Villamvihar

Grimoiric Heart

Oh! So it would be Ethereal Rose or Olivia who fought beside her! Wilhelmina smiled at the name as it suited the girl well. With her long, golden hair and the dress which seemed to be as fragile, fleeting as her name indicated, it was surely a beautiful story she had to her name. It was a little bit rude to ask so early though, so introductions it would be along with a little bit of orientation to make sure her fellow comrade would adapt faster than her. If, it was actually necessary, Wilhelmina reminded herself as she remembered being the one who had the most trouble with the unsettling Pageless or the fighting. However, before she could gently lead Olivia to the group of magical girls...

A monstrous thing appeared. Wilhelmina rarely read horror books, so she lacked the capacity to describe it in its full glory, but she could feel its impact. The thing's presence chilled her to the bone, its writhing, shifting form appearing as a living nightmare. For a sensitive soul like hers, the apparition grated and she felt her heart skip a beat. Or rather, several dozen beats as she attempted to unfreeze the blood in her veins. Unfortunately, magic did not come particularly easy to her when she was not transformed, so she could not use her abilities at all.

And... And... And...! Olivia was wrapping her hands around it! It looked as though she were embracing a lover! Such an intimate touch would have normally made Wilhelmina blush, yet now she felt as though ash had replaced her entire being. It seemed that today, stunning revelation after stunning revelation shocked her as she could barely pay attention to what was being said. Hell, she could barely stop breaking out in cold sweat as she stared down the abomination... Or maybe abominations?... in front of her.

No! Bad Wilhelmina! Olivia was just a girl with strange tastes or a frightening grimoire! That did not mean she was an abomination or a foul thing that must be destroyed or hated at all costs! Yes, it actually hurt Wilhelmina to look at Thyerg'Xolis, but that did not mean he was an evil beast like a Pageless! Nor did it mean that she could dismiss Olivia! Nor did it mean that she could not make friends with her! Yes, that was the right way. Clinging to these thoughts, she averted her eyes so she would not have to look at the thing in front of her, hoping to focus only on Olivia's voice.

Fortunately, Chinami stepped in. With the same genuine smile she had worn before the dread wiped it off her face, Wilhelmina waved at her.

"Camelot! It's so nice to see you again!" Happy to see the other girl and starved for warmth after what she just went through, the blonde swept her friend into a tight hug. She squeezed just a little to show her appreciation and before she could introduce the two to each other, Chinami already did it. She used her Magical Girl name as usual, something which disheartened Wilhelmina a little bit. After all, they were on the same side.

"Thank you, Camelot~! I did get a little tired, but I can make it home on foot. I just wanted to end my transformation before I used up everything," she shared as she turned back towards Ethereal Rose. "You can count on Camelot to have your back. She's amazing, you should see her use her sword!" As usual, Wilhelmina's good-natured chatter filled the air. "Thank you too, Olivia for the offer, but Ummm... Thyergisscary!"

Ah! She blurted that out without thinking! Now it would be really awkward heading back... thankfully, Lumiére gathered the team, giving Wilhelmina an excuse to put some distance between herself and Ethereal Rose until she came up with something appropriate to say, which she really meant. A difficult task, especially for someone like herself who wore her heart on her sleeve so openly. She dearly hoped that Olivia would not be upset at her, but she could apologise later! For now, they really had to disappear unless they wished to incur the wrath of the Ministry or possibly lure a group of Pageless out by accident.

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When they arrived, a most peculiar sight greeted them. As usual, a group of girls were chasing Charlotte with various positions, either administrative or educational and she, as usual, dove into a bush to dodge them while also completely disappearing. Honestly, Wilhelmina had grown used to the sight and knowing her own nature, she kept quiet until the group went away, upon which she sighed, relieved. It seemed they had arrived safely and by now, surely, the awkward air around Olivia along with the other new arrivals dissipated. Come to think of it, she had not even introduced herself to them, she had felt too self-conscious to do so! Noooooo!

She could change the flow of fate, however...

Moving beside Olivia, she quickly spoke.

"I'm sorry for calling Thergys scary earlier, he just scared me," before she went right on beside where Charlotte stood, wearing a similarly bright smile.

