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Chapter 2 - Modulated Prowess, Update 4

An update where nothing happens, really.

Update Log

Peridot leaned back on her chair, looking at the footage that she gathered from Lapis, Amethyst, and Ruby. Her eyes felt heavy and her back like jelly, with gravity getting the better of her as she slid down her seat. Peridot's trip to the floor was short-lived, though, as the doors to the computer room opened with a rather aggressive *WHOOOSH!*

   —Yo —almost automatically, Peridot straightened up on her seat, even though she didn't actually have to since wasn’t really responding to anyone anymore—. Wassup?

   —Nothing, um... —Peridot looked out of the corner of her eye, seeing Tourmaline as the trigger in her reflex act— You.

   —Still on that?

   —Well, since we have to work on that whole non-combat purposes thing, I've been squinting my eyes in front of these screens trying to come up with something but, ahhhhh!

   —Maybe you just need a fresh set of eyes? —Tourmaline said as she took a seat next to Peridot—. What can they do?

   —Well Amethyst just has a gun for a hand, and that's pretty meh in my opinion. Lapis can fly without sprouting wings... somehow. And Ruby... tries her best, I guess.

   —Maybe you should focus less on the action and more on the data.

   —Computer’s compiling all that I gathered. It should take a while to come out with something of readable.

   —Y’sure you're not just procrastinating?

   —Well you can't prove a damn thing, can you? —with those words, Peridot slumped on her chair until her back hit the bottom of the seat.

 As Tourmaline playfully ran her fingers through Peridot's hair, the doors slid-open once again. Alexandrite then entered the computer room, the expression on her face denoted that she had forgot what she entered the room for.

   —Yo —Tourmaline greeted the newly arrived gem.

   —Hey —Alexandrite responded the greeting with her usual vacant face and voice.

   —How’s it going in your side of the field? —Peridot asked.

  —It’s going...

  —Interestingly, I suppose. How about you guys?

   —I’m processing some data here. Should finish any minute now.

   —And what's the data about?

   —Uh... Energy output, some electromagnetic crap, the stress that the modulators endure during use... Stuff like that.

   —Neat. How about you?

   —Well, there's some interesting stuff that Topaz and Carnelian can do. And I suppose I should look into all of those things that Peridot's analyzing, also —as Tourmaline said those words, Alexandrite took a seat next to them—. So, what then? What should we do after all of that?

   —Well, the gist of this sort of thing is always testing, then data analysis, then testing again, then data analysis, then data analysis, and oh god, data analysis —and as the realization her desk job position started to crept into her mind, the green gem started to scream and moan in despair, sliding off her seat in process and hitting the back of her head with it—. Aw, shit!

   —So... Anyone wanna switch before being burnt out? —Alexandrite asked.

   —Switch? No. Hell no —Tourmaline said, deadpan.

   —I’ll gladly switch. I had enough of Amethyst, to be honest —Peridot got off the ground and stretched her back before returning to her seat—. Ahhhhh!!! So, what you got?

Alexandrite took out her PDA from one of her lab coat's pockets and synched it to the computer Peridot was using. After some browsing, a video started playing in the screen in front of them.

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   —Well, Wulfenite, this time I added twenty more kilograms to the pile —Alexandrite said while checking some stuff in her PDA—. Ready when you are.

Wulfenite stared at the pile of ingots with nary a word. Her mind was hazy and, since she wasn't fully used to her new body, she couldn't describe what she was physically feeling right now. Still, Alexandrite showed a whole lot of patience and support in this whole ordeal, so she felt more than free to take her time.

    —Huh, interesting... —Alexandrite said, referring to something that was showing on her PDA—. Okay, Wulfenite, lift that up around five meters more.

 Wulfenite could not be bothered with this “meters” shit right now but whatever.

 The strain on her body was more than apparent, and her face described nothing more than defeat. But Wulfenite was determined, thing that was key to her own demise more often than not. Alexandrite, meanwhile, had that “yes, yes. Of course” look on face while reading some data off her PDA, but only more absent-minded and dull.

   —Wulfenite, I would now like you to lift the weight above your head.

 As Wulfenite did like so, she started to make all sorts of moans and noises, sometimes of terror and sometimes pitiful. Even though the effort was only mental, her legs and arms shook like jelly, phasing like faulty holograms while her modulator spewed lightning and spun slightly in her own axis.

   —Hey... C--can I stop? Is... is this enough?

   —Yes, you’re doing great, Wulfenite. But before you put that down I would like for you to lift it as high as you can.

