Crowvette

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at Terauchi Temple

Io gracefully descended from the teleport. It was not her preferred method of transport, but given the circumstances she accepted it. She was met with the still air of a temple, as Lady Kyouko had described she would. Notably, the ones inside the temple were not attacking her - not something that could be said of every temple she had entered in the past.

Io quietly watched the fight unfold outside of the temple, analyzing each minute detail of the Mikos' actions. There was much to learn already about the development of magic here. Whispering in her native language that the surrounding refugees would not understand, Io's grimoire glowed, her whispered words inscribing themselves into the page magically. There was much note-taking to be done.

The situation rapidly escalated out of hand before Io could intervene, but perhaps she was not too late to help. Emerging from the temple's sliding door, Io stepped down from the temple steps, walking past the refugees and monks to Ayu and Shizuka. Her pallid skin and torn robes which fluttered and revealed ribbon-like scrolls that wound tightly around her body drew a bit of attention, but she seemed to not notice it at all. "Kyouko sent me," Io brusquely muttered, as if that would answer all potential questions levelled at her. Crouching down, she examined Shizuka's wound. Io knew that Kyouko expected her to help, and not solely observe, but she was surprised at how quickly she already needed to act. "Unfortunate." She said, not considering how bad that would sound to a wounded person. She added after a moment of study, "But not fatal. I will fix it."

Io whispered in her native language to cast a spell of healing. Drawing energy from her own body, and subtly leeching life from the nearby flora, she shaped the energy to heal Shizuka's wound. Ordinarily she'd draw life from the surrounding area without much care... but Kyouko had explained the importance of not defiling Shizuyama's lands willy-nilly. Kyouko had explained it multiple times, even, as if she didn't believe Io got it the first time. Io understood the concern, of course. A dead circle of grass following the area she walked on would likely not make her look the best in the eyes of the locals... especially since it was on a temple's ground. She took care to not overtax the life around her, fragile as it was, for the sake of relations between them all. Io had enough energy to spare... though maybe not if she had to do this too often.

Io watched intently, almost clinically, as Shizuka's wound closed. While she had plenty of experience healing living things, she was more comfortable with undead. Much more room for error with undead. The wound disappeared within moments, leaving no evidence that there was ever one except for the torn clothing and traces of blood.

Io stood after judging the healing was satisfactory, flatly gesturing to herself. "Io." She considered that enough of a greeting. "It seems things aren't as simple as Lady Kyouko hoped," Io said quietly, unaware of how much of an understatement that was.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

@Crowvette

I can't access the image. :(

@PaulHaynek

Interesting. Let me mirror it to see if catbox is the issue.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io

Appearance: Link here because the image probably will mess up the rpguild page.

Name: Io

Race: Lich

Magic/Abilities/Equipment: (There will be fighting in the RP so having combat-related abilities is encouraged. Nothing OP, of course.)

Ancient Caster: Io's casting comes from a long-forgotten school of study, in an ancient tongue that few others would understand or remember, likely from before she became a lich. She is most comfortable with necromancy spells, such summoning minions/spirits as well as directly draining life from enemies.

Encylopaedic: Io has a veritable wealth of knowledge about magic from her time studying. While she may not be able to cast every spell she knows off the top of her head, she can often recall with meditation the right spell for the job, even outside of her forte of necromancy. She also can usually identify magic just from witnessing it, recognizing its effects as it's being cast. Particularly strong, obscure, or specialized spells may elude her ability to cast them, though she'll be able to at least recall the details of what they do.

Scrolls: Io's scrolls that she adorns herself with carry various magical enhancements written in her ancient runes. She has to activate them to gain their benefits, so they're not always on, but she can also give the scrolls to others in order to bestow the enhancements on them. These enhancements are simple in nature, like increasing strength, speed, or toughness for the wearer of the scroll.

