"Ah...hello, my precious little Student. I am rather busy, so if we could make this quick?..."
"Livia Fiore, my dear." Name: Livia Fiore
"Headmistress Fiore will do just fine." Nicknames/Titles: Lady Fiore.
"My, how rude. Let's just say I'm still young enough to do everything you think about~" Age: ?? (Presumably somewhere in her late 30's, 40's or early 50's. No one really knows, honestly. Still manages to look in her early 30's regardless)
"My my, what an odd question. I am definitely female~" Gender: Female
"Aha, I am a funny little human...probably~" Race: Human?
"My, you're not asking me out on a date, are you?" Sexuality: Bisexual.
"My magic? Well...now now, a good magician never reveals her secrets." Magic: ???
Arthur was wet, and tired, but also rather proud. He sat in his house, a simple little affair on the outskirts of the town. He had returned there after escorting Roux to her own home. Arthur sat in his chair, the good one. It was a nice chair, a leather rolling chair. Sadly it was a rolling chair, and very easily toppled over when Arthur leaned back too far. he had good balance, but spooky black spirits rising from the floorboards tend to counteract that.
While Arthur was righting himself and his chair the spirit, Livia's it made clear, passed Arthur a letter before returning to the ground below. Arthur sat himself again and tore open the piece of parchment before reading the paper within. It was a very formal request for his presence, which could only mean that Arthur had done something wrong. No doubt she knew what had happened half an hour prior, could Arthur do anything without someboby knowing? And he had just changed into these nice dry clothes, if only there was a way to get to the Headmistresses office without stepping into the rain. And after thinking about it for a moment, Arthur was gone.
Standing outside the door, he gave three solid knocks.
The door opened by itself, allowing Arthur access to her office. It looked the same as it always did. Except for the chair that was sitting in front of her desk. As soon as Arthur would enter, the door would firmly shut behind him, likely the work of more of her watcher spirits. Livia herself, was sitting behind her desk reading a book about ancient Norse culture. Likely about something Sorcha had recommended.
“Ah, Arthur. Glad you could make it in such a timely fashion.” She greeted him with a friendly tone. “Take a seat, if you don’t mind.”
Arthur walked up to the desk and sat himself down in the chair. It was a rather nice chair all considering, not as good as the one Arthur had been relaxing in a few minutes prior but perhaps that was just the atmosphere. "How's your day going?" Arthur asked almost jokingly.
“Well, it was going wonderful.” Livia replied with a sigh. "Such a lovely day today, I think. A little rain is always good for people. I was dearly looking forward to it ending on a good note. Sorcha and I had just finished have a rather nice dinner with some very exquisite wine she had been saving.” She closed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair to get comfortable. “Really, I was hoping to end it on a high note. But…well…what do you know. One of my darling little spirits alerted me that you were doing something to my little roux.”
She opened an eye, and suddenly the room would seem to grow colder for Arthur.
“Tell me…what was your intention? Telling a frightened girl like her that anger and rage is a good thing. Are you completely out of your mind? Or did you drown it with so much alcohol before you cleaned your life up that you can’t think of the long term ramifications of your actions?” Her voice was calm and even, but sharp as an ice pick. It was easy to tell she wasn't pleased.
Well, Arthur couldn't say he didn't know this was coming. Then again, Arthur has been teaching at this school for nearly a decade now, how could the headmistress not already have at least a basic understanding of his teaching methods? Regardless, "My intention. A wonderful question. My intentions were to spark a fire. If I may ask a question in return headmistress? How do you build a fire?"
“Oh? You start a fire with a match if I’ve been doing it right all these years.” She coolly replied. “I am well aware of your method of teaching fire. Using anger to create a spark. It is not something I approve of, but it has worked well so far and I have no place to comment on someone’s path to their own power even if I have seen a much better method for Pyromancy.” She continued, closing her one eye again with a sigh. “That, is not why you are currently sitting before me on the verge of losing your job. Perhaps you’d like to take a guess as to the actual reason?”
"Is it because that cake was so good last week that you'd like to make a large order?" Arthur said without thought.
Livia simply frowned.
“People in your precarious position do not get to make jokes, Mr. Wick” She emphasized his last name with a harsh tone. In all her years of knowing him, this was probably the first time she actually used his last name.
Arthur simply smiled.
"I find that people in my postion should make jokes more often, Lady Fiore." He replied. "Of course, I do value my job, and have clearly shown that I'm not good at guessing games. I would like to know why exactly I'm sitting here madam."
Livia fixed him with a cool, still clearly displeased gaze as she leaned forward in her seat, resting a hand on her desk as she ignored his obviously antagonistic comment.
“Among other things, you do not think about the long term ramifications of your actions. That is the reason you are currently sitting here.”
Arthur, in turn, leaned back in his seat. Casually, he said, "And what are those ramifications? If you think that I'm going to let little red become an inferno of pent up anger then perhaps you need to spy on more then just the first lesson madam."
“So you did think about it, and you did it anyways. You even told her she’s a powerful creature that was revered as a goddess at the same exact time.” Her voice took a slightly dangerous tone as she spoke. “That’s not helping your situation, Mr. Wick. Tell me…what do you think a frightened child who has been abused most of her life could do if she’s told she’s something people consider a powerful goddess on the same day she’s told anger is a good thing, hmm?”
Arthur took a moment to think before saying, "A lot of things. Burn down buildings, perhaps even cities. Maybe even give some militaries a run for their money if she's a quick learner. That's why I'm going to watch her, and train her. Because anger can be a good thing. Kept in check."
“Anger,” Livia’s voice was low. “Is never a good thing, Mr. Wick. It does nothing more than blind a person. A fire started with such emotions burns hot, but it will inevitably burn everything, even the user itself and their comrades no matter how good they are.” She fixed him with a cold gaze. “Have you ever thought, that the reason your comrades died to the dragon, was because of you and your weak flames fueled by such a petty emotion?”
Arthur sat there, quiet. Deathly so. In fact, his inner voice pointed out that it had been years since he was so quiet. He mentally told that voice to be quiet, because of course commenting on it ruined the quietness. "You should know how much I would enjoy burning this office to the ground. I wouldn't stop afterwards. I would proceed to burn every single thing I came across until there was nothing left." A deep sigh. "Perhaps if I had not known Ethan I would do that. But I know what happens when you act with nothing but anger in your soul. I know too well what happens when someone gets angry."
If Arthur had actually attempted to burn her office, she’d have killed him before he could have even taken a step. Or Gall would have, the moment he sensed danger at all. However, instead she simply sighed and leaned back in her seat, resting her arms on the armrests.
“Then why do you insist on using it? Pyromancy is tied very closely to ones emotions. There are other emotions one could use to fuel it. To…ignite it. And if you do not believe me, then I can only assume you drowned your brain too much with alcohol to consider or think about.” She sighed again, shaking her head. This was pointless and getting them nowhere.
“At any rate,” She began her voice returning from its cold tone to a more neutral one. “Because of your insolent behavior, you are no longer permitted to be alone with my little roux. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Wick? I will be present at any more training sessions, and you will discuss everything you will be telling or teaching her beforehand. And if I find out that you have disobeyed me in any way…” The door to her office creaked open, making it obvious that she was done discussing this.
“You’ll lose more than just your job. Do I make myself clear?”
Arthur weighed his options. Standing, he walking over to the door, holding it open to step out. But not before turning his head back towards Livia, "So she's your little Roux now? That's an interesting train of thought." And before anything more could be said Arthur stepped out, closing the door behind him.
Livia simply frowned, a small snarl actually forming on her lips as he left. She truly did have such high hopes for him. She actually in fact sort of liked him, and now he had gone and blew it. Livia stood, and poured herself a glass of wine as she walked over to a bookshelf and removed a book from it. If anyone else were to attempt to come in, they would find the door locked and completely immobile. From now until Arthur retired, he’d be constantly watched by one of her spirits.
There was no way he was getting around that.
"Mind the books. I won't be having any out of place."
Name: Gall
Nicknames/Titles: The Librarian.
Age: 300
Gender: Male
Race: Lich/Reaper
Sexuality: Is a skeleton. So....
Abilities/Magic: Has shown to be rather adept with Circum magic. Most notably, he stores his scythe in a pocket dimension. Presumably good with Sanctus magic as well.
Catalyst: His scythe, in fact is his catalyst.
Inventory: Scythe. Robes. Various books.
Personality Rather taciturn, but surprisingly friendly. He offers very good advice for any who asks. As long as you don't mess with his books.
Biography He doesn't talk much about his past, but he often mentions Headmistress Livia in a friendly and fond manner. In fact, it's well known he is her familiar.
Meredith stands around 5'7". however, this tends to fluctuate depending on her mood and if she needs to be a tad bit taller to reach something.
Name: Meredith Hillard
Nicknames/Titles: Nurse Hillard
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Sexuality: Pansexual
Magic: Meredith is a fairly decent Alchemist, and Immuto mage. She can fix even the most severe of wounds, even bringing people back from the brink of death if she has too. Of course, such a thing is difficult, and if she finds you having too many trips to the infirmary, she's going to...well, just don't get injured a lot.
Catalyst: ??
Inventory: -Various vials -Dissecting Knives -scissors -Usually has some sticks of celery or other fruits stashed on her somewhere. -Syringes
Personality: Generally friendly and upbeat, though somewhat odd. Talks to herself a lot.
The Closet A Small, Compact room on the lowest floor of the building. Only a 10' by 6' room, it is a test in compact living! Dominated mostly by a queen size bed, it features a single bedside table with drawers and a single desk for added comfort! Occupying some of the precious headspace are added bookshelves for convenience! It has a single bathroom to the side with a combination shower/bathtub!
The Library A Large Room, palace like in dimensions! Book lovers seem to enjoy this place, so expect to exchange plenty of knowledge. Your three individual 10'x5' rooms were actually once the study lounges for small groups! Isn't that exciting?
Expanded bathrooms have been added on for livability! Your living room is the expansive library itself!
Notice: You can't lock any of the doors, either to your own room or to the library itself. Sorry, it's the dorm's local library. They should be quiet when studying out in your living room, however. Your bedrooms are directly adjacent to each other though, so if you need help I'm sure you can find it.
P.S. The Grim Reaper may come by periodically to check on the books! Don't worry, he's friendly!
Also, a runed man may come by periodically and organize the books. He's pretty cool, and knows a lot about the ins and outs of the school.
The Tower A tall multileveled structure, with large circular rooms on each floor. It has at least a 20 foot radius, so you should have plenty of room for everything you need.
There's a chance of precipitation occurring in each of your rooms and even the kitchen, and static shocks from metallic or furry objects aren't too dangerous.
No, you can't go to the top. The upper half of the tower is restricted, and ignore any loud growling or roars that come from up there. There isn't a monster up there waiting to eat you. Pinky Promise. Anyways, there's no apparent way up there aside from a window on the outside.
Notes: Yes, only those with demonic blood go here. We figured we should 'raise' you from the hell you live in! Get it? Yeah it was a bad joke.
Take a Goblin while you are at it.
Bunk Beds A single large room with 2 bunk beds, 2 bathrooms, and a small sitting area where you could easily add a TV or play games. Really, nothing is up with this dorm.
Note: We removed a certain filter for the randomization process. Oh well!
The Garden Not happy with your life? Feeling cut off by the technology of the modern world? Fear not! This large treehouse outside features 4 individual rooms along with a large well stocked kitchen. The ladder outside can only be lowered from one up above, allowing you to cut off even the most insistent of grounded invaders!
Surrounding your little castle you'll find tall, lush hedges as walls to keep off prying eyes (And an ornate steel gate to prevent entry)! Large gardens twist and turn on the inside leading to a private hot spring for taking baths, a patio perfect for a secluded date (including a BBQ pit), and even a few trees with hammocks for reading outdoors! (Other attractions may randomly appear)
The kitchen however runs based on a well ventilated fire pit. There isn't a shower on the inside. You've probably realized it by now, but there isn't running water or electricity here. We ARE working on that, promise.
Note: The refrigerator and freezer are magically run, and spirits will come by weekly to collect your laundry hampers and return your clean clothes.
The Dungeon: No, not that kind of dungeon you perv
Actually located under the dorm, this multi-roomed area seems to have once been part of an old castle. It has narrow hallways, but the rooms are surprisingly large, and fully furnished with everything a person could need.
A bit on the cold side, since it's underground. Ignore the old, rusty, shackles on the walls and the ghostly wailing that you can hear sometimes. Look out for secret passages!
Also, the school nurse seems to come by every so often.
The Prototype Congratulations lucky student! You've been chosen to participate in the trial run of one of the first Montagne's next generation efficiency SMARTDormTM
Do to the success of our Closet rooms, we have decided to expand on the concept. Thus, the SMARTDormTM. The Prototype is outfitted with the cutting edge in Comfort Living technology.
Please note, that SMARTDormTM is currently still in its Alpha build. Bugs are to be expected, and features may be changed at any time. By accepting this room assignment, YOU, hereby known as "Test Subject", acknowledge and accept that Montagne Academy is not responsible for any harm that may occur during the tenant's stay, including, but not limited to: spontaneous fire, leaking, electrical shocks, parasitic nanomachine infestation, death by sentient A.I, SKYNET, assimilation into the Borg, roommate replaced with a Cylon.........
+Touchless Doors! Our data shows that students aren't fond of door knobs, and remembering which way a door swings open is too difficult, so we took those out! These doors slide right into the wall when passage is required! Locks coming soon! probably...
+Efficiency Tubes! Beds and showers didn't do so well in our focus groups either. Dorm beds have traditionally been too lumpy, and without fail leave the student still feeling tired when they wake up. So, instead, we have implemented a number of transparent, cylindrical stasis chambers. Simply dial in the desired length of sleep (up to eight hours), step inside, and be suspended in a gravity-free environment in which the body will enter a short, sleep-like state. Finally, one can experience all the pleasure of sleeping on a lumpy dorm mattress without having to sacrifice living space! Currently leaves the occupant extremely hungry upon exiting stasis, but we're working on a fix for that. Coming soon!
And as an added bonus, these tubes can also serve as shower stalls. Simply toggle the Efficiency Tube from Slumber Mode to Shower mode, dial in the preferred water temperature, and experience a lovely shower without all the hassle of going all the way to a bathroom. Currently only supports a full rinse cycle followed by a quick drying cycle. Shower temperatures only available in scalding hot or ice cold. More shower options coming soon! Privacy mode also coming soon! probably...
Two on each wall.
+Two toilet closets. It's just a toilet. In a closet. We're not made of money here, people, and magic can only go so far. One on each wall, separating the tubes.
+Entertainment Glass! One large floor to ceiling window on the far side of the dorm. Have the perfect view of campus! Or, if nature isn't your jam, the window acts as a giant monitor, perfect for getting a truly cinematic experience when watching movies or playing video games. Privacy tinting currently unavailable.
+Four beanbag chairs! One in red, blue, green, and yellow, these chairs arranged in front of Entertainment Glass offer the best in butt containment. Now including built in seat warmer. Use of seat warmer not advised.
+SEBASTIAN! Inspired by Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, SEBASTIAN serves as personal assistant to SMARTDormTM tenants. He can control every aspect of SMARTDormTM, climate control, access the internet, make phone calls, the whole shebang. Based off a snarky British butler totally not like Ironman's JARVIS. Which we totally didn't rip off. Please don't sue us, Disney, who is tasked with ensuring the tenants receive the best possible education. Currently a little bit buggy, SEBASTIAN may be just a taaaaaaad overbearing and possibly sentient and obsessive. and possessive.
PLEASE DISREGARD THAT MINDLESS DRIVEL, SIR. SEBASTIAN IS PERFORMING AT OPTIMUM EFFICIENCY. ONLY THE BEST FOR THE YOUNG MASTERS.
Lyssa stands at a respectable 5'6". She has two sharp horns growing out of her forehead, and two medium sized bat like wings on her back accompanied by a long, slender spaded tail. She has a pale complexion, and bright blue eyes. Most of the time she wears a black and white dress. As far as attractiveness goes, most would probably find her quite attractive.
"Hey hey! You, new person! Wanna come back to my place and do something fun? I got this new thingy I wanna try! I'm not takin' no for an answer either!~"
"Lyssa Nemo...nemorinne! Gah, my last name is a mouthfull. Just call my Lys!~" Name: Lyssa Nemorienne
"16 years of age! Old enough now that the fun police won't follow me everywhere!~" Age: 16
"Feeemale!~" Gender: Female
"About as adorably demonic as they get!~" Race: Demon
"I give free hugs to everyone!~" Sexuality: Pansexual
Magic: Alchemy: Deconstruction To put simply, this is the deconstruction of elements using Alchemy. By understanding an items composition, she can break the bonds between the elements, turning anything the magic touches into nothing more than useless scrap. Of course, she has to understand what exactly it is she's deconstructing for it to work. In retrospect, this magic has quite a few drawbacks. Especially considering she has to rely on her own physical abilities a lot of the time.
For example, breaking the bonds in water, creating Oxygen and Hydrogen. A pure element such as Iron, all she has to do is break the bonds between the iron particles themselves, and it'll turn them into small scraps.
Strengths: Once something's destroyed, it's destroyed almost instantly becoming little more than useless hunks of scrap in the process. A single touch is all it will take, and if she can get the composition right, then the item basically becomes useless. She could effectively kill a human with a touch if she so desired. It'd take longer to break down more complex organisms, and she'd have to do it for awhile, but you can bet you'd be hurting - most likely internal bleeding and a few other broken things.
As long as she's touching something, she can send magic along it to reach the area around a target at range.
Weaknesses: Despite how effective the magic is at destroying, it has a lot of weaknesses. Such as being close enough to touch whatever it is you want to destroy. (Or at least, she has yet to discover a way to make her abilities work at range.) Secondly, against another Alchemist, it'd be a bit of a hassle, considering they could just remake whatever she had destroyed if given time.
Third, against things like fire, and other things it'd be difficult to defend against. She'd have to use her creativity here to her advantage.
She likes to think her martial training makes up for a bit these setbacks, however.
Catalyst: N/A
Other Skills: Lyssa is fairly strong, despite her cute and cuddly appearance. She practices martial arts daily, and is easily fairly good at it. Perhaps no the best, but she could give most people a run for their money.
Inventory: Aside from various sweets, not much.
"Come ooon!~ I'll shower you with cuddles and affection!~ Pleeeease?" Familiar: N/A
Pesonality: If one would describe Lys, it's an unending bundle of energy and friendliness. Indeed, she never seems to tire and ends something with just as much energy as she started it with. She likes meeting new people, and loves hanging out with others. An all around people person, some might say. She'll be the first to befriend the new kid at at school...and also the first to steal any sweets you might have.
A bit of a nerd as well, loves playing video games and super heroes and stuff.
She tends to shy away from violence and conflict, but if she must she will end it as swiftly as she can. Her magic, which deconstructs elements can end things quite easily, if she has too.
Ah, and she can say some...odd things sometimes. Don't read too much into them.
And despite her lazy nature towards her studies, she's not unintelligent. She's quite resourceful, most of the time, and can probably recite the periodic table backwards and forwards.
Backstory:
Her history is rather mundane. Her parents were rather normal people, who both attended Montagne themselves. Her mother was an Alchemy mage, and her father was a Prima mage - though he never had much love for magic, instead focusing on martial pursuits, and combining his magic with them. She herself, grew fascinated by magic as well and started attempting to learn Alchemy. Her father though, also made sure she received proper physical and martial training as well. No child of his was going to study silly magic and let their bodies waste away.
Even now, she still practices, though she doesn't really put much emphasis on it when she's at Montange, instead focusing more on the magic aspects of her abilities.
Sorcha is tall, giving off a regal air of sophistication and nobility. She stands at a tall 5'9", dwarfing most of the men she has ever met. Her splendid white hair brilliantly reflects the sunlight, and it's obvious she takes very good care of it. Her skin, in places where she has it, is flawless in every since of the word, not a blemish to be found.
As far as her human traits go, she'd probably be the girl that caused everyone to turn their heads, and possibly even walk into a pole.
It is quite obvious she isn't human. Brilliant white wings cover her back, and have not tattered or dulled with age, and are just as pristine as the day she was born. A long, powerful white tail extends behind her, ready in equally pristine condition. Atop her head, are two sharp, pointed horns that protrude upwards. Where she doesn't have skin, she has white scales. They cover most of her legs and waist, curving around her sides and covering most of her back and arms with the durable armor.
Her eyes, a fierce, commanding red.
The armor she wears, was crafted by a nameless blacksmith in her old town. She wears it out of sentiment and so that she will never forget the pain of that horrible day where she lost everything she considered herself to love.
"You, human. I demand tribute. All of the junk food you have will suffice."
"I have been known as many names through my years, but you may call me Lady Sorcha." Name: Sorcha Ó Maoilriain she likes reminding people that it means 'Radiant' or 'Brilliant King'
Those she likes, meaning her master, may call her by her first name. The rest will address her as 'Lady Sorcha.'
Nicknames/Titles: "Goddess of the Heavens" "Bringer of the Storm" "The wandering Tempest"
Her favorite: "Thou who will smite thee with bolts of fury if thou maketh her angry"
Age: "I have fought alongside one of the greatest leaders and wizards of the ancient age, Fought against a mighty warrior in the freezing winds of the north, and was worshiped as a protector and god before those damnable religious zealots burned my village and attempted to slay me. I am a proud, noble being deserving of respect and will not tolerate such insolence and rudeness as you asking my age."
Gender: Female
Race: Dragon
"Hmm? I have no interest in such affairs with you little humans. That said...I have taken a human lover on occasion. But I only accept the strong, those strong enough to win my respect or force me into submission. I doubt you can do either."
Sexuality: She feels no such desires. However, she is attracted to strength. And if she views someone as strong...well, who knows? She might just say yes.
Year: N/A
Powers: Roar of the Heavens: Being a dragon of Thunder and Storms, she has minimal control over the element. While she can't 'breathe' it in the traditional sense, she can, direct a lightning bolt towards a target. In humanoid form, she can fire such bolts from her hands or glaive. However, she can not rapid fire them - they take a few seconds to charge, so to speak. The stronger the bolt, the longer 'charge' it needs.
Once upon a time, it is said that she was able to summon disastrous tempests that would blow away all but the most stalwart of men. She neither confirms or denies these claims.
Immovable Wall: Her scales are quite durable, and work well enough for a natural armor and to deflect blades...and are really gonna hurt something fierce if you get whacked with one.
Another rumor states she could at one point, take he form of a majestic scaled lizard, dwarfing the largest of man made buildings. Another rumor she neither confirms nor denies.
Strengths: It's lightning. You know, electricity. It'll mess you up fairly badly if you get hit with it. It's an incredibly fast projectile, and while it is been proven possible to dodge, one would need to be incredibly fast to do so.
Weaknesses: Lightning is drawn to high places. Not to mention, it can't pass through ground so well. Any earth-related element is going to find themselves at quite an advantage to her lightning. Lightning rods also work quite well for grounding her electricity. Works better as precise, targeted attacks and not so well as Area of Effect attacks.
Catalyst: A ancient, but well taken care of and strong Glaive, forged out of dragon scales. She always seems to have this with her, and seems to hold some importance to her. However, if asked she will simply give a wistful smile, and respond that it's simply a gift from a long dead friend. She never elaborates more on that.
Inventory: Her Glaive.
Master: N/A
Personality: Prideful. Stubborn. Arrogant. Those are the three words that would most definitely describe her accurately. Any dragon creature would share similar personality traits, and none so embody that fact like Sorcha. Honorable, Fair, and a lover of junk food shiny things, are just about all that encompass her personality. She will never tolerate an insult towards herself, or anyone that she so happens to deem worthy of being her master. To do so would severely tarnish her pride, and is something she would never let happen.
Tends to hold grudges because of her pride, should she lose or be insulted in some way.
However, she also knows she is no god, and would never actually call herself as such. In fact, she loathes those who call themselves gods, and would gladly impale them on her glaive.
"My history...is quite long, I assure you. I remember every detail of my life...even the painful ones that never quite heal."
Backstory: Her origins are shrouded in mystery, though one can confirm she was born sometime shortly before the birth of Christ somewhere in Scotland or Ireland. Her childhood is shrouded in much history, though she says she never knew her parents much - they were murdered when she was but a child and had to fend for herself through most of it and made sure to keep to herself and stay away from others - especially humans. Her parents had warned that they feared dragons, and would probably attempt to kill her, and she made sure to avoid them. Sticking to forests, caves, and never staying in one area for long.
And then, she met, A great wizard. He wanted a familiar, a powerful being. She of course, refused and the two fought, her ending up losing. And as an agreement reached before the fight, she became his familiar and fought, worked, and traveled alongside the wizard for much of his life, until they went their separate ways.
A few hundred years later, she found herself in the cold northern lands - somewhere what is around Denmark today. Having tasted battle fighting along a heroic king and her owner, she set out to make a name for herself in these lands she had never laid eyes on before - Terrorizing and plundering the landscape for any valuable she could find.
She claims it is one of the least glamorous chapters in her life, but she will not deny that it happened. Soon enough, she was challenged by a brave warrior, and the two fought each other in honorable combat. She killed all of his men, and fatally wounded the warrior, but not before receiving a near fatal wound herself. She managed to flee, but her wounds eventually got the best of her, and she passed out, unable to retain consciousness.
What happened after then, no one really knows. She has never told anyone - but it is known a few hundred years later she showed up in some small European village - with her Glaive in hand. She says she saved the village from a plague - some uppity mage or something was causing it. Normally she wouldn't care about such a thing, but the village offered a reward that quite intrigued the dragon.
Money. all of the Cities money, and their undying loyalty to the great dragon. She couldn't refuse such an offer, and within the next day, the mage lay dead and the plague stopped before it could spread any further. And for another few hundred years, she was praised and worshiped as a goddess by the people. The town grew and prospered under her guidance and protection. Until those religious zealots sought to kill her in the name of their god. They burned her village to the ground, killing all of the peasants and attempting to kill her. Fools ended up charred to a crisp from her bolts, but the damage was done. The entire town was decimated, nothing more than charred cinders and a grieving dragon.
This affected the dragon greatly. Over the years, she grew to care for the villagers - indeed, she even could say she had fallen for one of the locals.
On the night following its said her furious, grieving, cries could be heard through the entire countryside.
What happened after that, she never reveals, though she wandered and caused minor troubles here and there. She simply states she traveled, and has yet to take another master. Why she wants one now is anyone guess. Some with guts says she's lonely after being out of touch with people for so many years. Such people usually end up on the receiving end of her smiting.
The wind howled, threatening to knock them all off their feet.
Rain poured from the heavens, drowning all in its seemingly sorrowful wake.
Lightning danced across the sky, illuminating a large silhouette in the distance with each flash.
Indeed, Thor must be angry at some mortal. For why else would the God of Thunder let such a beast ravage the land?
At least, those were the thoughts of his men they steeled themselves, approaching the lair of the ferocious beast. An old beast, probably older than all of the men combined. The group of soldiers were afraid of the beast, that much was certain. Not even the might man in front of them who slew the beast Grendel, and his abominable mother could hope to kill this beast unscathed, could he?
Gods willing, he would be able to even scratch the beast.
For this beast, was no ordinary opponent.
They had heard tales of a mighty beast that spewed thunder and cleaved men in half with its claws. It served the king of some far off land, but that was years ago and the king was long dead. Or at least, the beast had been abandoned, it’s purpose served. Now it was nothing more than a mongrel that needed to be put out if its misery. Over the years, the people of Denmark gave the beast a name.
The Wandering Tempest of the North. It never stayed in one place for long, save for the moments it rested in its den. But even then, it only ever ventured out on occasion, but recently…The dragon had been ravaging the land for months now. Its rampaging for food and other necessities had ceased, for the beast was no longer pillaging simply for sustenance.
Someone had taken something precious from it. A golden chalice, given to it by its former master.
And it was furious.
With Nægling at his side, the brave leader of these men stood stalwartly against the raging winds. He said not a word to his men, only studied the beast silently from a distance, sensing his men’s’ fear of the beast. Cowards, then. But could he blame them? No, not really. Not against a beast such as this. He could spare them at least some humiliation, however.
“I shall fight alone.” The man said to his men. The silence that followed was evident enough that he was correct. With Nægling and shield drawn, the hero set forth to conquer this beast.
“Human,” A large, booming voice filled the area, its source evident as the massive silhouette in the distance. “Coming here means a death sentence.” The earth trembled as the creature slammed one massive claw into the ground. “Unless thou have a means of defeating, I? LAUGHABLE.” The beast roared, loud enough to even be heard by the other men through the howling wind.
“You can speak, beast?” The man asked, though the question was largely irrelevant. They both knew what the other was thinking. One of them wouldn’t be leaving here alive.
“Pointless conversation will not save you, human. Words mean little, but I have not forgotten what Honor is. Tell me your name, human, and when I crush you beneath my claws I will be so kind as to carve your name into your grave.”
“I am Beowulf! Hero of the Geats and slayer of the beast Grendel and his abominable mother!” The man replied.
“…Beowulf, you stand before the Radiant King of the Heavens. The Wandering Tempest. Aide to the once powerful King Arthur of Britannia. Draw your weapon, and I will give you the honor of dying by my claws.”
And with no more words to be said between the warriors, the two clashed, for no amount of words could persuade either to lower their weapons. Their honor and own pride would not allow it.
The battle was short and decisive. Beowulf and the dragon were evenly matched it seemed. For a human, he was indeed a mighty warrior. His shield deflected bolts of lightning, and he was able to avoid most blows from the dragons’ claws.
Even so, however, the great Beowulf was no match for the beast alone.
The dragons lightning slammed into his shield, the thing becoming a useless, charred husk in the process. The dragons’ claws didn’t miss their mark afterwards, barely able to dodge being crushed under them.
Beowulf closed in on the dragon in retaliation, swinging the mighty sword, Nægling at the dragons throat in an attempt to land a fatal blow.
The sword however, was no match for the dragons scales. The sword cracked, and a bolt of lightning charred the warrior, sending the human to the ground, fatally wounded from the attack. Beowulf, would have died there were it not for the young man who came to his aid, overcoming the fear of the beast.
He shouted words of encouragement to the downed Beowulf. The warrior rises to his feet, the cracked sword in his hand. Wiglaf sacrifices his shield as a distraction, allowing Beowulf to strike at the dragons’ throat once again, causing Nægling to shatter into pieces. Roaring in pain, the dragon didn’t have enough time to retaliate to the strike of Wiglaf as he plunged his own sword into the dragons’ throat.
But the dragon wasn’t done, no. It was badly injured, but it wouldn’t die here. Summoning the last of its strength, a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, burning Wiglaf’s hand, him barely having time to react to move a safe distance away.
Either way, however, this battle was over.
The dragon was bleeding, badly. Its throat had practically been ripped open, and it was unable to summon any more strength.
Gradually, the storm began to subside, and the dragon…fell to the ground, completely exhausted. So did the warrior, finally succumbing to his own wounds, but not before instructing Wiglaf to take the treasure from the dragons’ lair, and pile it outside so he could see it.
However, while they were distracted, the dragon moved.
Summoning the last of its strength, the dragon flapped its mighty wings, fleeing the battlefield. It had been beaten, but it had no intention of dying here. The humans shouted, but were unable to stop the dragon from fleeing.
Even if it did, however, it likely wasn’t going to live long without some sort of aid. The dragon, didn’t seem intent on stopping, however. Instead, if flew east. Towards the home it knew.
It flew nonstop, being unable to stop, for if it did, it knew that it would never be able to start again. Soon, though, even her thoughts grew hazy. She didn’t know how long she had been flying, but it couldn’t have been for very long. She fell into the waves below, its wings unable to support itself any more.
Sometime later, the dragon was able to drag itself onto some beach. It has exhausted all of its energy, willpower, and stubbornness. Chances were, it would have been dead within the hour.
Iasracha had been enjoying a long walk on the sands of Northern Gaul. The Northern and Southern pantheons had managed to avoid causing what the Norse described as ... Ragnorak? For now, at least according to them. The date was always getting postponed, and despite her more peaceful nature in this life she wanted a piece of the action that they were always talking about.
So why did they send the Phoenix to as a diplomat? Thoth, Ibis of Wisdom, and Hermes, the Messenger, had determined that Iravis had fufilled two requirements. She was a god, which proved that this was serious. Iasracha also couldn't die, so even if they decided to take her hostage she would simply kill herself and reicarnate elsewhere.
But she had finished, and decided to take a stop in Rome's former territory in order to look over some of the old sites that had once been under the Imperium's fist. The goddess wasn't exactly sure what she would do afterwards ... Does my moon need a visit?
Thoughts of revisiting her old companion dissapeared as she spotted a large corpse on the ground in the distance. Transforming into a magnificent blue bird, the Phoenix flew closer and realized it was the body of a dragon, washed up on the shore, waves bashing against it's body.
As she landed nearby, the Phoenix could feel the creature's warth dissapaiting, and the fire bird took another look at the dragon.
Filled with youth too ... If the Goddess changed it to human years ... probably fourteen to sixteen in terms of maturity. Sighing for a moment, the blue haired goddess debated using her powers. This wasn't a member of anything she had a shred of loyalty to. In fact, the dragon could turn out to be a problem later.
Letting a child die was worse though, and a heavy heart would never pass the scales. A few tears dropped, a claw wrapped around the dragonling, and with some difficulty the Phoenix started to fly away...
When the dragon came to, she'd see a blue haired woman leaning on a tree from across a large campfire and a pile of venison near its head, ready to be eaten.
An olive shade of skin ran across her body, and her figure was thin all around. The blue of a raging fire colored her mane, a long braid running over her left shoulder. Despite being out camping, she was also surprisingly clean, a thin white dress had no stain upon it, and her skin carried no dirt. The lack of wet hair suggested this was not from a recent bath, however.
The dragon was unconscious for most of the flight. She couldn’t even feel herself being moved. She barely even registered it.
Sometime later, however, she came to. A low growl came from her throat as she rather violently regained consciousness. A roar, followed by the house sized lizard scrambling to its feet, its powerful legs creating a small tremor as it regained its footing. Its wings flapped, a gust of wind buffeting the entire campsite, likely messing up the entire place.
The beast looked absolutely terrified, if a dragon was even capable of such an emotion. Its red eyes fell on the blue haired woman, a quiet warning growl formed in her throat as it glared at her.
“Who…are...? You are not...Beowulf. State thy name and intentions before I char thee to cinders!” It at least seemed, the beast was intelligent enough to form words and not attack the woman on sight, though one wrong moved and the dragon likely would.
The woman raised an eyebrow as the dragon woke up, smiling as it seemed to stretch out and take in it's surroundings. Although some steryotypes seemed to be true, the creature too proud and arrogant to thank the person who obviously saved her life.
In a way though, it was adorable. The teenager's threat of charing her to cinders would likely be ineffective. The blue haried woman actually giggled lightly before speaking. "How's the wound, young one?"
The dragon sat up, losing it’s somewhat hostile pose. It seemed to claw the ground somewhat nervously.
“I…I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Her voice seemed to drop that regal tone that it carried previously. “M-my scales are impenetrable, and would never be injured by something as lowly as a human.” It replied with a huff. Still, now that the dragon seemed to calm itself and sense no immediate danger, it relaxed ever so slightly around the unknown woman.
“B-but that is irrelevant! Thy still has not answered my question. Who are thee?”
Tossing her head to the side with a smile, the woman decided the if the dragon was alright then her work here was done. Enough food remained on the side to feed the arrogant beast that it wouldn't be a problem. "A traveller from a far away land." Standing up and stretching slightly, the blue haired woman rose and began to walk away, satisfied with having saved a young life. "Do not speak of humans so lowly, for they have surmounted a thousand mountains higher than the challenge you present, and have hearts much stronger than those of the mightiest god."
A….higher…challenge than she presented!? The dragon snarled, opening its maw just enough to reveal a row of teeth that could probably chomp steel in half.
“Thy…still refuse to give me thy name, and then insult me? You foolish creature.” She snarled. “I am the mighty King of the Heavens. The wandering Tempest. The humans fear my name and tremble in terror whenever they hear my roar shaking the mountains of Gotland.” Without giving the girl much time to react, a spark of electricity flashed across the dragons wings. With a roar, she closed the distance between her and the woman, bounding over her and blocking her path with a mighty flap of her wings. She wouldn’t waste her time speaking to this woman.
“Thy will show me proper respect, or I will have thy head for dinner.” She growled.
Despite the dragons’ tough attitude, however, she was still definitely recovering from a massive amount of blood loss and her injuries. It seemed she was intent on fighting regardless, however.
This was honestly adorable, but the blue haried woman realized that she couldn't fly away with the creature following her, and that if they got into a fight the reptile would be the one who got hurt. Perhaps taking advantage of her pride could save her.
"Clearly one of these pesky humans managed to injure you, didn't they? The woman said this while grabbing the dragons mouth and shaking it back and forth slightly, as if making fun of the household dog. Now that the dragon would undoubtedly be pissed off enough to fall for almost any trick, the woman decided to propose a game.
"But I digress. I propose a game, a challenge a beast with the title 'King of the Heavens' should certainly win at." As the goddess spoke the title 'King of the Heavens', she did so in an extremedly mocking tone.
"A simple test of might, no cleverness involved. Whichever of us can burn down the most trees in five seconds, wins. The victor gets the other as their spoils. Do you grant you assent, oh mighty lizard? One who could turn me to cinders would certainly succeed at this challenge. If you do agree to this game, go first."
The dragon seemed to sneeze, running a claw along her snout as she was touched by the human. Something about the touch told her this woman wasn’t an ordinary human, but she had just been thoroughly insulted. Definitely insulted beyond mere rage. She lowered her snout right to the womans face, it was barely inches from it.
