As much as it seemed obvious that he had indeed interrupted something, Sage was extremely thankful by how neither of the two had acknowledged it, and instead kindly tried to reassure him that it was okay. He still felt a bit guilty, glancing at the ground for a bit, but soon enough raising his gaze back up, a dorky yet innocent smile offered as a silent 'thank you'.
"Yeah!", he laughed awkwardly to himself, rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, I was just in that lobby. As in, I just showed up... in the lobby, kinda hard to explain, just trust me, has happened maaany times before... Nooot- so many where the buildings were this shiny though, like wow, it's really shiny! I can see myself reflected on the tiles!"
The Ellie offered him a handshake. She didn't seem to remember him at all which- Maybe might be for the best? He wasn't exactly... stable back then. Quite the opposite of it actually, so a blank slate was not so bad! Right, handshake; He was getting more used to them at this point, though they still felt a bit weird. It had ended up a bit sudden, hesitant, extremely awkward, but he also seemed happy about it, it was a smile that reached even deep inside those soft cappuccino eyes of his.
"I'm Sage! Sage Kaelber, uhhh- Freelance... Multiverse hero? ...When I said that this happens a lot, I really mean a lot!"
Mood:"You didn't even have to ask!" | Status: Mildly hungry, eager Interactions:@RirisStride1
The interaction with her beloved cleric had gone from a pleased flick of her tail to a huff of disappointment, as he clearly couldn't just leave things right away and step somewhere quieter.
"Fine- But it's your loss.", the cat Youkai walks over his shoulders, from one side to the other, wanting to be as far away from things as possible. In fact, Berit was now staring at the opposite side of their enclosure, seeking some entertainment.
Acts of charity were not the Nekomata's thing, she could barely understand why waste resources on other people. Yes, Hershel was rich and it probably didn't mean anything for him, but there was still effort to see it thought and it seemed... Completely pointless. As long as that wolf pup didn't decide to threaten them, Rena did not care. To be alert and ready to protect the cleric and to not be hungry or bored; Those were all of the things that the Siamese had in her mind, and it was more than enough.
She took a moment to groom herself, pulling a front paw to her face and giving it parallel, precise licks. Whoever had handled her unconscious body was a barbarian, some mindless troglodyte that has never picked up a cat in all of their miserable little lives. Her fur was a mess! Probably didn't seem like much to anybody else, but it bothered her! The sheer current resulting from movement was sinking against the body and it was despicable. An atrocity committed to a god itself!! That minion better not cross paths with her, because if she found it out... Not even ashes would be left to tell the story.
Berit's interest had been piqued again at the sight of Hershel taking some pillows out and laying them down on the floor, watching curiously before setting herself on one of them in a single hop back down. The cleric was still setting himself up when the Nekomata had finished laying down, having promptly kneaded the soft surface to her standards.
"At last, we're speaking the same language~!", she teased, a low pleased purr echoing faintly, "Seeing that canine attempting to eat that rodent has gotten me quite peckish."
🐤 Location: Metropolis, The Daily Planet | Feeling: Hopeful, Excited, Awkward | Overall Status: Okay and armlet on 🐤 🐤 Interactions:@thatguyinastore (Ellie), @Cloaked (Jed) 🐤
"Guys! You just have to see this place, it's amaziiiing~!"
Rushing back outside, leaving the doors open and to figure themselves out, the pyromancer had called the pair's attention, failing the most basic social manners with it. He was just, so excited?? They had ended up in a big and bright city with all sorts of fancy-looking buildings and a friendly environment that, let's be honest here, was very much welcome! For once, there was still no sight of Multiversal crisis, or hotels that would self-destruct eventually... Or giant spiders, or expected fights- For once it actually felt like an adventure that wouldn't suck their lively spirits out!
Oh man, if only Lucy could see him now! But he guessed she didn't have the luck again? Ooooh, who else was around- This was so, well, exciting!!
Sage knew Ellie from a past adventure, though, the girl might not be the same one he had met... But he knew her to be... volatile. And prone to violence, sooooo- Maybe keeping her distracted would be a way to avoid her getting set off...? It was worth a shot! The other guy though? He had no idea about, could be a local. Oh, wait-
"...Did- Did I interrupt something, uhhh- Sorry, I'm just so happy that everything looks nice...!", and that he wasn't alone! That was, normally a plus on his book... The one that he doesn't even have, "Alrighty! Uhhh- I can step back inside, and then you two can keep talking and I'll come back later-", the young man had compromised, already stepping backwards to do as he said.
