Lucian was in his element. Fashion shows were like a second home to him. While he often got lost in his day to day life, the directionally challenged Lucian was able to perfectly navigate any venue. It was as though his compass' north star was the nearest dressing room.
Unlike his compatriots, Lucian was not a literal who within a fashion venue. No, his time on the runway made his face (but more importantly, his body) known to everyone in the fashion world. It wouldn't normally have been an issue, but his death was listed within celebrity magazines almost immediately. Of course, Lucian didn't exactly have the presence of mind to be aware of this fact. No, he was the sort of person to instantly cause a PR disaster on accident.
It was a good thing Lucian also had quickly tuned out Sigrun before she suggested to converse with the industry. No, Lucian had become preoccupied with something quite critical:
Cubes of cheese on toothpicks.
He was busy spiriting the little devils away while nobody was looking.
Frankly, it didn't quite matter if someone was watching. They'd simply see a bit of cheese float into the air and subsequently vanish. Instead, what caused him to keep it secret was the massive guilt about eating something so bad for him. Like a toddler without object permanence, if someone didn't see him eat it, it was like it never happened.
Thankfully, he remained close enough to the rest of the reapers that he could jump in if something happened.
With Victor, Orlando, and Verity comforting her, Maive felt a little better. She didn't mind that Verity took some water. After all, she had enough to go around. The fact that she returned it full of sea water confused Maive. At least she didn't throw it into the ocean.
Of course, Maive was then immediately smoked by the rage of the Irish.
Now awake and possessing a big gonk on her forehead, Sofia's attempt at mediation didn't really help Maive. She couldn't hear what she was saying. The ringing in her ears was too strong. Really, her senses didn't quite feel right. Her body felt fuzzy; there was no other way to put it. Her vision was steeped with indescribable colours that were both bright and dark. It was impossible to focus on anything but the tip of Imogen's finger. She couldn't see Frankie's breakdown as he clutched the ankles of another. She couldn't see off in the trees trying to Verity trying to rob a man of his modesty. Her legs didn't work. They usually did. But they collapsed as her knees touched the sand.
She had to make sure that others were taken care of. That was her responsibility. She was the type of person to bow her head, fight for eggs, and spend her free time helping others. Seeing people happy made her happy. But here everyone was. Stressed. Confused. Angry.
It was ugly.
She bawled.
She wailed.
Her well of emotions was flooding and Maive didn't know what to do besides cry.
With her critical blunder, Maive had sent the entire group ocean-bound. A cold splash of water didn't away her. Instead, she sunk. She sunk into a velvet-black sea as though it were a dream.
Cold. Eyes. Drifting black. Warmth. Searing warmth. Like a dream, it was difficult to remember what had happened. The newfound heat seemed to. The sudden fit didn't help her memory. She coughed and coughed, her throat desperate for any relief. Her hands had instinctively found their way into her backpack and quickly grasped one of her plastic bottles. The twist-cap could have easily been mistaken for a flying cork as she mashed and twisted it open.
With the water finally meeting her lips, she tried in vain to clear her mouth. The water only made her cough more as she choked. Her body unable to figure out what to do, it made a confused attempt to stop her fit. Maive gagged as her body made one final check to see if it needed to escalate.
Thankfully, it didn't. The contents of her stomach remained a mystery.
With her body no longer trying to reject water, she took a few small sips until her mind was in order. First, her surroundings. The strange landscape completely different from the rest of Europe. The fronds waving in the wind. The radiant waves that looked like someone had dyed the ocean.
They definitely weren't at HAGAY anymore.
Then she thought about why they were in such a place. Only one thing came to mind: the fact that she slipped and sent everyone careening. Her face had once again become blush. The tropic heat was worsened by the heat of embarrassment.
"Sorry!" The words quickly escaped Maive's lips as she gave a panicked bow. Even though Maive wasn't responsible for the sudden shift in location, the sense of guilt rapidly overwhelmed whatever rational thought she had. She was, frankly, a mess that could barely recognize the limp Sofia or the confused Daniel acting the part of a cornerman.
