Lemons

Pariah Online

Floats Like A Butterfly

P A P I Y O N
P A P I Y O N

^{"The world is always better off with a little more kindness in it."}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R D A T A C H A R A C T E R D A T A _________________________________________________________ True Self Moriyama Chou - 森山蝶 Persona Papiyon - パピ四 Pathos Drox Role DPS Weapon of Choice Nagamaki Domains Darkness Enhancement Illusion Playstyle & Attitude Hypermobile evasive DPS, Mom Friend™ ♫

M O R I Y A M A C H O U: W H E R E F L O W E R S F L O U R I S H M O R I Y A M A C H O U: W H E R E F L O W E R S F L O U R I S H ________________________________________________________________________________________ Rikako, empress of the Moriyama business empire, loved flowers and butterflies. So it came as no surprise that her two twin daughters were named as such: the elder, Hanako; and the younger, Chou. The two were borderline inseparable through their younger years, all the way up through private high school, when Chou's life path was forever changed. With her parents as they were, a calm and mild temperament, and a manner of speech and bearing so polite as to be strange at times, it was taken for granted that she would attend university as well. Even if she was only in her first year of high school, she certainly had the grades for it, she loved learning. Though she never really had a subject in mind--business? That was most likely, but what about literature? Philosophy? Studying abroad, even? She never could quite think of one--it felt like the world was opening itself up before her, full of wonder and promise. And then Examination Hell began, and any desire Chou had of attaining higher education withered on the vine, burned to the roots. With how much she'd been sheltered growing up, she had no idea what she was walking into. It was a nightmare. A pure nightmare. Her and her sister both barely functioning and yet required to, bags under their eyes, after coming back from yet more rounds of practice exams. Grades slipping from exhaustion. Locking themselves in night and day to keep cranking at exam booklets and textbooks ad nauseum. To Chou, it was like both enduring torture and watching a victim thereof, and in between rounds of bringing snacks up for herself and Hanako during long study nights (every night) and getting her own schoolwork done, she began to look further afield for a possible future. She wanted no part in this whatsoever. And during one of her brief searches, she came across a florist's shop nearby, owned by the elderly woman Satou-sama, who was in need of help to keep things running smoothly, and started working part time. And she fell in love. Her parents were...frosty a year or so later, when she told them she didn't want to go to university, and she would be continuing her apprenticeship as a florist. Very frosty. But after some cajoling (not quite enough, for what she was doing), they gave her the go-ahead, in a way that disturbed her just a little bit for how easy it was. Still. Here was her chance to make her own life, and she took it. And so the years passed, and Chou found herself in a comfortable apprenticeship, as Satou-sama was aging more, and so more of the responsibility passed on to her young protégé. She has a comfortable, if quite small, apartment above that same florist's shop in familiar Kōriyama now, and a touch of disposable income that didn't come from her obscenely wealthy parents. And so just after dyeing a wisteria-purple streak into her hair, she started looking into something Hanako mentioned on one of their occasional chats: this crazy cool new VR game that she'd started playing called Pariah. Well, hey, couldn't hurt, right? P A P I Y O N: D E A T H I N P I N K P A P I Y O N: D E A T H I N P I N K ________________________________________________________________________________________ That wisteria streak, now spread across her whole head, and a pair of kind, warm magenta-purple eyes. Papiyon isn't far from Chou at just a touch under 165 centimeters, and could fairly accurately be described in appearance as the "typical" Japanese young lady thrown into a blender set to 'pink,' then dressed in a white and gold leather longcoat and gifted a very sharp weapon. But more important is what it does to her personality. Which is to say, it unleashes her most powerful nurturing urges. With her most prominent character trait being how kind and sweet she is as a matter of course, she's here to give her all in making people smile as much as she possibly can. And in protecting those smiles, as well. Of course, not so much literally, as she's quite far from a support, but more in the emotional sense. She seems to have a hurt-person-radar, and those that ping it best be prepared for the Mom Friend to descend. Both a newcomer to MMOs (and video games in general) and never one for super organized groups in any situation, Papiyon's never touched a guild, at least not up to now, and nor does she truly see the point. She prefers to meander around, either looking for and then sticking with pick up groups, or simply roaming and marveling at the incredibly rendered Pariah world. As of now, she's not managed to link up with Hanako at all, but that's all the better. University was stressful, she knew. Well. Small world.

---

Spells & Spell-like Abilities

Lotus Petal Dance
Leveraging both her illusion and enhancement magics, Papiyon becomes as a phantom; as she dashes around enemies and strikes from unexpected angles, afterimages are left in her wake, causing no damage but confusing monsters and hostile players alike with the graceful movements; like dancing across a pond on water lilies on tiptoes.

Butterfly Haze
With a sound like falling leaves, a cloud of phantasmal butterflies envelops the area around Papiyon as she melds into it. The rustling of a thousand tiny wings hides sound, and the flashing of countless colors distorts vision; and by the time you realize that she'd circled around behind you, it's already too late.

