So do we pick our Roommates or is the GM going to have a tiger spit up a random number generator to do it? Personally I like the mental trauma of putting my wallflower in a room with Olivia, who would be equally good for her as well as being someone entirely immune to the eerie ness of Xolys while transformed but hiding under her sheets otherwise.
My vote is on randomized, but it’s more indifference really. I don’t mind either way.
Or the Ministry doesn’t like talking about her. Who knows.
She stole Merlin’s panties once and they never let it go.
Honestly, I only needed to hear "wizard of Oz" to stop asking questions. XD I'm halfway convinced that her Grimoire's powers rely on people knowing little about her, like a memetic thing.
Yeah, like the titural Wizard of Oz, her magic works the best when no one knows what she actually can do, if the secret is revealed, the “magic” is gone.
If my counting is correct, we should have an even number of player characters, or around that. That means discussing who rooms with who for more interaction.
9 actually, including Ozma but excluding Roma, but 8 if Ozma is also excluded.
Lumiere is pretty much open to room with anyone, even Camelot. Also unlike Ozma, she most often serves as a teacher as she's most useful there and there's not much she can learn as a student anyway. She only appears as a "student" for masquerade's sake since she looks 15.
I'll see about that. If a collarb is needed we probably can do it over the weekend. I'm unlikely to have time for it before then.
Understandable, it doesn't have to be a collab yeah, it's just a more efficient method for a conversation/fight scene where only two characters are involved. Just tell me what you prefer and I'll go with that.
Charlotte is physically 19, not 17. In any case, you’re fine regarding the Grand Minister although I don’t control her. If you need to collab, you’ll have to poke @KoL.
Posted! Downtime before our next mission no doubt~
@TheWendil I took some liberties about Merlin regarding the last parts of my post. Just tell me to edit anything that doesn't fit, if any. Furthermore, Lumiere would like to have a private conversation with Merlin. If possible, would you like to do it in a collab or just post as normal?
@Sonnambula I assumed Nessie has given her name during their trek back to Marrywell, but just tell if it's not the case as I can simply edit out Lumi's dialogue that mentioned her name.
By the time the group of magically-immortal girls arrived at the mythical Marywell Academy, the moon had abdicated her reign to the sun as warm golden light caressed the horizon. This marked the definite end of the Pageless' encroachment upon the human world, at least for this part of the globe. That was one of the major reasons why Magical Girls are so important, somewhere out there, it's always nighttime. It was a precarious thing to balance global presence versus power concentration as spreading the girls too thin would mean their enemies could easily snatch them one by one; even the mightiest of Mythics couldn't hold a candle to the power of camaraderie.
The sheer wisdom and experience it took to take in all of these factors and make decisions where mistakes potentially cost lives... Twas' precisely why anyone who doubted the Grand Minister were mostly misguided and/or short-sighted as was common with the younger magical girls, but there were those who truly stood in opposition against Lady Marywell and regrettably... if they were going to be enemies of the protector of humanity, then they shall be treated like one.
However, even amongst the former, there were select cases where their refusal to respect protocol was starting to endanger innocent lives. What was the use of feeding the homeless for a short few years, fattening them up just so they could be devoured by the Pageless later? Whatever twisted gestalt consciousness that directed the umbral legions was smart; It's ravenous and malicious, but not stupid like a rabid dog. It's a patient puppetmaster that possessed plans to destroy humanity's guardians and not all of them necessarily involved direct physical threats. Lucette was worried that Chinami was an unwitting pawn to-... ah, it's her.
Lucette's deep thoughts were interrupted by none other than the one and only Wizard of Oz, Charlotte Clementine, who - befitting the story that her grimoire emulated - had a mysterious power and an unknown chronological age, although for the latter, by virtue of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz's first manifestation into the world, she could be born in the same generation as Lucette at the oldest. Being at the front of the group, Lucy had the best seat in the house to watch the redhead being chased by no less than three students. For all of her power's mystery, there was one thing for sure about Charlotte, the girl was fast.
