Duoya

Fate/Profane Covenant

---

Sláine Druiminn

Koushuuensaikan Taizan, Mount Miyama, Miyama Town

Mentions: @Heavy Snark

---

"Danbai! Breakfast is ready!"

The pale figure awoke with a start, sitting up from his futon and nearly hitting his head on a poorly positioned shelf. The first thing he saw was the large summoning circle drawn in the middle of the cramped room he found himself in, eliciting a yelp from the young man.

"Ye-"

A slight pain in the head caused Sláine to pause briefly.

"Yes, Batsu-san, I'm coming!"

When he heard footsteps leading away from the room, the boy gave a sigh of relief. The Druiminn's didn't have time to completely teach him Japanese, so they implanted some small ticks that helped him along. The pain was initially quite bothersome but had become nearly unnoticeable over the last few days of use.

Now that he was fully awake, Sláine began to recognize the place he was in. A small room, boxes filled with bottles and spices limiting what little space the room provided. However, all of that was pushed to the side and stacked as high as possible, allowing enough space for the intricate summoning circle in the middle of the room. Sláine had drawn it over the course of five hours last night and quadruple-checked it for errors or mistakes - it was far out of his usual practice, so he wanted to be especially careful with the powerful ritual. He ended up taking so much precaution, however, that he ended up falling asleep before he even summoned his servant.

The pig blood has dried already... does that matter? I should have asked the elders more before I left...

The thought of summoning his Servant immediately crossed Sláine's mind, but he dismissed it. The ritual wasn't especially time-intensive (at least, not when he had already finished the circle and prepared the catalyst), but Batsu might get curious why he's taking so long - and it'd be pretty hard to explain how someone with a sword managed to get into his room when the store wasn't even open yet.

No, it would be better to do it during his break.

His attempts at securing a base in the farms failed spectacularly, his suggestion magecraft not being strong enough to distract his potential hosts from his albinism and poor Japanese. Thankfully, a restaurant in the city was hiring part-time help, and the manager was even willing to rent out a room for Sláine to stay in. Compared to tricking someone into thinking you're some grandson or nephew, getting hired for a job was much easier to do with suggestions.

Sláine began getting ready for work, replacing his crumpled pajamas with unfamiliar eastern clothes. Even after wearing it for a few days, Sláine was uncomfortable in his work uniform - it felt too loose and flowing compared to the formal western-style he was acquainted with. Several minutes later he finished his ensemble, dressing in an orange robe with floral designs along with a cute green apron. Satisfied, Sláine quickly made his way to the kitchen of the restaurant. Once there, he could see Batsu in a similar outfit, her hair put up into buns. She had a look of annoyance on her face, and she quickly placed the bowl she was eating from onto a small table nearby.

"Geez, what took so long? We're opening soon!"

"I'm sorry, Batsu-san. I am still unfamiliar with this type of dress."

Batsu's eyes narrowed slightly as she slid the bowl she was eating from to Sláine. It was filled with Baozi, a type of bun with contents that changed so frequently that Sláine began to suspect that Batsu simply filled it with whatever she had on hand.

"It's not a dress - it's a Changshan. Very manly, you know? Anyways, eat quick and clean up when you're done."

One of the major downsides to this area compared to the farms (Other than how urbanized it was, the population density, and the risk of meeting other Masters) was the food. Sláine's creator, Amelia, had not put too much effort in recreating proper taste buds - taste wasn't an important function for a homunculus to possess, after all. But even with his rudimentary sense, Sláine could tell that the food served here was far too spicy for the average human. And while his tongue didn't protest too much, his stomach had been aching the last few days that he had spent here...

Sláine dismissed the thought and began eating quickly, careful to avoid getting his dress dirty. He still wasn't too used to eating with chopsticks so he chose to pierce the buns with the utensil, which always earned him a glare from Batsu when she caught him doing it. It didn't really matter if she caught him now though - the restaurant was opening soon and he would need the energy for the rest of his shift. While it might have been possible to avoid working the job at all, a job in food service would be an excellent way to get information from the mundane population of the city, along with teaching Sláine how to properly interact with modern society.

...The real reason Sláine was working at all, though, was simply because that was what he was designed to do. He wouldn't know what to do with all the free time he would have if he didn't do something during the day. Maybe he'd quit and move, if his Servant had a better place in mind.

When he emptied the bowl, Sláine quickly went about clearing off the small table and washing the bowl and chopsticks. By the time he had finished up, the restaurant had already opened, and a massive stream of customers came tumbling in...

Not really. Koushuuensaikan Taizan seemed to be infamous for its spicy food, and while quite a few people stopped by in the evening to enjoy the only chinese cuisine in the city, the morning crowd was limited at best. The morning was mostly spent preparing for lunch, Sláine bringing down various boxes from the second floor, cutting up vegetables, and seeing to the few customers that did stop by in the morning. When lunch hit and the restaurant actually got more than 2 customers at a time, Sláine grew anxious. What if he was taking too long, and the Saber slot was already filled? The effort he went to secure a catalyst would be pointless...

Eventually, the lunch rush was finally over, and Sláine began cleaning as fast as he could. You had to be extra careful when washing the dishes - if you did a poor job and the spice clung to your hands, you'd end up burning your eyes...

Don't ask how Sláine knew that.

As soon as he finished, he left wordlessly for his room. Batsu could deal with the stragglers - Sláine just needed to finish the ritual quickly. When he got to his room, he immediately began searching the window, prodding blindly until his fingers finally clasped the clay pot he was looking for.

Can't hide when I know where you are, little one...

With the artificial Dryad in his hands, Sláine could now see it quite easily. And more importantly, he could see the rusted sword fragment that was safely tucked next to it. It once belonged to a hero from South America - of course, Sláine didn't know who 'Dom Pedro' was, let alone his skills or martial prowess. All that mattered to Sláine was that the catalyst belonged to someone who had bound themselves very closely with the element of water, and would almost certainly be summoned in the class of Saber.

Sláine was about to begin the ritual before stopping himself. He paused for a second, before establishing a soundproofing Bounded Field around the room.

Last thing I need is for Batsu to come and investigate...

His final preparations completed, Sláine began the ritual that would decide his fate.

"Let silver and steel be the essence..."

---

Assassin

Penthouse Suite, Grand Bleu Hotel, Shinto Town

Mentions: @SSW

---

The air warped slightly as the ritual proceeded, growing soaked in magical energy. The circle that had been prepared by the defeated magus seemed to be doing its job and began to softly glow.

No object serving as a catalyst was present for the ritual - though, unlike most Servants, a physical catalyst wasn't necessary for the Servant that Constantine planned to summon.

No, the class alone would suffice - the name a word that represented the servant being summoning, down to its very core.

Assassin

The light of the circle reached its peak as the air picked up more, causing dust and glass from the broken window to scatter around the room. In the center of the circle... there was nothing. The light had cut off almost as soon as it peaked, and soon after, the only thing causing the air to move was the wind from the broken window.

While someone with less experience in grail wars may assume that they simply failed the ritual, the truth was far from that.

Slinking from behind a flipped-over couch, Assassin breathed a silent sigh of relief. She was short, maybe 145 centimeters at most, and her entire frame was covered in a ragged black cloak. Her face was covered by the signature skull mask that all Hassans bear, the bottom of her face and her dark, almost glowing eyes being the only uncovered portions of Assassin's body.

She held her arms out wide as she walked towards her Master with a smug look.

"Did I get ya? Sorry Master, just a little prank to make you shit your pants, kekeke."

Assassin paused near her master, having noticed that a bounded field had been established in the room. While not a Caster, Assassin was a mage in her life, and could recognize something like a bounded field quite easily. Deciding that the soundproofing was harmless, she continued looking around the torn apart penthouse, disappointment clear in her posture. She had no idea what a hotel or penthouse was, but could clearly tell that the room was quite luxurious at one point in time.

"You must have had pretty good digs here once - what's with all the mess? Did you really have to ruin the rug like that?"

Sighing, Assassin laid herself on one of the mattresses used to surround the circle.

"Anyways, I'm your servant - Hassan-I-Sabbah, Assassin-Class. There, done my part. Now - who are you, and who do you want me to kill for you?"

Assassin couldn't remember her past incarnations, but was aware of the nature of the Holy Grail War. Servants kill one another with Magi acting as their Masters, until only one pair remains. Even if she wished to relax and enjoy her newfound existence, she'd have to stick with this guy in order to remain summoned. And since he was a master, he must want Assassin to kill again.

God, what a pain.

Fate/Profane Covenant

Master

Master of Saber (Dom Pedro)

Sláine Druiminn

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but could you please kill them soon? I forgot to water the Dryad before we left..."

Name:
Sláine Druiminn

Titles:
N/A.

Appearance:
Sláine is incredibly pale and lacks any real pigmentation, hinting at his nature as a Homunculi. He is covered in scars along his arms, the result of using and maintaining his Mystic Code. He looks like a young teenage boy, maybe 14 years at the oldest. His skin feels rough to the touch, almost like a potato, while his hair is crisp and breaks easily. Typically dresses in a white dress shirt and black pants, though prefers to wear overalls while in private and with his Servant.

Sex:
Male

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral

History:
There is one primary goal among Mages - to reach the Root. It is the goal most pure for a user of Magecraft, and one which an extraordinarily small number of mages have ever succeeded in - maybe only a handful at most in all of history. The reason for this astronomically small number?

The Counter Force.

The closer a mage family gets to reaching the root, the more likely they are snuffed out by the Counter Force in some way. A Counter Guardian summoned to stop the especially ambitious, an errant match or candle burning years of research, or even a Magic Crest failing to transfer to the next generation. It is so extreme and potent that one must dump vast amounts of resources and spend generations in order to find a workaround or some way to hide against the force.

The Druiminns thought of another method. Rather than hide from the Counter Force, they chose to become as visible as possible. If they grew close to it, became a part of it, then they might be able to search for a path to the Root completely uninhibited.

That is the basis of their magecraft - aligning themselves with the elements, to the point of integrating with the planet itself. They believed, that by becoming one with the planet, they could use energy from a continent's worth of leylines or even the Counter Force itself in order to punch a hole directly to the Root.

And they were incredibly effective at what they did. They brought all manner of mages into their fold via marriage, desiring to have varied Elemental Affinities and heirs with more than one affinity. Unlike most families, they had quite a large number of heirs, and while only the most Elementally gifted was given the Crest, the others were still trained to serve as researchers for the family magecraft. They nearly achieved their goal in the 1600s with the birth of Róisín Druiminn, a human that was capable of using a Marble Phantasm - something completely unheard of by that point. Combined with her skill at Healing Magecraft and her Elemental affinities of Wind, Water, and Earth, she was the pinnacle of the Druimmin clan.

Everything changed with the Industrial Revolution. Gaia's prevalence shrunk even further, and the Druiminns that sought to align themselves with Gaia quickly followed suit. It started with slightly weaker circuits, then less and less Dual Affinities, before it became clear that the family was on a downward spiral to obscurity.

It was at this point that the Family's tactic of having multiple children really backfired. Those not chosen as heir branched off, taking with them precious resources and research. Inevitably, all that was left was their most basic arts, stemming from the ancient Druids. The family decided to block themselves off in their ancestral home, layering their mansion and massive garden within Cloosh Valley, Ireland behind dozens, if not hundreds of bounded fields.

The Druiminns began to alter their forms much more drastically than before, fusing with the plants that they grew within their hidden grove. Their Integration Magecraft made this quite the easy adaptation, and while many sacrificed mobility and comfort, the elongated lifespan and slight boost to Magecraft was more than worth it. However, this shift to a more sessile lifestyle necessitated assistance - someone to move and care for their new forms, as well as to perform any tasks that required someone to move more than 5 feet.

This directly led to the creation of the Druiminn 'Homunculi', variants of Mandrakes that were grown and prepared using botanical methods rather than alchemical. While nowhere near as sophisticated as the Einzbern variety, the Druiminn homunculi possessed the Attribute of integration that the Druiminn clan was known for, making them incredibly variable in form. From thin flexible forms reminiscent of branches and vines to hulking monsters that could be mistaken for a tree, the Druminns had dozens of Homunculi for a variety of different tasks.

Sláine wasn't built for a specific purpose in mind - a generalist 'Gardener'-type. His goal was to maintain and care for the tens of thousands of plants within the Druiminn Estate, as well as provide care for the older members of the clan. He was formed to be submissive and subservient to his masters, a natural trait that rendered most Druminn Homunculi unthinking and golem-like in mannerisms.

Sláine's creator, Amelia Druiminn, took a close fondness to the creature, however. Unlike most Druiminn mages, she deeply cared for her creations. She relied on only Sláine after the death of her first homunculus, and only her creations had any real degree of intelligence. She went so far as to implant a specially cultivated phantasmal plant species within Sláine - an honor usually restricted only for actual members of the family, rather than mere homunculi.

The Homunculus spent his days learning the bare essentials of Druiminn magecraft, whilst caring for the plant life that dominated his environment. While never truly loved accepted by anyone outside of his creator, it was an existence far kinder than what most Homunculi ever experience.

And it was that reason that Sláine was perfectly satisfied with sacrificing his life. One of the last subspecies grail wars left standing, the Irish Grail War (jokingly referred to as 'The Lancer Cup'), was finally reclaimed by the three founding families. When news that a Prime Holy Grail War would occur in Japan, the Druiminn family realized that this was the perfect chance to reclaim what they had once lost. Or better yet - to go even farther and finally attain their goal of becoming one with the planet. The only thing it would cost is a single Homunculus to act as a 'master'.

Sláine was not chosen. While he was one of the best homunculi from the Druiminn at the time, they felt confident that they could create one far superior within the year. While Amelia was relieved and began working on the new Homunculus, Sláine for the first time in his life was disappointed. And angry.

He was formed 7 years ago and has already lived over a quarter of his lifespan. He wanted to do more for the clan, rather than just be another gardener. After pointing out the fact that they may not have enough time to produce a new homunculus and train it, the Druiminn clan finally shifted to training Sláine in preparation for the war.

He learned more Magecraft in that year than all his others combined. Nothing comparable to the great mages that had been studying their entire lives, or course, but saying he had mastered the Druiminn healing magecraft wouldn't be too much of an overstatement. Leaving his home and headed to Japan, he hoped that the Catalyst that his family had prepared would be enough to give him an edge over the competitors in the war.

Due to the reclusiveness of his family, he does not much knowledge of the 'meta-game' of grail wars. He will most likely attempt to summon a Saber or Berserker, since 'those are the really strong ones, right?', not considering things like a high magical energy cost.

Personality:
Sláine is reserved and kind, rarely acting in sadism or any sort of ill will. If he could manage, he'd prefer to avoid killing as much as possible over the course of the war, though his timid nature will likely make him fold if he Servant demands it. This isn't because he doesn't want to kill, however - he would just prefer to avoid showing his Servant's abilities as much as possible. This is most likely an implanted belief from his creators, as Sláine struggles to place any value in life that doesn't directly help him or the Druiminns. He isn't a fan of torture or anything, but he will show zero remorse if his actions cause innocents to die, and would not be above feeding his Servant souls if he thought he could get away with it.

He holds an almost fanatical love for his creator, Amelia Druiminn, viewing her almost like a god. Insulting her is an excellent way to provoke him, with especially off-color remarks potentially making Sláine waste a Command Seal in order to attack the aggressor. He has a similar reaction to insulting the other members of the Druiminn clan or any allies Sláine may make in the war, but nothing will invoke as visceral of a response from him.

As far as Servants are concerned, Sláine works best with those that will take the leader role in the partnership, finding comfort in being given orders as that is what he is used to. Unlike most Mages, Sláine's personality makes him uniquely well-suited to working with less agreeable (read: Asshole) Servants, as he is capable of taking their insults and demands with a smile on his face. However, unless his Servant builds a real bond with him, Sláine will never really see them as a person. To him, Servants are intelligent and willful, but they are still forced to obey Command Seals - he only cares for his Servant because he needs them in order to win the grail.

Very receptive towards alliances since his Magecraft is purely supportive in nature, but it will take a lot of work to really get close to him. At the end of the day, alliances are temporary, and there can only be one real winner.

Mildly racist against the English. Nothing extreme or set in stone, but there may be a little tension if he summons an English Servant.

Sláine's wish for the grail is to grant his creator access to the Root. Considering it takes the death of all Servants to accomplish this, it will take a lot of work on his Servant's behalf in order to change Sláine's mind.

Quality of Circuits:
B

Quantity of Circuits:
B

Elemental Affinity:
Earth

Attribute:
Integration

Magecraft:
General Magecraft:
In addition to some of the basics of Magecraft, Sláine also learned spells to tell direction, draw water from nearby plants, and view memories from plants and animals.