It wasn't as if the Nekomata had the right to say it. Well, yes, but also no. I depended on how one saw her actions, of course! See it expecting the same set of morals as one would a person, and they would probably come to the conclusion that she had done much worse before... But! And this was the most important part, look at it from the perspective of a cat or a Youkai? You know, as it should be and it will be clear as day that even Rena's unspeakable deeds were filled with logic and reason, at the very least.
What presented itself before her turquoise eyes right now? It was farther to that than anything else could. Why, even the human and so intelligent members of their little posse were acting like caged, driven against the wall animals! To the point that even the Siamese huffed in discontent over it. Never mind that they were actually caged, but the hospitality wasn't actually all that bad! They still had plenty of space to roam around, for once. It was more than she could have said for herself... Way, waaay back then, at the start of everything...
Give them a hand and they'll pull back the entire arm. Humans were never satisfied, were they?
"A noble attempt as it was", foolish, wasteful, but noble indeed, "...they won't listen. Might as well bid farewell to their stupidity and save our energy for what's truly important and not fated to failure.", the cat advised the cleric from her perch at his shoulder. She enjoyed it here, having an advantageous outlook of the chaos caused by the too eager. She had climbed over once he had woken up, after all a standing person couldn't be used as a bed anymore... Perhaps as a scratching post, but not a bed.
It wasn't as if they could do anything about the kidnapping situation after all. Surely, if someone thought that they could keep all of these fools trapped in-between glass walls was because they had already thought of how to counter them. Better to think of what to do once they were let outside... Not, that the Nekomata cared, oh no- Hershel was here, with her, that was everything that mattered. The others may as well kill each other and make for a great source of entertainment during captivity~!!
As expected, Berit made no effort to interact with anybody, merely growling at any that approached the cleric, eyeing Dris as one eyed their just-prepared, delicious-smelling dinner and rolling those same eyes whenever anyone was dumb. Which is to say, there is so much dumb all around them! They could fill an entire circus field with all of the 'dumb'!
A normally-looking, cheerful ex-college student around his early twenties in casual modern attire, usually composed of pants, t-shirt and a jacket in plain not too showy colors. With his signature light-blue one destroyed, the current jacket is a middle shade black with gold accents. Wears a two-piece golden armlet with a wing centrepiece is always either worn on the left arm over all his clothing or carried in a pocket. It's inscribed with Magic dampening Runes and works as a limiter.
Name: Sage Kaelber; Sey; Little Flame
Titles: Son of the House of the Dragon; The Flame that Warms up Hearts
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Canon: OC (Saraiiho)
Sandbox: Metropolis, Planet Diary
Personality: His personality has a touch of comic-book superhero and romantic comedy protagonist. He's righteous, moralistic, cares a lot about doing what's right over what's the most convenient and is altruistic and empathetic to a fault. Sometimes he can come across as naive and idealistic, though it tends to be a lot more nuanced than that. He's had a lonely, sheltered life of repentance for most of it and as a result, may have low views of himself and internalize guilt a bit too much. He's very showy and playful during fights, spouting morals and cheesy catch-phrase attempts left and right. Lately, he's been trying to separate what's his inner child speaking and what should be his actual reaction as an adult, but it might still slip here and there. That same internal child tends to appear to him as an imaginary friend almost, as a manifestation of that less anxious, more impulsive side.
As he progressed through adventures, he's become more self-aware, less of a martyr and has come to understand some complex never before experienced emotions and notions such as being legitimately loved, gestures of physical affection and friendship. Despite all the struggles and lack of experience, Sage is always trying his very best even when it may not seem like it. Old habits and traumas are hard to combat.
Sage is first and foremost a pacifist, with time he’s come to be less of the ‘only talking’ type to understand that some conflicts are unavoidable, but he’ll still rarely make the first move himself and solely raise his guard awaiting the other person’s move in the very start. With a tendency of stressing over the ‘right’ ways for things, Sage has moments of lots of discipline and an overall orderly, health-focused behavior. Being raised in a temple, Sage believes heavily in the mystical and the spiritual. Things like Feng Shui and numerology are his jam, and he is often being respectful to Gods and other creatures, sometimes asking them kindly answers and forgiveness, praying, assigning results to fate and the Universe and even doing this or that thing due to spiritual signs telling him to take that path. He meditates a lot. Still, overall, he's a pretty laid-back and chill guy.