Inscriptions: Written in magical tattos on her skin are always-active magical enhancements that give Io considerable sturdiness to phyiscal and magical attack. There are also a few that offer non-combat uses, like to disguise the pallor of her skin and warm her body, in order to blend in with non-monster people, but she will only use these if necessary (Nobody's asked, but presumably she finds it uncomfortable).

Lich traits: Io doesn't need to breathe and various other little traits that are common to undead. She merely ignores anyone asking about her phylactery, but it's presumably something that exists.

Personality: Io is defined by her immense curiousity and desire to learn. To most around her, her nearly constant deadpan expression and mostly covered face makes it hard to get a read on what she's actually feeling. Her focus is unparalleled, being able to continue working on a single thing for days on end without fatigue and all while ignoring distractions. Despite having a seemingly broad vocabulary, she often speaks in brief, truncated sentences to communicate as quickly as possible. Her enthusiasm for jewelry, especially gemstones, often surprises others with how animated (pardon the pun) she becomes in their presence.

Background:

Io talks very little about her past, especially anything before she became a lich. Even her age in broad strokes is unknown, though there may be people capable of deducing her relative age from the writing she uses for scrolls.

It's unknown how Io made it to Zipangu, though there is a legend that she emerged from the ocean in a leisurely stroll... as if she walked from one landmass to the next, completely unfazed by the ocean. Studying the islands of Zipangu, she found herself intrigued by the isolated nature of Shizuyama and warnings to not approach it, at the same time learning of Lady Kyouko's interest in it. Io proposed to help study the island for Lady Kyouko, a win-win for both of them.

(I think I gave away my favourite already but it's the Lich.)

Hopefully this is about right for a character. I also am not quite sold on the name but I wanted something extremely short since that'd fit well with how she communicates in general. Plus I just like how it sounds. But it may be subject to change if I can think of another similarly nice short-as-possible name.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

I've got some interest, I'm gonna take some time to read through what's been going on to see how I feel about it.

I've always liked the design of the Lich monmusu so that might be a good character base. We'll see!

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

@AtomicNut

Alyona's attempts at protesting fell on deaf ears. She'd much rather be with Cel than the spider, but it seemed like Cel had other plans. Which was, admittedly, par for the course. 'Impish' would not describe them well enough. In fact, had Alyona not known any better, she'd have pegged the youth as some kind of otherworldly entity meant to sow discord amongst man - Neither human, god, spirit, or demon. Such things appeared in the fringes of folk tales, after all. Especially where she came from.

'I should not rule that out, still.' Alyona thought to herself. 'At least they manage to keep things interesting. And... It's rare to find someone that can be around me without suffering. At times I don't know how to deal with it.' With that thought, Alyona realized that she was in direct contact with the spider. 'Well. Not my problem if she gets caught up in my aura.' Kiwi already didn't seem fond of her. No need to bother keeping that bridge standing.

Cel took off with their own plan in mind - or perhaps their own lack of a plan. It was hard to tell. Alyona felt the need to speak up. "Do you have a plan? Is Sea of Death a common occurrence at this place?" Alyona's free hand reached out, conjuring an inky black lance. Just in case.

'This doesn't even really concern me, but I guess if Cel wants to have their fun, so be it. I'll cut and run if things start looking ugly.' Alyona figured it was only a matter of time before that happened, but she could at least put on a show for Cel's sake.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

@KillamriX88 @AtomicNut

Alyona bristled at the two, clearly concerned that anyone would defend Kiwi, but dispelled the lance of negative energy in her hand after Cel's prompting for "diplomacy." "I would never dream of hurting anyone. It appears there was a misunderstanding. Where I come from, there are no large spiders in schools. Just small ones. And they are not treated well. It is unfortunate, but things are harder there. For everyone."

Aly considered the fact that the spider-girl had understood her speaking in her first language. She often lapsed into it to disparage those around her - she would have to be careful around this one. 'This is rapidly becoming not worth it other than getting out of the rain.' Alyona thought to herself, taking the lead towards the source of the scream. 'At least Cel showed up.'