Healing:
By integrating his magical energy with a target, it is possible to encourage healing. While not as fast as some Magecrafts, plant matter can be integrated into the target during the process in order to allow the same level of functionality while giving time for the flesh to heal, at the cost of a slight vulnerability to fire. The stronger rituals can even heal completely devastating injuries, such as regrowing missing limbs and vital organs or curing mystical venoms (though something like Hydra venom would take more Magical Energy than he can give while supporting a Servant). Much more effective in areas with high plant life, where Sláine can siphon off of their lifeforce.

Can be applied to plant life in order to act as some manipulation over plant life, allowing for the creation of a shield from a nearby tree, or hiding one's tracks with overgrowth and grass. Sláine is trained in removing the curse of Hungry Grass.

Scream:
Sláine is more like a very modified and overgrown Mandrake rather than a typical alchemical Homunculus. As a result, he retains the Mandrake's ability to release a devastating scream, though it is far weaker than what would be seen in a normal specimen. If Sláine tried really hard, he could probably scream loud enough to stun most opponents for a few seconds, or even cause actual damage to animals and phantasmal species with sensitive hearing like the Cu Sith.

Even just one Scream will damage his vocal cords and require Sláine to rest - multiple in a single day could easily render him mute.

Mystic Codes:
Parasitic Vines: Dorn Morrigan:
Less of a Mystic Code and more of a physical part of Sláine's body, this artificial plant species implanted inside of Sláine is a coiling mass of vines, thorns, and flowers. They act as a sort of Prehensile Circulatory System, moving blood throughout his body while also being manipulated at his will. When Sláine is cut, he can forcefully push the Mystic Code out through the wound, allowing him to use the vines to attack or map out his environment. They're strong enough to support up to 100 kg in weight but can only hold 70 kg without strain. and while they are only as durable and sharp as mundane plant thorns, their high speeds can make them an effective weapon against other Magi.

The Mystic Code can be extended about 100 meters in a single line before starting to negatively impact Sláine's ability to circulate blood, and he can store a total of 7 Flowers before needing to remove any. The Mystic Code rapidly generates new vines and flowers (around 50 meters of vines and 1 flower daily), but destroying large sections of it at once or setting Sláine on fire could kill him from blood loss.

The real use of this Mystic Code is its ability to steal a natural attribute of other living things by forcing one of the flowers into them. This includes things such as a person's physical health, the stamina from someone who just slept, or the nutrients from a plant. Only qualities can be stolen, not parts of the body and soul like Mystic Eyes or Magic Circuits. It also can't steal something learned, such as a skill or memories. The process is temporary in nature - within the span of a day or two at most, the stolen quality will slowly diminish, returning to the person it was stolen from as the implanted flower dissolves in the host's blood. Physically removing the implanted flower with surgery or Magecraft will instantly restore the stolen trait, though can be quite difficult depending on where the flower is implanted.

This process can be done in reverse, which is usually what Sláine uses his Mystic Code for - a means of transferring his own stamina, health, and other attributes to his allies.

Artificial Dryad:
Another artificial phantasmal species rather than an actual magic item. Dryads are known for their shyness and ability to hide, and this trait even exists among their young. The Druiminns, in their eagerness to render their ancestral home even more difficult to uncover, have sought to replicate a weakened form of these beings within the age of man.

Emits a constant Bounded Field, causing the eyes of enemies to simply slip over small details and objects (such as the Dryad itself). While many servants and even some knowledgable Magi can circumvent or negate this easily, it does mean that valuable objects like small mystic codes could be stored near the sapling, and thieves would be unlikely to find it. Too small to develop a real personality or intelligence, but that also means it can still fit in a pot and be moved.

Hungry Grass:
A type of blood-sucking plant, Hungry Grass is native to Ireland and was known for inflicting an insatiable hunger in those who walk in the grass for long. This, however, is the fate that befalls those who step on small amounts of the grass without any protection. If one were to step in a sizeable amount of Hungry Grass, they would have their blood slowly sucked out from their feet, the sharpened grass piercing through most leather and attempting to restrain their victims before draining them. And of course, even if a victim were to be saved, they would still suffer from the unending hunger until the curse of the grass is removed.

Should an animal die in a very large amount of Hungry Grass, there is a chance that the creature will be brought back as a weak undead, stronger and more durable than the average member of their species at the cost of dexterity and intellect. They are filled with the grass and act mindlessly, their only purpose to feed on blood and move the grass to a far-off location before dying. This is how Hungry Grass naturally spreads, though this method made it incapable of ever leaving Ireland.

Hungry Grass has been targeted extensively by the Church, leading to its near extinction. The Druiminns, who are native to Ireland and were hidden behind a powerful Bounded Field, were capable of cultivating their own private stores of Hungry Grass. Hungry Grass normally takes several weeks to grow, but when watered sufficiently with blood, usable quantities can be grown in a single day. Sláine only brought it at the behest of the Druiminns, but is unlikely to use it without provocation from his Servant. But considering its rarity and inconspicuousness, it can serve as an excellent trap.

Non-Magecraft Abilities/Items:
Medical Knowledge:
Sláine is proficient at patching people up, a combination of ingrained skills as a Homunculus as well as genuine passion. He can perform First Aid very effectively, dress most wounds and prevent infection with supplies that can be found in nature, and even perform simple surgeries, such as removing bullets. Due to the lack of proficiency with technology that most people possess, Sláine is mostly restricted to simple tools and supplies.

Gardening:
The Druiminn family used to be one of the primary advising staff in the Department of Botany of the Clock Tower during their brief membership in the Mage's Association, specifically being the heads of the Department of Agriculture. They mostly taught the proper methods of growing various plants, both mundane and phantasmal, as well as some of their more basic uses. Sláine inherited this knowledge and can grow plants with incredible skill, even in places where by all rights they should be unable to grow. Not too much use in conflict as brief as a grail war...

Reagents:
The listed Phantasmal plant species are just the ones usable by Sláine himself - he has brought along a host of seeds and saplings from dozens of different plants. Should he enter an alliance with a Master or Caster that can brew potions or make use of the plants, they will likely find anything they may need within his garden. Or, should they kill him, they'll be able to commandeer it for their own use.

Assassin

Assassin

Hassan of the Spider's Web

"Let's just take the night off - let the others kill themselves while we relax. Grail will still be there in the morning, yeah?"

Class:
Assassin

True Name:
Hassan of the Spider's Web

Appearance:
Like most individuals who adopt the name of Hassan-I-Sabbah, Assassin wears a skull mask that covers her face, which has been shaved down to resemble the mask she wears. This can be 'healed' through the use of the Self-Modification Skill, though Assassin doesn't really care and rarely removes her mask in the first place. She is initially summoned wearing a black robe that she made during her life, but will likely turn it into a more modern attire as she grows more comfortable. She is summoned with no weapons, relying instead on her skills and Noble Phantasm - though, should her Master supply her with daggers and similar small blades, she would display an above-average level of skill with them.

It is not recommended to hug her - she carries hundreds of spiders at any time.

Sex:
Female

Alignment:
Lawful Evil

Attribute:
Man

History:
One of the 19 Hassan-I-Sabbah, Assassin is the 10th to inherit the name of Hassan. In her youth, Assassin was an orphan who lacked any place to call home, relying on her surprising number of Magic Circuits and minor feats of magecraft in order to survive. Eventually, she was inducted into the Hashshashin, selected solely for her lack of connections and disposability rather than zealous adherence to the order.

But no matter how suicidal the mission Assassin was sent on, she always returned quickly, eager to rest. This was attributed to her skill with her spider familiars - she could kill targets from kilometers away without ever setting foot in an area. She rapidly climbed the ranks of the Assassin order, her prowess eventually making her one of the candidates to become a leader of the Hashshashin.

She wouldn't have become a Hassan, however, without a defining characteristic. Over the course of a year, Assassin mutilated and fused her body with her countless precious spiders, eventually resulting in a form that could barely be called human. Her arms and legs were split to create more limbs, her jaw was broken and sharpened to create mandibles, and her skin grew rough like armor.

And of course, her hair had transformed as well. It grew thick and long in some places, while other parts had hair so thin and wispy that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. Each was sharp as a razor and could be controlled with the slightest of effort. It became a weapon that truly deserved the title of Zabaniya.

While her personality was difficult to deal with, it was impossible to say that Assassin wasn't willing to take drastic measures to get ahead. She was chosen to be the 10th leader of the Hashshashin. However, despite the grueling physical alterations she went through, Assassin never desired to become Hassan-I-Sabbah as a means of fame or out of fanaticism. She simply wanted to be accepted by the only family she knew.

Her reign as the leader of the order wasn't very noteworthy - she performed the fewest assassinations of all Hassans, which inevitably resulted in her death. The only really noteworthy aspect of her leadership was that she assisted Richard the Lionheart in killing a Dead Apostle during the Third Crusade... Or, more specifically, she provided ranged support while Richard did all the heavy lifting.

Her leadership was very brief, only lasting 4 years. She would be succeeded by Hassan of the Serenity.

In the subspecies grail wars, many participants found her to be one of the better possible Assassins to summon due to her exceptional range and her low magical energy cost, in addition to not needing an expensive catalyst. In open spaces where she may make full use of her Noble Phantasm and Agility, she is arguably one of the strongest Hassans. However, she struggles immensely against Casters and Archers, the former for their ability to defend their Masters within their Territory, and the latter for possessing range and senses adequate to counter her Presence Concealment and Noble Phantasm. This is probably why, despite her reputation, she has yet to win.

Personality:
Lazy and unmotivated, Assassin is far from what most think of when they imagine a Servant. She is selfish and egotistical, placing more value in her own comfort than her obedience to her Master. She is almost cat-like, only focusing on her Master's survival because she needs them to remain summoned in the world. She takes an almost Caster-like approach, setting up her territory and only leaving when ordered by her Master. She claims this is 'tactical stalling' rather than being cowardly.

While these traits make Assassin quite disagreeable compared to some of the other Hassans, she is actually one of the easiest to work with. Her skills and Noble Phantasm mitigate the risks that she must take and allow for the long-ranged assassination of enemy Masters, even though most Bounded Fields. And while she is initially uncaring for her Master's orders, she will quickly warm up to nearly any person if she is provided modern amenities and she isn't forced to fight directly.

She loves spiders, sewing, and sleeping. She despises hard work, fighting, and thunder (TOO LOUD!). Masters that aren't Luddites and have even basic modern comforts will quickly find Assassin adapting to the new environment, especially enjoying movies and air conditioning.

Assassin is socially starved, and while she puts on a cynical and uncaring outer shell, she will quickly grow attached to anyone who is kind to her and cares for her well-being. If she grew especially fond of her master, she may even give her wish on the grail to them. However, considering the personality of most mages, it's very unlikely this will ever occur.

Assassin works best with Masters who have a more restrained outlook on the Holy Grail War, favoring hit-and-run tactics or even just stealing the lesser grail when the opportunity presents itself. It would take a command seal to get her to ever directly fight a servant, and her cowardice is such that even martially adept Masters can scare her off if they came face-to-face. As for the grail, Assassin doesn't really have any motivation to seek it. While she wasn't satisfied with her life, she has no desire to change the past or have any grand aspirations for the world. All she really wants is to continue living in the world, which doesn't really require a wish on the grail to achieve as long as her Master has enough Magical Energy.

Using her Self-Modification skill on another Servant will completely change how she acts, her persona becoming a fusion between her original one and the Servant who was consumed. Because of this, she loathes using the skill on anything other than her spiders.

Parameters:
Strength: D
Agility: B+
Endurance: D
Mana: B
Luck: E

Class Skills:
Presence Concealment: A+
(Like most Hassans, Assassin possesses an excellent rank of Presence Concealment. She is able to hide her presence as a servant and become nearly impossible to detect, though the rank of this skill decreases when preparations to attack are made. Hassan's long-ranged method of combat, notably, makes her much harder to pinpoint than most other Assassins, even while attacking.)

Personal Skills:
Territory Creation: C-
(Through the use of her Noble Phantasm, Assassin is capable of establishing a territory large enough to cover nearly a kilometer. While she can't draw as much magical energy from it as a Caster could and her territories are of significantly lower quality, she is aware of everything that happens within and her agility is unparalleled. Will instantly fall apart if Assassin ever leaves, forcing her to establish the territory once more - luckily, this only takes a few minutes, but it's nearly impossible to do while in combat. A skill gained from her method of assassination in life, where she set up territories directly next to her target's stronghold before silently killing every person within.)

Familiars(Spiders): B
(Hassan is capable of turning all spiders within several kilometers into her familiars, controlling them with her thoughts rather than having to establish a contract with each one. She has no real limit on the number she can control at one time and her familiars are far tougher than any spider should be, - she can also make them perform typical feats of a familiar, such as using their senses and speaking through them. The highest level of magecraft that Hassan achieved in her life was in her control over spiders. While she used this as her primary means of assassinations before becoming a Hassan, Assassin used such prowess over spiders to make comfortable clothes and bedding after becoming the leader of the Hashshashin.)

Self-Modification: B
(The ability to enhance one's physical performance by consuming the flesh of others. While Assassin is capable of taking in the flesh of other servants in order to improve her intelligence and combat capabilities, she is unlikely to do so - not only would she have to defeat an enemy servant, the personality bleed over from consuming the parts of other servants distresses her greatly. Rather, she uses this skill in conjunction with her spider familiars in order to gain a variety of abilities from them. Splitting her arms and legs in half to act as additional limbs, fashioning her jaw into mandibles, gaining the ability to climb sheer surfaces by growing hairs - of course, this all ends up causing Hassan to look like some monstrous spider creature, so some masters may tell her to avoid using this skill.)

Noble Phantasms:
Name: Zabaniya
Title: Raving Shadow Flash
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 0~80
Targets: 15 People
Description: Rather than a magical weapon or a special technique, Assassin's very hair is her Noble Phantasm. After fusing her own body with countless spiders, Assassin's hair grew razor-sharp and prehensile, capable of decapitating a weaker opponent with a strand as thin as spider silk. Normally flowing behind her and seemingly disappearing into the air around her, Assassin can control how long her hair appears to be, as well as its texture - anything from soft as silk to sharp as a blade.

While servants with high durability can escape her hairs with only minor injuries, the hair will grow back nigh-instantly if cut, and are incredibly effective at slowing down opponents regardless of their strength. This Noble Phantasms greatest strength lies in its ability to kill the weak. Capable of striking from multiple kilometers away, a Servant will need to be watching over their master nearly constantly in order to prevent their unexpected death. Scraping away at both the masters and servants endurance is where Assassin shines brightest.

Raving Shadow Flash's greatest weakness is that it is quite weak against any real defense - Endurance of C rank can prevent serious injuries from singular threads, and B rank will cause even hundreds of hairs to leave only minor cuts. However, considering most Masters can still fall victim to Hassan's hair, her ability to deliver long-ranged death can rival and even surpass some Archers.

It should be noted that especially potent bounded fields, such as those of a Caster or a particularly specialized magus will make it far easier to notice and defend against the hairs.

Fate/Profane Covenant

Master

Master of ???

Sláine Druiminn

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but could you please kill them soon? I forgot to water the Dryad before we left..."

Name:
Sláine Druiminn

Titles:
N/A.

Appearance:
Sláine is incredibly pale and lacks any real pigmentation, hinting at his nature as a Homunculi. He is covered in scars along his arms, the result of using and maintaining his Mystic Code. He looks like a young teenage boy, maybe 14 years at the oldest. His skin feels rough to the touch, almost like a potato, while his hair is crisp and breaks easily. Typically dresses in a white dress shirt and black pants, though prefers to wear overalls while in private and with his Servant.

Sex:
Male

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral

History:
There is one primary goal among Mages - to reach the Root. It is the goal most pure for a user of Magecraft, and one which an extraordinarily small number of mages have ever succeeded in - maybe only a handful at most in all of history. The reason for this astronomically small number?

The Counter Force.

The closer a mage family gets to reaching the root, the more likely they are snuffed out by the Counter Force in some way. A Counter Guardian summoned to stop the especially ambitious, an errant match or candle burning years of research, or even a Magic Crest failing to transfer to the next generation. It is so extreme and potent that one must dump vast amounts of resources and spend generations in order to find a workaround or some way to hide against the force.

The Druiminns thought of another method. Rather than hide from the Counter Force, they chose to become as visible as possible. If they grew close to it, became a part of it, then they might be able to search for a path to the Root completely uninhibited.

That is the basis of their magecraft - aligning themselves with the elements, to the point of integrating with the planet itself. They believed, that by becoming one with the planet, they could use energy from a continent's worth of leylines or even the Counter Force itself in order to punch a hole directly to the Root.

