Feyblue

Fate/esoterica

@WanderingSpiritI'm glad you like her! I was worried that her personality would end up overlapping too much with Extra!Caster - although I haven't actually played Extra, so I can't really say for sure whether or not there are actually similarities - but I think I've reached a happy medium of clinginess, silliness, and seriousness. :D I look forward to seeing your Archer in action as well.

Fate/esoterica

I still need to flesh out a Caster-class set of stats for Lancer here, considering that Caster is ostensibly her preferred class, but the only stats I have are for her as Lancer. XD

Fate/esoterica

Lancer

Dɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✦ #0EB94D || Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✧ #FFFA90

---

As her Master began to address her, sounding uncharacteristically reserved, Lancer stared innocently back at him with her bright green eyes. To his credit, he only hesitated for a moment before asking a question that no doubt would have terrified any other man to so much as contemplate. To think he'd had the guts to challenge his Servant on such a matter... his courage really was something. And yet, even so...

Lancer laughed out loud, covering her mouth to contain her giggling. "Ohoho~, my dear Master, are you not aware of how ridiculous a notion that is?" She managed to ask through her chortling. "I assure you, I have no need of the treasures of this modern era. While I'll admit, your wealth and status are both highly convenient for me, they have absolutely no bearing on my opinion of you." She might have stopped there, but... If she hadn't chosen to appreciate his naivete, and simply laugh the matter off, that sort of question might have made her cry. She knew him so well - or at least, she'd thought she did... so why didn't he understand her? If he really understood how she felt, there should have been no need for such a question!

"I told you before, didn't I? I know you so well... even better than you know yourself, in fact." The golden-haired Servant sighed wistfully, gazing at her Master as if lost completely in thought. She shook her head, at last breaking her reverie. "But if you really don't believe me... Then I guess I should explain things more clearly. It was not for the sake of mere whimsical fancy that I accepted your summons and arrived in this era. Rather, I came here because you are in danger - more danger than you know." She stared at him, her eyes dead serious now, a frown playing upon her face as she thought long and hard about what to say next. It would be dangerous to say too much, but... this was something he deserved to know, and she'd put off telling him for far too long already. And, maybe... just maybe, there was some selfish part of herself that hoped that, just by hearing her words, maybe he'd realize her real meaning by himself. And then, it would be just like-

"There is a curse upon the both of us - a ruinous fate that will see us parted, no matter the cost. If we fail in this War, and if I return to my own time empty-handed... there will be no second chances." She hung her head in apology. "Unfortunately, the more you know about this curse... about me... the more danger you might be in. I can't afford to risk telling you any more than what I already have." Despite the bleak words she'd just spoken, when Lancer raised her head, there was a fire burning in her eyes. "But don't mistake me upon this matter, Master... I really, truly care about you. Riches, power, status, looks, intelligence, health, livelihood, past and future... Those things don't matter to me at all. Even were there a thousand better masters calling for my service... even were the world itself your enemy... I would scorn all others just for the chance to stand by your side, so that our foes might never overtake us. You are the only man I could ever serve, the only man I could dedicate my life to. That's how it's always been... Don't you see?" She sighed again, seeming somehow sad as she spoke, but she forced a wry smile nevertheless. "I suppose there's your answer. I wanted you to see how I felt, I just... didn't want to have to spell it out like this. That, and... I was just so happy that I got to meet you, Master, I couldn't help myself." She quickly raised her hands as if to console him. "Oh, but... if you really don't like it when I cling to you all the time, then... I'll do as you ask. Just because I love you doesn't mean I won't follow your orders." She said those words so easily, as if she were simply stating a fact. Her earlier monologue about her devotion had been uttered with the exact same level of complete, straightfaced seriousness - something of an irony, considering how its flowery language and grandiose boasts exceeded even her jests in sheer melodrama.

She shook her head, as if forcibly dislodging the grim mood from her mind. "Anyway," She began, her usual teasing grin returning to her face as if it had never been absent from it. "Who told you you weren't pretty? I assure you, it's their taste and not your looks which are lacking. I'd be more than happy to say as much to the face of anyone who dared tell such brazen lies about my adorable master!"

