BurningDaisies

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Ah, yeah. I'll fix that. Thanks guys~

Edit; Its fixed.

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Here's the new character I made

Hider

Name: 水原 咲希, Mizuhara Saki
Magical Girl Title: "Amethyst Charm"
As a very recent inductee to the Magical Girl ranks, Saki hasn't really received a nickname or title that has caught on yet. Though "Amethyst Charm" is being passed around online.
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Appearance:

Hider

Magical Girl Appearance:

Hider

Personality:
Saki is naturally energetic, and though not necessarily outgoing, she is overflowing with a quiet cheer. Her youthful exuberance tends to infect others, especially when she smiles. Whether it's playing in the rain, going on long walks, or taking a few swings at the batting cages, she's always doing something and staying active. It's all too easy to get swept up in her pace.

Tireless diligence, no matter how enviable, only goes so far when it comes to relationships. Reaching out to others in a raw bid for human connection isn't easy sometimes. Her deafness has been persistent obstacle, and a wellspring of frustration and tears. However, rather than fighting it, she tries living with it and changing herself bit by bit.

Quick to feel joy and quick to forget grudges, she's a sweet girl that is just trying to find her way in the world.

Skills:
Amateur Technician - Years of watching her uncle work, and secretly tinkering with his tools and equipment, has made her fairly handy in diagnosing and repairing car problems (and a few other choice items). Her depth of knowledge is limited mainly to cars and motorbikes, particularly mechanical systems.
Sadly, her modest expertise does little to improve her non-existent driving skills.

Learned Hypersensitivity - While Saki's hearing is obviously impaired, her other senses are somewhat heightened. She's particularly attentive to things she can feel. With a bit of guesswork, she can sometimes distinguish the vibrations she feels, when people outside her field of vision are calling for her; it's more accurate when the speaker is particularly loud or very nearby, but it's all too easy to respond to false positives. It's also useful for noticing out when the air filter in her uncle's van is dirty; the engine has a distinctly different rumble.

Between her keen taste buds and sensitive nose, she has the makings of a fantastic cook. Her aunt is a excellent mentor such areas. It does, however, make her more susceptible to foul scents and be sickened by things others can easily ignore or simply don't notice.
As one could imagine, there's no mystery why the Mizuhara home is always fully stocked with an extra supply of specialty detergent and fabric softeners.

Lip Reading

Fast Fingers - Originally a skill she developed out of necessity, it has become an incredibly useful asset. She can type and text incredibly fast and with few to no errors. She knows the layout of keyboards and keypads well enough to use them even if they lack braille. If you need to send a message quickly or want to see sleight of hand tricks, Saki is one of the best. Don't trust her in a poker game though~

Abilities:

• Overchannel
  Bright, crackling arcs of magical energy radiate from Saki and enhance the abilities of any other magical girl within a few feet of her. Acting as a battery, she can channel her own magic into a willing recipient, allowing them to draw upon her own reservoir of power.
  Alternatively, the magic energy can be focused into an offensive cone of searing bolts, scouring any Negari caught in the shower of arcing energy.
• Bodge
  Whether it's a PC with a blue screen, a stalled car engine, or broken phone, sometimes all you need is a little love trap for things to start working again. With a simple touch, Saki can restore a broken or malfunctioning item to working condition for a short time. However, if the item leaves her possession or moves more than a few feet away from her, it reverts back to its former, broken condition within a minute.
• Fairy Signal
  Saki can magically enhance any mobile device to send a message to all fairies nearby. The content of the message is transmitted directly into the mind of any fairy who wishes to receive it, and it arrives in a way that is readily understood.
  She hasn't yet figured out how to tune the magic to message other magical girls directly, or how to send messages to a single person.

Weapon: Not for a lack of trying, she hasn't been able to manifest a weapon yet.

Brief History:
Raised by working class relatives in a rural seaside town, Saki grew up a quiet, well-mannered girl under her aunt and uncle's diligent care. Her father supposedly died during a mugging, and her mother disappeared shortly thereafter. Uncle Yuuma and his wife, Mirai, have been looking after her since then. In fact, Saki has been hanging around her uncle's car repair shop for as long as she can remember. The Mizuhara family owns the aged duplex apartment next door, which Saki affectionately calls "home".