Rounding the corner, Alyona was taken aback at how dark it had become already. It was overcast, sure, but the entire hall seemed to be devoid of any lighting. Unnaturally so. Alyona narrowed her eyes. There were windows, weren't there? Even if it was overcast, the hall wouldn't be this dark naturally-

The scratching sound on the floor grabbed Alyona's attention. A disembodied hand - No, rather, a hand of a body submerged in some kind of pitch-black mud - scratched the tile, before being covered by a surge in the thick black liquid entirely. The black slime kept encroaching closer, much faster than Alyona would have expected.

"It's the Sea of Death!" Alyona shouted in her mother tongue - she didn't know how to say its name in any other. "It wasn't something my tutors made up to scare my sister!" Alyona spun around, running from the creeping wave of black sludge. Barreling around the corner to where the others were, she slid - tripped - and fell, sliding along the ground. Of course, she was far more used to falling than the others could know, so it didn't faze her. She continued her warning from the floor: "It got her! It is coming!" She panted, this time in a language all of them would understand.

If the others who didn't understand her mother tongue did not get who "it" or "her" was, Alyona's lances of negative energy sparking into existence around her would signify that "it" was probably dangerous, and nobody would want to be "got" by it.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Vera and Andras's Impromptu Midnight Fight

If Vera hadn’t really looked thrilled to be fighting, that changed quickly. She raised her arms up in front of her, the magic bolt breaking against her forearms. Behind her arms, her eyes narrowed as she glared at Alex. The blast had stung like hell, but she didn’t flinch from it.

Instead, in that moment, it galvanized her. She’d made a snap decision to take over as Alex’s opponent, without having had any time to sort out her feelings. Alex, meanwhile, had hardly hesitated to start the fight.

Vera didn’t know what to make of that, and in the absence of a concrete answer, she had settled on taking it very, very personally.

“This is what you came for, isn’t it?” she growled under her breath and then sprang forward. Alex shouldn’t have been too surprised when Vera managed to close the gap between them in a flash. She’d always been the scrappiest, most athletic member of their little group, and time had only made her legs longer.

As soon as she was in range she swung a kick at Alex’s hands in an attempt to disrupt her ability to use her cards.

Alex was taken aback at how quick Vera was. She was always the fast one, of course, but it seems like things were different now. Alex didn’t have to curse her short stature before Vera was upon her.

Alex reflexively brought her arms up to protect against the kick, but she kept her spell at the ready. She grit her teeth as the kick shot across her arms, the sharp pain being something she hadn’t felt physically in what seemed like ages. However, Vera getting that close was the criteria she needed - to be touching the opponent.

“I’ve got more than just some bolts of light, you know!” Alex shouted, her spell casting on the touch between the two girls. It was a pale imitation of the mythological vampire - a spell that drained the energy of another to sustain the caster. She had wanted to play up the theatrics, but the swiftness of Vera’s counterattack made it clear - no time to play around.

Alex took a few steps back after the spell was cast, her cards ready in her hands, feeling the rush of energy stolen from Vera. She wanted to keep some distance, but that would be hard with Vera’s physical advantages. Alex readied another spell, hoping that the shock of the sudden drain would be enough to keep Vera off balance.

Vera felt a wave of fatigue hit her as she hit Alex. She stumbled back a step and took a deep breath, trying to recover. She grit her teeth. It was always like this. A straight-forward fight against someone with a proper set of powers was always so unfair.

It didn’t make sense to her what Alex was suddenly able to do, but it didn’t matter. Alex had powers, Vera didn’t. Of course, Vera knew how to fight and Andras didn’t, but how much would that matter?

The thing was, maybe she felt like she’d suddenly just run a mile, but she could run a lot of miles, and Alex wasn’t that far away. She grit her teeth and rocketed forward once more, not giving Alex another moment to prepare.

