kapuchu

The Crucible - Winner Take All

@ProPro

The Three Realms War [A DMC, Bayonetta and Darksiders RP]

Impressive, Lily thought, watching Souta proceed into the fighting. Even without his Firebrand active, he still managed to cause quite a lot of havoc. Minor demons they may have been, but they were still demons. For him to be able to wade into the mess that was on front of them was not small achievement. She didn't fight the smile that spread across her lips.

They had wandered for a good while before coming to the edge of the fighting, pushing through the tangled undergrowth with Fenn providing the primary source of their progress. Say what one would about him, but being as large as an elephant with teeth and claws certainly had its advantages in environments such as this. They had only just arrived at the battlefield and were supposed to watch and observe before going in. Or so Lily had believed. She hadn't gotten to suggest her plan of action before Souta had already entered the fray, and while she appreciated his enthusiasm she couldn't quite help but think that he was being a bit too reckless. There were, after all, demons and angels battling it out, but to her surprise he actually managed to hold his own. What's more, he fought well and killed. He came out on top and outmaneuvered everyone who came near him.

He's good, she thought, allowing her gaze to wash over the hordes instead. Mephisto, Scarecrows, Assaults... None of them were particularly threatening, but there were a lot of them. Not only that, but there were angels at play as well. Souta was a human, and known to fight against demons, so his presence would be a surprise but not anything major. Lily and Fenn's appearances, however, would cause a stir. Both were demons, and seeing the fight other demons would sow confusion among the angels. Likely the less disciplined ones would open fire on sight. She wasn't afraid that the angels would start to swarm them, but they were a risk to keep in mind.

That being said, however, she had demons to fight. For once, she was happy that she had made certain to wear baggy clothes, complete with slits in the back. Fenn had already left her behind, barrelling through demons and angels alike, and she wasn't far behind. She rushed out of hiding, taking one long leap, then another, her body morphing. By the third leap a pair of huge wings beat down along with her, sending her high into the air. She let gravity take effect and plummeted to the ground, her roar joining the screams of demons and angels alike. The first scarecrow she met never even saw her coming, crushed underneath her weight as she crashed onto the ground - a half-dragon amidst demons.

This, she decided, wasn't a fight to be fought with weapons. She had found a way to improve her draconic form, and now was the time to test it. The mausoleum was off to her left, so that was where she would go.

Her presence, much as expected, had drawn the attention of angels and demons alike, and the first pack of enemies assaulted her. Three scarecrows circled her and struck. She bore down upon the first, grabbing its blade-arm with one hand and lifted it off of its feet. With a mighty heave she threw it to the side and sent it crashing into its companion. The third came from behind, sprinting towards her with its bladed leg. It spun and cut across her back, eliciting a grunt but nothing more. Lily turned, eyes aglow with fire and reached out. It jumped, out of reach, and she pursued. Jumping forward with a beat of her wings, crashing into it and forcing it down on the ground, her claws sinking into its shoulders.

She opened her mouth, tasting the smoke that flowed out, feeling the heat in her chest, and then she breathed. Fire poured from her maw: molten red and orange, covering not only the scarecrow itself but the immediate area around them drying and cracking the ground. She rose and turned, slamming her tail down on what remained of the scarecrow, scattering its ashes. From ahead charged an Assault, javelin-like claws extended and, quicker than she had anticipated, shot them at her. She didn't slow down, instead bringing up an arm to bat the projectiles aside. One imbedded itself shallowly in her arm, but the other two ricocheted off of her scales. They met in a violent confrontation, the Assault using its armoured head to divert her first strike, biting into her other arm.

Scales cracked and pain flared. She took hold of its upper jaw and pried it off of her arm while ignoring the pain flaring from where it was biting down on her hand. She instead took hold of its back leg with her other arm and, without preamble and with a sickening crack, slammed it back-first onto her knee and let it drop limply on the ground.