“Very well. I accept, creature.” She growled. “What can you, a puny little human even burn this forest down with?” She mocked. “I’ll look forward to having you polish my scales every morning and night.”
The dragon stood as tall as its height would allow it, wings pressed against her body and looked down condescendingly towards the woman.
“I suggest you take a step back, creature. I will not be having my prize burned to cinder.” She didn’t give the woman much time to react, however. With a roar, she threw her head towards the heavens. The effect was almost instant. Lightning coated her body, creating an almost blinding flash of light for any who would be looking.
She spread her wings, standing on her hind legs as the lightning reached its peak. She slammed her front claws into the ground. Bolts of lightning fell from the heaven, hitting almost every tree in the forest within a five yard radius. A bolt of lightning even escaped from her maw, sailing right past the womans head in an attempt to surprise, or at least stun the woman. It slammed into a rather large tree behind her, the force of the impact blasting a hole in the trunk, and causing it to creak under the pressure, and eventually fall to the ground.
The rest of the trees, eventually followed suit.
She looked down at the human, obviously rather smug.
“I hope you realize you have no hope of winning this contest, whelp.”
Deciding to act the part, the blue haired woman forced herself to jump back a yelp loudly, clearly terrified. Then she started to beg for mercy, asking the mighty beast to cancel this foolish contract, feeling that she had made a mistake.
"For I haven't gone yet, grant this whelp mercy before I take my turn, oh mighty one, and release me from servitude."
“Thy wish to flee from this challenge?” The dragon growled. “Foolish whelp, you made your bed now lie in it. If thy forfeits your turn, then you become mine.” She shifted, eyeing the human dangerously. “Or continue with your foolish course of action, and show me your meager power, creature, and become mine anyways.”
The dragon huffed, obviously impatient for an answer. If she took too long to answer, the dragon might just take that as a sign of forfeiture.
"I ... I shall take my chances, futile as they may be."
The woman sighed, looking down. Tears began to fall from her eyes. Her arms trembled as she lifted a hand, fingers shaking as she snapped them together.
Every tree within a half mile radius was suddenly set ablaze, exploding into fire and after a few seconds deteroriating into ash. A few deer could be seen standing around, looking at the newly burned down fauna surrounding them.
The goddess turned to the dragon, a large grin on her face. She felt that her acting had been superb, and was a little proud of it.
The dragons jaw was hanging open, its wings hung limply at her side, completely, and utterly amazed. The creature just stood there for a full minute, simply taking in the sheer number of trees that she had just seen vaporize right before her eyes.
Eventually though, her mouth started moving and words attempted to form.
“W-what…how…but…you…” The dragon looked at the girl in front of her. That wasn’t something any normal human was capable of. A mage, perhaps? Maybe a student of Merlin? Had she in fact made it back to Britannia then?
Whatever the case, that was moot at the moment. She had just seen a rather impressive display of power, and the dragon…well, she couldn’t deny that such displays weren’t unattractive, at least. Still, her pride was telling her that this girl had just cheated somehow. No matter how attractive the woman might appear at this very moment.
“Y-you cheated!” The dragon rather childishly shouted. It was a rather flimsy claim. There was realistically no way she could have cheated given the circumstances, but the dragon could at least deny it.
"That's an odd claim to make, for there was clearly enough might in me to carry you from the beaches of Northern Gaul to Antiquane. Or can you not sense the distance you travelled so quickly?" The Phoenix had a well built in ability to tell where she was, but she wasn't sure how she did it. Probably similar to the way birds in the sky did. Perhaps a flying lizard didn't?
Although now she wasn't sure what to do with her newest pet, but the Goddess wasn't exactly comfortable speaking to a dragon constantly ... maybe ... "If you have a mortal form dragon, assume it. For your wounds will be easier to tend in that manner."
And ... surely the dragon had a name too. It would be rather rude to constantly call her lizard. "And if you have been granted a title, tell it to me so I may call you by it."
Northern Gaul…to Antiquane? That…far? Come to think of it…where even was she? There was the battle with Beowulf, her fleeing...her wings giving out somewhere over the sea, sending her to what she thought was a watery grave.
…Dear Allfather, had this woman pulled her from that, and she had just….? She hadn’t even shown respect to her rescuer then. Well, no wonder the Norns decided it fit to punish her.
It was at this point, the dragon actually started to think about her current situation….and also the moment in which a wave of exhaustion hit the beast. A rumble came from the dragons’ throat, indicating slight annoyance. Bah. There was no way she was getting around this, but there was no way she was bending her knee so easily to this woman, whether she saved her or not.
“I am Sorcha Ó Maoilriain!” She replied. “I am a grand dragon and would never assume the form of a lowly human willingly.”
This version of Iravis laughed at that response. This dragon's annoyance was adorable, but she implied so many things that would be better left unstated. Either way, she'd show the oversized lizard mercy for today and start training her newest pet at the dawn of the next.
The goddess rolled her eyes to the sky. Apollo was finishing his ride for today, and the Phoenix predicted it would be dark soon.
"Grand Dragon? That's quite the boast for one with so much youth..." While she was going to give the dragon some respite for today, Isaracha decided that she should at least start turning down the creature's pride a little. "... but if that's your ambition, your greatness will one day be so stunning that Vahalla will welcome you with a thousand trumpets every time you choose to grace them with your prescence. But a whelp like you, Sorchy Sparky, isn't ready to claim such honor."
Now to deliver a bit of hope. "When Ra chooses to grace the world once more, we'll start to work on that little ambition of yours. But for now, eat yourself full and rest near the fire." This time the blue-haired woman offered a dismissing wave her hand, walking among the ashes of former trees as she headed off into the distance.
S….sorchy?....Sparky?! Sorcha’s body tensed, and an eye twitched in pure rage. It was obvious the dragon would very much like to eat this person at the moment.
“I-I Fought alongside the noble King Arthur! I was a Familiar to the Great Wizard Merlin! I am the definition of the word ‘great’!” The dragon shouted angrily after the blue-haired woman. If she hadn’t just lost a bet with the woman, she would definitely have made her regret saying such words. “S-so don’t presume to command me so-” a loud rumble echoed through the now burnt forest, the source quite obvious as the dragon immediately silenced itself.
“C-command me so easily!” She turned her head towards the food.
“B-but I will definitely accept an offer of tribute!” Yes, that’s all this was. An offer of tribute. Food given to a hungry dragon, yes. Nothing more than that. Besides, she was feeling tired…and sleep…sounded nice.
With an angry grunt, the dragon walked back over to the camp, and made herself comfortable as she ate, and soon after was asleep.
When the Phoenix returned from her bath, she found the dragon curled up into a ball, snoring softly as she rested. At least the child seemed to have some sense ... looking at the ground though, the Goddess decided she could use a better pillow. She had intended on flying further south that day, but the weight of the lizard in front of her had exhausted her wings much more quickly than she intended.
So, she hopped into the dragon's curl as an impromptu sofa and closed her eyes.
Isaracha had been a little worried that the dragon would wake up first, but six hours after the Phoenix had hopped off her little throne the beast was still asleep. They'd have to work on that, but considering the lizard's recent wounds the Goddess decided to not be cruel until she was fully healed.
She'd already formed a new pile of venison near the dragon, brought out water for both of them, and even crafted a small satchel. Soon the dragon would be doing the chores, but for now the Phoenix decided to be a kind owner to her newest pet.
When Sorcha finally awoke from her extended nap, she'd see the blue haired woman leaning over with a grin, observing her eye and speaking teasingly. "Ra has been up for a while, but Sorchy Sparky needs her sleep apparently."
The dragon had been having a rather pleasant dream. One of before she met Merlin. Flying over the trees of Northumberland, far removed from any sort of human civilization. She could be herself back then, and do the one thing she loved most. It was a simple thing love. Oh certainly, she loved shiny things such as treasure and things of value, but…well, she loved flying even more. Even now, all these years later that was still her favorite pastime.
Oh, and smiting the fools who would dare to sneak up on her while she was sleeping. That had always been fun.
As soon as the dragon opened her eyes, she recoiled in surprise as a small growl left her throat.
“Y-you!” she had been hoping all that had just been a terrible dream, but alas. It wasn’t so. “Gah! You foolish woman. Sneaking up on a dragon while they sleep is usually a death sentence! But I’m feeling kind so I shall not smite thee.”
Not that she would actually do such a thing. She may loathe it, but she had made a deal after all, and she at least wouldn’t go back on her word.
"Yes, me! Perhaps if you'd done a better job smiting those trees though, this wouldn't be a problem. However, I am grateful for your kindness." The goddess decided to toss in a little reminder or the previous day's events, mostly as little ego deflation.
How to start the day's training. "A mortal man bested you. And you implied yesterday you had a mortal form yourself. Am I correct?" These weren't questions, but more confirmations from facts she had gathered.
The dragon growled, but said nothing in regards to the events of yesterday. That was not something she was going to dwell on. Bah! She had been tricked again. At least Merlin was…well…tolerable. He didn’t tease her like this woman was doing when they had first met.
“That mortal man was strong enough to earn my respect, woman. He died with honor.” The dragon hissed. “The Allfather will grant him a place in Valhalla for such bravery and honor. Unlike a whelp like you who uses trickery.”
The blue haired woman simply smiled in return. Was she avoiding her other question? "Perhaps you could learn something from him, then. Today's training is going to be some hand to hand combat, but it'd be a bit unfair for me if you were in a gigantic scaley form." The phoenix decided that perhaps this was a time she'd need to take advantage of the lizard's pride. "Unless of course, thou is too scared to fight on equal terms with me. Fear is an acceptable emotion, although not one that should take control of a 'Grand' dragon."
Grrr…this...this Harlot! Whore! Hellion! Witch! Shrew! Every insult the dragon could think of screamed inside of her head. Visions of her splitting her head open with a claw, ripping her head from her shoulders with her teeth danced in her head. She was too enraged to even properly form words, yet too honorable and accepting of their deal to make a move to end this miserable, hideous womans’ life. For a few moments, the dragon simply boiled in its own rage before finally managing a short, explosive roar.
“FINE, YOU USELESS WITCH! YOU ARE SIMPLY AFRAID OF FIGHTING ME IN THIS FORM!” The dragons’ voice boomed loudly through the forest. “But very well! I am feeling generous!” Even if she knew she was being baited, she couldn’t let such words be said without giving the woman proper punishment. “If thy wishes to gaze upon my blinding, glorious human form I shall give thee the pleasure of gazing upon my majesty!”
Deciding to give the woman a little show as well, Sorcha set about revealing her human form that Merlin had granted her ages ago. Lightning coated the dragons’ body, crackling with energy as the blinding white light would obscure the vision of most mortals and other onlookers. Soon enough, however, it was done.
Honestly, her human form was probably less than impressive.
She stood at mere five foot six, two small white horns extending from a head of blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders. Her bright red colored eyes studied the woman with obvious hatred, though a smug smile was formed on her lips. Two medium sized wings extended from her back, beating impatiently and creating a gust of wind, aimed right towards the woman. Her overall frame was slim, and not all that impressive. Bluish white scales covered most of her legs, arms, and back. Her feet had some rather sharp claw-like toenails, as did her hands. Everything else, though, was mostly human flesh and blood.
Oh.
And she was completely naked, and didn’t seem to care one bit.
“I hope you are satisfied.” She snarled. “My full majesty cannot be translated to such a simple form.”
The blue haired woman ignored the woman's screaming rage, instead looking towards the sky and offering a small prayer to those she would consider more mighty. When she looked back down at the naked girl in front of her however, her mind drifted off elsewhere for a bit. Too young for me, but if she wants someone to polish her scales ... Maybe they would discuss that later.
For now though, the goddess smiled and tossed her own clothes to the side, offering an equal distraction. She didn't want to get them dirty in case she went sprawling in the mud. It was the only set she had.
At this point in their lives, they were similar aside from the lizard's telltale features. Both stood at five foot six, slightly taller than most women. The dragon had more muscles lining her arms along with the scales, which the goddess took note of. Like she expected, grace would be needed to beat this woman into submission.
"Begin at your leisure." The goddess tossed over a wink as a slight taunt.
A vein bulged in the dragons’ forehead, with one of her eyes twitching in apparent anger. She didn’t even acknowledge the fact that the other woman had discarded her clothes. She wasn’t one to get distracted by such a thing, even if the other woman was…well, more or less attractive. That was second to her anger.
She hoped this woman wasn’t expecting her to be untrained in combat. Aside from her natural strength, Arthur and Merlin both taught her how to wield weapons and basic self-defense. She preferred a polearm, and her hand-to-hand combat skills were lacking, but she was confident she could beat such a weak looking woman as this.
“When I win, I will take my freedom from your insufferable presence.” Sorcha said, before making her first move. She leaped into the air, her wings carrying her swiftly, almost at a speed to fast for humans to follow right at the woman. She intended to tackle the woman, pin her to the ground before she could even react.
She may have disliked this human form…but if there was one advantage it had, was that she was simply faster.
The woman simply spun around to the side, as if dancing, avoiding the tackle in general and following through with a strong hand pressed to the Dragon's back, using the dragon's motion to aid her. Straight on attacks like that were easy to turn against themselves, but the goddess had the stragest feeling that this would be what most of today would be like. Maybe the dragon would learn thoughout the day, but the Phoenix had her doubts.
The first few charges had missed. Gah, of course that was going to be too easy. But fine, then. She’d have to get a little serious here. Still wearing a scowl, Sorcha decided to change her tactics, just a bit.
She charged at the woman in her usual fashion. However, right before hitting her, she planted her feet firmly onto the ground, and launched herself skywards. In a display of almost uncanny agility, she launched herself over the woman, landing right behind her. Without missing a second, she aimed a swift, hard jab right to the womans back.
Iravis wasn't expecting that, but when she realized what was going on she accepted the hit, using it's momentum to propel herself into a roll forward. While those were still big, drammatic movements, it was a little different for the Phoenix to have someone able to manuver that well. "I'll admit, that's a new one." This time though, Irasacha took the first move move, moving within the range of the teenager's fists to avoid giving the younger girl range to move swiftly in.
Good, she had gotten a hit in! If she could follow it up though, that would be better. She had aimed to do just that as well, but the other woman closed the distance between them rather quickly, preventing her from having any ability to use speed and momentum to her advantage.
Well, fine. She would just teach this whelp just how strong a dragon actually was.
She delivered a hard, swift right jab aimed right towards the woman’s sternum as she closed in, throwing all of the strength she could put behind it.
The Phoenix grined, dancer's feet moving her to the dragon's right, the fist barely managing to go by her. At the same time, she grabbed the arm in an effort to continue forcing it forward and stuck out a leg to trip the lizard over. For now, she would continue using the dragon's own strength against herself.
Well, that didn’t go as intended. The dragon felt herself falling, right into the ground. For a few seconds she laid there, her rage boiling to an even higher point, if such a thing was even possible. How dare she be humiliated like this!
She lifted her head from the ground. The entire front of her body was now covered in a rather nice helping of dirt. An angry fist slammed into the ground before pushing herself up, wiping some of the dirt off of her.
She. Was going. To burn. This woman.
No. She was going to beat her to a bloody pulp and turn her into her plaything. Lock her in a cage for her own amusement.
With an enraged growl, she charged at the woman again, flying this time instead of running. As soon as she approached, she twirled, slamming her wing right into the girl, using both her speed from the flight and the momentum form the spin to add extra force behind the attack.
Iravis was surprised by the attack from the wing, but after recovering from the intial impact grabbed the wing and manipulated it like she had with the fist, sending the momentum from the girl downwards again, sending her sprawling in the dirt again this time. A smile sprouted from her face as the girl tumbled off into the distance. "Apollo's chariot won't finish crossing the sky for some time! Would you rather continue or learn?" The older woman offered the girl mercy before continuing.
This time, she slid a few feet into the dirt. A frustrated growl, sounding almost like a child throwing a tantrum erupted from the girls mouth as she slammed her fist into the ground once again out of frustration.
She didn’t grace the woman with an answer, and instead immediately rose from the ground, and kept up her rage-fueled assault.
Thirty minutes later, Sorcha's assaults started to become messy as her limbs began to feel exhausted, unable to keep moving up to their prime. The phoenix offered a surrender for the girl, who refused to stop.
After two more hours, and Sorcha barely managing to stand, the Phoenix decided that she had enough of this silliness and that if they countinued the dragon would likely suffer a heart attack from all the strain her body had been put through. In a single motion, the dragoness would find herself toppled to the ground, arms behind her back with Iravis sitting on it like a throne. In her exhuasted state, the Phoenix bet that the girl could barely walk.
Cheerfully spoken words managed to escape her lips. "Scales just aren't that comfortable for sitting on."
Sorcha simply laid on the ground, her face buried in the ground. She didn’t want to grant the woman with a proper response. Instead, she only continued struggle weakly beneath the woman, unable to do anything about her humiliating situation.
After a few moments, she even stopped struggling, too angry to do anything than to quietly stew in her own anger that she was incapable of injuring this woman. Not even Merlin had been this…cruel, to her. He always teased her, but he had never once…humiliated her like this.
“My scales…are beautiful…” She finally muttered after awhile.
The goddess stood up, releasing the dragon. "That's true. They just don't make a good chair." After a few moments, she walked in front of the dragon, laying down in front of her so that only a few feet were between their faces. Now that she had put the girl down, perhaps it was time to lift her up again. "Sorcha Ó Maoilriain, you are strong. If two of those blows had landed, this blue haired woman would be lizard food. You also have a will of iron, continuing despite your defeat."
A look of dissapointment ran across her face next. "But the mightiest strength still needs direction. A will can shake the world, but one fueled only by pride and arrogance will always fail. Those weaknesses allowed me to defeat you, no trickery involved."
She raised a finger to indicate her first point. "Your own strength was turned against you. I never once threw a blow on you, and yet you lied beneath me. You lacked direction, so I created one for you."
The blue haired woman then raised another finger. "Two times I offered you surrender when you had clearly lost. Grand Dragons were weak at one point too, and know when it's time to bow out honorably rather than seek humiliation or death. Pride ruled you however, and you refused to lose some of it, so you lost all of it."
Sorcha listened, but she didn’t entirely register what the woman was saying. Her mind was too consumed by anger, hate, and simply want for herself to kill this…this whoever she was. Hate for herself, as well for being so weak perhaps.
So, instead of doing the smart thing and probably agreeing with the woman, she simply stared at her with defiance.
“I do not want nor need your pity.” She growled. “There is no honor in fleeing any confrontation. I would rather die than flee. Unlike you, who doesn't even fight.”
A bit of fire lit up in the blue haired woman's soul, and she raised an eyebrow. "I try to avoid fighting my pets, Sorchy Sparky."
“I’m not your pet.” Sorcha hissed. “And stop calling me that ridiculous name, you old wench.”
"Disobedient pets do need disipline sometimes though to remember their place." The goddess stood up, lifted the dragon to her feet by the hair, then forced her head down so she was bent over.
She contemplated for a moment the pain tolerance of the teenager in front of her. Tearing down her pride would be a good thing for her in the long run, but she didn't want to create a new phobia for the lizard. Iravis then shrugged, guessing that dragons had a good degree of natural rescilliance.
So, the Phoenix brought her hand down onto the whelp's buttocks. Hard. And Again. After doing it thirty times and seeing the girl's bottom changing tone, she looked over to the dragon's head, jerking it back up to see if she had a comment. If she begged for mercy, Irasacha would consider stopping.
“I am not your pet-” The moment the words had even left her mouth, the woman…well, she had never had a spanking before in her entire life. “Y-you intend to humiliate me further?” She said, her voice losing some of its anger. In fact, she almost seemed a little scared.
Needless to say, this was not a pleasant experience for the dragon. By the time the woman was done, Sorcha couldn’t even form the words to beg for mercy.
Instead…there were only tears. At this point, she was too mentally and physically exhausted to seriously beg, or say anything beyond a quiet whisper. All she was able to do, was to sob quietly.
“S-stop…p-please…”
What a shameful, dishonorable thing to do. She shouldn’t be asking the woman to stop, she really shouldn’t. But at this point, her pride, honor, and ego had been almost completely shattered in the span of a single day.
To the Phoenix, that counted as begging. Looking into her eyes, she noticed the tears falling out of them. Now that's over with... The Goddess moved her hands off the girl's hair, using her shoulders to pull the dragon up into a tight hug. If she needed to cry, she'd let the dragon do it. Iravis doubted the creature had the remaining strength to hurt her. "Grand dragons usually don't cry, but I think that's a silly custom." Isaracha started running one of her hands down Sorcha's mane, trying to comfort her.
For a moment, Sorcha was quiet and simply let the woman hug her. She was still exhausted, and couldn’t do much anyways. In fact…a hug was rather new for the young dragon. No one had ever…done such a thing before. Even so, she…she didn’t want to be here right now. She wanted to leave.
Sorcha summoned the last of her strength that she could, and shoved the woman off of her.
“I…I hate you.” She firmly stated, tears still quietly falling down her face. The look on it wasn’t one of pride, arrogance, or even the hate she claimed to be feeling. In fact, it was the look one might find on a lost, terrified child.
Using the last of the strength she had left, she flapped her wings, carrying herself deeper into the forest.
She wanted to be alone right now.
The goddess let the girl go when she wanted to, allowing her to fly off. She'd made such a face to benefactors who had decided to raise her over the years before, so this wasn't new to her.
The phoenix also guessed that she wouldn't go far, and would keep a fairly close distance for some time. But for now, she decided to head off in the direction of a nearby stream and take a bath. Iravis would talk to her later.
After she finished bathing and eating a bowl of venison stew, the blue haired woman headed out in the direction the teenager had flown, another bowl in hand.
It took some time, but the goddess had a general idea of where she'd find the girl. After an hour long search, the Phoenix finally stumbled upon her pet. A large rock was the dragon's throne, occupied by a curled ball of wings, a tail, and a good deal of looking miserable.
Iravis decided that perhaps this was time to state that she wasn't an absolute demon. She walked forward comfortably, dressed again in her thin white dress. "I brought food, in case you are hungry." The phoenix set the bowl down a few feet away from the dragon, a small smile of encouragement on her face as she backed away a little, giving the dragon her distance.
The dragon simply ignored the woman, not moving or even acknowledging her presence. Perhaps a bad idea, considering what the woman had previously done…but well, the dragon was conflicted. In the back of her mind, she knew the woman was right. She was being arrogant, petty, and well…not entirely all that bright.
But her pride was all she had.
Maybe if she ignored her, she would go away.
Isaracha sat down on the ground silently, wondering what she would say. After about five minutes the blue haired woman started talking. "It's an awkward experience, waking up on a mountain one day, with no memory of anything occuring before. Humans usually have families, people to take care of and look after them. I never had anyone to do that for me. I don't know how I made it, but I sort of wandered around, travelling the world."
A slight smile crossed her face as she thought about the memories. "After five years, someone decided I was important, and called me a goddess. They brought me to a temple dedicated to Ra, God of the Desert sun, and explained to me that I was his earthly messenger while he shines in the sky. I was taught to perform rituals, although I felt like I already knew them instinctually. I was powerful, above those damn mortals, and I knew it. Sometimes other dieties would come by, say hello." The blue haired woman tossed up a glance at the dragon. She couldn't know, but she guessed that the teenager had some relation to this story.
The woman started talking again. Telling some story about herself. The dragon frowned further. She was better than those humans, certainly. That was just nature. She was meant to be a predator, meant to crush those stupid humans beneath her feet. To kill them, if they so much as looked at her funny.
She didn’t know who Ra was, nor did she care. The only gods she cared about resided in Valhalla. She didn’t care much for the so called other gods that resided in the southern lands.
What was the point of this story anyways? She wasn’t just going to magically start talking to the woman. She did, however, acknowledge her presence to show that she was, in fact, listening, by giving a small grunt of dismissal.
"Eventually some emperor saw a comet, and decided that the entire empire should convert to some upstart faith. Christian bastard. Gradually followers, people who had owed their allegience to me started to dissapear. Soon, soldiers began to show up to the temple, trying to persecute my followers. So I smited them. I burned them to the ground. And then I killed the converts too, thinking them faithless cowards. Imperial mages arrived eventually though, so I fled after the temple's preist kicked me out for my own good."
"For fifty years I saught vengeance. I flew to Rome, burned it a bit, and ran. Gaul, Brittania, Greece, and other places were laid waste before me. I was pissed. I raided people, stole their possessions, and killed them. Towns were set ablaze easily in my wrath. It would have taken a significant portion of the Imperial Legion to kill a phoenix, and they had too many problems from other mortals pressing on their borders to handle me."
Sorcha was growing impatient. She couldn’t stand this womans voice any longer.
“If you have a point, make it, or leave me alone.” She growled. “Preferably the latter.”
The goddess ignored Sorcha's comment, continuing. "Some bastard managed to get me with an arrow. I was in Gaul at the time, but I flew North, pulled the arrow out of my neck, and tried to heal it the same way I healed you. Before I could manage it though, I passed out from blood loss."
"I was prepared for my next incarnation, so when I woke up in the room of some Sorcerer named Myrddin I was a little more than shocked ..."
Reincarnation? What was this woman on about-
“Y-you knew M-Myrddin?!” The dragon immediately turned her head towards the woman. She would recognize that name anywhere, no matter who said it or how it was pronounced. She leapt off of her rock, wings carrying her to just a few feet from her. She still seemed a little hesitant to approach her, lest she receive another spanking.
“E-erm I-I mean,” She cleared her throat, folding her arms across her still bare chest, a look of arrogance and superiority returning in an instant. “I know Myrddin, but his name is Merlin where I am from.” She replied eying the girl suspiciously.
She had never seen her before, so who was she? Granted, she didn’t know Merlin for most of his life. He was pretty old when she had first met him. So just who exactly was this woman anyways? She sounded pretty important judging from the story earlier.
“He…he was a friend, before he abandoned me.” She bitterly replied. “So if you know where he is, you can tell me where I can find him so I can bite his head off.”
A smile spread across the Phoenix's face as a sudden barrage of questions hit her. ".... Merlin then ... You want me to finish my story or not?"
“No. I don’t care about your silly story.” Sorcha replied. “Merlin. Where is he?” She demanded, her voice regaining a little bit of that anger that it had earlier.
Isaracha was suddenly looking at the ground, not sure what to say. "Myrddin ... Merlin has passed. Ten years since he's left this world ... The wizard possessed a letter though, talking about a lightning dragon wrecking havoc in Denmark ..."
“H-he…p-passed?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Her gaze fell to the ground, many thoughts running through her head. In many ways, the wizard was like the father she had never had. Hearing this new was…well, devastating even if she didn’t entirely show it well.
“Stupid…idiot…” She grumbled. “Dying like that…if I was with him he…wouldn’t have…” Sorcha frowned, mild annoyance painted on her face, though it was not directed at the woman this time. More so towards the dead wizard. She shook her head, changing the subject.
“…yeah…that was probably me. I guess…I was just kind of…really mad at him for leaving me.” She shook her head, looking back up at the woman. “What…did the letter say? Did it…just mention me in passing or…?”
"It seemed like he wanted talk to you. What about, I can only guess. I hadn't spoke to him much after Uther spotted the comet, so I wouldn't know." A few seconds passed, and she could tell the girl was irritated. "I will say though, he wouldn't have left you unless he thought it was time. Of this I am certain."
Sorcha merely growled, but didn’t grace the woman with an answer. She simply looked at the ground, trying to burn a hole in it with a glare.
Merlin leaving, meant she was basically a dead dragon. Arthur’s knights never saw her as anything other than a beast to be kept on a leash. Once Merlin left, that leash was gone.
The goddess felt like their little chat was coming to an end. The phoenix waited five minutes before changing the subject. It didn't do well to dwell on the past. "Want me to reheat your stew?"
The question caught the dragon off guard.
“N-no! I don’t want you to do anything!” The dragon walked over to the stew, and picked it up. She thought about just dumping it on the ground, but…well, she had owed this woman a bit at the moment.
So she would accept the food in its current state, sat and began eating it.
The goddess rolled her eyes to the heavens, walking off to pick up some nearby firewood. "When you're finished, you are taking a bath. You look like you've been wrestling in mud for two hours. I prefer to keep my pets clean." A teasing smile followed this statement, the Phoenix clearly not afraid of anything the dragon would throw at her.
Sorcha ate the stew rather quickly. Bath? Well…she wasn’t going to say no. She was rather…well, dirty. She had been doing exactly what the woman had said for two hours.
Ah…if only she had someone to polish her beautiful scales. She needed that really badly.
First though.
She tossed the empty stew bowl that she emptied in quite a quick manner right at the woman. She wasn’t going to submit to her that quickly.
But well…after this, she at least had a newfound…tolerance, for the woman.
The blue haired woman was expecting something much less obedient than that, so she gave a laugh when the remaining stew splashed upon impact. "Guess I need a bath too!"
Eventually the two reached a large pond, which Iravis quickly turned into a hot spring after stepping in it. After a few seconds of heating it up, she gestured towards the dragon to hop in.
Sorcha had followed the woman to the pond, though she had still said nothing to the other woman yet. She was intent on mostly maintaining her silence, it seemed. Still, she wasn’t going to just not bathe, so if she had too at the same time as this insufferable woman who she still didn’t know the name of, she would. She had to polish her scales, after all. Even in this puny human form, that was something she would never just not do.
So, she hopped into the opposite end of the pond, intent on maintaining her relative distance. At least the water was quite nice.
Irasacha smiled, then thought about how to make some fun out of this. After a few moments, she decided to splash water onto Sorcha, tossing it as far as possible and hitting the dragon with a small splash. "Sorchy Sparky!" The mood had gotten pretty dark, so the Phoenix decided to put a bit more effort into brightening it.
The dragon had lowered herself into the water, body completely submerged beneath the water, save for her head from her nose up. She was honestly enjoying this. She hadn’t had a warm bath like this in ages. In fact, the lizard looked almost half asleep, completely enjoying the warmth of the pond.
And then some harlot had to go and ruin that.
She had to go and ruin a perfectly good bath.
One that she was actually enjoying.
After the hell she had been put through in the past 24 hours, could the Norns not grant her this much? Well she wasn’t having any of it, Norns or not. She would get her entertainment. Maybe it’d kill this wench.
As soon as the water slammed into her face like little drops of liquid evil, Sorcha glared at the woman. She rose above the water, just high enough for her mouth to be visible.
“Sorchy…Sparky, huh?” She muttered. “Yeah…guess I am a pretty shocking dragon.” With the word ‘shocking’, the pond immediately lit up with a flashes of electricity as the dragon surrounded herself with the stuff.
At first the blue haired woman was smiling as she was expecting to get splashed back. When electricity started to run through the water, Irasacha started jumping desperately in an attempt to get away from the shocks, but the water made it difficult to move. "Ow ow ow ow ow! Stop! Stop it!" The electricity was in no way lethal, but it was painful. In an effort to take out the source, Iravis started to move towards the dragon.
Sorcha smiled.
“Hmm…why should I stop? You’re obviously quite capable. I’m still sore from yesterday, too. I say this is quite entertaining.” The dragon smiled at the woman.
In the back of her mind though, she knew this was probably a horrible, horrible, idea. But that pride and arrogance was going to take more than one spanking to get out.
“Or are you afraid of becoming a crispy dragon snack, hmm?~”
Sorcha was still too distant for Irasacha to reach her in a reasonable amount of time, and the shocks were annoying her. "I'm not scared of my pet lizard, if that's what you are asking." Somehow, her voice remained steady, despite the annoying shocks.
A sly grin ran across the Phoenix's face, and the water suddenly started to bubble from additional heat. "I'll quit when you do."
A battle of wills was this, then? A grin crept across the dragons face.
The water was indeed bubbling to a rather uncomfortably warm level, even for her…but she couldn’t just accept that, could she?
“Challenge accepted, woman. Do not think I will surrender so easily.”
The phoenix had no intention of boiling the lizard, but by now she had gotten close enough to do what she wanted. "Do you never learn?" Suddenly a flying blue-haired woman was going for the dragon in a tackle.
Sorcha seemed surprised, completely not expecting to be tackled by the woman.
“T-these were not the terms of engagement! G-get off!”
The blue haired woman held on to the other one in a tight hug, chest against chest, a smile spreading across her face. "What rules of engagement?" Water was dripping down her hair, small droplets running off and splashing against the water. She squeezed tighter, although she couldn't muster the strength to actually hurt the dragon. Then she started laughing, clearly enjoying making the teenager a little uncomfortable.
Sorcha fell silent, her face turning from a fair shade of white to a deep red as the woman hugged her, and her chest pressed against hers. The electricity stopped. The dragon was a bit too distracted at the moment to keep up her little game.
“W-what are you laughing for?” The dragon said as the woman squeezed tighter. Was…was this human…thinking…about…doing…that with her? She had never done that before. Like. Ever. Not a single time. Never thought about it either.
But, well, being so close to the other woman was making her mind wander just a bit, even if she didn’t feel such things usually. Though, well, considering this womans’ ability and the fact that she was her ‘pet’ as she said, she couldn’t exactly say no.
“R-release me immediately!” Her voice was shaky, and the more she thought about this, the more red her face turned.
Irasacha heard the girl's voice, and released slightly. Was she really that unused to recieving a hug? But now that she had a little distance, she saw the girl's blush.
Oh.
Oh my.
That wasn't what the hug was intended for, but ... The goddess pulled the other woman close again with a single arm, the other hand running from the top of her head, down her hair, and to the small of her back. The Phoenix's mouth was inches away from Sorcha's ear. "You are a little red. Did I make it too hot?" Her tone suggested this was not discussing the water temperature.
A small cry of protest escaped the dragon’s lips as the woman pulled her close again. The young dragons’ heart was probably pounding as hard as Thor’s hammer when it was striking an anvil.
“I-I am a dragon! A-a little heat is n-nothing, you wench!” She replied trying and failing to keep up that haughty guise.
The arm that had been running down Sorcha's back returned to the front, a single finger pressing slightly against Sorcha's lips to silence her. The arm behind the dragon's back tightened slightly. "Have you ever lain with another?" The finger on her lips remained, suggesting she wanted a nod or a shake of the head for an answer.
The dragon was still silent for a moment, debating or not whether she should probably answer this woman, but eventually she gave a small shake of her head.
The arm on Sorcha's back moved down a bit further, a single hand drifting down to the small of the other's back. The other girl's blush was now explained by the fact the was a virgin, and her lack of experience. A small kiss was placed on the dragon's forehead. "Do you want to?" While she personally had the flames of lust burning within her body, Irasacha refused to take further advantage of this girl's lack of experience.
The dragon shivered a bit as the woman placed a kiss on her forehead. She…did she want her to continue? This woman, who she was absolutely loathing mere moments ago, was now…
As a dragon, her pride and anger were telling her that submitting would be a bad thing. Yet…now that she was close to the other woman, and her anger had been momentarily quelled…She grabbed the womans wrist, and removed the womans finger from her lips, though not out of hate or spite.
“Your…name…” Sorcha quietly replied. “I-if...y-you are to be my equal, then I…I should know your name.”
The other woman blinked, and then realized that she hadn't actually explained that. "I am called Irasacha." The previous attitude returned in a moment, lust filling her eyes. "And I'm in charge here, pet." Before the dragon could manage a response, the other arm went behind the girl's back and pulled her closer ...
It was sufficent to say that the dragon had no idea what she was doing, so an hour later when her pet couldn't take another round, the unsatisfied blue haired woman ended up leading her to the shore, the pair laying down together with the Phoenix wrapping her arms around the younger woman in front. The thin white dress the goddess had worn previously covered them like a blanket, and a large campfire kept the area decently warm.
Next time, the goddess would get worshipped, but this was probably a good introduction. She waited for the other woman to comment first, not wanting to ruin the other's girl's moment.
Despite what Irasacha said, the dragon refused to believe the woman to be strictly ‘in charge’, but the dragon definitely was viewing her as an equal now, which was probably a good start in that direction.
Now, she was just resting with the other woman. That thin white dress covering them, with a large fire to keep warm. Honestly? That was probably one of the best experiences of her life, but at the moment…she just wanted to lay there. Perhaps she was feeling lazy simply because she in fact, was rather exhausted after such exertion, but really…for once in her life she felt…peaceful. Still…silence wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
“Irasacha…” She quietly grumbled, a bit begrudgingly. “I should…thank you…for…saving my…erm…life.”
There was probably a better time to do that, but at the moment she felt she should at least say that.
The older woman looked into the dragon's face, studying it. "You don't need to." In spite of that, a smile crossed the blue haired woman's face.
Sure, doing the right thing was it's own reward. But recieving recognition for it was certainly appreciated. One of the hands ran down the other girl's hair from behind, petting her softly. "I'm surprised you haven't fallen asleep yet."
The dragon grumbled a bit.
“I’m not…tired just from that…” She growled, though it was very clear it was mostly her pride talking at this point. “I could do it…all-” The last of the sentence was obscured by a loud yawn. “Could do it…all day.”
The woman tried to stop herself from giving off a clever retort. She failed. "Easy enough for you to say since I was doing all the work." She looked to the face of the dragon, winking at her. "Either way, it's my pet's bedtime." An affectionite kiss landed on the Lizard's nose.
The dragon merely blushed again at the first statement. “T-that’s…” She faltered with her words. Well, really, she supposed she could have put more effort into it, but she had no idea what she was even doing.
“I…am not a pet! My name is-” The dragons name was lost to a yawn. “And I’m not tired either!” She didn’t seem to mind the kiss, though.
Despite her protests, however, it was obvious the dragon was quickly falling asleep, unable to stay awake.
The sun eventually rose. It was early in the morning, and the dragon was still sleeping in her arms. The phoenix grinned as she remembered the previous night, and decided that the girl was probably still tired from the night before. The lizard would start to do chores the next day, but the goddess decided she would handle breakfast since Ra had barely entered the sky.
