ERode

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

"For real."

To say that nobody reacted was a bit of an overstatement. Someone certainly reacted. And on the part of the girl on the roof, that reaction came in the form of slow applause, one that was neither ironic nor mocking, but one that seemed to hold a certain tinge of condescension. Like an older sibling, perhaps, slapping their hands together when their younger sister and her equally young friends showed off some double dutch skipping. Verity was impressed. It was fun to see that Top 15 Science Track could do cryptic messages too! And the origami had been hers? Certainly, there was some depth to her after all!

And as for the whole tradition of jumping into the waters for exam luck...

She tipped the remaining contents of her bag of chips into her mouth, wiped the powder and crumbs off the corner of her mouth, and then, in a very cat-like fashion, licked clean the back of her hand. It was in a very human fashion afterwards that she crushed the plastic bag into a ball before stuffing it into the pockets of her sweatpants. Shallow waters, but she was pretty light. Distance from dockhouse to water was doable too. She'd confirmed that earlier. And while she had been 70-30 on whether or not Sofia was going to show, she was 100-0 on whether or not water was going to be involved.

"Exam luck."

Verity laughed. Almost derisively.

Then, she began to strip, flinging her clothes down onto the boardwalk haphazardly. If anyone was buried beneath it, well, it wasn't as if she was carrying rocks in her pockets or anything.

"Like penguins, Sofia?"

Gooseflesh rose from pale skin that was awash in the afterglow, the sting of the sea breeze felt ever more keenly now that Verity was in nothing more than her swimsuit, a plain yellow bikini that complemented her figure only in that her body itself was plain and non-descript, like a eraser right out the box.

The girl was certainly nothing to look at.

But the way she stood, standing on the slant of the dockhouse roof, one foot raised as she rolled the digits of her toes, both hands back to pull her hair into a ponytail, her forehead gleaming the magenta hues of twilight, perhaps one would get a strange feeling.

Whether weather fair or foul, whether winter or summer, whether traditions or superstition, whether in solitude or in company, Verity Oxenbridge had always intended on a swim.

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Ho hum, still accepting here?

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

As Sofia left the room, she saw someone, waiting right outside.

A flimsy, short girl, pale as can be, the fluorescent lighting of the hallways casting a dull sheen on her large forehead. Her eyes, once transfixed upon the gap between the door and the doorway, turned up to the Top 15 Sciences track student. It was a steady, focused gaze, darting from the accessories to the wristbands to the balled-up fist that held up crumpled notes to the redness of her ears to the growing confusion, apprehension, building up as wrinkles upon the tastefully-applied makeup that she never went without.

“Um, you m-”

“Oh, don’t mind me.” The girl broke her gaze immediately afterwards, making a shooing motion. “Carry on as you would. And, mm, good luck. In five years.”

And with that comment, she turned a one-eighty and strode off. Right towards the window. Right onto the window. Right off the window.

Of course, they were on the first floor, but also, an exit was just ten meters away.

...

It was the 15th of September, and Verity had adjusted well enough. Harbour Academy was, after all, a relatively expensive international school. Competitive as it was, no-nonsense as it was, the school’s approach to academics was such that so long as you passed, you remained. Classes were immensely beneficial, for sure, but when you brought the best, the brightest, and the richest together, even mandatory classes could end up becoming…optional.

After all, a prodigious programmer certainly didn’t need to attend the computer sciences classes his track demanded of him, when he could get much more done on his own time. And would you truly expect the reincarnation of Mozart to sit through music theory classes that covered materials she learned five years ago? Indeed, so long as one continued to compete, so long as one didn’t absolutely fail, there was no problem, in particular, with not showing the greatest enthusiasm in class.

Or, well, with showing up to class at all.

It was the 15th of September, and while other students stressed over the first exam of the school year, Verity was playing with a frog. A paper one. The bell for first classes had rang some time ago, but she was still lying on the hard, wooden floor, enjoying the coolness of it as she rolled from side to side, flicking the frog to and fro. Her room was barren. Minimalistic, if someone wanted to nice about it. A sleeping bag and an air mattress. A desk and a stool. The outlets were plugged with her laptop’s charger and her phone’s charger, and a hanging closet contained all the clothes she cared to keep.

And on the wall opposite of the patio?

A map of Harbour and its surroundings, blown up to encompass nearly the entire face of the wall, from floor to ceiling. Printed piece by piece on A4 paper. Pinned with brass thumbtacks, marked with scribbles in blue ink.

The dockhouse. Evening. And a towel. Swimming? Oh, hazing? Sounded like an experience.

But it was all still in the evening. As for the hours that preceded it…

Verity’s eyes settled on her map once more, tracing the network of roads, the names of buildings, the shifting of elevation and the crisscrossing of blue ink. Wouldn’t be a full-day sort of thing, not when she woke up so late today, but there was an area nearby she’d like to take a peek at.

Mm. Decided then.

She stuffed the frog into her pockets, hopped onto her feet, grabbed her bag, and promptly fucked off.

