Strange Rodent

The Rhythm of the Night

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Hikari Academy

Ceiran Strivelyn

He thought the whole thing was rather absurd. The exaggerated display at the gates, the headmaster, the death, and the curfew. Most of all, the fact that he would never be truly alone, and nobody knew it. All this is what kept him up all night, chuckling. Time is better spent laughing than worrying, after all. Another benefit of staying up all night was that he didn't have to drag himself out of bed to wash the blood out of his nails. He was never quite sure how it got there, it just was. Every morning since... since then.

He hadn't talked to anyone on the first day. He just hadn't felt like it. He knew someone died on campus, but didn't want to get close to the crowds that he knew would rush there. He didn't do well with crowds, especially if they're all there gawking at a dead person. He was legitimately confused as to why everyone thought death was such a bad thing. Better to make peace with the inevitable than to fear it. Instead he managed to locate a windowsill that overlooked the courtyard. He watched it all from there.

He wasn't given a schedule that day. Probably admin issues related to the death. He had read the other student's schedules, though. The potions class sounded most interesting out of the ones there, so he got dressed. He decided he'd make an effort today, so he donned a pair of dress pants, a buttoned up shirt (top two buttons undone.), and his broken in leather boots. Of course, he had his coat on over the top of that. It had a pocket on the inside that he slipped his wand into. His bag held all the less important things. He decided to set off, even though he was a touch late.

He had no-one to walk with, but there was nobody around to notice. He knocked on the door, and entered. No mind was paid to him at first, so he made himself unobstructive at the back of the classroom.

Hikari Academy

Ceiran Strivelyn

• Appearance:

Yeah, I know it's Levi. It's the only decent image I could find, though.

• Name: Ceiran Strivelyn (KEER-awn STRIV-lin)

• Age: 17

• Sex: Male

• Species: Human host with a Twitch demon parasite

• Abilities:

• Twitch: Ceiran and the Demon inside him make a temporary trade: The Demon is able to mess with some of Ceiran's memories, thought patterns, and knowledge, and Ceiran is able to access some of the Demon's resources, such as Raw Magic, better control over Raw Magic, High Intelligence, Selfishness, and Persuasion. This trade inflicts a lot of pain on Ceiran, which causes him to twitch uncontrollably. Hence the name. The longer they have access to each-other, the more extreme it becomes (Ceiran gains more demon-like abilities, and the Demon can fuck around with Ceiran's body more). The powers linger for a few minutes after, though at about half the potency.
• Magic Manipulation: Ceiran is absolutely incapable of casting spells as we see them now. In lieu of this power, he began learning how to use his Raw Mana reserves as a medium for creating, rather than a resource for trading. I'd describe it as the difference between using wood to build a house; and selling the wood for money and then paying someone to build a house for you. It allows you to be more creative at the cost of potency and/or quality. This ability allows him to manipulate his Raw Mana into constructs, which he has full control over, including while airborne. Constructs act like objects, and can take any shape, gaining the appropriate functions. The larger, denser, or more complicated it is, the more energy it requires to sustain. The size and power is limited to the amount of Raw Magic available to him. This is usually only what is within him, but special circumstances may allow for him to draw on extra Raw Magic, (Ex. People giving it to him, using a capacitor, or using the Twitch). He can recharge this Raw Magic by using one of three methods: Meditating, eating, and/or sleeping. Meditation provides a fairly large amount within 20 minutes, eating provides an amount proportionate to how much was eaten over time, and sleeping will fully recharge, unless he's healing from a wound or other similar situations.

• Skills:

• Poetry: More of an interest than a skill, but he's become somewhat decent at it.
• High pain tolerance: Due to the Twitch causing pain when it's called on, he has become somewhat desensitised to lesser pain.
• Coffee! Advanced Coffee, though. In-depth knowledge of roasting, blending, brewing, grinding, and other shit like that.
• Lying: His parents were quite strict, which didn't mix well with Ceiran's impulsive nature. He learned to lie well.
• Sluicing: Ceiran is able to understand a good chunk of depth by skimming. Of course, he understands things better if he reads them
  properly.
• Improvisation: Due to previous experience in acting and public speaking (he thought he liked them at first. Turns out he didn't really), he has a strong out-of-the-box thinking style.

• Inventory:

• Wand: A Steel & wood energy directing focus, made for manipulation. Allows him to channel his will to his Raw Magic more easily, lessening the concentration needed.
• Enchanted Coat: An ankle length coat that Ceiran has imbued with his own energy as a kind of capacitor. This can be charged through ritual, and once charged, Ceiran can access the Raw Magic it was charged with.
• Grimoire: An ancient book detailing the how of Magic Manipulation. Ceiran has learned most of what he knows from this.

• Sample Post:

Hider

He was sitting at his cluttered desk, face rigid with concentration. A small grey-blue ball was orbiting him. The world seemed to be as quiet as a rock. Or, at least, this section of it. The ball paused in front of his face, and he reached out to grab it. His hand contacted the silky smooth, but strangely hot ball. He held it for a while, before throwing it at a wall. It sailed through the air like a glass ball might, and crumpled like paper when it hit the wall.

He looked out the window, and was rather frightened to see it was dark so suddenly. He decided that sleeping was probably a good idea. He had noticed his control start to slip as he used more energy. He stood up and left, coat trailing behind him.

His bedroom was adorned with the basics: A bed, a wardrobe, and a dirty clothes pile. Naturally, all his clothes were thrown in the dirty washing pile; apart from his coat, which was lovingly hung in the wardrobe. He crawled into bed after turning the oil lamp off, and slid into a sleep. He dreamed of the Sad Prince, who lived in The Sigh, and had his betrothed commit suicide. Apparently The Sigh was a breach upon the Earth, but he knew nothing else about it.