Her childhood wasn't all roses. Saki wasn't always quiet. Nor was she very well-mannered. As her uncle mockingly recalls, she was a "whiny brat" once upon a time, but "got better".

Saki can't take all the blame though. A connective tissue disorder and frequent trips to the hospital will make any child cranky. The chronic infections and nerve damage ultimately lead to permanent, profound hearing loss by the time she was seven. Even with a hearing aid, voices and others sounds seemed indistinct and foreign to her.

A family may love each other dearly, but it won't stop them from trampling over each other's feelings and making countless mistakes. Years of speech therapy, angry tears, unresolved tension, and awkward moments followed.

But, as a testament to their strong characters, the Mizuhara never split up because of it. Any whisper or shadow of doubt that may have once caused them to consider it, has since been silenced. Everyone has their demons. A strong family shares the same one and works through it.

The steady procession of time marches on.

Having just graduated from middle school last year, she decided to prove, to both herself and her parents, that she could survive on her own by going to high school in the capital. With cell phone in hand, a few choice apps, and enough butterflies in her stomach to fill a stadium, she's resolved to move away to continue her studies.

Fairy Name: Shiawase or "Shia"
Fairy Appearance:

Hider

Fairy Personality:
Shia is a bit of strange one, and particularly known for her special brand of superstitions. She isn't crazy, but views the world through a very different lens. It's not uncommon to find her chanting archaic phrases backward while passing through a doorway, or reacting with sudden fascination or terror towards certain objects.

Despite reputation and first impressions, she is uncannily perceptive and surprisingly altruistic, caring little for personal gain. However, she possesses zero tact, interjecting whenever she pleases with whatever comes to mind. She has a functional understanding of things like cultural taboos, social cues, and personal space, but only respects them when it suits her. The occasional flashes of uncharacteristic wisdom or contextual clarity is what really catches others off-guard.

Aside from her mysterious quirks, she's typically an open and happy-go-lucky girl.

Theme Song:

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@FeyBlue@NightinGem
I'd appreciate a sanity check on this one too, if you guys don't mind~

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

@VitaVitaAR
While it probably doesn't assuage your concerns much at all, playing a character with a crippling disability (including deafness) isn't new to me. While it wasn't my original intention here, I do tend to go out of my way to play characters with severe flaws (limb loss, blindess, schizophrenia, etc), inhuman characters with alien mindsets, or with enhanced senses. It's an interesting challenge.

But as you, @Raineh Daze, and others have explained already, further discussion about magical girls with disabilities is really quite moot. Super-healing and all that~

I appreciate all of the clarifications you guys have provided. Very helpful~

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Asking 'why' anyone does anything is usually an exercise in opening a can of worms. Its a question that should be answered though; and, admittedly, I don't have an fully-detailed answer just yet. However, I would argue that not every decision is entirely rational. Sometimes circumstances coerce you to act on your instinct or emotions.

I had originally intended for their contract to be something that was done in the heat of the moment. With a swarm of negari outside, unprotected pedestrians in the street, and no magical girl in sight, what is a fairy supposed to do?

Playing defense is always hard because an attacker only has to get lucky once and find a spot the defender isn't paying attention to. While the defender themselves typically have to split their attention and are almost solely reactive.

So a flustered fairy, who was in the area by chance, hastily makes a contract without thinking to keenly about the consequences. If there's a clear and present danger to innocent people, and leaving the scene to get help would take too long, wouldn't it be better to just deputize someone (albeit with magical powers) to deal with the problem quickly?

Am I missing something about how fairies and magical girls normally respond to incidents like that? What's standard procedure? Is there one?

Did the fairy break any rules by forming a contract in those circumstances? If so, what kind of punishment would they receive? What kind of conflict would it create?

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Your concern, while valid, I believe can be mitigated. Not entirely, mind you, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a disability, but enough to help. As I mentioned, she can read lips and understand what's being said by that alone. So if she can see the speaker she can understand what is being communicated.
Moreover, it's not that she can't talk; she chooses not to, primarily resulting from a lack of confidence.

