kapuchu

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@Lugubrious

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@Lugubrious
Do we get to pick our own opponent-npc, or is that decided by God (read: Lug)

The Crucible - Winner Take All

I think the idea of a waiting list would please the most people.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@DracoLunaris
Illusions are easy, especially ones that simply hide parts of her anatomy.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@Sentel
I think you mean Blood Elf, not just Elf.
Remember, there's a total of 3 (4 with Legion) different kinds of Elves on Azeroth :P

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@DracoLunaris
Who says she's ever gonna let you know she's not human? :P

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@GreenGoat
Now imagine being someone who doesn't even look human meeting a Space Marine :P

The Crucible - Winner Take All

Here's Inari, a wee trickster

Name: Lily Strider
Alias: Inari
Race: Kitsune/Fox Spirit (was once human)
Sex: Female
Class: Trickster
Appearance: As a human Lily might have been described as simply pretty, but following her transformation from human to something mythological, there is no denying her striking, youthful, beauty. She is a comparatively tall woman, standing at 175cm, built slender and athletic yet with prominent assets, who presents herself with a calm and oftentimes aloof front - standing straight-backed and observant.

While not immediately obvious, closer inspection will reveal and Eastern Asian heritage, mixed with European blood, granting her large, expressive eyes, coloured a brilliant blue - brown, when she was still human - full lips, and a fair, heart-shaped face that gives her a surprisingly gentle look, counteracting the feral nature that her slitted pupils, elongated canines, and large, vulpine ears atop her head seem to imply. Perhaps most important of all, regarding her mythological side, are the nine, snow white, fox tails, growing out from behind her, each almost as long as she is tall and - were she to be a judge - delightfully fluffy and soft.

Of the features she has retained from when she was human, her hair is the most noticeable. Hanging free, the cascades of jet black hair, falling down her back, would reach to her thighs; straight and thick. She, however, most often wears it in one thick braid, tied at the end with a red silk ribbon gifted to her by her lover once. She also sports extraordinarily long finger nails, growing out entirely straight and tapering to a softly rounded point at the end. They are perpetually coloured a purpleish blue. It is not, however, by choice, as she has yet to learn shapeshifting, and her powers thus force her into her current appearance, regrowing nails and hair should it be cut.

She started off the tournament wearing a jacket over a black t-shirt, leggings and a knee-length skirt, however circumstances has robbed her of her skirt and jacket, leaving her wearing only her stockings and tight t-shirt. Parts of both articles have dark spots of dried blood, where bullets have previously hit her.

Equipment:
Short of her own clothes, Lily is a fighter without weapons, preferring instead her wits and quick reflexes. She does have with her a pack of food and other necessities.

Abilities:
Lily is a quick and agile individual, possessing speed and agility far beyond human limitations. Besides various tricks of the trade like pickpocketing, deft and nimble finger, gymnastics, parkour, and the skill to hide almost anywhere, Lily possesses vast magical powers focused almost solely around the illusory and evocation schools.

Thanks to the relatively limited repertoire of abilities her transformation has granted her, she has been able to become incredibly skilled in their use, in just ten years that she has had them. These abilities include, true to the the mythology, being able to conjure and control fire and lightning, create vivid and intricate illusions capable of tricking all five senses. The power of her illusions, so to speak, is determined by how much her opponent believes them to be true. She could conjure the image of a boulder and let it fall down upon her adversary, and - if believed to be real - they would feel the impact and the pain as if it were a boulder. They would not, however, be hurt by it, only believe so. Essentially, the more gullible or less thoughtful her opponent is, the more likely that her illusions work as intended.

As for her destructive abilities, she has a total of three types of magic: Fire, lightning, and force. Force is the least complicated of the three, and simply allows her to sends forth a wave of nearly invisible kinetic energy at short to medium range, the origin point of the blast being anywhere on her person. It is a simple cantrip that, none the less, packs enough of a punch to dent a one inch steel plate.

Fire and lightning are somewhat more complex.
Rubbing her tails together creates friction and static electricity, which stores up electricity for Lily to use, and unleash at later points. The range and power of this varies greatly, from melee to dozens, if not over a hundred, metres. The longer away it is, the more of her stored power she had to unleash. Among other things, this means that she can replicate a taser by touching, or create full on lightning strikes at great range by unleashing it all at once, or most of it. The more powerful her lightning strike is, the more power she needs to store up again.

Fire obeys the same rules as lightning, in that she uses the friction of her tails to generate heat that becomes her foxfire: Blue orbs of flame the size of a tennis ball. The difference here is that she cannot store up "fuel" for these, but has to generate it on the go. Doing so makes number of foxfires materialize in the air around her, moving under her command. She can then fire them at her opponents, directing them in whatever manoeuvres and directions she desires. Contact, or manual detonation, results in explosions equal to that of a small rocket each.

Fighting Style:
Lily is a trickster, meaning that she is not someone to directly confront an opponent. She has the ability to unleash devastating attacks, but doing so drains her and leaves her vulnerable until she can charge up more electricity or conjure more fire. For that reason she makes good use of her own craftiness to avoid direct confrontation whenever possible. For this purpose she uses her illusions to misdirect and mislead her opponent, either tricking them into thinking that she is somewhere that she isn't, or that some attack is incoming when there isn't any. She likes to take her time to analyse her opponent, using the time her illusions grant her to spot weaknesses and opportunities, and strike at the most opportune moment. Other uses includes creating terrifying spectres, intimidating beasts, or even creatures that are beyond beautiful. What she uses depends almost entirely upon her opponent, and what she has gleaned about them during the bout.

One of her commonly used tricks is to create an illusion of herself standing a short distance away from an illusion she has created of herself, while rendering herself invisible. This allows her to strike unseen, and misdirect attacks.

As for uses of her more practical powers: She might use lightning to stun, or fire to blind, further allowing her to sow confusion in her opponent's mind. She thrives in misdirection, making her opponent think that an attack is coming from the front, when in actuality she is behind them, ready to unleash a blast of lightning, or crack their spine with a well-placed force-blast.