Butterfly Flurry
A mesmerizing purple gleam envelops Papiyon's nagamaki, and attempts to block it seem to land on thin air as its position wavers like water, slipping past guards and through cracks in armor.

Flittering Wing
You may think you have Papiyon pinned down and a surefire killing blow. You may think that you've escaped her, put enough distance between the two of you that she could never close the distance. In both cases, you are very wrong. With no more than a breath's sigh and a flare of purple light, Papiyon can blink up to twenty or so feet in whatever direction she chooses She can't use it more than once or twice sequentially, but being able to blink through an attack and end up right at her enemy's throat is powerful nonetheless.

Painless Butterfly
The most powerful spell in Papiyon's arsenal, Painless Butterfly sees her close her eyes and sheath her sword as pink energy builds within, crawling up the sheath like butterflies swirling through the sky. All sound becomes muted and distant to her, and the world slows to a crawl. Then, in one fluid motion and with a sound like lightning, she unleashes a single clean stroke from her sheath, trailing pink light and phantom butterflies as it rends through space and time. Finally, the blade is stowed once more; and with the deafening click of the guard on the sheath, destruction unfolds and time resumes.

Character Feats

Holly, Heather, Hydrangea
Just because she's off the clock doesn't mean she loves flowers any less. She keeps a small plot of land in Thorinn where she grows an assortment of flowers both magical and mundane and sells them as she wanders to alchemists, tailors, and other crafters with an eye for magic and beauty.

Whirling Sting
All of Papiyon's abilities to get close and empower her strikes are useless if the strikes themselves are weak. Luckily, not so; she's quite impressive with her nagamaki. Perhaps not as much as she would be if she were strictly martial; in any competition that completely excludes magic, she's certainly not winning. But with all of her powers and talents factored in, she does a lot of damage, either quickly or over time.

Open Mind, Open Heart
For as kind as Papiyon is, and as committed as she is to emotionally protecting those around her--what good is that if people are so distrustful that they won't even let her? While her natural tendency is to hide how she's feeling, she curbs that as much as she possibly can. A constant flow of honesty is infinitely important, and that flow NEEDS to be two-way. All that being said, her mind can be a bit...too open. Because of her sheltered upbringing and tendency to always think the best of people, she has a tendency to be a bit naive and easily manipulated by more canny individuals.

Always There
Still, even if she does alienate someone, she'll try her best to un-alienate them, regardless if there was any major fault to be had there. Running alongside the sweetness and kindness, Papiyon is nothing if not incredibly forgiving. Not infinitely so, of course, she has her limits just like everyone else does. But unless either you or her does something truly heinous, she'll find a way to make amends.

---

Lem's Stash

Floats Like A Butterfly

P A P I Y O N
P A P I Y O N

^{"The world is always better off with a little more kindness in it."}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R D A T A C H A R A C T E R D A T A _________________________________________________________ True Self Moriyama Chou - 森山蝶 Persona Papiyon - パピ四 Pathos Drox Role DPS Weapon of Choice Nagamaki Domains Darkness Enhancement Illusion Playstyle & Attitude Hypermobile evasive DPS, Unflappable Mom Friend™