"Hello, Charlotte! I just want to introduce myself to the new girls and I promise I'll let you be. The grand tour isn't the same if it isn't you, is it?" she asked of the mysterious magical girl, surely planting the idea in many heads that the grounds of Marywell were quite the sight to behold. Indeed, when she first arrived, Wilhelmina could not stop gawking at every little thing she saw, not to mention the memorable show she got. And the library of this place! She gushed over it every time she entered it. She simply could not stop thinking about it! So many stories, all in their rightful places, all tended to by loving hands!

"Anyways! I'm Wilhelmina Anholts, or Captain Goodhope~ You can call me Helmi if it's too long."

Villamvihar's Experiments

Qingdao used to be a peaceful planet on the frontiers. Just a few years ago, the Ascendancy treated it as one would treat an oyster capable of making a great pearl down the line, but war had a way of interfering with one's plans. Not to mention one's life.

Because, against all odds - or precisely because it had wished to stack the deck so much in its own favour - the Ascendancy lost. It only took one measly battle for the tide to turn, one chance for those who had been used as tools to turn against their masters and the dreams of human supremacy evaporated. Along with any other plans. And after that, the peace treaty struck harsh, levying penalties that left the government scrambling. Retreating into its shell. Abandoning its investments along with some of its responsibilities, it turned inwards to recover from its losses, abandoning the frontier worlds to fend for themselves.

Or at least so the people of Qingdao believed.

There were many variations on the tale; probably as many as there were people on the planet. But the sentiment remained the same: the Ascendancy's high-and-mighty core-worlders, those who wielded all the power and prestige in the world, abandoned the common people. This was then, a tale all too common through history, for as several philosophers have noted, wars are fought by spilling the blood of young men on the battlefield in order to appease the bloodlust of old men sitting behind a desk. And for Shineyd, nothing could have been better about the situation. After all, not only did she get to crack the head of some assholes, she also got paid for it.

Speaking of... The thing beneath her feet writhed in pain as it attempted to move.

"Oh. You're still alive," Shineyd spoke as though she were talking about the weather. "Really should've told me earlier. I could've killed you and saved you the pain!" She aimed her pistol. Toggled the safety. Let loose a shot which echoed through the ruined building, the sound carrying outside and alerting the rest of the idiots she came here for. They would be scrambling to their feet at any moment now, ready to turn the intruder into a sieve of bullets, but Shineyd refused to move from her position. A position which lay open on all sides, with plenty of cover for her enemies. She knew she would be riddled with bullets within seconds and die if she were any other soldier. But Shineyd spat at that notion.

A hail of bullet fire rained onto her within minutes, but most of it sparked instead of penetrating her form. For instead of yielding meat, the bullets encountered a layered, grotesque combination of flesh and metal, plates merged with cords of muscles that would not be out of place on titans. Even if a few bullets did manage to penetrate this unorthodox armour, Shineyd kept her mouth clenched so they would not hear her scream, appearing like a juggernaut in the eyes of her enemy.

Three seconds later, Shineyd moved.

She felt her magic drain as she controlled her hellish shell, manipulating the mass to launch her like a crossbow bolt. Smashing feet-first into the ribcage of her enemy, she felt the pathetic human body yield beneath her oh-so gentle touch, then she sprayed her foes with her assault rifle.

They fell like wheat before the scythe. Though they wore bulletproof vests, they could not protect all of their body and Shineyd did not care how many bullets she wasted. She aimed to injure as many as possible, causing them to drop their weapons or fall back before she parted her shell and rushed forward.

Her second victim got his throat eviscerated. Her third shot her, but she shook it off and blew a hole through her skull. Her fourth dove behind the carcass Shineyd left behind; the red-haired merely maniac touched it and commanded it to impale him with a spike. The fifth and last victim pissed himself before she shattered his shin with a kick that had extra mass behind it, then stomped on his head with a satisfying splat.

Five people killed within about twice as many heartbeats.

Shineyd took cover before she let out an explosive breath. Shifting spells in such rapid succession left her strained; she needed a few seconds to recover before she could be at her full fighting strength again and there were three more fireteams for her to handle judging by the directions of attack. She had to be at the top of her game, so she listened closely; one of the quirks of her regeneration was that her hearing also restored to normal within an eyeblink. Extremely useful in battle, but also extremely annoying as it meant she had to get used to gunfire again.