Ahead of her, Fenn continued his charge, crushing angels and demons alike that got too close. As his - for the time - mistress, she would not be outdone. She jumped into the air, beating her wings hard to gain altitude. She wouldn't have much time before winged demons, and angels, started attacking her, but she had some. She held still as much as she could in the air and let out another breath, bathing the ground in fire, incinerating denizens of hell and heaven without discrimination. Anyone that got too close to her flames were burnt. She snapped her jaws closed, cutting off the fire and returned to the ground with a powerful beat of her wings, flattening an unlucky mephisto with a wet squelch, it having lost its cloak previously.

She looked up, seeing Fenn's tremendous form wreaking havoc in the battle, heading towards their goal. The mausoleum was up ahead, not far ahead of Fenn. He was covered in blood, broken bodies strewn around him. This was where he was at home: on a battlefield, surrounded by death and the force that decided the tide of the battle. She twitched, gritting her teeth. A heat stirred in her chest, and it wasn't anger, nor bloodlust. It was something else, something potentially even worse and even more dangerous.

Pride.

Holding such a position was not his right. It was hers. Fenn was indeed powerful, but he was not her superior. I am stronger, she thought, muscles tensing, and I will prove it.

She ran forward, into the throng separating them. Angels or demons - didn't matter. Anything that got in her way died. She took hold of an unfortunate angel's head, using him as a club until his neck broke, then discarded him by throwing him at the nearest assailant, knocking it - a scarecrow - off balance. From the side came another scarecrow, its eerie visage having no effect. She cut its bladed arm with her own, scales cracking but holding. She swung her tail around like a battering ram, hitting it hard enough to break the spine of a solid being, but instead it was simply thrown away, its arm almost tearing at the socket from where Lily still held onto the blade. She took hold of its shoulder and heave, ripping off the arm with a squelch and thrust the blade through the scarecrow and threw it away.

Her next opponents were perhaps luckier, their ends quicker. A trio of Assaults sprang at her, the first she backhanded aside where it skidded to a halt some distance away where an angel took it upon itself to skewer it. The second she caught mid-jump with her tail, lashing upwards to send it sailing over her where it landed, still alive but momentarily groggy. The third came from the front and jumped at her, mouth open and going for the throat. She intercepted it mid-jump, grabbing it around the neck with one hand, her claws digging into its neck. She forced it down onto the ground and bore over it, her other hand forming a fist. It struggled, but to no avail. It was outmatched. Lily grinned and struck, caving in its skull with a single, powerful strike.

Shaking the gore off her hand, she looked up. She was near the mausoleum. Not far now. But there were still some foolish enough to think they could stop her. Well, their choice. She inhaled deeply and leaned back, then let out her most powerful breath yet, a scorching cone of fiery destruction spewing from her mouth. Those that weren't finished off by it were jumping aside, leaving a relatively clear path ahead. She entered a sprint and set towards the mausoleum, dispatching any that still got in her way with ruthless efficiency.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

Finally done. Four days in the making or so (5, maybe?)

Next post will be the first "combat post" with our resident musician.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

There was a Shadow.

For all intents and purposes it was a normal shadow - an area on which the sun did not shine directly, due to the rays being intercepted by something physical. The very same applied here, which would have made the shadowy ordinary, had it not been for where it was.

Eclipses were not unheard of. In fact, where Lily came from, there existed beings who could create en eclipse if they so desired. But eclipses were the product of the moon blocking the sun, and covered enormous swathes of land. This, however, was smaller. And the shadow was not so much on the ground.

It was on the clouds.

Above even the clouds, was something so large that it cast an enormous shadow upon the clouds, shrouding the city of Echoes in near-perpetual twilight. It was as large as Draco - a nickname the dragon had grown fond of - when he unveiled his true form, perhaps even larger still. And it just hovered there. Silent. Looming. From this distance it was difficult to decide exactly where exactly it hovered. It was not directly above, that much she could tell, but even then only a general direction could be ascertained. North, she thought. She didn't know what was that way, except more of this city that posed as their arena. What even was there in this city? Oren had alluded to more treasures, like the enchanted flask she had received, being spread around the city, and even possibly obtainable should they help out some of the College staff, should she encounter them. It was a risk, seeing as she could never know exactly what she'd end up getting, but it was also an opportunity.