It only took but a brief moment until the "19-year-old" stopped before the "15-year-old" as they stared into each other for a second, well, Lucette was staring; Charlotte was more grinning at everyone really. "I'm confident that they won't ask, Charlotte." She made a mental shrug as Ozma literally dove behind a bush to transport herself to Merlin-knows-where. Typical.
"Charlotte Clementine or Ozma, chosen bearer of the grimoiric manifestation of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The white-haired girl answered the younger redhead's question regarding her fellow ginger, "She has been with us for a long while, this won't be the last time you'll see her antics, but rest assured, she has good intentions and knows what she's doing." Unlike some of them here...
With a smile, she shifted her attention to the whole group of seven magical girls, excluding herself, "Girls, please rest for now, you more than deserve it. Thank you for your brave contributions last night, rest assured that as the vanguard of humanity's salvation, your efforts are noble and just." She wouldn't bother anyone with a long-winded speech so as to not waste anyone's time, however, she did specifically turn her gaze back at Nessie after.
The looked-younger-but-actually-much-older shorter girl placed a reassuring hand on the Scot's shoulder, "Miss Burns, I'm sure you have questions about what happened to you, what was those creatures, and most importantly, what does this mean for you going forward. While I'd love to personally answer all of them, I have an important matter to attend to right now. So, someone else will brief you on all the important information you deserve to know and show you to your room. However, I will be sure to visit you in the short future." She curled a solemn motherly smile as her hand patted the redhead's shoulder a few times.
That done, Lumiere left the group to their own devices; no doubt to Chinami’s relief.
.......... ..... ...
Moments later, the white-haired girl found herself in front of the double doors leading into the Grand Minister's personal study, effectively the principal's office in mundane academies, and knocked, "Lady Marywell, this is Lucette, may I take a moment of your time? I have an important matter to discuss with you."
"Swastyastu, nama hamba Dewi Ayu. Apakah ada yang bisa saya bantu?"
AGE
19
GENDER
Female
APPEARANCE:
Close-up
Standing at 156cm (5'1"), the young woman might seem petite - especially when compared to the average Imperial woman - but she actually falls on the average height of things amongst her tribe. Like most - if not all - native members of said tribe, Dewi possesses a golden brown complexion and coupled with her deep golden eyes, she fits the exotic tropical beauty aesthetic nicely. As it's common with small indigenous tribes, practically all able-bodied members sport toned, fit bodies by virtue of routine physical labor, this obviously includes Dewi, one look at her and you'll know that the girl is more than capable of pulling her own weight.
Due to the hot and humid tropical climate of her home island, Dewi and her tribe wear little clothing, mostly just to protect their body's most sensitive parts against friction and cuts. The concept of nudity as something shameful doesn't exist in their culture and as such, she personally has no issues being and/or seeing naked people, men and women both. However, ever since becoming a Diver, she realizes that not all cultures embrace this freedom so she'll at least wear a tube top and loincloth to respect foreign customs. In the end though, she still prefers to swim and sleep without the constraints of stuffy clothes.
HOME SEA
The South Sea
AETHER SIGN
Moon (Ice)
AETHER ABILITIES
At first glance, it may seem amusingly ironic that an islander girl from the tropics held a power so contrasting to her theme, but if one thinks deeper into it, one will see how useful it is in her endeavors.
Perhaps out of sheer luck, the hands of fate, or something in between, Dewi possesses a prodigiously natural talent at the manipulation of ice, the solid state of water. She first manifested this ability by freezing solid a bowl of drinking water when she was but a small child, and since then, the tribe's shaman had taken her in to be tutored in the art of "Angkasa" or Aether in Common. Of course, an elderly shaman's mystical teaching methods wholly differ from the calculated pragmatism of imperial academies, emphasizing emotions and "the soul" instead of scientific research. With enough hard work and perseverance, most everyone will be at least competent in manipulating the aether, but Dewi's natural talent makes her achieve faster what the average practitioner takes longer to learn, as is expected from a born natural.