Against foes that can not reliably be fooled by her trickery, she instead hides and strikes from a distance, setting up illusory traps that, if nothing else, will momentarily confuse her adversary and give her time to set up for a lethal strike.

With the addition of Brucie on her team, she has become of the habit of using him as an ace, in that she takes on the role as bait and distracts her opponent, allowing Brucie to deliver crippling blows. Depending on the opponent she might do it the other way, and use him as a distraction while she readies a lethal strike.

Personality:
Lily is not a kind person.

For those that know her this is an important thing to remember. Lily does not know kindness like others do.

Growing up an orphan and living alone in the streets of the London suburbs has hardened her. It was a life that left little place for pleasantries and altruism. Especially for those with whom Lily shared nothing, or very little. There was one, however, with whom she shared a great deal, and it was because of him that she has not become a hollow shell of a human without compassion. She experienced very little of it, and so has come to treasure tiny deeds and sacrifices, as meaning far more than any grand gesture. This fact, along with the presence of the man known as Max, is why she has not become jaded like so many others who shared her life.

She acts aloof and disinterested in most things, keeping many of her thoughts hidden from those outside. But inside she is much more. She pays close attention to how people around her act, matching her own behaviour to match how she perceives theirs. Arrogance or pride is met with disregard and provocation. Anger is met with calm and smiles that never reach her eyes. Boorishness is faced with mocking comments and gestures. When faced with anything unsavoury and negative, she does her best to draw out the worst in them, forcing them to either face themselves, or to fall when she topples down their pedestal. The only exceptions to this rule is if she is keenly aware of an enormous difference in power, and suspects that her own life might be forfeit if she does not conform to whatever standards are expected of her in the eyes of whoever possesses these negative triats. But even then she does only the bare minimum.
On the other hand, kindness is met with kindness. Loyalty with loyalty. If genuine, she will return whatever she is given as best she can.

So while she is not kind, that does not mean that she does not sympathise with others in ways that no one else does. And though she usually acts rough and aloof, the shells she has formed around her heart, hides a compassionate soul that understands loss, grief, loneliness, and love in ways that so many others never even consider. To her, love from a family is not something that is expected, but love in general is something that has to be well and truly earned.

Bio:
Who ever thought but there would be more than one world in existence? Not planets, but dimensions. A universe like ours only different - key points in time having been altered in such a way, that everything had evolved and changed in new and unimaginable ways. And to live in one where every mythological creature had returned from the legends not half a millennia past?

Lily Strider, street urchin, would never have thought that possible had that not been her reality - living in a world connected to four other realms, different yet similar. Then again her life and everyday was focused around trying to find food and shelter. Dry days were difficult, wet days even worse. Even the hot days, those normal people looked forward to, brought with them their own sets of challenges. Where the cold days made it difficult to stay warm, hot days made food spoil quicker which could be just as disastrous as being sick in the winter.

Lily lived with a man called Max since the first day she could remember. She had no mother or father, nor siblings, familiar only with the same old alleys every night and, of course, Max. The only person she had to look up to, and the only person she loved and who loved her. She never knew why she lived in the streets of some suburb outside of London, only that it had forever been her life, and it most likely would for ever be where she lived. It was here that she learned to pickpocket, steal, run, hide, and generally use her head to survive as she had no other choice, if she didn't want to go hungry. In the time they spent together, Max had taught her much, but however much she wished it, even his time on earth would not be eternal.

One winter, when the weather had been especially harsh, Max had given her his only blanket when she sat freezing one night, which only resulted in him falling sick himself. It was a downhill road from that point onward. Max became more and more sick as the days passed. Lily got him food and clothes, but he kept insisting that she should keep what she found for herself, for he knew that he would get healthy again soon. She would refuse, repeating again and again that she would help him recover however long it took, and he continued to tell her that she ought to look after herself and not him. It was a mantra he continued to say this until he said it for the last time, and lay still one spring morning.

That was the day Lily lost the only thing she had ever loved. And the day she closed off her heart.

From that day onwards Lily Strider lived her life alone, caring for naught but her own safety and survival. She stole and tricked and cheated her way through the next couple of years, doing whatever she had to to live. And that was okay. She had nothing to care about except her own survival. A couple of years later, during her late teens, a war broke out between the four realms that had, until now, lived in peace with each other. The largest of the four realms thought it would be better, if they were all ruled by the same government. When the preposition was shut down by the leaders of the other three Realms, they directed their efforts towards a more militaristic approach. It quickly conquered the smallest of the realms, arming its soldiers with their own technology and set them unto a war of conquest against the others. The world in which Lily lived was the third strongest, their only ally now being the second strongest. In an effort to combat the advanced technology of their would-be invaders they joined forces to create technology, that would effectively make a human into one of the mythological creatures that roamed the worlds.

With the aid of some of these mythological creatures, they managed to develop something akin to Gene splicing. It altered a recipient to the point where there was only the personality left of their human past. In some cases, like with Lily's, she's still retained much of her pre-transformation appearance, only that it was enhanced so to speak - making her beautiful when she had been simply pretty at best.

At the age of eighteen, Lily chose to volunteer for the program. They had promised food, shelter, and - to her - exorbitant amounts of money exchange for her services. It was a chance to get out of the street and, perhaps, lead a normal life, so she took it. She was found to be compatible with the nine tailed Fox, and so she became one herself. The girl who had once street urchin was transformed into living weapon, sent to fight those who would rule over them.

The war lasted ten years, but in the end they were able to push back the aggressor, and sealed off access to their Worlds, and so ensured their safety. In those years, Lily changed. She had promised herself never to love again, to never let herself be drawn in with someone only to lose them. Yet she found herself surrounded with people she now consider to be friends: Sindri Haynes, Alice Blackwood, Lilith Akhtar, Celica Dancer, and finally Tsukiko - a young, japanese woman. She seemed to be one whose flippant and never-ending happiness and joy seemed to be the primary traits of their character. And in spite of her sixteen year old promises, the stone around Lily's heart cracked and she slowly, but surely, learned how to love and trust again. This woman gave her the courage to be compassionate, and while she still has a long way to go, she is miles ahead from where she started.

