Izurich

Code Vein (Closed)

--The Commune of Crow's Nest--

It had only been a few days since Ionna arrived at the peculiarly-named "Crow's Nest" base of operations, but the white-haired Revenant sure acclimatized herself quick. She had already claimed a spare room for herself and socialized with most of the Commune-ity, some more than others such as the hardworking and compassionate Erik, the silent and thoughtful Ajax, and the aloof and stern Poppy just to name a few. In fact, these were the first three people she met here and for a good reason, the trio were the group's leader figure in lieu of a lack of official hierarchy. Oh, there was also the squad’s gadget-person, Lysandra, who seemed to be super smart, the smartest one around even. She was currently using the big telescope, using her big brain to scout the landscape even though she couldn't walk.

While the grown-ups were discussing important stuff, Ionna was lounging on the floor, literally lying on the hard stone tiles while her hands held up a book above her eyes, a graphic novel that she recently nabbed from the library. Its contents retelling the story of a human boy who was raised by apes and grew up thinking he's one... until he met another human that he began to realize this odd sense of kinship he had with this strange creature, who was hairless like him! "Oooh..." The petite girl made a little noise of curious excitement, prompting her companion crow - Laplace - to tilt his head in shared curiosity, beady eyes focusing at the book while his feet were perched on Ionna's scalp. Alas, he couldn't find out what was so interesting about a bunch of black squiggles-on-white.

But, you know what's interesting? Upon Cerise and Licorice's entrance, Laplace immediately noticed them and took off from Ionna's head to beeline at the latter, no doubt much to the older corvid's chagrin. "Squawk squawk~" The chipper young crow - barely older than a year - landed near his kin then tap-tapped his spindly feet to get all up in Licorice's personal space. His head twitched here and there, a common set of movements to corvids and birds in general. Indeed, it wouldn't take a genius to see that he was excited to finally be able to meet his people; while the young crow would always be grateful to Ionna for saving his life and welcomed the idea of staying with her for the rest of his life, he wouldn't squander the chance to relate with his kindred, especially when the opportunity presented itself. Crows are pack animals for a reason after all. The place sure could use more crows around, particularly considering its name and all that.

While the two crows - one-sidedly - played around, Ionna shifted her attention away from the book and tilted her head up even further, ending up with an upside-down perspective of the room, apparently not minding it in the least. She noticed that two more had joined them, the chipper and kindhearted Cerise, followed shortly after by the tough and vigilant Dallas. "Morning, Cherry! Morning, Dallas!" The floor-bound girl curled a grin, sporting the two elongated sharp fangs behind her upper lip before returning her attention to the book... or not. As when the eager and dauntless Vincent exclaimed about knocking some Lost heads, Ionna promptly put her book down, stood up, dusted herself off, and dashed to take position beside the central stone table, in that specific order. "Yeah! When do we head out, guys?!" The balls of her feet shifted up and down as golden slitted eyes scoured over the map.

Though she was missing her signature gear; coat, gauntlets, horns, and tail-whip, the diminutive revenant still looked ready if a fight should happen right then and there.

Qualia: Mission Sub Rosa

--The Head of Public Safety Committee--

@ERode

"Guten Abend, Herr Robespierre."

Lucretia loved progress and hated delays in oppositely equal measure so it was satisfying to hear that Maximilien wasn't difficult to contact, better yet, he accepted the appointment and even gracious enough to arrange the time and place himself, which meant she could use the hours to instead tinker with her projects until it was dinner time.

With Schwarzritter in compacted form floating beside her, not yet sent to Sukoro as that'd be tomorrow, Lucy seated herself on the vacant dining chair across the table from Maximilien's position. She was clad in pretty much the same outfit as earlier in the day, although her beret and short coat had been removed and hung on the same rack by the door. Naturally, she was served with the same menu as her host, the golden-brown roast duck glistening underneath the singular lamp reigning above the table. A private dining room, something Lucretia wasn't a stranger to, although she was more accustomed to a bigger table and a couple more chairs around said table.

"It is regarding Jeanne du Bordeaux and the crime of arson she committed against the Central Monument Library. I've been made aware that you're handling the legal process of her trial."

She replied as she watched the older boy prepare the duck for them, already wanting to get into the main topic immediately, but a few seconds later, the white-haired Polymath decided to partake in the private feast as well, using the silverware to join him in enjoying the roasted fowl and its accompanying side dishes. Even for an ambitiously obsessive Polymath, hunger was truly a strong motivator, a primal need that no humans are immune against.