Maive, of course, gave a sea-side wave to the other students who had arrived. It would appear that the icebreaker group was reconvening once again. How nice, she thought to herself. They did seem fairly reserved. Most of them didn't say much as they arrived. Not necessarily a bad thing. The brunette boy--Daniel--spoke the most. The tall Victoria seemed nervous. The group was rounded off when Sofia had once again appeared to little fanfare but her own.
Of course, there was the sudden appearance of someone who wasn't present at the icebreaker meeting. Maive's eyes went wide and her face went flush as she looked away from the unrecognized student who was suddenly undressing. People didn't do that kind of thing in her home country. Well, perhaps those in well-developed cities with warm summer beaches did. Maive was a girl of the boonies. The most they did was kick off their shoes once they reached home.
More people began to undress in public, even though it was technically fine because they had swimwear underneath. Everyone else seemed to be much more prepared than Maive. She hadn't brought a swimsuit even with the implication of having to bring a towel. Not that she owned a swimsuit in the first-place. As the swimming pool was non-mandatory, there wasn't a school-issued swim uniform she had access to. She was lucky to not be in her uniform, though. She considered it too nice to get dirty. Her old and oversized clothes may had been threadbare in places, but they still had enough life in them to not immediately disintegrate if they touched the sea.
"I thought it was nice." Maive gave a polite reply to Sofia mentioning her note. Though, Maive didn't hazard a guess as to what her note was originally meant to be.
The group was pretty quickly split on whether or not leaping into autumnal waters was a good idea or not. The girl who Maive didn't recognize, Victor, Daniel, and Orlando were on team plunge. Victoria and Frankie were apprehensive. Imogen was downright hostile to the idea. Daniel was also flirting immediately and had his heart crushed immediately. It was another thing that brought roses to her cheeks. Maive herself was apprehensive about jumping into water. However, she was also one to both try things out and be peer pressured (despite her telling others to not be peer pressured). The water may be cold, but it would be no worse than one of Maive's cold showers.
Speaking of cold showers, Maive was definitely in need of one with so many of her cohorts ripping off their shirts and a certain someone's attempt at flirting and immediate rebuke. Secondhand embarrassment and all.
Then came the peer pressure towards Imogen. If it was towards herself, she'd have likely not noticed. Like a good noodle, she moved to stand between Imogen and Victor.
"No pressure!" She weirdly announced as her thoughts were moving faster than her ability in English could match. "The only want-to-be after the first step is wet." It wasn't the most convincing defence, especially since the colour of her face was closer to beetroot and her body seemed to struggle with how to place her arms.
- Lucian, moments before the concept of a reaper was explained to him.
Appearance
At 6'2" and a body type that could only be described as carved of marble, Lucian's presence in a room is self-evident. With his toned muscles, his abs still look like they could grind meat. Even though his attire is less ostentatious in death than it was in life, some strange habits of his still appear. Unsurprisingly, any shirt that finds its way onto his body tends to be removed within the hour. He's not quite picky what he wears. In fact, Lucian is the sort of person who would wear anything. This stems from him never actually buying clothes before; all of his outfits have been gifts from other people.
Weapon
Lucian's weapon is a humble pool cue. The weapon possesses the ability to form a set of 16 floating balls that can be used as ranged projectiles. The balls are limited to a 40m radius, at which point they naturally reflect as though striking a wall. The balls can also be recalled to the cue, but doing so lacks the kinetic energy of a standard attack. When stored, it rests upon a small silver band on Lucian's right index finger.
Magic
Lucian specializes in miracles. Miracles are thought to be an esoteric school. Rather than incanting consistent formulas, those who cast miracles ask the world script for assistance and let fate decide the result. Scholars of miracles tend to treat it as though they treat quantum mechanics: observation changes the measured results. Thankfully, miracles tend to be either neutral or positive. Thus, the user and their allies aren't at the risk of a sudden meteor striking them.
Iuvo Fuga - Lucian asks the script to get him out of whatever situation he may find himself in. This effect can range from something such as a heavenly rope grasping and flinging Lucian out of harm's way to a projection of a ringtone giving the illusion that there's a call he must take.
Auxilio Medela - Lucian asks the script to heal a target's physical wounds. While this spell can heal physical wounds, it's just as likely that it mends clothes instead.