A few seconds later, she could hear the characteristic, thundering steps that came with people sprinting in heavy equipment. Shineyd really had to give them credit: they reacted quicker than she got used to. Or maybe her fame already spread far enough that people could handle this much. Time to show them a new trick, then~

Concentrating her armour around her most vital areas, Shineyd broke into a sprint towards her opponents. Naturally, they opened fire, but she sank her teeth into her lips and drew blood; forcing herself to remain silent as she endured their torturous assault. A rain of white-hot, serrated agony which threatened to tear her apart. A symphony of bullets which blasted through muscle and bone alike, digging deep into her being, but never able to completely punch through, for the ever-rejuvenating flesh would not let it.

The pain rocked Shineyd's world, but she remained conscious as she pushed forward, diving deep into the formation. Most of the gunfire stopped to prevent friendly fire as she deliberately moved behind one of the soldiers, who tried to pump her full of bullets. If only his magazine did not click empty, he might have been able to scratch her a little.

Reaching for his knife, the soldier attempted to intercept her, but Shineyd sped past. She needed a second to clear her head, to be able to focus, so she zig-zagged between the people around her, forcing them to risk killing or injuring each other if they wanted to hit her. Her lungs burned with exhaustion; she could only keep this up for a couple of seconds, but that was all she needed to bring forth her ace in the hole.

The soldiers around her turned into red mist. The ground ceased to exist beneath her feet and she fell about a metre. The moment of her hanging in air turned into a stretched-out eternity as she felt her magic scream bloody murder, along with the knowledge in the back of her mind that she could have killed herself with that spell. It always made her break out in cold sweat, but she relished it and she landed smooth on her legs before she sprinted towards the edge of the crater she had carved for herself.

She had gotten used to Maws of Charybdis a long time ago. It was still not a pleasant experience by any means, nor could she use it again for a while unless she wanted to risk ripping her skin and insides open. But if she were just a little lucky, she would have eliminated all of her pursuers. Unfortunately, twelve remained. Fortunately, they froze in shock as they saw their comrades evaporate, giving her ample time to kill three of them before they opened fire at her.

Shineyd took the pain head on and let hideous laughter escape her lips. There was still so much fun to be had...

Grimoiric Heart

@Villamvihar
Chinami is the sort who prefers not to have nicknames most of the time, even with people she likes, but she dislikes being pigeon-holed by actually descriptive labels even more (she's a bit prickly on this particular subject, yes, since she dislikes people assuming things about her simply for her Grimoire). Since she likes Wilhelmina, "Nami" is fine. In turn, if she shortens Wilhelmina's name, it tends to be to "Mina" or "Mina-chan", since those roll off the tongue far more naturally for someone that speaks Japanese fluently. Though, she will try to call her "Helmi" mostly in front of others if the other nicknames have been conveyed to her as bothersome in some manner.
Wilhelmina would also presumably have had the context of "-chan" as a term of endearment explained to her at some point, likely after asking when Chinami slipped up and first used it.

And when Chinami offers to "carry her back", it should be relatively apparent (to someone familiar with her straightforward approach) she means a full-on princess carry roof-top-hopping spree, since said carry is technically the safest/most comfortable way an armored person could transport a not-so-armored person, especially while making super-strength leaps.

@Lewascan2

Awesome, thanks! Mina-chan would-be completely fine with Wilhelmina~

Grimoiric Heart

@Lewascan2 Hey! What is a nickname that Chinami would appreciate being called by? I just realised I needed something like it for my post, haha. For reference, Wilhelmina prefers to go by Helmi.

Grimoiric Heart

I will also try for a post today, preferably before things move along.

Grimoiric Heart

The following are your dorm roommates. Let me know if there's any issues:

Chinami and Bonnie.
Suzuya and Olivia.
Tesni and Wilhelmina.
Lucy and Nessie.

@TheWendil

Oh no! I got the most blockhead of blockheads!

REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE

That... could be an actually interesting take. He had a monument built that is literally too awesome for this world and ascended. Hah!

I like it.

Villamvihar's Experiments

[hider=1ndustrial]

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1NDUSTRIAL

"I am the industrial revolution... who is going back to work."

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[ NAME ]

[ HERO IDENTITY ]

1ndustrial (Prounced as One-dustrial)

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

The Engineer, Machine Freak, Greasemonkey

[ AGE ]

24

[ GENDER ]

Male

[ AFFILIATION ]

H.E.R.O.