First, she cut off her movement by stepping down on Alex’s foot to root her, then her hand whipped out, grabbing Alex’s to torque her wrist, still hoping that controlling her hands might limit her powers. Finally, she cocked a fist back, ready to slam it into Alex’s now unguarded face…

Vera knew that if she could find the limit to Alex’s powers, that if she could stay up close like this, that Alex was screwed. Alex hadn’t known a damn thing about fighting in the past. Her powers had been borderline useless too. Vera had always done all the fighting.

Vera had never stopped fighting.

Vera couldn’t fathom that Alex could have learned how to fight anywhere near her level. Where would she have found the time? And why would she have bothered? She had powers.

The blow never came. Vera’s face twisted into a frustrated snarl and instead of slamming her fist into Alex’s jaw, she grabbed the smaller girl by the collar and threw her to the ground. It was hardly a proper throw, not even enough to really knock the wind out of the girl.

It was more like Vera was throwing a tantrum and chucking her toys around, but was still afraid of actually breaking them.

Alex was taken aback at the blow that never came. Vera let her off easy. Was it a warning? Or a flex? A signal to calm down? More so than anything, that attack left Alex conflicted. ‘Was I trying too hard by coming at her full force?’ Alex thought to herself. She didn’t really have time to mull over all the possibilities.

As Alex jumped to her feet, she couldn’t help but prod. “Vera. I thought…” She couldn’t quite place what to say. “Um. Maybe not the best time now. After all this, we need to talk.” Alex dusted herself off as she stood. “But for right now, let’s both put our hearts into the fight.” She felt a little bit better just bringing it up. Alex hoped Vera may have felt the same pang of regret for stumbling into the fight, and the two could finish it more as friends than combatants.

Alex picked a card out and quickly crushed it in her hands, the card’s glow suffusing over Andras’s body for a brief moment, concentrating around her legs before disappearing. This spell drastically enhanced her ability to jump. She had to keep that effect at the ready, for the perfect time to surprise Vera. She stood at the ready, waiting for Vera’s next move.

“I’m happy to see you.” She added, in a lower voice to try and keep the crowd from hearing. She tried to wink… but obviously nobody could tell she did.

Vera… faltered at Alex's words. It was what she'd wanted to hear, but she still couldn't get past the fact that THIS was how they'd reunited. Nothing Alex could say at this moment would fix that.

At least nothing Vera could think of.

But still, the words slowed her more than any spell that had been cast so far, even as Alex urged her to fight her hardest.

Honestly, Vera wanted to beat her frustrations into Alex's face, and that urge was one she found deeply unpleasant. Disturbing, really. It was the exact opposite of everything she'd ever stood for as a fighter.

Fine then, she just wouldn't hit her.

All she had at the moment was a half-baked plan, a messy sack of muddled emotions, and shaky resolve, but she'd never been one to quit. She suddenly took an entirely different stance, more like a boxer and darted in again, quick as ever.

"Oh, we'll talk all right…" she growled as she drew close and fired off a lightning quick jab at Alex's nose. It would come short by a millimeter, even should Alex be too slow to react.

She wasn't hesitating this time though, just distracting her. If it worked, Vera would then slip behind her, bodily push her off balance, and then try to sweep her legs.

Alex had analyzed the situation perfectly. Vera would come at her. She would dodge just in time, putting Vera off balance, and allowing her to take the initiative. Her magic was flawless. But her reaction times were a bit lacking.

She was taken by surprise with how quickly Vera had thrown out the punch, and the perfect plan in her mind dissolved as she reflexively tried to protect herself from the punch - unfortunately playing right into Vera’s maneuver.

Alex fell to the ground, her legs kicked out from under her. Vera may have been holding back, but it wasn’t stopping her from showing Alex that she had a long way to go before she was going to be a scrapper.