M O R I Y A M A C H O U: W H E R E F L O W E R S F L O U R I S H M O R I Y A M A C H O U: W H E R E F L O W E R S F L O U R I S H ________________________________________________________________________________________ Rikako, empress of the Moriyama business empire, loved flowers and butterflies. So it came as no surprise that her two twin daughters were named as such: the elder, Hanako; and the younger, Chou. The two were borderline inseparable through their younger years, all the way up through private high school, when Chou's life path was forever changed. With her parents as they were, a calm and mild temperament, and a manner of speech and bearing so polite as to be strange at times, it was taken for granted that she would attend university as well. Even if she was only in her first year of high school, she certainly had the grades for it, she loved learning. Though she never really had a subject in mind--business? That was most likely, but what about literature? Philosophy? Studying abroad, even? She never could quite think of one--it felt like the world was opening itself up before her, full of wonder and promise. And then Examination Hell began, and any desire Chou had of attaining higher education withered on the vine, burned to the roots. It was a nightmare. A pure nightmare. Her and her sister both barely functioning and yet required to, bags under their eyes, after coming back from yet more rounds of practice exams. Grades slipping from exhaustion. Locking themselves in night and day to keep cranking at exam booklets and textbooks ad nauseum. To Chou, it was like both enduring torture and watching a victim thereof, and in between rounds of bringing snacks up for herself and Hanako during long study nights (every night) and getting her own schoolwork done, she began to look further afield for a possible future. She wanted no part in this whatsoever. And during one of her brief searches, she came across a florist's shop nearby, owned by the elderly woman Satou-sama, who was in need of help to keep things running smoothly, and started working part time. And she fell in love. Her parents were...frosty a year or so later, when she told them she didn't want to go to university, and she would be continuing her apprenticeship as a florist. Very frosty. But after some cajoling (not quite enough, for what she was doing), they gave her the go-ahead, in a way that disturbed her just a little bit for how easy it was. Still. Here was her chance to make her own life, and she took it. And so the years passed, and Chou found herself in a comfortable apprenticeship, as Satou-sama was aging more, and so more of the responsibility passed on to her young protégé. She has a comfortable, if quite small, apartment above that same florist's shop in familiar Kōriyama now, and a touch of disposable income that didn't come from her obscenely wealthy parents. And so just after dyeing a wisteria-purple streak into her hair, she started looking into something Hanako mentioned on one of their occasional chats: this crazy cool new VR game that she'd started playing called Pariah. Well, hey, couldn't hurt, right? P A P I Y O N: D E A T H I N P I N K P A P I Y O N: D E A T H I N P I N K ________________________________________________________________________________________ That wisteria streak, now spread across her whole head, and a pair of kind, warm magenta-purple eyes. Papiyon could fairly accurately be described in appearance as the "typical" Japanese young lady thrown into a blender set to 'pink,' then dressed in a white and gold leather longcoat and gifted a very sharp weapon. But more important is what it does to her personality. Which is to say, it unleashes her most powerful nurturing urges. With her most prominent character trait being how kind and sweet she is as a matter of course, she's here to give her all in making people smile as much as she possibly can. And in protecting those smiles, as well. Of course, not so much literally, as she's quite far from a support, but more in the emotional sense. She seems to have a hurt-person-radar, and those that ping it best be prepared for the Mom Friend to descend. Both a newcomer to MMOs (and video games in general) and never one for super organized groups in any situation, Papiyon's never touched a guild, at least not up to now, and nor does she truly see the point. She prefers to meander around, either looking for and then sticking with pick up groups, or simply roaming and marveling at the incredibly rendered Pariah world. As of now, she's not managed to link up with Hanako at all, but that's all the better. University was stressful, she knew. Well. Small world.

---

Spells & Spell-like Abilities

Lotus Petal Dance
Leveraging both her illusion and enhancement magics, Papiyon becomes as a phantom; as she dashes around enemies and strikes from unexpected angles, afterimages are left in her wake, causing no damage but confusing monsters and hostile players alike with the graceful movements; like dancing across a pond on water lilies on tiptoes.

Butterfly Haze
With a sound like falling leaves, a cloud of phantasmal butterflies envelops the area around Papiyon as she melds into it. The rustling of a thousand tiny wings hides sound, and the flashing of countless colors distorts vision; and by the time you realize that she'd circled around behind you, it's already too late.

Butterfly Flurry
A mesmerizing purple gleam envelops Papiyon's nagamaki, and attempts to block it seem to land on thin air as its position wavers like water, slipping past guards and through cracks in armor.

Flittering Wing
You may think you have Papiyon pinned down and a surefire killing blow. You may think that you've escaped her, put enough distance between the two of you that she could never close the distance. In both cases, you are very wrong. With no more than a breath's sigh and a flare of purple light, Papiyon blinks forwards and backwards, in and out. She can't use it more than once or twice sequentially, but being able to blink through an attack and end up right at her enemy's throat is powerful nonetheless.

Painless Butterfly
The most powerful spell in Papiyon's arsenal, Painless Butterfly sees her close her eyes and sheath her sword as pink energy builds within, crawling up the sheath like butterflies swirling through the sky. All sound becomes muted and distant to her, and the world slows to a crawl. Then, in one fluid motion and with a sound like lightning, she unleashes a single clean stroke from her sheath, trailing pink light and phantom butterflies as it rends through space and time. Finally, the blade is stowed once more; and with the deafening click of the guard on the sheath, destruction unfolds and time resumes.

Character Feats

Holly, Heather, Hydrangea
Just because she's off the clock doesn't mean she loves flowers any less. She keeps a small plot of land in Thorinn where she grows an assortment of flowers both magical and mundane and sells them as she wanders to alchemists, tailors, and other crafters with an eye for magic and beauty.

Whirling Sting
All of Papiyon's abilities to get close and empower her strikes are useless if the strikes themselves are weak. Luckily, not so; she's quite impressive with her nagamaki. Perhaps not as much as she would be if she were strictly martial; in any competition that completely excludes magic, she's certainly not winning. But with all of her powers and talents factored in, she does a lot of damage, either quickly or over time.

Open Mind, Open Heart
For as kind as Papiyon is, and as committed as she is to emotionally protecting those around her--what good is that if people are so distrustful that they won't even let her? While her natural tendency is to hide how she's feeling, she curbs that as much as she possibly can. A constant flow of honesty is infinitely important, and that flow NEEDS to be two-way.

Always There
Still, even if she does alienate someone, she'll try her best to un-alienate them, regardless if there was any major fault to be had there. Running alongside the sweetness and kindness, Papiyon is nothing if not incredibly forgiving. Not infinitely so, of course, she has her limits just like everyone else does. But unless either you or her does something truly heinous, she'll find a way to make amends.