@Seirei No Hai

---

Mira Grace

Dɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✦ #8AB8E6 || Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✧ #EBB40E

---

As she opened the door of her manor and stepped out into the night air, Mira couldn't help but feel terribly out of place. She seldom went out of doors when it was already dark outside... The shadows, the chill, even the sounds of her own familiars scuffling about the grounds set her on edge. But now, wrapped in her trusty fur cloak, with her trademark hat pulled down with its brim covering the upper half of her face, she couldn't afford to be frightened like a child. She was a Witch, and, as of this evening, a warrior to boot. Incidentally, speaking of warriors...

"Umm... That really looks nice on you, Saber," She said awkwardly. She wasn't really lying, persay... and it was only polite to compliment someone on their outfit, right? But... the other woman looked so serious, and coupled with the now quite formal outfit she wore, it was hard to look at her without immediately feeling a little bit pressured by her prim and proper appearance. That much aside, between her black hair and her black dress, she practically disappeared into the night around her, even if she wasn't Astralizing. And she was so quiet... Given her attire when she'd first been summoned, it was obvious that she was from the orient... Was she one of those ninjas she'd heard tell of in pamphlets and books? Come to think of it, she hadn't even asked Saber what her name was... Then again, maybe that was for the best for right now. Trying to bring something like that up would only make things more awkward now that she'd gone so long without asking, right?

@VitaVitaAR

Fate/esoterica

So out of curiosity, what does everybody think of Lancer so far? This is my first time writing her, so I'm a little curious to see how people think I'm doing. 0w0

Fate/esoterica

@Raineh DazeNot that the sex magic part would be RP-friendly at all.

@Crusader Lord

DID SOMEBODY CALL FOR A MANA TRANSFER DRAGON?

Fate/esoterica

@VitaVitaARAs a Bounded Field expert herself, that's going to blow Mira's mind.

...Then again, her own Bounded Field is a bit of an aberration, too.

Fate/esoterica

@VitaVitaARNah. I was planning on doing the same. Although, I am curious about something else.

You mentioned a Bounded Field surrounding Estelle's body. That would imply that either she's stationary within it... or she's achieved the nearly impossible feat of making a mobile bounded field. If it's the latter... holy fuck that's terrifying to know there's a Souren Araya-level magus whose powers border on the realm of Reality Marbles and True Magic in this war, and it's a super buffed Homunculus of all things.

GAME: Crush A Wish

Granted. You complete all of them, but you never said anything about POSTING them, so your browser crashes before you can hit submit, and all your backups are lost. Now you get to do it ALL OVER AGAIN! :D

I wish that I knew how to drive.

Fate/esoterica

Lancer

Dɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✦ #0EB94D || Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✧ #FFFA90

---

Lancer blinked, surprised at the sudden contact. No way... he'd actually picked up on it? Her master, who had been so dense that she'd had to start clinging to him and flirting so that he'd get the idea, had realized that she wanted him to take her hand? Of course, he immediately killed the mood as per usual with one of those dismissive comments of his about how this was just a formality and nothing more... She sighed, shaking her head. Naturally, the War was the first priority... but this was a rare opportunity, was it not? Two souls, joined across time in apparent defiance of natural law! A guardian, called up from the deepest recesses of time to protect and serve the master of her soul. It was like a wish come true, so it would have been wrong not to savor these moments, wouldn't it? Even if she herself was more than happy just being by his side, it wasn't the same if the man she devoted herself to didn't share in that happiness. He really didn't understand so many things, and when she thought about it that way, her heart felt as though it would break...

Nevertheless, there was no sense in dwelling upon melancholy. The past was the past, the future a blank canvas. There was still time, still a chance. She couldn't give up on her hopes before she'd even tried them, now could she?

She was snapped back to attention from her reverie by his comments about the restaurant they were passing. The establishment looked quite upscale by what she had come to understand of modern standards, and she could smell the delicious scent of spices, baking bread, and roasting meat wafting outward into the night air from within. It wasn't quite the same as the sorts of grandiose banquets she was used to, but she could appreciate its refinement. Besides, this was so much more romantic than a night of clamorous carousing and revelry.

