Yankee

Fire Emblem: Ashes of Sacrifice [Fall of the Empire]

Belisendé
Evening | Stables -> Castle | Garleton, Lothian Empire

Belisendé watched as the other rider quickly dispatched the would-be opportunist of a bandit, taking in the arc of his sword as it connected with the other man, blood flying before the bandit fell. The way the young man had quickly thought up a distraction plan just a few moments ago, and the way he handled his blade and deftly maneuvered his horse was expert and inspiring. Bel breathed, trying to calm herself down, and now that she got a much better look at the man she could tell her must have been a trained knight. It was lucky that he had found her. If the bandit archer had noticed her and attacked... if the axeman had used her single-minded focus on the assailant to sneak up behind her instead... The train of thought brought gruesome images to her mind, and she shook her head as if to clear it of such things. "Thank you," she said to the rider, "I... Just, thank you." As far as thanks went, it was pretty lame, but the state of her mind let alone the state of the surrounding city had affected her. Everything had happened to suddenly - and she'd just killed a person, hadn't she? It may have been the first time she'd watched someone die, let alone ended their life herself. I... think I might be sick... she though, and hunched over slightly on her horse. Sunbeam backed away from the other horse and the corpse, sensing his rider's distress and eager to leave the area. He was an animal of wild nature, but when Bel was on his back he wouldn't run recklessly. "The soldiers have called to evacuate to the castle. I will head there," Bel said aloud, though only half-directed at the knight. Having a plan of action helped to calm her down a little and ease some of her nausea. Plans were good. "Please stay safe," she told the other man, figuring he was out to help direct any stragglers like herself. With a quick, sharp nod, Sunbeam snorted and took off in the direction of the castle. The young noble held tightly to her horse's reins, though she let him direct them both toward the castle. Belisendé was not a bad rider, or she liked to think at least, but she was not in the state of mind to lead at the moment. She let Sunbeam dodge or jump rubble and fallen market stalls as they passed them as they steadily made their way to safety. Bel kept her gaze focused ahead to watch for anymore enemies, and she dearly wished she wouldn't meet any. The recent altercation was enough. Don't think about it... for now... she thought to herself, and instead she thought to the knight she'd met. As the horse and rider arrived at the castle, she suddenly realized - I didn't even ask his name! Nor offer him mine! How incredibly rude of her, she thought. After everyone was safe, she would seek him out and give him a proper thank you, and the least she could do was learn his name.

_________________________ Status: Alive & Evacuating Class: Squire EXP: 5 Inventory: Iron Bow (3/3) Vulnerary (3/3) Stats END: E STR: E MAG: D DEX: C +2 SPD: D DEF: E RES: D LCK: C Supports N/A

Kimetsu no Yaiba - Shingetsu

Updated my CS to include an image!

Fire Emblem: Ashes of Sacrifice [Fall of the Empire]

No worries here! You'll find I'm pretty patient

Kimetsu no Yaiba - Shingetsu

Seeing some other sheets, it seems using a canon Breath but with altered forms is acceptable? So I hope the Breath of Love is okay, even if in canon it's pretty specific to one character. I have a back-up plan if it's not. I'd also like to throw my hat in for a Pillar spot if accepted. Let me know if anything needs changing! A FC/picture will come soon, I was more concerned with getting the actual content approved