If all artifacts were of a similar level of power as the one she had received, then hoarding them might become a very valid tactic in the coming battles. If her estimations, based on what she had witnessed from it up until now, the Flask could severed limbs, and perhaps even otherwise mortal wounds. It was not an estimation she wanted to test, but if it ever came to it, at least she would have a solution. Moreover, it was an incredible trump card, being able to fully, or partially, heal her own wounds. If done stealthily, it could trick her opponent into believing her possessing innate regeneration, which would damage their morale seeing as they could not harm her - as seen from their perspective. At worst, they would know that she had a means to restore her vitality, and either seek to remove it from her, or beat her into submission with such force that she could not even muster consuming the elixir.

Enemies like those were her favourite. The easiest to outmanoeuvre.

Those were thoughts for later, however, as Lily, Brucie, and Mouse were outside. For the first time since their arrival in the case of the former two. The 'Drone' that Lily had spotted earlier had departed, allowing them to move without worrying about being spotted by some alien machine, of which they knew nothing. They now stood in the shade between two large warehouses, looking up at the sky; Brucie to Lily's left, Mouse to her right. The elixir she held carefully in a tail, letting the others form a cocoon around it even as she, and they, moved, preparing for the coming confrontation. She had expended all of her lightning yesterday, and so needed to store up as much as possible. She also still wasn't sure why Mouse had decided to stay. She had given him some food and a warm place to sleep, as well as company. But aside from that she had done very little for him. It certainly wasn't enough to earn the respect of most animals, but this one... It spoke of previous interaction with humans, or those similar to humans. Question was, who had he been with until then? At the end of the day it was an unimportant question, but still a small curiousity she wanted to quench at some point, if the chance revealed itself.

She brought her attention back to her surroundings, looking up the narrow alley they were in. It led to a wider road and the main entrances to the buildings themselves. She had a good idea of what was up there, even without a lot of prior knowledge of the area. All she had seen so far had been a bird's eye view of the surrounding lands when she first arrived, and though that told her little of the specifics, it gave her an idea. Disregarding the obvious entrances and more warehouses, it would lead to something of a main street in the district. But not one to take chances, Lily motioned for Brucie and Mouse to stay. "Stay here," she said and moved forward, her steps making nary a sound as she moved - just one of the perks of becoming what she was. Graceful movement had become second nature.

She reached the end of the alley in short order, having kept her tails up off the earthy ground so as to not kick up a dust cloud. Peeking around the corner, weaving a simple illusion around herself to make her less noticeable, she looked around. It was pretty much as anticipated with multiple doors to huge hangars, most closed and some opened, but nothing in the way of movement or signs of any recent activity. She glanced up, towards the roofs, and saw only a helicopter fly by, easily audible even from so high up. Other than that, however, there were no immediate threats so she waved at Brucie and Mouse to follow. The dog, surprisingly, moved even before Brucie did. And also moved with significantly less noise. I suppose that is what I get for teaming up with a guy like him, she mused.

"So what now?" Brucie asked, having the foresight to keep his tone of voice low, even if the gruff and somewhat grinding quality of his voice made it split the quiet easily.

"I'm not sure. The main road, so to speak, is here. And I'm sure it will lead somewhere, but I don't know exactly." She cast a glance at Mouse who had begun sniffing the immediate area around them, either out of curiousity or because he had found something. For now, he simply seemed curious. "I also don't want to just walk out there. Far too many angles of attack. Even with my hearing, I won't discount the fact that there are contestants in the tournament who can sneak up on me. And even if I were to be dumb and risk it, there's still my next opponent. I don't know where they are, so I could risk walking in the wrong direction."

Brucie seemed unconcerned, speaking as Lily had come to expect of him: Bluntly and informally. "Why don't ya just use one of those questions that pun-guy offered everyone?" She had spoken of the message to him during their dinner, and the question brought made her consider. Why, indeed, hadn't she?

"I don't want to waste it," she lied. "Not only that, but the guy's an ass. Don't want to deal with him." Last one wasn't a lie. But I can't just say that I had already forgotten about it.