-Extreme Altruism-
More than ethics and morality, altruism is both Sage’s greatest virtue and biggest flaw. He is just absolutely unable to stop caring about things, especially if they’re causing someone harm or discomfort. While that is his Light’s core nature and a huge drive for his want to help others, it is often done without necessarily prior knowledge, experience and sometimes even incredibly pushy, warping it into a type of destructive altruism both for others and himself. Despite all of the good intentions, blindly following his drive to make things better ironically has the tendency to make them worse, even more, when he’s getting into matters that don’t really pertain to him, the person doesn’t actually want to do anything about or he has no idea of what he’s getting into. On other occasions, he’ll put the matter over even himself and end up hurt in the process, at times nearly avoiding death. Failure often comes back as self-deprecation and frustration.
Equipment:
A Bag of Holding containing all of the following:
- A box of 50 matches, with about 20 already missing; - Iphone - acquired by Hershel on a different modern Earth, SIRI is deactivated; - Crimson-colored marker + Black CD marker; - Blank A4 paper for writing and Arrays - acquired from his MP room, about 20 pages; - 2/3 of a Pouch of "Sending" spell stones - Needs magic for activation, allows user to send a mental message of up to 20 words to a recipient and receive back the same amount of words per use. Can bypass even dimensions unless blocked. Another of Hershel's contributions. One given to Omelette for emergencies, a couple more used already; - About 5 different pouches of sugar cookies, baked by Hershel, please make him stop; - Longbow and a quiver with about 25 arrows, with their tips enchanted to burn for longer/help sustain a fire. The bow itself, now named Accelerator, is actually a powerful relic capable of using Magic to power-up lighting fast, railgun like shots, though that's not what Sage uses it for; - Black pair of wooden tonfas - Unknowingly created by Perniciosa when he mentioned wanting some in the chatroom, acquired during an in-person meeting; - Bronze-winged circlet - Most likely also created by Perni, given as an extra gift, boosts Fire Magic but has a sinister vibe of power to it; - TMs for Protect and Flamethrower (should this ever be important for some reason); - Mundane objects like an umbrella for rain and winter clothing for cold weather.
Possessions on his person/outside use:
- Level 2 armor, camouflages with the clothing, acquired on MP from Blackjack's shop; - Anti Magic-Field stone - A multicolored stone, larger than the sending ones, that is contained inside a pendant of bent copper wire in the shape of a phoenix. Anti Magic-Field blocks any type of magic around the user in a radius when activated, even their own; - Golden-winged armlet - Sage's classic armlet that functions as a Magic-dampener due to the Runes carved inside, albeit forcefully. Ends up acting akin to a shock collar under stress; - Dark-silver armlet - Created by Hershel as the need for alternative methods of communication arose. Has a permanent 'Sending' spell stone in the middle.
Attributes:
As a Phoenix Descendant, Sage can channel the Concept of Fire through himself causing his normally soft cappuccino brown eyes to gain a fiery-orange tint whenever the armlet is off and his powers are unrestrained. Inherent traits are the presence of a heat-aura passively raising the temperature of an area around him, and a flame-aura triggered by adrenaline and overall stress where he’s quite literally coated with flames. A Phoenix Descendant’s blood also has flammable properties, with it quite literally igniting inside them while they use their powers. Too much of that and the Descendant risks burning from the inside out.
--Empathic Pyrokinesis--
The ability to control and create fire at will. Sage's fire manipulation is said to be emphatic since his emotions and how strong they are, influence how the ability will manifest itself, ranging from really simple displays such as fireballs, flaming tornadoes to things that are extremely complex, though they take a huge amount of effort. No matter the shape, the solid constructs are composed of a see-through outer frame resembling reinforced glass and still dancing flames filling their interiors. These flames cannot go through the frame and will only return to being flames once they either break or Sage allows them to stop existing, be it by his will or by losing his focus on maintaining their shape. Fires started can subside to low flames but never be put out completely.
It has a ‘targeting system’ where whenever Sage is startled or gets worked up in a sudden spike, an object in the background or the object he’s holding will spontaneously combust. After Kyou’s assistance, he’s learned to instead focus these outbursts on himself causing the flame-aura to flare up for a split second. However it takes being prepared for it and without that preparation, it will act as default. Fire may or may not burn objects on contact depending on Sage’s will over it and he can also will the temperature of constructs to be milder than usual.