"No, this place looks perfectly fine," Lancer replied demurely, shaking her head. "Besides, if this is the place that has caught my Master's eye, it would be in poor faith to refuse, would it not? Anything whatsoever which my Master desires, I shan't refuse him. A-ny-thing.~" She leaned a little closer, speaking each syllable with a teasing grin as if spelling it out just in case he didn't take the hint. Although... She'd be rushing things far too quickly to savor them if she actually followed through with the implications of her flirtation, but her Master would probably get all embarrassed in that adorable way of his anyway, and wouldn't ask any further, so she doubted it was an issue. Ah... The fact that he tried so hard to present herself as a gentleman only made it more fun to watch him squirm and fidget as he tried to keep his act under control. And yet, that wasn't the real him, was it? She knew him better than that... she must have.

@Seirei No Hai

---

Mira Grace

Dɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✦ #8AB8E6 || Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ Cᴏʟᴏʀ ✧ #EBB40E

---

"I'm sorry! I just... didn't want to be rude..." She bowed apologetically, hoping against all hope that her incredibly straightforward Servant wouldn't inquire any further. Just in case she did try to press the subject, however, Mira disengaged from the conversation as best she could, slipping behind the large cellar door as she made a show of holding it open, hoping to stall Saber from continuing any further inquiry on that subject. "A-anyway, let's hurry so as not to delay!" She motioned for Saber to follow her out, deciding to press on before things could get any more awkward. Besides, Saber herself had said that they needed to quickly make their way to the church, hadn't she? In that case, hopefully she wouldn't question the Witch any further. Mira was already on edge from the stress and anxiety she'd felt leading up to her summoning, and she really had no idea to deal with this person when her only human contact up until this point had been limited to one person. Unless one counted talking to herself... She could talk to herself pretty easily, and Servants were supposed to be suited to their masters, right? Then maybe if she just thought of it like... No, no matter how she looked at it, Saber didn't seem anything like her...

@VitaVitaAR

The Primal Fury - A Dragon Ball Story

C A I L A N

| B I R T H N A M E |

• Cailan

| N I C K N A M E |

• Cai

| S O B R I Q U E T S |

• Magic Bullet, Bastard Upstart

| P O W E R L E V E L |

• 5000

| A G E |

• 20

| A P P E A R A N C E |

• Somewhat distinctive amongst the other Saiyans of the expedition, Cailan notably forgoes most of the traditional Saiyan battle armor and accoutrements. In their place, she's usually seen clad in a simple, form-fitting black bodysuit and a loose-fitting green silken robe with an odd, asymmetrical design, held up by a matching belt and bandolier. The latter of these also sometimes holds up a band of weights around her body, in the event that she's trying to hold herself back in a fight for the sake of training.
  
  Although this is ostensibly her combat attire, her robes are not terribly durable or resistant to damage, simply very comfortable and easy to move in. The only real bits of her wardrobe that are distinctively "Saiyan" in design are her green-tinted scouter and her dark navy and silver armguards and boots, while the others appear to be based on some kind of alien design - made obvious by the fact that the hole in the back of her bodysuit for her tail seems to have been crudely cut into it rather than sewn into the original garment. Speaking of her tail, she's also notable in that she doesn't normally keep her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt, but rather keeps it tucked beneath the skirts of her dress, wound loosely around her left thigh. This makes it hard to so much as see underneath her robe, much less grab onto it, preventing people from taking advantage of an otherwise dangerous weak spot.
  
  As far as Cailan's actual physical features go, she's... not terribly imposing. She stands only at a total height of five feet, four inches, and while her build has some muscle to it, she's not nearly as brawny as the other Saiyans on the ship. Her skin is very pale, suggesting a life spent mostly either in space or on planets without much natural light - or perhaps some alien ancestry in addition to her Saiyan blood. She also notably lacks many battle scars or other such marks of past conflicts, of which her comrades-in-arms have countless more. Although her dark hair isn't terribly unusual for a Saiyan - jet black in color and generally very straight but curving back upward into messy spikes at the ends of each strand - her bright green eyes are definitely an oddity, as most Saiyans have brown or gray eyes. And, if this wasn't enough to tip an observer off that she's not entirely of Saiyan blood, a closer inspection might reveal a couple of other bizarre traits - her ears are actually slightly pointed, as are her canine teeth...

| P E R S O N A L I T Y |

• When one envisions a stereotypical Saiyan, they'd imagine someone with lots of bluster and built-up rage, always roaring or smashing or... well, you get the picture.
  