Now, Lily has come to the one place where she knows that there is a chance to complete her family. A chance to repay the man who, in spite of having almost nothing, still decided to take care of a little child who had nothing, and no one.

Wish: A family - for Max to be brought back to life, to live with her and Tsukiko, her lover, as a family.

Echo:
A suburbian area but clean and well maintained houses on either side of the road, and within each house is a replicate of the rooms where Lily and Tsukiko lived during the war, as well as the abodes of her friends. The gardens are simple and, while not overgrown, are not entirely well kept either. Simple grass lawns, with the occasional small pond or flowerbed.

Frenzy:
It happens that Lily is overcome by Rage, when something she truly cares about is threatened or ridiculed in front of her. Were such a thing to happen, her Frenzied state would cause her tails and nails to turn black, her irises becoming yellow and feral looking. In this state she is not quite out of control, but rather loses every shred of compassion and mercy, instead focusing on the single purpose that is the ruination of any obstruction in her path.

When frenzied, Lily's illusory powers become tremendously more powerful to the point of allowing her to warp reality. Provided she is intimately familiar with an individual, object, or area, she becomes capable of making it real for the duration of her Frenzy, upon the end of which it disappears or returns to normal. In essence, she can alter the surrounding terrain (make a cityblock into a dense forest, fx.), create replicas of old friends and comrades, as powerful as they are in life, and/or temporarily create or alter objects (make a knife into a sword, or a stick into a spear).

[It goes without saying that she cannot erase an opponent from existence, or grant her own wish. Only inanimate objects and flora are eligible 'targets' for having their reality manipulated]

Inventory:

• Phylactery
• Flask
  
  • Transmutes any liquid poured in, into a golden healing tonic.
• Glasses
  
  • Provides x-ray vision
• Phoenix Feather
  
  • Revives a dead person in a shower of light, but is consumed.
• Globe
  
  • Projects a holographic map of the entire city. Also usable as a key for a certain machine.
• Longsword
• Automatic Rifle (Brucie)
• 60 Rounds (30 in rifle, 30 in spare) (Brucie)
• 2 Frag & 2 Smoke grenades (Brucie)
• 4 Rockets for Brucie's 'Launcher (Brucie)

The Crucible - Winner Take All

I told myself I wasn't interested. I told myself I could do without... then I started reading stuff and, well, here I am, ~10 hours after deciding to write a character. Rework of an old one.

And yes, I do like lilies.

I hope everything is in order.

Inari

Name: Lily Strider
Alias: Inari
Race: Kitsune/Fox Spirit (was once human)
Sex: Female
Class: Trickster
Appearance: As a human Lily might have been described as simply pretty, but following her transformation from human to something with mythological, there is no denying her striking, youthful, beauty. She is a comparatively tall woman, standing at 175cm, built slender and athletic yet with prominent assets, who presents herself with a calm and oftentimes aloof front - standing straight-backed and observant.

While not immediately obvious, closer inspection will reveal and Eastern Asian heritage, mixed with European blood, granting her large, expressive eyes, coloured a brilliant blue - brown, when she was still human - full lips, and a fair, heart-shaped face that gives her a surprisingly gentle look, counteracting the feral nature that her slitted pupils, elongated canines, and large, vulpine ears atop her head, seem to imply. Perhaps most important of all regarding her mythological side, are the nine, snow white, fox tails, growing out from behind her, each almost as long as she is tall and - were she to be a judge - delightfully fluffy and soft.

Of the features she retained from when she was human, her hair is the most noticeable. Hanging free, the cascades of jet black hair, falling down her back, would reach to her thighs; straight and thick. She, however, most often wears it in one thick braid, tied at the end with a red silk ribbon gifted to her by her lover once. Like her hair, she wears her finger nails long and straight, tapering to a softly rounded point at the end, and perpetually coloured a purpleish blue.

While she would enjoy to wear almost any and all kinds of dresses, at any given day, current situation taken into consideration she is most likely found wearing a short, dark jacket over a white shirt, dark leggings and a long, loose skirt.

Equipment:
Short of her own clothes, Lily is a fighter without weapons, preferring instead her wits and quick reflexes. She does have with her a pack of food and other necessities.

Abilities:
Lily is a quick and agile individual, possessing speed and agility beyond human limitations. Besides various tricks of the trade like pickpocketing, deft and nimble finger, gymnastics, parkour, and the skill to hide almost anywhere, Lily possesses vast magical powers focused almost solely around the illusory and evocation schools.

Thanks to the relatively limited repertoire of abilities her transformation granted her, she has been able to become incredibly skilled in their use in the just ten years that she has had them. These abilities include, true to the the mythology, being able to conjure and control fire and lightning, not to mention vivid and intricate illusions, capable of not only tricking the eyes, but also the other four senses. The power of her illusions, so to speak, is determined by how much her opponent believes them to be true. She could conjure the image of a boulder and let it fall down upon her adversary, and if they believed to be real, they would feel the impact and the pain as if it were real, however they would not be hurt by it, only believe so. Essentially, the more gullible or less thoughtful her opponent is, the higher the chances that her illusions will work as intended.

Until the matter of destructive abilities, she has a total of three types of magic: Fire, lightning, and force. Starting with force, it is the least complicated and most basic use of her magic. She is simply sends forth a wave of nearly invisible kinetic energy at short to medium range. It is a simple cantrip that, none the less, packs enough of a punch to dent a one inch steel plate.

Fire and lightning are somewhat more complex - the friction from her tails moving against each other, creates and stores up electricity for Lily to use, and unleash. This means that, to be observant, rapid movements of her tail is a tell for when she is planning to use her lightning. The range of this is anywhere from melee to long range, as is the voltage and amperage. This means that she can replicate a taser by touching, or creates a veritable lightning strike by unleashing it all at once. More powerful strikes requires more power, and so she needs more time to refuel afterwards.