 The strain was getting overwhelming, but Wulfenite was filled with determination. Putting her all into it, Wulfenite clenched her muscles hard and...

  —HYYYAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 For a moment the whole room was in peace, serene, like the calm before the storm. And that's where the build-up ends because before I could even think of a follow-up Wulfenite's body collapsed into her modulator and bolted away with a sudden electric shock.

Needless to say, when the weights felled to the ground it was hecking loud.

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   —Huh. And what happens next? —Peridot asked.

   —Actually, that was the latest video. If I were to show you anything else about Wulfenite it would be a progressively disappointing montage of her lifting less and less weight over time.

   —And, um, eh, how-how about Jasper and Emerald? What about them?

   —Well, their modulators enhance the strength and speed of the average of their gem about three to five times. Now, if I wanted to optimize them to their fullest, I would have to make a digital simulator of their circuit boards and synch it to the real things so I can see the trends and usage behavior more closely and ahhhhh... I don't wanna do that. Let’s talk something else.

   —Well, what else is there to talk about? Although... Didn't four of your modulators survived? Which was the fourth one?

   —Uh, it was Sapphire's.

   —Yeah? And how's Sapphire?

  —It’s a work in progress. And how about you, Tourmaline? —Alexandrite asked as she saw the gem fiddling away at her PDA—. Anything interesting to report?

   —As a matter of fact, yes! Yes, I do.

 After some more fiddling away, the computer's screen started to show footage of Topaz spinning about as an unstable ball of light, featuring Carnelian skating from time to time.

   —That’s a whole lot of lightning —Peridot said.

   —It’s a whole lot of Topaz that I shoved into the modulator.

   —Well that's neat. And what about Bismuth? —Alexandrite asked.

   —Uh... Yeah, y'know? What about Bismuth?

   —Haven't got around it, I see. And got any plans to take advantage of Topaz's excess of energy?

   —Well, first I need to know how much energy is wasted and how it behaves inside the modulator. And for that I would need to... Wait, I have to do your thing too?! Aw, come on!

 Tourmaline slumped on her seat as the room felled silent for a couple seconds.

   —Well, I'm gonna see Bismuth.

   —Bye.

   —Have fun.

[sillicaterhombus-blog]

Chapter 1 – Modulated Prowess, Update 3

(Now that I think about it, posting images with text is pretty fucking stupid.)

After a couple of watches all of Topaz's footage was stock, just a dumb gem in some flashy pants. Tourmaline's frown only went on to be more and more pronounced as the seconds went on (mostly due to that she was an all-around joyless gem, rather than outright boredom or anger), looking carefully in her tablet at the way Topaz's body of light changed each time she used it to propel her modulator.

And while Tourmaline diligently worked, Topaz, our man of the hour, sat quietly, not too far into the room's battle arena. But rather than that being the sad picture of a lonely person sitting all by itself, it was actually the sad picture of two lonely persons sitting all by themselves.

While the yellow gem was vacantly staring at the floor, Carnelian, that other gem, was wasting away fidgeting with her PDA. No gem dared to speak to the other, out of sheer ineptitude, of course. While Topaz was too shy to say hi or to whip out her own PDA to dick around (that would require for her to take off her modulator, which would be quite the troublesome endeavor), Carnelian was too insecure to show her whatever crap she was browsing in fear that their senses of humor didn't match.

 That didn't last long, however, as Tourmaline walked towards the pair, tablet in hand.

   —All right, Topaz. For starters I'd like for you to propel, uh... just about anywhere that isn't my face.

   —Propel?

   —Yeah, y'know. That thing you do that... —Tourmaline turned to her tabled, moving her fingers left and right until she found a decent piece of exemplifying footage—. You know. This.

  —Oh! That. Okay. Um, could--could you take a couple steps back?

   —Ah? What? Sure —without any hesitation, Carnelian ran to Tourmaline's side.

 And now we wait for Topaz to do it.

She gon’ do it, yo.

Look at that! She gon’ do it! She’s gonna do it!

   —Um, could you please not stare at me like that?

   —Well I'm sorry, Topaz, but this is the only face I have.

   —Y--yeah, but--

   —Besides, scientific experimentation requires a great deal of attention to detail, so me “staring like this” at you it's simply unavoidable.

 To Tourmaline, Topaz just didn't seem convinced at all. Or maybe she just felt that way because she didn't know that Topaz just looked that sorry all the time.