  Cailan is anything but ordinary, as far as these stereotypes are concerned. Generally very stoic and serious, she's usually identifiable by her blank, impassive expression and quiet tone of voice. More often than not, she's quite outspoken, preferring to let others debate and argue things amongst themselves rather than offer her opinion unsolicited. Given her low powerlevel and quiet demeanor, one would thus likely assume her to be a doormat or a sycophant, simply trying to avoid trouble with her superiors. And, in part, you'd be right to assume this. She's usually quite polite and formal when she speaks, and generally does what she's told. However, she's also been known to voice her disgust with particular superiors who given her insane or distasteful orders, couching her scorn and derision in flowery words and sarcasm.
  
  Her attitude towards combat isn't quite as simple. On the one hand, she's got the usual Saiyan battle-hunger, and appreciates few things more than the chance to hone her skills and demonstrate her combat prowess. The more frenetic the pace of the fight, the more beautiful the dance, the more overwhelming the high - so much the better. Similarly, she's clearly quite proud of her martial prowess and accomplishments in battle, and is more than willing to face overwhelming odds to see that pride vindicated. However, she lacks the ruthlessness, the indiscriminate savagery, the brutality, that tends to define her race as a whole. She has little to no interest in killing those who don't pose a threat to her, and finds conquest and dominion to be boring prospects. Raw power without any level of finesse tends to disgust her, as she views it as a waste of potential. If she finds an enemy's resolve or their skills particularly admirable, she might even spare them, simply because she would think it a shame to destroy such potential. She doesn't fight for the sake of bettering her standing, or for acquiring authority or political power, but rather seems solely fixated upon improving herself. She betters herself for the sake of battle and does battle for the sake of bettering herself.
  
  This isn't to say she's a saint however. By and large, Cailan simply does whatever happens to please one person: herself. She enjoys battle, and so seeks it out, but this is far from her only source of fulfillment. Good food, the thrill of venturing into the unknown, the beauty of art, the precise time and artistry of a complex dance... In most cases, these interests are harmless, albeit curious affectations of discriminating taste and culture for a Saiyan - and a low-class half-breed, at that. Even taking all of these things into account, there's one vitally important thing to remember. Even if she's polite, follows orders dutifully, and generally dislikes mindless mayhem and slaughter, Cailan's first and foremost priority is self-fulfillment. In the end, the person who matters most to her is always herself.

| A B I L I T I E S |

• Tinkerer: Although not trained in any formal capacity, Cailan has taken apart several different bits of Saiyan tech and pieced them back together, giving her a general idea of how they work. Based on this knowledge, she's capable of cobbling together some surprisingly effective jury-rigged devices, such as the emergency beacon she used to return from exile.
• Awareness of Self: Rather than being a master of combat, or a master of ki manipulation, Cailan could best be described as a natural genius of self-control. Capable of precisely regulating her breathing and her body's movements down to the slightest twitch, she makes no unnecessary exertions, nor does she wear herself out easily. Through this instinctive knowledge of her own capabilities and limitations, she's also capable of putting her body's natural flexibility to good use, and fighting by using precise control of and redirection of force rather than trying to utilize brute strength, which she herself naturally lacks due to her small size and meager stature.
• Maximum Efficiency: Her self-control also lends itself perfectly to her rather odd style of Ki combat, as even without extensive training, she's naturally talented at narrowing down the focal point of her ki emissions to a very specific point - or, more often, joint - of her body, rather than spreading her power wastefully over a large area. Because of this, she's capable of learning otherwise advanced techniques with relative ease, even despite her lack of formal training - provided that the technique in question doesn't require more raw power than she's capable of letting out. Similarly, it also makes her movements while flying incredibly precise for the same reason, as she's capable of easily maneuvering and altering her trajectory without any significant difficulty.