Fire obeys the same rules as lightning, in that she uses the friction of her tails to generate heat that becomes her foxfire: Blue orbs of flame the size of a tennis ball. The difference here is that she cannot store up "fuel" for these, but has to generate it on the go. Doing so makes number of foxfires materialize in the air around her, moving under her command. She can then fire them at her opponents, resulting in detonations equal to that of small rockets each.

Fighting Style:
Lily is a trickster, which means that she is not someone to directly confront an opponent. She has the ability to unleash devastating attacks, but doing so drains her and leaves her vulnerable until she can charge up more electricity. For that reason she utilizes her own craftiness to avoid direct confrontation whenever possible. Instead she uses her illusions to misdirect and mislead her opponent, either tricking them into thinking that she is somewhere that she isn't, or that some attack is incoming when there isn't any. She likes to take her time to analyse her opponent, using the time illusion by her to spot weaknesses and opportunities, and strike at the most opportune moment.

For example, she might simply create an illusion of her standing at X, while she is actually a few steps to the left of that space bending the light around her to render herself invisible, letting her opponent charge at X expecting an easy hit, only for Lily to hit them in their unprotected flank as they pass on by.

She might use lightning to stun of fire to blind, further allowing herself to cause confusion and discord around her opponent. She thrives in misdirection, making her opponent think that an attack is coming from the front, when in actuality she is behind them, ready to zap them.

Against foes that can not reliably be fooled by her trickery, she instead hides and strikes from a distance, setting up illusory traps that, if nothing else, will momentarily confuse her adversary and give her time to set up for a lethal strike.

Personality:
Lily is not a kind person.

That is an important thing to remember for those that know her. She grew up an orphan, living alone in the Streets save for one man who cared for her in her childhood. That life has hardened her, leaving little place for a pleasantries and kindness four of those with whom Lilly shares nothing, or very little. That is not to say, however, but she is without compassion, for who knows more about compassion than someone who has experienced it so little? She has not become jaded like everybody else has. She knows what true kindness is, what true compassion is about. Things that so many others take for granted - and neighbour coming by with a slice of their Sunday pie, or the presence of family - are so incredibly precious to her, that she would do anything to protect what she has.

So while she is not kind, that does not mean that she does not sympathise with others in ways that no one else does. And though she usually acts rough and aloof, the shells she has formed around her heart, hides a compassionate soul that understands loss, grief, loneliness, and love in ways that so many others never even consider. To her, love from a family is not something that is expected, but love in general is something that has to be well and truly earned.

Bio:
Who ever thought but there would be more than one world in existence? Not planets, but dimensions. A universe like ours only different - key points in time having been altered in such a way, that everything had evolved and changed in new and unimaginable ways. And to live in one where every mythological creature had returned from the legends not half a millennia past?

Lily Strider, street urchin, would never have thought that possible had that not been her reality - living in a world connected to four other realms, different yet similar. Then again her life and everyday was focused around trying to find food and shelter. Dry days were difficult, wet days even worse. Even the hot days, that normal people looked forward to, brought with them their own sets of challenges. Where are cold days made it difficult to stay warm, hot days makes food spoil quicker which can be just as disastrous as being sick in the winter.

Lily lived with a man called Max since the first day she could remember. She had no neither mother or father or siblings, familiar only with the same old alleys every night and, of course, Max. The only person she had to look up to, and the only person she loved. She never knew why she lived in the streets off some suburb outside of London, only that it had forever been her life, and it most likely would for ever be alive. It was here that she learned to pick pocket, steal, run, hide, and use her head to survive as she had no other choice, or go hungry. Max had taught her much, but even his time on this earth would not be eternal.

One winter, when the weather was especially harsh, Max had given her his blanket when she sat freezing one night only to fall sick himself. From that point on it was a downhill road. Max through more and more sick and more sick as the days passed, insisting that Lily should keep what she found for herself, rather than worry about an old man like him, he used to say. She would refuse, citing that she would help him recover however long it took, and he continued to repeat that she ought to look after herself and not him. He continued to say this until he could say it no more, and lay still one spring morning. That was the day Lily closed off her heart.

From that day onwards, Lily Strider lived her life alone, caring for naught but her own survival. A couple of years later, and a war broke out. The four realms that had, until now, lived in peace with each other experienced serious strife for the first time. The largest of the four realms, thought it would be better if they were all governed by the same body. When the preposition was shut down by the leaders of the other three Realms, play directed by effort and more militaristic approach. It quickly conquered the smallest of the realms, arming its soldiers with their own technology and set them unto a war of conquest against the others. The world in which Lily lived was the third strongest, they're only ally now being the second strongest. And efforts to combat the advanced technology of their would-be invaders, they joined forces to create technology which would effectively make a human into one of the mythological creatures their roamed the worlds.

With the aid of some of these mythological creatures, they managed to develop something akin to Gene splicing: Altering a recipient to the point where there was only their personality left of their human past. In some cases, like with Lily's, she's still retained much of her pre-transformation appearance, only that it was enhanced so to speak - making her beautiful when she had been simply pretty.

At the age of eighteen, Lily volunteer to the program. They promised food, shelter, and - to her - exorbitant amounts of money exchange for her services. She was found to be compatible with the nine tailed Fox, and so she became one herself: A once street urchin transformed into living weapon, sent to fight those who would rule over them.

The war lasted ten years, but they were able to push back the aggressor, and sealed off access to their Worlds. In those years, Lily changed. She had promised herself never to love again, to never let herself be drawn in with someone only to lose them. Yet she has found herself surrounded with people she considers friends: Sindri Haynes, Alice Blackwood, Lilith Akhtar, Celica Dancer, and finally Tsukiko - a woman born Japanese and the one whose flippant and never-ending happiness and joy in life, cracked the stone around Lily's heart and showed her how to love again. She gave her the courage to be compassionate, and while she still has a long way to go, she is miles ahead from where she started.

Now, Lily comes to the one place where she knows that there is a chance to complete her family. A chance to repay the man, in spite of having almost nothing, still decided to take care of the child that have even less.

Wish: A family - for Max to be brought back to life, to live with her and Tsukiko, her lover, as a family.