And they were incredibly effective at what they did. They brought all manner of mages into their fold via marriage, desiring to have varied Elemental Affinities and heirs with more than one affinity. Unlike most families, they had quite a large number of heirs, and while only the most Elementally gifted was given the Crest, the others were still trained to serve as researchers for the family magecraft. They nearly achieved their goal in the 1600s with the birth of Róisín Druiminn, a human that was capable of using a Marble Phantasm - something completely unheard of by that point. Combined with her skill at Healing Magecraft and her Elemental affinities of Wind, Water, and Earth, she was the pinnacle of the Druimmin clan.

Everything changed with the Industrial Revolution. Gaia's prevalence shrunk even further, and the Druiminns that sought to align themselves with Gaia quickly followed suit. It started with slightly weaker circuits, then less and less Dual Affinities, before it became clear that the family was on a downward spiral to obscurity.

It was at this point that the Family's tactic of having multiple children really backfired. Those not chosen as heir branched off, taking with them precious resources and research. Inevitably, all that was left was their most basic arts, stemming from the ancient Druids. The family decided to block themselves off in their ancestral home, layering their mansion and massive garden within Cloosh Valley, Ireland behind dozens, if not hundreds of bounded fields.

The Druiminns began to alter their forms much more drastically than before, fusing with the plants that they grew within their hidden grove. Their Integration Magecraft made this quite the easy adaptation, and while many sacrificed mobility and comfort, the elongated lifespan and slight boost to Magecraft was more than worth it. However, this shift to a more sessile lifestyle necessitated assistance - someone to move and care for their new forms, as well as to perform any tasks that required someone to move more than 5 feet.

This directly led to the creation of the Druiminn 'Homunculi', variants of Mandrakes that were grown and prepared using botanical methods rather than alchemical. While nowhere near as sophisticated as the Einzbern variety, the Druiminn homunculi possessed the Attribute of integration that the Druiminn clan was known for, making them incredibly variable in form. From thin flexible forms reminiscent of branches and vines to hulking monsters that could be mistaken for a tree, the Druminns had dozens of Homunculi for a variety of different tasks.

Sláine wasn't built for a specific purpose in mind - a generalist 'Gardener'-type. His goal was to maintain and care for the tens of thousands of plants within the Druiminn Estate, as well as provide care for the older members of the clan. He was formed to be submissive and subservient to his masters, a natural trait that rendered most Druminn Homunculi unthinking and golem-like in mannerisms.

Sláine's creator, Amelia Druiminn, took a close fondness to the creature, however. Unlike most Druiminn mages, she deeply cared for her creations. She relied on only Sláine after the death of her first homunculus, and only her creations had any real degree of intelligence. She went so far as to implant a specially cultivated phantasmal plant species within Sláine - an honor usually restricted only for actual members of the family, rather than mere homunculi.

The Homunculus spent his days learning the bare essentials of Druiminn magecraft, whilst caring for the plant life that dominated his environment. While never truly loved accepted by anyone outside of his creator, it was an existence far kinder than what most Homunculi ever experience.

And it was that reason that Sláine was perfectly satisfied with sacrificing his life. One of the last subspecies grail wars left standing, the Irish Grail War (jokingly referred to as 'The Lancer Cup'), was finally reclaimed by the three founding families. When news that a Prime Holy Grail War would occur in Japan, the Druiminn family realized that this was the perfect chance to reclaim what they had once lost. Or better yet - to go even farther and finally attain their goal of becoming one with the planet. The only thing it would cost is a single Homunculus to act as a 'master'.

Sláine was not chosen. While he was one of the best homunculi from the Druiminn at the time, they felt confident that they could create one far superior within the year. While Amelia was relieved and began working on the new Homunculus, Sláine for the first time in his life was disappointed. And angry.

He was formed 7 years ago and has already lived over a quarter of his lifespan. He wanted to do more for the clan, rather than just be another gardener. After pointing out the fact that they may not have enough time to produce a new homunculus and train it, the Druiminn clan finally shifted to training Sláine in preparation for the war.

He learned more Magecraft in that year than all his others combined. Nothing comparable to the great mages that had been studying their entire lives, or course, but saying he had mastered the Druiminn healing magecraft wouldn't be too much of an overstatement. Leaving his home and headed to Japan, he hoped that the Catalyst that his family had prepared would be enough to give him an edge over the competitors in the war.

Due to the reclusiveness of his family, he does not much knowledge of the 'meta-game' of grail wars. He will most likely attempt to summon a Saber or Berserker, since 'those are the really strong ones, right?', not considering things like a high magical energy cost.

Personality:
Sláine is reserved and kind, rarely acting in sadism or any sort of ill will. If he could manage, he'd prefer to avoid killing as much as possible over the course of the war, though his timid nature will likely make him fold if he Servant demands it. This isn't because he doesn't want to kill, however - he would just prefer to avoid showing his Servant's abilities as much as possible. This is most likely an implanted belief from his creators, as Sláine struggles to place any value in life that doesn't directly help him or the Druiminns. He isn't a fan of torture or anything, but he will show zero remorse if his actions cause innocents to die, and would not be above feeding his Servant souls if he thought he could get away with it.

He holds an almost fanatical love for his creator, Amelia Druiminn, viewing her almost like a god. Insulting her is an excellent way to provoke him, with especially off-color remarks potentially making Sláine waste a Command Seal in order to attack the aggressor. He has a similar reaction to insulting the other members of the Druiminn clan or any allies Sláine may make in the war, but nothing will invoke as visceral of a response from him.

As far as Servants are concerned, Sláine works best with those that will take the leader role in the partnership, finding comfort in being given orders as that is what he is used to. Unlike most Mages, Sláine's personality makes him uniquely well-suited to working with less agreeable (read: Asshole) Servants, as he is capable of taking their insults and demands with a smile on his face. However, unless his Servant builds a real bond with him, Sláine will never really see them as a person. To him, Servants are intelligent and willful, but they are still forced to obey Command Seals - he only cares for his Servant because he needs them in order to win the grail.

Very receptive towards alliances since his Magecraft is purely supportive in nature, but it will take a lot of work to really get close to him. At the end of the day, alliances are temporary, and there can only be one real winner.

Mildly racist against the English. Nothing extreme or set in stone, but there may be a little tension if he summons an English Servant.

Sláine's wish for the grail is to grant his creator access to the Root. Considering it takes the death of all Servants to accomplish this, it will take a lot of work on his Servant's behalf in order to change Sláine's mind.

Quality of Circuits:
B

Quantity of Circuits:
B

Elemental Affinity:
Earth

Attribute:
Integration

Magecraft:
General Magecraft:
In addition to some of the basics of Magecraft, Sláine also learned spells to tell direction, draw water from nearby plants, and view memories from plants and animals.

Healing:
By integrating his magical energy with a target, it is possible to encourage healing. While not as fast as some Magecrafts, plant matter can be integrated into the target during the process in order to allow the same level of functionality while giving time for the flesh to heal, at the cost of a slight vulnerability to fire. The stronger rituals can even heal completely devastating injuries, such as regrowing missing limbs and vital organs or curing mystical venoms (though something like Hydra venom would take more Magical Energy than he can give while supporting a Servant). Much more effective in areas with high plant life, where Sláine can siphon off of their lifeforce.

Can be applied to plant life in order to act as some manipulation over plant life, allowing for the creation of a shield from a nearby tree, or hiding one's tracks with overgrowth and grass. Sláine is trained in removing the curse of Hungry Grass.

Scream:
Sláine is more like a very modified and overgrown Mandrake rather than a typical alchemical Homunculus. As a result, he retains the Mandrake's ability to release a devastating scream, though it is far weaker than what would be seen in a normal specimen. If Sláine tried really hard, he could probably scream loud enough to stun most opponents for a few seconds, or even cause actual damage to animals and phantasmal species with sensitive hearing like the Cu Sith.

Even just one Scream will damage his vocal cords and require Sláine to rest - multiple in a single day could easily render him mute.

Mystic Codes:
Parasitic Vines: Dorn Morrigan:
Less of a Mystic Code and more of a physical part of Sláine's body, this artificial plant species implanted inside of Sláine is a coiling mass of vines, thorns, and flowers. They act as a sort of Prehensile Circulatory System, moving blood throughout his body while also being manipulated at his will. When Sláine is cut, he can forcefully push the Mystic Code out through the wound, allowing him to use the vines to attack or map out his environment. They're strong enough to support up to 100 kg in weight but can only hold 70 kg without strain. and while they are only as durable and sharp as mundane plant thorns, their high speeds can make them an effective weapon against other Magi.

The Mystic Code can be extended about 100 meters in a single line before starting to negatively impact Sláine's ability to circulate blood, and he can store a total of 7 Flowers before needing to remove any. The Mystic Code rapidly generates new vines and flowers (around 50 meters of vines and 1 flower daily), but destroying large sections of it at once or setting Sláine on fire could kill him from blood loss.

The real use of this Mystic Code is its ability to steal a natural attribute of other living things by forcing one of the flowers into them. This includes things such as a person's physical health, the stamina from someone who just slept, or the nutrients from a plant. Only qualities can be stolen, not parts of the body and soul like Mystic Eyes or Magic Circuits. It also can't steal something learned, such as a skill or memories. The process is temporary in nature - within the span of a day or two at most, the stolen quality will slowly diminish, returning to the person it was stolen from as the implanted flower dissolves in the host's blood. Physically removing the implanted flower with surgery or Magecraft will instantly restore the stolen trait, though can be quite difficult depending on where the flower is implanted.

This process can be done in reverse, which is usually what Sláine uses his Mystic Code for - a means of transferring his own stamina, health, and other attributes to his allies.

Artificial Dryad:
Another artificial phantasmal species rather than an actual magic item. Dryads are known for their shyness and ability to hide, and this trait even exists among their young. The Druiminns, in their eagerness to render their ancestral home even more difficult to uncover, have sought to replicate a weakened form of these beings within the age of man.

Emits a constant Bounded Field, causing the eyes of enemies to simply slip over small details and objects (such as the Dryad itself). While many servants and even some knowledgable Magi can circumvent or negate this easily, it does mean that valuable objects like small mystic codes could be stored near the sapling, and thieves would be unlikely to find it. Too small to develop a real personality or intelligence, but that also means it can still fit in a pot and be moved.

Hungry Grass:
A type of blood-sucking plant, Hungry Grass is native to Ireland and was known for inflicting an insatiable hunger in those who walk in the grass for long. This, however, is the fate that befalls those who step on small amounts of the grass without any protection. If one were to step in a sizeable amount of Hungry Grass, they would have their blood slowly sucked out from their feet, the sharpened grass piercing through most leather and attempting to restrain their victims before draining them. And of course, even if a victim were to be saved, they would still suffer from the unending hunger until the curse of the grass is removed.

Should an animal die in a very large amount of Hungry Grass, there is a chance that the creature will be brought back as a weak undead, stronger and more durable than the average member of their species at the cost of dexterity and intellect. They are filled with the grass and act mindlessly, their only purpose to feed on blood and move the grass to a far-off location before dying. This is how Hungry Grass naturally spreads, though this method made it incapable of ever leaving Ireland.

Hungry Grass has been targeted extensively by the Church, leading to its near extinction. The Druiminns, who are native to Ireland and were hidden behind a powerful Bounded Field, were capable of cultivating their own private stores of Hungry Grass. Hungry Grass normally takes several weeks to grow, but when watered sufficiently with blood, usable quantities can be grown in a single day. Sláine only brought it at the behest of the Druiminns, but is unlikely to use it without provocation from his Servant. But considering its rarity and inconspicuousness, it can serve as an excellent trap.

Non-Magecraft Abilities/Items:
Medical Knowledge:
Sláine is proficient at patching people up, a combination of ingrained skills as a Homunculus as well as genuine passion. He can perform First Aid very effectively, dress most wounds and prevent infection with supplies that can be found in nature, and even perform simple surgeries, such as removing bullets. Due to the lack of proficiency with technology that most people possess, Sláine is mostly restricted to simple tools and supplies.

Gardening:
The Druiminn family used to be one of the primary advising staff in the Department of Botany of the Clock Tower during their brief membership in the Mage's Association, specifically being the heads of the Department of Agriculture. They mostly taught the proper methods of growing various plants, both mundane and phantasmal, as well as some of their more basic uses. Sláine inherited this knowledge and can grow plants with incredible skill, even in places where by all rights they should be unable to grow. Not too much use in conflict as brief as a grail war...

Reagents:
The listed Phantasmal plant species are just the ones usable by Sláine himself - he has brought along a host of seeds and saplings from dozens of different plants. Should he enter an alliance with a Master or Caster that can brew potions or make use of the plants, they will likely find anything they may need within his garden. Or, should they kill him, they'll be able to commandeer it for their own use.

Assassin

Assassin

Hassan of the Spider's Web

"Let's just take the night off - let the others kill themselves while we relax. Grail will still be there in the morning, yeah?"

Class:
Assassin

True Name:
Hassan of the Spider's Web

Appearance:
Like most individuals who adopt the name of Hassan-I-Sabbah, Assassin wears a skull mask that covers her face, which has been shaved down to resemble the mask she wears. This can be 'healed' through the use of the Self-Modification Skill, though Assassin doesn't really care and rarely removes her mask in the first place. She is initially summoned wearing a black robe that she made during her life, but will likely turn it into a more modern attire as she grows more comfortable. She is summoned with no weapons, relying instead on her skills and Noble Phantasm - though, should her Master supply her with daggers and similar small blades, she would display an above-average level of skill with them.

It is not recommended to hug her - she carries hundreds of spiders at any time.

Sex:
Female

Alignment:
Lawful Evil

Attribute:
Man

History:
One of the 19 Hassan-I-Sabbah, Assassin is the 10th to inherit the name of Hassan. In her youth, Assassin was an orphan who lacked any place to call home, relying on her surprising number of Magic Circuits and minor feats of magecraft in order to survive. Eventually, she was inducted into the Hashshashin, selected solely for her lack of connections and disposability rather than zealous adherence to the order.

But no matter how suicidal the mission Assassin was sent on, she always returned quickly, eager to rest. This was attributed to her skill with her spider familiars - she could kill targets from kilometers away without ever setting foot in an area. She rapidly climbed the ranks of the Assassin order, her prowess eventually making her one of the candidates to become a leader of the Hashshashin.

She wouldn't have become a Hassan, however, without a defining characteristic. Over the course of a year, Assassin mutilated and fused her body with her countless precious spiders, eventually resulting in a form that could barely be called human. Her arms and legs were split to create more limbs, her jaw was broken and sharpened to create mandibles, and her skin grew rough like armor.

And of course, her hair had transformed as well. It grew thick and long in some places, while other parts had hair so thin and wispy that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. Each was sharp as a razor and could be controlled with the slightest of effort. It became a weapon that truly deserved the title of Zabaniya.

While her personality was difficult to deal with, it was impossible to say that Assassin wasn't willing to take drastic measures to get ahead. She was chosen to be the 10th leader of the Hashshashin. However, despite the grueling physical alterations she went through, Assassin never desired to become Hassan-I-Sabbah as a means of fame or out of fanaticism. She simply wanted to be accepted by the only family she knew.

Her reign as the leader of the order wasn't very noteworthy - she performed the fewest assassinations of all Hassans, which inevitably resulted in her death. The only really noteworthy aspect of her leadership was that she assisted Richard the Lionheart in killing a Dead Apostle during the Third Crusade... Or, more specifically, she provided ranged support while Richard did all the heavy lifting.

Her leadership was very brief, only lasting 4 years. She would be succeeded by Hassan of the Serenity.

In the subspecies grail wars, many participants found her to be one of the better possible Assassins to summon due to her exceptional range and her low magical energy cost, in addition to not needing an expensive catalyst. In open spaces where she may make full use of her Noble Phantasm and Agility, she is arguably one of the strongest Hassans. However, she struggles immensely against Casters and Archers, the former for their ability to defend their Masters within their Territory, and the latter for possessing range and senses adequate to counter her Presence Concealment and Noble Phantasm. This is probably why, despite her reputation, she has yet to win.

Personality:
Lazy and unmotivated, Assassin is far from what most think of when they imagine a Servant. She is selfish and egotistical, placing more value in her own comfort than her obedience to her Master. She is almost cat-like, only focusing on her Master's survival because she needs them to remain summoned in the world. She takes an almost Caster-like approach, setting up her territory and only leaving when ordered by her Master. She claims this is 'tactical stalling' rather than being cowardly.

While these traits make Assassin quite disagreeable compared to some of the other Hassans, she is actually one of the easiest to work with. Her skills and Noble Phantasm mitigate the risks that she must take and allow for the long-ranged assassination of enemy Masters, even though most Bounded Fields. And while she is initially uncaring for her Master's orders, she will quickly warm up to nearly any person if she is provided modern amenities and she isn't forced to fight directly.