| T E C H N I Q U E S |

• Fighting Style: Cailan generally fights not via brute strength, but by a mix of precise blows, defensive grappling techniques, and long-range ki-based combat. Her usual method of attacking enemies in close quarters is through sweeping, dance-like kicks, making full use of her significantly greater leg strength and releasing ki at the point of impact to amplify the damage done by her attacks. This also compensates somewhat for her height, as her legs have a significantly longer reach than her arms do, and the constant movement involved in her spinning, twisting, whirling style of combat helps her to avoid retaliation. When she absolutely must face a melee attack head on, she usually won't try to block it directly, but rather prefers to precisely redirect the force away from her center of mass, sometimes using a series of grabs, twists, and pins to use the force of the enemy's own swing to throw them or knock them to the ground, compensating for her lack of strength. In general, though, she avoids hand-to-hand combat if she can help it, due to her lack of strength, leverage, or formal training. Instead, it's her own self-taught Ki techniques that she relies on in serious fights.
• BBB - Blade Bullet Barricade: The first of Cailan's personal techniques, and the basis for those that follow. This move is meant not as an attack, but rather as a means of repelling ki-based attacks against the user. It relies on Cailan's keen control of her own movements to function. While a normal move might use a surface such as "the hand" or "the eye" as a focal point for emitting ki, this move instead focuses ki through the precise muscles and tendons of the user's arm. This creates a "shell" around the arm it's channeled through, which moves in accordance with the muscles of the arm in question. The end result resembles some kind of a mantle or cape made out of her pale green ki, which swirls and twists around her arm, violently severing and distorting anything it comes into contact with (operating under a similar principle of "cutting" through condensed ki to the Kienzan). As a result, this can be used to rip incoming attacks asunder, scattering their energy and rendering it significantly less potent, or simply "erasing" them outright. It has additional uses when it comes to amplifying her otherwise weak punches, since it turns her arm into a makeshift ki drill, and in helping her maneuver, since by moving her arm, she can extend and contract the aura, releasing pulses that can increase her speed or alter her trajectory in the air.
• BBB - Blade Bullet Blitz: A more offensively-oriented and precise variant of her first technique. Instead of focusing using the muscles of her arm, this narrows down the point of emission even further, concentrating solely on the tendons in her fingers. The end result is a "claw" or "spear" of ki energy that can be extended or contracted by miming the same motion with her fingers, and which can bend and twist, seeking out targets so long as she can follow her movements with her fingers. While this attack has tremendous piercing power and limited tracking ability, it has a firing delay for consecutive attacks with each "bullet," as, if one of her "shots" overshoots its mark, she needs to first contract the "spear," adjust her aim, then launch it again. This allows particularly fast opponents to slip through her "net" by charging right down the middle. And, while she's focusing through her extremities, she can't also form a Barricade, meaning her defenses are temporarily down when she's launching a Blitz.
• BBB - Blade Bullet Burnout A fine-tuned variant of both of the above techniques, specialized for higher output, and meant to counter large beam-type attacks a la the Galick Gun or Kamehameha. It functions by channeling energy simultaneously through every tendon of the user's arm, releasing an initial pulse similar to the Barricade while also projecting several curving "spears" from the user's fingers to circle around the beam. If timed right, this can stave off a beamstruggle before counterattacking the enemy to disrupt their control, either by hitting them or forcing them to dodge. However, it uses up a lot more ki than either of the above techniques, and also requires such intense control that a single unnecesary movement could disrupt the technique, meaning that once she starts using this tactic, she's forced to commit to facing an incoming attack head-on, and can't pull out if her defenses start to break before her counterattack reaches its target. Because of this, it's a high risk, high reward maneuver. The opponent will be hard-pressed to dodge, and even if they do escape unscathed, they'll likely have exhausted themselves uselessly and left themselves wide open. However, she herself can't retreat or deal with other attacks in the meantime, meaning she's wide open and easy to overwhelm through a sheer difference in power, limiting the utility of this move somewhat.

| B I O G R A P H Y |

• Born to a low-class warrior and a near-Human - or rather, near-Saiyan - alien warrior woman who was taken by him as a servant and concubine in exchange for sparing her life, Cailan was largely scorned by the people of her father's homeworld due to her mixed ancestry and low power-level at birth. Although originally she was allowed to be raised by her mother to become a servant herself, after her father was injured in battle and could no longer fight, he needed some way to continue his legacy of service to the crown - and, by extension, to their new PTO masters. It was a toss-up between his weak legitimate younger son and his equally weak bastard daughter. So, in order to spare himself the shame his first offpsring might bring him, her father petitioned her to be sent on a "purge mission" to test her worth: she'd be dropped onto a potential target for the PTO when she was still only a child. If she could survive once her fighting instincts awakened and exterminate the planet's inhabitants, her pod would activate a distress beacon confirming she was alive and well, and she'd be recovered to put into service as a low-class warrior for the PTO. And, if she didn't manage to survive... well, then what was the big loss if some half-breed bastard bit the dust, anyway?
  
