Agunimon

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

I'll try and have my post up over the weekend.

@Agunimon

Obviously I meant this weekend.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

I'll try and have my post up over the weekend. Depending on how long the trial goes on (OOC), I think it would be fun to snatch a "snitch" from another player, so long as there's time for them to get another one before it ends.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

And the chart is updated...

There are a lot of similarities between Rio and Lanner, they will probably get along well.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

Hm, fair. Buut: a noble guy is an under-represented group since we have none XD Though this convo also made me wonder just what the noble-commoner ratio *within* the magic knights is.

@SilverPaw

Oh good point. I didn't even look at the gender ratio.

In the series, nobility supposedly makes up the majority of knights but I figure the ratio is a little more even now.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

4 nobles out of 11 characters is almost half the cast, to be fair. I'm not nay-saying the idea of more nobles though.

Meanwhile Lanner and her family are like the goof troop of nobles. At least behind closed doors. Overbearing and really into appearances and acting like proper noble stock, yes for sure, but also a little silly. I had planned to write some of their POV during the first test but then figured I would save it for a later one.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

Would someone please explain to me magic stuff? I was planning on using a kind of healing magic, but I don't know if I can make my own spells or not...

@RoadkilBanana

Yes, you can make your own spells. If you read Zeroth's response to Sylvan on the previous page*, you can see that healing is just a "type" of spell like reinforcement. For example among the accepted characters, off the top of my head Illios and Parin can both heal and they have sun magic and water magic respectively. Generally you will want to pick a "theme" for the magic first, and work on spells from there. You can watch or read the first part of the anime where they explain it, or cruise the wiki, or browse the character tab to see how everyone else did it.

Edit: make that page 12, since my reply made a new page...

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

He's probably into women taller than him.

@Th3King0fChaos

If true, he'll have a rough time with the player cast. In fact he's the second tallest out of all of them.

And looking at the heights on the character sheets led me to putting them in an online comparison site:

Chart

Sort of interesting. Makes sense they are all around the same height, since they are mostly all the same age and from the same kingdom. I also didn't realize until now that Lanner is one of the shortest.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

Lanner

The more people filtered into the stadium, the closer things were to kicking off. Lann didn't stop herself from bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited, feeling the sun on her face and the crowd growing around her. Today she had forgone the cape she sometimes wore, because she would soon be exchanging it for one from a Magic Knight squad. Her sister had so kindly wiped her outer layer free of any stains or smudges, leaving her with a near pristine high collared vest above a cozy crop top. Her bottom half sported dark brown pants and well loved boots. She adjusted the gloves she wore, taking in everything she could with her eyes in excitement. There were so many different kinds of people gathered together here—younger, older, taller, shorter, nobles and commoners, those being harassed by anti-birds and those basking in the anticipation, the confident and the nervous.

One of the latter was standing right next to her. Despite the boy's unassuming look, it was hard not to notice since he was practically exuding a whole nervous aura. Her eyes flickered over his form. Lann thought that being able to tell a noble from a commoner from just their appearance wasn't really fair, and definitely not a reliable way to do it, but sometimes one could just tell... Though it wasn't like the circumstances of someone's birth had ever mattered to her.

"Hey," she said to him, leaning forward so that her face was in his line of sight. Her long braid fell over her shoulder and hung in front of her. "Are you feeling nervous? That's alright! If it helps... just remember that you don't have to beat out anyone else here! There isn't a limit on how many of us can become knights."

At least she was pretty sure there wasn't. Realistically they should take anyone that was a good fit; there were enough squads to handle a ton of newcomers after all. Lann leaned back into her own space, giving the red headed boy a smile. She was about to say something else when the loud tantara of trumpets sounded. "Oh!"

This was it! The exam was starting. Lanner's eyes snapped to the master of ceremonies, then followed the spotlights as she awaited the appearance of the Magic Knight captains. One by one they revealed themselves and took their seats. As the brief introductions went on, Lann's eyes twinkled. Soon... soon she would be beside one of those illustrious captains and making a real difference in the kingdom. She allowed her thoughts to roam, imagining the prospects of joining each one. She was sure just about everyone wanted to aim for the Golden Dawn, and she was no exception. Everything she'd heard about their captain Argos was so amazing. She'd be honored to be accepted into either of the royal led squads too. Lann had looked up to Captain Jennifer for a long time now, and she'd also heard that the priest captain of the Peacocks was a dedicated philanthropist. Either of their squads would probably be great. The others she didn't have as much information on; so it was a good thing that gossip flew through the participants at rapid speed.