They enjoyed dinner for a moment before she continued her previous statement, "It is only right that she is to be severely punished for her wanton barbarism, the senseless destruction of valuable knowledge, and the shame she smeared on the Occident and Polymaths as a whole. After what she did, to call her as one of our own is simply heinous," The white-haired German paused for a moment, leaning ever so slightly forward toward the black-haired Frenchman, "What does it take for justice to be achieved?"

Grimoiric Heart

Goddamn, they really do look-alike, and better yet, it's a total coincidence at that. An exquisite meme. Simply magnifique.

On an IC note, I have posted.

Grimoiric Heart

--Questions, Answers, and Stories--

@Sonnambula @Ponn @Villamvihar

Even a magical girl as senior as Lucette found it peculiar that she had two Alters assigned to her right now. Although it would be logical to deduce that as the world's population increased, so did the number of stories, which led to more grimoires and thus more magical girls, including Alters. Still, they were still quite rare in the grand scheme of things so her situation was still a notable fact, but regardless of their status, Lucy would treat them with the same respect as any other Merlin's crusaders.

The snow-haired 'teen' genially listened to her companions' questions, her lips pursed in silence as to not interrupt anyone and the attentive look in her light blue eyes clearly showed that she was all ears, not a single word was wasted on her. The first one to speak was the newest addition to Marywell, the redheaded Scot who wielded the hydrophilic power of Loch Ness. Considering the events merely two nights ago, Nessie’s question was not unexpected, that much was clear, but still a very good one nonetheless. As Sun Tzu once wrote in the Art of War, twas' utmost importance to both know oneself and one's enemies; their ancient conflict with the Pageless couldn't be categorized as anything else but a war, one that seemed to last in perpetuity.

The second student to speak was Olivia Bell, the only magical girl here whose transformed appearance contrasted greatly against her mundane self as the rest of the group possessed virtually similar hair color, iris hue, and complexion between their two halves. The ravenette curiously inquired about Lucette's own experience with their eternal enemy, although her slip of tongue was certainly worth some amount of concern. Surely even though Xolys looked monstrous, she wouldn't equate him with the Pageless, no? Xolys was a sapient being, while the Pageless were ravenous monsters driven only by instinct to devour and destroy. In fact, she felt a twang of pity for the tentacled entity, although perhaps it was rather misplaced and pointing that out to Olivia could offend her.

Finally, the second and last Alter of the group chimed in. Interestingly, she deigned to answer her comrades' questions instead of simply asking a question. A good thing in Lucette's eyes as this showed a couple of things worth noticing: first was that Wilhelmina was eager to learn, and second, she had the potential to be an excellent teacher in the future. Not all veteran magical girls made good teachers, such as Ozma, but those who do would always be honored for their important contribution, one that was no less important than fighting the Pageless; nurturing future generations to make sure humanity would always be protected from any malevolent otherworldly threats.

"A very good question, Nessie, and an equally good answer, Wilhelmina." The white-haired teacher finally spoke, addressing her juniors with their first names and without any titles so they'd feel more at ease with her. It was a valiant attempt by the old woman to connect with her younger peers, although it wasn't perfect as if one asked the students of Marywell, some of them would point out that there was a certain... gap that separated Lucette from them, one of those things difficult to explain with words but could be felt.

"The Pageless... our eternal enemy ever since time immemorial," Lucette began, "Girls, I need you to watch my hand, then see what manifests below..." She simply held out her right hand forward as sunlight caressed it, casting a shadow of similar shape on the grasses underneath, "Whenever there's light, there's shadow; light and dark, inseparable as they are. Now imagine said light is humanity and its collective history - stories - throughout our existence." She paused to let her words sink in, perhaps the girls could get an inkling at what she's hinting at now, regardless, she continued, "The Pageless is a manifestation of our shadow, the darkness to our light, and like moths to flames, they're attracted to us. In their world of darkness, the bright presence of humanity is simply irresistible to them."

A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she curled a forlorn smile, "However, we do not know exactly why they express themselves through violent means. Perhaps malevolence and brutality are all they know; the concept of peaceful coexistence may simply not exist in their alien psyche. They could be envious, hungry, angry, or may simply be curious, we may or may not ever find out, however, one thing is clear, they do not respect our right to live peacefully, thus as sentient beings, it's our right to defend ourselves against violence, no matter their motivation. Unfortunately, not everyone can adequately defend themselves, and that's why every single one of you girls are humanity's heroes, there can be no nobler goal than what we’ve put on our shoulders."

