Iconset is a work in progress, but fire away SRWU

[no99]

-1-


[After a long, desperate battle! Over the course of the grueling fight, Suma was apparently injured quite seriously, but was still laughing all the way to the infirmary, from which she is posting now.]

What a glorious battle! What ruthless foes! What fearless comrades! What a time to be alive!

Never in a thousand years have I enjoyed such a brilliant fight. Hundred to one odds, and yet never did we falter. Takes me back to the old days, when battles were fought with blood and blade. Nearly as good as Thermopylae, tonight was. Perhaps this was how those unyielding Spartans felt as they charged to their deaths!

If you're planning to do this again, I hope you wait until I've had a chance to recover, for I'd hate to be giving anything less than my best for it.


-2-


[Immediately following your character getting some kind of mental, spiritual or physical mid-season upgrade, Suma be hunting you down in person.]

Fight me, right now. With or without your machine, I'll accept either. I want to see what you're capable of now.


-3-


[Night owl prompt! Suma's off in some less-often traveled corner of the ship/base, in the dead of night. Somewhere where you can see the stars.]

[She's sitting cross-legged on the floor, and in front of her appears to be a single lit candle. Her eyes are closed and she's speaks softly and slowly, as if reciting some sort of old ritual.]

Ankhesenamun.
Seth-Peribsen.
Mukarramma.
Aquila.
Diocletianus.

[She half-opens her good eye.]

I do know someone's listening. You're not interrupting much.

Comments

[no99]

How cruel you are. Do my many lifetimes of victory not make me worthy of your blade?

[abugslife]

This frame is an antique. What if you put a scratch on it? Think what loss for the local culture that would be. All historians in a 100 km radius would cry.

[Nevermind that she used this antique to beat up bad guys not so long ago.]

[no99]

A sword that never sees battle has no value.

[abugslife]

Quite the opposite. The best sword is one you don't even have to draw.

[no99]

Where's the fun in that? Just get a shiny bauble in the shape of a sword, if that's all you want.

[abugslife]

The sensation when your tactical acumen made the enemies yield without even attempting an attack. When you don't even have to draw a weapon for them to see your superiority. When you crushed their every goal without even raising a finger.

Winning because you're better at smacking people on the head with a stick also feels good, I suppose, but I vastly prefer this.

[no99]

Hoh. There are always people like you somewhere up the ladder, aren't there?

I suppose I'll always be happy to be one of the pawns. Everything feels so much more real in the midst of a life-or-death struggle.

[abugslife]

Pawns? Don't get me wrong. Our leaders always lead the charge, and I am no exception. Every battle I fought, I fought together with my loyal soldiers.

This is one of the reasons I prefer tactics that minimize their chances of dying horribly.

[no99]

Not one to send your underlings into the meat grinder in the same of victory?

[abugslife]

They're living people with their own dreams and feelings. They're not just pieces on a board. If I send them to the meat grinder, it is only because there was no better option. And I will be among them when that happens.

Besides, wasting soldiers is bad strategy. They don't grow on trees.

[no99]

Soldiers may as well. There's always one more person with a grudge and a sword willing to fill the ranks.

Good soldiers, now, there you may have a point.

[abugslife]

Warriors require proper training. A grudge and a sword alone don't make you a soldier, just a desperate fool with a death wish.

[no99]

Enough desperate fools with death wishes can turn the tide of a war.

some canon backstory that's not on the journal yet incoming

[abugslife]

The Anti-Human Party, with its superior numbers, would most certainly agree.

This is yet another reason not to waste your soldiers needlessly. Smaller numbers, when backed by tactics and champions fighting witt the might of a dozen soldiers each, can guarantee victory over a much more numerous opponent!

[no99]

Ha! Your words are wisdom. I'd gladly follow you into battle.

I'd still like to fight you myself, too.

[abugslife]

My stance on the Crab Frame won't change, though. Think of the historians.

[no99]

To hell with the historians.

[abugslife]

That counts as thinking.

Are you sure disregarding history is a good idea, though? You are a part of it, after all.

[no99]

History happens all the same, whether it's recorded or not. Historians are, for the most part, a mess of arrogant fools and liars.

[abugslife]

What a pity. A historian's duty, as a scholar, is to discover, preserve and teach history as accurately as possible, without any misconceptions or biases. To quote an Earthling phrase: those who forget about the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat it!

It seems most of the ones you met need to shape up.