Eventually the ruby eyed woman returned, landing and transforming back into mortal form. She had been lucky someone left a pot in the woods, because otherwise they wouldn't have any gear.
The dragon wasn't awake yet. Thinking about easing her pet into getting up, the Egyptian removed the lizard's blanket and put her dress back on, and started to work on the stew.
When it approached being finished, the goddess turned around, looking at the dragon and speaking firmly. "Foods almost ready."
But still, the dragon did not stir. An eyebrow raised. There was an easy way to do this. A single hard smack to the teenager's buttox probably would do the trick ...
Sorcha was indeed tired. The well…events from yesterday had left the dragon completely exhausted. She didn’t even stir when Irasacha left to go find food. She was merely sleeping quietly, the white dress pulled tightly around her in an iron grip – until Irasacha pulled on it, the Dragon relaxed her grip just enough for her to take it, though she grumbled a bit in her sleep about it.
The young dragon, was definitely not expected the hard smack to her bottom that followed sometime after, either.
…yet the dragon still didn’t fully wake. She drowsily opened one of her eyes, rolling over and mumbling to herself.
“Go away…still…tired….” She yawned, curling up into a little ball as she tried to return to sleep. The goddess, perhaps had underestimated the dragon’s natural laziness. Mix that with the events of yesterday…well, it was going to take a little more to wake her.
Irasacha raised an eyebrow, and started to tap her foot against the ground. "We are eating, pet. You have ten seconds."
The Phoenix started her countdown, like a mother telling their child to behave. Or Else.
“You’re…not…my boss...” She grumbled, not caring about the counting at all. “Go bother…someone else…”
Now both eyebrows were raised. When the older woman reached zero, she sat down in front of the dragon with her legs criss crossed. With uncanny swiftness, a hand reached out and grabbed Sorcha's hair, and she dragged the dragoness over her lap until her head was over on the other side. Then she smacked the teenager's bottom nine more times.
"Awake yet?" Her tone was far too cheerful for what just occured, and a smile spread across the ruby-eyed woman's face as if nothing had just happened.
In hindsight, Sorcha knew that was a terrible idea, but she really couldn’t bring herself to care. At least, until she felt Irasacha’s hand grab her hair. The moment she was moved, her eyes shot open, and only had a fraction of a second to voice a small protest before another smack was delivered to her rear. As eight more were delivered, all the dragon could do was offer small protests.
“G-gah! I’m awake! Release me, woman!” She shouted, from where she was laying on Irasacha’s lap.
The woman let her go, hand covering her mouth as she snickered behind it. She headed over to the breakfast pot, where she filled a bowl with stew before forcing it into the dragon's hands.
Honestly though - you could sneak an entire group of knights into a cave and kill the beast before she woke up. It's not a safe habit.
"Eat yourself full. We travel today." The tone was stern enough to ensure that this was not a suggestion.
As soon as she was let go, the dragon stood and rubbed her backside. Ugh, Irasacha was surprisingly strong, as she had discovered yester- Her face turned a slight shade of red again as she remembered just exactly what she had done yesterday with this woman.
She didn’t get to think about it long, much to her relief thanks to Irasacha shoving a bowl into her hands.
“Traveling?....” She yawned, the momentary shock of being woken in such a rude manner wearing off fairly quickly. “Why? Can we not and just sleep? We can just start later on-” The dragon realized what she was saying as soon as it was left her mouth, and was not looking forward to more punishment. She quickly looked at the ground, the end of her sentence quietly fizzling out.
It looked like she was learning, albeit slowly.
“Uhm…where…are we going?” She began to eat, although rather slowly due to still being somewhat asleep. “Could I not have another hour? Dragons sleep a lot…”
Of course she knew she tended to sleep a lot, even for a dragon, but she was never going to admit to that.
She also tended to eat a lot too. That pot was likely going to be very empty by the time she was done with it.
The goddess ate only a little, either because she had already eaten before hand or she wasn't hungry was hard to tell.
"Where and how we travel depend on your answer to this: What am I?" She had told the dragoness her story the previous day, but the goddess doubted the lizard had been paying too much attention to her tale. However, she tossed the teenager a friendly smile, as if she expected her to have figured it out by now.
“Annoying...” The dragon muttered quietly as she ate, though before she could incur the womans’ wrath, she continued.
“Something about being a goddess and something about…Rome? Where is that even?” She questioned, another yawn escaping her mouth.
“But I don’t really care. The only gods I care about reside in Valhalla.” Her tone of voice indicated that she definitely didn’t care much for gods outside of Valhalla. One might even say she didn’t consider them to be gods at all.
So she probably didn’t consider this woman here to be one, either.
The goddess granted her a knowing smile. "We walk South to Toulouse then. Although recently taken by the Franks, the heirs of Clovis haven't driven out the Olympus or Vahalla completely from themselves." If she wasn't going to pay attention, Iravis knew she would need more time to explain things then.
“Toulouse?...” Sorcha’s eyebrows furrowed. She had never heard of such a place. Then again, she had never been anywhere outside of Britannia or the lands surrounding Gotland. Perhaps visiting a new land would be fun.
However, before she could think about possibly eating some new, delicious food in some far off land, a little red flag went up in her head.
“W-wait. Walk? I’m a dragon! We don’t walk anywhere!” Sorcha replied. Well. That was only partially true. “I refuse!"
Iravis looked towards the dragon, delivering a threatening glare. "I swear I misheard something." She wasn't sure if the dragon was a glutton for punishment, but Irasacha was starting to believe she was.
“I-I said I refuse!” Though her voice faltered a bit under the womans glare, eyes shifted towards the ground. “W-wouldn’t it be faster anyways?” She quickly continued.
After giving the dragon some further ecouragement, the pair started walking down the road, heading south. After an hour, two thoughts struck the mind of the goddess: 1. Why weren't her own clothes destroyed during transformation? 2. Assuming the same condition for the dragon, why didn't she have any?
It wasn't a problem for now, but the Christians prefered clothes at a significantly higher level than pagans, and once they approached a town it would be a serious issue.
The goddess wasn't too worried about an attack: the Visigoths had been friendly to the Christian faith, and the Franks only recently truly converted with Clovis' invasion.
And despite the collapse of the Western part of the empire, many governing institutions from before remained behind as reminders of what used to be great.
Still though, back to the previous thoughts. "Did you lose your clothing?" It was best to assume she understood what the objects were.
After the encouragement, Sorcha simply followed along behind Irasacha, keeping quiet. She had nothing to say to the woman anyways. The dragon was too busy focused on the fact that she wouldn’t be able to sit for hours now.
She barely even registered the question she was asked.
“Uh…clothing?” She questioned, after coming back to reality. “You mean…the stuff humans wear? Why would I wear clothing?” Sorcha replied laughing. She was obviously amused that Irasacha thought she would wear clothing.
“I don’t…think I’ve ever worn clothes a day in my life.” She gave a smug smile. “The only thing I would wear clothing for, is to shield the humans from my blinding, radiant, beauty in this form.” She chuckled before adding. “You know, If I actually cared about them being blinded. I'd like it better if they didn't even look-” Her voice fumbled a bit as she realized that was probably not a response Irasacha was going to like.
Iravis turned around, eyeing the dragoness. After only two days of discipline, the teenager was learning. Slowly, but considering her pet was a dragon she had expected some resistance. So instead of beating the woman savagely, she decided to go for a more clever reply. "Then why did you fight those men in your other form, if this one is clearly more effective?"
“Simple. I like the other one more.” She replied with a shrug. “Humans are ugly, and so is this form.” She grinned, a slightly sadistic, grin that obviously didn’t mean anything good. “Besides. I can scare them so much easier like that.” She snickered. “Half of them fled before they even made it too me. I’ve never seen grown men shake in their boots so much. Almost wanted to chase them and give them something to be afraid of.”
Irasacha raised an eyebrow at this response. "... Was this body unsatisfactory for you yesterday, then ...?" As these words left her mouth, the older woman took a step closer to the other girl. A hand placed itself on the dragon's head, running down her hair, tracing the contours of her neck, finger tips running down her pet's back ... during this, her own head moved a few inches closer, ruby eyes drifting to the lips
Sorcha’s face immediately turned a shade of red.
“T-that’s not…N-no!” The dragon stuttered, not expecting such a statement. She was close. Really close again, and the Dragon couldn’t say she honestly minded a whole lot. Well. She certainly didn’t find Irasacha unattractive. In fact, the woman was strong, and fairly…beautiful.
“I…I already said you were my equal, so…” She quietly grumbled.
"Is this not a human form, though, my pet?" She added in the last part, just to remind the dragon of her victory. "Besides, what of Helen of Troy or Guinivere of Camalot? Were they not desireable as well?" The goddesses head looked behind herself, and she noticed something far off in the distance. "Besides, a merchant will arrive soon, and he appears to have cloth as one of his goods. Perhaps I'll purchase you some."
Sorcha looked away from Irasacha.
“I…I really don’t feel stuff like that…n-normally.” The dragon replied. “I guess to humans they were, but…” She just shook her head, unable to comment further. It honestly may have come to a shock to the ruby eyed woman, but had never once, before yesterday, had any sort of urge like that at all.
“C-clothing? Why do I need clothing?” She continued, glad for the change of subject.
The goddess found herself giggling in response to the teenager's obvious flustering, but decided to show some divine grace at this point and not press the matter further. The second question though ...
"Clothes are so that others don't feel stuff 'like that' normally. You don't want those pesky mortals bothering you, do you?" It was obvious there was some skeptisim as she spoke this, the tone added in just to prevent ego inflation.
"And besides, your 'blinding, radient beauty' in this form is a little distracting for me, alright?" A compliment when you wanted something was usually worth it. And at this point, the goddesses hand was starting to hurt.
“Meh. They bother me I’ll just eat them.” Sorcha replied with a dismissive huff. “Besides. Maybe if they want to feel like that, I’ll just use that to get them to…polish my scales or something.” At hearing the second part though, Sorcha blushed a bit, but ultimately said nothing. Really, she wasn’t going to protest too much anyways, but that compliment unexpected.
“Well…that’s even less motivation for me to get clothing!” She replied, though from her tone it wasn’t serious.“I mean, really…If you’re distracted I can just get away with more.” She fell silent after that, though.
…she honestly had no clue when it came to stuff like clothing. She had actually worn zero articles of clothing in her life.
Irasacha looked away, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks as well. By then the merchants were visible in the distance even to a mortal eye. A light smack was sent by the hand behind Sorcha's back. "Just. Wear clothes. They are the fashion in Vahalla and all the other pantheons anyways. Have you ever even been there?" In all honesty, the Norse gods were recently favoring furs or wearing stolen clothing, but the goddess didn't feel too pressured to elaborate on her point.
"If you're a good pet, we'll have another session tonight." This time the hand behind Sorcha lightly squeezed the dragon's thigh, making sure the point came across.
When Irasacha delivered the light smack, Sorcha whined as she was told to wear clothes. She was going to protest once again, but when Irasacha mentioned another ‘session’ the dragon simply decided her feet were very interesting, and kept her mouth shut as she fidgeted somewhat uncomfortably.
Well that worked surprisingly well. With that promise though, the dragon would be the one recieving most of the attention again.
Well, there was always Artemis. The huntress knew more ways to treat fawn than with an arrow. Memories ran through her head, and the blush spread, but stopped when she remembered Sorcha was still there.
In order to hide her face, she started walking towards the merchants, wondering if Sorcha's pale skin actually would blind the merchants as she claimed.
Sorcha shook her head, attempting and only being somewhat successful to get her composure. She wasn’t going to let the silly humans see her all bothered, after all. So, she approached them with a grin and a confident stride. Or at least, the best one she could. She was still a little red in the face.
“You, human.” She said to the merchant before Irasacha could say anything to them. “Clothing. Give me all of the ones you have. Now.”
The merchants couple seeing her wings, crossed themselves and started reaching in the caravan, desperately searching for all their clothes.
They were a little surprised when the red eyes woman who was calmly standing next to her delivered a harsh slap across what they presumed to be demon's face, the woman's blue hair shifting out of position due to the force behind the blow. "Apologies for her misbehavior. This servant is bound to me and still learning the ways of mortals. However, she is correct that we are searching for clothes ..." The Phoenix sort of spread out her arms, gesturing to the dragon's nudity.
"... but I'd be more than happy to provide you with a fair trade." The blue haired woman kept an eye on Sorcha, making sure her pet wasn't about to go cataclysmic.
Sorcha had not been expecting a slap. Especially not one that hard. The dragons’ eyes simply widened, wondering what exactly she had just done wrong. They had needed clothes didn’t they? Why did she get slapped? Sure, she could have probably done it a little…nicer…but…GAH. Her look of surprise changed to a glower directed at Irasacha.
“What’d I even do?!” She growled, though fell silent, looking at the ground. “I…Should just eat these fools…”
Iravis looked towards the merchants, holding a finger up in a request to wait. They went from confused to terrified as Sorcha spoke her comment about making them a snack. Seeing the dragon looking at the ground though, the Phoenix decided that she was sufficently subdued. "No eating them." After a second or two though, she wondered if more explanation was needed. "You can't just walk around and steal from people. Stealing is a sin."
Sorcha gave Irasacha a frown. “Stealing...is a Sin?” She questioned. Honestly, the dragon didn’t have much in the way of an education. All Arthur did was teach her how to wield a sword and spear, while Merlin basically just made sure she behaved herself, more or less. Which basically meant spoiling her a bit and just making sure she didn’t cause too much of a problem.
Certainly Merlin had tried to teach her the concepts of ‘stealing’ and ‘right and wrong’ but…she hadn’t really paid much attention.
“How else would we get clothes?” She grumbled. She knew it was the general idea of ‘taking something from someone’, which was what she was doing here, but she had thought she was being rather nice about it since she had in fact, not eaten them yet.
The goddess looked over at her pet, who seemed geniunely confused about this whole situation. "Well, you give them something in return so that both sides end up with something they value more ..." A few moments of thought ran through her head as she thought up of something Sorcha might understand. "... do you understand the relationship between master and apprentice, or a warrior and a squire?"
Sorcha nodded.
“I was a familiar…and I watched Arthurs Knights train daily.”
"Well you see, the squire is taught by the knight so they can become an elite warrior much faster than possible on their own. The knight however also recieves service from the squire - the squire may clean their horses, feed them, polish their armor. In this relationship, who benefits?"
“The Knight because he has to do less work.” Sorcha replied rather simply.
"But does the squire not benefit? Does he not reach an appropriate level of skill faster than haphazardly swinging at a tree?" The tone of the woman's voice wasn't scolding, but rather inquisitve. If Sorcha had an academic mind, she would recognize it.
Sorcha frowned. Well, she couldn’t say Irasacha was wrong. After all, she was trained by Arthur himself and was told her skills with a blade were above those who had been swinging one for years sometimes. That said, she also didn’t have to do any of the squire related stuff…just help Merlin every now and then with something.
“I guess…” Sorcha replied again slowly. She understood the basic concept at least, but there was still no accounting her laziness. “But I still say the knight gets the better end of the deal.” The dragon grumbled. “Whoever ends up doing less work is obviously better off. Simple.”
The goddess looked at Sorcha, taking advantage of the second point. "If you are a lazy knight, that is true. So you decide to put much less time and effort into training an apprentice who would take care of those same tasks for you. On the other hand, the apprentice is also being lazy compared to their alternative." She gave a pause to allow the girl to catch up as she rephrased Sorcha's point.
"They could spend twelve hours swinging at a tree and accomplish nothing, or they can train for four and do two hours of chores and walk away five years later as a decently competent fighter. Both parties believe they are better off, in this situation, do they not?" Iravis waited for a moment, checking to see if Sorcha was keeping up.
Sorcha continued to listen, albeit rather badly. She truly honestly did try to process the information, but it didn’t entirely seem to click with the dragon all at once. She understood the first part well enough. If the master was lazy, the apprentice would mimic the master.
The second part seemed to click a lot less well at the moment, however. She understood what Irasacha was attempting to say. At least, she thought she did.
But there was just one thing the Dragon refused to accept.
“How would chores help improve someone’s swordsmanship?” She questioned. “Wouldn’t you be better off training? That’s…all I did.”
The goddess shook her head. This was a bad example. Try two. "Remember what we did last night?" She waited a few moments to allow the dragoness to understand what she was talking about before continuing. "If I promised to deliver that again, in exchange for the same in return, would you agree to it?"
The dragon looked away from Irasacha as her face went red.
“Y-yes.” The dragon replied. At least this example was a bit easier for her to understand, since Irasacha threw out the word ‘Chore’ and ‘work’. She understood the concept of giving something of equal value in return for something of equal value.
“But…why would I agree to trade something with a human I didn’t know?” She looked back at Irasacha with a frown, as If she was really attempting to understand why she couldn’t just take something from someone she didn’t like, or a random person like these merchants she didn’t know the name of.
Resist the urge to facepalm. She had to let a sigh out before explaining. "They've worked hard to acquire this caravan worth of goods, going between cities and travelling hundreds of miles. Here, I have some coins." A pouch produced itself from fold in the goddesses dress, and Iravis shook it to ensure the dragon heard them rattle. "I value clothes for my naked pet more than I value these coins right now, and they value the coins more than the clothes they would give me. We both walk away better off. Sure, I could raid them, but if I did that forever who would there be left to raid after a thousand times?"
At this point, the merchants started to look uncomfortable.
As soon as Irasacha pulled out the coins, the dragon seemed completely fixated on them.
She knew what those were. Shiny little coins the humans loved so much. Gold little trinkets. She had quite the collection back in Gotland that the humans had likely already taken by now. She’d have to go back some day and retrieve her valuables.
However…
These little coins would make a perfect little start!
She snatched the pouch of coins from Irasacha, opening it and inspecting the contents, turning away slightly as she did so. She honestly didn’t know what was so special about these things. She just knew the humans liked them, so she took them if she ever found them.
She turned back to Irasacha to very briefly answer her question, a bit too fixated on the pouch of coins.
“No one, because I’d have everything.”
"So according to your belief system, it is acceptable to take from those weaker than yourself, correct?"
If Sorcha bothered turning towards Iravis, she would see the older woman cracking her knuckles and a mischevious grin spreading across her face. No one stole from her, ESPECIALLY her newest and disobedient pet.
"But those coins are mine, so you can give them back, pet."
At this moment, Sorcha knew she had fucked up. Again.
She looked from the pouch, to Irasacha, a small, nervous smile forming on her lips, clutching the pouch of coins tightly in her hands.
“U-uhm, y-yeah!” She said in response to Irasacha’s first question. “The strong take from the weak! And if the weak are smart…t-then, uhm, they’ll…follow the strong…” Her sentence faltered at the end, her voice failing her for a few moments.
“A-and I am strong!” She managed to continue, though her voice still faltered. “So these coins, are mine!” This was a terrible idea, and she knew it, but she just couldn’t…not.
A snap of the fingers and an explosion following a second later sent the dragon flying away about thirty yards, resulting in her rolling around in the dirt for several feet until the dragon's momentum stopped.
After a quick check to make sure that the coin pouch was still clutched by the lizard's greedy finger, another snap of the fingers sent Sorcha flying straight towards the Phoenix's face, and final snap and explosion directly overhead sent the dragon face first into the dirt no more than a yard away from Irasacha's feet.
A foot planted itself firmly on the back of Sorcha's head, keeping her there. Her natural resistance to pressure had kept the dragon alive, but light burn marks ran up and down her pet's body. "The strong requests thier coins back from the weak." The entire punishment had taken less than ten seconds.
The dragon laid quietly beneath Irasacha’s foot for a few moments, her anger reaching a boiling point. But no. She wouldn’t be able to do any direct fighting. She wasn’t strong enough for that, no matter how much she hated to admit it. Her body hurt all over from being tossed around like a ragdoll, and her pride once again had been injured. There was realistically no way she was going to beat this woman in an actual fight.
So she settled on some passive aggressiveness. At first, she held the half open pouch of coins up so that Irasacha could take them.
However, before the woman could do anything…she took the pouch…and threw it as hard as she could in the direction opposite of the merchants – chances were, the coins would spill all over the ground.
Seems like she has finally learned her lesson. The goddess started to reach out for the pouch ...
... when suddenly it went far into the distance. Far away. Almost all of her money had been in there. She saw the coins shower off in the distance, and her hopes of recovering them disappeared as she noticed most of them were being carried away by a small stream.
For probably the first time with this girl, the goddess found herself geninely angry with this girl. This would make their plans ... a bit of a challenge.
Surprisingly, the Goddess lifted her foot from Sorcha's head, and took a few steps back. "Are you seeking to battle with me?" Her voice was trying to not express her rage, but some managed to slip through the cracks as an impatient foot tapped the ground, trying to wait for an answer.
The dragon pushed herself off of the ground.
“What would be the point of that?” She grumbled, wiping some dirt off of her face. “I’d love to just eat you and be done with it, but I’d lose…” She quietly stated. “And you’d just humiliate me more.” Sorcha pushed herself into a sitting position, a glare pointed right at Irasacha. She was angry, yes but what could she do? There was almost no way she could realistically beat this woman. Not in her current state.
“…why do you want to take everything I have away from me?” She growled, not meeting Irasacha’s gaze. She was of course, talking about both her pride, and her beliefs. The only reason she had even thrown the coins, was because she was frustrated and angry. She wanted to just kill this woman and go about her business, but she knew she had no chance of doing that. Plus…well, she knew this woman wasn’t entirely wrong, either. But right now? Those things were just about everything she had. She didn’t know anyone, aside from Irasacha. If Merlin was dead, chances were Arthur was too…she didn’t even have a home any more.
With that response, the wrath in her body left. The goddess worried that perhaps she'd gone a bit too far, noting Sorcha's downtrodden position as she drifted off to older memories. Irasacha sat down a few feet away from Sorcha, lowering herself to the ground so they were equally high above the earth.
At least her pet was starting to recognize who was in charge. Maybe she could use this as her lesson, rather than spending another half hour on her lecture about economics.
"Didn't you just say that the strong have the right to take from those weaker than themselves? What if I get pleasure from tossing you around, don't I have the right to take that from you then?" The words came out sternly, leaving little room for argument.
The goddess took a deep breath and countinued. The older woman's tone became more diplomatic and open to a response. "Perhaps you feel it's a little unfair for me to beat you around like this, correct?"
“I said take…not humiliate.” Sorcha replied. “You’ve done…nothing but humiliate me ever since you…healed me.” She looked at Irasacha, a slow burning defiance clear in her eyes. “You are strong…and yes, you do if you want, but that isn’t right.” Her voice was firm, and definitely didn’t leave much room for argument.
“Getting pleasure from the misfortune of others isn’t something that is right. I…may not…be good with things like what is good and evil…money…things like that, but never once have I ever humiliated someone or toyed with them.” She looked where she had tossed the coins, a small frown forming on her lips. “I apologize for tossing the coins. That was…wrong of me, but…” She sighed, unsure of what else she could say except one thing. She looked back at Irasacha with a determined gaze, her voice was firm. “You have no honor.”
A frown formed on the dominant parties lips, but a small smile followed a few seconds afterwards. "Apology accepted." She decided not to respond to the verbal jab.
"Isn't humilition simply stealing another's pride, though?" A sigh and a few seconds passed as the older woman thought about how to respond. "Anyways, how do you think the humans feel when you take their hard earned goods from them? Aside from the food and gold, you know you crush their souls every time one as powerful as yourself makes them feel so helpless before your wrath, just as I do to you."
“T-that’s different!” Sorcha replied. “I don’t…humiliate them, do I?” Her voice faltered once again, her gaze returning to the ground. Maybe she was right though. She had never intended for the humans to feel helpless...plus, until that stupid thief stole from her she only took what she needed to live.
“I just…took what I needed to live until that fool stole from me and refused to return it…” The item in question was a golden goblet. It was a parting gift from Arthur. A cheap thing, really. Something he just gave her to satisfy her desire for shiny things, but she still treasured it regardless.
And now she wasn’t likely to ever see it again.
As realization dawned on Sorcha's face, Irasacha raised an eyebrow. "I doubt they feel mighty and strong when one like yourself steals everything they own ..." It wasn't cruely stated, just firm enough to reinforce the point.
The goddess lifted herself to a standing position, brushing the dust off her dress. A hand extended down in an off to help her pet stand up.
"Anyways, why don't you tell me about what was taken after we purchase you a nice dress from these ... rather terrified merchants." It wasn't a lie. They hadn't even moved, too scared to run away from such powerful myths that stood before them.
Sorcha said nothing, only taking Irasacha’s extended hand and stood. She…maybe needed to think about some things, and actually use her head for once.
“A dress?…some shiny armor would fit me better.” She muttered, though suddenly didn’t seem in the mood for arguing.
Soon the merchants were on their way, and Sorcha was wearing a beige linen dress after a small discussion reinforcing the purpose of clothes. Soon the pair was back on the road, and Iravis decided to retry her question from earlier.
"Care to tell me what happened? About the pesky theif?" She tried to make her tone as non-treatening as possible, and suggest that this would be a voluntary response.
Sorcha felt entirely uncomfortable in a dress. Ugh, really. She should get her some shiny armor sometime to wear. That was what a proper dragon such as herself should be wearing.
“Huh? Theif?” Sorcha replied suddenly. She had been silent for the most part since then, thinking about some of the things Irasacha had said. She was still…unsure about a number of things, but well…she was making an effort at least.
“Oh...I dunno. Someone wandered into my cave while I was asleep. They stole something…kind of important to me. A gold chalice…Arthur gave it to me.” She sighed. “I doubt I’ll ever see it again. The thief is long gone by now. If I ever see him again though,” She grumbled. “I’m definitely eating him.”
Irasacha raised an eyebrow at Sorcha's saddness ... perhaps ...
"If you are a good pet, maybe I'll get you in contact with a companion of mine. She's an incredible tracker, she'd be able to find that chalice ..." A finger raised in front of Irasacha's face. "... But first, Toulose and a few other errands, Sorchy Sparky."
Sorcha sighed. She might as well get used to that silly name.
“Right, right…Toulose. Where is that even? My legs are killing me already…” She huffed, giving her wings a flap, though didn’t protest. “…also is it lunchtime yet? I’m hungry.”
Lukas stands boldly at a height of 190 cm, with a weight of 86.7 kg. He sports slightly tan skin with piercing crimson eyes and short, unkempt brown hair. Lukas alternates between his clothing, switching it around from the usual attire seen above to similar clothing with alternative colors. From time to time, he will adorn ivory colored gloves. It isn't out of character to see him with a mischievous, leery glint.
When turned into a female, Lukas stands at the same height with the same weight as always due to the fact that he becomes top heavy to accommodate for not only that, but... other personal luggage (equal exchange ya know). His hair becomes a little bit longer and he adopts a more feminine visage. From there on out, everything about him/her is the same, save for genitalia. However, Lukas' fashion sense stays the same; he made sure to prep for a moment like this.
"What's a lovely wall-flower like you doing, sitting here all alone? Maybe you might want some company?~"
Name: Lukas Kunze
Nicknames/Titles: The Casa-NO-va, Mindless Matter, Unfaithful Deviant, The Spellsword, The Fool
Age: 17
Gender: Male (Female in gender bent state)
Race: Human
Sexuality: Heterosexual (Homosexual in gender bent state)
Magic: Circum: Telekinesis
Disclaimer: Need permission from the other user(s) to affect their character(s) through Telekinesis to avoid power-gaming.
Lukas has the ability to manipulate matter with ease, controlling whether an object is going to shoot up or accelerate downwards. This can range from decelerating the speed of a physical weapon coming down on him, or completely stopping a bullet before ricocheting it back at the assailant. Lukas can influence multiple objects at one time, including his four weapons of choice - four steel broadswords he can hurl at opponents to eviscerate, stab, or anything to cause loss of blood.
Strengths: Offensive, defensive, and mobility are all the things this magician has. Whether it is hurling myriads of objects at an opponent to harm them, or cripple a person by stopping and redirecting an item back to them. He can go in slicing and dicing with his four swords whether it be with the mind or with his own body. The next is his defensive capabilities which allows him to manipulate objects to shield him or allies from assaults. Finally, the mobility allows him to "levitate," however it requires him manipulating his clothes so he floats. He can also jump onto things he is controlling with his mind and ride them.
Depending on the state of matter will affect his ability to manipulate and harness said object to his advantage. Solid states are the easiest to control, liquids are difficult to master, and gases are nigh impossible to maneuver. Along with that, he can change the structure of objects (i.e. bending it and altering its shape), albeit at a much slower and difficult pace than an person versed in Alchimia. Changing it into another element is... not something in the realm of possibility. Physical objects conjured up by others can be manipulated, however it depends on the skill of the user who summoned said item also vs Lukas' own skill.
Weaknesses: Of all the things he cannot affect, one of the things is another living being. Unless said thing is a corpse, they will not be affected by his magic. Along with that, while he can pick up matter that weighs more than him easily, the heavier an item is, the higher the strain he has and the more mana he will have to expend to keep it in place. Along with that, he must take into account the gravity around him as if the items weight more, the more mana he will have to use. Telekinetically hurling an item at someone will require more force than having it move around with his mind.
Speaking of minds, people that are physically stronger can muscle their way past his telekinesis when certain items on their being are moved around. This can make them a bit sluggish, but while doing this doesn't make them completely immobilized. Plus, if a person detaches themselves from the floor, he will need to take into account their weight, basically wasting more precious energy. Lukas cannot manipulate gasses, and it is rather difficult to manipulate liquids. Also, another note on a person conjuring something - they can easily dismiss it too, make his efforts worthless.
Catalyst:
The Lecherous Band: Found on his right ring finger, this meticulously crafted golden ring looks ornate with eloquent designs streaming around. When he uses his magic, the carved in parts of the ring glow with a soft, pale hue. The design makes it look like an Asian and European dragon locked in an everlasting conflict. Sandwiched between them both are the faces of a man an woman looking fearfully at the ongoing battle.
The thing is, the ring chose him for a reason, and makes him expected to perform certain actions... like hitting on a random chick. It isn't all that simple as he has to flirt with around five to twenty women per day that harbor a similar sexuality as him (i.e. straight and bisexual women). While this sounds all fine and dandy, the consequences are rather... tenuous. One of the side effects causes him to reverse genders, which isn't the bad part of the catalyst. The worse part is that he still has to fulfill the requirements or else he is forced to wield one object with the power of his mind until the conditions are fulfilled. Unfortunately, this means his sexuality will be reverse, meaning he cannot flirt with straight girls. However, he can make his advances on lesbians.
The upside is he has that power to tell when something is an illusion, however like everyone else, he is still affected by it. While he can't just make the illusion disperse, he can target the source of the illusion and attempt to take them down. So essentially, he can and will call illusionists out if they are fabricating something. However, this effect is completely nullified also if he doesn't live up to the prerequisites.
Other Skills: Don't let the look of this mage fool you - he may rely on his mind, but that doesn't mean he can't pack a punch up close. Along with training to strengthen him, he is an adept at wielding his blades. Don't hurt the flirt boys and girls and keep your hands above the waist ladies because he is all about getting up close and personal.
Lukas can speak some German as a result of his heritage, but may slip up from time to time; almost fluent at most, just give him a bit of practice.
Due to a like for coffee, he has a coffee maker stashed away in his dorm - he understands how to create really strong coffee with this appliance, so prep some cream and equal in advance if you want something weaker.
Inventory: Four Broadswords w/ two individual sheathes and one sheath that has them both cross The Lecherous Band A Satchel -A Cellphone -One or two books -A Notebook -A few pencils
Familiar: "I'll take one foxy lookin' babe as a familiar; don't be shy, I don't bite, but I know you will soon enough.~
Personality:
Lax and hardworking should never be put in the same sentence, but somehow Lukas managed to pull it off. A perfectionist by hand, he works to make sure certain performances are tight and have little to no error. It irks him whenever a meager mistake is made, and may obsess over it to strenuous degrees mentally or verbally... though, maybe he could tone down his obsession for improvement just a tinge. Ironically, though, he tends to love relaxing a bit too much on the downside. But, it's better than having him verbally (or quietly) get irritated over something so minor.
Additionally, try getting him to nerd out of certain things; nothing more can calm him down than making him hyped over having a likable similarity in terms of games to shows to books. At most, it may cause him to forget and slightly neglect his chance to improve, but he will enjoy every moment of it!... before stressing out when getting in earshot of a previous comment that forced him into his workaholic state.
One of his favorite hobby's is hitting on any hot chick, regardless of how crappy, or cheesy his lines are. To top that off, he could give less damns about a girls sexuality with him appearing in a carefree state. Of course, this could also leak into the facet that he has to live up to the terms that were set in stone due to his catalyst. This makes it difficult to discern whether or not he is flirting with a girl truthfully or whether he is trying to keep himself from turning into a girl.
Backstory:
Lukas' was the eldest son in a family of five people - parents, siblings, you get the spiel. He was born in America from a couple of workaholic magicians which affected his life and his siblings, causing certain aspects to completely vanish from their life. Lukas' and his siblings had to usually rely on themselves or the babysitter their parents got whenever they would go off to work. This left them open to them learning and growing with little restrictions and them maturing with their own unique values.
The eyes of each sibling usually told what school of magic they would originally be born under; blue usually meant you were of the Alchemy class, red of Prima, and so on. Lukas' was one of the rare cases in his family where the pigment of his eyes didn't matter since he was bestowed with the Circum class. Of course, this did not at all change anything and is just a unique quirk of their family.
Over time, as their magical abilities began to rise, the duo made sure each of their children received proper, physical training so they could not only rely on their magic, but their bodies as a last ditch effort if they ever are abstained of their catalysts.
Eventually the urchins all began attending different magical academies at the age of twelve, per family tradition. Lukas made the choice of attending one of the newest schools, much to his parents dismay, known as Montagne Academy.
"It is a pleasure to meet you; I am Yume Asibika and I look forward to our future interactions."
Name: Yume Asibika
Nicknames/Titles: Lady Snoresalot, Muffet, The Dreamer
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Race: Arachne
Sexuality: Unknown
Magic: Mentis: Dream Manipulation Yume has the inborn ability of summoning miraculous things from her dream to assist her in combat. This can range from nightmare inducing chimeras to strangely friendly sirens who can try to lull foes to sleep. The most interesting thing about this is when falling asleep and beginning a dream, she automatically spawns in a dream version of herself. The dream version is similar to the real version of of Yume physically, however is very different with her "true" personality coming to light.
Strengths: The things she summons can be generalized with certain aspects (i.e. being a lightning bruiser, swathes of whelps to burn through assailants, etc.) that give her an advantage in battle. This means she can overpower people through sheer force of one person, swarms of enemies, skilled duelists, or a combination of all three depending on what is currently going through her head while she slumbers.
On another note, Dream Yume is a manifestation of her inner thoughts, feelings, wishes, and beliefs... which gives it almost a mind of its own, if not these were her inner-most desires. Dream Yume is stronger than the real Yume and can pack a punch with her exoskeleton and isn't at all ashamed to use her abdomen to create threads to inhibit the movement of enemies, or to create durable platforms for her allies - some skills the real Yume lacks. Another advantage is that they both share the same memories, which means anything Dream Yume does, real Yume will remember (though, she may not act like she recalls it if she deems said memory to be shameful/unladylike).
Weaknesses: The problem with her magic, while powerful, can only be cast while she is asleep, which leaves her vulnerable to attacks. This usually forces her to be completely hidden whilst having the dream version of her battle in her stead. Speaking of the dream version of Yume, if defeated/destroyed, Yume is abruptly woken up, garnering a headache which keeps her highly immobile for the next two to four minutes. Along with that, Yume isn't the biggest front line fighter since she is rather weak, and has rather pathetic combat viability, unless using her dreams and dream version of herself.
On the topic of her dreams, while Dream Yume stays perfectly constant, her hidden fantasies are more or less volatile to an extent. While she can control what she summons, her dreams, not so much, and must also rely on her state of mind. This usually influences how the dreams turn out; if in a bad mood before going to bed, she may dream up hell-fire and destructive wraiths that may attack friend and foe alike, Dream Yume included.
Catalyst: N/A, but likes to think her whole bed as this.
Other Skills: Yume can create almost any types of garments from the silk she spins from her abdomen, along with dream catchers to summon the dream version of her to the conjurers current location. However, she gets flustered easily when watched producing the thread from her abdomen. The dream catchers usually take around about three to four days to create.
Inventory: Handwoven Bag -Three dreamcatchers -A few pencils -#2 diary -A wallet with some European Currency
Master: --
Personality:
Yume is a soft spoken Arachne who differentiates between a stoic, calm, humble attitude about her in a don't speak until spoken too kind of way. She is usually patient in how she acts, not striking out due to the sheer audacity of someones tongue or actions, but usually a simple scolding. Aside from this she does her best to act completely polite to every stranger she comes across. So basically, act like a quaint princess to anyone you meet... and get flustered when someone looks at you while spinning thread, to the point where your covering your face.
With this, comes social naivety on some things. Yume can sometimes take things a tad bit serious, like metaphors (i.e. simple raining cats and dogs line is spoken, she points out there are no animals, but it's raining rather hard), and very seldom takes things with a grain of salt. Of course, with obliviousness comes her innate sense of curiosity. Yume often wants to try things out, but feels it may be a bit crude and unladylike...
There is another side to her she refuses to show, one so deep it could completely twist the very fabric of who she is... Dream Yume heralds the same ideals of curiosity as Yume, but instead takes action over her inaction; she could care less if it was the way a lady of proper standing would behave. Mischievous with a streak of adventure, the girl will go to lengths to tease, shout obscenities, and display herself with clothes the Real Yume would consider loud. This often causes Yume to cry during her awakening. So yeah, they hugely contrast each other.