Out through the window, of course. She didn’t pick a suite with a tree nearby just to not use it, after all.

...

Afterglow dyed the waters red, the skies still ablaze with the sun’s fall. Up atop the roof of the dockhouse, Verity leaned back against the warmed tiles, tearing open a bag of chips to much on. This high up, the sea looked just that much more expansive, while the breeze that drew inland actually felt like the autumns she was used to. There was the tang of salt working their way into her sinuses, but anything that had to do with smell, sound, or taste was promptly obliterated upon the first bite of Takis. Spices burned her palate, and crunching deafened her ears.

But not enough, it seemed, to drown out a boy’s voice from below.

"This like a prank, or a hazing thing, or did I just miss some event announcement?"

Shuffling over to the edge, the young lady peered down upon the bobbing heads down on the boardwalk. Some were colorful enough to be instantly recognizable. Others were vague blobs that seemed to fit the parts. Icebreaker group.

Top 15 Sciences Track did this? Huh.

“For real?”

She popped a couple more dynamite sticks into her mouth and crunched away, continuing to lounge as she watched those below her.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

_{@VitaVitaAR@Psyker Landshark}

Veilena's knight destroyed the crossbow.

And Serenity held back the desire to let that spark any further suspicion.

With the assassin secured (Renar looked to be getting even more of a spotlight now), the rest of the guests settled down as well and it was easy enough to guide the two Princesses to a well-armored detachment of Crown Knights. Properly-equipped knights, with proper shields. Alongside them and Dame Lilette, there was little need for the Iron Roses to flock any longer, so her attention flickered towards Lady Cazst, sparing a smile that seemed almost apologetic, before striding off to join the Knight-Captain in her...

"So I thought that tickling would be the easiest way..."

Serenity drew in a deep breath. Purged that particular bit of knowledge from her mind.

A nem assassin was a dime in a dozen, considering the boons that the Night Goddess bestowed them. One that was unwilling to cooperate though, and with a throat scarred beyond use? A disposable pawn, but not one hired off the streets for a fistful of coin. Regardless, extracting answers from them would be difficult without the expertise of a mind-seer. Which meant too, that there was no need to delay further with this.

"Knight-Captain. Even if this assassin gave us an answer, without further information, the veracity of their claims cannot be confirmed, and to act upon it would be inefficient. It would be best to hand this over to the Crown Knights."

The Iron Rose were neither judge, jury, nor executioner. If not for their image as protectors, perhaps Renar would be justified in simply the diminutive nem's hands and legs. But Sir Felix, that half-brother of Renar's, certainly was eager for a share of the glory, even if it was only the aftermath. He came over as well, dull iron manacles in hand, ready to take in the assassin. No doubt eager to lead the nem away as if he had been the one to stop her.

Law and politics. That was the duty of the Crown, after all.

"Ours is the shield and sword, safeguarding the weak and slaying the cruel. As for the extraction of truth from voiceless tools? That is the domain of those who watch over Aimlenn's dungeons."

Though their beliefs were misaligned, Serenity agreed with the Paladin on that point alone: torture and interrogation was pointless. Not only was royalty present, but so too were guests from all across the kingdom, from beyond the kingdom.

This was not the wilderness, where they could do as they wished against blackhearted bandits marked for death. Here, within the Princess's ballroom? They had to be exemplars.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Verity Oxenbridge

_{The Devil | March 22 | 5'3}

Appearance

Petite and pale-skinned, with a big forehead and an unnerving gaze, one that looks at, and only considers, an individual's exteriority. There's an unbelievable arrogance that pervades her every move, and she holds herself as distinct from the crowd as well, slouching or leaning at her leisure. She has all the elements of a slacker, from non-existent fashion sense to non-existent hobbies to non-existent intellect, so where on earth does she get her self-confidence from, to go about her day as if she existed on a whole other dimension from the rest of her equally wealthy peers?

Reputation

A trust fund baby, and one who clearly wasn't brought up all that well, if she let her perfectly-secured future get into her head so much that she's become a habitual skipper, an apathetic delinquent, a bratty hedonist. Verity makes no effort to engage in any classroom icebreakers, only spouts off nonsensical observations in group projects, and if you lay your eyes off her, it's guaranteed that she's going to go fuck off somewhere. She treats everyone equally, in that none of them are worth truly understanding, but she lacks a sense of distance as well, able to speak casually with just about anyone, regardless of whether or not she should.

She must have some brains, at least, to not fail her classes, but she's always on just the cusp of getting kicked, and her mere existence is spitting in the faces of any scholarship students who had to actually try to get where they are now.

Really, Verity's probably the type of person to spam low kicks in fighting games.

Background

The doted-on daughter of the Oxenbridges, who started off as cryptocurrency gamblers before delving more deeply into 'serious' finances. Now, they own estates on every continent and travel the world to give talks of all sorts about the future of crypto, NFTs, AI, and FIRE. They produce nothing, generate nothing, but still rake in millions every year, with seemingly no effort.