Dewi's aether techniques range from offense, defense, to utility, but she's exceptionally skilled in the art of icecraft; constructing tools, structures, and other objects purely using ice. This means she rarely ever needs to carry specific items with her as long as she has access to water and/or ice nearby, tying into her love of living unburdened. Her specific techniques include, but not limited to: ❖ Freezing/Thawing: An absolutely essential basic skill for all cryomancers worth their salt. Dewi is able to freeze water into ice and vice versa. This is also as far as she can do in terms of directly manipulating water in its liquid state. Practically, this is her go-to method to acquire ice when there's only water nearby. ❖ Icecraft: Her main skill. The application of this technique is numerous, ranging from creating simple tools such as knives, hammers, picks, spoons, forks, and bowls to more elaborate constructions such as a strip of wall, stairs, bridges, and even a usable boat. Of course, the downside being that they're really cold to the touch for others to use, but fortunately nothing a well-made pair of gloves or boots can't handle. ❖ Ice Projectiles: Simply using frozen projectiles of a specific shape to pelt hostiles with either puncture wounds or blunt force trauma. She usually employs this when she needs to attack someone at range. ❖ Cryo Plates: Covering someone or something in plates of reinforced ice armor to protect them from harm, ease of movement not guaranteed. ❖ Cold Resistance: This is more of a passive trait that she gradually develops as she grows more in tune with her aether. Dewi is virtually immune to the adverse effects of extreme low temperature such as hypothermia and frostbites among other things. Fortunately, this means she doesn't need to wear those absolutely suffocating winter clothing, just imagine being stuck under five layers of thick fabric, the horror...
EQUIPMENT
Preferring to travel light and possessing the power to easily craft tools on demand, Dewi most often carries nothing on her person except for a satchel that she stores money, rations, and miscellaneous items in. Used to the frugal and communal lifestyle of a small tribe, she doesn't have any jewelries, heirlooms, or any other material trappings to speak of.
PERSONALITY:
Born and raised in a culture that emphasizes communal collectivism, Dewi grew to be a helpful person who's ready to assist with anything her comrades need. In fact, the tanned girl will feel odd if she's in a position where she has nothing to do, extended free time isn't exactly a concept that she's familiar with. This might make her appear to be a workaholic, maybe she really is, but a Diver's lot is not an easy one and slackers don't get to eat, so she feels right at home being amongst the crew.
An innocently honest person, perhaps too honest in some cases, Dewi lacks the ability to adequately keep secrets or make white lies, not due to malicious intentions, but it's simply the norms of the culture that she grew up in. However, on the flipside, one can be sure that she's not the type to say something but mean the other, nor deviously uses ambiguous wordings to take advantage of people. She's an honest girl who works honest jobs, simple as that.
That said, people are still individuals at the end of the day and no matter how collectivist a society is, each of them are their own person, this includes Dewi. As she grew up, the tribeswoman always believed that Aruth is so much bigger than the archipelago or even the whole South Sea, the elders told her that there are other seas out there, they also said that they're dangerous and the best place to be is here, at home. While she believes them about the danger part, she doesn't necessarily feel that she should remain here in perpetuity. Although she doesn't consciously realize it, there's an adventurer's spirit inside her and it's begging to be freed.
There may or may not be times where she'll regret her decision to venture beyond the South Sea; the future is always uncertain but whatever lies ahead, she's ready to face them and not alone either, she'll tackle those challenges together with everyone.
HISTORY:
Aside from her stroke of luck of being a prodigy of aethermancy, there's not much interesting tales to tell regarding the islander girl. Born into a tight-knight group of tribesmen where each and every able-bodied member must contribute to society, Dewi is no stranger to hard work and diligence; Though it's usually the men who got the sealion's share of the most physically-demanding jobs, the women always have something to do, certainly a far cry existence from the pampered, decadent nobles of the Empire.
The islanders she was born into is a tight-knit group where everyone knows each other and the woes of one member will be shouldered by the whole. Familial connections are looser compared to imperial societies as the adults often take turns in caring for the tribe's children. The only thing special about her relation to her blood parents is the fact that she was a result of their union; she could name various "fathers" and "mothers" that took care of her and her siblings growing up. This is also why tribesmen of the same generation usually refer to each other as 'brother' and 'sister'.
