a sandstorm–in both cases causing mayhem untold… But also? she’d make her way to Alhaitham eventually. It would involve much more standing around and waiting on his part, but she’d get there. And who knows how she'd be feeling when she does.

The student waits eagerly for his response. Their eyes follow his gaze as it points down at his desk, growing excited whenever they think he’s made up his mind.

✧ ;- l'hôspital's rule

[herrschicken]

//starter for @taixuandream !

Senti frowns. She knew she had been feeling the chain grow longer and her connection to Fu Hua more distant. If she were to liken it with a metaphor, it was an annoying buzzing of a bee’s wings: ever present no matter where the hive moves. But sometimes, when the degree of separation widens, the sound blends into the background–nectar melding into wax. Try as she might to act pissed off about the noise, an abundance of bees is a sign of vitality. Honey nourishes tea and hardens to form sweets. Plus, having background noise isn’t a bad thing. At the very least it becomes disturbing when the feeling slips away from her.

So, whatever. An elderly’s voice is growing quiet. Senti investigates, or whatever. Widening her search, she manages to feel the flicker of Fu Hua’s field of being in some bizarre bubble entirely foreign to her. She has to stop to concentrate, but eventually she catches it in her net. She speaks her thoughts directly into the Phoenix’s mind before appearing in that flash of bright light she loves to use: 

“Oi, old-timer… Just where in the world are we right now?” 

Her voice is first a low rumble. Questioning, groaning a little, Senti sounds exactly how one would imagine her after doing a deep psychophysical search. But as she stumbles onto the scene the lights of Golden Hour wash her out eyes. They widen, like a child’s first visit to a big city. There are buildings with architecture unlike anything back on the mountain, geometric displays twinkling in the place of stars, the colorful faces of cartoon characters giving the backdrop a touch of the uncanny. She looks like she doesn’t know where to step. Hurting her situation even more is the way people stare at her as they pass the pair on, as if they know her presence isn’t native–that she has invaded their hive. In an act of desperation, her hand flies for Fu Hua’s wrist. It doesn’t just grab on, either: it gently pulls her closer to the Herrscher’s side. 

“Eh? What? What the hell!” It’s a sound Fu Hua has heard countless times by now. A whiny, albeit slightly restrained, tantrum, “There’s so much to see that I can’t see anything at all! Hmph,” still she attempts to sound fierce and in-control, voice asserting its tone above the discordant ambience Penacony is known for, “looks like it was all made by some real hasty folk. They probably think it’s impressive, but they haven’t heard of adding legs to a picture of a snake.” 

See? Now you’re getting Senti in her element. As she scoffs, she lets go of Fu Hua’s arm. Standing by her lonesome and with eyes acclimated to her environment, she can point her brow and flash a smile. “...And how’dja even get here? It feels far out. Travel’s easy when you’re me, but I know you have to walk the whole mile.” 

✧ ;- big chickens don't eat small rice

[herrschicken]

//starter for @flow-of-qi

“Damn… Stone again! Are you kidding me?!” 

This is the fourth time now. She’s starting to believe that jade is a myth. 

But that’s what she gets for opening the night by betting on rocks. Senti fits the bill for Jade Mystery’s target audience perfectly. She’s excitable, blindly confident, and enjoys the sensation of crushing something between her fingers. Even if she loses, she gets the feeling of the earth–the real earth–breaking in her hands. That alone has kept her coming back.

But four losses in a row is most definitely a sign of bad luck. Even Senti is wise enough to know this. So she shuts her coin purse. Rather dramatically, too, which makes her look like even more of an idiot when the man behind the stall doesn’t flinch. He couldn’t care less, no matter how badly the Herrscher hopes her action could carry some gravitas. “I’m done with this lame game!” she pronounces, and in a huff, turns to the doctor she had been traveling with. He had been kind enough to show her around (seriously, really kind. Her? More than a handful. More than hands-ful) even if she swears she’s seen a lot of this before. At least the concept of a lot of it. 

Also, yes he's a pharmacist. No, she doesn't care that there's a difference.

“Hey, glasses,” she leans to the side to speak to him, despondent and woefully unamused by the thing enthralling her just moments prior. The face she makes is pretty ugly, too. Pretty ungrateful, like a street thug if they were thrown into decent dress and forced to walk the festival grounds. “Got anywhere else to show me? I could go for another game or some tasty food right about now.” Mind you, this is not the same as being hungry. Senti doesn’t get hungry. She just craves the taste of something and the experience of obtaining it. Watching those chefs toss their woks or stir big pots of soup is its own kind of joy. One worth protecting with every drop of her strength.