Succurro Inquisitio - Lucian asks the script what he should do. In response, the script creates a prophetic event from wiggling a stop sign to turning on a light switch. Though, rather than a prophetic event, this spell seems to just do something at random that Lucian perceives to be a prophecy.
Proficio Factum - Lucian asks the script for its support. As such, Lucian is affected by a random boon. From increasing his speed or strength to making his skin shimmer, it's uncertain what this spell will do for certain.
"How did you die?"
"I died?"
Lucian stopped raking leaves to face the person who had asked the question. He took a moment to think.
"I guess I did. You kind of forget about it sometimes." His arms crossed. "I think I drank too much. People around me kept on telling me to take some more shots. I wasn't going to say no. I lost count after three, so I don't really know how much I drank. I just woke up in a new place and tried to find my manager."
He paused once more to look at the sky for an extended moment.
"Took me a few days to figure out I was dead. I thought people were telling me I died as a prank. Manager used to put me in a lot of reality TV."
Resting the rake against his pecs, Lucian rubbed the back of his neck.
"So here I am, raking up some leaves. It gives me a real sense of purpose, you know? Like I'm doing something to help. Makes me a lot happier than when I would model."
His words would have had more impact if he was doing something other than raking leaves. More importantly, if he was aware that the leaves he had raked were already blowing away. Alternative to that: if he was actually doing his job as a reaper instead of seeing a rake against a building and deciding that he was going to spend his afternoon organizing leaves.
"But why reap souls?"
- Lucian, moments after the concept of a reaper was explained to him.
That was what Maive had most often repeated to other students. Whenever someone looked like they needed assistance, Maive offered a helping hand. Of course, it resulted in mixed responses. Some students looked at her with emnity. A busy-body getting involved with strangers and being annoying. Some viewed her with distrust, as though she had ulterior motives. Others had been genuinely glad they had someone to help carry a few boxes around. Though, many other students didn't quite remember her name from these interactions. She was often called things like Blondie, Glasses, and Shortcake. Such names didn't bother her, but such names did often lead to weird and awkward back-and-forths.
The icebreaker meeting was fairly lackadaisical. Sofia had left extraordinarily quickly and Maive assumed she was just busy. The possibility that Sofia simply didn't want to deal with the group wasn't something she thought about. Maive introduced herself to the others before they had dispersed from their sudden lack of leadership and memorized anyone else who had introduced themselves. If she saw them in or between classes, she would pleasantly greet them. Of course, this was a rare occurrence if they also weren't part of the arts track or lived in the same dorm hall.
Her room in the dorm halls was well-organized, but mostly empty. She had little personal amenities besides family pictures and childish handicrafts. The majority of it consisted of basic amenities, stationery given to her by the school, and a keyboard on loan from the school. Even though she was given a living stipend as part of her scholarship, she most often chose not to spend it. This was especially true about things that could be considered as frivolities. One of the few things she bought was a basic first-aid kit. After all, she always wanted to carry one. Though, her idea of a first-aid kit was frightfully modest; it consisted of a tube of antibiotic cream, some bandaids, and some regular soap. Things she individually bought on sale on her first weekend.
Once she returned back to her dorm after classes, she usually studied and practiced. As a result, her initial classes were fairly easy outside of the occasional confusion from her rickety foundation of knowledge. Such studying and revision was the life of someone who had not yet joined any extracurricular. While she often got held up helping a stranger or a teacher with something, her initial week at HAGAY had her inundated with time. Nobody to look after, no meals to make, and quite literally one chore that most students would entirely ignore throughout the school year. She couldn't tell if it was pleasant or unpleasant. It was more like something was missing.
It came as a surprise when a note had been slipped under her door on an uneventful night. While Maive functioned with little sleep, she wasn't the type to stay awake during ungodly hours. It was early in the morning when she noticed the letter. Was it someone asking for assistance...? A strange way to do so.
After finishing her Thursday classes and, like usual, being slowed by helping other people, she prepared to visit the dockhouse. After stuffing her boo-boo kit into her backpack, taking one of her school-issued towels, and grabbing a few water bottles, she followed the winding path down to the dockhouse.
Really, she was wondering what all of this was going to be about.