Brucie, however, did not seem to catch the lie. He simply shrugged. "Up to you. Do whatcha wanna do."

Of course. Of course he'd say that. Sometimes he was like a slave, bound to share only her opinions unless ordered otherwise. But then again, it fit, didn't it? She had his soul, the thing most precious to him. Why would he not do as she pleased? ...Why indeed? She glanced at Brucie out the corner of her eye, keeping most of her attention on the mouth of the alley. He had been very enthusiastic about killing her when first they met, but now he was like a loyal friend, following her wherever she went. He even acted like a friend around her - albeit a rowdy one - something which she had never expected. Was this a common thing when you took someone's soul here? Did their allignment, so to speak, change? Did they actually become akin to friends to whoever defeated them? And if so, would they actually fight for them? Brucie had expressed interest in getting into fights, but was that for his own enjoyment alone, or would he actually be willing to fight alongside her, for her sake? And on top of that, would that mean that the more opponens someone took alive, the largr a fighting force they could have? It was something to consider. A question to ask. But later.

Now she had to decide what to do. Brucie had given her a good idea: To call upon Oren and ask for the direction to her opponent. It would be the easy thing to do, but she only got to do it three times. First, she wanted to rule out other options. That meant trying to find out if her opponent was nearby without the help of that... person.

She crouched down and put a hand on Mouse, getting his attention. "Do you smell anything?" She asked, not quite sure if she expected an answer or anything. He had been sniffing around quite a bit in the last few minutes, but he didn't see to have caught any interesting scents. The slight tilt of his head and flopping of his ears, however, told her about what she expected: He understood exactly nothing of what she had said.

Well then, she thought, forcing her ears to lay down across her skull, putting her hands over them to block out as much sound as she could. She then closed her eyes and, hoping against hope that she could smell anything herself.

The result was expected. Nothing. She could smell maybe a little bit of dog, and possibly sea water, because of Mouse and Brucie, but aside from that there was nothing. She removed her hands from over her ears and stood up again, earning a questioning look from Brucie which she pointedly ignored. Of course. Sense of smell increased just enough for cheese to get even more disgusting, but not enough to be actually useful. Joy. She eventually sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she would have to seek help from the single most obnoxious individual she had ever come across.

How someone can ever be more annoying than Sindri. Granted, he was at least interesting, Lily mused, and absently tapped the phylactery with a nail. She eventually mustered enough willpower to summon Oren. "But there's no button," she muttered out loud.

Brucie, having remained silent up until this point, looked over her shoulder and down at the phylactery - Lily to put a hand over her cleavage. He, however, paid no mind to it. "Why don'tcha just talk to it? Figure if there's no buttons, it's voice activated?" He blinked at the look she gave him, prompting him to continue. "Ya looked like you wanted to contact the guy like I said, and then mentioned no buttons. I figured it's cause you didn't know how to contact him." She shrugged his mechanical shoulders. "Just talk to it - him."

A part of her wanted to whine that he was irritating, but another - stronger - part of her wanted to just get it over with. That, at least, wouldn't make her appear petulant. So she grabbed the Phylactery by one of its syringes, pulling it up so that she could see it. "Oren," she began, "I need to speak with you."

Peppy as ever, the announcer's voice came in response only a few moments later. "Hello again, fluffer! Fraternizing with the enemy, are we? Then again, I really liked ol' Brucie, so in a way you're doing me -hell, even the world- a favor. I mean, the dude's like a mech shark! Or shark mech. AND he likes my puns. Could you ask for better?" He chuckled. "I guess you're asking for yourself, though. What can the great and powerful Oren do for you?"

I pity his parents. "You said that you could point us in the direction of our next opponent," Lily said tersely. "So tell me, where is he in relation to me?"

"I did say that, didn't I? Well, if I had to hazard a guess based on the tracking chips implanted in his phylactery, I'd say he's roughly in the realm of exactly half a mile west-northwest of your position. To be frank, I fear he's grown complacent in his recent victory. It'll be up to you to set him straight."