She loves spiders, sewing, and sleeping. She despises hard work, fighting, and thunder (TOO LOUD!). Masters that aren't Luddites and have even basic modern comforts will quickly find Assassin adapting to the new environment, especially enjoying movies and air conditioning.

Assassin is socially starved, and while she puts on a cynical and uncaring outer shell, she will quickly grow attached to anyone who is kind to her and cares for her well-being. If she grew especially fond of her master, she may even give her wish on the grail to them. However, considering the personality of most mages, it's very unlikely this will ever occur.

Assassin works best with Masters who have a more restrained outlook on the Holy Grail War, favoring hit-and-run tactics or even just stealing the lesser grail when the opportunity presents itself. It would take a command seal to get her to ever directly fight a servant, and her cowardice is such that even martially adept Masters can scare her off if they came face-to-face. As for the grail, Assassin doesn't really have any motivation to seek it. While she wasn't satisfied with her life, she has no desire to change the past or have any grand aspirations for the world. All she really wants is to continue living in the world, which doesn't really require a wish on the grail to achieve as long as her Master has enough Magical Energy.

Using her Self-Modification skill on another Servant will completely change how she acts, her persona becoming a fusion between her original one and the Servant who was consumed. Because of this, she loathes using the skill on anything other than her spiders.

Parameters:
Strength: D
Agility: B+
Endurance: D
Mana: B
Luck: E

Class Skills:
Presence Concealment: A+
(Like most Hassans, Assassin possesses an excellent rank of Presence Concealment. She is able to hide her presence as a servant and become nearly impossible to detect, though the rank of this skill decreases when preparations to attack are made. Hassan's long-ranged method of combat, notably, makes her much harder to pinpoint than most other Assassins, even while attacking.)

Personal Skills:
Territory Creation: C-
(Through the use of her Noble Phantasm, Assassin is capable of establishing a territory large enough to cover nearly a kilometer. While she can't draw as much magical energy from it as a Caster could and her territories are of significantly lower quality, she is aware of everything that happens within and her agility is unparalleled. Will instantly fall apart if Assassin ever leaves, forcing her to establish the territory once more - luckily, this only takes a few minutes, but it's nearly impossible to do while in combat. A skill gained from her method of assassination in life, where she set up territories directly next to her target's stronghold before silently killing every person within.)

Familiars(Spiders): B
(Hassan is capable of turning all spiders within several kilometers into her familiars, controlling them with her thoughts rather than having to establish a contract with each one. She has no real limit on the number she can control at one time and her familiars are far tougher than any spider should be, - she can also make them perform typical feats of a familiar, such as using their senses and speaking through them. The highest level of magecraft that Hassan achieved in her life was in her control over spiders. While she used this as her primary means of assassinations before becoming a Hassan, Assassin used such prowess over spiders to make comfortable clothes and bedding after becoming the leader of the Hashshashin.)

Self-Modification: B
(The ability to enhance one's physical performance by consuming the flesh of others. While Assassin is capable of taking in the flesh of other servants in order to improve her intelligence and combat capabilities, she is unlikely to do so - not only would she have to defeat an enemy servant, the personality bleed over from consuming the parts of other servants distresses her greatly. Rather, she uses this skill in conjunction with her spider familiars in order to gain a variety of abilities from them. Splitting her arms and legs in half to act as additional limbs, fashioning her jaw into mandibles, gaining the ability to climb sheer surfaces by growing hairs - of course, this all ends up causing Hassan to look like some monstrous spider creature, so some masters may tell her to avoid using this skill.)

Noble Phantasms:
Name: Zabaniya
Title: Raving Shadow Flash
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 0~80
Targets: 15 People
Description: Rather than a magical weapon or a special technique, Assassin's very hair is her Noble Phantasm. After fusing her own body with countless spiders, Assassin's hair grew razor-sharp and prehensile, capable of decapitating a weaker opponent with a strand as thin as spider silk. Normally flowing behind her and seemingly disappearing into the air around her, Assassin can control how long her hair appears to be, as well as its texture - anything from soft as silk to sharp as a blade.

While servants with high durability can escape her hairs with only minor injuries, the hair will grow back nigh-instantly if cut, and are incredibly effective at slowing down opponents regardless of their strength. This Noble Phantasms greatest strength lies in its ability to kill the weak. Capable of striking from multiple kilometers away, a Servant will need to be watching over their master nearly constantly in order to prevent their unexpected death. Scraping away at both the masters and servants endurance is where Assassin shines brightest.

Raving Shadow Flash's greatest weakness is that it is quite weak against any real defense - Endurance of C rank can prevent serious injuries from singular threads, and B rank will cause even hundreds of hairs to leave only minor cuts. However, considering most Masters can still fall victim to Hassan's hair, her ability to deliver long-ranged death can rival and even surpass some Archers.

It should be noted that especially potent bounded fields, such as those of a Caster or a particularly specialized magus will make it far easier to notice and defend against the hairs.

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

@Ascendant@Jumbus@canaryrose@Hitman

---

As Travis slammed his wooden sword against the side of the pirate's head, he could almost feel the helmet give way from the force of the blow. The pirate probably felt it too, considering he got knocked into one of his allies and didn't get up. When the second pirate was pinned under his friend's unconscious body, Travis quickly dispatched him as well - one hit to the head, followed quickly by a kick where Travis thought the ear was.

The others didn't seem very pleased that their friends were getting the crap kicked out of them. A loud screech rang out as one of them fired off their sound rifle, colliding against Travis's side with only minor pain. Another shot to the chest confirmed what he was thinking - he was almost entirely immune to their sound blasts by now, the blast only leaving him slightly unnerved. Noticing how it was ineffective, one of the pirates simply chose to thrust the butt of their rifle into Travis's face.

Pain exploded from his mouth as Travis fell to the ground. He wasn't expecting such a ballsy hit and lost his balance - that was kind of embarrassing. Almost immediately, he began to cough and spit, eventually hacking two teeth onto the floor of the car. They'd grow back, nothing to worry about. He did it on reflex - he knew what was about to happen next, and had learned that getting the shit in his mouth out of there was a priority.

As soon as he shut his mouth again, he could feel the teeth in his mouth fusing, becoming bulky and unwieldy. Almost like they were transforming into incisors or even just blocks of bone. He had experienced it dozens or even hundreds of times, but it was still uncomfortable as fuck. If he hadn't gotten those loose teeth out before the adaptation, Travis wasn't sure if he'd be able to get them out before he healed.

Travis opened his eyes. Three seconds. His forearms already were beginning to grow that brown, almost plate-like armor.

Thank god for adrenaline. Was starting to feel pretty good.

The sounds banging around the car were beginning to dull somewhat - the hairs that had grown all over Travis's body seemed to be working a bit too well at breaking the sound waves. Still, he could tell that the pirates were firing their rifles - it didn't seem like they were willing to waste any more effort on Travis while he was down though. Turning, he saw that they were aiming at Marcie. Smart move - she was probably a much softer target, and judging by the sudden chill in the room and the fact that the hole into the car had been frozen over, she was a more pressing target as well. As she got knocked to the ground from one of the blasts, Travis could feel a sudden chill near him.

"Tr... Take...!"

Even if he couldn't hear clearly, it didn't really take a brain scientist or rocket surgeon to figure out what Marcie wanted him to do. It was hard to get leverage on the ground, but even the best armors didn't fix human anatomy. Rolling over to the nearest pirate, Travis simply grabbed his leg and turned, pulling the leg backward. With his feet frozen to the floor, a sickening crunch ran through Travis's body as the Pirate's knee was forcefully bent in the opposite direction.

It took a spray of blood and a deep scream for Travis to realize that there was another person present - which is pretty surprising, considering he was by far the largest in the room. Easily towering over both the pirates as well as the heroes, Blitz was rushing through the rocketeers with incredible ease, simply running them through with his arms. While most heroes would probably be disgusted with the brutality and lack of care for human life that was being displayed, Travis simply thought 'Man, that's badass'.

"Mahn, tha's badash!"

God, it sucked trying to talk with weird fused teeth-blocks...

But it seemed like Travis didn't really need to worry about the rest of the pirates - some of them were fused, and those that weren't would probably get frozen or simply rammed through by the giant running around. Travis quickly got to his feet, prepared to jump in the way of any last desperate sound rifle blasts.

Before the sound of metal being cleaved through rang out through the entire car. Even with his hearing compromised, Travis could tell that probably wasn't a good sign.

Another giant man was walking into the car, and although this one wasn't as tall as Blitz, the giant glowing chainsaw he carried made him look even more intimidating than the guy covered in blood and organs. Travis had no idea who this masked villain was, but was extremely wary of his blade. He'd seen energy weapons before, but only in the form of knives and small blades. Even with his durability, Travis wasn't sure if he'd be able to take a hit from that and survive-

As the Chainsawyer began to move forwards, the tip of his weapon managed to lightly brush against another figure in the room - Viper. While Travis didn't notice him initially, the man's darker outfit almost immediately made Travis think he was a villain and the Chainswayer just didn't care about friendly fire.

Viper's guts and blood spilled onto the ground, joining the sizable pool that was already forming from Blitz's rampage.

'Yeah, let's not even try to tank that...'

Travis honestly had no clue how to deal with this. He might get away with minor injuries if he was lucky, but honestly, it was not worth the risk to try and use his power here. It cleaved through someone with only a glancing hit.

Plus, he wasn't sure if he regrew his limbs. And Cybernetics would really mess up his style...

The Chainsawyer began to race towards Marcie - either he followed the same line of thinking as the other pirates and saw her as the most dangerous, or he was just picking them off randomly. Either way, Travis didn't really have the opportunity to help her out - the pirate whose leg Travis just broke seemed to be made of tougher stuff than the others, and he along with the other surviving pirates was keeping him pinned, kicking him in the head and sides while forcing him down with their weight. One of the pirates laying on Travis was already aiming his rifle at someone (Blitz? Travis wasn't really looking), trying to take advantage of the sudden shift in battle the Chainswayer's arrival caused. Seemed like they had found Travis's second-biggest weakness - he wasn't super strong, so they could just pin him to take him out.

Blitz wasn't in Travis's line of sight, but he was the only one that Travis could think responsible for what happened next. Something flew directly into the Chainsawyer's chest, fast enough that Travis could barely even register what happened. The move seemed to distract the other Rocketeers somewhat, as almost everything seemed to stop for a brief instant.

However, the arrival of another hero was what really sealed the deal. Someone in a flamboyant costume ('with a very cool looking cape', Travis thought) entered the car, seeming to cause the very air in the room to fluctuate. Dawnbreaker entered a little before the Chainsawyer, but Travis and the pirates pinning him only noticed the man after the initial hit on the giant chainsaw-wielding freak. It was the perfect distraction, as Travis had just enough time to begin choking out one of the mobile pirates pinning him. He struggled briefly, but with his legs locked around him and the solid hairs digging into his flesh, it only took seconds for the tired pirate to fall unconscious. And with only two pirates pinning him, one of whom was partially frozen and had a broken leg, Travis finally managed to free himself from the veritable swarm around him.

Thank god Travis's hearing was messed up enough to miss what Dawnbreaker was actually saying, or he'd also be distracted by thinking of how cool it was.

The two pirates had finally moved on to another target, firing their rifles at Blitz. Travis yanked the rifle from the partially frozen pirate but didn't stop to deal with the other unloading on the huge hero. He had bigger priorities - getting Marcie away from the Chainsaw guy as quickly as possible. She was the only one who could really close the holes these weirdos made in the train car walls, and could painlessly incapacitate the Rocketeers... Well, painlessly compared to Blitz's method.

Thankfully, the gun that Travis stole wasn't one of the ones frozen by Marcie. He trained it on the Chainsawyer, ready to fire it the second the man moved. He yelled at Marcie over the conflict still going on in the train car, his voice coming out strangely from his mutated mouth and weakened hearing.

"Freecee te whol!"

God, it really sucked trying to talk with weird fused teeth-blocks. Hopefully, Marcie would freeze the hole in the train before more pirates came in - then they could have a breather and buy time for the other heroes to secure the civilians and arrive.

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

@Zoey Boey@Hitman

---

"The aquarium, eh? I've seen some mighty strange marine life. Once, I saw the Kraken tear a ship apart in the north Atlantic ocean. Terrible thing. Those poor sailors. Our ship managed to escape, but I wouldn't be surprised if that creature was still lurking beneath the depths. Twice as big as a whale."

Travis nodded his head as he listened to the story, picking up cards as they were dealt to him. He had been on a little fishing boat before with his friend Scales, so he could believe that a squid sank a boat. Of course, Travis didn't know that Pandora was probably remembering an event that occurred decades ago, or even a hundred or two years ago, and the ship was most certainly not a small fishing boat.

"Sound scary. I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever traveling the Atlantic."

The conversation, along with the game, stopped pretty quickly after that. Almost as soon as the cards had been dealt and the game was starting, an explosion sounded nearby, and the train silently began to stop, causing numerous free objects to clatter about the car.

This included anyone not buckled in, and Travis somehow managed to hit his head against the wall behind him. The wood exterior cracked with the force, but the damage to the car was superficial at best. And it wasn't even that for Travis - the sound of the impact was far more uncomfortable than the actual 'injury', causing Travis to wince slightly. Not even damaging enough to activate his power. Pandora grabbed the cards in Travis's hand quickly, silently returning them to their case before leaning back into her seat, seemingly undisturbed from the sudden halt of the train.

Grumbling slightly, Travis briefly forgot what could have caused the explosion. It wasn't until Pandora spoke up again about their 'guests' that he remembered - oh yeah, he's here to fight pirates and protect the Thorium, not to play card games. The thought quickly brightened his mood, and Travis climbed to his feet just as the train began to fully stop. Quickly after that, two heroes from the rear storage car entered, running to the point the explosion from earlier sounded.

Normally, Travis would immediately join them - not only would he get to show off in front of other heroes, but it would also be a good chance to save some civilians and look even cooler. Maybe get a medal or something!

...But Travis honestly had no clue how many heroes were actually in the Storage room with the Thorium. He only really remembered the big guy that had blown smoke in his face - for all he knew, the safe was completely undefended!

Travis didn't really care about saving civilians in the first place - the only reason he'd even want to is because they would thank him for it. But if he helped keep the Thorium safe and beat up some pirates... then everyone would totally think he was super reliable, right?

Maybe Alexandra Director Steele would even respond to his email about instituting 'Free Ice Cream Fridays' on the Paladin!

"You'd better not keep them waiting. I'm sure you'll do fine. Failing that, I'm sure you'll at least survive."

"Surviving is pretty good at least. Nice meeting you guys - I owe you two a game of blackjack later."

Despite some strange sounds coming from the adjacent car, Travis immediately began running to the back of the train. Worst case scenario, he would end up getting ignored and have to sit out the entire fight... which would really suck, actually...

At least he wouldn't be the only one - Pandora didn't seem eager to get into a brawl, considering she hadn't even moved from her seat. Maybe she just had some really long-range power? Travis didn't really think to ask before leaving.

Thankfully, it was too late for Travis to reconsider doubling back - he was already running at full speed to the back of the train, and after passing a few cars, managed to burst through the door. The lingering scent of strawberry smoke was still thick in the air, but thankfully it was fading quickly now that the source was gone. Travis could probably handle it... Well, he'd actually have to, since he noticed that a hole had already been carved out of the storage car, and pirates were already beginning to storm in.

Perfect! Travis's plan had worked! Now he just needed to beat up a dozen or two pirates, all of whom were armed, and could probably just fly away with their jetpacks and shoot him with their weird rifles...

Okay, it might have been a bit optimistic now that he was thinking about it. Maybe he could bluff though! What would Scales say in a situation like this...

"Alright, good job guys. I'll give you guys one chance to sur-"

A sonic blast ripped through the air, colliding with Travis's shoulder and sending him careening into the side of the car. A miss - they were probably trying to pop his head like a grape. Time seemed to slow as Travis slammed into the wall - the collision didn't hurt enough to build a resistance, but that sound shit was pretty crazy. Thankfully his arm wasn't broken. Would probably be bruised later, but he would heal it in an hour or two.

What mattered more was what began happening to Travis's body. Hairs sprouted from his injured shoulder radially, spiraling from the wound until they covered every inch of his body. Stiff bristles, more akin to small spines than actual hair. They were tightly packed, causing Travis to look more like some macabre pincushion. If someone missed them growing, they might think he had gotten a few thousand splinters somewhere during his landing.

3 seconds have passed. Travis got to his feet, seemingly unbothered by his now injured shoulder. He was right-handed anyways.