The idyllically peaceful climate of the South Sea doesn't exactly foster a 'thrilling' story to tell for most of its inhabitants. Dewi had a happy childhood, free of politics, familial drama, and stories of war. However, this lack of exciting events fostered the wanderlust inside the tanned girl and the elders' stories about Aruth stoked the flames even further. Thus, at the tender age of 18, instead of marrying that cute childhood friend of hers, she instead decided to leave home, explore the world, and just as fate would have it, a crew of Divers were visiting the island to do some trading. She signed up with them in a heartbeat.
And that was how one Dewi Ayu of the South Sea found herself amongst the Sharkfin crew.
In its true, unadulterated form, the Anomaly codenamed as "A-188: Teratoma" can be visually described as a mass of pulsating red flesh, similar yet distinct from the tissue of mammalians, sitting in that uncanny valley of horror beyond the reaches of traditional comprehension of reality. It's able to shape and form various appendages at will including, but not limited to: prehensile tentacles, clusters of unblinking eyes, and pockets of maws lined with jagged teeth.
Peculiarly, due to Teratoma's great fondness with another Anomaly, the one registered as "A-187: Lonesome Princess", it has adopted a humanoid persona based on the Princess' physical appearance, taking the form of a young girl of West European descent standing at 136cm (4'6") with pale complexion, knee-length dark green hair, and eyes with green-red heterochromia with their irises' respective positions mirrored against each other. However, in contrast to the Lonesome Princess, Teratoma prefers to emulate modest clothing such as a simple white sundress in lieu of expansive frilly dresses worn by the Princess. Notably, this is the form that Teratoma adopts by default whenever she needs to be "presentable" as her true form isn't very... conducive for social situations.
EQUIPMENT:
❖ None:
Due to the hassle of keeping objects on her person as a shapeshifter, Teratoma has no equipment owned by herself specifically. Out in the field, should she ever find herself needing to use tools, she'll simply borrow from other Agents or loot one from the environment, whichever is more convenient at the time.
SKILLS & ABILITIES:
As an Esh-class Anomaly, Teratoma is capable of performing feats of eldritch persuasion that completely betrays the average person's understanding of how reality should work. Even the mere sight of her true self will often be enough to send most civilians fleeing in terror or catatonically cowering in abject horror.
Those abilities - as observed and documented by Sefirot - are as follows:
❖ Amorphous Fleshweaver:
Teratoma is an amorphous pseudo-organic entity that possesses virtually perfect control of her own metabolism. In practice, she's able to morph, shape, and sculpt her body at will, forming new appendages and organs simply by willing them, although she requires prior knowledge to know how to shape a select limb. Said knowledge is best acquired by consuming the biomass of other creatures; a lock of hair, a piece of skin, a finger, an arm, ...a whole body, the more mass the better. However, this seemingly boundless ability has an important caveat, Teratoma is unable to emulate powers deemed to be "intangible" such as magic - the ability to cast arcane spells - being the most common example.
For a more in-depth example: If Teratoma consumes a fire-breathing creature, whether she can acquire its flame breath depends whether the creature uses an organic, physical heat sac in its throat or some form of magical pyromancy to generate its flames, Tera can emulate the former, but not the latter.
For navigating the world around her, Teratoma possesses each equivalent of a human's five senses, with touch and smell being her best, easily rivaling moles and bloodhounds respectively. In addition, she's capable of experiencing what's known as 'synesthesia', perceiving a sensation commonly attributed to a select sense via another such as; 'smelling' the color of blue or 'seeing' the scent of honey.
❖ Starfish Alien Physiology:
The only real vital organ that Teratoma possesses is a 'core', a lump of chewy flesh-like matter roughly the size of a tennis ball. As such, as long as this core isn't destroyed, Tera is able to eventually regenerate with no adverse effects, quite similar to a starfish. However, this doesn't mean she's unstoppable, nor invincible. Attacks of mundane and magical nature can still damage her body mass and at some point, she'll be incapacitated, alive but left helpless at the hands of her enemies, just like a starfish who has lost all of its arms surrounded by hungry predators. In such a situation, without the assistance of allies, she's as good as dead.