Intention, mental state and overall stress are key components when it comes to this.
--Fire-wing Manifestation--
On will, Sage is capable of summoning a pair of fire wings that manifest a couple inches away from his body, on his back. They look exactly the same as what bird wings are like, being this glassy fiery mimicry of it, even able to be bent in the same ways. However, they also have the capability of acting as shields when brought together or into the front, or even weapons being a point of exit for flame-spikes right in-between the feathers. The armlet fully restraints this Facet. Flying takes part of his focus away as he has to be thinking about the flaps in a mental task, he’s also not that great at it, can’t go too fast and can be easily knocked out of course by strong wind currents, getting sent spiralling out of control.
--Self-Healing--
Sage has the ability to heal himself in the presence of fire, any fire as long as the source is a mild one (candles, lighters, oil lamps etc...). It's become a common thing to carry a box of matches around just in case he ever needs them. And no, his own fire doesn't count.
--Magic Detection--
Not as useful as it may sound. It’s a trait normal to every Descendant and a way for them to pinpoint each other on proximity alone. Feels a lot like an itch down one’s spine and it’s hard to completely ignore. It will react to similar Magical systems to the Arrays and beings with inherent magic to them, as part of themselves either by birth or not. The higher the presence of Magic in an area the harder it will react to the point it starts feeling closer to being cut by a knife rather than an itch. Going beyond this threshold has the capability of making it go numb on overuse, ceasing any kind of reaction for a couple of hours. The Magic presences stack; It is terrible for actually pinpointing locations and individuals.
--Overrall Knowledge--
Though done forcefully and something he’s not advanced much farther in, Sage is trained in Kung-Fu, more specifically the Tiger Style, despite it being considered a tad too brutal and having a heavily-weapon based chunk. As a student and the opposite of what the style is for, Sage has maintained a more base style to himself having his guard be the Little Tiger, aka: the kid’s adaptation of it for starters, instead of the actual adult take on it even though he understands both of them on a similar level. A couple more showy moves in his repertoire also come from Kyou’s fighting style, courtesy of the teachings of the man himself.
Growing up in the bulk of a True Clan, Sage is fluent in Bh̀-liwê first, then he was taught English as a second language to fare in the world outside his once temple-home. He’s also picked up the absolute basics of Arrays as he watched their use from a distance. Other things include Feng-Shui, numerology, some basic origami and a lot of Phoenix Clan traditions, such as knowing their departure rites to the point of reciting all the customs and words from memory. He’ll also gladly walk you through Saraiiho's Mythos chapter per chapter if you have a lot of time to waste.
Hershel also taught him a bit of archery, though it's much less to hit people with arrows and much more centered around using flaming arrows as fire sources for his constructs instead, managing a lower strain on him rather than if he had to keep the source alight with active focus and then also bend it to his will.
--Take-Over/Charge-Up--
The Take-Over is something common to all Descendants but those channelling the Pseudo-Concepts of Sun or Moon, and it is a rather backwards mechanism in place to keep Descendants from perishing on the overuse of their Abilities. At the rear end of Magical strain, when the powers have been in use for a while or stress over it is rather high, the power itself will overshadow their user and take the lead instead. The result is a personified form of the Concept, an Entity taking over the Descendant’s body to better deal with the situation at hand.
Sage is very unlucky because what was in store for him was Toayî… At least, with the straightening of his soul, he’s able to hold it back during the phenomenon now, and it works more like an instant switch over life and death matters only, much to the Entity of Fire’s displeasure. On the other hand, he now knows exactly what It is up to and can feel all of the pain his body is being put through as it happens.
The Concept of Fire:
Being the personification of the power itself, Toayî can go far and beyond Sage’s wildest dreams with his powerset and has a sensibility towards the Concept itself to the point that It can sense other Fire Magic users and pinpoint locations by the way nearby fire is disturbed. Stepping on a flame-filled field is the same as announcing your position out loud to It. Unfortunately for Sage, the blue-flame variety will burn him on contact, it’s up for the course of Take-Overs having to heal in some way afterwards.