---

Five of the Sky

Righto, throwing my hat into the ring. Feel free to tell me if anything at all is off and I'll fix it as quick as I can, the last thing I want to do is mess stuff up.

Mejiro Tsukiko

Tsukiko

Name

Mejiro Tsukiko (目白月子)

Gender

Female

Age

23

General Physical Description

Small and slim at just over five feet, Tsukiko doesn't quite look her age, and as long as she keeps her head covered, she doesn't stick out in many crowds. Once she takes the hood off, though, she tends to draw attention instead. The most notable piece of her appearance is its sheer paleness. Fair skin, white hair, white eyes, and predisposed to white clothing, she stands out like a lit candle in a dark room, or a thin slice of sunlight through a door held ajar. There always seems to be a faint smile on her face when she's speaking to people, faint and perhaps a bit self-satisfied, like she's thinking of something else far away from her conversation even when she's quite engaged.

But regardless how engaged she is, don't expect her to make eye contact with you, as Tsukiko is entirely blind, and has been her entire life.

Still, most people have no idea. Her other senses compensate for it rather well, even when her magic doesn't, and she's able to function almost the same as a normal person, if not even better at times; she carries herself with confidence, and it doesn't seem to intrude on any combat that may occur at all. In fact, that mysterious smile of hers can carry an implication that even then, she sees more than she's letting on.

And for reasons nobody can fully understand, she seems to always be followed by the heady scent of lilac and lavender.

Role

Lunar Sage, resident mysterious mage

Abilities/Formal Knowledge

Light Magic:
Tsukiko's most powerful and defining trait is her ability to channel and manipulate light. Though sunlight is of course subject to her powers, as a Lunar Sage they grow more potent during the night, waxing and waning with the moon. From weaving light into concrete objects to searing enemies in combat with blasts of silver and gold, this ability is the most notable she has.

Lightsense:
And part and parcel of her light magic is how she's able to move so smoothly despite her blindness: she may not be able to see light, but she can feel it. She's able to create a kind of...3d map in her head by using her magic to feel where light is and isn't. She can't feel color, she can't see patterns; but solely in terms of objects, she essentially has 360 degree vision, at least of a sort, though it can be a bit foggy and imprecise while the sun is up, and of course in places where there's little to no light it grows faint or absent completely.

All that being said, this isn't really a passive thing: she does have to consciously focus in order to utilize it, and if used for too long, it can exhaust her and prompt a recoil of confusion and disorientation afterwards. But it's a powerful tool, to be sure.

Acute Senses:
Along with her lightsensing, Tsukiko has a more pedestrian ability on her side: to compensate for her sight, all of her other senses are quite a bit sharper. She can hear things that other people might not be able to, tell (roughly) what's around her by the way the air moves off of objects, and so on and so forth. This doesn't edge into the supernatural or absurd, of course, but it serves as an excellent early warning system that might prompt her to use her lightsense so she can really tell what's going on.

Sage's Rapport:
While her blindness precludes from doing things like reading, or writing with any degree of precision, she's still a Lunar Sage, which can perhaps open doors for her in places where a Sage of any variety may command a degree of respect.

Personality

Favors

+Sweet:
On the whole, Tsukiko is pretty nice to be around. She's a very kind person at heart and offers it liberally to most everyone around her, even those that may stand in opposition to her. A firm believer in the healing power of a smile, she truly loves people and wants them to be as happy as they can.

+Moral:
In addition to that kindness, Tsukiko is the proud owner of a very powerful moral compass, and believes that all people are basically good, and they only need the chance to show it. Very much chaotic good, she's not one to let laws and strictures get in the way of what she believes to be the right thing to do. Of course, she never breaks the law with impunity, she's not a fool and works within it as long as it's possible. But if her guiding principles overpower the potential consequences, she'll do what she must to meet them.

+Canny:
It may come as a surprise to those that see her smiley exterior or hear her extolling the innate goodness of people, but Tsukiko is quite a shrewd individual and tends to be good at judging how any given scenario may play out, and how best to work within that scenario to reach the outcome she believes to be the best. Such is how she's so good at pursuing her morals alongside the law, even if they may contradict it: she's a good judge of how people think and is skilled at leveraging it.

Disfavors

-Vindictive:
As one who has not uncommonly been assumed as frail, fragile, or uncapable because of her blindness, Tsukiko has developed a bit of a spiteful streak that can come out on occasion. It's not particularly common in everyday life, and she doesn't begrudge people not understanding how her powers work. But if people question her abilities or standing even after she demonstrates that she's perfectly competent, she tends to simmer with suppressed frustration and anger that can boil over at inopportune moments.

-Duplicitous:
Just as she's predisposed to genuine smiles as described, and just as she's good at leveraging social situations to her own ends, she's also rather skilled in in false smiles. She has a tendency to be two-faced, most especially around people she doesn't trust, but occasionally even with her closest friends, and she's good at it. It's a habit she's aware of and struggles to get a handle on, and she often catches herself in the act and corrects it. But even if she's aware of it, it's a habit regardless, and it can cause people to distrust her.

