#galactic grandpa... welt!

[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!