--Absolute Pyrokinesis--
It's hard to consider the 'Empathic' caveat when it comes to Toayî since It seems to be only capable of showing a reduced amount of emotions, mostly boredom and rage. As with Sage, It still has the ability to control and create fire at will and the capacity to shape it into any form It wants, either 'soft' constructs or solid constructs. However, there is no limitation as to the complexity or number of them and It can theoretically keep going continuously spawning attack after attack without feeling tired at all. What works as a 'limiter' now is how much Sage's body can take before being forced to shut down or simply burn inside out to death over channelling a power that is way too strong for it to contain. Differently from Sage, all of Its constructs are coated with flames and thought out as weapons more than anything. It is still capable of flight, however, by using the flame-aura around Itself rather than the wings, much to Sage’s despair since he’s going to get burnt.
--Control over Combustion--
The Concept of Fire IS combustion itself. It is composed of everything that can be even as remotely taken as 'combustion' including the way a body breaks down ATP into energy. Toayî may will for guns and explosions to simply not work as intended, stopping them from exploding at all, sometimes It pranks their wielder and sets them off with a delay instead. It is perfectly comfortable inside of infernal blazing environments and if It wasn't for the mundane weakness of the body It's borrowing, would be completely immune to the energy and heat of detonations.
Personality...?
The Entity of Fire is well, about what one would expect to see personality-wise. Its sole purpose is to consume everything until there’s nothing more to burn. As such, Fire sees people and objects alike as fuel and nothing more in a clear sociopathic-edge. It doesn’t burn and destroy for pleasure though, it’s just what It was designed to do unless angered, then It will have a petty dispute to settle. Fire thinks It is unstoppable and will not hold back to prove it. Those who value their own lives should know not to get in Its way. Those that channel It are under risk of being burned inside and outside alike as the Entity has no regard for the body It’s occupying. If anything, the fact that It cannot feel tiredness or pain only seems to enable this behavior further. It is all-around a fight-junkie.
Whenever he’s either in pain or feeling strong urgency, however, Toayî will now exercise Its influence in a reaction to soothe that pain and pump Sage up for a possible battle. Sage has named it the Charge-Up, a phenomenon created when an otherworldly strength of a wish was used to twist the original mechanics around. As a result, there’s an initial ‘charge’ towards being ready to action, before it all crumbles into the loss of all and every sort of feeling, including all semblance of emotion. The only problem is that literally anything can trigger this and it will last for as long as the pain or situation still exists.
Biography: Sage has been used to isolation and marginalization all his life. Not granted any talent for his inherent magic, he was always considered more of a thing they had to contain than a person by his fellow clan members and had this world-ending prophecy hanging over his head for as long as he can remember. Raised in the main temple for the Phoenix, Deity of Fire and Transitions of his world, all in-clan teachings were focused on two big points: restraint and pretending to be normal. He wasn't expected to do anything with this power as it was too dangerous, he was just supposed to live through life without setting too many objects on fire on the way and that was it. That should have been it, but self-righteousness spoke too loud.
A phone call from an unknown number came like a call for rescue, or perhaps, perhaps just a goodbye. Sage had met Lucy again during his first week of college, in a huge coincidence, instantly recalling the time they ended up doing a school project together. Turns out she still had the number after all this time and felt like he was the only one that would listen to what she had to say. Following her directions, the pyromancer would meet his acquaintance by the edge of the rooftop of the History building, the second tallest one after the cafeteria. It was a suicide attempt.
The next thing he knew, he was jumping after her, throwing the bracelet aside. So selfishly Sage had decided to save her instead, easing the fall into a glide with his fiery wings. Everything would be fine if it had been just the two of them, but from the third party that had caught the scene came a villain and a very intricate plan to force the young man to reveal his existence, an old discredited teacher wanting to prove the old tales of the Deities and magic true. He got what he wanted, but at the cost of a razed down auditory, a result of the first-ever Take-Over. Needless to say, it had been a wrench thrown into the established order of the world. That’s also when the multiverse seems to have taken notice of him prompting many off-world adventures, despite him wanting absolutely nothing with them.
Currently, he’s moved out of his Clan, living in a home he and Hershel furnished together, though Hershel is often out solving things in his own world. He’s been able to learn more about the world and himself as he was finally allowed to experience new things, met a bunch of other people from different worlds, re-kindled his friendship with Lucy and more. Not all the experiences are pleasant and sometimes he needs time to process them/suffers a bit of a regression development-wise. At the very least, Sage has accepted the dislocations are never going to stop and become both more accepting of them and his powers with time. Though, to simply have a nicer adventure once in a while wouldn't hurt...