Echo:
A suburbian area but clean and well maintained house either side of the road, and within each house is a replicate of the rooms where Lily and Tsukiko lived during the war, as well as the abodes of her friends. The gardens are simple and, while not overgrown, are not entirely well kept either. Simple grass lawns, with the occasional small pond or other decorations.

Frenzy:
It happens that Lily is overcome by Rage, when something she truly cares about is threatened or ridiculed in front of her. Were such a thing to happen, her Frenzied state would cause her tails and nails to turn black, her irises becoming yellow and feral looking. Not only is her magic empowered, but so is her a physical strength and speed. Before she would avoid physical confrontation, but in this stage she is more than willing to personally introduce another person's face to the ground, tear their throat out with her nails, or be the cause of other kinds of gory mayhem. Her fire turns from blue to black, great explosion becoming something more like hand grenades, does the her lightning require less fuel, allowing for more frequent high-powered attacks. The final, and perhaps most terrifying change, is her illusions. Normally she uses them to distract and mislead, but during her Frenzy she all that oozes eldritch horrors; banshee wails splitting the air, the images of forgotten Horrors creeping out of every nook and cranny, seeking to devour anything living.

Inventory: Phylactery

Kapuchu's list of Stuff

Name: Lily Strider

Age: 23

Sex: Female

Shifter Form: Nine-Tailed Fox

Human Appearance:
Lily is roughly 170 high with a somewhat athletic build with a few muscles, but nothing extraordinary, being visible. It doesn’t take two glances to see that Lily has japanese blood in her veins, though mixed with something western. Her hair is pitch black and reaches absurd lengths, going down past her buttocks, though usually held in a braid. Her eyes are a dark brown—almost black—and peeks out from beneath a pair of equally dark eyebrows, a hard glint almost always visible in them, rarely ever absent. Her lips are prominent, with a rosy colour and noticeable pucker. She's nothing extraordinary when it comes to womanly assets either, being medium both up front and behind—perhaps even less than medium.

Shifter Appearance:

Here's a shameless steal to show what she looks like.

In her human form one might say that she’s decently pretty, but none would deny the fact that she’s a stunning beauty when she Shifts: Jet black hair the same length as before and kept in a braid as well, although there is enough hair to cover where her human ears would be. Her eyes are a striking summer blue with slitted pupils, giving her a slightly feral—and sometimes mischievous—look. Nine white tails extend from behind her, each about as long as she is tall and covering in soft, silky fur. All four of her canines are elongated, each a good centimetre longer than usual, giving her toothy smiles a bit of a dangerous edge to it all thanks to her fangs. It also makes her bites that much more painful, and potentially dangerous. Another thing that should be noted is that, in this form, she is the epitome of feminine beauty in accordance with the legends, with full lips, long eyelashes and so on; something which she's actually rather fond of, if she had to say so herself.

Where her nails are usually kept short for convenience’s sake, they are quite long when she's shifted, with an ever so slight rounded point to them, and coloured a purple-ish blue. Aside from that her hips become wider, as does her bosom become a fair bit larger. Where before her body had been somewhat tough thanks to her developing muscles and athletic lifestyle, they have now softened; giving her a body devoid of hardened muscles but rich with pleasant curves. Her facial structure also changes as well, becoming more sharper and a little angled; more fox-like as opposed to the roundness it had before.

Abilities:
Athletic and flexible, skilled at gymnastics/parkour, and a very fast and agile runner.

Powers:
True to the mischievous and trickster nature of the Kitsune in the legends, Lily's magical skills are focused mostly around illusions, enabling her to trick the senses of those around her; create ghost sounds and touches and make them see things that are not there. The more energy she uses the more powerful the illusions.

She also has a secondary magical gift which allows her to drain life energy from the area around her and use it for various purposes ranging from creating a light source to weaponizing it. The amount of energy she draws from anyone depends on how much they are willing to give, or how much more powerful her will is than theirs. She can freely take from plants and smaller animals, though she has to overwhelm the mind of other sentient beings, or larger animals, to drain theirs, though doing so is forbidden—A rule set in place by Ikari, the Kitsune Teacher.

Background:
Lily has never had an easy life, not by a long shot. For as long as she can remember she has been on the street, without easy access to food or shelter. She never knew her parents and has been forced to steal to survive more times than she can count. Her early life was spent in the company of an elderly person called Max, also a homeless man. For the first several years of her life he took care of her, sharing what food he had between the two of them. She remembers little about him, save that he was kind and patient, and always soothed her whenever she got sad, or cold. One fond memory from her past is one winter night when he gave up his coat for her so that she didn’t freeze.

Alas, fond though that memory may be, it was also what led to his death. He caught a harsh flu and, without money for medicine and no hospitals in the town, got deathly ill and died by the end of winter. She was six years old back then, and it took several years before she finally stopped blaming herself for his death, and realised that his old age was why he had died and not just because he got sick.

The town where she lived, she later found out, was located somewhere in England. She never really bothered to learn the name of it as her mind was more focused on finding food and a place to sleep each night, but staying unaware of her hometown was not quite possible. The town was Lichfield, a small-ish town with around thirty thousand citizens.

Aside from her time with Max, her life was rather uneventful. She scraped together what food and money she could, stole when money was scarce, and hoarded when she had sufficient.

She was a skilled thief. Quick with her fingers, and even quicker on her legs. There were hardly any roof she hadn’t been on, no alley she hadn’t sped through or hidden in when some gang or other criminal chased her. She lived on those skills, and constantly trained with whatever she had at her disposal to stay in shape; to stay quick and agile. It wasn’t always enough, however, as she was cornered from time to time, beaten up and had whatever food and money she had stolen. Life in a small city was never easy, and the multiple bruises she got was proof of that, and even though she often longed to just rob someone blind, hide the money somewhere safe and live a somewhat decent life, she didn’t. Stealing when she had to was something she was had no reservations with doing, but taking more than she needed… she did look down on that, especially those who stole from others who had so little—She wasn’t completely without morals, after all.