With the more important question addressed, Lucette figured it was time to humor Olivia's curiosity to her personal history, "I've been a magical girl for more than eight decades now, so I suppose that's indeed a long time, but certainly nowhere close to the longest," She rested a hand against her chin, digging through her memories, ”Most interesting Pageless, hmmm..." She had encountered a myriad of them over the decades; monsters and abominations of various shapes and sizes, and while many of them were terrible in their own right, it was difficult to pinpoint which one was most interesting.

It took Luciel a couple minutes of contemplation to finally remember one particular incident, "Well, there was this one encounter I had around ten years ago. During one of my routine night patrols, this... Pageless spawned near me, but curiously, it did not attack, at least, not right away," Lucette blinked once, genuine confusion on her face as she couldn't help but feel bewildered by the memory, even to this day, she hadn't found out why, "Bizarrely, this particular Pageless looked like... me, myself, yet... not exactly. She - It - had my eyes and build, but its hair was longer, much longer, reaching slightly past its lower back. It had a halo of black thorns, wore a quite revealing dress that left little to the imagination, and possessed Sefirot's wings, except colored black and dark blue instead. It was as if I was staring into a twisted reflection of myself, my shadow."

Lucette's blue eyes shifted to the ground for a moment, pondering, ruminating, before returning to look at her three students, "At first, I tried to fight it, but it mimicked everything I did; all of our attacks clashed and nothing was achieved except constant strings of ties. However, my mana wasn't limitless and though I could feel myself tiring, this... doppelganger stayed fresh. At that moment, I realized that I was fighting a battle of attrition that I could not win. I found myself at a loss until I decided to take a leap of faith. If it was going to mimic everything I do, then I simply... released my transformation. The moment I returned to my mundane self, the shadow did the same and it vanished. I never saw it again ever since..."

The short-haired girl chuckled dryly, "In hindsight, perhaps it was an incredibly risky move as there was no guarantee it wouldn't simply take the chance to overwhelm my untransformed self, but I am relieved that things turned out as they did." Thus, she concluded her little story of the "Most Interesting Pageless", she hoped it would entertain the girls, not just Olivia.

"Now then, I think it's time that we move on with our patrol." Lucy stood up, motioning for the trio to follow her again as she began walking away from the city park.

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Well… @VitaVitaAR could make a CS and be a player too, it’s not a mutually exclusive role with being a co-GM.

Then we’ll have 3.

Grimoiric Heart

Ohooo~ very nice, I shall endeavor to post before Wendil's post.

Also Lucette is old, but not Merlin old, she's just 96, not centuries tsk tsk. :3

Symphony of Espers

--How Far Would You Go?--

@BrokenPromise @Ponn @Crusader Lord @FamishedPants @SilverPaw

"Tch..." The orange-eyed brunette clicked her tongue as the half-dead centaur scorpion managed to narrowly avoid her bolt at the last millisecond, no doubt courtesy of the command given to it by the mutated nun. Valkyrie replied to Lenore's little gesture with a simple wordless stare, one that carried all the weight of the esper's hatred to all monsterkin; it was apparent that she saw the mutant knight as no different than these otherworldly creatures. If she was dying of thirst in the desert, Valkyrie would deliberately drink a canteen of water right in front of her... before shooting her right between the eyes to end her misery. Alas, such a time would have to come later, but just imagine how sweet the reward would eventually be; right here, right now, she had to focus on this righteous purge of the unclean.

And focus she did, drowning out all disturbances that would disrupt said focus. Her apparent callousness for her comrade's groans and screams shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of camaraderie, instead, it was precisely because they were in peril that she had to maintain composure; she would help no one by panicking. After all, as long as they weren't outright destroyed, an esper could always detransform to shift into their perfectly healthy human self. Thus, with Centrocious bound by Breacher and busy with Wukong, she was confident this next shot would hit, time to put this rabid beast down once and for all-...

...-then the vision of her scope was suddenly replaced by the zoomed image of... Breacher's back? ...? She couldn't help but finally blink in confusion, in that brief period where she lost all train of thought, where nothing made sense. Then by the time she realized that the Odindamned fake nun was the one responsible, the now-one-armed bloodsucker had already unleashed a literal torrent of weaponized blood toward them (and everyone else).