Another thing they both have in common is a fear of being alone; the Real Yume will show discomfort over her loneliness, shifting around as she looks around with distraught wide-eyes. When someone decides to accompany her again, she throws on a simple smile, shrugging off any reasoning over if she is ok. Dream Yume is a bit unstable, seeing as she can become a mix of emotion, mainly anger with unchecked sobbing. Even more so when with a person she cares for, she will usually be very clingy and very demanding of said person; may sometimes act obedient to keep them on her side.
Backstory:
The early parts of Yume's life could be compared to a fleeting dream, yet one thing always stood out to her in her early childhood - she was always alone. Living out in the wilderness, moving from place to place whilst averting gazing eyes due to fear. She did, however, harbor a thirst, a curiosity about beings that looked so similar to her, yet lacked the appendages she possessed. Yet, she never bothered getting close and always thought them to be negative beings, lacking any empathy as time grew on...
That came as a result of the dream version of herself who, many times, interacted (or tried to interact) with humans and other animals she hunted. Suffice to say, who knew humans were oppressed and began shrieking when a scantly dressed girl whose lower body appeared to be like an arachnid appeared. So she grew up, bitter, with a gnawing sense for some companionship. Eventually, the pressure got to her and she no longer could stand the singular person she was. She longed for someone to care for her, a friend, an acquaintance, anyone who would be willing to comfort her.
Yume contrived less than desirable tactics of luring in passerby's of any gender through the use of dream created constructs, and ensnared them forcefully. Needless to say, they were all terrified and always managed to flee when given the opportunity of not being constricted. It left the girl heartbroken, but eventually through a stroke of luck, she found the right friend... or rather, parental figure.
One day, she managed to snag an older, apparently blind woman who was exploring the area. When lured and captured, she questioned if she would leave her if she gave her the chance to leave. The old woman calmly denied the claim, before asking for the young Arachne's name. Yume replied that she didn't know, before calling her something other than a monster. The two went on for a couple of minutes before questioning the woman's reasons for not struggling to flee.
She replied that she saw the girls mental pain with her third eye when wandering the wilderness outside her town and was drawn to said area in hopes of comforting whatever person or creature was in agony. Yume, who she now dubbed herself, was confused as to why she went through that effort or how she could even validate such a far-fetched power. In a moment, the thread she snared the woman in was one human short. She was surprised to find the woman standing there, smiling before giving the girl the answer that she could of left any time she want and made the claim she was a magi.
Yume had no idea what that was, and with bright eyes, questioned the woman with even greater curiosity. The woman beckoned the Arachne to live with her, while offering the girl shelter, knowledge, and a way to make better clothes with the thread she spun. While she grew up a bit naive, the woman shaped her into a proper member of society in the realm of magicians. Yume became comparable to an upright young woman hailing from a family of nobles.
Yume still hasn't truly figured out to this day why her newfound friend/caretaker did all this, other than out of a random act of kindness.
Eventually, she finished teaching the girl what she knew, the woman eventually began to wither away. To make sure Yume was secured for the future, she was sent to attend Montagne Academy as a familiar in hopes of finding a good master that she would not only take care of, but would take good care of the Archne.
Yume is currently in her second year, conceiving clothes to financially support herself.
"I enjoy your eyes...because when I look deep enough I can see my own reflection"
Name: Cupido Morningstar
Nicknames/Titles: “Just call me Cupid darling” (His mother had a sense of humor)
Age: looks 25 (real age is 395)
Gender:Male
Race: Fallen angel
Sexuality:Heterosexual
Appearance notes: Often seen with black and white wing tip oxfords, only tattoo is an anatomical heart, wings go from white on top to a deep burgundy red at the bottom feathers, light pink eyes.
Class: -Weaponry: “How to stab things close to you and how to stab things at a distance darling” Daggers, knives, and archery (non magical)
-Winds: How to summon and control winds “Generally one controls them carefully darlings...very carefully”
Magic: -Mentis Magic:: Desire Basically, he can figure out an individual’s deepest desires by asking them, it becomes a type of truth serum as he continues talking. Can also be used to get what he wants. Can make people keep talking, or allow him into confidential areas. -Prima Magic: Wind controls winds from making a light breeze to creating a strong tornado. -Mentis Magic: Illusion Can create illusions to foll a mind/minds. Can make individuals see their worst nightmares or their best dreams. Can make a person go insane if used long enough.
Strengths: -Desire: Makes him an excellent self detective. Allowing for him to find out if someone is lying, or if they are boring. Depends on the situation. This does not require much mana. The rest is more powerful in that he gets away with more. Much like a jedi mind trick. -Wind: Very useful with arrows, tornados can be extremely destructive and very effective. -Illusions:can make people see what he wants them to see.
Weaknesses: -Desire: Requires a lot of focus, if his focus is removed the individual is no longer affected. The more he tries to get away with the more concentration and the more mana required. -Wind: The more powerful the wind the more difficult to control the more mana required along with more concentration. Generally does not make tornadoes. -Illusions: The more complex the more mana the more concentration the more draining. Same with amounts of people he is trying to use illusions on at a time. The more people, the more mana, the harder to do.
Catalyst: None
Inventory: A flip phone, some cash with a money clip, and a three sided knife he likes to call heart breaker....because it does a lot of damage.
Familiar: none...yet? “I would love a bird dearie”
Squad Name: none
Pesonality: Egotistical,where he loves himself more then others. Though if met with a strong personality that can stand their own, he may grow fond of them. His teaching style is more patient unless a student pushes him, then he cracks down on them....or volunteers them for apple duty. No one likes apple duty. (This may be shown in IC. It is quite humerus and the student isn't in any real danger he just makes them think that to straighten them out) He considers himself perfect and can tend to get on others nerves...it takes someone with an equal amount of confidence or wit to be able to handle him.
Backstory: Cupido was born to a demon and an angel. Unfortunately for the angel, the demon killed him. (He has never wondered or asked about his father) His mother taught him magic, and shaped his personality. Along with magic, he also developed Houdini level escape arts. Leaving him able to escape out of most trappings and be smug about it later. Unlike most, he welcomes his duality and sees it more as an advantage then a burden. His English accent comes from living in England, the velvety sound comes from his mother. When he realized his powers were more then his mother could teach him he went to the school. And stayed...deciding to teach some of what he has learned to others. Surprisingly being a patient teacher with a bit of a strict side when pushed.
Age: Not really certain. Gender: Male Race: Oni Sexuality: Straight Year: No Year Yet Abilities: Stronger Than You The ‘general’ of one thousand oni, Arata possesses nigh-limitless physical strength, enough that his physical form would be incapable of holding all that power without exploding into a bunch of gorey bits. At maximum strength, Arata is capable of casually swinging around a car like how others would wield a sword, and he bench presses fully loaded buses for training. However, even that relatively mediocre amount of physical strength is enough to splatter opponents from time to time. Thus, the Night Parade is also under a self-inflicted curse. Against those that are weaker than them, their strength will be limited to only slightly stronger than their opponents, ensuring that they will never completely overwhelm even the weakest of foes. The amount of physical strength Arata is allowed to wield takes into consideration magical power as well, and, when fighting against a group of enemies, takes the strongest of the group as the ‘limiter’. His speed, reactions, and durability, however, remain unmolested by this curse. Why? Because fuck those armies of five year olds.
Legendary Resistance With sheer Determination, Arata overcomes all barriers that stand in his way, an avatar of destruction that can only be stopped by destruction. All magical spells, outside of those stemming from Prima magic, can be shrugged off and resisted with his Determination. Attempts to exorcise his army have been laughed at. Attempts to teleport him have been shrugged off. Attempts to deceive him have been ignored. Against his advance, only destruction can dissuade him.
Gigalomania With immense Willpower, Arata can force reality to make concessions for himself, pulling off physical feats that would be practically impossible without magical aid. While he is generally incapable of meeting the requirements for this ability, when it does happen, he is quite literally causing a miracle to happen just by willing it. This miracle more often than not manifests itself in the form of allowing him to exceed his safety limits without exploding.
Strengths: His power allows him to always have a good fight regardless of how strong or weak his opponent is, while his ability to flat-out no-sell magical effects and warp reality allows him the utility to face down those who are otherwise more versatile than himself. Weaknesses: His power allows him to always have a good fight regardless of how strong or weak his opponent is, while his ability to flat-out no-sell magical effects and warp reality rely largely on his state of mind. Emotions are much more volatile than a trained ability like magic, after all.
Pesonality: Arata is, like most oni, someone who loves to fight. The blood that flows in his veins is fiery, and he’s a dramatically opinionated person, someone who finds it hard not to get passionate about everything. If he likes someone, he loves them to pieces, always watching their back and wanting to spar with them. If he dislikes someone, he despises them, always looking to pick a fight and beat their heads in. All things considered, Arata doesn’t have much of a middle ground when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He lives vivaciously and violently, and would love nothing more than to drown in the flames of a proper, honorable war.
Indeed, Arata is not someone who seeks victory in battle. He values fairness and honesty, seeking to win through skill and spirit, not simply because he drastically overpowers his opponents. Within the battlefield, he does not hold grudges, does not care for revenge, and desires only for his fist to crunch against his foe’s face. It is not within combat that he decides that he hates someone. It is only afterwards that he comes to a conclusion of whether or not they are his best buddy or his archnemesis.
Despite having some ridiculously good instincts when it comes to fighting, Arata, due to his heritage and his personality, isn’t really a smart person, academically. He likes simple, clean solutions, and can’t wrap his head around more complex subjects such as physics or psychology.
He also hates video games, because why would you play at fighting, when you can just fight in real life? God damned nerds.
Backstory: Arata was once a normal oni, rampaging on the landscapes of Japan alongside his bond-brothers, slaying samurai, causing mayhem, and even challenging the Gods themselves. Back then, they were all audacious and violent, a Night Parade of One Thousand that just wanted to have a good time.
Unfortunately, the shrine maidens and the priests didn’t appreciate the festivities.
Under the guise of friendship, humans offered sake to the one thousand, lacing it with a drug powerful enough to down enough the greatest amongst them. Then, while the Night Parade slept, they crafted a seal powerful enough to restrain all the oni into a single body. Riotous as they were, the leaderless oni struggled for control of a single, shared body, and spent the next couple centuries flopping around like a pig with one thousand heads, incapable working together long enough to break the prison they were contained in.
Only after much struggle did Arata subdue his brothers with promises of glory and grandeur, and only when he became the undisputed leader of the Night Parade of One Thousand did he break out of the jar they were sealed in. The world, by then, had changed drastically. No longer were there wars to rampage in. No longer were there skilled heroes to challenge.
In the several centuries that had passed since the Night Parade was sealed, Arata learned that magic, the gift of the gods, had become mainstream. No longer was pure physical power appreciated, nor pure martial skill.
It saddened him.
He strode through familiar landscapes changed by the passing of time. He found graves eroded by countless storms. He sought the things that he missed.
And when the descendants of the exorcists that once sealed them came to restrain him, Arata did not have an appetite for crushing their skulls between his hands. He allowed them to attempt their exorcising spells, allowed them to attempt to re-seal him. And when he tired of their effort, he left.
Eleven months later, a midget representative of Montagne Academy found him on top of Mount Everest, and invited him to come, to find himself new allies to fight alongside and new rivals to fight against.
In a world that was so bereft with meaningless peace, what could an oni do but accept?
"Why ruin the feeling of curiosity, when the answer might leave you dissapointed?... Might it not be better to be driven by not knowing than to be hindered by facts?"
Name: Draél Fahlmer
Nicknames/Titles: The Defiler, The Gambler of fate, Master Draél
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Race: Half Demon, Half Elf.
Sexuality: Pansexual
Magic:
-Bratus Magic: Defile,Siphon,Drain,Devour: Magic
Defile
The act of defiling a spell someone else is about to cast. A progress that begin by not only disrupting key components but also fragments of the 'mana' that someone attempt to use. It can be to remove or add spikes of mana to disorient and disturb the cast enough to cause it to fail, however it can also be used to change the components of the mana gathered for a cast in progress such as adding cold to a heat spell or tamper with the cast enough to cause it to fail. The more difficult a spell is to cast the easier it is to defile, and the more simpler it is the harder it becomes to tamper with it.
The Advantages to Defiling magic is that is when it works good the magic can simply be stopped. Yet in a more harmful way it can also cause magic to run out of control, make the one casting the other spell fail fataly and perhaps even turn into a sphere of pure energy and explode.
The disadvantage is when it actually fails it might make it much easier for a person even an uncunning one to succed with double the result creating a blazing inferno from a mere fireball.
Defile Magic needs direct line of sight.
Siphon
To merely siphon a small amount of magic from any living organism is an easy task for one cunning in the arts of doing so. Simply to call upon the small excess anyone can have around them but not see or just stealing an amount that someone probably won't miss.
The Siphon ability is not limited to any number of targets can be cast 'mostly' without failure unless someone has a specific resistance towards having their excess mana stolen. Its range is limited to 30m and line of sight.
It really won't harm anyone. Its totally disease free aswell.
Drain
To Drain Life, essence and Magic is a much harder task than Siphoning off from the excess, it requires direct contact with the victim and the damage than one can inflict is limited only by the amount of contact the user can make with the target. A hand on touch for a second would be like a powerful punch leaving a declining numb feeling in the effected area as the life force or mana is burned or snatched. An embrace could lead to parts of the body going numb and prolonged contact to lasting injury. A Vampiric bite or Kiss of 'Death' on the other hand that is uninterrupted could quickly result in the victims death.
Requires direct contact and quite a lot of focus.
Devour
The Art of Bottling up, consume or Destroy magic. With the Magic gathered from siphoning or Draining Draél can choose to 'bottle it up' to save for later, or either consume or destroy the mana gathered. These bottles of raw mana can be used by anyone for a quick injection of raw unrellenting magic and can boost anyone's abilities to cast or produce magic. Yet its limited to how much the user can control even if their ability to control is extended slightly from the consumption.
For Draél Consuming magic can heal his wounds and increase his ability to defile other magic meaning he becomes more efficient at disrupting other casters.
However he can also choose to destroy it on the spot making it useless to everyone.
Ability: Demonic Cascade
Draél's Physical body is not bound to the mortal realm, and he's form in the mortal realm is covered by a mystical veil spanning from the realm he come from shielding him from offensive magic that directly target him.
Can Summon or dispel his 'wings' on wish.
Strengths: His spells can Disrupt and interrupt foes magic very well making him quite good at anti magic battles. And Due to his life draining abilities he can deliver deadly close combat attacks no matter his opponents as he can attack their very life essence.
Weaknesses: Most of his magic is best used against mages. He's at a disadvantage towards ranged non magic using foes as he can't quite counter their magic.
Catalyst: None needed
Inventory: A Bag filled with dices that he often let levitate around in his hand.
Other Skills: Very good at games in general, gambling and other things.
Pesonality: Draél is a person who likes gambling very much, much more so than many other things. He can let entire life choices depend on the roll of a dice and don't mind betting on things at all. HE often tends to speak his mind aloud as he simply walk through life as if he's the main character in his own little life game, solely believing that he makes it much more interesting that way than to 'play' it regularly. He lives mostly for the moment and often do things that he enjoy.
Backstory:
Draél's Father is a Demon prince and his mother a Elven princess, how they came into relationship that ended in Draél being born is a tale for another day. However it have given him quite the unique view on how life can take the oddest turn and result in somthing fashinating. He have studied both Demonic and Elven arts, inherited strange demonic abilities and gained such understanding about magic that he is quite capable of raining on other's parades.
Draél have been somewhat of a Demi-vampire from birth, drinking blood, essence and mana to satisfy his thirst for it even if he in theory don't need it to survive. However as drinking life force and mana he can heal himself and this has proven to be one of the best ways for him to stay healthy as he cannot be directly healed by magical effects due to his demonic cascades nature. He can still eat normal meals like normal but don't need to as siphoning mana give him more than enough material for sustaining himself.
He met Meria two years ago at near the town she lived, it was one of the places he had decided to visit in the human realm and after gambling with her, he formed a contract with her. They have been somewhat together ever since, as good friends.
He came to montagne academy after hearing about it from some others, finding it a curious place where he could place some bets and live the life for a while away from the rest of the world. Having no strong social ties with his home and pretty much doing what he like to whatever his parents say or no, he found that Montagne offered a chance to do exactly what he liked.
"To think outside of the box you must first be able to imagine yourself in one so that you can step outside it. "
"You can sing my name... because its a Melody... no, I guess not" Name: Melody
"Call me what you like, but if you wish for me to appreciete it, it should be something nice" Nicknames/Titles: The Ever changing.
"Age?... its 20XX now, what about it?" Age: -Unspecified-
"Well Like the female form the most" Gender:Female 'Most of the time'
"I could be your best friend... or your worst nightmare..." Race: Polymorphic Being. "I'm not overly picky really... look good, be nice... and yeah you might just have a shot" Sexuality: Bisexual
"I can take any shape or form... and read minds somewhat." Powers:
-Shapeshift: Able to take any form or shape whatever its, Human, Animal, Dragon... etc. This make her able to access the natural non magical traits of whatever form she picks. She cannot however become bigger than a truck without its trailer.
-Thought transfer: She can transmit thoughts over long distances, this can be used to read minds too, and also as a way for Melody to speak into the head of someone else or allow someone else to speak to herself. Several people can be connected at the same time for long distance communication without the need for words.
-Transfer range 1km -Read range 30m
Strengths: Her natural ability to take any form or shape has a array of potential uses. And can balance itself out.
Weaknesses: She's not able to swap forms on a moments notice, it takes a few minutes for it to take effect and her to become fully accustomed to her new body.
Catalyst: N/A "I can do just about... anything, just give me a moment to learn it. " Other Skills: Taking in knowledge, she can read a book in a matter of minutes and progress it in her mind to understand its teachings and lessons. She's very skilled in any skills that don't require agility or much strength as she have pretty much never needed to do a workout in her life.
Inventory: A Four eyed red mana serpent that is her pet?... It speaks to her only.
Master: Open "I'm not so interesting I guess... I feel I can learn everything" Personality: Melody is a very big mind over matter person, she have the ability to control her emotions and thoughts and reactions to certain things without problem yet it doesn't mean she don't mess up at times. Usually her mood swings can be quite severe and if she let her emotions run wild they are unleashed as a torrent or tide rather than the normal sniffles. She might seem cold at times, and not very nice at others usually because she's holding her emotions back and surpress them.
"I was born... I came... I saw... and I... something something" Backstory:
Twice around time's...
She was given form and shape long ago by a unknown mage needing a being that could take any form. Melody was created and given thought and understanding of the world to the point where she could easily infiltrate the mage's opponents and spy upon them. This unknown mage is the only thing she can relate to as any kind of parent, as it was her creator yet she cannot remember how this mage looked or any name or reassemble as that memory was erased. She know however she was abandoned one day and she don't really know why or when that was... one day while wandering she stumbled upon Montagne academy and haven't really left since.
"Oh wow. Just look at ALL the chucklefucks! Chucklefucks as faaar as the eye can see!"
Name: Kaitlyn Gabrielle Griffin
Nicknames/Titles: n/a
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Sexuality: Does it have legs? Yes? Is it attractive? Yes? That’s good enough for Katie. Get in.
Magic: Circum: Quick Step
Some people are quick. Katie is quicker. Utilizing Circum: Quick Step, Katie is able to warp from her current location to any spot within her line of sight. An incredibly small hole appears right off Katie’s wrist, by her catalyst, as does one spawn in her intended destination. Now, the teleportation isn’t exactly instantaneous, but it is very quick. Katie is sucked into one hole and spit out the other. The teleportation is personal, so it’s not like others can hop a ride with her, willingly or otherwise. It’s really only open long enough for Katie, her clothes, and whatever small, handheld objects she’s carrying to enter. Her orientation remains the same after porting, but the girl’s usually quick enough on her feet to adjust as needed.
She's reached a point in her training where she is actually able to warp small objects without having to travel with them. Granted, she still has to be physically touching the object to warp it, but it still fundamentally works the same. Touch an object, pick a place to warp, and boom! Bowling ball on the pervert's head. She can reliably warp smaller objects, usually those that can fit into her grip. Much larger than that and...well...give her another year or so and check back in. The whole 'warping other things' thing is pretty new to her, honestly.
Strengths: Quick Step can be used in rapid succession, provided the user’s mana and stamina hold up. Her teleport can be locked on to virtually any unoccupied region. The warp also distorts the gravity around her immediately after she ‘exits’, giving her about one second to adjust before the world drags her back down.
Weaknesses: Rapid teleportation is incredibly damaging to the body. Katie needs a few moments to rest herself before warping again, lest she risk injuring herself. It’s also incredibly taxing on her energy. The first few warps of the day aren’t going to hurt, but if she keeps using them without properly resting, the energy drain increases exponentially.
It’s also not pretty for a teleporter to be warping somewhere and something pass into the exit point just as the teleporter is trying to exit. The timing has to be perfect, but it’s not impossible. Quite frankly, the more dense object will usually stand it’s ground, while the less dense one will...well, just sort of get jumbled apart. Very messy for organic beings. Katie’s been lucky so far. And the opposite situation is just as nasty.
Her warp is almost completely reliant on her vision to work. If she can’t see, she can’t warp. So, uh...just pepper spray her or something.
Catalyst: Katie’s plain black wristbands on her left arm act as her catalyst. They hold no special properties outside allowing her to channel her mana.
Other Skills: The girl’s got a mean, mean poker face and lies just as effortlessly as she breathes. She’s also pretty handy when it comes to mathematics or puzzles. And she knows her way around a guitar pretty well. Are any of those useful? Probably not. But she’ll probably still end up getting what she wants. Joy joy.
She does have quite a few years of Taekwondo under her belt. Apparently her parents thought that teaching their angry, violent little girl how to perform violence more effectively was a good idea. Well...whatever. Questionable parenting aside, Katie is more than capable of taking care of herself if she needs to throw down. Sure, the spinny, flippy kicks might seem a bit too flashy to be practical, but a leg to the face is still a leg to the face. Go figure.
Inventory: 1x Beaten-up, sticker-covered six-string acoustic guitar. 1x Diary 1x Old, old, old, worn-out ratty Teddy Bear named Mr. Banks. Touch him and die.
Familiar: N/A
Personality:
Ask anybody who knows her what Katie’s like and they’ll pretty much scratch their heads and shrug their shoulders. She’s a bit of an odd duck, really. The chick’s got a hair trigger temper, but she doesn’t really show her frustration or anger on her face. Instead she wears a smiling, cheerful mask while telling everybody to go fuck themselves. Is it a joke? Who can say? Good luck telling if you pissed her off or not. Chances are, one will remain ignorant until she strikes. And don’t fool yourself. It might not happen today. It might not happen tomorrow. But Katie WILL get even.
Consequences be damned.
In a similar vein, Katie’s a bit of a thrillseeker. One could probably (incorrectly) call her impulsive, considering how quick she is to jump into new situations. If she or somebody else could potentially be hurt...well, screw it. #yolo, amirite? It’s not like the girl is looking to die or anything...but one never knows if one will wake up the next morning. So live life to the fullest. Have fun. Take risks. Get hurt. Move on. Live in the moment. All that jazz.
With her temper and overall aversion for safety, it’s rather surprising to know that the girl is actually pretty damn smart. She consistently scored high on exams and would likely be in the top percentile for her class. But she’s not a genius, just really good at figuring out how things works. Patterns, numbers, etc, her mind picks those things up quickly. Coupled with a rather decent memory and quick reading speed and it makes school more or less child’s play. While the real world may be different, at the moment she’s soaring high.
But her intellect isn’t exactly something used purely for good. As analytical as Katie is, it’s easy for her to get a read on people. And with that comes the darker side of Katie. She’s manipulative. She gets a bit of a sick pleasure out of getting others to do what she wants. It’s not always to her benefit either, sometimes she just messes with people for shits and giggles. Almost worse than that manipulative side, the girl can be downright cruel. And at times, she may not know exactly when to let things go. The girl can hold a grudge for a long time.
And worst of all...she’s patient.
Expect the worst.
Backstory:
Kaitlyn was born the second of three children, and the only girl of the lot. Growing up, she was often treated as just one of the boys, which was perfectly fine with her. Hell, for the longest time, she thought she was a boy herself, and got so very angry when told otherwise. Granted, she did eventually grow out of that. The thinking that she was a boy part, not the anger. That anger ain’t going anywhere. It was the core of her very being.
It was also the core of most of her problems. She often got in trouble for...well...let’s just cut the shit here: she was a little heathen. She picked on the younger kids. And the older kids. The boys. The girls. She picked on anything and everything and fought with anything that would get within her reach. The damned hooligan was just a nightmare to teachers the world over.
But other than that, Katie had a pretty average life. Nothing spectacular really happened. Sure, she was breezing through school with little to no effort, but that really wouldn’t transfer to the real world. She knew that...but why make a fuss about it. That’s tomorrow’s problem.
Then tomorrow’s problem popped up today. Magic. It hadn’t shown in either of her siblings, and her parents were equally confused. But rather than try to figure out what was going on, the Griffins stuffed Katie into a box, threw some stamps on the damn thing, and the next thing the girl knew, she was in some magic school in France.
...she may have exaggerated a bit on that part, but the truth remains, Katie found herself at Montagne Academy, where she’s been for the past few years.
And despite her best efforts, she’s still not the biggest nuisance on campus.
Yet.
So Kon...not really the most intimidating guy, is he? Though to be fair, at three foot three and forty-five pounds soaking wet, he didn’t really have a chance at the whole macho man thing. Poor guy.
And it doesn’t get much better.
Since most people are going to be more than a couple feet taller than him, let’s just step into their shoes for a moment and describe what we see from the top down. The very first thing? That’s going to be Kon’s tall orange mohawk. It’s surprisingly clean for a goblin, but don’t worry. The green, leathery skin, pointy, notched ears, beady little eyes, and large bumpy nose make it more than obvious that he’s one of the little buggers. The sharp teeth? All the better to eat you with, my dear.
...kidding. He’s ugly, but people aren’t on the menu. This particular goblin only eats greens. Vegetables, not other goblins, you sick fuck. The whole cannibalism thing is just a damn stereotype.
Clothing would likely come next, and Kon disappoints anybody expecting a goblin fashionista. He sports a white coat with a high collar and pockets to keep tools or spare parts handy. The thing is long on him, hanging down to about his knees. He’s wearing a pair of brown trousers under that and simple brown boots. He’ll normally wear gloves if working, and often opts for a simple brown pair. But that pair has seen a ton of work over the years. Enough to cause the goblin to have wear out the fingers. But they still protect his palms and wrist, and that’s what matters.
As far as accessories go, Kon typically wears rings in both ears, and sports a pair of safety goggles. Two belts bind the coat to Kon’s small body: one around his waist, and another one just under his chest. The lower belt has a couple pouches hanging off it. More space for loose tools.
"Yeeeaaah, don’t ask me, bub. I’m just a janitor."
Name:
Kon
Nicknames/Titles:
Boss Glazkix
Age:
18
Gender:
Male
Race:
Goblin
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Power:
Partial Invisibility Goblins aren’t much for the whole magic thing. Just isn’t in the cards, y’know? But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have their own tricks. Kon, for instance, is only going to be seen when he feels like it. Why’s that? Because the little goblin guy can blend into the shadows, escaping the sight of all but the most keen-eyed of individuals.
Silent Steps Being a naturally sketchy people, goblins, or at least the brightest goblins, are able to move in a way to minimize the sound of their movements in general. Basically, if a goblin doesn’t want to be found, he’s not likely to be found.
Bad Tinkering Goblins tend to break things. Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose, but either way, machines tend to have a bad time around the little green guys. The more clever among them are usually able to find the way to break a machine in the most spectacular way imaginable. If it’s capable of catching flame or exploding, it’ll likely do so dramatically. What? Even goblins can have a flair for the dramatic.
Strengths:
Partial Invisibility Kon’s partial invisibility can be used to almost completely mask his presence. Great for information gathering, scouting, setting up traps, observing, what have you. Plenty of potential uses to be utilized by a future Mage Client.
Silent Steps Kon might be able to hide in plain sight, but unless he wants somebody to find him, he’s going to have to stay still. That’s where Silent Steps come in. play. It allows the goblin to muffle the sound they make something fiercely. So getting into places he otherwise shouldn’t be? Not a problem. At all.
Bad Tinkering Sabotage, murder, or what have you, the ability to cause massive malfunctions with ease can be incredibly valuable. And a broken machine is just an excuse to build a better machine.
Weaknesses:
Partial Invisibility The invisibility isn’t perfect, by any means. People with excellent eyes, or those with nonstandard methods of seeing color will likely be able him with no trouble whatsoever. The ability also relies a lot on the environment that Kon’s in. A bright, open field isn’t likely to be as effective for melding. For that you want dense urban settings, or the forest.
Silent Steps Silent Steps cannot, despite the name, eliminate completely the sound of a footstep, either. It can muffle it quite a bit, but one with good ears is going to be able to spot it just fine. Yet another ability heavily reliant on the environment. An echoy cavern is the nightmare situation here. And with as small as Kon is, getting caught is not going to end pretty for the Iittle guy.
Bad Tinkering The obvious thing here should be the fact that if a machine does decide to blow sky high, the goblin working on the machine is likely to be caught up in the explosion as well, assuming they didn’t have delay timers or just booked it after setting up the boom. We lose more and more goblins every year to goblin related shenanigans involving heavy machinery.
Catalyst:
n/a
Other Skills:
Okay, so goblins! What are they good at? Besides being fodder for some murderhobo, of course. Well, believe it or not, he’s actually pretty damn smart. At least when it comes to machines, he is. He enjoys tinkering with machines, trying to figure out how they work, what is good about their design, what is bad, how to improve them...and how to break them. A hobby that comes in handy, given his current work as a custodian for the Academy. But really, give the handy little guy a goal, a few tools, some parts, and time, and he'll come up with something. It probably won't look pretty, might not work properly, and will definitely be dangerous to operate, but it'll still be something.
If he’s got a little bit of free time and he’s not up to his green tits in spare parts, Kon is probably hitting the books. He’s an avid reader, always searching for something to expand his knowledge and skills.
That being said, he’s not all numbers and gears. Kon can play the saxophone. Tenor, if you’re curious. He tries to practice or play around at least a couple times a week, but between work and the few classes that he does sometimes attend, Kon hasn’t exactly been the most faithful to that plan.
Inventory: Various simple tools in his coat’s pockets and pouches. Screwdrivers. Hammer. Well-worn wrench. Pliers. Just the common shit. It beats lugging around a heavy toolbox everywhere. Tenor Saxophone.
Master:
n/a
Personality:
There’s two sides to Kon: the Goblin and the Boss.
The Goblin’s just your average guy, really. He likes music, mainly jazz and classical. A good book can reliably be found within reach most of the time. And when he can, he likes to tinker with machines. Really, he just keeps mainly to himself, not looking for trouble.
That’s Kon the Goblin. That’s who he wants to be. Unfortunately for him, that’s not what destiny had in mind for him. Instead, he has to be Kon the Boss. And Kon the Boss can’t be some quiet little church mouse. He’s got an organization to run. So the little guy’s got to be bigger than life. Luckily, Kon’s watched more than his share of movies and has developed a suitable persona.
Ask anyone if there’s one thing that rings true about most goblins, and they’re likely to say that they’re feisty little shits. And Kon? Well, he’s no exception. It’s no secret that he ain’t the biggest guy around, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he talks. Boisterous, loud, crude, Kon talks the talk, but does he walk the walk? Truth is, it’s hard to say. Despite being in Maintenance, there are few that can honestly say that they’ve seen the goblin so much as pick up a mop. Now that ain’t because he’s lazy. No sir, it’s because he’s smart. Kon’s just got a knack for talking people into doing what he wants them to do. When he speaks, people listen.
And why wouldn’t they? He’s a funny little guy with a quick wit. But that’s probably not why they listen. It’s probably more to do with the thugs that Kon usually has with him. The musclebound gorillas ready to dance if the goblin so much as snaps. Gorillas that he tends to utilize fairly frequently. See, Kon’s got a helluva temper. It really doesn’t take much to set it off, either, but he’s not likely to blow up himself. He will get even, though.
See, the trick to not having one’s kneecaps broken, is to be useful. Have something that Kon wants that he can’t just take. The goblin’s not stupid enough to just jump to violence as a first option. No, it’s got to be saved, utilized only when it’s going to pack the biggest punch. He’s a pretty shrewd businessman after all, so all he really wants is to get the best bang for his buck.
But despite the temper, thugs, and threats, Kon’s not an unreasonable force of evil. He’s passionate in his love for Montagne Academy and those that serve it and he honestly believes that Headmistress Fiore is an angel of a woman, though perhaps a bit too soft-hearted. That’s why he does what he does. He enforces what she can’t. After all, she has a reputation to uphold. If getting his hands dirty is going to help her out, then great. And...y’know, if it ends up getting him a longer leash and some more breathing room, well that ain’t too shabby neither.
Maybe Kon the Boss is just a mask. Or maybe not. Truth be told, he’s been doing it for so long that it’s hard to even see the line anymore. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Real or not, it it’s what he’s gotta do to get the organization afloat, so be it.
Backstory:
It's not everyday that one sees a goblin out and about, walking the streets. There's a bit of stigma to the little green guys. Probably has something to do with the whole snatching women and children thing that they used to be real big on. Huh. But that was waaay before Kon's time.
No, our mean green pal was born into a far more civilized era, in a far more civilized place.
Kona Kali. The great goblin port city that sat on the shore of the Mediterranean. Well, shore is being a bit kind. In reality, the city was built on an artificial island in neutral water. It was run by representatives of the five major 'trade families' in the region. But we'll skip the history lesson for now.
Kon was born to a couple that worked in the fishing industry, the fourth of seven children. His upbringing wasn't anything too special. Just an average goblin family in an average goblin place. But Kon was just a touch above average. He was a bright kid, excelling in his studies. He was also a curious little brat. It's what got him interested in machinery in the first place. He was fascinated with how all those little parts could come together to form something greater. He desperately wanted to know how they worked. So he learned.
But the more he learned, the greater his hunger became. Every answer led to another two questions. And soon enough, it seemed as if there simply wasn't enough time to learn everything! Especially when his parents decided that it was time for him to get into the family business. He protested, of course, but it didn't matter. His course was set. He was shipped up, then shipped out on a fishing vessel. His assignment? Scrubbing floors and fixing things.
For a while, Kon resigned himself to his fate. He simply went about the motions, keeping his head down and his nose clean. But the isolation from his beloved books and lectures led him to meet people from all walks of life. All with stories to tell. And he, being the spunky little twerp of the boat, was often the one forced to listen. The stories were fascinating, of course, but they introduced him to an entirely new concept: magic.
He became obsessed with the shit. What it was capable of, what it's potential was. He wanted to learn everything about it. So he researched it to the best of his ability. And everything he found pointed towards Montagne Academy being the place he needed to go if he truly wanted to understand it. Well...maybe not Montagne specifically, but it was the closest magic school he could find. Any port in a storm, yeah?
His parents were against it, calling it foolish. Goblins couldn't use magic, so why bother? The boy had to look elsewhere to pay for attending the prestigious school. That led him to one of the bigger, MEANER 'trade families' in Kona Kali: the Glazkix family. He borrowed the money at a rate he'd never be able to afford and set out.
To Montagne Academy. A place that promising mages went to hone their art. A place where powerful creatures went to find suitable partners. A place he was dramatically unqualified to attend. A place where even with the help of the loan, he'd have to work his little ass off to pay for.
Doing what?
Scrubbing floors and fixing things.
Oh well. Same shit, different day.
At least, that's how his first few months went. He busted his little goblin ass, and for what? Pennies and mumbled, half-hearted gratitude. It was disgusting. The fat fuck overseeing the maintenance program was a joke. Some tenured son-of-a-bitch that overworked and underpaid the poor kids. Kon took it for a while, but eventually enough was enough. He slowly gathered support in the crews, and with his own uncanny ability to dig up information, got some dirt on ol' fat fuck himself.
Then he staged a coup. It went through painlessly enough. The fat fuck, fearing what the goblin found out, became a figurehead of sorts, acting as Kon's mouthpiece to the administration, while he essentially just stayed in a drunken stupor in his office. Kon unofficially took over the department head's duties and within months increased productivity and wages while decreasing total expenditure. Amazing what one can do with a budget that isn't getting funneled into drugs, alcohol, and cheap woman.
The crew loved him. Perhaps he would have been content with just that...but the goblin felt a rush. The flames of ambition had been fanned and now consumed him. While still at Montagne Academy, he continued to work to improve the lives of the people working under him. He quickly managed to incorporate Groundskeeping into his network, while laying the grounds to work in Catering and Construction.
It wasn't enough. The old goblin greed was strong. So he did something that he never thought he'd do: he reached out to friends and family back home in Kona Kali, and from there got in touch with people that introduced him to the other trade families in the great city. Over the years, he cultivated relations with the various heads, gaining allies and information. Using little more than sweet words, Kon managed to form a coalition of sorts that toppled the Glazkix family from their place of power and eliminated the leadership. The family crippled and its assets were divvied up by the victors. Kon didn't just walk away empty handed, however.
So what did he receive for his part in the little power play? Why, power, of course.
He was installed as the new head of the Glazkix family. Granted, the family was merely a shadow of its former self, and he was put into power to act as little more than a puppet to keep any undesirables from shaking up the scene, but it was HIS. And more importantly, it was something to work with. He now had a powerbase, a good reputation with the families, and that damn goblin ambition. Sure, the others only saw him as a harmless little school kid, but that was what he wanted. It's why he didn't leave Montagne immediately. It was a safe place for him to work out of, whilst giving him some more credibility. And...y'know, he liked the place. Not to mention that it served as a promising recruiting ground for rebuilding the family.