The day came, however, when the war erupted and the Shifter Program was started. She had heard, and noticed, the people going around recruiting everyone who would be willing to be test subjects. Lily initially volunteered, but due to her young age they wouldn’t accept her: A 13 year old was not old enough to become a potential soldier, regardless of her zeal. It was her chance for a proper life, a job, a room of her own. A chance for a life where she didn’t have to wonder if she’d go hungry to bed that night, wonder if she had to run from the police yet again for stealing. But they wouldn’t let her.

Seven years went by with her asking every time they came to Lichfield to recruit, but every time they told her no because she was too young. That was until she turned 20, and they returned to Lichfield after three years of absence. She was finally over 18 and, to her relief, they finally let her join. She didn’t hesitate even once about leaving her old life behind.

She was brought to a facility in Spain, the nearest one at the time, and was immediately subjected to test after test, swarmed by humans and Mythics alike, each of them trying to figure what type of creature she was compatible with. The next day came faster than she realised, and the knews were thrust upon her: She was a Kitsune, or Nine Tailed Fox. She was compatible with a Demon Class, specializing in illusions and speed.

She didn’t care much about the news at first, but all the excited voices of the other applicants talking about what kind of Mythic they were compatible, and how much they wished to be able to test the abilities they would get… It infected her, so little by little she was getting excited as well, wondering how she’d look and how many tails she’d get. One of the things about Kitsune, she’d heard some of the people in the facility say, was that they were one of the few where you could estimate their power by their number of tails. Usually a Shifter only had between four to seven tails, but the occasional eight-tailed Kitsune also popped up. Nine-tailed ones were exceedingly rare, with only a handful having appeared in the past ten years since the Shifters came to be. She secretly hoped for seven or more.

Finally came the day—after all the others had been tested for compatibility—when she would undergo the process of becoming a shifter. The memory is still vivid in her mind, of standing stark naked in that strange, vertical tube with electrodes attached to every conceivable part of her body; from chest to legs, scalp to feet. One might say that she was covered head to toe in electrodes.

The process itself wasn’t painful, as she was knocked unconscious almost the moment a strange, blue-ish liquid started flowing into the tube itself. No, there wasn’t any pain but what happened when she awoke might as well have been for how vividly she remembered it all. The first thing she noticed as she was brought back to consciousness, still stark naked inside that tube, was a heavy weight behind her. A quick glance revealed a multitude of tails. She had counted them, counted every one of them and felt the joy fill her as she counted five and she wasn’t finished counting yet. She had gotten the seven tails she had been hoping for, but… There wasn’t seven.

She was stunned. She could hardly comprehend the fact that she, a no-body from the streets of a small town in Britain, was a Kitsune with NINE tails. The rarest and, supposedly, most powerful of them. That alone made her soar: She was special, she wasn’t a nobody. She was _something_ now, and not just an unwanted rat on the streets. But that wasn’t all, she soon discovered.

They had a large, wall-length mirror installed in the room where the process took place, and when she looked in that she almost dropped her jaw. She had always prided herself on being fairly pretty—at least among the rabble on the street. She had no uneven teeth, no excessive amount of pimples, and she managed to keep relatively clean. But what she saw was beyond her imagining.

It wasn’t a word she would have used about anyone she just met or saw in passing, let alone herself, but in that moment the only word that came to mind was “Beautiful.” Her eyes were a summer blue, and slitted, as opposed to their usual dark brown. Her face had become more angular, sharper, and more fox-like. What’s more, the toned and athletic body she prided herself on was gone, replaced instead by the well kept and fit body of a gorgeous woman, wide hips and a bust far larger than what little she had had before.

It was the first time in years that she had cried. Just seeing herself like that, seeing, and feeling, that she was worth something. Not just because of her enhanced looks, but also because she knew that with this transformation, she could help others. Selfish though she might have been, she’d learned from Max early on that compassion goes a long way.

The following days brought with them several more discoveries. Among them the fact that her smell, hearing, and sight had been vastly enhanced when she Shifted, as well as her speed and raw physical strength being far above what she had previously had. One of the most annoying changes in her Shifter form, she decided, were the fangs. Sure they looked good and gave her smile a certain level of viciousness, but the amount of times she had to put healing salve on a lip she had punctured was high. Far higher than she’d like.

In the following two years from when she was shipped off to the Academy from the facility in spain, to when she started her final year in said Academy, a lot of things happened. For once, she learned how to fight and utilize her knew powers. She learned how to trick the minds of others, to change reality as she saw fit and how to draw the very life out of plants and trees, small animals and insects. She was forced through tactics classes, dragged through the mud when she didn’t meet the field trainer’s expectations.

She learned a lot, and while she appreciated that there was still one thing she gained that she treasured, and still treasures, above all else: Her girlfriend, Tsukiko, a fellow Demon Class Shifter, and a Bakeneko—a two-tailed Cat-and-Human hybrid with the ability to divide herself into two, one tail staying with each of the ‘copies’. She was a sweet japanese girls, and one of the few who managed to get past her tough exterior, and touch and thaw the frozen heart within her. They hit it off early, and their initial friendship bloomed into something more in the months following their arrival at the Academy.

Now they’re inseparable, spending much of their free-time together and sparring when they get the chance.

As for Lily, so far she’s enjoying her stay at the Academy. For the first time in her life she has a bed and a room for herself. She doesn’t have to worry about food, or how to not get cold during the winter.

If it means that she’ll have to fight and put her life on the line to pay back for all of that, then so be it. At the very least, she spent the last of her life being happy if things go bad.

Personality:
As opposed to the kind nature of Ikari, Lily is quite the rough girl. Her life on the streets has made its mark on her, making her aggressive and distrustful. She’s used to having very little, and what little she has has always been in danger of being stolen. As such she’s very possessive and protective, suspicious of anyone she might find near her rooms getting a little too close to the few she cares about—Especially her girlfriend.

Despite this, she can be perfectly friendly and amicable if someone proves to her that they are trustworthy, though it doesn’t get rid of her tough exterior. Some might call her a Tsundere (made even more exasperating due to her japanese roots), and they might be right. She doesn’t open up easy, and she’s stubborn, but she isn’t impossible to befriend. She’s the kind of person you can count on when things go downhill if you have managed to win her over to your side.