‘M-Maybe I should have put more into it during physical therapy…’ Alex couldn’t help but think to herself. She quickly turned to face Vera - although she was on the ground, Alex was anything but disabled. That being said, she was running out of options. Even Andras knew trying to get to her feet with Vera towering above her would be foolish. She instead opted to start shuffling back, trying to get some distance between the two. All the while, her spells glowed at the ready in her hands.

Vera made no move to hit Alex while she was down. She just slowly walked forward, not letting Alex crawl too far away.

“Get up, Andras,” Vera commanded her. She would wait, allowing the girl to do so. If she did, then the second she had her feet under her again and her guard something resembling up, Vera would shoot back in, aiming a kick at Alex’s ankle to destabilize her and then a palm strike to her stomach to knock her down all over again.

Alex would either find a way to win, or Vera would keep knocking her down until she lost the will to get up again.

Alex’s blunder with reacting to Vera’s attack stung, but she wouldn’t let Vera keep the initiative. She’d have to do something unexpected. The spell to enhance her jump height was still active, so Andras put together a plan. It was anything but elegant, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

She rose to her knees, and then a low squat. Alex knew the spell enhanced her legs to drastically increase the height of her jumps - and she had measured it to about ten feet straight up last time she had cataloged the spell. Of course, if she directed that jump in the right way…

A split-second glow of light around Alex’s legs was the only sign of the coming attack. From her low squat, Alex jumped forward with unexpected speed, trying to directly tackle Vera. Though under ordinary circumstances the differences in stature and distance between the two would make a move pointless, Alex was banking on the magical enhancement and surprise to sweep Vera off her feet. Alex had to return the favor for the previous throws that had been given to her, after all.

Vera saw Alex gearing up for a tackle. What she wasn’t ready for was how fast and intense a tackle it would be. Vera had lowered her center of gravity, her feet skidding back as Alex crashed into her and she absorbed the blow. She let out a cough as the pain radiated through her stomach, Alex’s shoulder having plowed into it.

Vera had wanted to catch the other girl, and she had, but with the speed Alex had careened into her at, she’d still done plenty of damage and Vera hadn’t exactly been able to slow her down. That said, she DID still have Alex in her grasp again.

“OK…” Vera took a deep breath as she tightened her grip around Alex to prevent her from disengaging. “Now you’re pissing me off,” she said in a ragged growl as she fought to keep her knees from trembling. She hadn’t exactly caught her breath yet.

She then shifted her grasp, grabbing Alex by her hair. She cocked her leg back, clearly lining up a knee that would smash Alex’s nose and just the rest of her face in general. And… she couldn’t do it. Even as the pain still throbbed and she had to put an extra effort into breathing, she couldn’t hit the girl, not like that.

If anything, that pissed her off even more. She was already at a huge disadvantage without psyching herself out and holding back.

Well, for the moment anyway, the ball was once again fully in Vera’s court.

With Alex’s face spared for the moment, Vera twisted her grip on Alex’s hair and forced the girl to stand up, then further, forcing her to lean back to avoid having her hair torn out.

“In case you were wondering, this was how it felt…” Vera snarled. She made to swing her leg into the back of Alex’s, once more intending to take her feet out from under her, but this time she kicked a lot harder. Unless Alex found a way to escape quickly, she’d be left airborne for a moment before Vera slammed her palm down onto Alex’s solar plexus, violently propelling her back to the floor.

With that moment of exertion passed, Vera would then fall to her knee, coughing and trying to finally catch her breath fully.

Alex was at her limit - in several ways, but mostly physical. Her chest ached, her legs were unsteady, and her breath was coming in quick gasps. She had kept a few spells back, but she felt like if the fight continued, they’d be wasted anyway when she lost. So she conjured up her remaining cards.

She had to cast the spell she was holding back. The spell glowed and suffused around her arms and hands, consuming all of the other spells she hadn’t cast yet along with it. This spell would infuse her punch with superhuman force, and suffer no damage to her arms or hands.