[ APPEARANCE ]

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

[ DRIVEN ]

1ndustrial is an amibitious individual who

[ BIO ]

[ The obligatory origin story. Some depth is required here, as one’s personal history does speak volumes about their character. However, some details may be left out to be discovered later, though it is critical that the Director be directly messaged about said spoiler.

| MISCELLANEOUS |

Any details you would like the Director to see.

[/color]
[/hider]

[hider=Abilities]
[ RANKING ]

Theta

[/color]

[ POWERS ]

1ndustrial's main asset is his intelligence and creativity. He is especially oriented towards the creation of rough, heavy and tough machines that can withstand severe punishment. His inventions can keep on functioning in the most inhospitable environments known to mankind, even when they have lost a significant amount of their mass. When built for the purposes of combat, 1ndustrial's creations are practical, effective and easy to maintain, practically checking off every box a military would salivate over.

There are also two minor aspects to 1ndustrial's power that are not immediately apparent. Firstly, he can create technical manuals for his machines that allow everyone to learn how to construct and maintain them provided they can read. Eerily enough, this ability seems to have no lower limit; an experiment proved that 1ndustrial's manuals are capable of imparting knowledge to people with severe brain injuries or intellectual deficiencies as long as they are capable of reading the individual words on the page. Understanding the manual is not necessary, though admittedly, the process does take longer the less intelligent the subject is.

Secondly, he is also capable of synthesizing simple forms of life from its base ingredients ... though, a recent incident has called into question just how 'simple' these lifeforms are.

[/color]

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■■■■□□□□□□
1ndustrial routinely hauls around heavy equipment and machinery, which shows, though he is not exceptional in this regard.

[ AGILITY ]
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His reflexes are slightly faster than normal.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
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He is fiercely intelligent, focusing on practical and simple solutions to complicated problems. While nowhere near the most intelligent hero, he is far more learned than most.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
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1ndustrial is not capable of destroying too much without his equipment. With it, however...

[ LETHALITY ]
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The same goes for his ability to harm people.

[ ENDURANCE ]
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He does not injure easily and has remained unschated in situations that should have seriously injured him. Whether this is an aspect of his powers or extreme human deviance is yet to be determined.

[ STAMINA ]
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When it comes to using powers, 1ndustrial's only limit is his ability to pull off long nights and guzzle coffee - which both staggering and a health hazard. Sometimes, people literally have to hit him on the head with a manual just to get him to sleep.

[ EFFICACY ]
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His power is firmly under his control and as described, it can be used to affect others when certain criteria are met.

[ SURVEILLANCE LEVEL ]
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While 1ndustrial is highly cooperative and understanding, recent events have resulted in a severely increased level of surveillance. Provided that no further similar incidents occur, his rating should be revised to three out of ten.

[ SKILLS ]

Any miscellaneous skills/talents that could ever be remotely relevant should be listed here.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

Any equipment that you like to tote around with you should be listed here.

[/hider]

REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE

@Dead Cruiser Fair enough. The key point is that he is not pleased at being away from the people he shaped with his own hands, especially as he worked very hard to reach where he is now and was looking forward to some peace.

Grimoiric Heart

<Snipped quote by Villamvihar>

Mostly, I'm assuming the fact that her tale is an Alter would come up in conversation in the rumor mill at some point, since Wilhelmina is fairly open and such. Do correct me if not, but I felt it was a safe bet that after a year, the fact that she's an Alter would have drifted around. There's also the fact that she stands out in her own way even more for how she has a better ending to her legend instead of a worse/twisted one. But again, I'm merely speculating. Do slap me with your own head-canon if you have a specific rep you want her to have cultivated, and I will adjust appropriately.

@Lewascan2

Yeah, that makes sense. As a lover of stories herself, Wilhelmina would have been the first one to point out that her Grimoire does not match the original story and she probably did some research on this herself. If nothing else, Camelot could have caught onto the fact that there is a girl interested in alters... Hmmm... This does give me an idea! Given Wilhelmina's disposition, I would not be surprised if she is actually friends with Chinami, knowing her decently well. They met in the library while Wilhelmina was looking things up about Alters, with things naturally developing from there. What say you?