'Elf? Hm...?' Lanner tilted her head slightly, trying to recall her history lessons. Specifics escaped her, but she at least knew they were a separate race from humans, and there were a lot less of them. She could tell that some people were bewildered by the fact he was an elf, but whether because they thought it was a good thing or a bad thing she couldn't quite tell. It did intrigue her though, she had never met an elf before! And the Black Bulls definitely had a reputation that appealed to her.

The smile on Lann's face spread wider. This was all so exciting. She listened as the first trial was explained, ready to move as soon as her number was called. "FIFTY-FIVE, LANNER ABELFRAW!"

"That's me!" Lann stepped forward. Before getting too far she turned to give the nervous boy a thumbs up, mouthing 'good luck!' to him. Then she faced forward, striding confidently over to the proctor that had called her.

Test one: hit the targets. With only one minute to strike as many as possible, Lanner considered her options. Would her portals be faster than simple Magic Bullets? She really wanted to put her best foot forward, so although trying this with her spells (which would include having to concentrate on keeping one open near her, while continuously opening and closing others near the targets. Which moved randomly.) sounded like a pretty fun exercise for the future... for the present, she gathered mana into both of her hands. When the examiner gave her the go ahead and her timer started, Lann let loose two at a time.

Precision was not her forte, but she made up for that with her "double bullet" strategy. Magic Bullets were simple enough to form and fire, and small ones hardly ate up any of her mana. As long as she was in the general area of the targets, if one bullet missed the target the other was still likely to hit. It was a simple method, but an effective one, since her accuracy wasn't completely horrible either. As she'd told her siblings, she had been practicing. Once upon a time it might have been laughable for a noble to go out of their way to practice, instead relying on their innate strengths, but that wasn't the case now. At least not for Lanner. She came out of the first trial with a decently good showing and was ushered over to the next one.

Test two: break the pillar. Normally one might think that Lann's magic, Spatial Magic, was even more ill-suited for this test than the previous one. However after watching those that had gone before her and how the pillars were replaced, she had already come up with an idea. She would need her grimoire for it, so she flicked open the book's holster and took it in hand. Her grimoire had a thick leather cover featuring a debossed three leafed clover in the center, outlined by a slightly shimmery blue swirl. It hovered in front of her, glowing slightly as she jumped right into the second part of the exam.

"Door!" She said, punching a fist up toward the highest part of the magic barrier. Her fingers snapped open, and a break in space began to form high above the pillar. It opened like the air itself was untwisting, growing larger at a steady pace. "To..." With her other hand, she pointed her fist at the pillar's base with her knuckles pointed at the ground and her thumb facing up. If she was right, then even though the pillars came out of the ground they weren't directly connected to it. They could be toppled, or... they could be moved. While keeping her first hand focused on the portal above, her other hand opened up and spread a portal directly beneath her chosen obstacle. "Door!"

When her doorways were large enough for the pillar to pass through them, Lanner watched with wide unblinking eyes. Then, validation! It sunk into the portal beneath it, then started to come out from the one in the sky. She couldn't help the pleased smile on her face. It fell, back through the lower portal, repeating its trip twice more to gain more momentum. Finally, Lann closed her fists and the two doorways collapsed by twisting themselves back into nothingness while the pillar was on its final fall. The force, combined with the pillar's own weight, completely shattered the bricks at its base. The next layer crumbled, and so on, with increasingly less damage towards the top of the pillar. If it wasn't reinforced by magic, maybe Lann's strategy would have been even more effective. As it stood, the pillar was on its side with the bottom third of it in pieces.