Furthermore, she’s somewhat arrogant and a tad narcissistic, as well as being the kind of person who has trouble seeing the difference between right and wrong. That is not to say that has no regards for other people, but having lived a life where taking what you could from an exposed fruit stall or sneak the wallet out of some fat business man’s pocket has sort of made her indifferent to stealing, meaning that she’s not opposed to taking something if she feels that she has a need of it—something her girlfriend is trying to make her stop doing.

Other:
- She is very proud of her looks in her Shifter form, and can be caught admiring her naked self in the mirror if you “forget” to knock in the late evening before entering her room.

- She’s a lesbian and has a girlfriend who’s also a Shifter: A fellow Demon Class able to shift into a Bakeneko. Her name is Tsukiko, and she’s born Japanese.

- Her name was given to her by Max. Lily because he thought she was a pretty little girl, like a lily, and Strider because she was quick on her feet and faster than most kids her age.

- Her hair is as long as it is because she never really had a proper chance to cut it while living on the streets, so she just got used to it being so long.

- Lily is being taught Japanese by Tsukiko, and is decent at it so far, able to at least swear at it and do simple shopping in a japanese town. Longer conversations is something she’s still working on.

new version

Name: Lily Strider
Alias: Inari
Race: Kitsune/Fox Spirit (was once human)
Sex: Female
Class: Trickster
Appearance: As a human Lily might have been described as simply pretty, but following her transformation from human to something with mythological, there is no denying her striking, youthful, beauty. She is a comparatively tall woman, standing at 175cm, built slender and athletic yet with prominent assets, who presents herself with a calm and oftentimes aloof front - standing straight-backed and observant.

While not immediately obvious, closer inspection will reveal and Eastern Asian heritage, mixed with European blood, granting her large, expressive eyes, coloured a brilliant blue - brown, when she was still human - full lips, and a fair, heart-shaped face that gives her a surprisingly gentle look, counteracting the feral nature that her slitted pupils, elongated canines, and large, vulpine ears atop her head, seem to imply. Perhaps most important of all regarding her mythological side, are the nine, snow white, fox tails, growing out from behind her, each almost as long as she is tall and - were she to be a judge - delightfully fluffy and soft.

Of the features she retained from when she was human, her hair is the most noticeable. Hanging free, the cascades of jet black hair, falling down her back, would reach to her thighs; straight and thick. She, however, most often wears it in one thick braid, tied at the end with a red silk ribbon gifted to her by her lover once. Like her hair, she wears her finger nails long and straight, tapering to a softly rounded point at the end, and perpetually coloured a purpleish blue.

While she would enjoy to wear almost any and all kinds of dresses, at any given day, current situation taken into consideration she is most likely found wearing a short, dark jacket over a white shirt, dark leggings and a long, loose skirt.

Equipment:
Short of her own clothes, Lily is a fighter without weapons, preferring instead her wits and quick reflexes. She does have with her a pack of food and other necessities.

Abilities:
Lily is a quick and agile individual, possessing speed and agility beyond human limitations. Besides various tricks of the trade like pickpocketing, deft and nimble finger, gymnastics, parkour, and the skill to hide almost anywhere, Lily possesses vast magical powers focused almost solely around the illusory and evocation schools.

Thanks to the relatively limited repertoire of abilities her transformation granted her, she has been able to become incredibly skilled in their use in the just ten years that she has had them. These abilities include, true to the the mythology, being able to conjure and control fire and lightning, not to mention vivid and intricate illusions, capable of not only tricking the eyes, but also the other four senses. The power of her illusions, so to speak, is determined by how much her opponent believes them to be true. She could conjure the image of a boulder and let it fall down upon her adversary, and if they believed to be real, they would feel the impact and the pain as if it were real, however they would not be hurt by it, only believe so. Essentially, the more gullible or less thoughtful her opponent is, the higher the chances that her illusions will work as intended.

Until the matter of destructive abilities, she has a total of three types of magic: Fire, lightning, and force. Starting with force, it is the least complicated and most basic use of her magic. She is simply sends forth a wave of nearly invisible kinetic energy at short to medium range. It is a simple cantrip that, none the less, packs enough of a punch to dent a one inch steel plate.

Fire and lightning are somewhat more complex - the friction from her tails moving against each other, creates and stores up electricity for Lily to use, and unleash. This means that, to be observant, rapid movements of her tail is a tell for when she is planning to use her lightning. The range of this is anywhere from melee to long range, as is the voltage and amperage. This means that she can replicate a taser by touching, or creates a veritable lightning strike by unleashing it all at once. More powerful strikes requires more power, and so she needs more time to refuel afterwards.

Fire obeys the same rules as lightning, in that she uses the friction of her tails to generate heat that becomes her foxfire: Blue orbs of flame the size of a tennis ball. The difference here is that she cannot store up "fuel" for these, but has to generate it on the go. Doing so makes number of foxfires materialize in the air around her, moving under her command. She can then fire them at her opponents, resulting in detonations equal to that of small rockets each.

Fighting Style:
Lily is a trickster, which means that she is not someone to directly confront an opponent. She has the ability to unleash devastating attacks, but doing so drains her and leaves her vulnerable until she can charge up more electricity. For that reason she utilizes her own craftiness to avoid direct confrontation whenever possible. Instead she uses her illusions to misdirect and mislead her opponent, either tricking them into thinking that she is somewhere that she isn't, or that some attack is incoming when there isn't any. She likes to take her time to analyse her opponent, using the time illusion by her to spot weaknesses and opportunities, and strike at the most opportune moment.

For example, she might simply create an illusion of her standing at X, while she is actually a few steps to the left of that space bending the light around her to render herself invisible, letting her opponent charge at X expecting an easy hit, only for Lily to hit them in their unprotected flank as they pass on by.

She might use lightning to stun of fire to blind, further allowing herself to cause confusion and discord around her opponent. She thrives in misdirection, making her opponent think that an attack is coming from the front, when in actuality she is behind them, ready to zap them.