The plan was simple: End the match with a single, unexpected strike. Even if blocked, the superhuman strength of the punch would likely finish Vera. Alex took a deep breath, and jumped to her feet. Then she reeled back for the punch. Her strength would more than make up for her lack of technique, at least in her mind’s eye.

And for a moment, it looked like it might work - but Alex caught herself. She realized what she was about to do. To her own friend! The knot in her stomach turned.

She couldn’t do it. Maybe that was what Vera kept feeling too. Alex couldn’t cross that line, even if the two had just spent their first meeting in years beating each other. She’d rather go back to her hospital bed and sleep another year.

What was she even doing here?! How could she even consider doing that to Vera?!?!

With a cry of frustration, Alex brought her fist down, but it landed nowhere near Vera, instead landing directly into the floor. The force of the impact cracked the floor beneath it and shook the entire bar.

“I can’t do it, Vera. I can’t have the first thing I do after missing you for so long be putting you in the hospital.” Alex muttered in a low voice, so quiet that only Vera could hear. “If you can do it, go ahead.” She sniffled, holding back tears.

Dust rained from the rafters and not a soul in the bar uttered a sound. The tiny girl had just set off what felt like an earthquake with a punch. It was a bit and then some beyond what most people expected from fights in the Midnight arena, let alone from someone like “Andras.”

Vera’s eyes just slowly panned over to the small crater formed by Alex’s fist, sweat dripping down the side of her face.

Shit like this was why she didn’t pick fights with people anymore.

She barely heard Alex’s first few words as her heart pounded in her ears.

“I-I give up…” Vera swallowed. She was good. As far as she was concerned, that was plenty for her to give Alex the win, and no one in the crowd was gonna argue with her after seeing that.

Alex wiped her eye with her sleeve. “W-What?” It took the girl a few moments to take in what had happened - or rather, what she had done. She looked down at the crater where her fist had impacted the floor. “O-Oh.”

She was frozen with shock for a moment. ‘I definitely overdid it!!’ She couldn’t help but think. ‘I can’t spin this as a total win… everyone saw her toying with me. I can’t even figure out what to say here!!’ Her brain whirred, trying to think of what to do. ‘I-I guess I should get out of the arena, at least…’

She wordlessly reached a hand out, offering Vera a hand up.

Vera hesitated for a moment before tentatively lifting her hand toward Alex’s. She trembled slightly as her hands inched toward Alex’s until their fingertips brushed against each other.

She recoiled.

She flinched before her expression hardened and she slapped Alex’s hand away. She forced herself to her feet on her own before limping out of the arena without sparing Alex another glance.

She couldn’t even explain her actions. She could tell herself it was to make sure no one would doubt that Alex had earned her win and that she was playing the role of a sore loser, but that didn’t ring true in her mind. All she could do was shuffle off to sulk somewhere while she tried to sort out what she was feeling.

And besides, she’d left her “product” unattended with her “friend.” She needed to make sure they weren’t choking on their own vomit somewhere…

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

Name: Alyona Yenina

Age: 18

Grade: Remedial High Schooling (Mephisto's)

Portrait

files.catbox.moe/gi2spk.png

I'm dumb so the image is probably too big to embed well so here's the link. She dyes her hair often, but never tries out the color red.

Biography: Alyona was born with a twin sister. In some cruel ploy of the gods, one twin was given the powers of a holy relic, while the other became a bearer of unholy curses. While one grew normally and healthily, the other was thin and barely grew at all.

Despite her royal birth and family, she was excluded from participating as soon as her powers were realized. Bringing misfortune everywhere she walked was enough for her family to isolate her, and she soon felt resentment towards them without exception. Despite the family’s wealth, she knew that she would be the last person in line to inherit anything. So she eschewed her family, dying her hair different from her twin sister, taking with her anything she could steal and running away to try and find a different way of life. After all, if all she can do is bring misfortune, maybe she could find a way to use it to her advantage.

Alyona has embraced her life as a walking curse. She assumes by default that people will not like her - so she better get what she can out of them before they realize what she actually is.