Obnoxious or not, Oren had given her tangible information to go on. No vague statements, only poor attempts at humour and wittyness. She ignored his last comment and instead looked to Brucie, who had overheard the conversation and was currently wearing a broad smile. Whether at the compliments toward him, or the ever-dry "fluff" jokes. She quickly decided that seeing a shark smile was even more off-putting than hearing a fomorian laugh.

"We head out," Lily said, craning her neck past the corner of the building. There still weren't anything of interest out there. "West-northwest he said. That means it's roughly-" she looked to her right where the main road lead to what she assumed was to more populated areas, then to the left where it seemed to lead to little but a junkyard. Granted, there were still buildings, but they were more run-down than functional. The ground was sand instead of dirt, too, and in the distance she swore she could see tiny shapes moving. Whatever, or whoever, these shapes were, they were brazen and unafraid. And there were more then one of them, which mean that it was either a potentially safe place to move in the open, or it an unsafe place: It all depended on how they treated newcomers and intruders.

Hopefully well.

She walked out on the main street and looked around her, and when no one sprung out to attack her she waved for Brucie and Mouse to follow. The road steadily transitioned from packed dirt to packed sand, and occasionally a mix of both dirt and sand. As they approached more and more of the metallic constructs in the distance became visible, and soon they were able to see a great collection of just about nothing. There were machines seemingly all over the place, spread haphazardly around with no clear pattern. She walked between two multi-armed contraptions each several times her height, uncertain what even this thing was supposed to accomplish.

"Looks like some junk yard for failed omnics," Brucie mused from behind her, drawing Lily's attention. She glanced at him over her shoulder, receiving a shrug. "Thinking robots where I come from. Went rogue some years ago and resulted in a war. Still trouble to this day."

Self-aware robots? That was something. Even where Lily came from they didn't have that kind of sophisticated software. Granted, they did have the ability to create pseudo-aware life, in the form of golems and the like. This did, of course, require someone capable of infusing the empty shell that was the golem with pseudo-life. Their respective worlds aside, what stood silently and lifelessly around them were metal giants, good for nothing but scrap or serving as a source of spare parts. By the looks of it, there had already been some parts stripped off of some of them. A smell of oil and dust permeated the area, much like an old workshop from Lily's world. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but certainly not entirely pleasant either.

A quiet whimper came from somewhere close behind her. Turning around she saw Mouse backing away from a bipedal mesh of metal and wires - back towards her. It stood looking at them near soundlessly, only a series of muted clicks and sounds of spinning parts gave away its functionality. Its single, large, mechanical eye blinked at them like a camera shutter once before it turned and walked away, its movements stiff and purposeful. As one would expect of a robot, Lily mused. At least it hadn't shown itself as being a threat, even if Mouse had been frightened by it. She knelt down and ran a calming hand over his neck and back, straining her ears to listen for any other movement in the vicinity. Perhaps luckily, that one robot was the only one near, and had just let them pass.

"No other robots nearby," she muttered, only loud enough that Brucie could hear. Straightening, she turned her back to where the robot had been, once more facing the towering piles of discarded metal junk and alien machinery. "Oren said my next opponent would be about half a mile this direction. If I'm not mistaken that probably means almost one kilometre, give or take a few. And that was well over ten minutes ago. So I would guess that he's somewhere in a radius of three hundred metres of us right now."

As she spoke, mostly to herself more than Brucie and Mouse, the former of the two stood and half-listened, his thoughts going somewhere else. Once Lily had finished her contemplations, Brucie cleared his throat to get her attention. "Say, fl-Lily, you mentioned fighting and such. I was wondering... would ya mind if I tagged along in 'em? I mean, you're strong and such yourself, but it can't hurt to have me on board. And I also noticed yesterday, when I asked about your tactics, that you never even mentioned me. I just... lemme be honest. I wanna fight. It's boring if I don't."