♥♥♥♥

Itoshi Maria | 愛志 マリーア

A g e : 31 Don't ask a lady their age or weight, okay? ♥
G e n d e r : Female
B r i e f B i o : Maria's father Sento fell in love with her mother Carolina and chased after her for years, even converting to her religion. A Catholic church in a small Japanese town is where they were married, and where Maria spent the majority of her childhood.
When Christian missionaries first came to Japan preaching of overcoming demons, they had no idea just how literal their words would become. After discovering the demons were not only real but incredibly deadly, and realizing their usual method of prayer and incantations did little to stop them, the church sought out the Demon Slayer Corps. Information sharing lead to the church's first true "demon slaying" sub-sect. For church branches outside of Japan that might run into one or two stray demons that had made it off the island, they were told of the power of sunlight. For the Japanese branches of the church, sending a few members to officially join the Demon Slayer Corps was much more effective.
Maria was scouted at a young age by an elderly church matron to have the potential to master a breathing style and aid in the Corps' cause. While her parents were devoted church members, they were at first against letting their little girl get involved in something so dangerous... but Maria herself was enamored with the idea. To her, it was like she would become a knight or heroine to protect people. After some convincing, the Itoshi parents let Maria permanently stay with the old woman and train, coming to visit her once a month to check up. The old woman's name was Kiyoko, and the breath she taught to Maria was one of love. Love thy lord, love they neighbor, love thyself. The breathing style came naturally to her - the swordsmanship she had to work on. Through constant effort, she became proficient with a sword, and came to prefer an iaido style of battling.
At sixteen years old, and having trained in the breath and the blade for more than half of her life at that point, Maria learned that Kiyoko had be killed in action while hunting a demon. Maria did not weep or cry out for vengeance, because Kiyoko had sworn an oath and knew that this would one day be her fate - just as she had sworn Maria to the same fate. To kill demons, until every last one of them was gone from the face of the Earth, or until she fell dead.
At twenty-four years old, Maria had mastered her breathing style and had already invented a form of her own. She was powerful, and she told others she owed all her power to her devotion to the Lord, having become a full-fledged Sister at this point. She was devout in her faith and her work as a full-fledged member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
At twenty-six, after a harrowing battle in which she nearly lost her life and which another new form for her breathing style had been created, Maria defeated a lower moon demon. After recovering, she set her sights on taking down more, and even stronger demons too - now confident in the knowledge that she could do it.
Now at thirty-one, Maria is the strongest practitioner of her particular breathing style alive, and is a force to be reckoned with. She splits her time between hunting missions, the Corps HQ, and nearby churches. Her allies seem to either admire her or dislike her. "She can quiet a crying newborn in one hand while mercilessly decapitating a demon with the other" was once said of her. She enjoys looking after youths, and she can act a bit motherly at times - to either people's delight or ire. Recently, the Vatican sent a representative to Japan for a liaison with those already stationed there. Maria was the Sister assigned to receive the rep: Gerard Godson. It has been a few weeks since his arrival, and Maria has acted as a glorified chaperone for him since.
Her views on humans and demons are simple; humans are the Lord's children and deserve love. When they fall prey to sin they can be forgiven through repentance. Demons cannot be forgiven because they cannot fall prey to sin, for they are sin incarnate and must be destroyed. Her mission has not changed since she was young: eradicate all demons, with extreme prejudice.
P e r s o n a l i t y
[+] Compassionate
[+] Patient
[+] Supportive
[-] Unrelenting
[-] Stern
[-] Doesn't mince words
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_{B r e a t h i n g S t y l e}

^{B r e a t h o f L o v e} : Once said that it was only able to be preformed by those of a certain body type, the Breath of Flames-based branched Breath of Love has evolved into a versatile breathing style. It's forms utilize both speed and power, not excelling in either one, to best adapt to situations as needed. It is a flowing, ever-growing style, as whimsical as it's namesake.

♥ First Form: The Shivers of First Love - A quick forward dash with a series of light and quick slashes, used mostly for confusing and distracting opponents.
♥ Second Form: The Anguish of Lost Love - A powerful diagonal slash from a lower angle to a higher one. Strong enough to cut clean through a demon's hide. Loses some of it's power when Maria uses it with her iai art.
♥ Third Form: The Burn of Passionate Love - A form drawing the most inspiration from the parent Breath of Flames, it is a circular slash used for deflecting attacks.
♥ Fourth Form: The Bite of Unrequited Love - A sharp, accurate thrust attack. Unable to decapitate demons, but a pierce from this form through the heart is enough to slow one down considerably.
♥ Fifth Form: The Pain of Self-Love - A leaping attack that can be used with horizontal or vertical slashes, backward or forward. It isn't very powerful and is used mostly for safely re-positioning.
♥ Sixth Form: The Beauty of Enduring Love - One of the forms Maria developed. A lightning quick draw attack aiming for the opponent's neck, often leading to swift death. Her preferred form.
♥ Seventh Form: The Trust Fall of Agape Love - One of the forms Maria developed. A counter-attack that involves sheathing the blade, closing one's eyes, and relying on sense, instinct, and faith the redraw the blade and slash the opponent before the user is slashed themselves.

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_{N i c h i r i n B l a d e}

^{B l a d e D e s c r i p t i o n} : A katana of standard length and weight, the sword's hamon is wavy and uniform. The only discernible way to tell it was a Nichirin blade at all was it's color - a deep, dark red. The red blade could appear almost black at certain angles, and at others it would shimmer brilliantly. Red could symbolize many things - anger, hatred, passion, force - but to Maria, it could only be one thing: a love to reflect her breath and her faith. In addition to the blade itself, it's hilt is wrapped with a special Nichirin Rosary that Maria had specially commissioned. The rosary isn't meant for fighting, but in a pinch it is tough enough to bind a demon.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

^{O t h e r U n i q u e T r a i t s} : Maria doesn't have any enhanced senses or body oddities, she relies on her skill while battling. However, after devoting her life to the art of demon slaying, and perhaps in conjunction with her strong religious nature, she can sense if a demon is nearby - and if it is a particularly strong one that isn't explicitly hiding it's nature, she may even be able to tell exactly who it is.