❖ Lovecraftian Psyche:
Summoned from a plane of reality utterly different from where Earth resides, although Teratoma can emulate the personality and behaviors of a 'person', the fact remains that Teratoma's mind inherently does not function like a typical human or even any other earthborne creatures really. This nature primarily manifests in her unpredictable reactions to mind-affecting phenomenons coming from humans and other Anomalies alike (Note: How each mind-affecting phenomenon affects Teratoma on a case-by-case basis is left to the discretion of the Game Masters).
One beneficial case example of this is Tera's complete immunity to Avon-Class Anomaly "A-187: Lonesome Princess"'s 'Gift Curse'. Tera is one of the entities known to be unaffected even after accepting a gift from the Princess. Whether this has to do with Tera's alien mind, Princess' gifts, or both, Sefirot staff still can't be sure.
BIOGRAPHY:
Though initially behaving no different than a simple animal when first encountered by Sefirot Agents, further observations at the organization's highly-secure facility discovered that the Esh-Class Anomaly codenamed "A-188: Teratoma" exhibits sapient-level capability to learn, think, and feel... to an extent. There are clear signs pointing to the Anomaly is more accurately emulating human behaviors instead of learning them instinctively like a normal human child. For lack of better words, Teratoma is like a fish who has learned how to walk on dry land. It's quite awkward and odd, but functional nonetheless.
Overall, she exhibits quite similar mannerisms as Avon-Class Anomaly "A-187: Lonesome Princess".
Teratoma originated from a plane of reality existing beyond the boundaries of Earth's local universe, a spawn of the cosmic horror entity mentioned in hushed whispers and lost dark tomes as "Shub-Niggurath, Great Mother of a Thousand Young", it was called upon into the material world by a would-be warlock. Said warlock wished to evolve beyond mundane humanity, free from the ravages of age, disease, and even physical rigidity. In his relentless pursuit, he poured countless years and fortune to finally discover and prepare for the eldritch ritual.
After hours upon hours of continuous chanting, bloodletting, and offerings, he... succeeded, he summoned what he deemed to be a 'perfect lifeform', finally immortality shall be his!-...
...-and the first thing the creature did to repay its summoner was to consume him whole, in an ironic twist of something gone horribly right, he was now one with it, becoming 'immortal' just as he intended, but perhaps not in the way he envisioned.
As for the Fleshweaver Spawn, still hungry for more sustenance, it eventually found its way out of the warlock's hideout and into the streets, causing... not-insignificant numbers of horrified screams and soiled breeches purely by its physical appearance alone. This naturally attracted the attention of Sefirot - specifically Branch-092 - who sent their Agents to contain the newly-discovered Anomaly. Fortunately, despite being classified as an Esh-tier, the creature proved rather benign, easily persuaded into cooperation by offering it fresh meat... lots and lots of meat. It was then taken into a secure facility for safe containment. There, it was christened "A-188: Teratoma" due to its bizarre physiology bearing resemblance to the namesake medical condition.
Within the facility, in a curious turn of events, two Anomalies of completely different nature formed a sibling relationship, Teratoma and Avon-Class Anomaly "A-187: Lonesome Princess" as the former proved to be immune to the latter's brainwashing gifts, leading to the two cultivating a bond, with some staff denoting them to be quite similar to human sibling dynamics.
Influenced by its apparent fondness for the Lonesome Princess, Teratoma began taking after the other anomaly's looks, behavior, and mannerisms, in what some facility staff equated to the 'filial imprinting' phenomenon commonly found in chickens, ducks, and geese. This turned out to be a boon for Sefirot as by employing parenting-style indoctrination, they had managed to convince the Fleshweaver that the Lonesome Princess is her older sister, Sefirot is family, humans are friends, and hostile Anomalies are 'bad monsters', and as a good girl, she should protect her family and friends from the "bad monsters". As a result, the eldritch, unnerving, yet rather innocently gullible entity agreed to become an Agent in service of Branch-092.