She could have a hearing aid, but from personal experience, it may not help that much. While she could be alert to sounds in general, distinguishing one sound from another may be difficult.

I wasn't really wanting her magical girl power to be hearing-related anyway. From I was reading, it's more an expression of the character's personality and mannerisms.

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

@BurningDaisies A mute character would be more trouble than it's worth. Playing it in a way that it's relevant but not ignored by default, both in the sense of being understood and contributing, is more or less impossible.

@Raineh Daze

Granted, it is difficult at times to strike a realistic balance in trying to communicate effectively in-character. I don't believe portraying the deafness in a meaningful way and having the character contribute to the narrative is impossible. It's been done in literature before.

Or is your concern that it would be a persistent hurdle to verbal communications that could never be truly overcome? And because it has the potential to disrupt teamwork?

⚔ CLAYMORE ACADEMY ⚔

@sassy1085
I'll be honest. I cannot keep up with how fast Free roleplays tend to progress. I've tried.

I hope you all enjoy roleplaying together~

:)

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

So, I narrowed down my original pool of character concepts from 9 to 2, but I'm having trouble deciding which one. Suggestions? Preferences?

Saki

The Concept

Raised by working class relatives in a rural seaside town, Saki is known for her aura of "quiet cheer". Though deaf, she isn't a mute and can speak quite well, albeit infrequently. Her hearing began to fail around age five, and she's gotten very good at lip reading and intuiting nonverbal cues to make up for it. She's altogether energetic, even mischievous at times, and her energy is infectious, especially when she smiles. Whether it's playing in the rain or taking a few swings at the batting cages, she's always doing something and inspiring others to follow her.

Her father supposedly died during a mugging, and her mother disappeared shortly thereafter. Uncle Yuuma and his wife have been looking after her since then. In fact, Saki has been hanging around her uncle's car repair shop for as long as she can remember. She's taught herself a few tricks of the trade here and there, despite her uncle's repeated insistence that she not touch any of his tools... ever.

When a Negari started attacking people outside, Saki made a hasty pact with the little fairy that approached her. Their bond wasn't completed properly, but it was enough to fend off the creature and clean up its mess before her uncle got home to see it.

Amane

The Concept

"There's three kinds of people in the world:
The ones you need to protect,
The ones you follow,
And your enemies.

Sometimes folks fall into more than one group, but its not too hard to figure out."

Amane is a down-to-earth girl who came from nothing. She grew up an orphan, but eventually was adopted by the elderly caretaker who looked after her when she was young. Amane mockingly calls him the "Warden", but he's the closest thing to a parent, let alone a father, she's really had. The chip on her shoulder doesn't always make things easy, but she's grateful for how things turned out.

Still quite new to the magical girl gig, she's quickly finding it's not like the internet videos and advertisements make it out to be. In fact, she's not all that eager to start perform her work either. The Warden had been grooming her to take over administration of the orphanage, once he retires. Amane even dropped out in her last year of high school to help him. Sure the people need saving, but there's plenty of other magical girls out there, and only one Amane. She feels obligated to help the Warden, and, needless to say, is conflicted about all the distractions these stupid Negari cause.

"Bah! There's too much work to get done and not enough time in the day to do it. If it weren't for that clumsy fairy, I wouldn't be having any of these problems."

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

@NightinGem

I don't really think the over explaining was a problem. Not for me at least.

I can sit here and try to defend the conceptual merits of the character as I envisioned them, the I actually agree with the assessment you and @FeyBlue gave. Not all of it obviously, but enough for me to consider scrapping the character altogether. Neither of you were disrespectful when presenting your opinions, so I don't see an issue.

Thinking back to it, it was a kid in the candy store moment. "oh this sounds cool! and this seems cool! And I want that, and that, and that, and that...."
It was the sort of mindset you have when you get so caught up in your own work that you don't see the flaws. Happens~

Anyway, back to brainstorming!

Ignite Heart! A Magical Girl RP

Hmmm... back to the drawing board then~

Thanks guys!