Lanner stood back with one hand on her hip. The other she brought up to her face, blowing on her knuckles as though she'd physically struck the thing. She turned and waved to her family, then the rest of the stadium's audience, before joining the section of knight hopefuls who had already finished this part of the exam. 'That went well!' she thought to herself. She glanced at the Magic Knight captains, trying to judge their expression from a distance. Then she looked back to where her peers were continuing the exam. Some were more impressive than others, not that that came as a surprise. There were over two hundred applicants; naturally some would shine brighter. So far, the stand outs seemed to be... a blue haired girl with an explosive magic ("Whoa, talk about a bombshell..."), and a boy who was shining brighter in a literal way ("With a punch...! How cool!" 'Though someone said Sun Magic. Maybe 'cool' isn't exactly right, heh...'). So many different types of magic on display was really interesting to see—and Lann was looking forward to what everyone else had in store.

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

136 posts I missed, huh...?

Black Clover: Fool's Arcana

Lanner

The Abelfraws had taken to the road early in order to arrive in Kikka as soon as possible. As she had never been before Lanner couldn't just use her magic to get them there instantly, but the ride had been pleasant enough. Once they'd entered town, Lann slipped her metaphorical leash and ran off to get the lay of the land. By the time she'd made her way back to the registration area she found it already underway, and wasted no time getting in line. Once she had her shiny number she'd been ushered towards the coliseum, where she was immediately ambushed by two people laying in wait.

"What~is~this~?!" A woman asked, catching Lanner's arm and tugging her deeper inside the massive building. In the shade, she rubbed the collar of the knight hopeful's over shirt. "Did you eat something and spill it? Oh..."

She was taller than Lanner, and a little bigger in other places. Her hair was long and hung loose, dusky purple in color. She sported the same bright teal eyes though, as did the man next to her.

"The humanity..." he said, feigning like he was going to dramatically faint. He was taller still than his companion, clean shaven with a dark pink head of hair. The both of them were well dressed, and while they would usually conduct themselves with the utmost dignity the trio of siblings could be a little casual here, away from home and most of the eyes of the public.

"Don't tease me Taita," the woman said. She sighed, pulling a handkerchief out of her handbag. Before she could offer it to Lann, she saw her little sister licking the pad of her thumb and trying to rub out the stain.

"No worries Laggie, I've got it."

"No, not with your saliva...!"

In daily life (taking lessons, skipping lessons, even during dinner), Lann didn't see her siblings much, and certainly not both of them at the same time. Her brother was already preparing to take over as head of the family, and her sister was away on business more often than not. Today was a special day, not only because the youngest Abelfraw was about to become a Magic Knight, but also because all of her family had come together in their support of her. Lann could hardly be upset at the doting, and she played her role as little sister for a few more minutes while her siblings patted her head and fixed her clothes.

"Okay, okay! Enough already," she laughed, swatting their hands away. "I'm sixteen already, you know?"

"And yet you still act half your age," Taita said fondly, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"You'll always be our baby sister," Laggar chimed in with. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and smiled softly. "You'll be doing your best, yes? I just want to make sure you look your best too."

"Of course I'll be doing my best! I've even been practicing, a lot!" And today, she could show them the results of that practice. Just thinking about it, about the trials and the knights she was about to face, made her feel giddy. "So don't worry about me. I'm going to pass no matter what."

"We know. But still..." Laggar pursed her lips, looking like she wanted to continue making little changes to Lanner's outfit, but the latter skipped back away from her.

"Seriously, I'm fine! If you keep fretting, you're going to make me nervous!"

That was a lie; her nerves already felt electric, but with anticipation not nervousness. The statement worked to make her siblings back off a little though, as intended. Laggar sighed again and Taita nodded.

"Alright then. We'll be in the stands, there," her brother said, pointing towards a section of the coliseum's seating marked off for "VIPs." It was cordoned off from the commoners. If she squinted, Lann could just make out her mother sitting with her legs crossed and her father waving. She smiled and waved back.

She was the very picture of a pampered noble daughter. She knew it, and everyone around her knew it too. As the trio stood there, more and more people filtered inside. Lann could feel the eyes of some of the lowborn participants on her as they passed, jealous and spiteful. If they thought she had some leg up on the competition, she really couldn't blame them. But the feeling pressured to get moving, so she hurried through the last of Laggar and Taita's well wishing and weaved herself through the crowd in the opposite direction.

Her whole family had been saying this will be good for you, for the last few weeks, and though her siblings hadn't outright said it now she felt the sentiment in their voices. Everyone really wanted this for her. She wanted this for herself too. A wide, toothy grin broke out on her face as Lanner moved towards the participant area, from shade to sunlight.