Baizhu could take all of five steps and have his answers. There are stalls all around them, some as tried & true as Theater Mechanicus, others new like the first shoots of spring. Each is dyed its own combination of bright colors, adorned by glowing lights, and promising its own version of the ultimate Lantern Rite experience. The possibilities are near endless. Lazy Senti is glad she isn’t in charge of making the choice here. Maybe she does owe this good doctor one; he’s saving her the trouble of having to experience everything in order to pick apart what she does and doesn’t like.

✧ ;- the light of another sunrise

monthly mission | lantern rite

[herrschicken]

//starter for @generalsangonomiya

“Urrraahhh! Outta the way!” 

Senti swings without regard.

Senti swings without thinking.

Senti swings, and swings, and swings.

The motion is built into her body–50,000 year-old memories piloting her arms to drive weapons into the hearts of her enemies. What is a weapon, you ask? Anything in her hands. From the most legendary of sky-splitting spears to a humble ball of mud, rest assured that she will find a way to brutalize someone with it. This is one of the parts of her that Hua left for her, a feather of violence inherited as part of her birth into this world. Honkai beasts were once a thing that their fists cleansed from the land, after all. To not know how to do that much would make her a pretty lousy pupil–and an even worse master.

Only, brute force alone isn’t going to cut it. Despite each blow having the power of a generator and beating on the great tusk like a piston at full throttle, she can’t quite seem to break through. It just doubles, triples, quadruples down on its stamina and sends her back by raising & smashing its front legs. Worse still, trying to dominate it doesn’t have the same effect as lesser whelps. With big size comes a big enough will to resist her possession–not that she could have been proud of a victory won this way. 

Her last strike is a downward cleave aimed at the trunk. It manages the equivalent of a cut against the monster, before she’s batted back and sent skidding across the snow. Snow, which nearly melts at how raging-hot she is right now. The sword she sticks into the ground carves a line through it, slowing her down at the cost of tracing a path straight back to her. 

Senti huffs, and Senti puffs, and somewhere in the misty haze finds it in herself to pull her own head out of her ass long enough to look to her left. There she meets the general–the cute, pink thing she was assigned to this battle with. Senti thinks she looks like a fish, and wonders if looking like a fish is in fashion these days. 

“Tch, what gives with this guy? He won’t go down! Aren’t big things supposed to fall hard?” A foot shuffles forward. It’s ready to charge back into the fray, but it’s the only part of her that moves. Much of her other body parts are battered enough to take a chance on the foreign talent she has with her today, even if that brusque tongue of hers has no intention of belying as much.

“I’ve had it with him! You’ll help out now, yeah? You don’t look like someone who’d throw a good punch, but I bet you have some tricks up your sleeve.” 

✧ ;- the present reeks of history

monthly mission | strange creature in belobog

[herrschicken]

//starter for @secondsovereign

“Man, it would be so fun to drive one of those things around…”

Senti stares at a poster. Correction: she’s been staring at a poster, and it’s been about ten minutes now. ‘Atlantic Rim’ is what it advertises, a kind of dreamscape wherein robot suits the size of buildings are humanity’s last hope for defending itself. She’s ‘seen’ similar, but nowhere near the magnitude of what is being promised. And she could experience it for herself through the magic that Penacony can offer her, but where’s the fun in that? Her power is supreme. Her power could produce better results.

All she would need is a willing test subject.

Her mind made up, she finally pries herself from the board to look out into the crowd. There exists a potpourri of different careers, interests, and styles–all blending together to form a roving sea of people. But one stands out to her. A man with plain brown hair wearing plain dark clothes and carrying himself in no plainer a way. But something about him just speaks to Senti. Like there’s power brimming beneath. Real power. It feels ‘right’ in a way she couldn’t begin to describe, and not for lack of vocabulary. She steps forward. She’s behind him, and the instant her foot touches the floor, her domain engulfs him. 

He transitions seamlessly. The sentient space looks no different from where he was moments ago–meticulously maintained by the Herrscher–but if his senses are sharp enough, he’d be able to feel something off. It’s a force as invisible as temperature or barometric pressure, but it exists all the same. Nothing about to happen will be real, even if his eyes, ears, nose and nerves will be convinced otherwise.

Senti is no longer behind him.

From well past the horizon sounds a thunderous stomping. Buildings shake, fake people go into a panic, and the light from the sky gets a shade darker as something big blocks the way. A mecha, an inch taller than the highest skyscraper around, kicks over a few buildings as it marches its way to Welt. It looks bulky & brutal, and boasts spines all over its body to convey a sense of danger… But also? Not much else. Sure it’s the kind of big-fisted thing that could smash you, bash you, mash you–but that’s about all. It possesses nothing tactical: no ranged artillery, no shield generators or big thrusters strapped to its back. It’s the kind of thing a five year old with no concept of mecha design would find cool at a baseline, entirely physical in how it plans to deal with threats. One could attack it from far away or simply hit it first, and it would fall.