Oh, and she's really good at telling when people are lying. This isn't a supernatural skill, she is just good at it. It comes with the territory of hearing others out all the time, she supposes.

Kimetsu no Yaiba - Shingetsu

I'm fairly interested! In the interest check you mentioned characters of varied backgrounds/upbringings, and I have a pretty weird idea I'd like to get your opinion on @Haruharara if you don't mind a PM?

Fate/『 』Märchen

Master: Mercedes

Workshop, City Outskirts, Tokyo | Night One

Mercedes smiled back at Archer, and kept seated for a few moments. Though the grail supported it's Masters in their summoning, she was still not used to supplying a familiar so powerful with mana, let alone the hounds he had summoned. 'It's not that bad, might take a little getting used to. It's good to get this out of the way,' she thought. A night of the twenty dogs roaming around would get her used to the mana drain. Familiarcraft was not her forte, as she had reminded herself multiple times throughout the night.

"Alright, while the puppies are out to play..." she began, standing with a small flourish after she felt she had rested enough. She walked over to the board holding the map and the potential master suspects. She took the latter down from the wall, swiftly skimming over her notes again. "Finding out the enemy servant's identities are important, but if I can suss out their masters' identities too, it will give us an advantage - however small." Mercedes scrutinized the sheets, already mentally crossing some people off the list. She glanced up at Archer briefly whilst doing so. "If I can figure some of them out, and we use your hounds to catch a trail, we can corner them.

"Oh - but, don't worry, I have full faith in your strength too, Archer. If we get intercepted by a servant, I'm gonna leave that to you." She grinned as she continued. The enforcer turned to the map then and considered it. "I was thinking we should keep a few other safe houses in the city. We can use them for anything we need... hmm, maybe here," she brushed her fingers over a neighborhood closer to Tokyo's center. Another base to return to, even just one more, opened up many opportunities. It could be stocked with supplies of any variety, serve as a quick area to escape to should things turn south for her, or even make for a dummy workshop to lure in other participants. She'd get to work on securing them as soon as possible, so that the next night after the hounds brought back any information they could, she and Archer could launch a strategic attack. If she had learned anything during her years as an enforcer, it was that magi were just as routine as they were unpredictable. The sentiment may seem oxymoronic, but in her experience, it was true.

"I have some ideas, but I'd appreciate your input, Archer. You and I are strangers to this city, but if you see an area you might like as a bowman's perch just say the..." She blinked, realizing what she was about to say. She didn't worry about offending the man (she very much doubted any spirit would be at something as small as that), only brought the issue of their communication back to the fore front of her mind. She walked back over to the table, placing her notes down and picking the journal and pen up. She turned and held them out to her partner.

"You can use this - or anything else I've got in here - to communicate anything more complex than 'yes or no,'" she explained, "Sometimes I can... feel something, through our bond, but in the mean time I'll be working on understanding you better. And... there's something important I need to know."

She fixed Archer with an easy-going smile, and to anyone else that's all it would appear to be. It was an expression she wore to put others at ease. However, like Mercedes was able to feel something from Archer, if Archer were able to feel anything from Mercedes he may sense the serious nature her aura seemed to take. Whatever his answer may be, they would work with it, but it was something that bothered Mercedes in the back of her mind.

"It's my understanding that a noble phantasm's true strength comes from calling out it's true name. Can you use your noble phantasm to it's full ability like this, Archer?"