-Self-Righteous:
Another foible that she struggles to control and subsume is her ingrained sense of self-superiority. The dark side to that powerful morality, she has a tendency to naturally assume that she's in the right of a problem. It's not an unbreakable thing; if you prove to her she's wrong, then she'll eat her words with at least some measure of grace. But it can take a bit of doing to convince her she's in the wrong. It's less common these days as she's been mostly successful in downplaying it, but in higher stress situations especially there's still a not unlikely chance it'll rear its head again.

Ambiguities

-+Secretive:
Neither a boon nor a blight upon her character is the simple fact that she tends to speak little about herself. She doesn't speak little overall; while she's not a particularly talkative individual, she's also not excessively reticent. No, this is almost exclusive to talking about herself, especially her history and dreams for the future. That's not to say she point-blank refuses to talk about herself, but rather she tends to move the conversation when it starts to drift to subjects she'd rather not touch on.

Public Knowledge
Tsukiko was born, raised, and trained in the south, and how and why she ended up in the Eastern Region is unknown. Some say that she left out of protest for the incredibly long and powerful dynasty of the Southern Region; some say that she was chased out for speaking out against them; some say that she's a spy sent by them to weaken the East. Whatever the reason, her secretive nature holds strong, and she's not telling anyone (except the spy theory. When that comes up, she denies it without exception).

Lem's Stash

Mejiro Tsukiko

Tsukiko

Name

Mejiro Tsukiko (目黒月子)

Gender

Female

Age

20

General Physical Description

Small and slim at just over five feet, Tsukiko doesn't quite look her age, and as long as she keeps her head covered, she doesn't stick out in many crowds. Once she takes the hood off, though, she tends to draw attention instead. The most notable piece of her appearance is its sheer paleness. Fair skin, white hair, white eyes, and predisposed to white clothing, she stands out like a lit candle in a dark room, or a thin slice of sunlight through a door held ajar. There always seems to be a faint smile on her face when she's speaking to people, faint and perhaps a bit self-satisfied, like she's thinking of something else far away from her conversation even when she's quite engaged.

But regardless how engaged she is, don't expect her to make eye contact with you, as Tsukiko is entirely blind, and has been her entire life.

Still, most people have no idea. Her other senses compensate for it rather well, even when her magic doesn't, and she's able to function almost the same as a normal person, if not even better at times; she carries herself with confidence, and it doesn't seem to intrude on any combat that may occur at all. In fact, that mysterious smile of hers can carry an implication that even then, she sees more than she's letting on.

And for reasons nobody can fully understand, she seems to always be followed by the heady scent of lilac and lavender.

Role

Lunar Sage

Abilities/Formal Knowledge

Light Magic:
Tsukiko's most powerful and defining trait is her ability to channel and manipulate light. Though sunlight is of course subject to her powers, as a Lunar Sage they grow more potent during the night, waxing and waning with the moon. From weaving light into concrete objects to searing enemies in combat with blasts of silver and gold, this ability is the most notable she has.

Lightsense:
And part and parcel of her light magic is how she's able to move so smoothly despite her blindness: she may not be able to see light, but she can feel it. She's able to create a kind of...3d map in her head by using her magic to feel where light is and isn't. She can't feel color, she can't see patterns; but solely in terms of objects, she essentially has 360 degree vision, at least of a sort, though it can be a bit foggy and imprecise while the sun is up, and of course in places where there's little to no light it grows faint or absent completely.

All that being said, this isn't really a passive thing: she does have to consciously focus in order to utilize it, and if used for too long, it can exhaust her and prompt a recoil of confusion and disorientation afterwards. But it's a powerful tool, to be sure.

Acute Senses:
Along with her lightsensing, Tsukiko has a more pedestrian ability on her side: to compensate for her sight, all of her other senses are quite a bit sharper. She can hear things that other people might not be able to, tell (roughly) what's around her by the way the air moves off of objects, and so on and so forth. This doesn't edge into the supernatural or absurd, of course, but it serves as an excellent early warning system that might prompt her to use her lightsense so she can really tell what's going on.

Sage's Rapport:
While her blindness precludes from doing things like reading, or writing with any degree of precision, she's still a Lunar Sage, which can perhaps open doors for her in places where a Sage of any variety may command a degree of respect.

Personality

Favors

+Sweet:
On the whole, Tsukiko is pretty nice to be around. She's a very kind person at heart and offers it liberally to most everyone around her, even those that may stand in opposition to her. A firm believer in the healing power of a smile, she truly loves people and wants them to be as happy as they can.

+Moral:
In addition to that kindness, Tsukiko is the proud owner of a very powerful moral compass, and believes that all people are basically good, and they only need the chance to show it. Very much chaotic good, she's not one to let laws and strictures get in the way of what she believes to be the right thing to do. Of course, she never breaks the law with impunity, she's not a fool and works within it as long as it's possible. But if her guiding principles overpower the potential consequences, she'll do what she must to meet them.