She fled her home country with some stolen family treasures and is determined to chase her own dream in Rhea with a fresh start. She has it all, a nice apartment, a good roommate, and... mandatory schooling due to her lack of transcripts and poor testing scores.

Has a childlike fondness for sweets.

Powers:

Core Power: Unholy Vessel - Alyona was blessed by a goddess of curses and misfortune. Some would say that the essence of curses is weaved within her mortal form. Her presence brings poor luck to those around her. Perhaps because of this curse, her body is much different from her stockier twin.

Secondary Power: Aegis of Misfortune - Alyona’s existence is a form of curse. Negative effects such as curses have very little effect to her. However, positive effects have a diminished effect on her as well. She’s so used to negative energy that positive kinds make her feel sick.

Secondary Power: Cursed Touch - Alyona’s curses can be extended to others with a touch. If someone is touched by Alyona for more than a few moments, the curses will prevent positive effects such as healing from affecting the victim for several minutes. Extended bouts of contact with her will prevent even natural healing and rest from aiding the victim.

Secondary Power: Contaminant Bolt - Alyona’s ranged attack are spears of pure negative energy. Containing the raw energy of curses, these weapons pass through physical barriers and leave no wounds, but sap the life force from their target. Hits to muscles will make them sore and stiff as though they have been worked without breaks. These spears can return the life force to Alyona, which heals her (one of the only positive effects that isn’t reduced by Aegis of Misfortune).

Relationships:

Sasha Yenina - “...Don't say that name to me ever again.”

Alexandria or Andras

Name: Alexandria Sova
Also goes by Andras

Portrait Link

files.catbox.moe/xv9ulb.png

(She doesn't actually have a grimoire... yet!)

Age: 16

Grade: 1st Year Laurels

Biography:

Alexandria Sova was always a bookish child, who often ended up driving people away through social awkwardness. It was a wonder, then, that she managed to become a part of a trio of tightly knit friends. Her Gift manifested strangely, allowing her to manifest thoughts, concepts, and images from her mind. This led to her forming a bond with another child who had a similar power. Protected by a brash third friend, they lived out their lives without a care in the world, conjuring forth images and scenes that were born from pure imagination.

Until Alex went too far. Or rather, she was intrigued by some quirk in her gift she discovered while playing - and upon experimenting, was swallowed up by her own dream. She became bedridden, comatose, unresponsive. She only awoke over a year later, and even more time to become rehabilitated. But she had emerged changed from the long sleep, and her power was erratic, unpredictable, and so much more powerful. She claimed she had found the source of magic itself, something innate to the world, even more fundamental than the gods.

Or so she says. Many keeping an eye on her noticed her power was manifesting things from her imagination, or from other things she had seen in the past, or even from games she enjoyed. They commented that she may have imagined or dreamed the entire thing up, and her power simply refined itself further to manifest her scatter-brained thoughts into, admittedly, real powers. The erratic and potentially dangerous nature of her power lead her to be privately schooled in managing her power alongside remedial classes to catch up with the classes she had missed.

Alexandria's extended leave from consciousness, loss of sight in one eye, and newfound ability had perhaps intermingled for her to cultivate a new persona - that of a demon mage named Andras. While she tries to keep the facade up, it becomes clear to many that interact with her that she is simply keeping up some kind of delusion, or a stage persona to have for when she enters tournaments, or perhaps she just went a little crazy when she was in a coma.

Powers:

Core: The Root of All Magic

Within Andras's eye there is a link to the source of all magic, beyond even the gods' domain (allegedly). She can use her inward eye to gaze at the Root, catching glimpses of spells at their primordial source (or so she says). These spells crystallize as softly glowing points of light, which Andras can manifest at will (actually has been observed, so probably true). She can cast these spells using the points of light, which she usually calls "cards" (most cards in real life don't glow and float in midair).