@King Cosmos

Fire Emblem: Ashes of Sacrifice [Fall of the Empire]

Belisendé
Evening | Stables | Garleton, Lothian Empire

A sudden shout from the right startled the young woman. Thankfully she'd already loosed her arrow, it's aim would be unaffected by her sudden start. Bel snapped her head toward the sound of the voice, finding it's owner to be a young man astride a beautiful black mare. She watched as the horse and rider paced forward before yet another sound reached her ears. A thud of something heavy falling to the ground. Slowly, Bel turned back to the where the woman had been just a few moments before, and where the bandit now lay on the ground with an arrow stuck in his neck. The few moments she'd taken her eyes off the enemy - something that might prove a grave mistake on a true battlefield - had resulted in a man's death. He... he's dead? That woman is safe? That rider... She turned back towards the young man, intending to - do what? Thank him, question him? Tell him to escape? She didn't get the chance as she spotted a sinister silhouette sneak into view behind the fellow squire. "Ah - behind you!" She meant to call out, but her voiced was drowned by a large gray and dappled horse exploding onto the scene. Sunbeam had crashed his way into the area, braying loudly and angrily, and when he stopped just in front of Bel she could have cried from relief. He was safe! "Sunbeam!" She mounted the horse faster than she'd ever done in her life, and Sunbeam practically sailed over to the other pair, standing tall beside the black mare. Even with his tail adorned with a cute pink ribbon, the stallion cut an imposing figure, snorting brutishly and glaring at the bandit before him. Belisendé silently glanced at the other rider, looking for the more confident of the two of them to take the lead. She hoped the sight of two armed people on horseback would be enough to get the bandit to back down so that they could escape to the castle.

_________________________ Status: Alive & Not so well Class: Squire EXP: 5 Inventory: Iron Bow (3/3) Vulnerary (3/3) Stats END: E STR: E MAG: D DEX: C +2 SPD: D DEF: E RES: D LCK: C Supports N/A With: Kyran @CriticalHit

Fire Emblem: Ashes of Sacrifice [Fall of the Empire]

@Sho Minazuki no problem! Would it help in the future to tag you?

Fire Emblem: Ashes of Sacrifice [Fall of the Empire]

I was waiting for the conclusion of the high stakes Stables arc with Kyran before I made a post! The arrow is already en route, I don't think I can do much else without your decision of the battle outcome, Sho?

Fate/『 』Märchen

Master: Mercedes

Workshop, City Outskirts, Tokyo | Night

Mercedes watching her servant intently as he gestured to her. She surmised that it was a sign language of some kind. Magi had found many ways to communicate without words, and so many had never bothered to learn any kind of modern pedestrian sign language. She didn't know if that's what this was, but she got the gist of what he meant more or less. It was true, he couldn't speak. Most likely he couldn't even talk to her through their bond, or he would have done so already. She nodded to herself as he turned away from her, thinking of what could be done. In truth, they didn't need to speak to each other. Archer was a great hero of the past, more than likely he was a hunter, he could function perfectly fine on his own and he'd already demonstrated that he was attentive and willing to work with her. Mercedes, likewise, was more than used to fighting solo, but... they were partners now. She had no doubt that if she came up with a plan and Archer had his problems with it, he'd let her know somehow. However, if things went wrong while they were separated, it would be a lot harder for him to fill her in on the situation.

A small smirk came to her lips. 'This will be an interesting challenge,' she thought, her eyes finding Archer's form once more as he waved his hand. She felt a pull of her mana before three dogs materialized before her. Curious, she moved closer to them, but didn't dare reach out the touch them. They were big, and looked well trained. Hunting dogs, familiars of her own familiar. She looked back at Archer, and after just a beat her eyes shined with understanding as he gestured to the map of the city.

"These pups here are probably some of the best scouts a girl could have in this situation - am I right, Archer?" Mercedes said, glancing back at the hounds. "If you trust them, I trust them. By all means, let them hunt down the enemies and bring back any information they can. We can rework our map after that. No doubt there will be some eager masters looking to test their new servant's strength tonight."

The woman magus moved around to the room then, digging through some desk drawers and drawing out a few items. Walking back to the table, she placed a journal and a deck of cards down on it. The journal was not personal in nature, instead it was filled with theories, strategies, and experiments. She flipped to a blank page and quickly scribbled some things into it. 'An archer, a hunter, can summon hounds, mute...'

"Would you have enjoyed card games in life, I wonder?" she addressed Archer somewhat randomly without looking at him. She reached for the deck of cards, shuffling them elaborately, letting the cards waterfall from one hand to the other. "I love card games, but there are a lot more uses for them. For example..." Mercedes finished her shuffle, and in a flash pulled a card from the middle of the deck and slapped it onto the table. It was the four of spades: a card of stability. Mercedes smiled lightly and, seemingly satisfied, she circled an entry in the journal and ripped the page out. She held the paper out for Archer to read.

It was a list of names, and the one circled upon it was Actaeon.

"Cards can give you certain prophecies. This one told me we'll be just fine together," she mused, and as soon as she could tell Archer had read it, set the page ablaze with a flick of her wrist. "That is if you believe in that stuff, of course."

@King Cosmos