OTHER:
❖ Color Code: 26ffea & fe2863 ❖ While Tera can consume virtually everything organic in nature, including otherwise harmful substances such as poison and strong acid, her most absolute favorite is flesh, preferably raw and fresh. ❖ Tera's "clothes'' aren't actually clothes, they're flaps of fibrous skin shaped to emulate fabric. Uncanny or fascinating or both.
Leroux pretty much said everything she wanted to say at Wukong, the good doctor - in all of her "wisdom" - decided to announce to the world that they were coming after Justin. Valkyrie believed that even goblins would prepare themselves should they receive such an overtly blatant threat. In fact, she bet it'd be more of a surprise to Justin if Gemini decided to leave him alone after.
"Protecting the innocent from these abominations is also why we're here, so if you can afford them some protection, I think it's our duty to do so." The brunette replied to the emerald-clad newbie, despite her cold tone, it was clear that true compassion was there just underneath the surface.
Silhouette advised them to not blink, something that Valkyrie agreed wholeheartedly as that's pretty much what she had always done in her operations, befitting her role as a marksman, but she understood that he was speaking to the team in general. She needed not to reply though as it was safe to assume Samuel knew this fact about his fellow agent.
Another moment, another one of those godawful pretentiously cringe poems, this abomination sure could talk, huh? That's one of the hilariously pitiful things about some monsters, they tried to emulate the facsimile of sapience, tried to act human, but deep inside, they were all the same. From the most ravenous hellhound to the eloquent pianist vampire, they were all rabid beasts which humanity should not suffer to live. It must be torturous to live such an unholy existence, really Valkyrie was doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery.
She cared not what he called himself for any other reason than to make it convenient to identify her prey; Tony, Arzendalei, Justin, it wouldn't matter once she sent them to Hel!
"...?!" Valkyrie would've already launched a sabot dead center at his dead heart if not for the sudden appearance of multiple threats coming at them from all directions. For Silmeria in particular, twas’ some sort of perverse mockery of a nun - a monster no doubt - who came barreling straight at her with a zweihander. This was certainly not an ideal position to be in for a long-ranged fighter; some say to not bring a knife to a gunfight, but that was assuming the gunner knew beforehand that the stabber was coming!
If left without any assistance, all Valkyrie could do given the little time she had to react was instinctively raising Teslic Gauss perpendicularly against the falchion's swing then hoped that the supernatural rifle was sturdy enough to deflect the medieval weapon!
However, if someone came to assist her and managed to get the crazy nun off her back, she'd take aim at said nun and fire a burst of three shots, preferably at her forehead or heart.
In either case, she'd engage a simple melody to boost her speed as even a millisecond mattered right now.
21 | Female | G.E.M.I.N.I. | The Faceless Teslic Gauss | Long Gun | Physical | Nibelung Valesti Northern Sentinel | Government Agent Electromagnetism | Lightning | Static Shock [Paralysis (4), Speedster (4)], Damage (2), Damage X (6), Push (2), Pull (2), Piercing (2), Bend (0)
DAMAGE: B | SPEED: E | SENTINEL: C | Max Mana: 500
[Bronze Self] [Speedster] = -32 Mana
PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: E | CHAOS: D | Current Mana: 468
I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so...
[h3]7/8 Weeb[/h3]
...[s]kill me.[/s]
[sub][i]Avatar drawn by [url=https://www.patreon.com/vayreceane]Vayreceane[/url][/i][/sub]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm a fuckin' weeb, but one of my great-grandparents was Japanese and a Japanese can't be a weeb by definition so... <br><div class="bb-h3">7/8 Weeb</div><br>...<span class="bb-s">kill me.</span><br><br><sub><span class="bb-i">Avatar drawn by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.patreon.com/vayreceane">Vayreceane</a></span></sub></div>
Lewascan2,
HereComesTheSnow,
Megatron,
The Otter,
Raineh Daze,
Pickled Piper,
Neziul,
Estylwen,
Skyswimsky,
foxfated