It's how it goes, after all. Once you get enough money, it just starts making itself.

Verity grew up in that opulence and excess. If she wanted it, she could buy it, and the amount of conference dinners or occasions that her parents brought her to honestly outnumbers the amount of times she ate at home. The life of the nouveau riche was decadent beyond compare, and the shittier thing was that even if the markets all crashed the next day, the Oxenbridges had a large enough rainy day fund that they could continue to live without a care for the next three generations. They will never get their comeuppance, and she...

She had nothing but time. A whole century's worth of time to whittle away as she pleased.

So at the first chance she got, Verity decided on a boarding school.

Misc

Verity's the oldest of three children, and has a younger sister and a baby brother.

She chose Harbor Academy because it was in the middle of nowhere and, for whatever reason, is in Sciences.

Curiously enough, Verity has a better relationship with the people in the city than with her fellow classmates. God knows why though.

---

Weapon

A fire axe. Hefty, unbalanced, but satisfying to swing.

Persona

Shackleton. An explorer of the Antarctic famed for his ability to lead in times of disaster, but who similarly failed to adjust to regular life in society and ultimately died in great debt, as many great men are wont to do.

Moveset

A menagerie of buffs and cleanses, all of which intensify in efficacy in worsening situations. Absolutely worthless in rote situations upon the seas, but will kick ass otherwise. Mostly aligned with the Ice element, but has some Gun elements too.

Decibitus [Moved to a new thread]

^{A REAL ICON}

---

~8:30 AM | MT ARAPILES | Punks Wall

---

Before anything else could spiral out of control, Clare, recognizing the issues her presence may have on drone footage, flickered out of existence and out of view.

Then, everything else happened.

Empowered by Aron's spell, the running climber lurched forward all of a sudden, his legs pumping up and down with an explosive energy that would have made an Olympic sprinter jealous...if it wasn't for the increased amount of profanities being spewed out from his mouth now. Regardless of how fast he ran, climbing shoes were still terrible for running in, rigid and cushion-less as they were, and the man made sure to let the world know just how fucked he was as he disappeared, leaving everyone in the dust. There was no doubt about it: his toes were toast!

And so were Vera's.

Her Doc Martens, polished to a mirror shine, was perfect for the rugged Australian outback. Her body, heightened to the apex of human capability in death, was perfect for inflicting violence upon the ghostly types. But her toes were still toes, and even the toughest human beings weren't all that tough. Thus, with foot reared back and aimed squarely at a square-shaped, bowling-ball-sized rock, the chainsmoking reaper experienced one moment of battle-frenzied exhilaration, followed by a transient eternity of agony as her boot crunched against stone, blunt impact breaking her biggest toenail before traveling up her bones, into her nerves, and up her leg.

It, frankly, sucked, and only by the merit of being a reaper were her bones still intact afterwards.

And for that rock? It shifted somewhat.

The drone, however, shifted plenty. Amelia had the perfect shot after all, and both her rock and the drone couldn't have seen her coming. One written spell, one translocation, and her feet were upon the drone, cracking all four rotors in one fell swoop. The main body of the drone looked to be fine though; the chassis appeared to have been built tough specifically for rough use, and more effort would have to be expended to crack the delicate electronics underneath, but on the plus side? It definitely wasn't flying anymore, and all Amelia needed to do was to kick it in some bushes to keep this little scrap clandestine.

If, of course, there was much of a fight at all.

With Ogawa stalled by Vera's happy little accident, and Lena stalking the perimeters in anticipation for the ape-like monstrosity's evasive maneveurs, the wisp itself slowed to a stop. Another rip-roaring bellow resounded from its chest, only to be cut off mid-way as the wisp straightened, letting out a very human groan as it stretched its arms back.

"Damn son," he said, "That's some Bolt shit."

And then, as if wholly unaware of the presence of the five reapers who were moments away from banishing him to the Crucible, the ape reached for his head and tore it right off, revealing a young Caucasian man with a meaty potato-face and a shock of gelled-up blond hair. Sweat beaded down his forehead and he wiped it with his shoulder, before a glimmer of metal caught his attention.

"Aw shit. Hey Dave, ya knobdiddler! You crashed the fuckin' drone again!"

A shout further away from the distance resounded, sounding whiny and petulant but wholly indecipherable. It only drew a scowl from ape-costume-man though, as he stormed off in the direction of the drone, squatting down right in front of Amelia.

"Damn, hit the ground hard enough to break all that? Clownass. Out here sweating my balls off for this vid and now we're gonna have a short instead."

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Three hours left before we start cyberbullying stone again.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Imagine how easy it'd be for you to get in if you just applied as Helck.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Naw, if someone popped up with 'avoid Helck', that's still marketing for Helck. Like those Takis ads. It's all part of the New Stone Order's ploys in the end.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Nice. Got here before the results were announced.

Now, if anyone wants to go predict Stone's choices and see what lines up once the big reveal happens...huhuhu.