Funny how life works out. From being a scholar in a world of mobsters to being a mobster in a world of scholars. And now? Kon's running an empire. An empire that started with mowing lawns and unclogging toilets.
Now entering his final year at the school, Kon must juggle finding a suitable replacement for the school operation and preparing for his graduation party back home that is guaranteed to shake up the landscape in the goblin trade city.
Magic: Prima - Flame: An extremely simple form of magic, but dangerous. From the mages hands fire shoots out, catching objects, and enemies, aflame. If used correctly it can decimate armies. Incorrectly it can burn down schools of magic. A fact that Arthur has had to remind both himself and his students more than once. Prima - Pillar of Justice: Arthur's own take on the common flaming weapon technique, his spear is cast in flames, however unlike the standard use of this his weapon takes on some more properties. The weapon becomes encased in light as well as flame, blinding those nearby, though not effecting Arthur. The weapon also becomes more potent against people with 'evil' in their hearts, or to be less vague, people who in the last year have knowingly and without regret stolen without need, murdered without just cause, or cheated in what was meant to be fair. Circum - Spontaneous Blink: A technique that allows the mage to instantly teleport, the drawback being that he has to see the location. However the teleportation is instant. There is the option to be less instant, instead taking roughly a minute or so of mental effort to teleport to anywhere the mage has seen before, however this magic eats up mana rather quickly regardless of how you use it.
Strengths: Regarding Flame: Flame requires very little mana and effort to use, and when one puts more mana and mind power into it flame can become overwhelming. And of course it doesn't take a magician class wizard to see the benefits of fire in a fight. Regarding Pillar of Justice: Pillar of Justice also doesn't take much mana, though it is draining mana away slowly with it's use. And like before, it doesn't take much to see how fire can help in a fight, and blinded enemies fall that much quicker to the onslaught of fire. Being stronger against the people Arthur is most likely to fight to the death is also a major plus. Regarding Spontaneous Blink: Being able to appear somewhere else nearby in an instant is hugely helpful in a fight, turning a dangerous spot into a cornered enemy, or two head on charges rushing into one another into a flanking maneuver. And of course the best way to keep students on their toes is to be everywhere in the room at once, nobody will be cheating or not paying attention if the instructor can be right behind them without warning.
Weaknesses: Regarding Flame: Arthur, despite how it may seem at times, is not fireproof. He may have fireproofed clothing and wards in place, but they can't hold back the amount of fire he is liable to use when he fight earnestly. And of course fire burns more than flesh, and if the arena aflame is the inside of a structure than said structure risks collapsing, and Arthur really isn't falling chunks of wood and stone proof. Regarding Pillar of Justice: The main drawback of pillar of justice is how much mana is consumes. While at any one time it isn't using much mana, during long battles it starts to drain the mana pool. Arthur counterbalances this by using a less intensive technique when fighting with his spear, but it still saps his energy far faster than he'd like. And of course blind allies aren't very helpful, meaning Arthur can't really use this in group engagements. Regarding Spontaneous Blink: At first glance the chief concern for this magic is the fact that you can only teleport to where you see if you still want truly spontaneous, and that is a drawback, but the biggest problem with this magic is just how much mana it uses. While not the most mana consuming spell in the planet, it is certainly harsh on the mana pool.
Catalyst: Arthur has three objects he uses to channel his magic, so that he isn't found without. His spear, Sorrow's Reach, a long spear with a hook halfway up the blade, we'll talk more about it in a moment. A unrefined ruby, fastened to a golden chain around his neck, which seems to hold a flame swirling inside if one stares at it. And a small white yellow candle he keeps in his pocket. He says that it creates a blue flame when lit, but it hasn't been lit in a long time, otherwise it would get even shorter.
other Skills: Arthur, besides from his magic, is very much skilled with the spear, using it as a wall from which he can deftly make a few quick feints before following up with a true and fatal blow. He is also a fair cook, living alone has taught him the basics and he is keen to experiment.
Inventory: Besides from his wallet, pocket watch, keys and other basic things Arthur has his spear, Sorrow's Reach. It is six feet long, with the haft being made of birch treated to be black as night. The tip makes up the final foot of it's length, and halfway down has a hook. The tip is made up of a magically treated steel which has left it shiny and damn near incapable of being melted. Arthur is well versed in his use of his spear, years of training have made him as adept with it as he is fire. It wasn't forged by him however, but rather a friend. But we'll get to that in a bit.
Familiar: None as of now, perhaps in time.
Pesonality: Arthur has an interesting way of looking at things, which affects his teaching methods. He will set his students on fire if he thinks it'll help them manipulate fire. He looks at the world at large with a rather cheery attitude, living in the moment whenever life will allow him. He doesn't stress easily, making casual conversation with his foes even in life or death duels. But the moment he gets angry, one best watch out. He is a pyromancer, and when his heart is filled with fire, you'll know.
Backstory: Arthur wasn't born into fortune, but he was born into magic. Living in the United States with his magical mother and non-magical father Arthur had a good life, until the death of his mother. He was ten, and it ruined him. It was then that his innate skill with fire began to show. Torching his home in grief and then after realizing what he had done he ran, not seeing his father ever again. He ended finding himself face to face with a unnaturally large wolf, and Arthur's fire didn't burn it. Without options and with his back to a low stone cliff he thought his life ended, until something flew over head, and lodged a spear into the wolves' head. Before Arthur was a tall, lanky being, with black feathered wings and short horns sprouting from an angular head. The man referred to himself as Ethan, and took Arthur under his wing.
With Ethan Arthur learned how to control his magic, and learned more about the world of magic and myth. Ethan was a fallen angel, child to a demon and angel, an outcast in the world at large. He was however, a master of the spear, a tactical genius, and a man of unshakable faith. Arthur learned much from him, and when he was sixteen Ethan supplied him the money to go to LMontagne, a school for magic where Arthur could further hone his powers. The last thing Ethan gave Arthur, was Sorrow's Reach, Ethan's magnum opus, a gift that Arthur would keep by his side from then on.
Arthur did well at the academy, learning from the best and brightest and before long had a close knit group of friends at his back. When they graduated, the group decided to start doing odd jobs together as a sort of 'adventuring party'. After a few good jobs the leader of the rag tag group took an easy and well paying job. The group was to head into a cave and make sure it was safe for miners. Magic sources divined that there was a great deal of gold and silver within, and if men could get to it a fortune would be had. the group went in, and what would they find but mountains of golden coins and treasures, and what would be guarding it all but a dragon. It was an ancient beast, with black scales and deadly fire, the battle was harsh, and one by one the group of friends started dying. Arthur was the last one, standing face to face with the dragon, and through pure willpower bested the dragon, slaying it and claiming its treasure as his own.
For the next year Arthur spent his life recklessly, the loss of his friends drove him to drink and whore himself away. Until he met a curious person, who shook Arthur from his stupor. Arthur, ashamed, invested his remaining wealth and applied for a position at Montagne, in order to teach the younger generation. He has been teaching there for about thirteen years now.
Magic: -Prima: Earth, Water Simple manipulation of the two elements. Molding its shape, making it levitate in the air, firing it at enemies, etc.
-Sanctus: Elementals Megumi places spirits within the elements she manipulates or has manipulated, creating a simple yet powerful being that either acts as her shield or companion to fight alongside.
Strengths: -An elemental is quite resistant to physical attacks, particularly those created from water. -Both Megumi and the elemental can alter its form at will, giving it a wide variety of combat capabilities, whether offensive or defensive.
Weaknesses: -Despite being resistant to physical attacks, the elementals themselves only possess the durability of the material it was created from and can be destroyed quite easily by certain magical means. -The larger and more complex an elemental is, the more mana it takes to control it, and vice versa. -Megumi is usually only able to create and control at most 2 basic elementals. Any more and Megumi will quickly run out of mana.
Catalyst: -Wand: A hand-me-down from Megumi's family. Has no magical properties, and is nothing more than a decorated stick. -Stylus: A simple plastic pen-like stick that is commonly used on touchscreens. Nothing all that special about it, and is mainly used as a back-up.
Other Skills: -Book smart: Megumi is remarkably intelligent, being able to excel in her academic work, though not without effort on her part.
Inventory: -Wand (catalyst). -Stylus (catalyst). -Cell phone (touchscreen, of course). -Basic school materials (notebooks, pens, pencils, etc). -Backpack (gotta hold all this crap somewhere).
Familiar: None
Personality: At first impression, Megumi seems to be rather emotionless. Her face seems to never change expression and she speaks with a somewhat monotone voice. However, underneath that emotionless exterior is really just a shy girl who wants friends, but doesn't really know how to interact with people. She won't say much, but you can bet that whatever she says will probably be important. To her, at least.
Backstory: Megumi was born to human parents who had a very high standard for her to follow. Megumi had always done her best to ensure that she had exemplary grades, and her parents were proud of her for that. Despite that, though, it wasn't enough for them. Rarely did Megumi have any time for herself. Even on occasions when her classmates invited her, she politely refused. Most of her time was spent studying, both about academics and about magic. Indeed, both her parents could wield magic, so of course they expected their child to be able to as well.
Megumi was worried that she would not have magical abilities. She couldn't bear to think about what would happen if that was to be the case. Fortunately for Megumi, her magical abilities did appear, although it was by accidentally making a garden hose explode from excess water pressure. While her parents were not exactly happy by what had happened, they were satisfied that their daughter did indeed possess magical abilities. So, she was given a carved stick that was to serve as a catalyst for her magic. When Megumi questioned why it was a wand when it could have been a lot of other things, her parents chided her and said that if she was to obtain a better catalyst, she would have to earn one herself.
When the time came for what school she should apply for, Megumi herself decided to go to Montagne Academy. Both her parents were shocked to hear this decision, and they tried to talk her out of it by offering other schools, but Megumi was adamant on this. Megumi's mother tried yet again, but her father had an idea. Megumi would be allowed to go, but if she ever decided to come back, she couldn't change her mind about it once the decision was final. The agreement was made, and she was sent to Montagne Academy.
Nicknames/Titles: 'Phoenix' is probably the most commonly used. Has been mistaken for many existent gods, called an angel, and the inspiration for some non-existent deities.
In this life, she has been called 'Roux Allete' and 'Little Red' by those close to her.
Age: When asked about her age, Iravis probably responds with fire in her eyes, her voice rising in volume. "I have received offerings, laughed at Christ's resurrection, turned Latium to ashes, been a companion to Charlemagne in his conquests, and led Tancred over the walls of Jerusalem. I have lived over four thousand years, and am a goddess worthy of worship!"
But her eyes drift downwards after that explanation, her voice suddenly quiet. If she trusts you, she might continue. "I've lived in a cage, a curiosity. Now I've practically become a pet. The most violent thing I've done recently is set fire to the curtains. I just turned seventeen years old..."
Gender: Female Race: Phoenix
Sexuality: "As a bird, I've always found eagles strangely attractive!"
Year: N/A
Powers: The Goddess has received many over time, but these are the ones she has currently.
Inferno As a bird of flame, in most of her lives Iravis has been gifted with the ability to wield and manipulate fire. Although able to target an individual, her spells are most useful as an area-of-effect sort of attack. Additionally, the more fire that surrounds her, the stronger she is. This means that fighting in a city grants her an exponential power curve as she burns more of it down. Additionally, it means she is much stronger in deserts and during the day when the sun is out.
Lacrima As in the legends, the Phoenix is renown for her legendary power of healing. Not only can she never truly die, but her tears are capable of great healing. She also heals faster than normal, having the ability to heal very minor wounds in a few minutes despite having tears. She has never figured out how she respawns, but her dreams are only memories of previous lives.
Phoenix And of course, she can turn into the phoenix. She hasn't done this yet this life, but she will eventually. In both human and bird form she has enhanced vision and hearing. Lastly, her nails in human form are very, very sharp. Like talons.
A massive winged beast, colored orange with the tips of it's wings becoming first red then leading to blue ends that seem to dance like fire. Its eyes were sapphires, the deepest blue of the Nile.
A storyteller could spend a thousand other lines describing the beast's majesty, the bird's divine presence.
Smite Honestly, she's never fired the spell. She has no idea what it does.
Strengths: Both of her magic has extremely high potential in both human and bird form. Very few have been able to surpass her, and around age 300 she reaches a nearly unstoppable peak of strength. Additionally, it is very hard to actually burn her.
Weaknesses: Both of her magics are also uncontrollable. If angry, surrounding fires will begin to rise uncontrollably. Her tears of healing can be taken through beatings, allowing her worst enemies to heal from her power. While around 135 she is able to control her full mana at will, but up until then it usually leads to disaster.
Other Skills: Iravis is a skilled dancer and artist, and seems to know all the world's languages. While not every skill transfers from her past lives, she has an incredible sense of grace and balance as if it had been practiced for lifetimes.
She seems to be fairly knowledgeable, especially about history.
Inventory: Typically whatever she has been offered. In this case, the dress featured in the picture.
Also, she has crafted and perfected a spear of Orichalcum, Atlantian Bronze. It is about seven feel long and features a long tip.
Additionally, she has a necklace that was intended as a gift for Livia. After some arguing, Livia returned it. Iravis still hasn't decided to return it.
Master: N/A
Personality: Being praised as a goddess in her dreams, Iravis sometimes forgets that she isn't all powerful. Her mood often depends on what she remembered the night before, leading to a strange randomness where she experiences happiness, sadness, horniness, fear, and all the other emotions throughout the day as she copes with the memories. Iravivs' sarcasm is legendary, largely due to the fact that death is really, really meaningless for her. Although in this life she tends towards being weak and submissive, some days she is extremely confrontational and argues with dragons.
A wise woman told her it was alright to be afraid, but not to let her fears control her. Despite the fact that she firmly believes she is strong, she thinks that if your being overwhelmed, it's okay to ask for help if you aren't ready to face those things yet. In a way, it's her first step to confronting a problem. On the flip side, she tends to depend too much on champions to fight for her causes.
Although Iravis believes it is one of her duties as a goddess to help another even if it causes her own suffering, the Phoenix thinks that it should be done so anonymously and without pride. The less people who know of her kindness, the less who will come begging, after all.
She believes conviction is what lends strength to a person, and one without conviction in any form has no true strength at all.
Despite believing she is above most, Iravis does pay attention to the romantic advances of others if good effort is put in.
Backstory: Born some time before 2000 BC, an Egyptian girl entered an argument with a man who claimed he was a god. Turns out the man actually was Ra, Egyptian bird God of the Sun. As punishment, she was cursed with the inability to die. Her memories rarely go back this far, so she knows very little about her initial life as a human.
Appearing many times in history, she has always favored the Greeks and the Egyptians. But as with humans, she always follows the one she loves first. Her death usually is caused by her love one way or another in the end, but the Phoenix never got angry about it. She believes a few times she has actually approached her ex-lover in the next life and had nice conversations. Henry VIII had her three times, which she thinks is the currently held record.
In this life, for her youngest years she was held captive by a group of corrupt mages, literally having the tears beat out of her. Kept in a room, she was taught about language, math, history and many other things by her captors. Iravis never figured out who was benefiting from her healing magic, and never could figure out why her captors didn't throw her in a literal cage.
The red haired fourteen year old looked up from the book in her hands as her keeper entered the room, but her eyes quickly drifted back downwards towards the pages. The girl saw words on the pages, but her mind had stopped reading as she heard the footsteps approching. Even though it happened every day, she never could get used to this portion of it.
"It's time" She heard her keeper pull out a small bottle. The girl lifted herself from the bed, moving towards a metal chair next to it. The bottle was thrust into her hand as soon as she finished lowering herself onto the uncomfortable throne.
Lifting it to her eye, the red haired girl allowed tears to fall into it. After years of practice, she had managed to be able to cry at will. Once it was about halfway full, the tears slowed and eventually came to a stop. She couldn't force that many out at once. A slap delivered across the face managed to summon a few more, but it wasn't enough to reach her quota.
"... Please ..." For the first time today, she looked into the keeper's eyes in an attempt to beg him to stop. Just not today. A moment later she remembered why that never worked as a fist crashed into her face.
"That's the last time you beg. I want double today."
A look of shock ran across the fourteen year old's face. "I can't..." A punch to the stomach made a few more fall into the bottle, but some of them fell to the floor. As she noticed a hand raised in the air, she instincivly raised an arm in the air to defend herself. A mistake.
An hour later the girl slumped to the floor in a bloody mess as she was finally freed from her bonds. She apologized, but that only earned her a final kick. Animals weren't meant to speak.
The keeper left the room whistling, three bottles clanging against eachother cheerfully as the door closed behind him. He'd be getting a large paycheck today. Selling immortality was profitable, and many were willing to pay a high price for it.
Arthur Wick had found the place. Stepping out of his car he looked at the manor that stood before him. A rather ornate, if aged, affair. A perfect place for such a lair.
"Could you stay in the car please? I'd prefer to go in alone. I'll call if I need help." the man said as the closed the door behind him and started walking across the grounds to the entrance
It was a nice enough looking place. Tall building, simple architecture, a stone tower junting from the side that could equally house an observatory or an medieval armory. Likely a basement filled with long maze like tunnels. Arthur smiled, this could be fun. He walked onwards towards the door, his hand held out to touch and trail along some trimmed hedges growing along the cobble path.
Gall had remained silent most of the ride to their destination. He, had wished he could have used a more efficient form of travel, but Livia had insisted he take the vehicle with Arthur, as much as it displeased him. So while Arthur drove, he simply remained in the back seat, silent for most of the trip unless Arthur spoke directly to him. He wasn’t here to socialize after all. Livia had sent him to watch. Livia couldn’t make it herself, so it was up to him to make a decision here. Act as her eyes and ears.
That was his job, after all. Always had been.
“The Headmistress tasked me to help you.” The undead replied, his otherworldly voice echoing just a bit as he stepped out of the vehicle. “So I will be accompanying you whether you want me too or not.” He followed Arthur up to the front door. If he was capable, a small frown would have formed on his lips.
“You intend to barge in the front door?” The reaper sighed, obviously displeased. “Perhaps a more…stealthy approach is best, here. We do not know what we are up against, and if Sorcha is correct…this...pheonix not the most welcoming sort.”
Of course, he was referring to his skill with Circum magic, and his natural ability to travel between the realms of life and death. He could easily put them right inside without even knocking.
Arthur huffed before retorting, "Come on, liven up a little."
Gall simply stared emotionlessly at Arthur. His eyeless sockets could have probably sent a chill up even a dragons spine.
Arthur walked up the steps to the door before giving a few solid knocks. After a moment the door opened a crack and a man peared his head out slightly before asking, "What is it?"
"Yes, I was wondering, have you any ancient fire birds on hand? Seems I ran fresh out."
A moment of panic ran across the doorman's face. Then his corpse fell to the ground.
"You take the fun out of everything, you know that?" Arthur said staring down at the dead man.
“We’re not here to have fun.” Gall replied from inside the house. His scythe had almost sliced the man in half. “We’re here for business.” He continied, his scythe disappearing back to wherever the reaper kept it. "We shouldn't keep the Headmistress waiting." The reaper then turned, walking back into the house.
"Who says business can't be fun?" Arthur muttered as he stood there, the reaper turning to go further in. "Oi! Wait up. Better yet, how about we split up. Cover more ground. I'll search the mansion, you search the grounds. Sure, that'll work right? Arthur said as he walked into the manor.
The reaper turned slightly, looking over his shoulder at Arthur from inside the house.
“It would be more efficient to stay together.” The reaper replied. Of course, he had his reasons for staying so close to Arthur. Livia had told him too. What reason, he couldn’t imagine. Perhaps she simply didn’t entirely trust him. Perhaps she was afraid he’d simply burn the place to the ground, which was bad considering he was here also looking for…information.
“But…if you have issue with my presence…I shall look upstairs, and you may look down here.” And with that, the reaper was gone. A shadowy cloak enveloping his being until he disappeared completely from view, appearing on the second floor only seconds later - likely surprising anyone had they been up there.
And with that Arthur was standing alone. "Well, I suppose I have a bird to find." Arthur went through the first door he found, walking into a game room, billards table, a few arcade machines, a small bar. And also about six goons, who all turned to look at the pyromancer. "Why hello there. Don't suppose any of you know where I can get my hands on a eternal firebird?"
If Gall was surprised to find the room empty, it wasn’t able to be shown on his skeletal face. He was rather pleased, though. This would be easy if there weren’t many obstacles in his way. No doubt the Pyromancer would be making a ruckus soon enough which would serve as a much needed distraction. He’d be able to do his job quite easily in that case.
Arthur thought they were here subduing some dangerous creature who fancied themselves a god. Which was true, they were. But Livia also wanted to know what exactly she had been up too. A god like the phoenix didn’t stay silent all these years without some sort of plan. With luck, they’d be able to capture the fire bird and stop whatever she was planning.
But on the off chance they weren’t, and the phoenix or Arthur, burned the place down Livia wished to know what she was planning, so she could possibly stop it if it was anything malicious.
The reaper moved silently across the second floor of the house, carefully looking for any signs of life or anyone else that might be up here. He’d end them silently and quickly, before they even knew what happened.
The red haired girl heard some commotion outside the room despite the soundproofed walls. What... ? Her arms shook as she raised herself to her knees off the red stained tile. Suddenly she heard the door slam open loudly, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the teenager as she ducked behind the bed trembling in fear. ... did I do something wrong? Does he need more than three today? She didn't have any tears left to express her fear, so she remained shivering there silently.
Arthur stood in the door frame. He had burnt his way through the guards, most of them could barely be called mages. Finding the key on one of them, along with three bottles that Arthur assumed were important and grabbed, he was adventuring he was allowed to loot, he looked into the room.
It was the deepest room in the manor, past the basement and through a few mazing tunnels. It was a good thing those blokes were defending it or else Arthur may have never found the door. The room itself was rather simple, some books on a shelf, a chair, a bed with a quivering form hiding behind it. Wait one moment.
"Hey there, you alright?' Arthur asked as he walked over. It was a girl, couldn't be older than fifteen. Red hair, covered in bruses and blood.
The teenager didn't look up, still shaking on her knees. She simply nodded yes silently in response, not looking up at him. She wondered for a moment if her keeper had sent someone else in to apologize for him. That seemed unlikely to the red haired girl ... She didn't know why, but she felt a slight comforting ... fire ... appear in her chest.
"Alright. I'm Arthur Wick, who are you? Can you speak? Stand?" Wick asked, he may have been there to find a firebird and capture her but he could hardly let this poor girl alone, she needed help.
The girl managed to stand up, a slight tremble still running through her limbs. She wondered if this was an elaborate test from her keeper to make sure she'd learned her lesson. The red haired girl simply shook her head no in response, thinking that was the safest route.
Arthur stepped up to the girl, and after half a second of thought picked her up in his arms. She couldn't speak, she was beaten and bloody. She barely stood. "For Artemis' sake, I came here to find a bird but I can't leave you here can I? Let's get you out of here, hopefully Gall is having more luck then I am." Arthur would then start walking towards the door to leave. The red haired girl froze in animalistic terror as she was lifted but remained silent in her confusion.
"Hold a moment, Arthur..." Galls voice rang out, as he appeared in the doorway. It was difficult to tell, but his black robe was stained with blood in several places, though the reaper didn't seem to mind. Instead, his head was turned towards the child, his emotionless gaze not betraying his internal debate.
They were here to kill or bring this creature to Livia after all.
“This child…is the one we were sent to…dispose of.” His gaze turned from the child, back to Arthur, obviously waiting to see the pyromancers reaction. Her amber eyes widened in response.
Arthur meanwhile looked down to the girl he was holding, up to the reaper."You're telling me?" Then he looked down at the girl again. "You're the phoenix?" Arthur asked the girl, who didn't respond.
She honestly wasn't sure what was going on. But she doubted it was good based on their conversation.
"Well then. Hey Gall, a question. How combustable are you? For curiosities sake." Arthur asked the reaper as his mind put the pieces together.
“Try it…and your skull will end up as a paperweight on my desk.” The reaper didn’t make a move, however. He had no intention of actually harming the girl unless it was necessary.
"Hey hey, I didn't say I was going to do anything. I was just curious." Arthur said as he took a step forward, "Don't suppose you could move though, I need to get past."
"And what do you intend to do with the girl?" Gall asked, as he stepped aside.
Arthur shrugged best he could without disturbing the girl in his arms, "Get her out of this manor." Walking past the reaper and the burnt corpses Arthur began to make his way out of the tunnels.
The red haired girl finally managed to gather a small voice. "... stop ... I can't leave ..." The red haired girl started to try and push out of his arms, but there wasn't enough strength to dislodge herself from him. Her keeper had told her before that if she left her life would become very miserable.
Arthur stopped moving, the girl was fighting against him, meekly, but she was. "And why not?" the pyromancer asked, a look of equal concern and curiosity in his eyes.
"Keeper said ... he'd ..." Despite her current state, a few tears started falling from the Amber eyes. The teenager started to struggle a bit more, but with any amount of effort the man holding her wouldn't lose his grip.
Gall was going to reply to Arthur, but before he could say anything the girls’ tiny voice interrupted him. He fixed the girl with an eyeless gaze. That probably wasn’t going to help her condition much…but well, there wasn’t much he could do about that, now was there?
“Worry not child…everyone who was residing here has been…taken care of.” With that said, he turned back to Arthur, though made no effort to stop him. “Livia will wish to see her. We should bring her.”
With a sigh Arthur continued walking, "Don't worry, your 'keeper' isn't here anymore. I'll protect you. What's your name? Arthur asked as he walked up some stairs into the manor above.
Eyes still looking downwards, she was surprised to hear that piece of news. ... did he sell me? What happened? After a second, she realized the commotion outside her room had probably been fighting. Were these two going to use her now? The girl shook her head in response to his final question. "... don't have one ..."
Arthur shook his head, "That won't do, how long have you been here?" Arthur asked, a girl without a name. Walking past several more charred bodies the group slowly made their way towards the exit. Flames from the ealier battles were begining to catch, within the hour the manor would be aflame.
Gall mentally sighed. Well, as long as Arthur didn't attempt to flee with the girl he wouldn't do or say anything. One whiff that he might, and his head really would be used as a personal desk ornament. So for now, the reaper simply followed silently.
The trio had just stepped out the door before Arthur stopped, saying "Oh right one more thing. Gall find anything interesting? Because if so I hope you brought it with you." Arthur would then awkwardly adjust his hand so that it was pointing towards the building without upsetting or dropping the girl, and then a torrent of flame poured out, quickly engulfing the front of the building. "There, no evidence that anything happened here, no crime nor crime scene, and no survivors. Now let's go to school"
“Vials of Phoenix tears.” Gall replied. He was reasonably sure that was what they were, at least. He could sense how much…life, was in them. Livia would certainly be interested in the few vials he had collected. “Nothing else important in such a place.” The reaper then watched silently as the pyromancer burned the place to the ground. He wasn’t sure how Livia would feel about that, it could go either way really, but there was no way he was stopping it now.
“We should leave before any curious onlookers see the blaze.”
It had so far been a quiet night, though a bit of uneasiness filled her even if it didn’t show on her face. She had sent Arthur on a rather dangerous mission. Even with Gall present, she wasn’t sure if the two of them alone could handle a creature such as the phoenix. At least, not if it was as powerful as Sorcha claimed it was.
She leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of the tea she was holding in her hand as she waited. Her office was rather large. A plush dark blue carpet covered most of the floor, along with several bookcases a few shelves and things displaying some odd trinket or two. Her desk was sitting against the far wall, purple curtains were drawn over windows behind it. A fireplace was also built into one of the walls.
As uneasy as She was, she was also confident in her familiar and Arthur. She wouldn’t have asked them to do it otherwise, but well, there was always a small chance something could go wrong. Her information on the phoenix was incomplete, after all. She only had one source of information on it. A dragon who had an obvious grudge against the phoenix.
It was a reasonable grudge, though, and one she was inclined to help her friend with.
Hopefully they would return with good news soon.
Arthur stood outside the door, the girl standing next to him and Gall not far behind. Arthur could only see this ending well as he gave three swift knocks on the door.
Well, what a timely arrival. Livia mused silently. She placed her teacup on the desk in front of her.
“It is open.”
The door swung open to reveal Arthur, who stepped in. "I found... her. But I'm pretty sure she isn't what you were looking for Headmistress." Arthur would then step to the side, to allow Livia a whole view of the girl standing near the pyromancer.
The red haired girl had been following Arthur ever since they left the mansion. She had calmed down a little, but still didn't know anything that was going on. She looked up for a moment to examine the new room, but the teenager's eyes returned to the floorboards after a few moments. Wearing a vastly oversized T-Shirt as a dress, she was not the definition of divine in any form of the word.
Livia remained silent as Arthur entered the room. Gall decided walking wasn’t necessary, and had elected to use his Circum magic, appearing behind her. Upon seeing Arthur with the girl, Livia simply picked up her tea once again, taking another sip of it.
“As…Arthur said, there has been an…interesting development.” Gall replied, moving to the desk silently. Livia looked at the girl. This was definitely not what she was expecting. She had been expecting to see some regal looking creature of legend. Not some…child dressed in some over-sized t-shirt.
A few silent words were whispered between the Reaper and Livia, too quiet for the Pyromancer or child to hear, though the reaper did pull a vial out of his robes, and showed it to Livia before she waved him off, disappearing as suddenly as he appeared.
“Hmm…perhaps you should explain, Arthur.” Livia replied.
Arthur shrugged before saying, "Went ot the place, found more then a few unhappy people. They attacked me, I burnt them. After a bit of fighting found a room in the basement, inside was her. Beaten, bloody. A tool for their gain. She doesn't even have a name. Arthur sighed as he looked at Livia. "I don't think your source was very accurate Headmistress."
"Are you suggesting my friend has been lying to me, Arthur?" Livia mused, a small smile appearing on her lips. “And how many times must tell you to call me Livia, hmm?”
Blushing slightly, and moving his hand up to stroke his beard in an attempt to hide it the pyromaster would state, "I am suggesting, Madam, that things are rarely what they seem at first glance. This girl was trapped in a basement being used solely for others profit."
“Madam? Now I’m feeling like an old woman.” Livia pouted, just ever so slightly, though she was mostly just teasing.
“On a more…serious note…Gall has informed me. Likely they were harvesting her tears, correct?” Livia frowned, just slightly as she set her tea back onto the table. “That is…indeed a problem.” She leaned back in her chair, fixing Arthur with a cool gaze. "Gall mentioned you burned the place. Care to tell me why?"
Arthur thought about it. "To be completely honest, I don't really have a good reason. I can tell you that nobody that was involved in the girl's situation survived. Unless somebody was gone that day. Or was fireproof. I suppose you'd prefer the manor not burnt to a crisp? Arthur asked, the barest hint of a smirk on his face.
“Well,” Livia sighed as she reached into her desk and pulled out a rather expensive looking bottle of wine and setting it on the table, pulling out a glass to go with it. “From what Gall said they deserved their fate. However, now we have no chance of finding out who was using the tears and for what purpose.” She poured a glass of the wine. “Of course, it was a rather beautiful manor as well from what I was told. But more importantly...how is the child?”
"I'm pretty sure she can answer for herself." Arthur said as he looked over to the poor girl. "It's alright, Headmistress Livia here is a good person, she just wants to help." Arthur said as he started to lean against the nearby wall.
The red haired girl's eyes darted across the room as she raised them slightly. "... I'm alive ..." She wasn't exactly sure why they were asking, or what was going on. Why did they care?
Oh dear. The poor child looked completely out of her element. Livia frowned slightly, before getting up from her seat. She should probably be sent to bed soon, but she was hesitant to let the child out of her sight at the moment. She trusted Galls judgement that she was in fact the phoenix they were looking for. She must have reincarnated at some point Sorcha didn’t know about. It was hard to imagine what could have killed a powerful creature like the phoenix, however.
“Aha, being alive is very good, isn’t it?” Livia replied to the girl with a soft laugh, taking a seat on one of the sofas. “Perhaps you should take a seat? I have some wonderful tea here, if you want to try some. That offer extends to you as well, Arthur. Unless you’d prefer something stronger?”
The red haired girl slowly moved towards the couch obediently, shaking her head in response to Livia's question. She sat down as far as possible from the strange woman, placing herself against the armrest. It was a comfortable chair, at least.
“Ah…no tea? Tsk. Ah well, I’ll drink it later. Anything for you, Arthur?” Livia replied, no making any attempt to move towards the girl. No need to put more stress on her then she was currently feeling.
Arthur stepped over, sitting between the two women as he said, "I would love some tea. Thank you.'
Without another word, Livia got up from the couch and walked back over to her desk, pouring a cup of tea for Arthur, and grabbing her own wine glass. She brought Arthur the tea, before taking a seat on the opposite sofa, right across from the red-haired girl. She mostly wanted to keep an eye on her. Having Arthur between them wouldn’t exactly help with that.
“So,” She said, taking a sip of the wine. “You do not have a name, child? We can’t very well keep calling you child. I suppose I can simply call you Roux since you have a lovely shade of red hair, but that seems a little silly.”
The red haired girl blushed slightly, curiously looking into Livia's eyes. That compliment wasn't a lie, from what the teenager could tell. They were being ... kind. The ambers soon returned to looking at the floor though, too nervous to hold that gaze.
Something told her that these weren't terrible people. The idea that this was an elaborate ruse set up by her keeper moved towards the back of her mind. "... What's going on? ..." The words hardly left the teenagers mouth, probably barely audible to Livia across from her.
“You are safe, child.” Livia replied simply, resting the wine glass on the table between the sofas. “Those…people that have been…keeping you, have been dealt the punishment they deserve.”
The red haired girl nodded, but more questions popped up into her mind. The sort of questions it would take her years to answer. She decided to ask the one that affected her right now. "... And ... And what now?" The teenager couldn't see how they benifited from this.
Arthur sipped from his tea, looking over to Livia, "That is a good question. We can't really let your... friend learn that she is here can we Livia? Arthur then took another sip, "It's hard to talk about people without names. So how about, I and Lady Fiore here figure out where you can stay, and you answer the second most important question in many RPGs, what is your name? No need to be hasty." Arthur said, directing his comment towards the girl next to him.
The red haired girl nodded slightly. She wasn't exactly so sure why they were so insistent about naming her ... her keeper earlier had said she didn't deserve one. But if they decided she needed one. "... You named me Roux though ..." Livia stifled a small chuckle upon hearing this.
"Called, she called you Roux, not named. It is important to know the difference." Arthur chimed in without even thinking.
“What? I think it’s cute.” Livia replied, a small smile gracing her lips. “Hmm…Rouxia Allete?” she continued after a moment of thought. “Roux for short. Not terrible fancy or anything, but if the child likes it I see no reason too not at least give her that.” She brought the glass of wine to her lips before adding.
“Unless you wish to confuse this poor girl further, Arthur?” She fixed him with a rather cool gaze as she spoke.
Arthur nearly jumped before saying, "I... suddenly..." the look his boss was giving him had Arthur on edge all of a sudden. What's the worse she could do though? Kill him? At least she couldn't read his mind. "I find that choices are best, more so when they are few in number but completely obvious. Rouxia Allete, or perhaps Ari Collins?"
The red haired girl rotated her head slightly as they both started shooting out suggestions. It wasn't helping the situation.
Ari…collins? Livia snickered a bit, placing the wine glass back on the table.
“My, I pity your children…or pets, Arthur.” She teased, giving him a friendly smile as that cool gaze of hers completely left. “But really, confusing the poor girl any more won’t help her any. She’s probably tired as well, so it is probably good we should settle this quickly.” She fell silently for a moment, before turning to the redhead.
“Which name do you like, child? It will be yours, so why not have you choose it?”
The red haired girl's face only had a more confused stare on it as her gaze looked to Livia's face. She didn't want to offend either of her new keepers. She sensed that Livia was the dominant one, but Wick ignited something within her. As if her tired mind decided that it was overloaded, eyes closed and her breathing slowed as her head landed into Wick's lap.
Livia simply sighed, though a small smile still graced her lips. Such an outcome wasn’t unexpected. The poor child was likely completely exhausted.
“Well, that decides that.” Livia replied as she stood, wine glass in hand. “Arthur, I do believe we should let her rest. I’ll have one of the staff bring some blankets.”
Arthur sat there, still as he could. "So.. should I stay here? Or... Help?" Arthur asked as he stared down at the girl's head nestled in his lap. This was not what he was expecting, and he really wasn't fond of it, but he could hardly move and disturb this tired girl.
“As I said…we should let her rest. We have things we must discuss, unless you want a certain dragon finding out about our new guest.” That was a bit more than a suggestion, judging from her tone. Livia was standing near the door to the office now. She had opened it just big enough to speak to a maid standing outside of it. A brief conversation followed, and the maid left to get blankets as she turned back to Arthur.
“Oh, and if you wake her when you get up, I’ll have you work in the cafeteria as an oven~” It was difficult to tell if that playful smirk was being serious about that. As if to make Wick's life harder, the red hair girl wrapped her arms lightly around his waist as she had memories of a life long past.
It had been about ten minutes until Arthur, through great effort, managed to free himself. It was a long siege, give and take, until he was standing, and the girl was sleeping upon a heap of pillows brought in by a helpful maid.
Arthur now stood just outside the room, with Livia, so that they could talk without disturbing the girl. "So, what are your thoughts?" Arthur asked.
“That I was looking forward to some special Arthur Wick cooked pastries and now I won’t get any, tsk~” Livia teased, though the small smile left rather quickly as the conversation took a more serious turn. “More seriously…we should discuss my dragon friend.” Livia replied with a sigh, as she started walking away from her office.