"That hurt, asshole."

Travis leaped forwards, yanking the wooden sword from his pant loop. The guy that initially shot him had been the one to carve out the hole - and as a result, the closest guy to smash over the head. He shot once more, but the second blast only paused Travis for a fraction of a second. The direct chest shot was even less damaging than the glancing blow from earlier, only causing a slight increase in the number of spines across his body. The shooter was rewarded with a powerful blow to the helmet - the armor might keep him up, but even the best helmet in the world wouldn't protect someone from what was a glorified baseball bat to the skull.

"I'm still walking, bitch! Woooooh!"

Travis was definitely out of his league - the fact he hit one of them so hard was really just blind luck and surprise. Considering the Rocketeers had access to his dossier, then they probably had some tranquilizers or gas to take him out.

Or, y'know, other guns. Gross roach spines sure as hell wouldn't stop a bullet, and a well-placed one could probably take Travis out before he could adapt.

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

@Zoey Boey@canaryrose

---

The woman in front of Travis seemed to finally register that he was in the car with her, an eye peering open to look at the young man. Her expression didn't seem to change in response to his presence - or, at least not in a way that Travis could recognize. She looked like she was only a few years older than him, making her apathetic attitude a little weird. Maybe she was just really used to this kind of mission like Travis thought.

When she said his name, he was visibly shocked and nearly missed the snide comment. Unlike Pandora, Travis clearly did not read the profiles of the other Heroes on the train. Hell, he didn't even know that was an option - he had mostly stuck to either solo missions, or large 'clean ups', neither of which warranted learning about whoever he was working with. Travis thought briefly about asking how the woman knew his name but decided to just slide past it. It made sense that someone would look into who they're going on a mission with.

"Glad to hear, I have a pot roast waiting for me when we're done. Bit optimistic cleanup time though, I'd think that rockets would leave a bigger mess."

Despite the serious tone of her voice, Travis assumed that Pandora's comment was a joke, and responded in kind. Though, if this lady could see the future, that would explain how she knew his name...

Before he could pursue this asinine line of thinking any further, another person entered the car. Travis didn't see her walk past him towards the storage room, but considering he was coughing and had smoke in his eyes, he realized he must have not even seen her.

Marcie seemed to have been like the other woman in the car, choosing civilian clothes for this mission... Then again, Travis didn't have a costume and was also in his regular wardrobe, so he couldn't really bash her for that. Marcie definitely seemed a lot mousier than the people that Travis was used to dealing with though. She awkwardly asked if she could sit down, and Pandora permitted it a few seconds later, Travis nodding in agreement for no reason.

A few seconds of silence passed as everyone got seated, and Travis started to get nervous. When he first walked in, the lady in here was just sitting with her eyes closed - and Marcie didn't exactly strike him as a conversationalist. Was he going to have to sit still and do nothing for however long it too for the Rocketeers to show up? Hell, the Rocketeers might not even show up - If they know about the Hero presence on the train and are smart, they would probably just let it go. Then Travis would have to sit in silence for who knows how-

"You two ever play a game called Twenty-One? You might know it as Blackjack."

Thank god, that would at least make things move by quicker. This lady was probably cooler than he gave her credit at first. She retrieved a deck of cards from her bag and pulled a small table out the side of the car (weird, the car that Travis was in earlier didn't have any tables). She then began to shuffle the cards with ridiculous deftness, explaining the rules to the game as she did so. Travis kind of blanked out as she talked, focusing on her cool tricks instead - she was either a master at sleight of hand, or her power let her mess with cards.

Travis wasn't really sure how someone with card tricks could fight crime, but this lady seemed pretty cool, so no sense in being a dick about it. Hell, his friend Bomber kept talking about some chick that fought crimes without powers and posted videos of it online, so she could always just be a badass or something.

Travis leaned closer to the table, thankful to have something to distract himself with.

"Oh I'm happy to join in, I do get bored easy! We're not putting cash up though, right? I'm pretty trash at card games."

It was true - Kat and Bomber kicked his ass every time they played cards, though the latter did it mostly by counting cards. Noticing Marcie in his peripheral vision, Travis realized that he never really responded to her introduction.

"Oh Marcie, I forgot to give you my name - sorry about that. I'm Travis."

Leaning back to the table, Travis spoke to both Pandora and Marcie.

"You guys do anything cool lately? My friend Scales took me to Castleburg Aquarium yesterday and we saw some weird-ass fish."

Travis loved pointless nothing questions like that - it padded out conversations when he had no idea what to really talk about. Throw a couple of those out, and eventually, someone either gives up and humors him, or snaps at him to shut the hell up. Or in this case, a band of jetpack pirates interrupts their blackjack game.

Anything was fine by him, honestly. Travis hated the silence more than anything else.

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

@Zoey Boey

---

'God this sucks.' Travis thought to himself. 'I thought there was supposed to be explosions and badass fights, not waiting on a stupid train for an hour...'

That was a bit of an overstatement - Travis, like the other members of the mission, had only been on the N-train for about 10 minutes. It's just that, unlike them, Travis had no patience whatsoever. Usually, when he rode one of the E-trains, Travis would talk with one of his friends or listen to music on his phone or something. But since this was a cargo train and he had to wear this stupid earpiece, both of those options were out.

...Well, Travis probably could listen to music since he wasn't on a public transit train. Most people only really use earbuds to avoid annoying other people.

Instead of thinking that though, Travis chose to pace around his car, occasionally lounging on the cushions and chairs. Usually, in those old action movies, the bad guys struck immediately - what was taking so much damn time!? Were the Rocketeers stuck in traffic or something? They have freaking jetpacks!

Travis stood up from his chair, leaning against the wall to look out one of the windows. The East Flank stared back at him - homes, restaurants, laundromats, and all other kinds of buildings flew past at speeds that made it near impossible to recognize any singular structure. If the pirates crashed the train or Travis fell out somehow, even with his durability he'd probably end up as paste on the pavement below.

Travis dropped the line of thought - too morbid. He wasn't going to get knocked out of the train, he was going to kick a bunch of ass. No point in thinking about what ifs, right? Instead, Travis began focusing on his reflection in the glass. A young man in black cargo pants, a white hoodie, with a crappy plastic mask around his neck looked back. There was a cut on his neck from his shave this morning, though Travis hoped that the wooden sword hanging from his belt loop would distract anyone from noticing. He really needed to work on his costume - he'd already been in HERO for a week, and he was wearing stuff he dragged out of his closet. Who knew getting a costume that wouldn't get wrecked up every fight for the few dozen dollars he'd saved up would be so difficult...

Hopefully, this mission would pay out some big bucks. The thought of asking if the food on the train was covered by HERO crossed Travis's mind, but before he could think of who he could even ask, a loud static sound pierced his ear. A second or two later, the Assistant Director's ('You think he'd mind if I called him Ray?') voice rang out through the earpiece, telling the Heroes to watch over their actual objective instead of sitting wherever.

Travis smirked slightly - Finally! Something to do! He quickly got to his feet and began walking towards the back of the train. He had initially chosen a car near the front, thinking that the Rocketeers might attack the rails in order to stop or derail the train. As he walked through, he was starting to think that was pretty dumb - while they destroyed the M-Train, gold was a lot less explosive than Weapon-Grade Thorium. If they tried to derail the train or force a stop, they would risk it getting damaged or blowing up... Probably.

Travis wasn't really sure what 'Thorium' was exactly, but 'Weapon-Grade' made it sound like something that was dangerous to drop.

Finding the final door, Travis was pleased to see that most of the other Heroes assigned to the mission had already shown up. He wasn't sure which ones were assholes yet so he was kind of nervous about making first impressions, but it was probably a lot less boring than hanging around an empty train car. Travis pulled out his HERO ID card and unlocked the door, walking inside just as an absolutely massive man blew a huge cloud of smoke from his vape in Travis's direction.

Travis immediately walked out, coughing into his hand violently.

'Why is his vape pen so huge!? ...And why'd he go with Strawberry?'

Travis had never done well around smokers. Second-hand smoke seemed to irritate his throat and lungs especially quickly thanks to his power, and while the man had never been an asthmatic, he found himself struggling to breathe whenever he was in a room with someone smoking. Thankfully, he didn't need to deal with it too much - his father's drug of choice was injected rather than smoked, and the only one of Travis's friends that vaped, Bomber, did so far from Travis whenever they hung out.

Even though it pissed Travis off a little that he just embarrassed himself in front of the other heroes, he decided to shrug it off. After all, they were kinda doing something important right now - it made sense to try and relieve some stress. Hell, he didn't even see Travis walk in, so he didn't do it maliciously. No reason to hold a grudge over that when they're on a mission...

At least, until that big guy does it on purpose. Then he'd definitely be filed under Asshole.

Deciding that there were probably enough people keeping watch over the safe, Travis chose to walk a few cars down. The Rocketeers wouldn't go straight at the Thorium, most likely targetting one of the other cars in order to minimize the chances of damaging it... Then again, Travis didn't really consider that the safe that contained the material was probably designed to take as much damage as possible without harming the fuel inside. He was mostly just looking for an excuse to wait somewhere else till the action happened.

Thankfully, Travis's breathing was already getting back to normal. If he was lucky, the pirates would only have rockets, and not tear gas. When he decided to stop, Travis found himself in a car alongside one of the other heroes he saw at the station - an attractive woman in trousers and a red dress shirt, with hair tied up in a bun. She looked more like someone about to go to work or some dinner party than fight a group of flying pirates.

Travis was just happy to have someone to talk to, oblivious to the fact that the woman had her eyes closed when he walked in and probably wanted nothing to do with him.

"Do you know how long these things usually take to start? I've only done the 'get cats out of trees and clean up Ambleweeds' kind of missions."

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

Dead Man

Travis Einstein

---

---

DEAD MAN

"Henshin, bitch! ...Did I say it right?"

---

---

[ NAME ]

Travis Einstein

[ HERO IDENTITY ]

DEAD MAN

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

Masochist, Roach, Einstein (Do not call him this if you don't want to get punched)

[ AGE ]

20

[ GENDER ]

Male

[ AFFILIATION ]

HERO. Regularly fights other Supers in Brookside cage matches for money.

[ APPEARANCE ]

Travis appears to be a normal young adult - physically fit, dark-haired, somewhat smelly. His skin has a strange, almost sandpaper-like texture to it. His hair varies in length, typically growing for several months before Travis shaves it down into a buzz cut, and is almost always left in a disheveled state. He is exceptionally muscular and lean, like his father, to the point where even extensive binges struggle to put fat onto him. He seems to have a somewhat musty smell, one of the few things he is insecure about and goes to great lengths to conceal. He is slightly shorter than average, around 5'8, though his personality makes this easy to forget. Travis's voice fluctuates wildly, from lighthearted and excitable, to what could only be described as serrated.

When it comes to his wardrobe, Travis sticks mostly to basic colors and patterns. He is especially fond of tracksuits, though he rarely wears them outside because he's afraid they'll get ruined in a fight. His 'Hero suit' is just whatever random assortment of clothes he can find for cheap, along with a plastic mask. He currently doesn't have the money for a more impressive suit, but has made crude sketches of his dream superhero costume, which he proudly shows off to whoever asks.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Friendly(?): Travis is very similar to a stray dog. If someone treats him with kindness, he will go to great lengths to protect that person and make them proud of him. If they are initially hostile, he will act rude, abrasive, and will even attempt to fight at the slightest provocation. All that matters to him are that people pay attention to him, even if it's only a little or it's negative.

Loyal: Loyalty is probably the most important trait in Travis's mind. If someone became Travis's friend, he'd gladly take every bullet in the world for them, without expecting anything in return. While some of his past acquaintances took advantage of this, Travis's current group of friends is tight-knit and are willing to put themselves at great risk for him, despite not being Heroes themselves. Should Travis see loyalty in his enemies, he will almost always let them go - snitches and rats, however, infuriate him like nothing else. If Travis was ever betrayed, he'd likely not believe it, and assume that whoever did it was just trying to be a double agent or something.

Needs Role Model: Travis did not have a positive relationship with his family, and seems to almost be looking for 'replacements'. He is particularly fond of older male and female role models, and will likely grow very attached to Director Steele and any older Heros that he works with. This is not healthy, and the sooner he breaks out of the habit, the better for everyone involved. Makes it pretty easy to manipulate him though, so less moral coworkers can pretty easily trick Travis into doing their work for them.

Vain: When it comes to being a Hero, Travis honestly doesn't care. Saving people is fun and all, but he doesn't do it out of a moral or ethical desire. He just enjoys the feeling of people praising him and his accomplishments, something that was missing in his childhood. He's quick to praise friends and acquaintances, but will usually trash talk people he isn't fond of, especially villains.

[ BIO ]

Brookside has always been the worst region of the city - and while some of the inhabitants are quite proud of the borough they came from, even they know it's terrible. That's why it was one of the cheapest places to live in the city. If you're broke or wasted your life, chances are you'll end up in Brookside, probably drugged out in a crappy apartment.

That's how Travis' father, Frank Einstein, ended up. Frank was employed by HERO during the golden age of heroes, using his impressive physique and electrokinetic abilities in order to eke out a living. However, after a confrontation with a much more famous Hero, Frank was targetted by their fans and quickly lost any semblance of a reputation. Several years later, an especially intense Leftover attack left Frank permanently injured and unable to continue Hero work. Shortly after, his girlfriend became pregnant, and they moved from their Watervale home to Brookside. Frank initially tried becoming an electrician, but his reputation made it near impossible to find work. He eventually managed to land a gig as a Bouncer, and he was happy to have some kind of income.

Travis never knew his mother, despite inheriting her power. She left only a few months after he was born, her possessions gone from her and Frank's apartment by the time he returned from work. Frank quickly fell into a depression, and began abusing Nova in order to deal with the stress of being a single father.

Travis's early life was extremely poor, being left alone for hours at a time nearly every day. He was typically left in front of the television, watching whatever action film or nature documentary his father left on before leaving for work. It is this abandonment that caused Travis's desire for recognition. A desire that only grew more intense over time.

It was when he was 10 that Travis finally a place he felt he belonged - a small gang of other preteens that tried to act tough and look cooler than they really were. The group was quick to accept Travis into their squad, using his muscle to try and intimidate younger children away from their hangout. Four years later, Travis was coerced into shoplifting - a habit he kept up for a few weeks, before getting caught. Frank, in retaliation, yelled at him for a few minutes before ordering a pizza.

Three days later, Travis shoplifted again, and intentionally got caught. His father, this time in a drunken stupor, slapped against him uselessly before passing out. In a given week, Travis could probably count the number of conversations he had with his father on one hand. But by stealing some snacks or a crappy lighter, his father would go out of his way to talk to Travis. After this discovery, Travis's delinquency slowly ramped up over the years. Graffiti, pouring paint on E-Police from rooftops, drinking (he's a massive lightweight) - he never seemed to get into more serious crimes, although the only reason was because he didn't want to get his friends into trouble. He grew more rough and confrontational, starting fights with anyone who messed with him or his friends, and he only managed to pass his classes because he cheated constantly and no one cared.

Eventually, Frank wasn't able to keep up anymore - he got into a fight at work with one of the other bouncers, and was fired. This, along with his dwindling supply of Nova, caused Frank to become apathetic and uncaring for nearly everything in his life. He just sat around watching television, having given up on keeping an appearance of control. Travis took over as the breadwinner of the house, barely managing to scrape together rent by getting a part-time job in a Watervale house cleaning company. Travis, surprisingly, was happy to do this - he was good at it and loved the work, and the manager didn't care if Travis and his friends hung out behind the store. More than this, Travis found the positive recognition of honest work more enjoyable than the yelling he got from petty crimes.

This was around the time Travis and his father's relationship reached an all-time low. While Frank had initially tried futilely to have a semblance of control over his son, he was now a shell that couldn't care less about what Travis did. Travis, unable to get praise for his accomplishments or admonishment for his failures, was left without any kind of recognition in his life. He stopped cooking or cleaning for his father, only going home to sleep and couch surfing whenever he could.

After a three-day stint at one of his friend's house, he came home to find Frank dead. He had shot himself in the head, watching old news recordings of a major leftover attack. Other than the initial shock and the fear of calling the police, Travis didn't feel anything about his father's death. He stayed in the apartment for another month before joining HERO - and immediately after he joined, he moved into the housing they provided.

As for why he joined... He just thought that it would be cool.

| MISCELLANEOUS |

After enough adaptations from Travis's power, he usually ends up looking like some kind of giant cockroach. It's unknown if this is some part of his power, or just that the most common damage types result in adaptations that are similar to a Roach (exoskeleton, lack of hair, etc).

Seems to be slightly more resilient to electricity. Unsure if this is a part of his power or a developed resistance.

