What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force and Konpeito)

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 108, Status = Fine

(Alice also gained a mutation from dat raping, I should add.)

Her bag, and all within it, were still present and unmolested, lying discarded a short ways away. The clothes inside fit her, if snugly, and a quick departure would return her to the still-deserted streets of Acheron. She could see people moving off in the distance, however, and it wouldn't take her long to find her way back to Giacomo's shop afterwards. The door was closed, but a knock and a brief wait later the door was open, and the old doll-maker took one look at her and said; "You're late.... What happened to you?"

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice wrapped her arms around her body as she ran to the shop, her head down as she blushed, not looking up into she was inside the shop and feeling slightly more relaxed, "I... I was attacked by some creature, I don't know what. Cornered me in some abandoned building... then..." She flushed, furiously, "D..Destroyed all my dolls..."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 108, Status = Fine

Giacomo's expression dropped into a frown as Alice began her tale, but when she mentioned that her dolls had been destroyed, the man paled visibly and immediately stepped aside. "Come inside, I'll make you... Something," he said somberly, as if she had just told him that she had just lost a loved one. If Alice came inside, he would close the door and put his "Closed" sign up before gently guiding her to a stool. He left the room, but came back a moment later with a cup of tea for her. Setting it down in front of her, he said; "How many did you lose? Do you have what you need to make more? You're welcome to use my tools if you need them."

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

"I lost... I lost all of them. All that I brought along anyway..." She was glad she had left her more precious ones back at home where they were still hopefully safe, still, she began to see the man in a bit of a new light, this man was someone that appreciated the value of dolls, someone able to relate to how she felt about losing the dolls, "T..Thank you, but I promised I would do as you ask, and I don't want to take business away from you... I still have some materials, and my tools, I will try to put as many of them back together as I can after I have done my tasks for you."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 108, Status = Fine

"Then what I'm asking you to do, as your first lesson for the day, is to repair what you can and then make yourself a new doll!" Giacomo proclaimed firmly, "Possessing a doll of your own, one that you've crafted with your very own hands, is essential to the later portions of your training. I will mind the shop, you just get to work!" Alice was shown to the older dollmaker's work bench, where the man had a simply breathtaking collection of tools and materials on hand, all for her use. She was largely left to her own devices, or so it seemed, but after the old man returned to the front of the shop Alice noted a stirring of life within one of the dolls hanging from the wall, a man-sized wooden mannequin held together with metal joints, its face carved into a mask of tragedy. It raised its head, watching her silently with empty eye sockets.

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice nodded and sat the toolbench, she had never had so many tools to herself, she took her time to run her hands through each material, rubbing it against her hands and touching them to get a feel for them. She examined tools that she had made do without, admiring them as she picked one up, putting another down in the process. She looked at the mannequin on the wall and gave it a smile as it looked at her, giving a bit of a wave. As unnatural as the thing on the wall's life was, she still felt... happy to be able to work here, able to create her own doll with which she could one day, hopefully, bring to life. Humming to herself, she began to make a doll, something she had already began to plan to become one of her greatest creations to date!

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 108, Status = Fine

Alice was left unbothered as she worked on her doll, the one that had moved before not doing so again. After giving her an hour of work, Giacomo came in to check on her progress, but then left her alone again, not returning to the back room until her dolls were completed and then admiring her handiwork critically.

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice smiled as she showed the doll to her master proudly, given the amount of time she had to work with, and the materials, she had create a doll that was quite a bit larger than the ones she would usually make, she had taken the time to make sure that most of the doll would feel as soft as possible, hiding it's actual abilities to do damage, if she had to bring them out during combat. Using a series of strings, she had actually managed to hide a few sharp weapons within the doll, of which she told Giacomo, not wanting the elder man to accidentally hurt himself.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 108, Status = Fine

Giacomo examined her doll with a frown, lifting the heavier construction with one hand and then carefully running his hands over it, avoiding any of the places where she'd installed blades. "Very good," he declared evenly following his cursory examination. Stepping away and looking to her, he said; "Now, show me how you would give it life!"

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice nods as she looks at the doll, happy that her teacher had given her approval. Looking at the doll, she began to concentrate her energy into the marionette, as she had always done before, pouring a bit of her soul into her creation to animate it, taking a deep breath as she starts to move the doll around.

(10 EP into her doll!)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 98/108, Status = Fine

Giacomo watched Alice animate the doll with her energies with a soft frown, her essences wrapping around it and causing the inanimate object to spring to life. "Good," he said, but then turned to her and asked; "But how would you give it life? How would you give it thought? How would you create a living being from the inanimate?"