He woke with a poem ringing in his head. He forgot this as soon as he knew it was there. He glanced about the dark room. Something felt wrong. He wasn't still sleeping, but he wasn't entirely awake, either. The wrongness grew like a tumor. Slowly, but with many malignant intentions. The wrongness was surely feeling for him... scouring the room. As it grew nearer, he became more terrified. It was out to kill him. He was going to die. No... It was out to destroy everything he cared about! He was to be left a wretched, paralysed mess.

An ivory mask on a terribly tendrily pitch body. It depicted a face that was somehow both a smile and a frown at the same time. It gazed into his brain, and these words were heard; "I would like to play a game for the rest of your life. I will become part of you, and we will wrestle for control of your body. I will access you, and you will access me."

I don't want to. This sounds delightful! I have no control. I'll always have company! This will cause immeasurable suffering for those around me... Bonus after bonus! Who'll be able to resist me? I won't. What fun! Okay.

• Other:
Twitch Demon

The Twitch demon only has its name because of how Ceiran twitches while he's trading with it. It wants to cause as much pain to Ceiran as possible, as that's its job in their game. It does this by changing happy memories to painful ones, the pleasure of eating good food to the terror of eating loved ones (get your mind out of the gutter. This is pure cannibalism I'm talking about), and the comfort of company to the infinity of loneliness. In some ways, it's quite similar to depression.

When Ceiran draws on it's Raw Energy, he will gain a pool twice as big as his own, and become twice as efficient at controlling it. This pool grows as Ceiran's own pool does; He's able to access more of the Demon's energy as he can access more of his own.

Aside from the effects described throughout the whole post, it can absorb unclaimed* Raw Magic, speak directly into peoples minds (but not read them), and can access all kinds of demonic knowledge. Ceiran can claim these abilities if he spends more than 15 minutes twitching. This will also cause severe memory loss, heavy internal bleeding, and an insatiable murderous desire.

*unclaimed Raw Magic is Raw Magic that is not attached to a living being.

Personality.

Ceiran has difficulty with his personality. It changes so often due to the Demon. He finds it hard to latch onto one thing that describes him. So far, all he has is this: "A constant crisis".

Usually he has polar opinions; either all for, or totally against. He rarely accepts grey areas and ideas. He's usually rather blunt about this as well, forgoing nuance in an attempt to just get the point across. Although he does have a weakness for poetry. He's passionate about his interests, but doesn't really delve far into other things. One thing is for sure, though. You would never call Ceiran mild.

His style is impulsive. He won't plan ahead too often, preferring to adapt to situations as they rise. He will almost always act off gut instinct. He says he doesn't fail unless he doesn't learn something, so that helps with this way of solving problems.

Miscellaneous info:

He attends Hikari academy in the hopes of finding someone who can help him with his demon. Although he doesn't want word to get out about it, so that could be a problem. And he may as well learn something while he's there. No harm in that, right?

Hikari Academy

@KoL @TheWindel

I'll move him to the character tab, then. Is there anything else that needs to happen before he joins in?

Rise of the Alchemists

Yeah, that all makes sense

I was just thinking I'd allow Augie some room to develop. He has never modified objects on a molecular level before, and so isn't very skilled at it :P

The story's moving though, so it works either way

Rise of the Alchemists

I was saying it was warm because it had just been welded shut, but we're out now so whatever

Rise of the Alchemists

Augie Clevenger

The brunette smiled at him, which was strange because there were people chasing them. Trying to kidnap them, and fuck up their bodies. He assumed it was just a nervous gesture of goodwill. Dwelling on it would only stress him out.

He stepped out of the building, and was immediately reminded that he was barefoot. The sand scorched his feet as he ran. And he ran for a while. He ran past several people with tasers, paying them no heed. He could deal with tasers now, although it was painful. The sand was causing excruciating pain now, only serving to make him run faster.

BANG

Gah! Shit! What? They have real guns now?! He thought. So the taser trick he used before wouldn't work. He dropped flat on the sand, and began to commando crawl through the scrub. The dead leaves and twigs clawed at his eyes, but he just kept going and paid no attention to where.

He heard several meaty smacks, and a man grunting in pain. It punctured the apparent silence like a bullet would a person. These people wouldn't want to be attacking each other, would they? No, probably not. He crawled over, the sand filling his shirt and burning his chest. It was that brunette from before. He'd forgotten about her. He stood up and approached, staring at the unconscious man lying in the sand.

"Do you want this machine gun thingy?" she asked him.

"Uhh... sure?". He was hesitant about taking it. Guns are not his strong point. "I want his boots, though. My feet are having holes burned in them."

He took the gun and sat down, unlacing the man's boots.

Rise of the Alchemists

@Sedjwick

Logically yes, that would make absolutely perfect sense. No-one posted in a few days though, so I thought I'd do something. I also posted somewhat short in an attempt to not disrupt the turn order too much

Rise of the Alchemists

Augie ran along the barren hall, willing himself to go faster with each step. When he got to the end he came across a metal door. He scrambled at the handle, hoping against hope that it would turn. It did. Freedom!..... Only the door still wouldn't budge. It must've been locked from the other side.

He placed his hand on the oddly warm steel of the door, and willed the lock on the other side to open. A little click was heard. He tried to open it again. Still nothing.

He turned to the brunette who had just caught up with him and said only a few words:

"Fuck. Where to?"

Hikari Academy

Done. It's not stressed, but it's in there