The behaviors officer that put together her file after working with her wrote:

"Alexandria's power seems to let her manifest illusions of cards, like from a game, and use them to create actual magical effects. They seem to be 'drawn' from a large and random pool that may be expanding as she considers new effects. While in card form they have no real power, so they seem to be just manifest that way because of Alexandria's preferences. However, she has the ability to 'activate' them to 'cast' the effect of the card, consuming the card in the process. These spells can be from minor tricks, to powerful attacks, to granting supernatural abilities. Nearly impossible to say what she might be able to do from day to day.

She seems to be documenting spells herself, but unfortunately a copy of the notebook she was using is not able to be secured. She was very adamant about not sharing it."

Sub Power: Mana Bond
Once per day, Andras can draw a card from the Root. She can increase the number of draws she gets from this power by forging a mana bond with a trusted friend. This is done through physical contact (like a hug or whatever) and lasts as long as both are okay with it. The bond does not impart any kind of drain on the friend.

Andras is very hesistant to form bonds with someone she doesn't trust as a friend. When prompted why, she never really gives a straight answer, usually haphazardly talking about "grave prophecy" or "reality anchoring" or something similar. ...Maybe she's too shy?

Sub Power (?): Forbidden Knowledge
Andras's connection to the Root is seemingly becoming stronger over time, causing her to obtain more and more spells as she practices. The list of spells she has grows as she witnesses usage of gifts, magic, and her own dreams.

Relationships:

Wolf and Vera: "I-It's kind of daunting to face them now... A lot has happened since we were last together. But we're still friends, right? R-Right?!"

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

Alyona evaluated Wolf with a cold glance. 'Probably wasn't the one who screamed. Maybe. Could be a girly screamer.' The thought made Alyona smile slightly. 'He looks like he gets pushed around a lot. A little more from me wouldn't hurt.'

Alyona spoke up, putting on a friendly tone for Wolf. "Of course we are not here to cause trouble! We are here to fix the trouble. Now what is the trou-" As she talked, her eyes wandered from Wolf to... the thing next to Wolf. Her smile froze into a clear visage of surprise, and moments later Alyona jumped behind the doorframe, shouting something (probably obscene) in her mother tongue. "Cel! That one is even larger than the cockroach I saw in the shower a week ago!" She braced against the wall, and raised her voice to talk to Wolf again. "Boy. Do not turn around now. There is a very large bug behind you." She manifested a lance of black energy in her hands. "I will fix. You will owe me."

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alexandria

Alexandria was stunned for a moment at the sudden change in Vera's tone. Tears welled up in her eyes again. "W-What? You're asking that now?!" The image of Vera's face flashing with anger triggered... something. She couldn't remember where it came from. It wasn't from when she was awake, Alexandria felt.

The murmur of the crowd coming back to front and center snapped Alexandria out of her thoughts. She wiped her face. Her gut felt twisted with anxiety, but she grit her teeth and ignored it. 'You idiot, Vera...' She thought. The burning of shame she felt at Vera's last question flared into anger. 'You didn't even want an answer, did you? Did you just ask that to hurt me? Will fighting communicate for you better?!' She couldn't back down now. As silly as it may seem, Alexandria- Or rather, Andras had a reputation to build. She couldn't go down without fighting. She wanted to become a known fighter - a demon in the ring.

Andras's cards flashed into existence around her, and she grasped a spell and quickly cast it - a flurry of cards stretched out before her, and her eye scanned them all in an instant. There were the tools to win, here. She could see it. The cards flickered away. "You..." Andras cleared her throat. "Your challenge is accepted." She had a trump card. But she needed to use her other options first. "I hope you're ready..."

Andras quickly flicked a card towards Vera - it was a minor spell, essentially a warning shot. The card cast itself into a bolt of sparkling energy, streaking towards Vera. Andras knew the spell wouldn't hurt too badly if it hit - not much more than a solid punch - but it would send the message that she wasn't going to hold back to Vera.

She deserved that much.