Against foes that can not reliably be fooled by her trickery, she instead hides and strikes from a distance, setting up illusory traps that, if nothing else, will momentarily confuse her adversary and give her time to set up for a lethal strike.

Personality:
Lily is not a kind person.

That is an important thing to remember for those that know her. She grew up an orphan, living alone in the Streets save for one man who cared for her in her childhood. That life has hardened her, leaving little place for a pleasantries and kindness four of those with whom Lilly shares nothing, or very little. That is not to say, however, but she is without compassion, for who knows more about compassion than someone who has experienced it so little? She has not become jaded like everybody else has. She knows what true kindness is, what true compassion is about. Things that so many others take for granted - and neighbour coming by with a slice of their Sunday pie, or the presence of family - are so incredibly precious to her, that she would do anything to protect what she has.

So while she is not kind, that does not mean that she does not sympathise with others in ways that no one else does. And though she usually acts rough and aloof, the shells she has formed around her heart, hides a compassionate soul that understands loss, grief, loneliness, and love in ways that so many others never even consider. To her, love from a family is not something that is expected, but love in general is something that has to be well and truly earned.

Bio:
Who ever thought but there would be more than one world in existence? Not planets, but dimensions. A universe like ours only different - key points in time having been altered in such a way, that everything had evolved and changed in new and unimaginable ways. And to live in one where every mythological creature had returned from the legends not half a millennia past?

Lily Strider, street urchin, would never have thought that possible had that not been her reality - living in a world connected to four other realms, different yet similar. Then again her life and everyday was focused around trying to find food and shelter. Dry days were difficult, wet days even worse. Even the hot days, that normal people looked forward to, brought with them their own sets of challenges. Where are cold days made it difficult to stay warm, hot days makes food spoil quicker which can be just as disastrous as being sick in the winter.

Lily lived with a man called Max since the first day she could remember. She had no neither mother or father or siblings, familiar only with the same old alleys every night and, of course, Max. The only person she had to look up to, and the only person she loved. She never knew why she lived in the streets off some suburb outside of London, only that it had forever been her life, and it most likely would for ever be alive. It was here that she learned to pick pocket, steal, run, hide, and use her head to survive as she had no other choice, or go hungry. Max had taught her much, but even his time on this earth would not be eternal.

One winter, when the weather was especially harsh, Max had given her his blanket when she sat freezing one night only to fall sick himself. From that point on it was a downhill road. Max through more and more sick and more sick as the days passed, insisting that Lily should keep what she found for herself, rather than worry about an old man like him, he used to say. She would refuse, citing that she would help him recover however long it took, and he continued to repeat that she ought to look after herself and not him. He continued to say this until he could say it no more, and lay still one spring morning. That was the day Lily closed off her heart.

From that day onwards, Lily Strider lived her life alone, caring for naught but her own survival. A couple of years later, and a war broke out. The four realms that had, until now, lived in peace with each other experienced serious strife for the first time. The largest of the four realms, thought it would be better if they were all governed by the same body. When the preposition was shut down by the leaders of the other three Realms, play directed by effort and more militaristic approach. It quickly conquered the smallest of the realms, arming its soldiers with their own technology and set them unto a war of conquest against the others. The world in which Lily lived was the third strongest, they're only ally now being the second strongest. And efforts to combat the advanced technology of their would-be invaders, they joined forces to create technology which would effectively make a human into one of the mythological creatures their roamed the worlds.

With the aid of some of these mythological creatures, they managed to develop something akin to Gene splicing: Altering a recipient to the point where there was only their personality left of their human past. In some cases, like with Lily's, she's still retained much of her pre-transformation appearance, only that it was enhanced so to speak - making her beautiful when she had been simply pretty.

At the age of eighteen, Lily volunteer to the program. They promised food, shelter, and - to her - exorbitant amounts of money exchange for her services. She was found to be compatible with the nine tailed Fox, and so she became one herself: A once street urchin transformed into living weapon, sent to fight those who would rule over them.

The war lasted ten years, but they were able to push back the aggressor, and sealed off access to their Worlds. In those years, Lily changed. She had promised herself never to love again, to never let herself be drawn in with someone only to lose them. Yet she has found herself surrounded with people she considers friends: Sindri Haynes, Alice Blackwood, Lilith Akhtar, Celica Dancer, and finally Tsukiko - a woman born Japanese and the one whose flippant and never-ending happiness and joy in life, cracked the stone around Lily's heart and showed her how to love again. She gave her the courage to be compassionate, and while she still has a long way to go, she is miles ahead from where she started.

Now, Lily comes to the one place where she knows that there is a chance to complete her family. A chance to repay the man, in spite of having almost nothing, still decided to take care of the child that have even less.

Wish: A family - for Max to be brought back to life, to live with her and Tsukiko, her lover, as a family.

Echo:
A suburbian area but clean and well maintained house either side of the road, and within each house is a replicate of the rooms where Lily and Tsukiko lived during the war, as well as the abodes of her friends. The gardens are simple and, while not overgrown, are not entirely well kept either. Simple grass lawns, with the occasional small pond or other decorations.

Frenzy:
It happens that Lily is overcome by Rage, when something she truly cares about is threatened or ridiculed in front of her. Were such a thing to happen, her Frenzied state would cause her tails and nails to turn black, her irises becoming yellow and feral looking. Not only is her magic empowered, but so is her a physical strength and speed. Before she would avoid physical confrontation, but in this stage she is more than willing to personally introduce another person's face to the ground, tear their throat out with her nails, or be the cause of other kinds of gory mayhem. Her fire turns from blue to black, great explosion becoming something more like hand grenades, does the her lightning require less fuel, allowing for more frequent high-powered attacks. The final, and perhaps most terrifying change, is her illusions. Normally she uses them to distract and mislead, but during her Frenzy she all that oozes eldritch horrors; banshee wails splitting the air, the images of forgotten Horrors creeping out of every nook and cranny, seeking to devour anything living.

Inventory: Phylactery