“WAHAHAHAHA!” 

It screeches, its voice sounding not like it belongs to the titan innately, but rather Senti speaking over an intercom.

“Look at you! You’re all a bunch of gnats!” 

To emphasize this point, it stands on both legs and lets something whir inside its body. Tremors emit from its feet, shaking Penacony’s grounds below.

“And I’ve just been so bored lately! Keh, I think I’ll smush all of you gnats flat! You can all enjoy your little gnat kingdom being reduced to rubble!!” 

And so begins Senti’s assault. The gigantic body lumbers forward, intending to demolish whatever it can walk over lest a hero find some way of bringing it down.

✧ ;- morphinomenal!

[herrschicken]

//starter for @originsrebirth

“Huh? You too? What the hell…” 

Senti looks off to the side in disbelief. Like she’s staring at some sort of third party that isn’t there; like someone from a dimension beyond her own could read her actions as though they were the prose of a novella. 

“Why are we all congregating here, eh? Only a prisoner without a home would willingly walk back into her cell. And I know you of all people have better things to do with your time.” 

Okay, technically, not the same cell: just a recreation of its likeness in a different place in space-time. But functionally? It’s the moon. It’s dark, cold, dismal–the kind of area that wouldn’t have background music in a video game. Or if it did, the music would sound insubstantial so as to provide a feeling of weightlessness. Out here, the threshold to the sea of void is all around them. No sky hangs above their heads, no clouds roll over lush hills. Even the sun loses its mystique when its colors don’t refract off of an atmosphere. 

“You couldn’t have picked a more boring place, you know.” She lets out an exaggerated yawn. “I feel like walking off the edge. At least then I can amuse myself by swimming around in nothingness.” 

Then she stretches. In the gap of time this creates, she takes her look at the Raiden. Her appearance is always changing. Interacting with her and the others, she remembers that one cannot visit the same stream twice. Ever-growing, ever-evolving, Mei will likely become something new the next time they meet. Maybe this is part of what it means to be human. Senti thinks she should try on a different outfit later.

She feels bad for her, too. Knowing what she does of Mei, her presence has something to do with Kiana. The two are practically glued together, after all. Maybe they’re like the old-timer and her, in that they share a bunch of memories? It wouldn’t be fifty-thousand years’ worth, though, so the prize for tightest-knit still goes to Senti and Hua. But putting up with a place that won’t even serve her decent tea has got to be some sort of sacrifice on Mei’s end. Senti suddenly grins.

“Hey, I know! Why don’t I let us enjoy somewhere fun? We can go where ever you want, Mei, as long as you offer me proper thanks for making your life not-a-living-hell!” 

The look in her eyes says she’s proud of that little plan. Like, really proud. How often is it that Sentience’s powers are used for anything other than causing mayhem, after all?

“So… Where will it be? I’ll only give you one shot at this–unless your praise is really really good.”

✧ ;- garden of escapism

[herrschicken]

//starter for @fermatafour

Has Kafka ever met the coolest person in her life before? 

Well she’s about to.

Senti comes barreling down the winding, blocky streets of Stargazer Navalia with the wind at her back. She isn’t walking or even running, but riding her gargantuan sword like a skateboard–complete with the occasional ollie or airborne trick. How a woman of her size manages to kick it into the air, pull it into a flip, and stick the landing without so much as breaking a sweat is beyond the scope of common sense. That is, assuming you’re not already amazed at a flying sword. And if you’re not, know that she could take the thing higher. The Herrscher could cut the clouds and brew tea with the falling rain if she were bored enough. Lucky for Kafka, she’s doing just fine being amazed at all the twists and turns of this place. The vertically inclined environment makes for a wicked skate park. 

It is precisely because of her speed and her penchant for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong that she rides into whatever dirty, dark corner the Hunter had holed up in. Sunlight barely peters through here (though perhaps it would be more fitting to call it starlight). As her eyes trace the outline of a human figure, she stops herself. The tips of her gloved fingers grab the point of her sword, pull it up, and spin it so that she can grab it where it’s meant to be grabbed. And just like that, she’s on the ground again–literally and figuratively lowering herself to speak with a mortal.

“Yo!” 

She waves, and her lips purse. Nothing about her is irrationally accusatory–yet. She well and truly would like some help from this person, after all. “My usual tour guide is taking one of her old-timer naps right now. Mind telling me where I am? This was supposed to be Shenzhou I went to, but it’s so different…” For starters, Shenzhou is not a Hexafleet. Senti hasn’t heard of a Starskiff before, and last she checked, fox ears hadn’t become a fashion craze overnight. Something is different, even if there are many similarities about this place, too.