+Canny:
It may come as a surprise to those that see her smiley exterior or hear her extolling the innate goodness of people, but Tsukiko is quite a shrewd individual and tends to be good at judging how any given scenario may play out, and how best to work within that scenario to reach the outcome she believes to be the best. Such is how she's so good at pursuing her morals alongside the law, even if they may contradict it: she's a good judge of how people think and is skilled at leveraging it.

Disfavors

-Vindictive:
As one who has not uncommonly been assumed as frail, fragile, or uncapable because of her blindness, Tsukiko has developed a bit of a spiteful streak that can come out on occasion. It's not particularly common in everyday life, and she doesn't begrudge people not understanding how her powers work. But if people question her abilities or standing even after she demonstrates that she's perfectly competent, she tends to simmer with suppressed frustration and anger that can boil over at inopportune moments.

-Duplicitous:
Just as she's predisposed to genuine smiles as described, and just as she's good at leveraging social situations to her own ends, she's also rather skilled in in false smiles. She has a tendency to be two-faced, most especially around people she doesn't trust, but occasionally even with her closest friends, and she's good at it. It's a habit she's aware of and struggles to get a handle on, and she often catches herself in the act and corrects it. But even if she's aware of it, it's a habit regardless, and it can cause people to distrust her.

-Self-Righteous:
Another foible that she struggles to control and subsume is her ingrained sense of self-superiority. The dark side to that powerful morality, she has a tendency to naturally assume that she's in the right of a problem. It's not an unbreakable thing; if you prove to her she's wrong, then she'll eat her words with at least some measure of grace. But it can take a bit of doing to convince her she's in the wrong. It's less common these days as she's been mostly successful in downplaying it, but in higher stress situations especially there's still a not unlikely chance it'll rear its head again.

Ambiguities

-+Secretive:
Neither a boon nor a blight upon her character is the simple fact that she tends to speak little about herself. She doesn't speak little overall; while she's not a particularly talkative individual, she's also not excessively reticent. No, this is almost exclusive to talking about herself, especially her history and dreams for the future. That's not to say she point-blank refuses to talk about herself, but rather she tends to move the conversation when it starts to drift to subjects she'd rather not touch on.

Public Knowledge
Tsukiko was born, raised, and trained in the south, and how and why she ended up in the Eastern Region is unknown. Some say that she left out of protest for the incredibly long and powerful dynasty of the Southern Region; some say that she was chased out for speaking out against them; some say that she's a spy sent by them to weaken the East. Whatever the reason, her secretive nature holds strong, and she's not telling anyone (except the spy theory. When that comes up, she denies it without exception).

Five of the Sky (A Fanstay Portal Adventure)

Ooh, color me intrigued. Got an idea bubbling for the Soldier, if you'll have me.

Lem's Stash

_______________________________________________ // INFO D A T A Full Name - Meguro Tsukiko Hometown - Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan Quirk Type - Emitter Gender - Femme - // PERSONALITY P E R S O N A L I T Y Positive Tsukiko may have been born blind, but she's not going to let it bring her down. Unrelentingly positive in a gentle sort of way, she's always ready to smile. And though her smiles may be a bit quieter than most, they're no less genuine, and she wears them often. Mischievous But when she's not 'doing hero things,' that energy is still there, and it does still have to go somewhere. Aoi is an unrepentant prankster, often leveraging her Quirk to jump around into other students' devices and sticking around for a while to mess with them. She never really wants to cause any real problems with this; she has less than zero interest in blackmailing or coercing or any of that distinctly non-heroic stuff. But while she'd never intentionally hurt you, she can be exremely annoying. Positive Still, for all that irritation she can bring...she can still always be counted on to have a smile on her face. And while her having her grinning at you after she calls your mom through your cell phone without you knowing can be frustrating, having her stepping forward with a grin when things get bad and your backs are to the wall is another thing entirely. Even when playing her pranks, she is ever a font of limitless cheer, just as ready to laugh at herself as she is to laugh at you. She holds no grudges from pranks--turnabout is fair play, after all--and it really takes some doing to pull the smile off her face.