Lily met his honest - could sharks look honest? - gaze with a lifted eyebrow. One more so out of surprise than disdain. He had mentioned that he'd rather stick with her and find some ruckus to cause than just go back to normalcy, hadn't he? Not only that but he'd made it pretty clear that he would have just gone around, trying to find trouble on his own if she hadn't accepted his offer of staying with her as an ally. But he was right, she hadn't considered him when she planned how she would approach her next battle. She had always been a soldier, never an officer. She had received orders and fulfilled them, and sometimes when her orders were as simple as to just cause havoc, she had relied on her own capabilities more so than her fellow fighters. It had just been the way Demon-Class shifters like her fought. I suppose that's why I never became an officer. I'm not a very good teamplayer. She grimaced, looking past Brucie.

Thing is, he was right. He would be an asset, not a liability. He had the brawn and durability that she did not, and even with most of his ranged equipment destroyed, he was still a force to be reckoned with. He hadn't ever actually seemed to be in pain whenever she attacked him, and a soldier that wasn't deterred by pain was a terrifying to behold. So long as they knew their limits and didn't take hits for no reason, they were a force to be reckoned with.

In the end, Lily gave Brucie a nod. "Alright. You do cover for some of my weaknesses. I don't have any solid plans, but most likely you would be most useful to me as a distraction and front-line fighter. I may be fast enough to outrun a car, but I don't have the durability that you do, so if I suffer a solid hit, that might be the end of me. Having you on the front-line, however, will help at great deal. Sounds good?"

A broad smile stretched across Brucie's visage, his rows of teeth being as eerie as ever. He let out a hearty chuckle and, still grinning broadly, banged his chest. "Of course it sounds good! I get to pummel some sod into the ground? Couldn't be better. But now we only need to find him."

Despite herself, Lily couldn't quite help the smile that tugged at her own lips, the shadow of crow's feet appearing at the corners of her eyes. "Good to hear. He'll be relatively nearby. Look for someone who's human - I don't think I saw any robots when the rules were announced - that will most likely be our guy."

"Will do, Boss-Lady!"

Brucie's eagerness was infectious, and Lily felt her smile broaden, showcasing her long canines. "And you, Mouse," she whispered, scratching him behind one ear. "You make sure to stay near. Got it?"

Mouse sat down on his haunches, mouth opening and tongue lolling out. She chose to interpret his doggy grin as acknowledgement.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@Astarael42
Hmm... Would it be possible for us to make the next post a collab? I feel like dealing with Isabeau "collaboratively" will flow better, and not result in half a dozen weak posts.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@Monochromatic Rainbow
Because if she did bookmark it, you wouldn't have any questions to ask :D

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@Astarael42
Oooh. That's interesting.

Kapuchu's list of Stuff

I'd like to point out that this character is three years old, and somewhat cheesier and, well, not quite up to par as some of the other, more recent, ones.

Name: Nishino Tsukasa
Age: 24
Nationality: Japanese
Ethnicity: Asian
Sex: Female

Appearance:
Long, jet black, and wavy hair reaching down to the middle of her back. Often held in a ponytail when working/tinkering. She’s 160 cm (5’2 ft) tall with a slender build, though pear-shaped body; wide hips and posterior, yet a bosom in the lower end of average… or so she wants people to believe. They are, in fact, rather large but are kept it under wraps - literally: Bandages cover her chest and makes them appear much smaller than they actually are. Her eyes are a dark brown, bordering on black, a typical colour for one of her ethnicity. She typically wears a pair of tight fitting jeans and a tank-top that shows off parts of her toned stomach, although she can be seen wearing armour that looks hundreds of years out of date; it’s light and fairly easy to move around with (a smaller and lighter version of the typical Samurai Armour, created by herself).

Job: Tinkerer/gunsmith. She excels in tinkering around with weapons, finding ways to make them better and stronger. This ranges from rifles to melee weapons; if someone wants something, she’ll do it. Or lose her eyebrows trying.

Biography:
Nishino Tsukasa was born 6 years after the outbreak, 3006. Her parents were a couple of old constructions workers and had become enamoured with each other while trying to find a place to settle after the world seemingly went to hell. Nishino’s mother, however, became pregnant after the first six years of the outbreak, and soon gave birth to a girl. They had found a relatively safe refuge during their time trying to escape the initial outbreak, and one thing led to another.