  Needless to say, Cailan didn't die there. Her mother, taking pity on her, managed to slip a few useful tools and supplies into her pod before it was launched, and left her instructions on basic things like building a shelter, finding food, and making signals in the hopes that she could find shelter with the natives until she was strong enough to overcome and exterminate them. Even still, her odds weren't good, but a series of accidents ultimately worked in her favor. First, her pod ended up getting inadvertently stranded when it stopped on a largely uninhabited planet to replenish its environmental subsystems. Next, she discovered that the planet she had ended up on was home to many dangerous predators, but also had a great many indigenous fruits, as well as two large moons with short orbital periods. As a result, she spent most of her days sleeping, then would sally forth during the night, taking on her Great Ape form to rampage through the area until she'd exterminated all creatures in the surroundings, or driven any other potential threats away. After that, she'd go out on the following mornings and scavenge up whatever food she could. In this way, she managed to establish a territory of her own, and, indeed, managed to live somewhat comfortably.
  
  In the mean time, she began tinkering with her damaged pod, trying to discover how it worked based on the instructions left her by her mother. Through trial and error, she managed to get the distress beacon working again, and, to her surprise, it was answered not by Saiyans, but rather by a group of alien space travelers. Taking pity on the girl - who wisely concealed her Saiyan heritage for fear of being abandoned - they offered her a place aboard their ship. She spent the next few years in transit along with her benefactors, sating her curiosity by learning as much as she could from them. They taught her about a great many things she'd never been aware of - of formal combat, yes, but more importantly of things such as art, etiquette, and philosophy, which fascinated her.
  
  Even in her isolation, she had appreciated the beauty of the world around her, the grace of the birds in their flight. Based on these impressions, she'd taken her first steps towards self-mastery, discovering how to fly by herself, and inventing the first of her special techniques to assist her in her efforts to be like them by granting her "wings" like theirs - the "mantle" she ultimately mastered creating later on. Finding that there were entire arts dedicated to replicating that beauty made her feel vindicated in her efforts, and drove her to obsess over further perfecting the "art" which she had set about creating. Combat wasn't just about who was strong and who was weak, as her father had so foolishly assumed when he sent her away. Rather, it was about skill, finesse, mastery for mastery's sake! By perfecting her talents to the highest degree, she might perhaps demonstrate that to the ones who had derided her as useless, and prove the value of her life and her abilities.
  
  Eventually, she jumped from ship to ship clear back to Planet Vegeta, and offered her services as a warrior. As it happened, however, she turned out to be a convenient tool for the crew of the Primal Fury, as her power had grown to a point which, while not considerable, it would nevertheless make her useful as a vanguard. And, fortunately, what few records existed of her birth and life all recorded her mission as a failure and herself as being lost in transit and presumed dead, which meant there wasn't even any information about her to falsify. So it was that she was placed as one of the grunts of the crew - a disposable low-class warrior meant to fight for the cause of future Saiyan glory.
  
  Personally, she couldn't have cared less what she was fighting for. So long as she could attain newer, greater heights and demonstrate her own "art," she'd ask for little else.

| M I S C. N O T E S |

• Her mother's species, while I don't have a name for it, is basically a Humanoid with pale white or blue skin, fanglike teeth, and pointed ears - just in case that ever becomes relevant to the plot.
  
  Also, as she spent a great deal of her childhood in her Great Ape form, she's reached a certain level of control over it, such that she's still capable of retaining her basic thought process while she's transformed. However, she detests the Great Ape form in general, since she can't control her Ki with nearly the same level of precision while using it, and thus it symbolizes everything she detests in battle - power without artistry, elegance, control, or finesse.