Personality: Living life as if dancing and spinning on top of a tightrope hanging over a death pit, Berit is a hard character for most to grasp, having no real worth on her or others lives, nor treasuring interactions all that much. Instead, Rena prefers to rile others up, acting as if a god itself, constantly embiggening her own actions and thoughts. Her outlook on humanity is a grim one, that after seeing so many conflicts after each other, has come to the conclusion that they’re on a path to senseless mutual self-destruction, to which death would be mercy at this point.
The same way the humans fate has been sealed and follows according to script, so has her’s. After all, the end of a monster is always to be slain by the hero; Rena does not believe herself to be worthy of love, pity, or sympathy. And why would anybody? She’s a vengeful powerful Youkai, filled with nothing but contempt for humanity, people are no more than food for her! ...That’s what they should be, but as the Nekomata spent more and more time near a certain cleric, she found herself attached to that lifestyle. It’s less that Rena doesn’t care about others and more than she’s rarely given that chance. Her ‘independence’ being a defense mechanism against rejection, a sign of apprehension in trying to truly live in a world that has brought nothing but betrayal and suffering.
To those that can bear with her, they might find an unexpected brand of loyalty and obsession, akin to a stray they fed once and kept coming back. Rena also has a soft spot for children, especially younger girls like her owner once was; Others may see themselves studied with curious eyes or followed around because they’re not boring. For those that can’t, however, they may never go past a facade and see themselves charmed, messed with and even targeted when she’s out of food.
Do keep her well fed.
Equipment: Her necklace, which is a bag of holding with a form-changing enchantment. It's just filled with raw meat, for an emergency. Seems to last a week or so.
♨ Attributes: ♨
--Spiritual Fire--
Like many fire Youkai, Berit may choose to summon fireballs to attack with, anytime, normally born out of the tips of her tail so they’re aimed like a gun or the palm of her hands, for easily getting lunged around. A defensive formation takes the form of fiery whisps, making a circle around her and serving to shield or match with attacks, disappearing as their purpose is fulfilled. This variety of flame is similar to Onibi, harming the target physically and spiritually, making it useful against other spirits and seemingly intangible entities. Once out of Julie’s control, the flames fade into a normal orange to make tracking her arson more challenging.
--Shapeshifting--
Nekomata have their original cat forms, an in-between form that can either be the nekomimi style or more anthropomorphic and a fully human form that they can change at will. That last one is what they use to lure in prey, able to mimic even the voice of someone they’ve seen and amazing actors to the point of grasping body language and habits after a couple hours of observation. A picture would also do, though then the voice that goes with it is more of a guess than a certainty. Berit can also walk on her hind legs even in cat form, but rarely does so because it may look too goofy to her tastes.
--Pseudo-Necromancy--
After their tendency of causing fires and killing millions, Nekomata are well-known for their ability to raise the dead to do their bidding. Now, differently from real necromancy, this is more akin to making a recently killed corpse into a puppet as they have no will of their own and are merely empty vessels. Berit has to keep some of her attention on the ‘puppet’ and can at max control two of them at once, each ‘tied’ to a hand. A skill in ventriloquism is then added to the mix when she needs it to manipulate and trick somebody.
--Enhanced Physiology--
Nekomata retain their feline counterpart's agility, balance and enhanced senses. With stealth, graceful movements, Rena is as fit as both an Olympic runner and a gymnast at once, capable of great feats of speed, flexibility and superhuman jumps having employed these in her trapezist side-job before. She can also tell when something is 'off' somehow, similar to the ways some animals can tell when a threat or natural disaster is approaching. Or just being able to tell when it's about to rain. Animal Youkai are also a lot more sturdy than their normal counterparts, capable of feats of superhuman strength when in their human forms and peak human strength while in their animal forms.
--Feline Communication--
Independent of the form, Brit can understand other cats' speech as if they were actually speaking. Not that they say anything useful though, usually, they're just complaining at her. In a similar way, they can also understand her just fine, without the need for actual meowing, the only catch is that cats raised with different languages also acquire different meow patterns, making her have to deal with accents that might make little to no sense to her.