Her early life was nothing special, if one doesn’t take into accounts the few times that some beast made its way into the compounds. She was somewhat sheltered, something which could be easily explained by just looking at the outside world. Her parents knew how brutal it was outside of the walls. She was a bit spoiled, if anything; being the pride and joy of her parents, after all.

When she was around ten, she came across a few books about the age-old japan, the place where she knew her parents came from despite living in the states. She quickly became fascinated with what she learned, especially the Katana and the armour of the age-old Samurai. She studied them extensively, trying to find every small bit of information she could about her homeland for the next five years, be it how to make the swords and armour, the history, of the country, or even the language despite her already having learnt it from her parents. Following her interest in the katanas were the curiosity of other weapons; how did they work? How were they made? That very curiosity drove her to try and tinker with smaller devices herself, from small catapults to fire pebbles with, to a rapid fire slingshot… thing.

Her easy life and childlike innocence wasn’t to last, however, as everything came crashing down one day when the refuge fell in 3021. Monster, for there were no other name for them, broke through the meager defences of the refuge and started tearing everything apart. She and her parents were some of the first to escape, taking everything they could carry as they ran.

It was a few weeks of tough survival before they found another refuge, a small one that was steadily growing. They got the name from one of the workers; The Refuge. They chose to settle down, her parents choosing the help with the construction of The Refuge, and Nishino continued her studies in weaponsmithing and tinkering, enjoying the peace she now had again after the gruelling few weeks of survival.

But even as she had grown accustomed to a somewhat peaceful life again, her world broke apart again only two years later. Only this time it couldn’t be salvaged. She was out and about trying to something to do, perhaps even find some metal scraps that she could try to make a sword -or anything- with. She kept looking for a few hours, at which point she then decided to go home to her parents. What she saw when she entered wasn’t the smiling faces of her mother and father, but the sight of their lifeless eyes staring at nothing as they lay on the floor in a puddle of their own blood. She didn’t even notice the thugs rummaging through their house for whatever food and useful items they had before guards came rushing through the door behind her and apprehended the men.

She found out later that her parents’ murderers had been exiled, and that they had broken in to steal food since they had nothing themselves. She didn’t believe it, or rather she simply didn’t care. The two people closest to her in her life had been slaughtered for food?!

That day, the kind and curious girl disappeared, leaving a shell behind that didn’t seem to care about anything but working on weapons and other devices. She continued her studies in weaponsmithing, trying to find as many blueprints for weapons as she could and learn how to make them blindfolded. She became withdrawn and pushed away most of the people that tried to get close to her, letting only a handful of others know how much her loss had wounded her.

She reasoned that if she had been there with her parents, she could’ve protected them. She knew how to handle a sword; she could’ve kept the men away. Why was she away when they needed their daughter the most?

Weapons, she thought, could protect her. Weapons, she knew, could protect others.

She dove into her work, soon becoming one of the best tinkerers and weaponsmiths of the Refuge.

Skills and Talents: Some skills in hand to hand combat. Extensive knowledge of weapons, both melee and ranged, as well as how to pick them apart and put them back together, and how to use them. She has also dabbled in old-school blacksmithing, using modern tools however. A bit of knowledge of electrical engineering, the main purpose being to use it for her weapons.

Primary Skill: Show her a weapon, of any kind, and she’ll have figured out how it works within a few minutes, and possibly even with one or two ideas of how to improve it at the same time.

Hobby: Blacksmithing. As old-school as it can be; hot coal iron, hammer and anvil. She finds herself using modern piston-hammers often, however, since it’s simply much, much easier. Bomb-making. While her focus is on weaponsmithing, she finds some joy in making things that “Go boom”.

Talent: Swordsmanship - Kendo, specifically. Moving quickly and silently - sneaking, Basically. Steady hands.

Negative Trait:
- Appears somewhat apathetic, as if she cares more about her own survival rather than that of others. It’s mostly true, but she’s simply withdrawn and difficult to get close to. “If I don’t get attached to anyone, I won’t get hurt when they’re gone.”