Physical Description Saiba Aoi is...not tall. Standing at a tiny 148cm (more or less 4'10"), she is head and shoulders below several of her classmates, and still significantly shorter than even the other 'short' students. Cornflower blue hair tied in twintails and bright blue eyes frame and sit atop a narrow, pale face that is nearly always sporting a big smile. Her frame is as small as the rest of her and as narrow as her face. Her legs are long (proportionately, at least) and as slender as the rest of her. She is fairly weak as far as appearances go, with relatively undeveloped musculature. Still, though she isn't strong by any means, she's much stronger than she looks. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the obvious appearance: her legs evaporate into pixels and electricity, and then nothingness, from her mid-shin down. She can't fly or anything, but it does mean she never needs to touch the ground. It must be noticed that with her Quirk fully active--that is to say, with her entire body digitized--she changes appearance slightly on whatever screen she manifests on. Her cornflower blue hair fades to glowing electric blue at the tips, and her blue eyes turn to a bright turquoise-cyan. She gains a few digitized lines on each cheek. Whatever she's wearing or carrying at the time comes with her when she jumps in. Excepting, of course, her phone if she uses it to jump in. While at school she wears her Ishin Academy uniform as per requirements, when she's got the choice to wear something else she is inordinately fond of a tracksuit jacket with hugely oversized sleeves into which her arms just about disappear. Personal History Aoi has always been a computer person. Even when she was a small child, she was endlessly fascinated by them, often spending hours poking at them (and accomplishing nothing, of course, she was a small child after all). Her mother Kimiko, a four-armed programmer, indulged her daughter, let her fiddle around to her heart's content as long as she didn't touch the work stuff. Still, as Aoi grew, she nursed a private worry. Quirks were inherited. But Aoi didn't have four arms like her, and her husband... ...Well, Saiba Ryoutarou was Quirkless. And as Aoi grew and grew, past six, seven, eight, it looked like she might be Quirkless too. And some of the kids at school were starting to notice. So both Kimiko and Aoi were delighted--though Kimiko was deeply confused--to find that Aoi's legs had flickered and faded into pixelated data. And when she proudly walked into the classroom, hand in her pocket with her phone, and fell due to her unfamiliar physiology...she vanished. The class was instantly freaked out, and the teacher, even more so, running over in fear. Until... "Whoaaaa!" Character Arc Perhaps it's not obvious at first glance what's up with Aoi, and where her character development will go. Well, I point you to the above backstory and ask you to consider it. For as cheerful and chipper as Aoi is all the time, she's also burdened down by feelings of inadequacy. Being treated as Quirkless until mid-elementary school, and then being told, however gently, that her Quirk just wasn't cut out of hero work... well, it's left some marks on her psyche. Quirk Description Tsukiko has a particularly powerful utility Quirk known as Hypercognition Full Description A transformation-type Quirk, it allows her to turn her body into computer data. Passively, as mentioned, her legs end mid-calf, and so instead of walking she floats a little ways off the ground. This gives her some advantages, like never needing to touch the ground when she needs to sneak around or if there's something hazardous on the ground, as well as giving her a certain level of controlled descent as long as she's falling feet first. However, it also has a major caveat attached: her legs either being immersed in or deluged with a sufficient amount of water, or being struck with a powerful enough electrical shock, can short her legs out and stop her from 'walking' for anywhere from a few seconds to a handful of minutes as they reboot. They've got a few other properties as well; while she accelerates slower than most, once she's up and running she also runs faster than most, and while she can't jump at all from a standstill, her jump height is dependent on how fast she's going. At her current maximum speed--roundabout sixteen mph--she can jump about four feet in the air. Actively, she can turn herself entirely into data, jumping into a device and working as a rogue computer program of sorts. She can either enter through a data stream that she has access to--i.e. disappearing into the camera network after being recorded by jumping after her recording--or perform a manual override by touching the object. Once she's inside, she can move around the settings and data of the machine as she wishes, pretty much setting the rules inside of whatever device she's in. Pretty much nothing happens that she can't control. She can also jump from device to device as long as there's a stream of data connecting the two that she can use as a pathway, whether that be hopping between computers on the same Wi-Fi network or calling someone from inside of a phone and then hopping along the cell data. That said, this power is certainly not limitless. First, in addition to the limitations of where she can enter a device, she can only leave at a terminal--she can't just jump out of a Wi-Fi signal in the middle of a house, only out of a computer, or phone, or router--and she can't leave instantly at any time. According to her, the dataspace of any given device has an 'exit door' that she needs to get back to before she can leave (although the same is true for riding on signals, it's MUCH faster for her, she can zip along one in less than a second as long as she's paying attention). And while she's immune to physical harm, there are a suite of other things that can spell disaster for her. While she can stop commands to shut a computer or phone down, there's nothing she can do to stop someone from unplugging it, or taking out the battery. If that happens, then as long as the device is off, so is she; in a state of unconsciousness for as long as it takes to turn back on. If access to a network is revoked while she's in a device, whether by unplugging an ethernet cable or having the signal itself shut off (she can turn off airplane mode if it's turned on, so that doesn't do much), she is trapped inside of that device and can't leave until it's either reconnected, or plugged in to a different device manually, after which she can jump up the cable. And finally, and most dangerous: if a device is destroyed and she can't jump out in time, either through not paying attention, or the device being switch off...then it's lights out for her, forever. Description in brief: Passively, Aoi has digitized legs that have different properties than normal people, cutting off some avenues and opening up others. Actively, she can transform into computer data, jumping inside of a terminal. She can travel at internet-fast speeds on Wi-Fi, data cables, or wire connections, but needs to open a channel through cell data by making a call at the moment, and can only travel between devices; she can't jump out midway. If the device she's in is disconnected from all data, she can't exit it. If it's turned off, she goes unconscious until it goes back on. If it's destroyed, she dies.