Valkyrie’s eyes widened as her first instinct was to take cover behind Breacher, a justified tactical move as the draconic esper held a riot shield for a good reason; only for something else to rise inside her heart, all of the inhumane suffering and deaths around them, how these vermins not only perpetrated the atrocities, but also gloat and revel in them; the faux sovereign's crimson tsunami held no sway over the bloodcurdling hatred flowing through the Nordic Avenger's veins.

One day, humanity would return the favor by turning their world into catacombs... but that time was not today, for today they must first purify God's beloved Earth.

Her mind made, Valkyrie took a defiant step forward.

Teslic Gauss already brimming with power, she redirected the smite she reserved for Centrocious to the vampire instead, her aim trained on his head.

Nibelung Valesti...

With the last bit of Thor's power left in her, Valkyrie Silmeria channeled Mjollnir's wrath as a singular bolt of lightning carved through the bloody deluge.

---

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 Beam] [Damage X] = -72 Mana

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: E | CHAOS: D | Current Mana: 16

Grimoiric Heart

I’ll post Thursday.

@TheWendil

Hmmmmm... I'd appreciate it if Lumiere can get at least a post after @Villamvihar's next post as Wilhelmina to answer the group's questions first.

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

@PKMNB0Y

Oh derp! :P Don't worry, it's my bad too for missing it. Well, fixed now, I made her got rescued at 12, but went into coma from the shock, resulting in a plot-convenient amnesia after she recovered before Nikolaos adopted her, giving her a new life and identity.

And then the rest is the same as before.

Advent of the Dawn —A Mecha Musume/Tokusatsu-Inspired RP

Pyralis Constantina | Infernus

PYRALIS CONSTANTINA

Theme

AGE:

17

GENDER:

Female

APPEARANCE:

Visual References

Casual Outfit

Pyra stands at a rather modest 157cm (5'2") with an athletically lean build befitting a full-fledged Frame Pilot, an able body honed and trained with the best facilities the skybase could offer. The late-teen possesses brown hair framing sapphire blue eyes and a light-yellowish complexion that's most known among those of East Asian ethnicity. Said hair is cut quite short, barely reaching past her ears. She has a long prominent scar across the small of her back, a remnant of an old wound, one that changed her life forever.

When off-duty, she usually wears modest clothes of no particular style, blending with the common people. The only notable thing to point out is that her glasses aren't prescription as she has perfect 20/20 vision; it's actually a neat gadget that has all the functions of a mobile phone, interactable via an augmented reality UI that she can manipulate with her fingers.

SKILLS:

Aside from all the necessary skills relevant to being an elite soldier, a Frame Pilot specifically, Pyra fancies herself a tactician; whether in tabletop or video games, she loves playing various kinds of strategy games. Although she can't hold a candle to the actual pros out there who fully dedicate their time to RTS games, it's evident that she has talent and had fate spun otherwise, Pyra could see herself competing in the major leagues.

She's aware that tabletop wargaming is quite demanding on the pocket, what's with all the sets, minis, and paint necessary to field an impressive army; fortunately for her, being a Frame Pilot pays quite well considering how important and dangerous their role is as humanity's first line of defense against the Warped.

CHI-MECHFRAME: Infernus

❖ Appearance:

Visual References

Front View


Back View

❖ Abilities:

Codenamed "Infernus", Pyra's Chi-Mechframe is designed from the Core of a black-red-scaled wyvern-like Warped, one that could launch fireballs and plumes of flames from its throat. When engaged, Infernus shapes into two distinct forms: First, it manifests an armored dress that possesses the supernatural durability of the beast it came from, with tongues of flames occasionally swirling around its wearer. Second, it conjures a curious lance-shaped weapon that acts as the beast's head and neck, as expected, the weapon is specialized to spew intense flames, and unlike mundane fire, Infernus' blaze is capable of effectively scorching through Warped hide and flesh.

Pyra's combat style enables her to work best as a mid-to-long ranged combatant, particularly artillery bombardment and area denial. Mass destruction is the name of the game for Infernus as it's effective against hordes of smaller enemies or a single gigantic foe due to its destructive AoE potential. On the flipside, the Mechframe struggles against singular man-sized elite targets or simply those agile enough to swiftly get into melee range.