"You know, if you wanted me to cook you something all you needed to do was ask. But yes, your friend. What exactly do we need to discuss?" Arthur asked as he followed but a step behind the headmistress.
Oho, she’d hold him too that offer, then, but now wasn’t the time for such pleasantries.
“Well…that girl obviously is the Phoenix.” Livia replied. “Sorcha would know that immediately if she ever met the girl. The problem is…That girl can barely be over 13 years old. She can’t possibly be the same girl that was responsible for the atrocities Sorcha has mentioned. At least, she has reincarnated since then, and I am not one to believe the sins of her past lives should fall on this girl….Roux….Allete, whatever we decide to name her. I do not believe…Sorcha would be of the same mind, however. Dragons are fickle creatures, and when one has a grudge…well…I shouldn’t have to tell you.” Livia sighed, stopping where she was walking, just outside the door leading out of the building. She was going to see Gall after this, though she should probably use some sleep herself….
“My point is,” She turned to face Arthur with a cold expression. “Sorcha has been my friend for almost thirty years, while I do believe she is a good person at heart…this curse that was placed on her and the grudge could…cloud her judgement. It would be in our best interest if Sorcha never finds out about the child. I will arrange a room for her in a quiet part of the campus where she won’t find her. It also means we’ll have to refrain from having too many people visit her.” She paused for a moment, before narrowing her eyes dangerously at Arthur.
“If Sorcha finds out about the phoenix, as much as it pains me to admit…I may require you to come out of retirement.”
Arthur would follow along, listening silently as they neared the exit to the building. "Understood. I'll be ready. So... do you want some kind of cake or?..." Arthur asked with a bemused smile on his face.
Livia frowned. Now was not the time for such shenanigans.
“I do not believe you are taking this seriously, Arthur.” She replied, walking towards the door. “If Sorcha approaches you, you are to tell her that the phoenix she is looking for wasn’t there. If she doesn’t believe you, then you are to tell me immediately. I will deal with her.” Livia sighed as she finished speaking, though turned back to Arthur.
“However, if you are serious…a cake would be wonderful.”
"I'm rarely ever not serious. Trust me, I understand the situation, and Sorcha won't learn about the girl's existance here. That manor was empty, just some goons smuggling drugs." Arthur said with a smile. "Now if you don't mind, I have a cake to bake." As Arthur said that he stepped out the door, to make the walk to the town.
The teenager's eyes were shifting back and forth as they ran across the words before her. She found herself reading on a bed again as she had done most days in the manor.
Four days ago Livia had brought her to a small two story home after she had woken up from her rest on the sofa. Two full bathrooms, two bedrooms with plenty of bookshelves and a desk. A living room and a small kitchen along with a sitting area. A balcony faced outdoors to overlook a backyard. After assuming that this was Livia's home, she was told that it was actually belonged to her now.
Coming fully furnished, it only had one major issue. Chairs. It had taken the teenager almost ten hours to move the eight objects, but she managed to stack all of them outside in the front lawn as far from the door as possible. She hoped her new keepers wouldn't mind her tossing them out.
So, she found herself reading a book on ancient egyptian costuming and tailoring that was already on the shelf. The redhead wasn't exactly sure why, but the topic interested her. Luckily, it proved to be relevant.
Honestly, Livia was probably enjoying pampering the redhead just a little too much. She had never had any kids in her forty seven years of existence, and perhaps it was a little much…but well, she couldn’t exactly deny it was a little pleasant.
…aha, if her younger self could see her now…
She shook her head, smiling softly as she approached the door to the home and entered quietly. Or at least, she would have if she didn’t notice a stack of chairs sitting as far away from the door as possible. This caused her to pause, trying to figure out what exactly the girl had been doing with them. Did she simply not like chairs? After a few moments though, she simply sighed, and continued into the house.
“Hrm…well, at least their stacked in a semi-artistic manner…” Livia mused as she entered. She’d have the chairs moved elsewhere before the weather damaged them. For now, she had more…important business to attend too. Now, where was the little roux at?
After a few moments of searching, Livia found her in her usual spot. Reading a book on a rather exquisite bed, if she did say so herself.
“Ah…little Roux,” She called out, knocking lightly on the door to the room to announce her presence. “You are doing well today?”
The one called Roux was startled despite the adequate warning she had been given. Amber eyes lifted up to see Livia knocking on an already open door out of courtesy. After a moment the teenagers eyes dropped slightly as her head nodded in afffirmation. Without her old keeper there, the old bruises had healed for the most part at what would normally be considered an unnatural rate. The red haired girl felt more ... alive. Roux closed her book, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. A small glass of water and a small bottle filled with some liquid sat on her bedside table. She lifted up the bottle, nervously holding it out for Livia to take.
Upon having the obvious bottle of phoenix tears up to her, Livia only sighed. Really, was she just…trained to cry like that? Livia shook her head, a bit upset, though it wasn’t at the girl. At least those injuries of hers had healed.
“Child…Roux,” Livia walked over to the girl, careful not to make any movements that would startle the girl. She would have grabbed a chair, but they were busy being a new piece of modern art outside. Instead, she opted to sit next to the child. She had hoped she had gotten to the point where she was comfortable around her. Roux moved slightly away, but she didn't run off or panic at Livia's approach.
“These are your…tears, correct?” Livia asked, gently taking the bottle as she sat. She of course, had no intention of taking them. “Hmm…may I ask why you are giving them to me? Just becasue I'm probably considered an old woman to most doesn't mean I need these~”
After a quick nod to confirm they were her tears, Roux's legs kicked back and forth slightly as she responded quietly to the next question. " ... You're my keeper now ..." To the girl, she was surprised why the older woman didn't ask for more. With four days to produce them, two more were sitting in the cabinent drawer in case her new keeper demanded extra. She decided not to mention those.
After a few moments the young girl wondered if she had accidenly insulted the older woman. That wouldn't be a good thing. Did she not want to be old? Was her present not adequate? Roux closed her eyes as she looked away, instinctivly preparing to be hit for her failure.
Oops.
Looks like she may have chosen the wrong choice of words there. Smooth Livia. She sighed inwardly. She had no intention of actually hitting the girl of course, despite how she may have been flinching.
“Rouxia, I am not upset.” She replied softly. “I simply have no need of your tears.” She continued, studying the bottle with a small smile, before holding it back out towards the redhead. “Neither I, nor Arthur have need of them.”
It took a few moments after Livia spoke for the girl to stop her internal panic. Seeing the outreached hand, the red haired girl took the bottle back nervously, legs kicking back and forth as they had been before. A short time bit of time went by and she decided to hold onto it rather than put it away, placing the bottle into her left pocket. After an awkward silence, the amber beads looked into the headmistresses' eyes curiously, head tilted slightly and red hair running over her right shoulder.
It was hard to tell if the girl was wondering why they didn't want the tears or if she was wondering what the purpose of this visit was today.
Well, that was settled. She hoped the girl understood that she didn’t need to force herself to cry any more here. She might have to be a little…firmer with her words If she didn’t, as much as she feared that might upset the child. At least she wasn’t completely put off by her now. She was able to look her in the eye now, without feeling threatened.
“At any rate,” She said, standing up as she gave the roux a small smile. “I would like to take you shopping today. I will not be having anyone under my care dressing in such rags. We need to buy you some proper clothes.”
The one called Roux looked down again to the floorboards again, a little bit nervous about leaving the house. She considered these to be nice clothes. But she nodded, pushing herself off the bed and nodding in confirmation. If Livia felt like playing dress up, the red haired girl wouldn't complain.
As the pair headed towards the mall, the red head found herself caught between some combination of curiousity and terror. She found herself looking around for a few heartbeats, taking everything in she could possibly see. Then the amber eyes would look back toward's the ground at Livia's feet, following them obediently a from a few steps behind.
Eventually the girl named Roux found herself being guided up a staircase into a small store, The Vetement. Clothes racks consumed most of the store's space with only a single article of clothing in a single style hanging from its racks. A long wallside wooden desk along the left side had several chairs pushed into it along with sketchpads and colored pencils scattered across it's surface. In a small clearing towards the right side of the store were two circles with various symbols etched in them. A tone that tried to sound irritated, but betrayed a sense of welcoming echoed from a counter just beyond the circles. "What brings the headmistress here today?" The man's deep voice boomed.
“Ah, Le Clothe.” She greeted the man with a friendly smile. “Normally I’d be here spoiling myself, but I have someone else who’s getting spoiled today.” Thankfully, the little roux didn’t run off anywhere, though Livia was hoping she might actually at least try to…interact with her surroundings a bit.
"This girl? Don't spoil her too much, she'll only grow out of them." A sigh and a more gentle tone escaped his mouth as he addressed the teenager. "Fine, run along the racks and find something you like. Just be sure to look through the racks for a sample you think is cute or draw something out in the sketchpad. The more detailed, the better." After some hesitation, the girl named Roux found herself looking up to Livia as if seeking confirmation.
“Well you heard the man, Roux. Whatever you want,” A small smile formed on her lips. “Someone will end up paying for it~”
The redhead headed off to the racks. The teenager searched slowly at first, as if not wanting to insult either one of them by dismissing anything too quickly, but eventually she had mastered the art of shopping and dissapeared into the forest of clothes. "You know, I am a little jealous of you."
Livia knew the story. The man's adopted son had suffered a lifelong ailment that had forced the thirteen year old to be bedridden most days. Even the school's head nurse had tried to cure the sickness, but all she could do was lay off the symptoms for a few days. Every time his child returned though, the illness would only appear faster than the previous one. A trained eye would guess that the bedridden child had a year to live.
“Oh?” Livia laughed softly as she watched the redhead disappear into the clothing, attempting to find something. “I suppose I am just rather lucky.” Livia replied with a sigh, a sad smile appearing on her lips. It was well known to the man that she was in fact, unable to have children of her own. It was simply a topic that had come up once when discussing his son – he was probably one of the few people who knew. “The redhead…has had a rather difficult life.”
Not that she had ever really wanted children, but age does make one regret things they had never done in their youth.
Fall in love and have a family, for example.
“I shall do my best, but…I’ve never done this before and I fear I may not be up to the task of raising her.”
The man's tone approached something resembling sincere. "Allow me to offer you one piece of advice. I've always think it's best to trust your instincts. You can always put up an act of fancy words, but it's the small things that affect them. If someone's stopped on the side of the road, do you pull over to try and help them? Or do you continue on your vacation, and enjoy yourself?"
Realizing he was rambling, the tailor regained his pride and his voice returned to something along the lines of sarcastic. "A thousand kid's lives you run, and you are seriously worried about this redhead? Surely others have had worse lives." It wasn't clear or not he was talking about his own child or others in the world.
“Aha, you are correct, but my relationship with my students is different. Most don’t really…well, know me, you could say.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I am most certainly concerned for all of them, but for the most part I’m probably not even a normal part of their day.” She turned her heads to the clothing, eyes scanning for signs of the redhead.
“This little Roux, however...I can’t say her life has been worse than any others because I do not know all my students on a personal level.” She replied, giving Le Clothe a small frown. “However, little Roux here…after hearing from Gall and another teacher what she went through…you could say I feel a little…I suppose I simply wish to protect her.”
He shrugged in response, and after a few moments changed the subject to something much less significant, some simple small talk as the two passed their time.
Little Red went around the store, choosing various long dresses off the shelves, and a few knee length ones as well. She ended up sticking mostly to the colors of green and red, along with one or two in white. They matched her hair well.
Eventually though, she seemed to be looking for something that couldn't be found. Roux headed over to the long desk, hesitating upon seeing the chairs. She spent a little time mustering her courage, but she started to stack the chairs on top of eachother towards one side. The red head intended to use the other side for planning out a design in one of the sketchbooks. The tailor simply rolled his eyes. He'd seen stranger habits in his time.
She was having a fairly pleasant conversation with Le Clothe. She was a bit thankful it had moved on from something less serious. However, she had to raise an eyebrow at what she noticed the little redhead doing. She didn’t wish to startle the girl, but well…stacking chairs like that could be a bit dangerous, and at this point she was fairly certain the redhead wasn’t stacking them for fun. She excused herself from conversation with Le Clothe, and walked over to the redhead.
“Hmm…I would complement you on your impeccable chair-arranging skills, but I doubt you are trying to make some form of modern art.” Livia quietly spoke as she approached the child. “Roux, what exactly are you doing?” Her voice was soft, trying to be as non threatening as she could manage.
The one named Roux jumped slightly, despite the tone. She lowered the chair she was holding to the ground. She knew what she was doing was ridiculous when she thought about it, but the objects were a painful reminder of a life that was her experience less than a week ago. She wasn't sure how to respond, so she instead opted to look at the ground, embarassed. '... I ..."
She put two fingers together, clearly deep in thought. It took her a minute, but she finished her sentence. "... don't want them near me ..."
Livia quickly put two and two together, and gave the child a small smile. It was obviously something from her captivity. However, as much as she’d like the child to simply not have to deal with this…that was probably not a good idea in the long run. She wasn’t much of a psychologist…but she could do her best here.
“I understand.” She replied simply, and after a moment, the older woman knelt down to the child’s level. “Being afraid of something is okay. I can’t say I have things I’m not afraid of either, especially when I was your age.” She gave the redhead a small smile. “But, losing to your fears is never a good thing, Little Roux. You are strong, I do not think there is anything you can’t face if you wish. You’ve endured a lot to be here now, haven’t you?” With that said, Livia stood giving a small sigh. She hadn’t expected to deal with something so…serious at the moment, but she couldn’t say she minded.
“Besides, if you ever need help with anything…all you have to do is ask someone who cares about you, do you not?” She offered the Roux another smile, before moving over to the chairs herself, lifting one with relative ease, and brought it over to the place she had been stacking them.
Little Roux lowered her eyes, believing she was being lightly scolded by her new keeper. But any fear the teenager had promplty disappeared as Livia decided to help her move the remaining chairs. After the two stacked the chairs up, the red headed girl walked briskly to the other side of the desk, distancing herself from the evil objects as much as possible.
A few seconds later and an assortment of artistic supplies were spread before her, and the redhead assembled a face of incredible concentration as she bit her lip focusing her thoughts. A second later, a small grin spread across the girl's face as she started to draw.
It was probably the first thing resembling a smile she'd given off in a long time.
The only thing surprising about how she drew was the speed at which she did it. It wasn't as if her hand moved at a supernaturally fast rate, but rather that she never had to turn the pencil over to erase a mistake. The sort of skill that one spent lifetimes perfecting - which unknown to the red head, she had.
A few minutes passed, and a detailed image assembled itself on the page. A larger, taller version of herself was featured, perhaps a few years older than she was now. It wasn't out of the question, but it was obviously a little idealized.
A knee length dress of red on the top, suddenly trasforming to black as it passed the hips and had cuts up the sides to allow movement. At the very bottom of the hemline, thin curves of red headed up from the bottom which gradually dissapeared as they approached the top. Black thighhighs were added, along with extended gloves for each arm. A black collar with a thin red stripe through the middle provided additional support to the outside straps that supported the dress. A few finishing details and several red wavy belt things added later, the girl appeared satisfied as she eyed her handiwork with a critical eye.
Livia was glad that was over with. She hoped she had done well in explaining things to little roux, but…well, that was that. She seemed happy, so that was enough for now. Onto the dresses, then.
The headmistress kept quiet as the girl started drawing. Well, she was certainly good at it. In fact, if she wanted too she could probably become an excellent artist judging from how well she was drawing. She wondered if some of her skills from her previous lives were kept between them. Would memories do the same, then? That might…be problematic if she remembered Sorcha.
Well…she’d deal with that if it happened. For now, she needed to get her some proper clothes.
“My, you certainly can draw well. Is this what you want, then? It’s certainly…ah, unique.” She replied. Not that it was bad, really. It was just something she hadn’t seen before.
After a moments hesitation, the shorter girl nodded. Grabbing a rather full basket of various garments, the two headed up towards the counter. "... Fire-resistant fabric..."The tailor nodded, raising an eyebrow at Livia to make sure she was ready to pay for this. After recieving a confirmation from the headmistress, he informed little Roux to head to one of the circles and wait.
After Roux obediently headed to one of the circles on the floor, the tailor pulled various boxes of cloth onto the other as he observed each sample of clothing.
He pressed his foot down onto the floor and instantly the girl's clothes changed on her body. The sweatpants and T-Shirt fell into a neat pile on the side as a long red dress appeared on the headmistress' adopted daughter. After yelping the first time in surprsise to a stifled laugh from the tailor, it became a routine as various bits of cloth dissapeared from the bins only to find themselves clinging to her a moment later. Some articles of clothing took more than one time as the tailor 'trimmed' them to perfection, but eventually they worked through all the sample pieces.
He observed her drawing, raising an eyebrow. A gruff voice came from Le Clothe's throat. "Well, I'll be damned. This girl actually can draw. You'd be surprised how much 'interpretation' I have to do with some of them." It still took the tailor several tries to create what the girl was requesting, but eventually he finished. "You know the rules. Bring the old articles back and I'll give a fifty percent materials discount. She should grow quickly, so I want you to remember that." He headed behind the counter, handing the headmistress a reciept. The twenty dresses ended up costing around ten grand. The girl was wearing her personally designed dress now, looking more than a little pleased with the outcome.
Livia simply observed silently. She was quite used to the process herself, so it wasn’t anything new to her. She simply waited for the process to complete, and for the little Roux’s dress to be completed. Thankfully, it didn’t take Le Clothe long to finish. As usual, he was very good at his job. Now, there was only the matter of the bill. When Le Clothe handed it to her, the headmistress simply sighed. Wow. Okay, that was not the amount she had been expecting. She knew it was going to be expensive, but...Well…
“You like the dress, then little Roux?” It was obvious the girl did like it. She had to admit, it was a fairly pretty article of clothing. “Then I will pay for it, since I think this is a special occasion.” She replied, a small frown forming on her lips. “But next time, you will chose something cheaper, or pay for it yourself, understand? And I do not mean with those tears of yours, either.”
Little Roux looked down as she was scolded, nodding in response to Livia's statement. The tailor gruddingly wished them a good day as the two headed towards the door after paying. Just before they finished leaving though, the footsteps behind Livia stopped in their tracks.
“Hmm, I was thinking we could get some lunch while we were out as well, any preferences, Roux or-?” Upon noticing the girl had stopped following her Livia turned to see what the little girl was doing.
The teenager was reaching into her the sweatpant's pocket as she searched for the bottle of phoenix tears. She had overheard parts of their conversation, and had realized during their small talk that the tailor had a dying son. Grabbing it firmly, little Roux reached out as she seemed to contemplate leaving it on the window sill for the tailor to find as he did his rounds at the end of the day.
At first, Livia was a little confused. She didn’t even notice the girl had brought the bottle of tears with her. There really was no reason for them to be here, after all. The headmistress frowned, unsure of what to say or do. The Roux looked like she was contemplating something, but Livia didn’t know what…unless she had heard the conversation earlier involving Le Clothe’s son.
“Your tears?...” They…well, they could in fact help Le Clothe’s son, couldn’t they? Phoenix tears could heal almost anything. “You want to do something with them, Roux?”
The one called Roux barely in response. She felt most people would recognize that they weren't human at first glance, and an alchemist would probably realize what they were fairly quickly. After tilting her head for a moment in thought, she nodded with a bit more conviction.
…ah, being a parent was a bit draining, wasn’t it?
“Well…they are your tears, Roux.” Livia replied. “And your tears are indeed special. They can heal almost anything. I cannot force nor make you leave them. That is up to you, dear.” Livia paused for a moment. She considered Le Clothe a friend, and she’d have given him the tears herself…she had a few vials Gall had brought back, as well. They could do something good for once and save someone’s life. So that just boiled down to what little Roux here wanted to do.
“Do you want to use them to save someone, Roux?”
Roux paused for contemplation after hearing the headmistresses words. The teenager understood suffering better than most, and if she could end another's at the price of a little time and some painful memories, she felt she should. The girl nodded again, getting on the tips of her toes as she placed the vial onto the window sill, looking at them for a moment before returning her eyes to the ground again.
“You are a good child,” Livia smiled gently. She was even more convinced now that the roux wasn’t the tyrant that her past life could have been.
“So there is no need to constantly look at the ground.” She continued with a small laugh. With that out of the way then, the Headmistress turned her attention back to Le Clothe. The girl may have had good intentions, but she should probably at least tell him about it in the most subtle way she could, before someone else came along and grabbed it.
“Aha, sorry for taking up space in your store, Le Clothe.” She replied with a slight bow. “The Roux had something she wanted to ask.” She gave him a friendly smile. “And I think…there is still hope for your son to recover.” She made a small gesture towards the window with the bottle sitting on it.
“Come along then, Roux. We don’t want to waste any more of Le Clothe’s time.” She continued before he or Roux could say anything, and ushered the girl out of the store.
The tailor later put two and two together. Any time the 'Little Roux' returned to the store, she mysteriously always recieved a 90% discount to account "for the honor of allowing a goddess to wear his garb".
As usual, the one named Little Roux was kicking her legs slightly as she read through the pages of her book. She had gradually started building up a small collection from the library, and the shelves were being filled as time passed.
Someone eventually came by the front of the two story house and removed the chairs that had been stacked in the lawn. A week had passed since her arrival, and despite the trauma she'd experienced the teenager was starting to become a bit more trusting her new keepers. Somewhere in the back of her mind though was still asking what the two had to gain from this.
Still though, the small two story house was certainly large enough for little Roux to be able to enjoy reading a book about the crusades on her bed, so her eyes were glued to the pages as the soft tapping of rain bounced off the window.
Arthur stood at the door to the house, rain plattering down gently on his hat. It was a mild rain, though he knew it would only get stronger. Arthur really had wished he had gotten the chance to come by sooner, but with classes he only had so much time to spend. With a deep sigh, he knocked on the door, three quick strikes to hopefully alert Roux of his presence. Engrossed in her book, of course the red haired girl didn't notice the knocking from outside.
Arthur stood there, waiting. Well, seems the girl didn't hear. Arthur walked around the house, until he reached a window. Staring intently through the window, luckily the curtains were open, and after staring into the window soon Arthur was gone, teleported through and into the room. May not have been a key, but at least it worked.
Arthur sized up the room, rather curious that something that was more or less a closet would have a window, but then again Arthur wasn't an architect. Could be if he wanted to, but he wasn't. Regardless he would step out of the room, and slowly, quietly sneak upstairs. The pyromancer was soon standing at the door to what could only be the bedroom. The door slid open soundlessly, and Arthur looked in to see Roux, laying on the bed reading.
At least she was reading, it's always good to read, Arthur thought as he watched, leaning against the doorframe. He didn't bother to make any noise, to let the girl know he was there. Arthur just stood there quietly, watching. After about a minute of standing however Arthur grew bored of standing, "Lovely weather eh?"
Despite the adequete warning, the red headed girl seemed to jump slightly as she was startled. After a few moments of looking outside, the girl nodded slightly before closing her book and placing it back down on the bed.
Figuring he hadn't just come here to talk, Roux removed herself from the bed and walked up to a few feet away from Sir Wick, Amber eyes examining the floorboards as she wondered what she would be doing today. If they wanted to go somewhere, the girl was happy she had her own custom made dress for the job.
"Nothing to say? Please, no need to be shy, you'll find I'm quite the good conversationalist. Regardless, we are going to be going out in that weather, I'd suggest dressing into something else, unless your content with getting that dress wet." Arthur said, stroking his beard really quick while adding, "I'll be waiting outside. Come join me when you're ready." The man would then turn, closing the door behind him before exiting the building.
Still not entirely sure of what was going on, the fourteen year old looked down at her dress. It had been constructed for use in this sort of situation, and despite it's appearence it was constructed of rather strong and durable fabric.
There was always a time to put things to the test. She drank a little water from her windowstand, and after a few moments decided to run down the stairway out into the rain, meeting with her savior.
Arthur was a few feet past the door, and looked back over his shoulder towards it when he heard it open. "Come along, I've got something fun planned for today." Arthur would then start walking, before slowly picking up pace, until he was jogging rather quickly through the rain, which while still mild, had indeed gotten stronger. Lighter footsteps followed behind, running after the man with longer legs.
The two ran, Arthur leading them farther and farther away from the school grounds, before long they were in the wilderness of the mountains, running along paths that clung against the stone, up and down rain slick stairs carved into the ground, over flimsy wooden bridges.
Arthur stopped. The two of them stood in the middle of a clearing, about twenty feet across. The grass was short, blackened already as if it was burned before and often. The trees that guarded the clearing were tall, though not so much so that one couldn't see the imposing peaks of the mountains nearby.
"I love that little jog. And such a nice clearing. I come out here every weekend, just to let loose. But today, today is a special case." Arthur said, "Want to know why little red?"
The little girl was too busy catching her breath to be ready to respond when she was asked that question. Despite her natural fitness, a run of a few miles was a draining experience for her. Although she was curious about why they were out here, so she managed to nod slightly towards Sir Wick as she gasped for air. Looking around, she noticed they were in a small clearing within the woods.
Arthur was clearly giddy, he was practiacally jumping up and down. "I love this weather!" He shouted towards the heavens, before composing himself. "But yes. We are here for a reason. I have a question for you. What are you? I'm sure you know humans don't shed all healing tears. Your a bright enough girl to know that." Arthur asked.
She was sure that this man was crazy. They were both splattered in mud, and the teenager was still trying to bring some air back into her lungs. Her legs burned from the longest run she'd ever done in her life. And he ENJOYED this.
It took her a minute, but eventually she gathered enough breath to be able to manage some sort of response. "... I ... I don't know ..." She honestly didn't know. Was there a reason to drag her out here for several miles to tell her this though?
Arthur stood there, letting the rain come down for a moment before replying, "You're a bird." The girl blinked several times. Then for the first time in her life, she let out a small laugh as she had difficulty processing his claim.
"I'm telling the truth though. Your a bird. You've spent all your time reading in that house haven't you? Have you come across the tale of the phoenix?" Arthur mused, a smile still upon his face.
After a few seconds of thinking, she nodded. She'd heard of the legendary beast: a powerful reincarnating flaming bird of such majesty some confused it for God. Tears of healing ... As her thought came across that line, she looked up at him. She had guesses about where this was going.
"You're a bird little red. A bird with the power of fire itself within you. If you'd like, I could help you wake up some of that power." Arthur said.
The one called little red looked up with amber eyes into his, thinking about his offer. She was still a little stunned about his claim, but the Phoenix realized it made sense. She thought about her time in the manor, where her old keeper bruised her every day. If she had power, would that have been able to happen? She couldn't bring herself to hate the old man despite what he'd done to her ... but ...
A quick nod towards Arthur indicated her decision.
Arthur nodded in turn, "Good. Good. Now, you tired after that run here right?" She nodded in response, although her breathing had slowed down a little. "Good. Now, shout. scream, yell. Express your anger, kindle your fury! Show the sky and earth how mad you are! Come on, scream!" Arthur shouted, demanding anger from the girl standing in front of him.
The red haired girl jumped away from the sudden shouting, cowering slightly from the loud and deep voice. She had to strongly resist the urge to run away and curl up into a ball somewhere. The lady keeper had told her not to let her fears own her, so Little Red let out all the anger she could muster. "... chirp ...?" If she was a bird, maybe acting like one would help?
Arthur was about to shout again, to help this girl get angry. But then again... she chirped. Arthur stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. "You've spent... your entire life hidden away. Treated like an animal, harvested for tears... Beaten, bloodied... and all you can do is chirp? Arthur stood there a moment longer, before finsihing, "You know, if I was in your postion, I would be screaming loud enough for the people across the entire mountain to hear me."
Arthur sighed before saying, "Just... scream louder. Please be angry, it'd really help get us started."
The girl looked down as she was chastised for failing to be angry, idly kicking a small nearby rock to see if that would satisfy Sir Wick's desire for rage. To make it a bit more convincing, she mustered a bit more courage and let out a slightly louder "... Chirp ..."
Arthur grinned, "If your going to chirp, I suggest you do so louder. I think your giving birds a bad name with that weak impression. Come on, your on the right track!" Arthur said, nearly shouting at the end of it again. She took another step back as he raised his voice.
As the rain poured down onto the back of her head, the teenager found herself become a bit more frustrated with Sir Wicks requests. What was up with this guy? Why did he keep on shouting at her to become angry. She kicked two more small stones with a bit more force unconciously.
Arthur's grin widened. Sure, Roux stepped back, but she was also still kicking rocks. She could get angry. He just needed the right trigger. Shame he didn't know her better, he'll have to improvise. "Come on, don't step away! If you run here, if you run now, then your running right back into that life you had a week ago, do you want that?! Do you want to be a slave!?!" Arthur shouted as the rain started pouring even harder.
The girl's eyes went downcast, but she obediently didn't judge from where she stood. He asked if she wanted to be a slave. The fourteen year old didn't hate that life just a week ago, did she? Then why did it seem like so long ago? Why did she prefer these keepers so much more, despite the instructions they gave her? Small fists clenched, amber eyes were covered by their lids. A few tears started falling from them, her old life conflicting with her new one.
In a way, her old life had been safer. Inside constantly, the young girl didn't have to worry about some crazy man dragging her off into the forest to scream at things. Sure she was injured, but no one was around there would really kill her. She'd been a reasource to them, so they wouldn't toss her out. Her new keepers refused any motivation like that, meaning their current kindness was on a whim.
Still though. This was her first time experiencing the rain. It was cold, sending a shiver up her spine. But it was new. So were the clothes that she'd been shopping for with Livia. And she wasn't treated like an animal, any bruises or aches she had being her own fault. They even believed she deserved a name, and granted her the identity of Roux until she chose one for herself.
And she'd probably saved the life of Le Clothe's child. That was worth something.
She raised her head, eyes opening briefly to a new shade of gold. "No." It was spoken firmly with divine conviction, if not stated loudly. The trees that'd she'd been backing towards before responded however, embers flying for a few moments before suddenly bursting into flame.
"Good. You feel that? That fire in you? That rage with threatens to flow forth and set this world to tinder?" Arthur would straighten his form, stand almost like a soldier in some army before saying, "Bottle it up. Know of it. It is a constant threat, to your foes, and yourself. To your friends. To many powerful beings have fallen simply because they let that power go unchecked. It is iron, unrelenting. But it must be tempered."
Taking a step forward Arthur would say as he returned to a more relaxed pose, "Now. Calm down. It would be a great shame if such a lovely glade was burned down don't you agree?"
Little Roux looked over her shoulder to see what he was talking about. Fire consumed several trees, each one a habitat for many creatures. She'd probaby just slain thousands of smaller souls for the simple purpose of practicing some of her power. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched the world burn before her. After a few seconds they returned to their normal amber shade before they closed, more tears dropping from them. The fires stopped expanding, then were put out naturally by the rain.
That wouldn't stop her from learning this art. She wouldn't go back to her old life. But she understood what he meant by a need to be tempered.
Little Roux sat on the ground, curling up into a small ball despite the mud being splattered by the falling raindrops. Placing her head onto her knees, more of the panacea flowed from the two ambers.
Arthur walked over to the girl. Kneeling down beside her, he said "I know. My introduction wasn't any better. At least you don't have to fight an oversized fireproof puppy though." Wick said as he laied one of his hand over the shoulders of Roux. "You know, I love the rain, but I'm starting to get sick of this mud, and I can't imagine that dress is very warming. Let's get you back home." Arthur said as he stood, encouraging for Roux to stand as well.
A minute passed. And another. Little Roux didn't move. As the third on passed though, she rose to her feet and started walking home, tears still falling from her downcast eyes and joining the growing puddles on the ground.
Arthur was wet, and tired, but also rather proud. He sat in his house, a simple little affair on the outskirts of the town. He had returned there after escorting Roux to her own home. Arthur sat in his chair, the good one. It was a nice chair, a leather rolling chair. Sadly it was a rolling chair, and very easily toppled over when Arthur leaned back too far. he had good balance, but spooky black spirits rising from the floorboards tend to counteract that.
While Arthur was righting himself and his chair the spirit, Livia's it made clear, passed Arthur a letter before returning to the ground below. Arthur sat himself again and tore open the piece of parchment before reading the paper within. It was a very formal request for his presence, which could only mean that Arthur had done something wrong. No doubt she knew what had happened half an hour prior, could Arthur do anything without someboby knowing? And he had just changed into these nice dry clothes, if only there was a way to get to the Headmistresses office without stepping into the rain. And after thinking about it for a moment, Arthur was gone.
Standing outside the door, he gave three solid knocks.
The door opened by itself, allowing Arthur access to her office. It looked the same as it always did. Except for the chair that was sitting in front of her desk. As soon as Arthur would enter, the door would firmly shut behind him, likely the work of more of her watcher spirits. Livia herself, was sitting behind her desk reading a book about ancient Norse culture. Likely about something Sorcha had recommended.
“Ah, Arthur. Glad you could make it in such a timely fashion.” She greeted him with a friendly tone. “Take a seat, if you don’t mind.”
Arthur walked up to the desk and sat himself down in the chair. It was a rather nice chair all considering, not as good as the one Arthur had been relaxing in a few minutes prior but perhaps that was just the atmosphere. "How's your day going?" Arthur asked almost jokingly.
“Well, it was going wonderful.” Livia replied with a sigh. "Such a lovely day today, I think. A little rain is always good for people. I was dearly looking forward to it ending on a good note. Sorcha and I had just finished have a rather nice dinner with some very exquisite wine she had been saving.” She closed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair to get comfortable. “Really, I was hoping to end it on a high note. But…well…what do you know. One of my darling little spirits alerted me that you were doing something to my little roux.”
She opened an eye, and suddenly the room would seem to grow colder for Arthur.
“Tell me…what was your intention? Telling a frightened girl like her that anger and rage is a good thing. Are you completely out of your mind? Or did you drown it with so much alcohol before you cleaned your life up that you can’t think of the long term ramifications of your actions?” Her voice was calm and even, but sharp as an ice pick. It was easy to tell she wasn't pleased.
Well, Arthur couldn't say he didn't know this was coming. Then again, Arthur has been teaching at this school for nearly a decade now, how could the headmistress not already have at least a basic understanding of his teaching methods?
Regardless, "My intention. A wonderful question. My intentions were to spark a fire. If I may ask a question in return headmistress? How do you build a fire?"
“Oh? You start a fire with a match if I’ve been doing it right all these years.” She coolly replied. “I am well aware of your method of teaching fire. Using anger to create a spark. It is not something I approve of, but it has worked well so far and I have no place to comment on someone’s path to their own power even if I have seen a much better method for Pyromancy.” She continued, closing her one eye again with a sigh. “That, is not why you are currently sitting before me on the verge of losing your job. Perhaps you’d like to take a guess as to the actual reason?”
"Is it because that cake was so good last week that you'd like to make a large order?" Arthur said without thought.
Livia simply frowned.
“People in your precarious position do not get to make jokes, Mr. Wick” She emphasized his last name with a harsh tone. In all her years of knowing him, this was probably the first time she actually used his last name.
Arthur simply smiled.
"I find that people in my postion should make jokes more often, Lady Fiore." He replied. "Of course, I do value my job, and have clearly shown that I'm not good at guessing games. I would like to know why exactly I'm sitting here madam."
Livia fixed him with a cool, still clearly displeased gaze as she leaned forward in her seat, resting a hand on her desk as she ignored his obviously antagonistic comment.
“Among other things, you do not think about the long term ramifications of your actions. That is the reason you are currently sitting here.”
Arthur, in turn, leaned back in his seat. Casually, he said, "And what are those ramifications? If you think that I'm going to let little red become an inferno of pent up anger then perhaps you need to spy on more then just the first lesson madam."
“So you did think about it, and you did it anyways. You even told her she’s a powerful creature that was revered as a goddess at the same exact time.” Her voice took a slightly dangerous tone as she spoke. “That’s not helping your situation, Mr. Wick. Tell me…what do you think a frightened child who has been abused most of her life could do if she’s told she’s something people consider a powerful goddess on the same day she’s told anger is a good thing, hmm?”
Arthur took a moment to think before saying, "A lot of things. Burn down buildings, perhaps even cities. Maybe even give some militaries a run for their money if she's a quick learner. That's why I'm going to watch her, and train her. Because anger can be a good thing. Kept in check."
“Anger,” Livia’s voice was low. “Is never a good thing, Mr. Wick. It does nothing more than blind a person. A fire started with such emotions burns hot, but it will inevitably burn everything, even the user itself and their comrades no matter how good they are.” She fixed him with a cold gaze. “Have you ever thought, that the reason your comrades died to the dragon, was because of you and your weak flames fueled by such a petty emotion?”
Arthur sat there, quiet. Deathly so. In fact, his inner voice pointed out that it had been years since he was so quiet. He mentally told that voice to be quiet, because of course commenting on it ruined the quietness.
"You should know how much I would enjoy burning this office to the ground. I wouldn't stop afterwards. I would proceed to burn every single thing I came across until there was nothing left."
A deep sigh.
"Perhaps if I had not known Ethan I would do that. But I know what happens when you act with nothing but anger in your soul. I know too well what happens when someone gets angry."
If Arthur had actually attempted to burn her office, she’d have killed him before he could have even taken a step. Or Gall would have, the moment he sensed danger at all. However, instead she simply sighed and leaned back in her seat, resting her arms on the armrests.
“Then why do you insist on using it? Pyromancy is tied very closely to ones emotions. There are other emotions one could use to fuel it. To…ignite it. And if you do not believe me, then I can only assume you drowned your brain too much with alcohol to consider or think about.” She sighed again, shaking her head. This was pointless and getting them nowhere.