"If my bros show up, you gotta let em in! Especially Scales, she's my ride."
Note to Hero staff: Do not allow unauthorized guests or personnel into HERO One at any time.

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

C+

[ POWERS ]

Despite his almost suicidal actions during combat, Travis seems to never stay down. As a matter of fact, it seems like he only gets harder to put down the more damage he takes. He is a human Cockroach, with all aspects of his power dedicated to survival.

Metabolic Monster: Travis' metabolism is, like many powers, a thermodynamic enigma. He can survive months without food and a week or two without water, and go nearly an hour without air. This is assuming he is barely moving, but even then, it's very impressive. However, when he has ample access to all these resources, his stamina and energy are seemingly unending. Travis could run marathons back-to-back, fight for hours, or work out all day, and as long as he has enough food and water, he probably won't even be tired by the time he's done. Certain substances, like medication, recreational drugs, and the power enhancer Nova, act far more quickly when administered to Travis and last significantly longer. Still needs the normal amount of sleep.

Adaptive Regeneration: Travis possesses a moderate healing factor, recovering from a broken limb after only a day or two of rest. While respectable (if a bit slow for a regenerator), the more interesting aspect of this power is that Travis physically adapts to the damage he takes. Cuts will result in his skin growing tougher and gray, burns cause his hair to recede and tissue to become blackened and retardant, and blunt force will force his bones to poke out and harden into armor. These adaptations, of course, aren't permanent - by the time he heals from his injuries, the monstrous alterations to his form have faded away. However, if an opponent fails to kill Travis immediately and they don't have multiple ways to hurt him, it can become nearly impossible to kill him. Essentially, the more Travis is injured, the harder it is to further injure him.

Pesticides: Due to how efficient his metabolism is, poisons (as well as irritants and drugs) act far faster on Travis than the average person, with an onset time nearly 1/10 the usual. The duration, however, could potentially last twice as long as normal, since his body is trying to hold onto it as long as possible before rejecting it. While in some cases this could be useful, like with Nova and certain medication, it still means that Travis is much more vulnerable to overdosing. And if someone actually poisoned him? He'd probably need his stomach pumped or an antidote as soon as possible. Power suppression drugs are an especially effective counter, hampering his durability but still lasting far longer than they should.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is stronger than the average human, most likely a trait inherited from his father. But pretty much any strength-based metahuman will be stronger than him. And some highly trained humans probably are too.

[ AGILITY ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is significantly faster than the average human, being comparable to a college track athlete in speed. His reflexes, however, are completely unenhanced. He mostly uses his speed to catch up to others, chasing opponents until they collapse or are weakened before a fight.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Travis is not the brightest bulb. He lived in Brookside his entire life and skipped school constantly, resulting in his education being extremely limited. When it comes to book smarts, Travis struggles to beat middle schoolers. He is even worse with plans - he will regularly ignore instructions from all but his close friends, simply because he enjoys the feeling of improvising in a fight.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Travis is physically stronger than the average human, but that is the extent of his ability to damage his surroundings. No Area of Effect stuff here!

[ LETHALITY ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is only somewhat more lethal than the average human. His increased strength and penchant for violence can make it easier for him to crush opponents, though this rarely matters against metahumans.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■■■■■■■□□
8/10. At the start of a fight, Travis would probably be a 5 in pure durability. This can ramp up over the course of a fight, though never breaching past an 8. But when it comes to pure Endurance and stamina? Travis is easily an 8 or higher, so long as he has eaten.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. Travis's power is entirely passive, functioning even while he is unconscious. However, its vulnerability to poisons and power suppression restricts its reliability, especially against opponents that are aware of it.

[ SKILLS ]

Brawling: Travis has years of experience in both kicking ass as well as getting his ass kicked. He could probably fight 3 people at once and pull out a win, assuming they don't have powers and he isn't using his. Definitely not classically trained, a proper fighter could easily beat him if they didn't get hit first. But even if someone laid into him for hours, he'd come out the other end with only a few bruises and aches.

Street Smart: While he reads at a 5th-grade level and struggles with long division, Travis is quite skilled when it comes to more 'real world' knowledge. Whether it be maneuvering and acting in more lawless parts of the city or sneaking past E-Police blindspots, Travis has picked up much from his more criminally inclined friends. He has a few contacts that are always out for some cash - and are more than willing to sell drugs, info, or muscle in order to get it. He's not a snitch though, and these guys are the closes thing he has to friends - you'll probably need to trick him if you want to get at his contacts.

Housekeeping: Travis is an excellent homemaker, having taken care of his abusive father since he was a child. Everything from cooking to basic repairs falls under his purview, and he will typically go into a bit of a cleaning frenzy when he notices a messy room. Gets annoyed by wrinkled clothes.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

Bokken: A Japanese practice sword. Or as Travis calls it, 'A cool wooden stick'. He bought it purely because he thought it looked neat, and has used it extensively over the years. Somehow it hasn't broken yet.

The Shocker: Literally just a Taser. Not the strongest thing on the market, but since early E-Police models had a vulnerability to electricity (or at least were rumored to), it has become a kind of badge among the Brookside underground. Travis' Taser is covered in lightning bolt and flame stickers which he claims 'makes it more badass'.

Necklace: A stainless steel necklace, it's almost as durable as its wearer and has been shined almost obsessively. Travis bought it using money from his part-time job. He is very fond of it since it was the only piece of jewelry he could afford. He has on more than one occasion choked someone out with it, and while it's not as effective as a garrote, it's a lot less lethal. Has been used against him more than once, which makes Travis thankful breathing isn't too much of a priority for him.

Confetti

Stacy Page

---

---

Confetti

"You look like an idiot... Excellent."

---

---

[ NAME ]

Stacy Page

[ VILLAIN IDENTITY ]

Confetti

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

N/A

[ AGE ]

35

[ GENDER ]

Female

[ AFFILIATION ]

Villain Team (Name to be decided)
Page Cleaning Services

[ APPEARANCE ]

Stacy was born with Albinism, and as a result, is unnaturally pale. She stands at 5'1", and weighs 102 pounds. Very thin, to the point her ribs are easily seen when her shirt is off or tight - she regularly skips meals to focus on her work. She is not very strong, and would be taller if not for her poor diet. Her hair and skin are meticulously maintained, making her look younger than she really is. Her expression rarely changes when out of costume. Her voice, similarly, is a base monotone.

Stacy typically dresses in more concealing clothing in order to protect her skin from the sun, and favors formal wear like suits. She always wears gloves and avoids making physical contact with others. Her 'Supervillain costume' is a garish motley, of which she has several variants for different shows crimes. She covers them in scraps of colored paper while worn, shifting them constantly and creating an almost kaleidoscope-esque effect to coat her body. She also wears a featureless white mask, the expressions and appearance of which she alters on the fly with sheets of paper.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Average Jane: Stacy's personality outside of the mask is quite unremarkable - she is introverted, non-confrontational, and usually picks up the slack for others rather than ask them to do something. Really, the only thing that seems to leave a big impact on those around her is her status - Stacy is incredibly wealthy, and displays a cutthroat business sense when it comes to maintaining her grasp on Castleburg's Cleaning and Home Maintenance market.

Unfeeling: The reason for her lack of presence is not because she is shy - Stacy has lived most of her life without feeling any strong emotions, and she is incredibly cold and distant as a result. She has never formed any meaningful relationships, never made any friends, and the only people she interacts with regularly are her employees. While in the past she could focus the stress this caused on making a better future for herself, now she struggles to deal with the fact that no one really cares about her. She is terrified that she has wasted her life.

Presentation!: One of the few things that Stacy feels excitement from is when she is playing up her villainous alter ego. As a villain, she has an incredible attachment to aesthetics, claiming Form is more important than Function in almost every regard. She loves to distract people with grand uses of her power, such as making thousands of paper planes block the sun, while she carries out her actual objective without being noticed.

Sensitive: While Stacy is quite observant and capable of quick thinking, she is incredibly immature emotionally. Since she has spent most of her life not feeling intense emotions, it is very easy to overwhelm her when she is acting out as a villain - taunting and angering her will make her lash out, and flattery will usually lead to her giving a monologue about her secret plan (unless that would be spoilers!). She is also not sure how to handle non-professional relationships, such as friendship or love.

[ BIO ]

Stacy was raised by a single father, as her mother passed away while giving birth to her. While Stacy's father took care of her needs, he always blamed Stacy for the death of her mother, and kept her at a distance emotionally. Looking back on it, she doesn't blame him - she wouldn't know how to raise a child any better, after all.

Stacy spent the vast majority of her life making as little impact as possible - she was never caught for serious crimes, never won any awards for her academics, and her classmates never had anything to comment about her. She viewed standing out in any way as an invitation to be stomped down, and was very careful to be as 'average' as possible in order to secure her future.

However, Stacy was already breaking the law when she was in high school. She used her power to effectively grant herself infinite 'spending money,' though her fear of getting caught limited her to small purchases. By the time she graduated and left home, she had taken out a loan and set up a small business in Watervale - a Laundromat.

While you'd think that most of Stacy's revenue came from Money Laundering and the use of her power, it's quite surprising to learn that she only did it extensively in the beginning of her career. Over the next decade and a half, she would buy out and seemingly form a monopoly on laundromats in Castleburg, eventually expanding into nearly all aspects of Home Maintenance and even dipping into repairs.

After a life of constantly avoiding confrontation and staying in the sideline, Stacy finally managed to be successful. However, outside of financial success, Stacy has done nothing with her life - she never had a relationship, she didn't have friends, and her father passed away from a heart attack only a few years prior. She was going through a mid-life crisis, finding her existence a boring waste of time.

Everything changed when she walked in on a robbery. Her card had just expired, and Stacy had to pay to refuel her car with cash. Walking into the gas station, Stacy saw everyone lying face down on the ground, and a man dressed in some homemade costume holding the cashier hostage. The robber's arms were coated in ice, and formed a sharp blade that was held against the cashier's throat. He didn't even react when Stacy ran behind a shelf to hide - he just yelled for the cashier to continue emptying the register.

Stacy never forgot this moment. Her heart was pumping, adrenaline flowed in her veins, and every stimuli was almost overwhelming. It was the first time in Stacy's life that she felt truly afraid. Truly alive.

Normal adults cope with their Mid-life Crisis by wasting money on a new car or getting a new job. Stacy became obsessed with her power fantasy - the life of a stereotypical Villain.

But Stacy didn't want to abandon everything she had built so far - otherwise, her life really would be for nothing. She slowly built her new alter ego, and after a few short months of preparation, she was ready to form her team. Now, she could stop surviving, and start living.

| MISCELLANEOUS |

Confetti's appearances are typically preluded by mass swarms of paper airplanes and birds, which usually attempt to blot out light sources to assist one of the other members of her team. Heroes are recommended to carry some kind of light for attacks at night, though phone lights or car high beams can do in an emergency.

Close-range approaches are preferred if possible - Confetti lacks any real defense against fast and up-close assaults. Additionally, close-range attacks are less likely to result in friendly fire, which is a possibility when Confetti has larger quantities of paper and uses them to block line of sight.

Views Heroes and Villains as childish, and openly mocks them. If an Operative must buy time for backup, tricking her into a monologue on the topic should prove fairly simple (for example, tell her what you named your 'special moves' or your equipment).

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

C

[ POWERS ]

Paperclip: Stacy is capable of controlling all paper within a 200-meter radius, with enough precision to fold and tear individual sheets within swarms numbering in the hundreds of thousands. She senses these sheets through a sixth sense, and is able to both manipulate and control all the sheets within her control without becoming overwhelmed. Can theoretically kill through many cuts, though clothing is usually able to stop most pages from breaking skin. Blinding and choking is a much more dangerous threat.

While fire is an obvious weakness, it can actually make her much more dangerous for a few dozen seconds as she throws massive quantities of burning paper at her enemies before losing control. Hydrokinetics shut her down much better, the paper becoming too heavy to manipulate until it dries.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Stacy is not imposing whatsoever, maybe being able to bench press 50 pounds. She struggles to carry in groceries sometimes. Her power isn't any stronger, and even if it was, paper isn't the best medium for actions that need brute strength.

[ AGILITY ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Stacy has only average speed and reflexes, enough to not trip over her feet most of the time. Little more flexible than average, but that's really it.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. Stacy is incredibly intelligent compared to the average person, possessing a cutthroat business sense and being especially skilled at social deception and manipulation. Due to never going to college and not having any special powers, however, her academic knowledge is a lot less expansive than most would assume from her demeanor.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. While incapable of macro-scale destruction like most Kinetics, Stacy is incredibly potent at micro-scale destruction. Slicing wires in E-Police drones, destroying power lines (usually by burning them or messing with the transformers, since cutting one is too difficult with paper), clogging pipelines and gas pumps, and more are all possible, leaving Stacy with a number of options available to her for costing Castleburg tons of money. If you include things like covering windshields while people are driving and spreading fires, then her power could probably warrant a 5 or 6.

[ LETHALITY ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Not especially lethal, even against opponents not wearing any armor. Still, being blinded and choking on balls of paper sucks, even if you might survive from it.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Stacy can be winded incredibly quickly when performing intense physical activities. Don't expect her to be doing a bunch of flips and fighting a bunch. Prone to nosebleeds.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■■■□□□□
6/10. Stacy's immense range makes it very difficult for most opponents to reliably pinpoint her, especially if she decides to simply stay hidden instead of being a showman. The only reliable counter is to destroy all the paper around her, which is incredibly difficult in a large city like Castleburg.

[ SKILLS ]

Misdirection: Confetti will probably become infamous for her ability to commit crimes without anyone noticing - or rather, without anyone noticing the actual crime. Her penchant for large-scale demonstrations of her power will distract most people from noticing her teammates or Stacy herself committing the actual operation. Unless she is facing someone with enhanced perceptions of some kind, they'll probably not notice her slip out of her handcuffs or slip a knife from her boot.

Psychology: Stacy has an excellent grasp of how people think, which she makes great use of in her plans. Especially useful with deception and manipulation. Of course, Stacy can really only make vague guesses about someone's personality and beliefs without spending lots of time talking with them. And individuals who have odd thought processes (Shadow Scythe Vengeance) or are inhuman (Vertediger) are much harder to get a grasp of.

Business Sense: Stacy's financial versatility is incredible - her company dominates Castleburg's Cleaning Market and has spread to be a common name throughout most of the East Coast. If need be, she can use her civilian identity to secure various properties and eliminate threats without ever tipping anyone off.

Papercraft: Stacy is shockingly good at Origami and other papercrafts. She doesn't have much passion for it outside of showing off, but even without considering her power, the things that she can make out of paper are baffling.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

Infinite Capital: Thanks to her power and massive business, Stacy has near limitless wealth to toss around. Of course, it's not really 'infinite' - if she made a large (or illegal/noticeable) purchase using money that isn't clean yet or should be spent on her company, she'd probably end up tipping off HERO or get arrested for embezzlement. Still, as long as she is convinced to use some of her squirreled-away wealth, she can afford most expenses.

Paper: Stacy rarely carries her entire arsenal of paper with her at all times, but she likes to store a ream or two in her briefcase when possible.

A Gun: Much more effective than you'd think, since a lot of Metahumans don't possess superhuman durability. Stacy carries a pistol that she is trained in using, and is more than willing to pull it out when she is put in a rough situation. Much more effective when she can hide where she's shooting from with her papers.

《 H.E.R.O. 2064 》

@Hitman@canaryrose
Finished - sorry if it's a little long. Let me know if anything needs to be changed.

Dead Man

Travis Einstein

---

---

DEAD MAN

"Henshin, bitch! ...Did I say it right?"

---

---

[ NAME ]

Travis Einstein

[ HERO IDENTITY ]

DEAD MAN

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

Masochist, Roach, Einstein (Do not call him this if you don't want to get punched)

[ AGE ]

20

[ GENDER ]

Male

[ AFFILIATION ]

HERO. Regularly fights other Supers in Brookside cage matches for money.

[ APPEARANCE ]

Travis appears to be a normal young adult - physically fit, dark-haired, somewhat smelly. His skin has a strange, almost sandpaper-like texture to it. His hair varies in length, typically growing for several months before Travis shaves it down into a buzz cut, and is almost always left in a disheveled state. He is exceptionally muscular and lean, like his father, to the point where even extensive binges struggle to put fat onto him. He seems to have a somewhat musty smell, one of the few things he is insecure about and goes to great lengths to conceal. He is slightly shorter than average, around 5'8, though his personality makes this easy to forget. Travis's voice fluctuates wildly, from lighthearted and excitable, to what could only be described as serrated.