   —Look, I know that stage fright is a thing... and that's it. That's all I can say to you, really. Besides, what would happen if you failed, anyway? We’ll probably just chuckle at it for a second and that's it. So, put on your A-face and...  get your game on... Fuck! ...Just do it, already!

  —Come on, don't be shy! We're all learning here, after all.

  —That’s the spirit!

 The social pressure was just too much for Topaz, who after a little more dabbling got again into position.

There we go! Atta girl.

   —There we go! Atta girl. Now, if you could just repeat that a couple more times.

 After botching her landing (by slipping on her blades) and grunting in pain on the floor, Topaz said:

   —Huh? What for?

   —You really don’t know anything about the scientific method, do you?

 She didn't.

 Anyway, Modulated Topaz's Flying Circus went on a wee bit more than “a couple more times.” More than enough time in fact for Carnelian to question why she was even there in the first place.

   —So, hey, are we gonna watch Topaz do that all day? ‘Cause if so, then why am I even here?

   —Just hold on a sec. I just wanted to see how she went about like that in person. Honestly? I thought it would be a little more impressive —Tourmaline meant that with way less disdain than the plaintext would imply—. All right, Topaz, you can stop now.

 The legless girl was more than happy to oblige, botching the landing of her somersault once again, this time as a sign of relief, however. After noting whatever on her tablet, Tourmaline then turned to the other legless girl in the room.

   —All right, you. That thing with the energy skates. I wanna see that now.

   —Energy ska...? —Carnelian’s head clicked in record time—. Oh! Okay.

 Carnelian walked some distance between her and the other two gems. Then she did a quarter squat, put the face of a middle squat, and started to make the grunts of a full squat. It was only when she did like so that red lightning started to flow through her metal shins, with red smoke and fire coming out from under the soles of her feet. The amount of pyrotechnics only grew and grew until...

*BOOM!*

 After a small explosion that lifted Carnelian a couple of dozens of centimeters in the air, she then regained contact with the ground via a couple of red energy balls that appeared under her metal feet.

 Tourmaline could not contain her excitement about Carnelian’s ability, her pupils shamelessly dilating and all that. She then crouched next to Carnelian as to get a better look of those crimson orbs. The energy skates glowed and flashed rather violently, with lightning coming out even after the fanfare needed to summon them. Like every other smart person would, Tourmaline grabbed her tablet's stylus and po--

   —Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!

   —Well Imma poke that, of course. What do you think I'm doing?

   —Well don’t do that!

   —Why not?

   —Well haven’t you seen in your dumb videos that these things explode when pierced?!

   —They do?

   —Yes!

 Tourmaline stood up and walked to Topaz's side. She then looked at a couple of things on her tablet. And then she whipped out a gun from her gem and shoot at Carnelian's energy skates.

  —Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

  —? —Topaz made the sound that question marks make—. What was that for?

   —Just wanted to verify if her statement was correct or if the skates only exploded out of fear. And I'm pretty sure my gunslinging was fast enough to not to trigger the explosion out of fear.

   —Oh. And how do you know that the gun's noise didn't startle her?

   —Oh, come on. Does this startle you?

 Tourmaline pointed her plasma gun towards the nothingness and started to shoot, a sci-fi sounding *PCHOOO!* accompanying each pull of the trigger. The noise was not louder than that of a door slamming shut and, um, I really have no idea where I'm going with this, but the point is that Topaz ultimately agreed with Tourmaline.

 With the red smoke gone, Carnelian incorporated herself as she put herself in all fours. She communicated her displeasure for the previous events by looking and sounding like this:

  —AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

  —All right, Carnelian. I now need for you to make those energy skates again.

 The gem’s inherent duty to comply to a superior vastly superseded her blinding rage, so she did what she was told at breakneck speed (she still went all like AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! while doing so, however.)

 After some testing of the technique, which was mostly about Tourmaline telling Carnelian to go from here to there, Tourmaline decided that she knew all she needed to know for now and called Topaz to her side.

   —All right, Topaz. Remember those times when you did, uh... this?

  —Mmmm... No.

  —Well, it doesn’t matter. Now, did you see how Carnelian moved on her energy skates?

  —No.

 Tourmaline took a faux breath.

  —Okay, so. I want you to collapse your body into a ball of light and move around the room a little bit. Try opening or leaning your legs in a direction as for you to move, just like Carnelian di--and you just told me you weren’t paying attention, godda--

   — N-no! It’s okay. I got what you were trying to say.

   — You sure?

 Topaz nodded, albeit a bit unsure.

   —Okay.