“Mm, and what’s that in your hand?” she also asks, making an effort to point at it. It isn’t every day Senti sees someone fiddling with one of those… whatever it is. 

✧ ;- autumn voyage

[herrschicken]

//starter for @voidrifter !

She can hear the sound of a girl yawning before a flash of light floods her eyes.

Wealth, time, space–all endless expanses–sate one’s appetite, but do little to feed their soul. With an entire galaxy’s resources at one’s fingertips, the line between what one can and cannot do moves past a point most don’t even imagine possible. Creation & destruction become like utensils used to poke at and extract amusement from the environment, but still, boredom finds a way to seep in. Eventually, one will have done everything, seen everything. One will become full. With time, more of this is possible, with an infinite earth to tread upon, the menu grows infinitely large. But it is only with people that a meal becomes a feast, only with conversation, ideas, bouncing thoughts to and fro that something new can be born. People are an ocean. Company is the stirring tide that nourishes life. Within a single person’s mind, one can dive deeper than wealth, time, or space would ever take them. 

And in that vein, it is better to go without food for three days than water for one.

Sentience stretches as she materializes before Finality. These are all things she knows intimately, but forcing an admittance out of her is like drawing a well from stone. She’s trying to wear a nonchalant look. Like she had just meandered onto the reflection of that world they traversed all that time ago, just so happening to bump into her–not at all having a plan to pay Kiana a visit. “Haaah~ Woke up late again… But all the way out here, I guess there aren’t such things as ‘morning’ or ‘noon.’” 

She stops to stare a moment. Some of her gauges the other’s response, some is trying to come to terms with her new reality, and some is genuinely just taking a sec to wake up. She was sound asleep five minutes ago, after all. Laboratory panels, moonrock, and an inky-black sky above her head all do little to keep her eyes open. Compared to a lively street back home or the rigamarole of Kung Fu, Kiana’s home is eerily quiet. 

Senti feels like projecting an illusion of a boombox.

“Kiana,” her voice is low and flat, a gentle rumbling beneath the soil, “How long have you been cooped up in this place? Surely it’s not so nostalgic that you feel like staying forever, or that you’re a bird destined to be trapped in its cage.”   

✧ ;- i saw her in the rightest way

[herrschicken]

Senti grumbles–the low sputtering of a volcano ready to erupt. “Of course it has no weaknesses!” she spits, flames licking the saliva on her tongue, “If it had one, I would know! It’s Honaki Energy, you don’t just poke Honkai Beasts in the eyes and watch them fall.” The tip of her blade scrapes the ground, frustrated and upset. How dare this strategist so much as imply that she didn’t already have these things figured out, that it wasn’t the beast having no exploitable flaw but Senti being unable to figure it out! She taps it as she dives forward, into not just a pool of water, but the searing-hot magma of battle.

“I know, I know! Geez, why did your plan involve so much telling me what to do?” 

In spite of her protests, Senti competently executes much of the plan. Kokomi evidently has a good grasp of not only their situation, but the parts everyone plays in it. She had been able to surmise Senti’s strengths, clearly, because giving her the role of ‘loud and obnoxious bait’ is just about perfect strategy. “Oi!” she takes a chunk out of its leg with a glancing blow, sprinting past until it rears its head to focus on her. “You Honkai freaks are always drawn to me, for some reason. Want me?” It thrashes her with its colossal trunk in response. The thing could snap a tree in half having wrapped around it just once, but through strength of resistance Senti keeps herself on her feet. “Good!” can be heard from the cloud of snow following the attack’s wake, “then come and get me!” 

And out of the white mist suddenly flies the Herrscher atop her blade. She surfs over the horizon and around her foe, dodging all but one of the projectiles it launches her way–and just barely stabilizing herself from the hit she does take. “Blehhh! How can you be so slow? You’re slow like a turtle, you know. I’ll cook you into turtle soup.” That earns a stomping mad response from their hunt, which begins chasing Senti in circles to catch her buzzing around it. Finally, she takes her dive for the tower. With a smirk stretching ear-to-ear, she becomes a bullet heading for its base. A tuft of snow erupts to cover her entering its front. 

The rest will be a waiting game.

“We’re in!” She ‘speaks’ no more, instead projecting her conscious thoughts into the General’s. She’d be able to hear hers, in turn. It’s a useful power of hers, where long-distance communication is concerned.

“This better work, by the way..” 

✧ ;- the present reeks of history

monthly mission | strange creature in belobog