• Appearance • At a height that barely allows Maive to call herself 4'11", this eldest often gets mistaken as the youngest runt of her family. Despite her thin and demure appearance, she is far more muscular than her frame lets on. Lifting younger siblings that are already taller and as heavy as you does that to a person.
Surprisingly, her uniform is her best-fitting piece of attire. Such is the power of the kind of wealth that allows for an ocean-side boarding school. She wears it as properly as she can. When she doesn't have to wear her uniform, her attire consists entirely of hand-me-downs (or in her case, hand-me-ups) she brought from home that are too large for her frame.
• Reputation • Some consider Maive to be a saint. Known as someone who is always willing to help, many students trust and confide in her as one of their limited supports at a boarding school. She's not the most intelligent person out there, but she puts the hours in to study. If someone comes to her for academic help, she'll do her best to teach them the concepts she knows. Her refusal of rewards and gifts is another strange thing about her.
Others consider Maive to be a blundering and naive people pleaser. These people often treat Maive as a tool to get something under the guise of requiring help. Of course, Maive isn't one to notice bad intentions. She still tries to help no matter her current state even if she's used as a gopher, her meals are picked away with "can I try that", or she's otherwise taken advantage of.
A point of contention is her family's financial status. While most choose to respect others regardless of wealth (outwardly, at least), her lack of money makes an easy target for those looking for something to attack.
• Background •
Effort begets success. Sometimes. Maive and her siblings were born on the opposite end of that phrase. While her family had once owned a successful engineering firm, it had since fallen to bankruptcy and legal proceedings. Her parents never quite told her the details of what happened, but her earliest memories were of a small rented apartment instead of a family home.
With parents both working all hours to support them, Maive quickly took on the role of caring for four siblings and three cousins. It wasn't exactly easy for her, but she loved them all to the point where any pain was worth it.
Music was the only solace that the young Maive had. In a way, it was the thing that connected. She sang lullabies and nursery rhymes to the youngest. She discussed and listened to songs on the radio with the eldest. She played band along with the middle children. Of course, they could never actually afford any instruments. The rattle of rocks in plastic cups, the striking of any flat surface with sticks, and air guitars at the park were enough for Maive and her siblings.
Of course, one such outing had been recorded and posted online The video went viral and she suddenly found herself in the middle of a morning news media circus. While she didn't enjoy the media attention and the requests to sing on national syndications, the compensation meant that she could buy gifts for her family. That outweighed any discomfort she had.
It wasn't exactly a story of a starlet found and elevated to the skies. Her life didn't change after her moment of fame. To a label, a pretty voice that sang covers were a dime a dozen. Maive didn't have a connection to break into the industry. But connections are a strange thing. While backstage, the only thing she could speak about with others was music. Her grasp of music theory was weak, but for someone who sang in a park to entertain her siblings? She could intuit an impressive amount. One of the people trapped in her nerve-wracked conversations was someone involved with Harbour Academy. From a single conversation stemming from a young girl trying her best to not throw up on the morning news, she received an offer for a scholarship to study abroad.
While she initially wished to remain with her family, the opportunities to network with people in the industry convinced her. If she could somehow use her voice to help her family, she would -- even if it meant that she was alone.
• Misc • Maive is in the arts program.
She's fairly far-sighted and has been wearing the same pair of glasses that she had since she was twelve.
Her favourite food are plums. She's also a human trash compactor able to eat almost anything as she's the least picky out of her family.
While her voice is definitely something special, her ability for housework and crafts is also something that cannot be overlooked.
She can remember conversations really well, making it a surprise when brings up an off-hand remark from weeks before.
• Basilea •
• Persona • Under the arcana of the empress, Basilea is the first queen of Atlantis. In addition, she is known as the Great Mother due to the care she gave her younger siblings. Tragedy had lead Basilea to vanish in a storm.
• Moveset • Basilea, like a storm, wields the power of Wind to demolish groups of foes and Electric to smite those who threaten her wards. Despite her status as a caring and motherly figure, the only boons she can bestow is empowerment to the two elements under her domain. The best way to protect those around her is all-out offense, after all.
• Weapon • Maive wields knives. Particularly of the kitchen variety.
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