- Blames herself for her parents’ death.

Gear:
- 70 cm Katana
- 60 cm Katana
- Held in thicker sheath than the other. There is an empty room between the inner and outer
“wall” of the sheath which is filled with a highly flammable and long-lasting oil. Small vents
inside coats the blade in the oil, and a button on the hilt of the sword ignites a small spark at
the base of the blade, igniting the oil and giving her a flaming sword for a minute or two. A
safety mechanism makes it so that the button can’t be when the sword is in the sheath.

- 25 cm Wakizashi (a short version of the Katana)
- Canteen of Slush x 2
- Canned Food x 3
- Toolkit with spareparts for various weapons & few materials for bombs
- Enough materials for 3 more bombs, regardless of which type.
- 2 x Frag grenades
- 3 x Smoke Grenades
- 2 x Incendiary Grenades
- Small bag attached around her waist for the bombs.
- Long-range Sniper rifle. Incredibly accurate but with a lowered fire-power.
- 20 armour-piercing bullets
- 40 normal bullets
- Semi-Automatic Handgun - Medium fire-power, medium accuracy. Magazine size: 12
- 62 bullets/6 full magazines
- 3 x Roll of bandages
- 500 ml of the oil for her Flaming Katana
- Bagpack for carrying her items.
- A pair of rarely used safety goggles

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@ConteAmarula
Thank you for, well, being open to make changes :)

And I'm sorry if I annoyed you, and while it's a moot point at this point, I'd like to elaborate a bit on what I meant. When I say you took control of Aleksandra, I did not mean that you had her do anything. Rather, you had her do nothing. Lilian taking her sword, the shots hitting the creature, it pausing, and so on and so forth. There are quite a few points where Aleksandra could have done something, but in your post Lilian continues as if Aleksandra hadn't done anything. That was, essentially, my point. It's an honest mistake, really, assuming that X character proceeds with the same cause of action (or lack thereof) in the period of time that ones own character does their stuff. I have done it myself. Please understand that I am not doing this because I want to be a prick. Quite the opposite. I'm doing it because, if I don't, Mono would've had to contend with being overlooked, which is kind of a sour experience. I've had it happen to me, and I've done it myself. So, please, trust that I'm not out to be a dick.

Lastly, I apologise for being a stick in the mud and for calling you out. I realise I probably made you feel... singled out, I suppose, but that wasn't my intention. I just want everyone to get an equal opportunity in this RP :)

Also, as a side note, I'm not sure if either of you remember, but Lucie gave Aleksandra her revolver before she ran off to chase Isabeau a while back. As I recall, Aleksandra didn't register it, or dropped the gun, so there's a chance one of you'll find a fully loaded revolver in the grass somewhere nearby.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@ConteAmarula
Hmmm... Conte, I'm not one to usually grump or the like, but there's a few things in your post that don't quite... fit? Two things actually: Powerplay and Godmod.

Liliana being able to handle a gun is one thing, as that doesn't require a lot of physical strength, but being able to shove a sword through a skull? In her character sheet you've written that she can't lift anything more than an average size book, and twice that if within fifty feet. Not only is a skull really freaking tough (it's designed to protect the most important part of our bodies, after all), but a sword also isn't really all that great to pierce bone. If Liliana can't lift more than a few hundred grams in her Spectral Form, there's no way for her to realistically be able to pierce a skull with a sword. Nevermind the fact that your average arming sword is around an entire kilo in weight (so she wouldn't even be able to lift that, really).

And then there's, perhaps, the worst bit: Godmod. It's true that you didn't outright take control of Aleksandra, but everything that you've written is assuming that Aleksandra does nothing. I mean, her ankle is only sprained, and even if she's on the ground when Mono ended her last post, Aleksandra was still moving, not "lying still" as you imply.

I'm not Astarael, so I don't really have the authority, but I do think there's grounds to ask you to rewrite your post. It's not really fair to Mono that you just decide that Aleksandra does nothing, and that you break the limits of Lilian's powers.