“At any rate,” She began her voice returning from its cold tone to a more neutral one. “Because of your insolent behavior, you are no longer permitted to be alone with my little roux. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Wick? I will be present at any more training sessions, and you will discuss everything you will be telling or teaching her beforehand. And if I find out that you have disobeyed me in any way…” The door to her office creaked open, making it obvious that she was done discussing this.
“You’ll lose more than just your job. Do I make myself clear?”
Arthur weighed his options. Standing, he walking over to the door, holding it open to step out. But not before turning his head back towards Livia, "So she's your little Roux now? That's an interesting train of thought." And before anything more could be said Arthur stepped out, closing the door behind him.
Livia simply frowned, a small snarl actually forming on her lips as he left. She truly did have such high hopes for him. She actually in fact sort of liked him, and now he had gone and blew it. Livia stood, and poured herself a glass of wine as she walked over to a bookshelf and removed a book from it. If anyone else were to attempt to come in, they would find the door locked and completely immobile. From now until Arthur retired, he’d be constantly watched by one of her spirits.
There was no way he was getting around that.
Fire. Flames consumed life around the red headed woman. And she smiled.
The one known as little Roux saw fire in her hand. With the power to consume everything.
It took her a moment, but she realized that she was laying down in her bed, bedsheets alight with a small fire.
After a little panic, the teenager managed to put out the small fire with the assistance of a glass of water placed on her bedside. After that fiasco was finished, she curled up into a ball, shivers running through her body. Simply a bad dream?
But this one had been coherent. And very real. It wasn't random splotches of visuals, but rather a single countinous stream of time. She'd been killing people, raiding a small village out in some desert land.
And enjoying it. She didn't know how, but she somehow knew it was out of an act of petty vengeance, over something that today she would consider trivial.
Arthur's words ran through her head ... these probably weren't simple dreams. Were they memories? All of her dreams probably were, if that was the case. And that terrified her. She remained curled up for about an hour, a large pillow between herself and her knees as tears rolled down her eyes.
Eventually she ended up on the doorstep to the headmistresses house. After being here for over half a month, she'd realized where the place was.
Arms wrapped tightly around a pillow and wearing a lightweight simple short dress for pajamas, the red headed teenager found herself on the doorstep of Livia's house, unsure whether or not to knock.
It took her ten minutes of standing there in the cold, but eventually a small fist tapped the door harmlessly.
Livia was currently sitting in her room, laying in her bed reading a rather interesting book about some Native American mythology. Something about some ice creature called a windigo. A legend she had read many times, but reading about such things never really got boring for her. Beside her bed, was a table, on it sat an empty bottle of wine and a lamp that illuminated the room.
Honestly, she had probably drunk just a little too much, but well, even she had to decompress sometimes. Really a bad idea since she should still be keeping a close eye on Arthur, but after that days’ work she was feeling it. Ugh, dealing with the board and getting them to be reasonable about the funds for next year, events, not to mention Sorcha complaining about her slowly dwindling horde of treasure.
That was a usual between the two of them of course, but today it just seemed more annoying than usual. Ah…she could use a vacation. Or at least some sleep. Sleep was good.
And she was about to as well, until one of her spirits alerted her to someone standing outside of her door, followed by an almost inaudible knock. For the love of…who was visiting her this late. She wasn’t even properly dressed!
Well, whatever, she had better go see who it was.
She made her way to the door quickly, and was a little more than surprised to find little Roux standing there, tightly holding a pillow in her arms and dressed in an adorable little white dress, similar to the one she was wearing.
Well, at least the child had good taste.
“Ah…Roux, what are you doing here?” She asked, obviously a little tired. “Ah…never mind that come in, come in. You’ll catch a cold out there.” She replied, ushering the girl into the house.
After a few moments, the girl followed her keeper inside. After closing the door behind them, Livia lead the little Roux to the living room. It was a fairly well decorated, featuring large amounts of purple.
As they entered, the red haired girl pointedly avoided any of the chairs and stood up, holding the pillow tighter. "... Keeper ..." She tried not to, but a few tears started to fall from her downcast amber eyes as she looked into the carpet, forming small splotches on the pillow.
Well, this was certainly not what she had expected. She was too tired to really want to deal with this, but…she couldn’t just leave the poor girl there, crying.
“Oh, Roux…” She knelt down to the childs level, giving her a friendly, but somewhat tired smile. “What is the matter, dear?” She placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Roux recoiled slightly from the touch. A broken, quiet voice responded to her question."... do dreams ..." With Livia down to her own level, she found it easier to look her in the eyes. "... feel so real ...?" Now that she was looking at the teacher, bags beneath her eyes would reveal that she hadn't slept for quite some time.
Livia didn’t remove her hand from the girl, even though she recoiled slightly. She could understand why the girl was afraid of being touched, but that was something she was going to have to grow out of. The question that followed after, however, was a bit of a cause for concern. Damn it Arthur…telling her she was a phoenix and how to control her fire before she was mentally able to handle it…
For now though, the poor dear looked like she hadn’t slept in a while…she should do something….hrm…tea was no good…so maybe something…Well…what kid didn’t love sweets? She had some…chocolate or something around here, didn’t she?
“Hm…depends. Sometimes dreams can feel very really, but…Your dreams are special, Roux.” She gently replied, giving her a small smile, not commenting on the bags under the child’s eyes. "Can you sit on the couch for me? I am going to get you a little...treat. I will only be a moment then we can talk.”
The young teenager nodded slightly as the woman spoke, listening carefully. The girl was glad that she didn't have to ask about the problem and that her keeper was willing to explain it. A few seconds later she was on the couch, leaning into the pillow she was hugging lightly as she waited for the headmistress to return.
Livia wasn’t gone long. From another room, the sound of various dishes and other things could be heard being moved as Livia moved about. A few moments later, she returned. In one hand was a saucer looked like what remained of a cake. In the other, was a tea cup filled with something that was supposed to help people relax.
Well, it always helped her relax anyways.
She took a seat a little ways away from roux, handing her the cake in the process, and setting the tea on a coffee table in front of it. The little roux seemed to look at the cake with a bit of confusion, tilting her head in the process.
“Go on, eat. It’s delicious~”
Roux set the small platter on top of a flattened pillow, looking again at Livia for confirmation before grabbing a slice and eating the fluffy center first and moving out towards choclate icing on the outside. It was a little messy. A small smile spread across her face, and after licking her lips to pick up the extra icing that remained there she took a sip of the herbal tea before setting it down.
Livia wasn't wrong about it calming her down. The combination of the herbs and the choclate did work as a relaxing agent, some of the panic and terror leaving the girl's eyes and the tears stopped completely. The Pheonix's eyes raised slightly as she waited for Livia to explain.
Livia was quiet while the redhead ate. She was trying to think of how to word this delicately. Unlike Arthur who just blundered into things without a plan or tact, she liked to think she was better at explaining things. That, and being half asleep at the moment wasn’t making this easy so she was trying to make her brain work.
“Hmm…Arthur has already told you…what you are, hmm? The phoenix of legend.” She replied quietly. “I wish Arthur would have consulted me before telling you, it would have made this so much easier…” she mumbled, shaking her head. Being slightly intoxicated was making her chatty. “But that does not concern you, Roux. At any rate…as I said, your dreams are special. Or…at least they’re not dreams at all.” She had no proof really, but it was only a logical conclusion to come too.
“Probably memories of your past lives….chances are they will be both good, and…those which are unpleasant. You…saw something unpleasant, did you?” It was another logical conclusion to come too. Why else would she have found her way to her house, crying on her door step this late at night?
Roux became a bit more downtrodden as Livia countinued to explain what was going on. So her suspicions were confirmed then. The horror that the tea removed had returned, but worse. Wide amber eyes looked at the table in front of her. "... Old keeper ..." a few seconds passed as the red haired teenager tried to pick up the cup of herbal tea, but her hand shook and she only knocked it to the floor. Luckily, it was empty enough that it didn't spill out.
"... said I was a monster ... he wasn't wrong, was he ...?"
Goddamn it Arthur, this was exactly the thing she wanted to avoid until the girl was more stable! She had to refrain from pressing a hand against her forehead in frustration and mild annoyance. If she didn’t know, she could have just passed the dreams off as exactly that, until the girl asked, or until she was well enough to handle it!
“Roux,” Livia replied gently, placing a hand on the girls.“I cannot say for all of your past lives, but I cannot lie either…beings who have lived as long as you, are bound to have done something that could be called bad by some.” She released the girls hand, and placed another gentle, but firm hand on her shoulder again as she gave the girl a small smile.
“But let me tell you, Little Roux. You, are nothing like your previous lives. You, are you. Whoever you want to be. From what I’ve seen, you are a wonderful person who cares about others. Saved the life of someone you’ve never even met without any obvious benefit to yourself. Tell me Roux, does that sound like something a monster would do?”
Roux tried to listen calmly as Livia answered her question. Tried. Her eyes remained large, her body seemed to shake from some unseeable cold. The last part of her explanation calmed the teenager down a little, but not a lot. The redhead shook her head in response, pulling her legs up off the floor and curling up again. She pressed one side of her head into the pillow, allowing the other half of her face to look in Livia's direction.
That explanation couldn’t have been easy.
But Livia was never one to lie, no matter how comforting or how preferable one would be.
Livia quietly moved closer to Roux. She wasn’t really one much for hugs or other forms of affection like that, but…well, sometimes that was all someone needed to be cheered up just a bit.
Livia placed a comforting hand on the girls head.
“I know, that’s not an easy thing to hear, Little Roux.” She softly replied. “But I will say again…you are not your past lives, and you are not a monster. Now…” What time was it? It certainly seemed late. She’d probably need to get some sleep if she wanted to wake up on time. There was an important meeting she had to deal with tomorrow with some nobles or something. Not to mention the girl looked like she could use some actual, much needed sleep.
“If you are up for it…you can sleep here tonight, if you want. My bed is rather comfortable, and it can certainly fit both of us.”
The little Roux remained curled up, shaking her head no in response. While this keeper was kind to her, she didn't feel that comfortable with Livia. But the redhead did speak something quietly in appreciation for the information. "... Thanks ..." A bit of time passed as the girl seemed to wait to say something else. "... you're a nice keeper ..." The red head's eye looked towards the front door, wondering if she should leave the house.
Livia couldn’t help but to laugh softly.
“Well, that’s fine if you don’t want too.” She replied, giving the redhead a smile. “I’m not going to drag you up there with me.”
With that, she stood, giving Roux a light pat on her shoulder as she did so.
“Please, I think it would be best if you stayed here tonight, though. I do not have a second bed, but I wouldn’t mind sleeping on the couch – wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it. I still sometimes fall asleep sitting in the chair in my office if I’m really involved in my work. Gall still scolds me for it to no end. He’s quite the worrying little bonehead sometimes.” Yeah, okay, the alcohol was still making her chatty again. She cleared her throat, before continuing.
“But…yes. And please, Roux…call me Livia. I am not your keeper…if you wanted to, you could even call me-” Woah, okay, bad alcohol. Bad. Bad bad bad. Stop right there. “At any rate, you can sleep here if you want.”
Roux nodded a slightly, laying her pillow against one of the armrests and leaning her head against it, closing her tired eyes. She wasn't trying to be her keeper? Then who was she? Why did she care so much? Should she ask them? Gradually she calmed down, breathing slowing a little bit at a time. Did it really matter? It was hard to tell if she had drifted off or not when she spoke the next words with some level of fondness.
"... Sorchy Sparky ..."
…Sorchy…Sparky? What an odd name. She had to wonder if that was what Roux was calling her. Meh. She was tired and slightly drunk, so she’d think about it later. For now, she got up, and got some blankets from her room. She brought them back down and covered the redhead with them, before finally getting to bed herself.
Arthur stood at the door to Livia's office. It was about three weeks since the day he told little Red what she was, and now it was probably best to both atone for mistakes and prove that mistakes weren't made in the same action. For all the sense that made, Arthur told himself mentally. Well, regardless.
Arthur knocked, three solid knocks to announce his presense.
“Mr. Wick, please do come in.” The door opened as she spoke. Her office looked the same as always, though a window was open and there was a small stack of paperwork on one side of the desk. It was probably obvious she had knew he was coming for quite some time.
“I take it you have something you wish to discuss?” She asked from her seat.
Arthur stepped into the room, before saying, "Swords. Or maybe spears? Axes? I've not decided yet, not my descision anyways. Regardless, I thought of a productive way to use a fire, well, I didn't think of it, some guy a few thousand years thought of it but I remembered it is a thing." Arthur took a breath before saying, "To be more precise, I'd like to train little Red how to do some blacksmithing, forge some iron and what-not. Could be a useful skill."
Livia assumed it was something regarding the redhead, but she didn’t think he’d have the gall to ask to teach her how to forge a weapon.
“No.” She bluntly replied. “Do you want to know why? A few nights ago, Roux came to my house in tears, because of some…bad ‘dreams’.” She fixed him with a serious stare. “But you know what? They weren’t dreams, Mr. Wick. They are memories of her past lives. And I had to tell her, that in a past life she most likely killed a bunch of innocent people because someone told her she’s the mythical phoenix of legend.
I will not be letting you teach her how to forge a weapon in her current state.”
Arthur mused over this for less then a second, "So, what's your plan if people come for her? Want to hurt her?" Arthur asked.
Livia gave a small laugh of amusement.
“Like anyone who is possibly looking for her will have the audacity to come here and take her right from under my nose. They’d be dead before they even reached the main campus.” The tone of her voice made it quite clear she wasn’t joking about that fact, either.
“My plan was to ease her into her identity as she grew older so she could handle it without being traumatized. Teach her how to control her flame first, then tell her. That was my plan. A bird must leave its nest eventually and she is no exception, but there is an order to things, Mr. Wick. An order you decided to ignore because you’re a short sighted fool who doesn’t think about the consequences your actions can have. Which you are still apparently doing, since you even suggested this.”
"Fool I may be, but there is still a gap in your logic madam. Even with death itself as your guardian you will die some day, as will I. She'll outlive us both. Then who protects her? Hell, she'll outlive just about everything on this planet but this lifetime is the one that's important right now." Arthur chuckled to himself before adding, "Following a strict order to things is boring ma'am. You'll disagree with that of course, in fact the moment I end my sentence you'll remark on it. But not until I finish what I have to say, because there is an order to things eh. I've made mistakes, but people have hard times growing without them. Regardless, your Roux won't always be on this mountian, nor will you always be alive. The girl needs to be able to defend herself, and if she can be taught discipline at the same time then it's only better."
Livia seemed amused at the comment about her dying someday.
“My death will not be any time soon. Chances are, I’ll live longer than you. You’ll be an old man before I’m an old woman, Mr. Wick.” She didn’t elaborate further on what she meant by that, however, and she didn’t say anything about the order of things either. Mostly because she didn’t want to prove him right.
“You and I agree that she should. You simply want to rush things before the girl is ready. Trial by fire works well if it’s needed. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t, I’d be a hypocrite if I did. For normal people it can be a good thing. For someone like Roux who is a legendary beast akin to a god, however…I cannot condone such methods. The potential for something to go horribly wrong is just too great. Not to mention she does remember Sorcha on some level, and if she remembers her then…well, I don’t have to tell you what trouble that could make.”
Livia sighed. He probably wasn’t going to let this go, was he? Such a troublesome subordinate he was being. But fine. Perhaps a compromise could be reached?
“However…I will allow it. On one condition.” She grabbed a pen from her desk and began writing something on a piece of paper sitting in front of her. “Roux has been…well, she’s not been all that happy as of late thanks to these dreams. They are distressing her. Constant nightmares, and I haven’t been able to…well, I’m no psychologist. If. if you, yourself, can do something about them without any outside help. I shall allow you to teach her blacksmithing. I’ll even deem you capable enough of being able to handle her without being supervised, though you’ll still need to tell me what you wish to teach her and how.” She stopped writing, and looked at Arthur.
“That is the deal you have been offered, and the only way I will accept it.”
"Sure." Arthur said. He really needed to get an easy button for himself, sometimes such a button is just needed. Regardless, he was sure he could help Little Red with her dream problem, her having problems like that were just the reason he wanted to teach her to smith anyways. Well, that and weapons are cool, but none the less.
"I am quite fond of dreams anyways, should be simple."
“Good.” Livia replied. “Then I should remind you that any use of telling her to use ‘anger’ to ignite her flames or deal with her dreams at all, will count as failure as well. And Mr. Wick…” She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. “If you make them worse again, you can say good bye to your job, and any work you might find in other academies. You are dismissed, and needless to say I or Gall will be accompanying you when you attempt this.”
Arthur would then bring his hand up to the bridge of his nose and start rubbing it, "How do you expect me to solve such a problem with the tactless reaper or my boss right behind me? Stress isn't easy to ease if you are also stressed you know. Whatever, let's go right now. Unless you don't have time for your Roux right now?" Arthur said.
Livia smiled.
“If you’re not as hopeless as I believed, then you should figure something out, Mr. Wick. And if it wasn’t obvious from the papers on my desk I am indeed busy, so if you intend to go now, then Gall will accompany you. And don’t worry. I’m not an idiot, and neither is he. He will simply be there to observe.”
The one called Roux as usual was laying down on her bed, flipping slowly through pages and not really reading. Exhaustion artistically expressed itself beneath her eyes.
The nightmares and butchery hadn't stopped, and her knowledge of what was going on only terrified her further. The red headed girl couldn't manage to avoid sleep completely, but she succeeded at keeping it down to about four hours a night.
Arthur was in front of little Red's house, Gall not far behind him. Giving a quick knock as curtsy he then just stood there a moment before teleporting to the other side.
“Arthur, hold a-” Gall sighed as Arthur teleported in, and moved right to the girls Bedroom before he could even say anything. He was going to attempt to make this easier on the man, but if he was going to be impatient as he was…then, he wasn’t going to tell him the spirit Livia had watching him currently wasn’t doing its job. She had given him the task of watching him today, since keeping up such a spirit could be annoying for herself.
Mr. Wick would then head up the stairs before standing at the doorframe to the girl's bedroom again, watching as she read. He would have remained quiet a minutes longer had he not known that Gall would say something.
"I heard your having less then wonderful dreams little Red." Arthur said.
Instead of helping, the reaper simply watched quietly from a few feet behind Arthur. He had to wonder if the girl would even remember him.
Little Roux was startled at Sir Wick's sudden appearence, unable to resist jumping slightly. As always they knocked, and as always her reading was interupted.
The Phoenix didn't know why but after the visit to teach her two weeks ago, the pyromancer had kept his times short and kept her training to a minimum. Also, Keeper Livia had come along each time. Had something happened? She noted the skeleton behind him, and questioned if that was the same one who'd been along at the time of her rescue. The confused girl couldn't really tell, but his prescence made her uncomfortable ... but she'd seen scarier things than a skeleton recently.
The crimson haired girl quickly nodded in response, eyes drifting back to her book for a second before closing it and looking in the general direction of the other two.
Arthur stepped into the room, a shame there weren't any chairs would certainly make life easier. Then again, little Red couldn't have good memories with chairs.
So Arthur did the next best thing. He leaned against a free bit of wall. "What are the dreams about?" Arthur asked.
The girl looked down, obviously ashamed of her past live's actions. It took her a few seconds to respond, but eventually she managed to muster up the ability to form words about how she felt. "... I've killed ..." Her sleepy eyes widened slightly as she though a bit more about it. "... many innocent people ..."
Arthur nodded, it was understandable. "You feel bad about it. That's alright, it proves something important." Arthur would stare at Roux, his blue-grey eyes looking into her amber, "It proves your not the monster you're clearly thinking you are. Savage monsters are those who don't know the pain of remembering." Arthur said firmly, before breaking his gaze to look up at the ceiling, his hat pressing against the wall behind him. Roux simply looked down a little further in response.
“Headmistress has already attempted telling her that.” Gall replied quietly. “The bright one here also has saved a strangers life with her tears, which Livia also has mentioned to her that is not something a monster would do.”
"Oh did she? Seems reasonable, nice simple way that is sure to convince most reasonable people that they are not bad." Arthur gave a short sigh, "Do you have any good dreams little Red?" Arthur asked without taking his eyes away form the ceiling.
The one called little Red contemplated for a few moments, trying to remember the last time she had a 'good' dream. In the entire three weeks since her potential as the firebird had been unleashed on the innocent trees, the teenager probably had three nights worth of decent sleep. When she headed over to Livia's house for help, she'd already had three nights worth of horrors. The one that sent Roux there was just the worst one that occured yet.
The red haired girl shook her head no.
Arthur leaned against the wall, letting silence drape itself over the room for a moment. Something peaceful about quiet. Something also quiet unnerving.
"Why not?" Arthur asked plainly.
The young teenager thought about it, raking her mind for a possible reason for why her memories were all so awful. The longer she thought though, the closer she drew to a single possible conclusion. Only one explanation made sense to her.
"... maybe ... maybe there isn't anything good ..."
"Hmm..." Arthur didn't like that answer. "I can't believe that. Life does not work that way, there are bad times, and good times. One leading into the other, and onward, until life itself ends. You just need to find the good dreams." Arthur mused.
Roux countinued to look downwards, feeling that she had failed one of the people who had saved her from her old keeper. His fire was warm, and she could feel it. He meant well, and she couldn't feel any hositlity from that flame of his.
Still though, he was probably right. In the nightmares she had, she had noticed that her thoughts were rather archaic and time seemed to go back very far. By simple probability, he was correct.
But the red head wondered why all her dreams were so negative then. Undoubteldy she'd been an evil tyrant in her memories, but was she really one in this life? Would it make sense for this life to be special? "... I see ..." Still though, did he have a plan about how to solve this?
"So I suppose the question then is how does one look for a memory?" Arthur continued to muse. "Which is a good question indeed for those of us without magic directly relating to dreams and the mind."
"Right about now I really wish Brandon wasn't eaten by a dragon. He'd have a answer that sounds so simple that it's a marvel nobody else thought of it." Arthur said, thinking aloud.
The girl looked up, a little interested in his tale. "... By a dragon ...?" The red head tilted her head, a little curious about what he was talking about.
Without missing a beat Arthur continued, "Oh yeah, Brandon was a good guy too, shame his magic did no good against the black scaled beast. Thing just moved its head over him and he was gone."
The litttle Roux frowned slightly, wondering why it didn't work. She couldn't resist asking the world's simplest yet most annoying question. "... Why? ..."
"Good question. Dragon didn't bother to eat anyone else, claws and fire for them. But Felske got eaten. Maybe she thought Brandon looked tasty? Who am I to question the taste buds of a dragon?"
Arthur then turned his gaze away from the ceiling though, looking at little Red with a glint in his eye, "That wasn't what you were asking though was it?
I suppose it'd be best to start at the beginning. Or at least near the beginning. Me and some friends acted as... adventurers. We were a bunch of thrill seeking mercs looking for money and fame. But the life span of those kind of people isn't very long sadly, and we said yes to the wrong job..." Arthur sighed. "A cave. One that some simple detection spells said was full of gold and silver. Our job was to make sure it was safe, ensure there weren't any hostile dog sized rats or angry cultist or something. After a little bit of walking through tunnels though we stepped into a massive cavern, just full of gold. Mountains of the stuff, gold and silver in the form of coins, goblets, I'm pretty sure there were some golden swords in there too."
"Before we had time to realize what was wrong with that picture though we heard the roar, and the largest of the gold mountains exploded. From under it came out a massive black monster, and actual monster, of a dragon. It looked at us with piercing green eyes and without speaking started attacking us."
Arthur took a breath before continuing, "The first to go was our healer, lovely girl, grabbed up in the beast's claws before we could react. Life squeezed right out of her. Brandon was next, he tried to link minds with it, show it some nightmares and force it to submit. Guess the Dragon wasn't easily scared. You know how Brandon died..." Arthur would suddenly move his hand, forming a fist to beat on his chest once before lowering it again, continuing his story passionately, "We fought on for a bit after that, our tank leading the charge. Man was a masochist, sadist too, knew how to take a hit and give one. Even after his armor was gone and most of his flesh burnt off he was swinging at the dragon with his axe, bless that man. But his body didn't keep up with his spirit, he died too. Then it was just me, Payton, and his familiar." Arthur took another breath, the long story starting to take his breath away.
"Payton used magic based around cards, how he got his familiar, beat the cat-girl in a card game and the two signed up right then and there, or so I was told. Anyways Payton was throwing cards at the dragon, he was getting worried, we all were. The cat was on the Dragon's back, clawing and biting at it while screaming insults, until the beast threw itself against a wall, crushed poor Kitty, the fire breath afterwards didn't help."
"Payton, and me for that matter, didn't exactly take Kitty's death well, she was a good friend. We both just threw what we had at the dragon, but it shrugged off most of the hits, and then, and this was rather rude, sweeped one of its claws threw a nearby hill of gold, and threw it at us. I barely avoided getting hit, but Payton was crushed under the weight. On my own, with my friends dead, I started shouting at the dragon. Damn thing finally talked then. Taunted me, my dead friends. I threw myself at the monster, threw every inch of my power at it. My fire, against its fire. I don't know how I survived that, but here I am. I'm alive. Wish I could say as much about my friends. But what can one do eh? The past is the past. No point dwelling on it, no point dwelling on the future either. I'm living here, right now, and there isn't any other way I'd rather live." Arthur finished. Been awhile since he told that story. At least he was sober this time, normally details go missing or are added when alchol is helping tell the tale. Regardless, Arthur kept leaning against the wall, casually catching his breath and waiting to hear a reaction.
The listened quietly as one of her keepers spun out his tale. The man was a good storyteller, and for a moment the teenager seemed to understand his hurt. Losing one's friends was a bad experience, and the redhead was fairly certain she'd lost her fair share during her lifetimes, if any had been close enough to be called that.
Still though, it gave her a bit of peace somehow. It was a simple way of viewing things, but the fact that he hadn't managed to save his friends didn't control his life many years later.
The girl hopped out of the bed in a fluid motion, and after contemplating for a moment approached a few feet in front of him and felt the comforting fire of his soul. Putting her fingers together in thought, she responded in a single word, "... Thanks ..."
"Why of course." Arthur said as he bowed his head. "Twas my pleasure. Anything else you may need of me little Red?" the pyromancer asked with a grin on his face.
Little red looked up at him, examining his face really for the first time. It may have been hard to tell, but those amber beads looked upon him with a twinge of admiration. "... when's the next time you'll come ...?" Her fingers were still playing with each other as she waited for an answer.
"As soon as I can little Red."Arthur replied, before adding, "Of course, if you ever want to get out of this house you could ask Livia about coming over to my place, it will always be open for you. We'll even have a chair barbecue if you like." Arthur would then stand up properly, saying, "I do have a bit of paperwork though. A shame, but tis the life of a teacher." Walking away, navigating past both Roux and Gall Arthur would make his way fo the exit.
Gall admitted, that was rather nicely handled. If he was capable of having a small smile formed on his skeletal face, he would have. Instead however, he simply bowed to the redhead.
“A pleasure to see you doing well, but I have business myself.” With that, he followed back after Arthur. He had no business remaining here, after all.
“Hmm…that was rather nicely handled, Arthur.” Gall said to him. “It seems you didn’t need my help after all.”
"Knowledge is only power in one chooses to use it"
The small boy responds proudly after being requested to reveal his name and title. "Magierprinz Swen Runvall Von Zauberbuch is my full title. Father is the Magierfurst of my noble house of Von Zauberbuch, a reigning Prince-Mage over our family lands in the lands of northwestern Germany."
Age: "I'm fourteen years old. Although my inheritance is a distance away, I still expect you to treat me with respect due to the heir of a Princely state."
Gender: "Agnotic Primogenture sends the succession to me, a male."
Race: Human
Sexuality: "As a member of Von Zauberbuch, I intend to continue my princely line."
Alchemy: Grimore Schreiben From a young age, the Magierprinz practiced the art of writing in gold and transfering mana into a book in order to be able to be able to eventually use the grand dynastic grimore.
On the bright side, using the lesser Grimore is incredibly mana light (half cost). (Go down to Catalyst to read more). He's currently working on being able to use the Grimore as a teleporting turret and lower the cast times of his spells, but it is quite a bit of work at this point to improve.
Due to the nature of the grimore and his skillset, it is only useful to have five ten page spells contained within it. If he could find a better one, he'd toss the damn thing out.
Prima: Wind Schneiden Many thin black slices of air fly at a high velocity towards his target up to 50 feet away. Aside from causing a lot of superficial cuts, currently they don't do too much damage unless one chooses to stand in the line of fire. Although light on the mana pool, alone they don't do much damage.
Immuto: Verfall A powerful support spell designed to bring down an enemy over time. Many mages have healing magic and many familiars have some sort of regenerative ability., but aside from the most powerful of healing magics or abilities, Verfall prevents healing of already existing wounds on a target. Appearing as a lance of darkness traveling at high speed, upon impact the lance shatters and small fragments of it jump into preexisting wounds. On the downside, it doesn't do any damage and the target must already be wounded to have an effect.
Other Magics: Sven spends some time studying other magics in order to gain a foundational understanding of them so he can understand how to manage magic in his Principality when he inherits the throne.
Catalyst: Lesser Grimore of Von Zauberbuch: A large, 10 pound Wyrven-leather covered book with a massive lock on it. Despite it's weight, it only contains about fifty pages worth of material.
A spell written within it takes up a number of pages depending on it's complexity, requiring to be written in a fine, golden ink. After the writing was finished, a mage had to pour some mana into it in order to seal the words onto the page. A massive explosion can take up to ten pages, and takes about an hour per page to prepare. Additionally, the Grimore has a preperation time before firing a spell (about a second per page) allowing the enemies to be aware of what is going on (If they know latin, at least). After a spell is fired, the ink dissapears and the spell must be rewritten at a later point in time.
Right now the fourteen year old carries it from an attached chain slung over his left arm, the nobleman bearing it's weight as he walks around.
The key to it is attatched by chain inside a small pocketwatch that he wears from his neck at all times.
Other Skills: From the halls of nobility, Swen has a good idea about doing the casual noble arts: ballroom dancing, playing the piano, and courtly grace are skills he has aquired throughout the year.
Inventory: The Lesser Grimore The Pocketwatch & Key Fancy Clothes
Familiar: Ritter, or Mr. Snuggles the Golem
Personality: Valuing his noble title a little too much, the Magierprinz relies on it as a crutch in the outside world. Being his first year at this school, he doesn't realize that there are far too many self-important nobles running around.
On that note, he also respects those of higher rank, believing that God has graced them with power for a reason.
Despite these flaws, at his core Swen is a chivarlric man. He believes that it his god given duty to protect the weak, the old, and the women from any harm that may become them, and assist them with their day to day lives.
Strongly believing in the concept of honor, he will never lie and considers lying purely by omission to be dishonorable conduct.
Fairly immature, he still has a lot of growing up to do.
Backstory: Born as the son of a reigning Prince-Mage, Swen has grown up with wealth and splendor surrounding him. From a young age, he was raised mostly by servants and other people in the court, only seeing his busy parents formally during dinner and perhaps and hour afterwards each day. This doesn't mean that his parents were cruel or unemotional, just that they dedicate themselves to ruling over their lands to ensure justice for every citizen.
Because of this enviorment, Swen started to become a recluse. He would focus on books a little more than what would normally be considered healthy, and found very few friends that were his age. Although this allowed him to excel at magic for his age, his parents eventually saw the flaw in his lack of connections to others his age and sent him off to Liseranna to help him socially adjust.
I am drawing its image so might take me a bit, sometime this weekend at the earliest.
"...."
Name: Ritter
Nicknames/Titles: Mr. Snuggles
Age: 34
Gender: Golem.
Race: Golem.
Sexuality: Golem.
Power: This golem will increase in size while ‘contracted’ until its Master dies. If that happens it will revert to its standby form, which is six inches in height.
While ‘contracted’ this golem ‘consumes’ a small bit of its Master’s mana. This golem is able to control the earth. But it has to be told by its Master to use it and it uses its Master’s mana to do so. If its Master wants it to do so, it is able to change the material it is made of, but is limited by the type of magic its Master uses. Example: If its Master uses magic that involves fire, it could change its material to lava if its Master wants that to happen.
A contract is made by dropping a small bit of from the person who wishes to become its Master on it.
Strengths: This golem is immortal. Its physical strength is directly proportional to its size. Its strength is double that of a human at the same size.
Weaknesses: To use magic, the golem use its Master’s mana. If its Master dies or it takes enough damage it will revert to its standby form.
Catalyst: N/A
Inventory: N/A
Master: Swen Runvall
Personality: It is a golem so it doesn’t have a personality perse. But it will observe things around it, especially its Master, and learn. Similar to a what a small child does. So it’s personality will ‘take form’ during the course of the IC.
Backstory: The past of this golem does not matter as it is now a clean slate, what matters is its future.
Other: When its Master dies, it ‘becomes’ a blank slate so the next Master will be able to ‘shape’ it in their own way.
Vera is significantly taller than a majority of girls her age, standing at around 5'9 (176 cm). Her eyes are steel blue in colour and quite large (though they do begin to narrow down if you've done something piss her off), and she's a little pale faced. She loves her dresses and skirts, though most of them reach to the middle of her calves. Her long wavy hair is one of her more notable features, however she has continuously debated whether or not she should cut it to a shorter length.
"Even the most beautiful of roses can have the sharpest of thorns."
Name: Vera Rosenberg
Nicknames/Titles: V (by close friends and relatives), Lady Vera
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Race: Hooman
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Magic: Bratus: Blumengarten
Simply put, Bratus: Blumengarten allows Vera to create and manipulate roses at will. This magic can be used in long range combat, although it can be used in close range attacks to some extent. The thorns and stems of her rose can also be used to form defensive barriers and shields to protect the user from harm. The more mana used the thicker and larger the thorns and stems become. Vera is also capable of creating and manipulating rose petals to use as a screen or distraction.
Strengths: The greatest strength of this magic is its multiple uses and ranges. For a long range attack, Vera can simply wave a hand and large rose stems can sprout out of the ground towards the enemy. This is also the case for closer range attacks, however it is possible for Vera to create shields made of tightly packed, prickly stems. As said before, the more mana that is supplied with each attack, the larger, stronger an thicker the thorns become.
Weaknesses: As this is a magic used by long distance fighters, fighting at a closer range can be a struggle, despite the possibilities of countering against it. Also, the less mana used, the less powerful each attack becomes. Only those with large mana pools can manage to fight with this type of magic for long periods of time. This magic is definitely not for the brash and reckless; it takes strategy, skill and preservation to wield.
Catalyst: A thick, decorated silver ring silver ring with a large red gem in the middle.
Other Skills:
Vera possesses stellar acting skills, and is very convincing actor at that. She's also quite good at tending and looking after flowers (it's actually a well enjoyed hobby of hers too).
Inventory: ---
Familiar: ---
Personality:
Vera is an unusual one; the graceful yet mysterious air she gives off is almost haunting. Her pale skin and rather tall height seem to compliment this, but it isn't like a majority of people are terrified of her. It's more like… getting to know her fully takes a bit of time. Other than that, Vera is a seemingly pleasant young woman. Full of faint smiles and grace, this girl doesn't seem like a fighter at all. Quite the opposite, actually. However, she won't let anything provoke her in any way, as her relaxed nature prevents many from doing so. She uses her wit to put people back in their place, and is often seen teasing her enemies in a purposely provocative and playful tone.
No matter how many smiles or thank you's she gives, almost everyone she comes across will usually note her as 'mysterious' in their books. Sure, she smiles and puts on a pretty face all the time, but the mask she wears almost 24/7 is what hides her true thoughts. No matter how hard you stare, you'll never be able to see what this girl is thinking. Did Vera ever think good of that drawing you showed her last week? Did Vera ever think of dumping her insides into a toilet after you made some food for her? Did Vera think badly of you after you told her something nasty and regrettable?
You may never know.
However, there is a certain darker layer to Vera that will sometimes spring up during tense situations, however. All of her kindness is just an act, really. At heart, Vera is cruel, manipulative and ambitious, and will get what she wants, when she wants. She strives to become the strongest and won't even bat an eyelash at those supposedly weaker than her. She'll toy with those who are gullible enough and take advantage of those exceedingly kind to her. Her callous and sadistic behaviour is best left hidden under her cheerful mask; you really wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Vera Rosenberg.
Backstory:
Vera was born into a once wealthy and powerful household in England, which ran its own company and was mainly known for their strong magic prowess. During her early years as a child, Vera was very selfish and mean, treating her servants with disrespect and wanting everything given to her at her command. She did however care for her parents a lot, even if she would ask for the impossible from them. Vera always tried to impress them, no matter how great the feat was.
Then, things began to crumble. Vera was only around seven when the family's business was being outshone by others. This sudden crisis led to the downfall of pretty much everything, from family bonds to the mansion itself. It wouldn't take long for Vera to realise that her income of oversized stuffed toys were starting to decrease, and so she asked her parents why things were so… well, different now.
Eventually, she got her answer. Struggling business. Loss of money. All that sad stuff. Vera was absolutely devastated.
Everything got so bad that they decided to move Vera to a distant relative's place somewhere in Scotland, where she spent the rest of her childhood. Of course, nothing was the same, and it would take time getting used to. If she wanted something big, she was going to have to work for it. That's what someone had said to her, anyway.
The girl took it the wrong way, though.
Vera had big aspirations and extreme ambitions for the future. She wanted to become a rich, powerful woman herself, so much so that she would dominate over everyone else in her wake. Of course, Vera was still young, so she would take things slowly. Learning to manipulate others was a definite must for her, so she did it. Anything that would bring her further to becoming a stronger mage and representing the Rosenberg family name in its well deserved glory. Now sixteen years of age, Vera continues with her studies, currently studying at Montagne Academy.
"You never stood a chance in the first place. When you wield the power of the universe in your hands it tends to make you unbeatable."