When it comes to his wardrobe, Travis sticks mostly to basic colors and patterns. He is especially fond of tracksuits, though he rarely wears them outside because he's afraid they'll get ruined in a fight. His 'Hero suit' is just whatever random assortment of clothes he can find for cheap, along with a plastic mask. He currently doesn't have the money for a more impressive suit, but has made crude sketches of his dream superhero costume, which he proudly shows off to whoever asks.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Friendly(?): Travis is very similar to a stray dog. If someone treats him with kindness, he will go to great lengths to protect that person and make them proud of him. If they are initially hostile, he will act rude, abrasive, and will even attempt to fight at the slightest provocation. All that matters to him are that people pay attention to him, even if it's only a little or it's negative.

Loyal: Loyalty is probably the most important trait in Travis's mind. If someone became Travis's friend, he'd gladly take every bullet in the world for them, without expecting anything in return. While some of his past acquaintances took advantage of this, Travis's current group of friends is tight-knit and are willing to put themselves at great risk for him, despite not being Heroes themselves. Should Travis see loyalty in his enemies, he will almost always let them go - snitches and rats, however, infuriate him like nothing else. If Travis was ever betrayed, he'd likely not believe it, and assume that whoever did it was just trying to be a double agent or something.

Needs Role Model: Travis did not have a positive relationship with his family, and seems to almost be looking for 'replacements'. He is particularly fond of older male and female role models, and will likely grow very attached to Director Steele and any older Heros that he works with. This is not healthy, and the sooner he breaks out of the habit, the better for everyone involved. Makes it pretty easy to manipulate him though, so less moral coworkers can pretty easily trick Travis into doing their work for them.

Vain: When it comes to being a Hero, Travis honestly doesn't care. Saving people is fun and all, but he doesn't do it out of a moral or ethical desire. He just enjoys the feeling of people praising him and his accomplishments, something that was missing in his childhood. He's quick to praise friends and acquaintances, but will usually trash talk people he isn't fond of, especially villains.

[ BIO ]

Brookside has always been the worst region of the city - and while some of the inhabitants are quite proud of the borough they came from, even they know it's terrible. That's why it was one of the cheapest places to live in the city. If you're broke or wasted your life, chances are you'll end up in Brookside, probably drugged out in a crappy apartment.

That's how Travis' father, Frank Einstein, ended up. Frank was employed by HERO during the golden age of heroes, using his impressive physique and electrokinetic abilities in order to eke out a living. However, after a confrontation with a much more famous Hero, Frank was targetted by their fans and quickly lost any semblance of a reputation. Several years later, an especially intense Leftover attack left Frank permanently injured and unable to continue Hero work. Shortly after, his girlfriend became pregnant, and they moved from their Watervale home to Brookside. Frank initially tried becoming an electrician, but his reputation made it near impossible to find work. He eventually managed to land a gig as a Bouncer, and he was happy to have some kind of income.

Travis never knew his mother, despite inheriting her power. She left only a few months after he was born, her possessions gone from her and Frank's apartment by the time he returned from work. Frank quickly fell into a depression, and began abusing Nova in order to deal with the stress of being a single father.

Travis's early life was extremely poor, being left alone for hours at a time nearly every day. He was typically left in front of the television, watching whatever action film or nature documentary his father left on before leaving for work. It is this abandonment that caused Travis's desire for recognition. A desire that only grew more intense over time.

It was when he was 10 that Travis finally a place he felt he belonged - a small gang of other preteens that tried to act tough and look cooler than they really were. The group was quick to accept Travis into their squad, using his muscle to try and intimidate younger children away from their hangout. Four years later, Travis was coerced into shoplifting - a habit he kept up for a few weeks, before getting caught. Frank, in retaliation, yelled at him for a few minutes before ordering a pizza.

Three days later, Travis shoplifted again, and intentionally got caught. His father, this time in a drunken stupor, slapped against him uselessly before passing out. In a given week, Travis could probably count the number of conversations he had with his father on one hand. But by stealing some snacks or a crappy lighter, his father would go out of his way to talk to Travis. After this discovery, Travis's delinquency slowly ramped up over the years. Graffiti, pouring paint on E-Police from rooftops, drinking (he's a massive lightweight) - he never seemed to get into more serious crimes, although the only reason was because he didn't want to get his friends into trouble. He grew more rough and confrontational, starting fights with anyone who messed with him or his friends, and he only managed to pass his classes because he cheated constantly and no one cared.

Eventually, Frank wasn't able to keep up anymore - he got into a fight at work with one of the other bouncers, and was fired. This, along with his dwindling supply of Nova, caused Frank to become apathetic and uncaring for nearly everything in his life. He just sat around watching television, having given up on keeping an appearance of control. Travis took over as the breadwinner of the house, barely managing to scrape together rent by getting a part-time job in a Watervale house cleaning company. Travis, surprisingly, was happy to do this - he was good at it and loved the work, and the manager didn't care if Travis and his friends hung out behind the store. More than this, Travis found the positive recognition of honest work more enjoyable than the yelling he got from petty crimes.

This was around the time Travis and his father's relationship reached an all-time low. While Frank had initially tried futilely to have a semblance of control over his son, he was now a shell that couldn't care less about what Travis did. Travis, unable to get praise for his accomplishments or admonishment for his failures, was left without any kind of recognition in his life. He stopped cooking or cleaning for his father, only going home to sleep and couch surfing whenever he could.

After a three-day stint at one of his friend's house, he came home to find Frank dead. He had shot himself in the head, watching old news recordings of a major leftover attack. Other than the initial shock and the fear of calling the police, Travis didn't feel anything about his father's death. He stayed in the apartment for another month before joining HERO - and immediately after he joined, he moved into the housing they provided.

As for why he joined... He just thought that it would be cool.

| MISCELLANEOUS |

After enough adaptations from Travis's power, he usually ends up looking like some kind of giant cockroach. It's unknown if this is some part of his power, or just that the most common damage types result in adaptations that are similar to a Roach (exoskeleton, lack of hair, etc).

Seems to be slightly more resilient to electricity. Unsure if this is a part of his power or a developed resistance.

"If my bros show up, you gotta let em in! Especially Scales, she's my ride."
Note to Hero staff: Do not allow unauthorized guests or personnel into HERO One at any time.

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

C+

[ POWERS ]

Despite his almost suicidal actions during combat, Travis seems to never stay down. As a matter of fact, it seems like he only gets harder to put down the more damage he takes. He is a human Cockroach, with all aspects of his power dedicated to survival.

Metabolic Monster: Travis' metabolism is, like many powers, a thermodynamic enigma. He can survive months without food and a week or two without water, and go nearly an hour without air. This is assuming he is barely moving, but even then, it's very impressive. However, when he has ample access to all these resources, his stamina and energy are seemingly unending. Travis could run marathons back-to-back, fight for hours, or work out all day, and as long as he has enough food and water, he probably won't even be tired by the time he's done. Certain substances, like medication, recreational drugs, and the power enhancer Nova, act far more quickly when administered to Travis and last significantly longer. Still needs the normal amount of sleep.

Adaptive Regeneration: Travis possesses a moderate healing factor, recovering from a broken limb after only a day or two of rest. While respectable (if a bit slow for a regenerator), the more interesting aspect of this power is that Travis physically adapts to the damage he takes. Cuts will result in his skin growing tougher and gray, burns cause his hair to recede and tissue to become blackened and retardant, and blunt force will force his bones to poke out and harden into armor. These adaptations, of course, aren't permanent - by the time he heals from his injuries, the monstrous alterations to his form have faded away. However, if an opponent fails to kill Travis immediately and they don't have multiple ways to hurt him, it can become nearly impossible to kill him. Essentially, the more Travis is injured, the harder it is to further injure him.

Pesticides: Due to how efficient his metabolism is, poisons (as well as irritants and drugs) act far faster on Travis than the average person, with an onset time nearly 1/10 the usual. The duration, however, could potentially last twice as long as normal, since his body is trying to hold onto it as long as possible before rejecting it. While in some cases this could be useful, like with Nova and certain medication, it still means that Travis is much more vulnerable to overdosing. And if someone actually poisoned him? He'd probably need his stomach pumped or an antidote as soon as possible. Power suppression drugs are an especially effective counter, hampering his durability but still lasting far longer than they should.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is stronger than the average human, most likely a trait inherited from his father. But pretty much any strength-based metahuman will be stronger than him. And some highly trained humans probably are too.

[ AGILITY ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is significantly faster than the average human, being comparable to a college track athlete in speed. His reflexes, however, are completely unenhanced. He mostly uses his speed to catch up to others, chasing opponents until they collapse or are weakened before a fight.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Travis is not the brightest bulb. He lived in Brookside his entire life and skipped school constantly, resulting in his education being extremely limited. When it comes to book smarts, Travis struggles to beat middle schoolers. He is even worse with plans - he will regularly ignore instructions from all but his close friends, simply because he enjoys the feeling of improvising in a fight.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Travis is physically stronger than the average human, but that is the extent of his ability to damage his surroundings. No Area of Effect stuff here!

[ LETHALITY ]
■■■□□□□□□□
3/10. Travis is only somewhat more lethal than the average human. His increased strength and penchant for violence can make it easier for him to crush opponents, though this rarely matters against metahumans.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■■■■■■■□□
8/10. At the start of a fight, Travis would probably be a 5 in pure durability. This can ramp up over the course of a fight, though never breaching past an 8. But when it comes to pure Endurance and stamina? Travis is easily an 8 or higher, so long as he has eaten.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. Travis's power is entirely passive, functioning even while he is unconscious. However, its vulnerability to poisons and power suppression restricts its reliability, especially against opponents that are aware of it.

[ SKILLS ]

Brawling: Travis has years of experience in both kicking ass as well as getting his ass kicked. He could probably fight 3 people at once and pull out a win, assuming they don't have powers and he isn't using his. Definitely not classically trained, a proper fighter could easily beat him if they didn't get hit first. But even if someone laid into him for hours, he'd come out the other end with only a few bruises and aches.

Street Smart: While he reads at a 5th-grade level and struggles with long division, Travis is quite skilled when it comes to more 'real world' knowledge. Whether it be maneuvering and acting in more lawless parts of the city or sneaking past E-Police blindspots, Travis has picked up much from his more criminally inclined friends. He has a few contacts that are always out for some cash - and are more than willing to sell drugs, info, or muscle in order to get it. He's not a snitch though, and these guys are the closes thing he has to friends - you'll probably need to trick him if you want to get at his contacts.

Housekeeping: Travis is an excellent homemaker, having taken care of his abusive father since he was a child. Everything from cooking to basic repairs falls under his purview, and he will typically go into a bit of a cleaning frenzy when he notices a messy room. Gets annoyed by wrinkled clothes.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

Bokken: A Japanese practice sword. Or as Travis calls it, 'A cool wooden stick'. He bought it purely because he thought it looked neat, and has used it extensively over the years. Somehow it hasn't broken yet.

The Shocker: Literally just a Taser. Not the strongest thing on the market, but since early E-Police models had a vulnerability to electricity (or at least were rumored to), it has become a kind of badge among the Brookside underground. Travis' Taser is covered in lightning bolt and flame stickers which he claims 'makes it more badass'.

Necklace: A stainless steel necklace, it's almost as durable as its wearer and has been shined almost obsessively. Travis bought it using money from his part-time job. He is very fond of it since it was the only piece of jewelry he could afford. He has on more than one occasion choked someone out with it, and while it's not as effective as a garrote, it's a lot less lethal. Has been used against him more than once, which makes Travis thankful breathing isn't too much of a priority for him.

Confetti

Stacy Page

---

---

Confetti

"You look like an idiot... Excellent."

---

---

[ NAME ]

Stacy Page

[ VILLAIN IDENTITY ]

Confetti

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

N/A

[ AGE ]

35

[ GENDER ]

Female

[ AFFILIATION ]

Villain Team (Name to be decided)
Page Cleaning Services

[ APPEARANCE ]

Stacy was born with Albinism, and as a result, is unnaturally pale. She stands at 5'1", and weighs 102 pounds. Very thin, to the point her ribs are easily seen when her shirt is off or tight - she regularly skips meals to focus on her work. She is not very strong, and would be taller if not for her poor diet. Her hair and skin are meticulously maintained, making her look younger than she really is. Her expression rarely changes when out of costume. Her voice, similarly, is a base monotone.

Stacy typically dresses in more concealing clothing in order to protect her skin from the sun, and favors formal wear like suits. She always wears gloves and avoids making physical contact with others. Her 'Supervillain costume' is a garish motley, of which she has several variants for different shows crimes. She covers them in scraps of colored paper while worn, shifting them constantly and creating an almost kaleidoscope-esque effect to coat her body. She also wears a featureless white mask, the expressions and appearance of which she alters on the fly with sheets of paper.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Average Jane: Stacy's personality outside of the mask is quite unremarkable - she is introverted, non-confrontational, and usually picks up the slack for others rather than ask them to do something. Really, the only thing that seems to leave a big impact on those around her is her status - Stacy is incredibly wealthy, and displays a cutthroat business sense when it comes to maintaining her grasp on Castleburg's Cleaning and Home Maintenance market.

Unfeeling: The reason for her lack of presence is not because she is shy - Stacy has lived most of her life without feeling any strong emotions, and she is incredibly cold and distant as a result. She has never formed any meaningful relationships, never made any friends, and the only people she interacts with regularly are her employees. While in the past she could focus the stress this caused on making a better future for herself, now she struggles to deal with the fact that no one really cares about her. She is terrified that she has wasted her life.

Presentation!: One of the few things that Stacy feels excitement from is when she is playing up her villainous alter ego. As a villain, she has an incredible attachment to aesthetics, claiming Form is more important than Function in almost every regard. She loves to distract people with grand uses of her power, such as making thousands of paper planes block the sun, while she carries out her actual objective without being noticed.

Sensitive: While Stacy is quite observant and capable of quick thinking, she is incredibly immature emotionally. Since she has spent most of her life not feeling intense emotions, it is very easy to overwhelm her when she is acting out as a villain - taunting and angering her will make her lash out, and flattery will usually lead to her giving a monologue about her secret plan (unless that would be spoilers!). She is also not sure how to handle non-professional relationships, such as friendship or love.

[ BIO ]

Stacy was raised by a single father, as her mother passed away while giving birth to her. While Stacy's father took care of her needs, he always blamed Stacy for the death of her mother, and kept her at a distance emotionally. Looking back on it, she doesn't blame him - she wouldn't know how to raise a child any better, after all.

Stacy spent the vast majority of her life making as little impact as possible - she was never caught for serious crimes, never won any awards for her academics, and her classmates never had anything to comment about her. She viewed standing out in any way as an invitation to be stomped down, and was very careful to be as 'average' as possible in order to secure her future.

However, Stacy was already breaking the law when she was in high school. She used her power to effectively grant herself infinite 'spending money,' though her fear of getting caught limited her to small purchases. By the time she graduated and left home, she had taken out a loan and set up a small business in Watervale - a Laundromat.

While you'd think that most of Stacy's revenue came from Money Laundering and the use of her power, it's quite surprising to learn that she only did it extensively in the beginning of her career. Over the next decade and a half, she would buy out and seemingly form a monopoly on laundromats in Castleburg, eventually expanding into nearly all aspects of Home Maintenance and even dipping into repairs.

After a life of constantly avoiding confrontation and staying in the sideline, Stacy finally managed to be successful. However, outside of financial success, Stacy has done nothing with her life - she never had a relationship, she didn't have friends, and her father passed away from a heart attack only a few years prior. She was going through a mid-life crisis, finding her existence a boring waste of time.

Everything changed when she walked in on a robbery. Her card had just expired, and Stacy had to pay to refuel her car with cash. Walking into the gas station, Stacy saw everyone lying face down on the ground, and a man dressed in some homemade costume holding the cashier hostage. The robber's arms were coated in ice, and formed a sharp blade that was held against the cashier's throat. He didn't even react when Stacy ran behind a shelf to hide - he just yelled for the cashier to continue emptying the register.

Stacy never forgot this moment. Her heart was pumping, adrenaline flowed in her veins, and every stimuli was almost overwhelming. It was the first time in Stacy's life that she felt truly afraid. Truly alive.

Normal adults cope with their Mid-life Crisis by wasting money on a new car or getting a new job. Stacy became obsessed with her power fantasy - the life of a stereotypical Villain.

But Stacy didn't want to abandon everything she had built so far - otherwise, her life really would be for nothing. She slowly built her new alter ego, and after a few short months of preparation, she was ready to form her team. Now, she could stop surviving, and start living.

| MISCELLANEOUS |

Confetti's appearances are typically preluded by mass swarms of paper airplanes and birds, which usually attempt to blot out light sources to assist one of the other members of her team. Heroes are recommended to carry some kind of light for attacks at night, though phone lights or car high beams can do in an emergency.