--Sleight of Hand--
As if having a manipulative, ventriloquist cat wasn’t already enough, Rena is very apt at sneaking into places without being noticed and stealing/swapping objects while not being watched. After all, it’s an important skill if you’re going to be blackmailing and stalking others for a meal. Also for counter-espionage. Knowing how to control one’s attention was a must for her modus operandi.
Biography (In bullet points, for now):
A Siamese kitten is presented to the daughter of a Daimyo, being named Heigen and becoming the little girl’s companion for life;
A year later, a war between Estates is lost, in the true Edo era fashion, the victor orders the execution of the family, the destruction of their home and the imprisonment of the cat, so that the spirit of the animal didn’t come back for revenge; Heigen is put in a small cage in the center of a room and expected to starve to death soon. Despite her thin and sickly visage, the cat does not die, resisting beyond the time she should;
Wondering if the cat has been possessed by some creature and might attract bad luck, Heigen is once more moved, now thrown into an underground dungeon to be forgotten forever;
Many years pass and the cat bides her time cursing and hating on her captors; On her 100th birthday her tail splits and as a newly emerged Nekomata Heigen enacts her revenge on the descendants of her captors, destroying their estate;
Heigen continues to rampage even after, burning villages, terrorizing people, battling other Youkai for territory, eventually, the people attempt to appease her by building her a temple and making an agreement;
Revered like a guardian spirit, Hengei spends many moons protecting her village from other Youkai and given sacrifices to sate her hunger with in exchange;
The decline of the Edo era and with it Youkai themselves. It all comes with a change of mind as the villagers hire a monk to lead a party to slay the Nekomata. She manages to flee for her life after making her defeat, but harbors a distrust towards humans as they’ve betrayed their deal;
Sticking to the shadows, she spends a long time feeding on the freshly diseased resulting from conflicts. Times of war and peace and more war seem forever never-ending, she concludes that the humans would eventually self-destruct at this pace and that perhaps her actions aren’t as evil as they might seem;
Japan finally opens its ports to international commerce by request of the United States, it’s Heigen’s chance to seek new hunting grounds by sneaking into a ship and seeing where it leads; The destination ends up being the UK, where the nekomata finds her way into 80’s center London and is picked up by an unsuspecting woman who takes her home;
The Nekomata makes the actress’ life a living hell, costing her career and popularity, raising several rumors and collecting blackmail on Julie Taylor Luckett, previously loved star of the movies;
Backed into a corner, Julie attempts suicide only for the Nekomata to strike instead, carving her heart out of her chest and taking the woman’s identity for herself;
It would only make sense that the one that ruined things would know how to fix them, as the Nekomata now has a good position for hunting in society, seeking drunkards in bars at night that mysteriously go missing, some without even family to account for their disappearance;
Eye of the Falls happens; Other than her interaction with Orbeck, the event leaves no deep marks on the Nekomata;
A hangout organized by Remilia Scarlet leaves 'Julie' and Hershel Avad face-to-face, where he makes the mistake of calling her ‘cute’ and continuing to underestimate her, driving her to threaten to ruin everything and everyone he cares about, even after he’s dead in pettiness; Not taking nicely to such a threat, Hershel uses a Wish spell to compel Julie to target him and only him from now on. She’s unaware of the effect until next time they meet;
Having eventually stalked Hershel back into his world, the Nekomata furiously attempts to make the cleric pay by constantly trying to kill him, or rile him up. There’s little to no effect and that only makes her want to try harder;
The attempts quickly exhaust themselves, and the banter becomes a daily occurrence; Soon they’re bearing with each other in the same space, making all sorts of conversation;
Julie officially moves into Hershel’s room without permission, putting her cat bed on a corner and bidding goodbye to London and corsets… And high heels. A lot of that wasn’t a fun time; Since this is now her territory, she performs rounds for trespassing critters and assassins, basically becoming the castle’s guardian;
Hershel confesses his love to her and she’s just… extremely confused about it.
Events of MP: Dystopia follow, Rena 'allies' herself to Crow, a sky pirate, as a way to keep her hold of the forest's edge territory, making it her personal hunting grounds, challenging other beasts for its domain and assuring her survival;
Reencounter with Hershel is unexpectedly heartfelt, and in the following year, now home, their relationship becomes a tad closer with the cleric conceding her a new name, as a symbol of her new life.
@Kuro Not right away, but I do have a taste for modern fantasy the most... I may have way too many of superpowered people and magical creatures from those kind of settings >3<
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Majoraa
Zygfryt