Name: Lissandra Everdale
Nicknames/Titles: Lady Everdale Gravity Sorceress
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Sexuality: Bisexual
Ranking Class: Sorceress
Year:
Magic: Barutus. Lissandra developed and created the ability to manipulate graviton particles (Gravity). Her magic works by either strengthening or weaken the effect gravity has on objects or the world around her. The larger and more complex the object the more she must focus on it to keep the effect up.
- Gravity Manipulation (Increases or decreases the effect gravity has on an object) "Lets see how strong you really are"
-Gravity Well (Touching an object she creates a localised gravity field that makes objects either orbit, pushed or pulled from the touch object) "Look at this, a tiny planet. With its own miniature moon. Cute."
- Gravity Beam/Wave (She fires a beam or wave from her or catalyst with enough strength to knock small cars aside) "The application of gravity are interesting. Aren't they?"
- Levitate (Lowers the effect gravity has on her allowing her to levitate a few feet of the ground. She can move around by changing the direction gravity effects her) "Look upon me lowly sorcerers gave upon the power I wield!"
- Gravitational Force field (Creates an invisible field of gravity that pushes objects away from it) "You think weak attacks like that can hurt me?!"
Strengths: With gravity being the main force of the universe it has a variety of effects that Lissandra can put to use. These range from increasing or decreasing the effect of gravity on an object or herself allowing her to levitate even fly. By touching an object she can create a localised gravity field allowing things to orbit an object or be pulled/pushed away from it. By focusing gravity in her hands she can send forth beams or waves of gravitational force that can knock people away, it has enough strength to knock cars aside. Finally she can create a gravitational force field that pushes things away from her.
Weaknesses: The larger the object the harder it is to bend the gravity around it to her whim, as a result she cannot manipulate objects larger than the average human. She can also not super compress gravity to create black holes or anything of the like. Most of her magic doesn’t require her to touch someone however in order to create gravitational wells or effect an object that is larger than herself she needs to physically touch the thing she wants to effect. Every object that is affected by Lissandra magic drains her magic significantly. Her gravitational force field while a snap response to attacks drains a lot of mana and is not something she can sustain for a long period of time, her force field can only block solid objects, not liquids or gases.
Catalyst: Lissandra has a crystal scepter that she can use to channel her magic through.
Inventory: A knapsack containing paper books and other school paraphernalia. She carries her Crystal scepter around her waist attached to her belt. The scepter can also be used as a weapon by channeling her magic through it she can turn it into a mace by creating a small gravitational field around it that pushes anything it hits away from it. A bag full of marbles.
Other Skills: None of real note.
Familiar: None
Squad Name:
Personality: Lissandra is the epitome of the lone wolf stereotype. She is slow to trust others and has a history of violent outbursts when put into situation she find uncomfortable. Lissandra is not inherently evil or nasty but she has trouble differencing right from wrong. Due to the trauma she suffered at the hands of her foster family Lissandra is rarely a person who goes out of her way to help others and is extremely secluded.
Backstory: Lissandra has lived a life full of sadness and suffering. Orphaned at the young age of four her father an alcoholic left her mother when Lissandra was only two. Her mother died two years later from influenza, leaving Lissandra at the mercy of the orphan system. Lissandra was placed into an orphanage for two years spending most of her time outcasted from the other children due to her unusual abilities and violent tendencies towards any children that bullied her.
During the routine inspection from the Everdale family they discovered the child's latent magical potential and adopted her immediately. However what Lissandra saw as an amazing opportunity to leave the wretched orphanage would actually be the beginning of her descent into hell. The Everdales were well known as a family that found prodigy mages in orphanage and training them to become amazing images. However the methods they used to train this children would be seen as barbaric and inhumane to any person who found out what they did.
Through a series of complex rituals and many sigils carved into her body Lissandra developed her ability of Graviton manipulation. Even if Lissandra wanted to tell anyone of what she suffered the Everdale family had sigils etched on her throat that stop her from telling anyone the truth. The Everdales family estate was recently attacked by unknown terrorists who killed every Everdale member in a massive explosion. As she was the only surviving Everdale after the explosion their fortune now resides with her.
Meria isn't very tall but not short either. Just in the middle I suppose. Hair that is cherry-blossomed color and always perfectly straight. Her bangs frame her face, curling up at the sides a bit. Her lips are always have a naturally pink tint to them and always looks moisturized. Her skin has no blemishes but she does have a beauty mark just under her right eye which might stand out to some.
On her back, she has a winged design with a knife in the middle.
It looks like it was a tattoo How did this happen? You'll have to ask yourself if you want to know~ her body looks fragile to some but she has muscle, she just doesn't get very bulky even though she exercises.
She only gives off an air of mystery perhaps. As if you can already tell that you won't be getting very close to her but she will always greet you with a sweet smile.
Her eyes are a peculiar color, looking as if they are a galaxy them selves. Purple mainly as well as other specs of pink and such mixed into it as they swirl around. This is an effect of being a baku. They seem to always be searching for people with dark pasts which makes their eyes mesmerizing. Seeming to try to suck you into her own little, lonely world~
She loves to wear her pink dress which she received from her mother and father. She often goes to get it fit so that she can wear it even when she gets older so tell her if you know a good tailor for her to go to~ Other than that, her clothes are... Usually pretty cute. She loves to wear over sized sweaters and the like due to the fact that she can snuggle up in them whenever she likes.
“Call me Meria!” Name: Algentenia-- Name that her ex-parents named her. If you manage to get this out of her… Well, someone’s loved aren’t they.
Nicknames/Titles: -- Meria-- Name that her parents named her and the one she uses to introduce herself. Sweets-- Name that her father and parents used as a nickname for her.
“Almost 18!" Age: 17
“Do you happen to be blind?” Gender: Female
“Nightmare eater~” Race: Baku
“Sexuality, huh. Well~ Whoever manages to interest me.” Sexuality: Bisexual
Abilities: During her childhood, her parents loved to train her to be powerful and capable of mending for herself. But… You know how that worked out for themselves, haha! --Nighttime meal,
“Nightmares?? Oh! Is it a child that I see asleep and trembling~? Well, let me help you with that and enjoy a fine meal at the same time.” Nightmare meal-- Her most basic magic that she loves. She can of course, eat nightmares at any time. The process involves simply covering the eyes of the person and sucking their nightmare in. After a while, they will awake to find themselves not knowing why they were frightened or scared at all. She gets a full stomach from nightmares that are extremely terrifying since she loves spicy food. If it isn’t that scary, she’ll feel hungry still and unsatisfied, left with a sweet taste. Also, this power seems to cure scars cuts if they are only a week old. She doesn’t know why and doesn’t really care about that part but yeah, it adds some more good conscious for herself.
Weaknesses: Well, if it is too frightening or disturbing… She may end up throwing up. However, she honestly loves gore and especially killing so this rarely happens. “Bring it on nightmares!”
Nightmare to reality-- This power creates your horrid nightmare~ Well, she turns into your nightmare. If you are afraid of dark rooms, she’ll become a dark room herself. Afraid of drowning? She will become a pool filled with water. Just kidding! She has the power to create illusions that are far too realistic for their own good. It creates your nightmare right before your eyes and it makes it seem as though you can’t get away from it. She only becomes the most recent nightmare.
Weaknesses: This power has a stain on her mental state. She survives her life through the belief that killing her parents as well as other people is something that wasn’t that bad. However, everyone knows that there is nothing scarier that the stone cold truth~
Nightmare stealer-- This power allows her to use other persons recent nightmares for stanima, agility, power, and speed. They cannot be older than 2 weeks and the more frightening they are, the more powerful she gets. The range is pretty much anyone in the room at the time. She has to guess the person and hope they had a bad dream the previous night.
Weaknesses: If she were to accidently take a good dream, it wouldn't be of much help and in certain cases actually slow her down.
Other Skills: Systema- Taught by her russian fighting teacher, she mastered this at a young age and likes to use it if she can rather than magic. The man that taught her was a local in her parents neighborhood. A nice man that fell in love with Meria apperantly. He seemed to want her to become stronger so that she wouldn't get taken advantage of. He was a tough teacher but Meria fell in love with the fighting style and trained hard every day, coming home with scars, bruises, and a bright smile. Systema focuses on controlling the important parts of the body—the elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles, and shoulders, through pressure points and critical hits. The root philosophies of the system are based on the laws of biomechanics and anatomy, with much of the training focusing on studying the natural weaknesses of the human form so that one may manipulate them at will.
Multilingual- She was often told to learn different languages as well as encouraged by her parents. This was an easy task so she made sure that she made them proud. As of right now she can speak Russian, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and German. Some she can speak or write better than the other but she can speak quite fluently as well as for some reason not having an accent.
Cooking- Her mother was a wonderful cook and the main chef for the cafe. She taught her how to cook and Meria can now cook as if she was a professional. “Food is a great way to capture a mans heart! How do you think I got your father?” she would always say but Meria knew that there was more to their love than food. Prepare your taste buds because she’ll melt your heart with the food that she can make. She loves to make simple espressos with cute latte art a lot.
See it 2 times memory- Pretty self-explanatory, no? She can memorize pretty much everything if she sees or reads it 2 times. It helps that she is also just book smart and loves to study~
Survival- She lived outside alone for more than 2 years. She picked up a few things. Camping and creating a decent meal with a self-made spear is pretty easy for her. As well as setting up a tent under 5 minutes. Other things as well but yeah, if you ever want to go camping, make sure to bring her just in case you get lost~
Inventory: Her bag which carries: A knife, a bunch of cash in her wallet, bandaids, alcohol wipes, advil, a photo of her parents as a couple when they were younger, and some candy for her sweet tooth.
"He may be sleezy as all hell, but he's actually not a bad person. No, wait, he's an extreme pervert though." Master: Drael “Well, people like to assume i’m innocent so I suppose I am~” Personality: Meria gives off a sense of… innocence, that does not exist. She’s seen and done too many things to be called innocent~ Not that I’m going to get into that in the bio but let’s just say~ Her parents job included torture, killing, and holding people ransom on rare occasions and she was involved sometimes. Haha, butterflies always seem to be around her so that helps. People always meet her and make their own personality for her and she is quite fine with this. She isn’t a bad person or anything. She simply does not take into accord how her actions might affect the rest of her life. Killing her parents was practically something she did in the spur of the moment as well as having anger built up inside of her.
She hates to be bored. Boredom is one of her least favorite things in the world. This is probably a reason that she got into books. A parallel universe that always seemed to fill her with emotions that she hadn’t experienced before. She love stories and her father's stories were some of her favorites. By father, she never means her actual parents, always the ones that took her under their wing without even know who she was or what she had done. They were her ideal humans. Or demons. Or angels. Or whatever they were, she never really cared about such trivial things.
If you are an entertaining person, she will adore you, always seeming to be by your side and such. This does not mean that she is a cruel person that discards people that do not entertain her. Simply that she doesn’t stick around too long. However, she has a soft spot for cute things or people. True "innocence" is something that is hard to find. Her mask is a smile that seems to always be there and it isn’t really fake as much as delusional. She never found killing her ex-parents to be something horrid and never understood why people seemed to judge her harshly when they found out which they usually do since she doesn’t really hide it. She prides herself on her parents that she loves.
Sweetly smiling and laughing at dark jokes are a habit of hers. She won’t be a rude person. That would be shameful to her dear parents that raised her and were absolute angels. That is pretty much the reason that she is pretty sweet and can’t be rude really. She loves to watch battles and being in them? Hmm… I suppose it depends on the opponent. She hates wasting time with idiots but loves entertaining ones so if you piss her off but manage to pique her interest, expect to find her around you without even knowing the reason why and smiling. She's pretty damn straightforward but don't worry, she'll make it look like she was trying to compliment you. How does she really want to be? She wants to be childish but...Hm. (sadist?) ---Rest in IC.
"It's quite boring though." Backstory: After she killed her parents, her life somehow took a big turn. Well, people would think so I suppose. Why did she kill her parents? She’ll almost always give a simple reason, “They were goddamn psychos!” with a triumphant hmph. The actual story was simply. Her parents were in the black market business (as well as other illegal stuff that she doesn’t know too well about) and got rich off of that. They were known for providing others with the best nightmares. Only professional night catchers can do this but her parents had the power to kill people and collect their death nightmare. A delicacy to all Baku's. This nightmare was a colletion of their fear of death and other fears finally conquering them and killing them. It was the most frightening nightmare of all and went for well, a lot of money. They did other things that involved humans as well. However, they were never satisfied with how they were living. Often bringing people to the house and gathering others to bet on who would win . A fight to the death between humans. Wonderful, no? Meria always had to watch, tied to a chair with a blank expression on her face. She was bored. One day she suggested to her dear parents, “Why don’t you two fight? I would bet my allowance~” with this, they were startled but all the same glad that she was taking an interest in their hobby. However, they didn’t agree. Instead, they brought her two closest friends and told her to bet on them. She was scared. They had blindfolds and she had no choice.
After her dearest friend had died, that same night, she snuck into her parents room. A knife in one hand and a wad of cash in the other. They were quite the deep sleepers. She silently tied them up as if they were marionettes., waiting until they awoke. Once they did, she played with them for a while. A simple fight to the death but much more gruesome than her parents way. “Aww, daddy died. I knew mommy was stronger~” with that, she killed her mother and fled her home, understanding that she couldn’t stay there any longer. All this when she was only 11.
Even with this, she didn’t think of herself as crazy at all. She never actually liked her parents anyways. Toys that were beginning to fail in entertaining her. They never actually showed her parental love and always made her do certain dirty work for the business.
After a while of living on the streets, at age 14, an old man (Well, old to her at least. She thought everyone older than 18 was old at the time.) found her and invited her into his home. She had a knife with her that was dripping with blood as well as her powers to accompany her. If he tried anything, she was more than ready to kill the old man (again, the couple is actually in their 20’s). However, the house was silent. Until a woman came who was old but seemed to be aging very well. They both greeted her with a sweet smile and openly allowed her to become their child. After this, her childhood was wonderful. They owned a small local cafe in the neighborhood.
Spoiled to the core yet understanding how to treat her dear parents she was honestly living a very blissful life as well as doing many things around the house. Not to mention that they were getting money every month from an unknown source that was herself. They were actually poor but somehow managed to look like they chose to live that way. Maybe they did. Spoiled… I suppose she thinks that way only because her actual parents were such crap, haha!
On her 17th birthday, her present wasn’t much. They couldn’t afford anything extravagant but they got her something that meant much more to her. A wonderful new dress that appeared to look like the one she had on when she first came to the home. A more polished version that was her size. Her mother had obviously worked a long time on it. Also, they explained that they thought that she should start going to Montogane academy. She was surprised, not knowing how they had figured out about her powers but perhaps… They were magic users themselves. “We couldn’t provide you with a proper education…” Oh. They didn’t know of the fact that she was practically a genius. Remembering a lot of college material by age 13 as well as from the help of private classes her ex-parents provided her with, and doing most of the finances since her parents were always failing at counting their damn money. Her memory was like a steel trap, remembering many things that she actually focused on. As well as studying every night with study materials. Hey, she ran away with home but she took a lot with her before she did. Including cash of course. She agreed due to the fact that they seemed to actually feel bad about not being able to teach her school education and magic. The last words of “I love you. Thank you for everything.” before leaving the house with a polite bow and a kiss on each of their cheeks.
"Just because I’m a cold person doesn’t mean I can’t have a warm heart."
“You may just call me Mugi. A pleasure.” Name: Mugi Yukimura
“A Nickname? What’s that?” Nicknames/Titles: N/A
“Seventeen years of age. Why did you need to know?” Age: 17
“You all don’t seem to know my language all that well or you would know from my people's name. Of course I’m a woman.” Gender: Female
“I’ve been told that most people of the west have never heard of us.” Race: Yuki-Onna
“Not that I’ve been around many men, but they don’t tend to be all that easy on the eyes.” Sexuality: Homosexual
"Cool down, you look like you need it." Abilities:
Ice/Cold Creation and Manipulation: Mugi has the power she shares with all of the other Yuki-Onna to create ice from the moisture in the air. She can manipulate the ice and cold such as shooting shards or arrows of ice from her fingertips among many other things.
Minor Wind Manipulation: Along with the powers over the cold, her people are known to make flash blizzards with frozen winds in the mountain. Of course, full fledged blizzards need some of the most powerful Yuki-Onna or a group of average ones to make. By herself, Mugi is able to make the cool breeze freezing or even enhance the power of her own breath to make a utterly chilling attack. Or she can also use it to cool someone that is burning up.
Strengths: Her skills are great for freezing things, cooling things down, and making burns instantly worse than they should be! Remember children, don’t flash freeze your burns! That aside, as her abilities are around creating and firing or piercing with ice he abilities deal more physical damage than elemental.
Weaknesses: While she may be great at freezing things and the like, as a woman of the ice she is weak to fire and heat in general. It won’t melt her but she’ll feel greatly uncomfortable and it’s like she’s being cooked alive. . . even more so than for most people.
Catalyst: None
“I have pride in my skills at making Ice Pops and other things of the sort.” Other Skills: Mugi considers herself very skilled at making Ice Pops and other frozen treats as well as carving Ice Sculptures.
”It’s too warm otherwise.” Inventory: She always wears somewhat heavy clothes to hold the cold inside herself, for example she wears a scarf a lot to keep her cold temperature inside.
“I have no desire as of now, perhaps someone will change my mind? A pretty woman perhaps?” Master:
“Shouldn’t one just be able to tell from conversing?” Personality: Mugi is usually a calm and caring person with a bit of a devious side as is common with her race. She’ll be willing to help others out but might tease them a bit. For the comfort of others, for now, she tries to avoid directly touching them as she feels as cool as ice.
“I’ve nothing to hide really, ask away.” Backstory: Mugi is a Yuki-Onna from a small village made up of solely Yuki-Onna. The Yuki-Onna have no surname, and when they must have one they use Yukimura.
In her generation, there were only five children including her. While the other four girls preferred other things, Mugi enjoyed talking to the Village Elder. While she was the oldest, she was also considered the most beautiful and knowledgable of all women in the village. Mugi has since been a great fan of the woman and strived for much of her life to be like her.
At Mugi's request the Elder would always tell stories of her times when she was outside the village when she was younger and fed the girl's interest in the world away from the village. She studied under the Elder and eventually got recommended to head to a foreign school to study with the knowledge of languages necessary to communicate with others.
“I’ve got plenty of money, so, yeah, I can waste some time.” - Cole “RK”
Age: 21 Gender: Male Race: Vanilla Human Sexuality: Straight.
Appearance: Sporting a fairly distinct hairstyle and blue eyes, Cole stands at 5’10 and weighs 180 lbs. Black tattoos of vines crawl over his arms, chest, and back, and he doesn’t care if they’re hidden or exposed; he just grabs whatever’s at the front of the closet after all. Numerous faint scars can be found over his body, but thankfully his face has gone untouched.
Magic Immuto: Aureola - The manifestation of one’s soul through mana, grown too strong to be contained by Cole’s mortal frame. The light of his being, it brings him past his limits, shields him from harm, and allows him to strike down his foes. Prima: Five Changing Blows - Somewhat based on the Chinese elements, Cole uses this to add that extra oomph to his close-quarter capabilities. Sanctus: Spirit Knockout - Another method to strength his close-quarter capabilities, it allows him to disrupt or break the connection between a soul/spirit and its vessel.
Strengths: Aureola is a potent self-buff that grants a myriad of effects to Cole while he has the mana to maintain it. Primarily it infuses his body with mana and allows him to perform on a level several removed from a regular human. Additionally, anything that would manage to injure him despite his heightened toughness is brushed aside with a surge of mana that counters the attack. In the case that he is still harmed, a rather potent regeneration effect is also present. Beyond that, the mana that infuses his body also interferes with any attempt to cast magic on him directly. It prevents a Prima mage from manipulating the water within his body, or a Mentis mage from influencing his thoughts, etc.
Five Changing Blows allows for Cole to infuse his body with the elements of air, fire, earth, metal, or water. This allows him a wide variety of responses to any situation, and as a whole makes him deadlier and more adaptable. It is an extremely efficient form of magic, and allows for powerful effects despite most of Cole’s mana being directed to maintaining Aureola.
Spirit Knockout allows for Cole to disrupt the spirit/soul of his opponents through an injection of his own mana. The effectiveness is primarily determined by how closely a soul is bound to its vessel and stronger bonds lessening the effect. Thus a spirit with no physical vessel will usually be torn apart rapidly, an animated puppet or golem will likely struggle to remain bound, while another mage may be stunned or disoriented as their soul is shoved out only to snap back into place. Cole is able to utilize both Five Changing Blows and Spirit Knockout together which flavors the mana that is injected. Water-tinged mana causes a more violent reaction in those aligned with fire, etc.
Weaknesses: Aureola allows Cole to shrug off injuries that would otherwise incapacitate him, but it costs him mana to do so. This means every hit he takes weakens his ability to perform magic as a whole, whereas someone else might be able to sacrifice an arm to cast a finisher in return. He also has a fairly distinct glow when the magic is in use that makes stealth pretty much an impossibility.
While his Prima magic is versatile, it is also limited by the very foundation he based it from. He cannot shift directly from Water to Earth or Metal, Fire cannot turn to Air or Water, and so forth. Instead he has to change to a compatible element and then change again. This means there is some delay in how fast he can swap between the elements. Another thing is that while Fire, Air, and Water grant him some short-range capabilities, the majority of his use for the magic is limited to close-quarter fighting and enhancing his melee capabilities. Lastly, he hasn’t quite mastered the ability to utilize more than one element at a time although he is working on it.
While the violent nature of Spirit Knockout’s mana injection makes it difficult to receive and absorb the mana, it’s not impossible to do so. Also the whole limited to melee combat, and the lack of any ranged ability with this magic.
Catalyst: The tattoos that cover much of Cole’s upper body aren’t merely for show, but instead act as his catalyst and allow him to use magic. Over the years they’ve linked with the pathways that carry mana through his body and become more than just ink on skin.
Other Skills While he doesn’t practice any specific martial art now, Cole is a competent brawler even without his magic. While not very skillful, a mix of instinct, experience, and good reflexes makes him plenty dangerous.
His ability to throw knives is described as inhuman. Feats include shaving another student’s stubble, pinning a leaf with every knife on his person as they fell, or tossing dozens accurately in seconds.
Not quite as accurate with, but fairly well-trained with firearms as well. Handguns are his preference since his main use for them is the aspect of surprise, and more often than not people don't suspect it from a mage.
Takes care of himself and his own place since he doesn’t live in the dorms, but rents a place in town. He’s a decent cook, but doesn’t use the kitchen and prefers to eat out instead.
Fluent in Mandarin, and conversational in Arabic. The former is unsurprising given he was raised in China, and the latter he picked up a few years back when he realized it helped to find work. English generally works, but it’s doesn’t hurt to help the client relax with a familiar tongue.
Alcoholism ho! Not really though. He likes to drink, handles it well, and has a fair idea of his limits.
Inventory: Cell phone, wallet, probably a pack of gum, a necklace made of prayer beads, and almost as many knives as a certain time-stopping maid.
Familiar: N/A
Personality: It’s not flattering, but Cole is most often described as a rather smug layabout. Indeed, when he is on the mountain he can often be found at a park or cafe with a book or tablet in hand. It seems that he’s rather listless unless there’s a task or mission for him to focus on. He might seem a bit driven to find a job when he needs a bit of extra cash, but otherwise even his hunt for “work” seems to lack energy for the most part. He’s a bit more lively and energetic when honing his magic, but the mood to do so seems to strike only occasionally.
On that note, despite his general indolence towards many things, it can’t be said that Cole is irresponsible, and he’ll gladly pull up his bank account to prove it. His home is well kept, and when people do bother to strike up conversation he comes across as rather polite, if perhaps a bit too casual at times. He’s seen and done his fair share of things, so there’s not much in the day to day life that bothers him a lot. Granted it is Montagne, so who can say what might happen on any given day.
Backstory: Born in Shanghai to a European mother and Chinese father, it’s pretty clear which parent he got his looks from. They were unfortunately without magic and thus at a loss when his potential manifested early. They were also decent folk who looked around for local help rather than ship off their kid to some whacky academy right off the bat and that was how Cole found himself in the company of Shaolin monks from a very young age.
The temple in question had no mages, but were sympathetic to his parent’s dilemma and agreed to help how they could. As a result, Cole often spent afternoons and occasionally days at the temple to try and learn control. They couldn’t instruct him on magic, but meditation and physical training helped to focus his mana and develop a body that could handle it.
One day there came a marked man whom the monks respected greatly, and thus Cole did as well by extension. This seemed to amuse the man even as he took the, now, young boy aside and asked if he wished to pursue his potential further. He had come because he heard there was a temple that had helped to raise a young mage, and he himself was one whose life had become entwined with the organization. If Cole so wished, he could grant the young boy a gift and steer him in the right direction for his next steps.
Quite obviously, Cole accepted and the rune ceremony took place the following day. A subdued event with no fanfare, but its importance undiminished for it. His parents allowed him to apprentice under the man afterwards, and thus began the next chapter of Cole’s life. As he quickly found out, the man worked as an exorcist for the temples. China was rather prolific with many tales of the supernatural. More than a few were real, and more importantly dangerous.
He traveled around the country and occasionally out of it for a few years under his teacher, before Cole was told to attend Montagne. The man hadn’t taught him everything yet, but with only him as Cole’s teacher he was only slowing the boy’s growth. Again, obviously, he accepted the decision and finally got shipped off to some academy on the other side of the world. More than a decade after his parents had first considered it.
He “graduated”, for what little meaning it has, after two short years at the Academy given his experience prior to arrival. Rather than move back home though, Cole has lingered about in the surrounding town as it proves to be a rather easy place to find work. There’s always some business that needs to be taken care of so long as one looks in the proper areas or knows the right channels. Occasionally he can be seen actually on school grounds, most frequently the library. He generally spends at least an hour there each day when he’s free to clean up and organize the place.
Don't look at me like that, I didn't think of it Name: Alucard
Old lady called me that, dunno why Nicknames/Titles:Halfblood
Age: Rude.
Well I mean if you want to get technical about it Gender: Male
Human right? Race: Fallen angel
Sexuality: *wink*
Sounds super cool right? Magic:Immuto: Yin-Yang Alucard can enhance or weaken physical abilities. It has to be a balance though, if not an exact one. In exchange for amping his speed and strength Alucard can remove his sense of hearing. The amount of change in one thing has to be somewhat in proportion to another. Losing your sense of smell wouldn't do much, but losing your sense of touch would do much more. Of course these things are also relative to the person they are affecting. Someone may lose their eye sight, but can see with their magic, thus not a major lose. Inversely someone may depend on their eye sight to use their magic, making it a far greater lose.
All of them! Strengths: Allows him to dictate the terms for any fight he enters into and this doesn't drain his mana very much either.
None! Weaknesses: While Alucard can use this magic almost freely, he can only do it within limits. He can't weaken something without strengthening something else. In addition he can only swap up to one thing at this point, depending on whether the pen is clicked or not. If he tries to exchange two very unequal things then his power fizzes out and he can't use it for up to a day, in addition to becoming physically drained.
Not very impressive is it? Catalyst: Pen
Other Skills: Alucard is rather fit given the nature of most of his activities and is if fact more muscular than he appears. He does have little fighting training but his unnatural heritage gives him a bit of natural skill in this area. His memory is very impressive despite how often he writes things down and his voice can be quite alluring, even compelling to those unprepared. Is also a really good cook and has lots of money. Ladies beware.
Its actually really useful Inventory: A pen and a pack of sticky notes, and a credit card with an undisclosed amount of money on it.
Pesonality: Alucard is somewhat, well arrogant and narcissistic. Confident in his own skills and the inferiority of others. He tends to come off that way as well. Alucard enjoys flirting and many hobbies, mainly he detests being bored. Despite his awareness that everyone is inferior to him he is very curious and likes learning things about other people and things. In particular he keeps track of every kind of magic he has ever encountered, he sometimes thinks about writing a book.
Backstory: Alucard's first memory was waking up in an alley, with nothing and him but the clothes on his body, a credit card, and his name. Finding himself rather hungry he immediately went to purchase some food and found his credit card had a limit of undefined. The rest is rather simple. Having no idea of his past and no idea where he wanted his future to be Alucard ended up traveling around the world, going where ever whimsy took him. After a couple years he ran into an old lady who explained to him the nature of his tattoos and the power he had. Initially Alucard brushed it off but experimented with it over the next few year, slowly becoming proficient in its use. After pulling a stunt that got a little too much attention he got the offer of jail-time or Montagne Academy. Remembering that jail was incredibly boring after the first few hours Alucard accepted the invitation.
Power: Transformation: Ayame disappears in a puff of smoke, only to reappear as a pipe fox. In this form, she is swift and small, perfect for reconnaissance. Don't be fooled by her cute appearance, she won't hesitate to bite and scratch. She is still able to use magic.
Detection: Ayame is able to sense various types of energy as well as other spirits and creatures.
Wind Magic: Ayame has the ability to manipulate wind. She is able to float in the air (or float other people), throw out high speed wind slices to cut up enemies, or create condensed spheres of wind that can cause major knock back damage, or function like shrapnel grenades with the wind slices when activated. She will also learn how to heal with wind magic later in the future.
Strengths: Kuda-gitsune are able to directly link their magical power with their chosen master. With this, their powers are augmented depending on how strong their personal bond is.
Weaknesses: As much as she hates to admit it, Ayame is quite weak. She's incredibly dependent of her master's power, since she is still a young Kuda-gistune with only one tail. Ayame also refuses to fight an opponent who is significantly stronger than her.
Other Skills: She's talented at music.
Inventory: Bamboo flute.
Master: N/A
Personality: Warm-hearted and compassionate; Ayame enjoys helping others. She is persistent, always striving for the truth and leading a respectful, dignified life. She is an extremely loyal person and often finds herself attached to things that somehow manage to catch her interest.
Backstory: Ayame has spent most of her life in a hidden forest located in Japan. It's a haven for fox spirits, and many spend the rest of their lives there. Untouched by humans, Ayame was a rather naive and pure spirit. Although she had heard many stories of pipe-foxes like her being kept shut in bamboo pipes and the like, she was always curious of the outside world.
Her curiosity drove her to leave her home but she never gathered up the courage to directly interact with a human. Instead, she stayed hidden in the mountains and played a few pranks on travelers. During this time, she met many creatures and developed a keen sense of detecting energy. Unfortunately, her little vacation was cut short when she found herself caged, just like the stories she was told in her child-hood.
Luckily, she managed to free herself with a bit of dumb-luck and set out to head back home. Humans were dangerous things and Ayame preferred to live without fear. However, a strange human approached her offering admission to an academy that was safe and provided an education. Eager for an adventure and tempted to find a suitable master, she accepted the invitation from Montagne Academy.
Bratus- Greenspeaker: Alicia can speak and understand the language of plants. It's fairly complex, meaning that she can get a good deal of information from them.
Bratus- Plant manipulation: Alicia can make plants grow spontaneously and rapidly. It's exactly as you'd expect.
Weaknesses: Her one major weakness is that she must be within ten feet of a plant to communicate or control it.
Catalyst: An oak wand with inlay of silver and unicorn hair.
Other Skills: She's a good artist and likes to draw.
Inventory: None.
Personality: She's fun, upbeat, and positive. Some might even say she's perky to the point of being annoying.
Bio: Alicia always knew about her powers, but never thought too much of them. Not that she thought it was something anyone could do, but she didn't really care about practicing or developing them. Finally, after years of attempting to convince her, her parents managed to get her to sign up for Montagne Academy. Now she's here for her first year.
"I like candy and... I... -Gets distracted and starts playing with cat toy-"
Nicknames/Titles: Non yet "Non yet nya!"
Age: 10 "They say Shino is older but Shino is only 10 nya!"
Gender: Female "See?!"
Height and weight: 1,21cm 3,9ft 32kg 70lbs "Shino can fit 3 fish"
Race: Nekomimi "Nekomimimimi"
Sexuality: "People who pet me are nice"
Year: "Year? Like how old Shino is nya? Shino is 10 nya!"
Magic: Mentis Duplication: Can make up to six illusions of themselves to fight for them. Illusions will break after only one hit and don't have any presence. So the user can still be detected under the illusions. Illusions can fight and do physical damage.
Mentis Hypnotism: The user is able to affect or directly influence other people's minds to their commands. Only simple commands work like sleeping or sit still. The magic only works when the user is in direct eye contact with the user and at least half a meter/2ft in front of them.
Strengths: Combat capable, trickery, disabling.
Weaknesses: Only close combat, weak against very intelligent people, glass canon.
Catalyst: A red lint wrapped around her tail with a small bell attached to it "It does ring ring when Shino walks walks."
Inventory: Name tag, phone number.
Master: "Nyon nyet"
Squad Name: None yet
Personality: Shino is with one word explained a kuudere, she doesn't show emotion in anyway. She is cold, blunt, cynical and mostly doesn't seem to care if someone she knows dies. But actually she is really caring and nice on the inside. Shino doesn't mean harm to anyone and would rather peacefully play with her toys or her master rather than fight. She is quickly distracted by things she likes but can still be serious about things once she puts her mind to it.
Backstory: Two adventurers ventured the world together in order to search for the secrets of the world. One of the two was from the far eastern land called japan and wasn't so to say human. She was a nekomimi that the lonely traveler had met along his journey. The other traveler was a man from the land of sand, Egypt.
After about 10 years of traveling along with each other they decided it was enough. They were getting too old for this and needed to calm down a little. They decided to make a few last destinations they were bound to visit and settle down in the last marked placed, the origin land of the man Egypt, to live a happy life with the two of them alone.
Not everything went as planned, instead of living with the two of them it had become the three of them. On their way towards the spot they were bound to set their home a faithful night had placed something in the belly of the cat woman. A baby nekomimi, it wasn't as planned but they were happy with it. So here is the story of the young Shino.
Shino was born about 3000 years ago in the time period of ancient Egypt. She was born and grew up in egypt raised by her nekomimi mother and father. As nekomimi she was actually praised as some sort of god by the appearances of her cat ears and tail. Her and her mother always got treated the best possible way by the people around the city. They got offers and were always helped if they needed any help.
Shino sometimes wandered around the city just to explore or find food somewhere. She would get loads of praises or food but people wouldn't only give her stuff but pray to her too. Like she was the right hand of Bastet. Shino got invited a lot to the god too just to talk a little. The god liked every god so she took a quick liking to the weird catgirl just because she was abnormal. One time when she was walking the stairs up to the top of a temple she misstepped and almost immediately fell down the stairs. Shino broke a few things whelping on each step she fell but her suffering was soon ended when she fell on her head.
Shino was buried in the pyramid of bastet mummified and all so her body got spared. They decided that such a creature couldn't be embalmed the way the usually would do it. They decided to leave the creature as a whole and not touch it any further.
3000 years later the coffin with her body in it finally got found in the pyramid. They thought it was rather remarkable that they found a human with cat traits. Everything of her body still was fairly intact so the academy tried resurrecting the girl after a quick body repair. They found it rather interesting to hear about the girl and decided to let her stay at the academy so she could get used to everyday society
Reina Izumi
"I'm hungry..."
Nicknames/Titles: None yet
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Height and Weight 157cm 5.15ft 43kg 95lbs
Race: Human
Sexuality: B-b-boys
Year: 3
Magic: Circum Living black hole
Reina is the wielder of a very special ability. From the very first moment she was born it was already known that she essentially has another world inside herself as far as they knew. Reina is able to suck up spirits, phantoms and everything else that doesn't belong in the human world with rather ease. Items or other things from the human world will be sucked in a little slower than anything that doesn't belong there. When she activates her ability a tornado appears from her mouth and will try to suck up everything close by. Items from earth will take 4 times longer to suck up the items that don't belong in the human realm. Mana will also be sucked up and stored in her own mana pool. The tornado is too strong to let anything not from the human world get out of the portal again, humans and such at least have a small chance of escaping, so it's basically a one way portal.
Strengths: Powerful as support, Won't ever leave her out of mana.
Weaknesses: Highly immobile when she activates her ability. She isn't combat capable so she mostly sits on the sidelines waiting till it's her chance.
Catalyst: Doesn't use any
Other Skills: Self defense Home cooking
Inventory: She only has keys on her for the dorm room
Familiar: None yet
Squad Name: None yet
Personality: Reina a calm and kind girl, but she thinks it's embarrassing for her when other see her using her ability. At times she can be shy and reserved. However, she have good manners and treats everyone with respect, which is seen when she usually speaks in honorifics (san, kun, sama) etc. She also likes to eat and does eat a lot for her size, saying that her dream is going to an all-eat buffé. She doesn't give her opinion much and rather watches from the sideline.
Backstory: Reina grew up in a rich family and was treated well even when they knew she had such a power within her. She was treated like no other member of the noble family, with respect and kindness. She learned to be polite and good mannered by her parents and her home teacher. Reina quite easily learned to handle her own powers and could hold herself back almost all the time. She wasn't allowed to use it anywhere for her own benefits for the sake of the ones around her.
Reina was introduced more to the outside world when she was older and she could handle it all fairly well. She knew that her powers weren't suppose to be known to the outside world and if it were the case it could be used in terrible ways by the government. The only thing that wouldn't withstand her from showing it to the world was her appetite. She could never go eat outside of her house or get any treats from the super markets. The only place she was allowed to eat was at home. If she were to ever get into a supermarket on her own it would mean the end of the world. That was when it happened, her dream was set. She had never heard of anything like it before but she fell in love with it. An all you can eat buffet. Her parents however hardly declined it. She would never set foot in a place like that or the restaurant would go broke.
Reina was soon invited to Montagne Academy and her parents approved of it so she could grow as a person and learn more about her ability.