Close-range approaches are preferred if possible - Confetti lacks any real defense against fast and up-close assaults. Additionally, close-range attacks are less likely to result in friendly fire, which is a possibility when Confetti has larger quantities of paper and uses them to block line of sight.

Views Heroes and Villains as childish, and openly mocks them. If an Operative must buy time for backup, tricking her into a monologue on the topic should prove fairly simple (for example, tell her what you named your 'special moves' or your equipment).

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

C

[ POWERS ]

Paperclip: Stacy is capable of controlling all paper within a 200-meter radius, with enough precision to fold and tear individual sheets within swarms numbering in the hundreds of thousands. She senses these sheets through a sixth sense, and is able to both manipulate and control all the sheets within her control without becoming overwhelmed. Can theoretically kill through many cuts, though clothing is usually able to stop most pages from breaking skin. Blinding and choking is a much more dangerous threat.

While fire is an obvious weakness, it can actually make her much more dangerous for a few dozen seconds as she throws massive quantities of burning paper at her enemies before losing control. Hydrokinetics shut her down much better, the paper becoming too heavy to manipulate until it dries.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Stacy is not imposing whatsoever, maybe being able to bench press 50 pounds. She struggles to carry in groceries sometimes. Her power isn't any stronger, and even if it was, paper isn't the best medium for actions that need brute strength.

[ AGILITY ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Stacy has only average speed and reflexes, enough to not trip over her feet most of the time. Little more flexible than average, but that's really it.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. Stacy is incredibly intelligent compared to the average person, possessing a cutthroat business sense and being especially skilled at social deception and manipulation. Due to never going to college and not having any special powers, however, her academic knowledge is a lot less expansive than most would assume from her demeanor.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■■■□□□□□□
4/10. While incapable of macro-scale destruction like most Kinetics, Stacy is incredibly potent at micro-scale destruction. Slicing wires in E-Police drones, destroying power lines (usually by burning them or messing with the transformers, since cutting one is too difficult with paper), clogging pipelines and gas pumps, and more are all possible, leaving Stacy with a number of options available to her for costing Castleburg tons of money. If you include things like covering windshields while people are driving and spreading fires, then her power could probably warrant a 5 or 6.

[ LETHALITY ]
■□□□□□□□□□
1/10. Not especially lethal, even against opponents not wearing any armor. Still, being blinded and choking on balls of paper sucks, even if you might survive from it.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■□□□□□□□□
2/10. Stacy can be winded incredibly quickly when performing intense physical activities. Don't expect her to be doing a bunch of flips and fighting a bunch. Prone to nosebleeds.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■■■□□□□
6/10. Stacy's immense range makes it very difficult for most opponents to reliably pinpoint her, especially if she decides to simply stay hidden instead of being a showman. The only reliable counter is to destroy all the paper around her, which is incredibly difficult in a large city like Castleburg.

[ SKILLS ]

Misdirection: Confetti will probably become infamous for her ability to commit crimes without anyone noticing - or rather, without anyone noticing the actual crime. Her penchant for large-scale demonstrations of her power will distract most people from noticing her teammates or Stacy herself committing the actual operation. Unless she is facing someone with enhanced perceptions of some kind, they'll probably not notice her slip out of her handcuffs or slip a knife from her boot.

Psychology: Stacy has an excellent grasp of how people think, which she makes great use of in her plans. Especially useful with deception and manipulation. Of course, Stacy can really only make vague guesses about someone's personality and beliefs without spending lots of time talking with them. And individuals who have odd thought processes (Shadow Scythe Vengeance) or are inhuman (Vertediger) are much harder to get a grasp of.

Business Sense: Stacy's financial versatility is incredible - her company dominates Castleburg's Cleaning Market and has spread to be a common name throughout most of the East Coast. If need be, she can use her civilian identity to secure various properties and eliminate threats without ever tipping anyone off.

Papercraft: Stacy is shockingly good at Origami and other papercrafts. She doesn't have much passion for it outside of showing off, but even without considering her power, the things that she can make out of paper are baffling.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

Infinite Capital: Thanks to her power and massive business, Stacy has near limitless wealth to toss around. Of course, it's not really 'infinite' - if she made a large (or illegal/noticeable) purchase using money that isn't clean yet or should be spent on her company, she'd probably end up tipping off HERO or get arrested for embezzlement. Still, as long as she is convinced to use some of her squirreled-away wealth, she can afford most expenses.

Paper: Stacy rarely carries her entire arsenal of paper with her at all times, but she likes to store a ream or two in her briefcase when possible.

A Gun: Much more effective than you'd think, since a lot of Metahumans don't possess superhuman durability. Stacy carries a pistol that she is trained in using, and is more than willing to pull it out when she is put in a rough situation. Much more effective when she can hide where she's shooting from with her papers.

Hoseforn’s Academy for Gifted Adventurers

Despite the rocky start, Toma seemed to get a lucky break for the rest of the run. The instructor that was shooting the students had moved onto other targets - whether that was because he found someone better to shoot at or Toma had gotten closer to the herd was anyone's guess. Toma just chose to consider himself lucky that he managed to only get hit with two arrows.

Unfortunately, the person that pushed Toma was quickly assaulted by several of the other students. While a part of Toma was pleased that his peers were attempting to punish someone for being an asshole, he couldn't help but feel some pity for the man. At the end of the day, Toma didn't care what happened to him. And Toma was just pushed to the ground - this student was embarrassed in front of their entire class...

But Toma did decide that interacting with that guy might not be the best idea. Getting pushed down during a race was one thing, but adventurers have gotten into bad fights over loot. And some adventurers were so bad, some of the residents in Toma's town called them 'Murder Hobos'. The teachers already said that having fights without proctors was banned, and while Toma wasn't afraid of getting in a brawl, he would never risk his spot at the school - hanging around a guy like that was just begging for trouble.

Other than the student that pushed him, Toma didn't focus on most of the other students during the run - he couldn't see Alexis running, Finn was far up in the front. He didn't know anyone else, so they just didn't stand out much. Some students were wearing armor over their uniform as they ran, causing Toma to fear that he might need to buy some. He definitely didn't have enough gold to get anything nearly as good as what the Dwarf and Human (?) girl had.

Toma quickly started focusing on another student, who had come to run alongside him.

"You ok there?"

A girl, darker-skinned than Toma. Her skin looked a little off, almost like it had the texture of bark...

Was she a 'Wood Elf'? Toma had never seen one before, but that would definitely explain the name... Or maybe she was a human with weird-looking skin? He knew someone from his village with horribly dry elbows - maybe it was something like that, just way less gross? Either way, asking something like that wasn't really appropriate during a run. As he was about to speak, the instructor must have decided that she deserved an arrow for slowing down, and launched it straight into the young woman's shoulder. Toma was quite surprised when she managed to take the blow - heck, she took it better than he would have. Weren't girls supposed to be dainty?

She must have noticed Toma breathing a little harder, or maybe she could tell that he was starting to lose some steam. Whatever the case, she grabbed his arm and began to drag him along, helping to speed him up a little.

"C'mon, there's no time to lose!"

Toma coughed a little in surprise, raising his voice to be heard over their pounding feet.

"S-sure thing! Thanks for the help!"

She did look a little weird, and she probably wasn't human - but it could be worse, right? She wasn't an orc, or goblin, or whatever the heck that snake lady was. And besides, she seemed more than capable of keeping up with the other students - and despite that, decided to slow down near the back of the class in order to help someone she didn't even know.

At least she was friendlier than one of the humans that Toma had met here so far.

---

Toma hadn't been counting the laps, but they had run around a lot more than he was used to before class even started. He probably would have taken a seat the second they stopped if his classmate hadn't helped him, and even with her assistance, Toma was sweating bullets. Some of the more agile students seemed completely unfazed by the laps, while others were even more tired than Toma was despite not getting shot once. Hopefully, they occasionally warm up with a march or lifting heavy things instead of always doing laps...

His uniform also was a little... wet. He managed to spill on it when trying to get a drink from his waterskin during the run. Thankfully, he had brought an extra, and his bag was nearby - he quickly retrieved the bag from where he dropped it at the beginning of class, before slwoly jogging back.

Sir Baleth had gone to the center of the large arena they were in and had begun explaining the purpose of the mannequins that were standing there since the class started. If the Toma from yesterday was asked to fight them, he would probably ask to take on several all at once. After all, how dangerous could a wooden dummy be?

After seeing so much magic in such a short time, however, Toma had learned that looks could be very deceiving.

Soon, the attractive drow woman from the feast was invited to fight the mannequins, leading the others by example. Toma was just thankful that she'd be fighting magical dummies rather than the students - she could take out her Drow sadism against them instead of Toma or his peers. Toma, like many of his classmates, was somewhat distracted by her figure... Although, the purple skin and exotic curved swords made him quick to lose interest.

'Still a monster, at the end of the day...'

Upon touching the mannequin, the construct began to rise, almost as if awakening from a half-asleep state.

“Greetings Maya Jhalavar, would you like to begin training regiment 56A?”

Yep, definitely magical... Toma was amazed that it was possible to make such creations, but he was a little less impressed than the day before. Athena's crystalline form was a lot more interesting than this wooden imitation of a person.

As if to prove Toma wrong, several of the mannequins seemed to awaken simultaneously. Each was armed with various weapons, and Toma was particularly intimidated by the one wielding a large hammer. It resembled the ones he used to plant fenceposts into the ground - and while he never got hit by one, he knew they were a lot more powerful than they looked.

The woman removed her blades, and before Toma could even process it, the fight had already begun. If Sir Baleth was telling the truth when he said graduates of the academy struggled to handle two of the mannequins at a time, then Miss Jhalavar must have been a genius with those strange swords of hers.

Even considering his lack of skill, Toma could tell that the drow was quite impressive with her weapons. She seemingly danced between the blunted spears and swords, weaving around and parrying hits rather than taking them head on - a very effective strategy if she were in an actual fight to the death. As she pushed away the large maul that came crashing towards her skull, Toma realized that she was not just skilled - she must have been much stronger than he expected in order to accomplish something like that, unless she knew some technique to help her deflect the hit.

Could women be strong like that? Or was it some enchantment on those exotic swords? It would make sense that drow women were stronger than the men...

It didn't really matter, however. Even if drows were exceptionally strong and agile, there was no way Toma could simply attribute his instructor's abilities to her race. She was an incredible fighter - the only person Toma could think of that rivaled her skill with the blade was Tarkus, the paladin that he had known all his life...

No, she was more skilled than even him. Tarkus took blows directly to gain an opening to strike - and while that was effective at times, he was in constant pain from his scars during his last few years. Miss Jhalavar dodged the blows entirely, choosing to counterattack and parry rather than let herself be struck.

The fight had taken maybe 30 seconds. 45 at most.

“Right, who’s ready to start?”

Toma couldn't help but grin, his breathing finally having returned to normal after the run. Finally, he'd actually be allowed to fight!

---

As it turned out, Toma was terrible at fighting. His sword was on the ground near Sir Baleth, and Toma was instead wielding one of the spare blades that was offered for those without their own equipment. Using the enchanted blade counted as 'using magic', and under threat of receiving another blunted arrow from the masked instructor, Toma was now relying on his own skill with this rented blade rather than the skill his own sword gave him.

'If only I knew where the off button on that thing was, I wouldn't have to use a different sword...'

Toma groaned as the mannequin he was fighting slammed the pommel of its longsword into his stomach, before sweeping Toma's legs out from under him. The young man fell to the ground, and when he opened his eyes, the blunted tip of the mannequin's blade was pointed straight at his throat.

“Toma Enow, would you like to decrease training difficu-”

Toma cut off the mannequin as he rose to his feet, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.

"Nope, no, I'm good. Just uh... wasn't watching my feet, I guess."

At least Toma was doing better than some of his more magically-inclined classmates.

As soon as he was ready, the fight started once more. Swing, miss - it dodged to the left and the sword only cut air. It retaliated with its own strike, and Toma could feel it clip him on the shoulder as he tried to pull away. The paladin tightened his grip on his sword to avoid dropping it.

'Give it more room, the blade is longer than you expect...'

Seeing Miss Jhalavar fight taught Toma a valuable lesson - while taking attacks was certainly easier and the opponent might not expect it, avoiding them entirely was a lot safer in the long run. Tarkus was pleased at the attention his scars gave him, but was almost always complaining about the pain they brought him in his daily life. Toma would like to avoid that if he could...

Suddenly, the Mannequin lunged forwards, attacking in the same manner it did in the last fight. It held its sword in one hand, using the free arm to try and shield its body as it closed the distance between them. It was trying to get in close and slam the pommel of its weapon into Toma's stomach again.

No time to dodge, it was already too close - Toma was forced to parry instead. He moved his crossguard against the mannequin's blade, locking the blades against one another. Overpowering the mannequin was a lot easier than all that footwork stuff - it wasn't used to his strength yet, and while it adapted fast, Toma could hold it off for a brief time.

'Legs!'

Toma had expected it - that was the only reason he managed to sidestep the mannequin's attempt to sweep his legs. With its balance compromised, Toma pushed his blade harder against the dummy, causing it to fall to the ground.

Breathing heavy, Toma relaxed slightly, standing tall at his victory. Suddenly, the prone dummy swung at Toma, catching the paladin off guard as its blade slammed against his knees. Once again, he fell to the ground, only for the mannequin to climb on his body and hold the dulled sword against his throat.

“Toma Enow, please remember to 'kill' any mannequin you are training with in order to win. Mannequins repair themselves shortly after combat, so there is no risk of damaging academy property.”

Toma groaned. 'Can't I savor my win a little bit before getting punished?' Rising to his feet once again, Toma shook off the sand from his clothes. Hopefully, these mannequins were around outside of class hours - if Toma wanted to catch up to his classmates, he'd need all the practice he could get.

---

Fighting, as it turned out, was a lot more exhausting than Toma had thought at first. Even when the fights only lasted a minute or two at most, they took an enormous amount of energy. And that wasn't even considering how sore Toma was from the various hits he had taken from his opponents' blunted sword. By the end of his seventh round against the mannequin, he was on the ground panting.

“Would you like to take a small break, Toma Enow?”

Toma was a little shocked - they were allowed to take breaks, just like that? It made sense - someone wouldn't really get better at fighting if they could barely hold their weapon... Maybe Toma assumed the class was more totalitarian than it really was?

... Or maybe he'd get a worse grade if he took a break...

"... Yeah, I'll just get a bit of water. Be right back, Mannequin."

Toma would fight better after recovering his strength. His stamina was far better than his sword skills, so he needed to focus on getting better at fighting, rather than getting better at fighting while exhausted...

And it also gave him time to think up a good name for the Mannequin he was fighting. He was probably going to spend a lot of time with the mannequins during the class, so having something better to call them by would make things more convenient.

...The only question was, what did these mannequins eat?

Probably a good question for the magic class.

Toma quickly took a sip from his waterskin, careful not to spill anymore on himself. Many of the students around him were either tired or taking breaks, but several were continuing to fight without any sign of stopping. Toma spotted his roommate, Finn, and thought about walking over to say hi... but decided against it. It might have just been Toma's imagination, but he was beginning to think that Finn was upset with him...

... No, Toma couldn't think of anything that he did to make his roommate upset. Maybe he woke up badly? Toma didn't get a good look at Finn this morning - even when he tossed that flaky bread on his bed.

It was probably just Toma's imagination.

Noticing the girl that had helped him during his run, he felt a small pang of guilt. She had helped him during the beginning of class, so he should thank her, right? Toma briefly abandoned his mannequin and started walking towards his wood classmate, retrieving his second waterskin from his bag and holding it out to her.

"I don't think I thanked you for the help earlier - I appreciate it."

She'd probably like water right? She looked like a plant, and plants loved water... Well, except when they get too much. Toma cringed slightly, remembering a time in his youth when he had drowned all of the herbs in his mother's potager. Thankfully, she told him off before he could do the same to Tarkus' own garden...

Did he ever apologize to her? Toma couldn't remember. Not that it really mattered. That was back in Whitelot - the academy felt a world away from his old village... even though it was only a weeks' travel away, two at most.

'Keep talking, don't act weird.'

"I should probably introduce myself. My name is Toma."

Suddenly, a thought crossed Toma's mind. While he didn't think his classmate was really made of wood like the mannequins were, and they looked nothing alike, Toma couldn't help but connect them. They were both humanoid, looked wooden, both could beat him up... Maybe they ate the same things...

"...If you don't mind me asking, what are your favorite foods?"

If Toma was lucky, he wouldn't have to wait till magic class to name the mannequin.

If Karya was lucky, Toma would get called back to his mannequin before he took up too much of her time.