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice blinked as she looked at the master puppeteer, then at her own creation, her life energy being the only thing to sustain it, "Well... um..." She looks at her creation, thinking hard, what could he possibly mean? She knew that her soul could only sustain such a creature for so long, most of it just... disappeared after awhile, "If there was some way I could seal a part of my soul inside it, or... well, to give it a soul, but... that's in the realm of the gods, isn't it?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 98/108, Status = Fine

"Sealing a part of yourself into your creation is one way," he said noncommitaly, "As the one who made this doll, you are tied uniquely to it. Even without involving magic, any true craftsman puts a tiny bit of themselves into anything they make. The act of creation, of shaping matter to one's will, is no less divine if done via tools and skill than when it is done by magic." The dollmaster smiled softly, "That is not how I would go about it, though you are on the right track, as the essence required must come from you. The power to craft a soul has never been solely in the realm of the gods. Women do it when they conceive for instance, though that isn't an example I've ever tried to see in person. A soul, like anything else, can be crafted by one who has the proper skills."

He paused and eyed Alice for a moment, and the wooden man she'd seen moving earlier slowly and silently crept down the wall, staring with black eyes even as it crept slowly from its perch, head tilted slightly to the side. "Are you one with such skills, Alice?"

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Alice's eyes traced from the man, to the puppet, and back to the man. All the time she was thinking, thinking of what he could mean by his words. Even now, to maintain her doll's movement, she was imparting part of her soul, part of her very being, to keep it hthere. Which wasn't truly giving it life... is it? She had to craft a soul, like the man said, but... how does one even do that? She thought about it as she gazed at the puppet, then back at the dollmaster, "To craft a soul... would it be mostly taking a bit of my own soul, then somehow... somehow growing it? Or modifiying it, so that it is no longer mine... and would be suitable to place into a doll, so that the doll, while being an extension of me... would become a living creature...?" She nods to his second question, "I believe I have the skill to give life to my dolls... and if not, then I will find a way to allow myself to do so!"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 98/108, Status = Fine

In response to her words, Giacomo nodded and beckoned behind him, and the silent doll stepped forward and circled around Alice as if examining her and her doll. "That is the basic theory, yes, but.... It isn't so simple," the dollmaster said smoothly, a soft smile on his face as he watched his creation move. "They would be forever tied to you, but wouldn't require a constant influx of energy like a golem normally would. Manipulating the portion of your own soul, what I've always called "The Seed" is the most difficult part, for such a thing will normally wither if left all on its own."

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

"So... I would want to nuture it, make sure that She looked at her own puppet, and the one that moved around her, "I still don't know how I would do it though, I mean... I suppose I have heard theories way long ago... but what good are theories if there's no method, right?" She ponders for awhile, then offers, "I mean, there's even some that says to have sex with them to give them part of your spirit... but that doesn't make sense... right?" She looks at the puppeteer, "...Right?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 98/108, Status = Fine

"Such isn't necessary, no!" Giacomo scoffed, "That's one way of granting them energy if you don't find a permanent power source, but it's not required, and I wouldn't even know how to enchant them to act like a succubus." He paused a moment and frowned, "What made you think that? Bah, it doesn't matter... To truly give life to a puppet, you require a soul and a source of energy, the former to give it a mind, and the latter to replace the biological systems that we use to maintain life. The source of energy could be you, but it would require constant recharging, and that could likely get tiresome. I tend to use enchanted items to draw in energy from the air, and can teach you how to make such things, though I should warn you that the manner I use requires things that are extremely rare."

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

"Hm...? Oh... ha... haha. .... uh..." Alice stammered, her face turning red as she was told that she was silly for thinking those things, "No... no one, it was just something I was thinking of. Anyway, Yes, if you could teach me how to make such things that could sustain a puppet... without having me constantly resupplying them with a part of myself, I would gladly do whatever it takes to learn!"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

Spoiler

Alice: HP = 40, PP = 42, EP = 98/108, Status = Fine

Giacomo rolled his eyes and made a skeptical noise, but rather than press her further he instead opted to say; "The first part in learning to craft a soul is learning to access the parts of yourself that lie deeper than the parts of your soul that you normally use for your magic. That's fine for simple things, but in order to create a soul and graft it into an artificial body you need more than just energy. Think of the soul as an apple. You have the meat of it, that's your spiritual energy, what you're animating that doll with now, and you have the core, where the essence of what makes you, you, is located. You need to shave off a piece of that in and wrap it in energy if you want to make another soul, but that's not nearly as easy as it sounds. Inventing the technique from scratch took me thirty years." The doll that had been watching Alice tilted its head around until it was literally upside down.

 

[Loli Defense Force]

Re: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Loli Defense Force)

"Make a core that you could wrap a soul around? That would stay indefinately as lon as you need it to..?" Alice looked at the puppet that was watching her, then at the puppeteer, "Thirty years huh... so it would have to be some kind of soul battery... hm... hm... huh..." She thought for several moments, before shaking her head, "I'm drawing a blank here..."