Without saying a word, Topaz put her hands on the ground, making a handstand. Doubt was apparent on her face for a few moments before her body of light started to slowly spin and spin until she looked like some sort of glowy novelty table.

  —All right! Can you go a little faster?

 Topaz obliged with an unstated mood. The whirling sound of metal and electricity started to get louder and louder with each increasing revolution.

   —Sweet! Now, start moving!

 Topaz tangential and rotational speed remained unchanged. Misinterpreting it as her simply not listening, Tourmaline started to yell at her the instructions, with more intensity being built up between each consecutive shout. The spinning top that was Topaz started to wobble and lose balance until her butt was once again against the ground, the sound of metal crashing echoing through the room.

   —Aw, c'mon! What happened?!

   —Don’t yell at me! I can't see anything while doing that, I was scared!

   —Scare--?! Why would you--??

  —Ummmm. Y'know what? Forget it. Just... just do the thing again. All right?

 Topaz stared idly at the ground before complying. As the yellow gem started again to spin, Tourmaline compared notes in her tablet to what was happening in front of her eyes. As speed started to build up again and lightning to lash out, a vague notion appeared in Tourmaline’s mind--a growing grin accompanying that. With literally zero previous conscious thought, Tourmaline whipped out her gun and--

OH, SHIT!!!

[sillicaterhombus-blog]

Modulated Prowess, Update 2

War veteran beats blind woman with a stick

Update Log

*Modulated Prowess, Update 1

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Modulated Prowess, Update 1

Radical change in format since comics is hard and I’m a quitter and a hack. Here’s the first story update ever transformed into text.

Update Log

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Modulated Prowess - Update 1 - Part 3 (of 3)

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Modulated Prowess - Update 1 -Part 2

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Modulated Prowess - Update 1 - Part 1

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So I’m not dead yet (Unfortunately)

I was just eating shit elsewhere.

Ever got told or felt that you got into something way to late? I have, but I’ve never let that bum me out in any considerable way.

NOW GUESS WHAT NEWS HAS SHAKEN THIS PREPOSTEROUS WEBSITE TO ITS CORE RECENTLY!

Well, just like that the website seems to have gotten more and more empty as days go by, with pretty much the only constant being posts about the artists I follow other social media (which I thank a lot, given that I made my other tumblr only about a month ago, and only to be in the mother lode of fan art about shows I love).

Needless to say I was very let down, and just like that my love for making this shitpost abomintaion went to negative levels very fast (not that it matters much, given that I make this out of boredom. Mostly), but only for a moment. In my emotional sopor I started to question my plans for the comic: initially the first three issues where going to be a proof-of-concept kinda thing. Introducing the modulators, their abilities, their users, their makers, and a bit of context about the universe in which takes place, as well as spitting in the source material’s face about cetain things that were already set in stone as fixed point in the lore. Since Issue 2 seemed that it was going a bit longer than Issue 1′s 80 pages, and Issue 3 was set to be way longer than that anyway, I just didn’t felt like keep on working on an on-going graveyard. So, what merits this godawful wall of text then?

Well that easy: screw the proof-of-concept issues!

Meet the actual cast! The assault to the senses above is the first page of the story proper. Before I thought of making the skip I thought about going with a Homestuckesque combination of text and images, but given that I have more than enough experience with my own writing to know that I would wound up hating it by the reread, and since stylistically sucky artwork is more easily comprehensible that stylistically sucky writing, I decided to stick with the comic form, which I guess it now needs a new forever home.

But which site will get the dishonor to have its goregous art pool polluted by me? I dunno. I have seen some options, but nothing convinces me fully. In the meantime, updates will keep coming up here, just as slowly and as shitty the MS Paint program allows me to be.

Until the next time, feel free to yell at me in full caps here, since I only enter here to dump my trash, like a turtle laying her eggs.

[sillicaterhombus-blog]

Dumb-ass piece of shit doen’s quite fit up there.

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Update 4.5 Trying something new

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Update 4.0 Trying something new

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More grayscaling (featuring yellow and purple)

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Look upon my attempts at grayscaling, mighty artists, and despair.

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Didn’t felt like making the full 80-ish page thing so I’ll just upload as I go this issue. This time the SU tag’s art quality will be dilluted by Hessonite’s amazing size-shifting chair (amongst the many other quality issues this comic has already).

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Update 7, 2/2 And here’s our punchline. Well, folks, that’s all for now. Expect issue 2 sometime this lifetime.

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Update 7, 1/2

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Update 6, 2/2.