Furthermore, just like the monster whose Core it holds, Infernus grants the wearer free flight as Pyra sprouts flaming wings from her boots, carving a fiery trail through the sky with her movements, although it's not particularly agile. She mainly uses this ability to gain a bird's eye view over a particular area, which will most likely be followed by orbital bombardment of said area, while on the other hand, her lack of speed means aerial dogfighting isn’t ideal. She’s more of a carpet bomber than a jet fighter so to speak.

BIOGRAPHY:

Personality

When at the field, clad in her custom-built Chi-Mechframe, Pyralis is a no-nonsense soldier who displays a nigh-unshakable composure. She seems to always have a cold expressionless stare, always ready to follow orders without delay, no matter how dangerous it may be. Her words become terse, only speaking when necessary. One could argue that in the face of mortal danger posed by the Warped, there's no room for doubt as hesitation means certain death.

However, for those who know her from work - such as fellow Frame Pilots - they may be surprised that Pyra exudes nothing of the tranquil fierceness of her Mechframed self. When not in her suit, Pyra is a much more docile person, demure and compassionate, she becomes more "human" so to speak. In fact, this gentle girl is the real Pyra. This is certainly a far cry from the intimidating expressionless machine as she unleashes hellfire upon the Warped menace, a living weapon in the form of a mechanized girl. She doesn't exactly know why herself, but the prevailing theory is that the biomechanical suit instills a part of the beast's ferocity into her.

Background

The brunette couldn’t really remember her blood parents, at least not through her own missing memories. What she knew was told to her by her adoptive father. So it went that one Nikolaos Constantina - a (now-retired) foot soldier of the military - was tasked along with his comrades in an operation to hunt down a wyvern-esque Warped that had been terrorizing one too many caravans and smaller settlements. The unit eventually managed to hunt it down, but unfortunately only after it was just done scorching a poor hamlet.

At first glance, it seemed there were no survivors as flames raged through each and every building they could see, but just as he was about to leave with his comrades, Nikolaos heard... wailing, a cry amongst the fire, an child’s cry to be specific. He located it down to find a young girl trapped inside a burning house, looking no older than twelve summers at most. Much to the soldiers’ shock, not only she was about to burn to death, they could also see a nasty gash across the small of her back, like something jagged had sliced her flesh open; the poor thing was both burning and bleeding, crying her heart out from all the suffering she's in.

Naturally, the soldiers did all in their power to rescue the child with Nikolaos himself being the one who personally scooped her up and dashed outside before the roof crumbled behind him, but only moments later, she fell into a coma due to the shock. However, due to their efforts, she managed to receive medical care and recover, although not completely as she but all lost most of her memories prior to the incident.

Taken by pity, Nikolaos brought the sole survivor home and officially adopted her. Though unmarried, he decided to raise the lucky child himself. In lieu of her lost identity, he christened her "Pyralis", (Born) of Fire, and what a poetic name it is as she’d eventually grow up to be among the elite Frame Pilots, one that specializes in using flames to purge any and all abominations that dared to threaten what remained of humanity’s existence.

How could she even qualify where so many others had failed, one might ask. Well, as it turned out, there was a very specific reason for that; the wound she suffered was from the very same Warped that burned down the settlement and an Echidna infected her through said wound. As research had shown from the young soldier who became the first Frame Pilot, those infected with Echidna but didn't mutate made fine candidates to be Frame Pilots as the Chi-Mechframes wouldn't reject them. This revelation came to her when recruiters from a certain skybase scouted her out, they extended an invitation for her to be inducted into the Frame Pilot training program.

This was certainly unexpected, but... she didn't really mind, in fact, she was kind of happy about it. See, she had always idolized her adoptive father for being such a brave soul, risking life and limb so humanity wouldn't go extinct, and if she could follow in his footsteps, she'd gladly walk that path. In a way, this was her way of repaying her saviors in kind. She was enthusiastic enough to abandon a normal life and - with the blessings of her father - accepted the recruiters’ offer; now at 17 years old, the brunette had become a full-fledged pilot, Frame Pilot Pyralis, the One Born in Fire.

TRIVIA:

❖ Color Code: e95f1b
❖ Pyralis is ethnically Japanese, but adopted into a Greek family.
❖ Somewhat ironically, she loves cold beverages and dessert; soft drinks, yoghurt, ice cream, parfait, etc.