Amygdala Circuit

As the world around them righted itself at Quinnlash's ministrations, Quinn let her fingers slowly uncurl from her biceps, and her arms fall back to her sides as the remnants of panic and fear grew distant once more. She gave a soft groan and titled her head backwards, staring up at the uncanny stars as they folded themselves back into the midnight fabric of the sky, and the flat sticker of the moon warped and deepened until it felt right.

Something about the way Quinnlash spoke, acted, had a way of calming her down. She tilted her head back down and regarded her. Perhaps, she wondered idly, it was because it put her into the role of the 'elder sister' for once.

Despite that, when her younger self stared up at the empty cliff, she felt a shiver go through her, carrying in its wake a tangle of horror and fury and something else she couldn't quite identify. "Darkness is a cage," she breathed. Was that what the presence in the shadows last night was? Not a presence at all, but rather an absence?

"Maybe the dark wants us back."

She shuddered. But before she could respond, Quinnlash had stepped down from her perch, walked down the air, and looked up at her, once again meeting her eye. "We're happy now. We won't go back. We'll fight if we have to, we're good at that—it's what we were made for. I don't...want to be scared. We don't deserve it."

"No," she murmured softly in response, "no, we don't." She paused, a long pause that stretched the dream. When she finally spoke again, her eye went to the decking, and her voice was filled with a quiet desolation:

"I want to go home."

Amygdala Circuit

Quinn wanted to go to bed. She did. She was already exhausted. But she couldn't bring herself to turn the lights off, in case the thing in the shadows came creeping back under her door. She wanted to believe Toussaint. She wanted it to have been nothing. She so desperately wanted it to have been nothing.

She couldn't.

The darkness slinking down the hallway after her as she ran. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach she'd felt standing in front of the window, knowing she wasn't alone. The strange broadcast over the PA, just before it. Quinn was the first to admit that she had a tendency to overthink and overreact to things. She could name several such incidents off the top of her head, she thought, as she sat perched on the edge of her bed, head still gripped—though more gently, now—between her hands. But...but this wasn't like those. She'd felt the thing looming just beyond her door as the lights wavered. She wasn't imagining this. She knew she wasn't. And so the darkness held a special fear for her that night.

As her mind wandered in an effort to not think about what had happened, she rewound to the expressions on the faces of the people that had stood in her door. The pity from Sybil. Cyril's concern. And, of course, the look on Camille's face. The utter contempt. I ruined it. I always ruin it.

And so the next 'morning' came and went with her still sitting on the bed, trying to distract herself with her phone. When she finally stood to find something to fill her hollow stomach, she could already feel the fatigue knotting weights to her ankles. Resigning herself to a miserable day, she cracked her joints, tossed her clothes off to replace them with a fresh set, then plodded to the door and slapped the button. Maybe she could get something from the vending machines. Despite the gnawing hunger, she simply didn't have it in her to go deal with all the people in the common area right now.

...or Camille.

---

That night, after the mercifully uneventful day, despite the fear that still bubbled inside her, she closed her eye...

...and opened it to the lake. She blinked a few times, taking in the strange atmosphere that permeated it. The gaps, the strange way the waves moved. The ankle-deep water in the boat that she couldn't actually feel. She cocked her head in confusion.

And then she was slammed into by a shadowy figure that, after a moment, resolved it—herself into the ever-comfortable Quinnlash. It was strange. She seemed so...worried. Almost afraid. Quinn felt—and then briefly acted upon—the urge to embrace her before she pulled away. It was...nice.

"We’re still here! You can still dream. You’re okay! It’s okay..."

The boat mended itself then, and the lack of water once more made sense. The reflection of the moon, though it was still haphazard, was now present. The buoy on which Dahlia and Safie clung resolved into a more reasonable shape.

"Fear. Look what it’s done to us. How it hurts us. Our mind. We’re still scared."

Fear.

Quinn hugged herself. Not hard or tight enough to hurt, she didn't dig her fingernails into her arms; but noteworthy still, given how detached negative emotions seemed to be within the dreams. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again, and spoke a trio of strangled words:

"What was that?"

Amygdala Circuit

The first thing that told Quinn something was very wrong was the voice.

It was someone—a voice—that she'd never heard before. And certainly a voice she'd never heard, or expected to hear, over the loudspeaker. Decide where the power lies. There is no king in the mirror. What? What on Illun was that supposed to mean? Kings? Mirrors? It sounded a bit like a poem, she thought, but...off. Wrong. Admittedly, her exposure to things like poetry and literature had been very limited, but there was something about it—some deep piece of her—that told her it wasn't supposed to be. Perhaps it was the tremulous quality of the voice, but she felt certain that it was...a message, maybe for her. A quiet message, like it didn't want something to hear.

A scared message.

Only a throne, a crown, and a promise. And with great pains, I will see this done.

More things she didn't understand. Kings, thrones, crowns, mirrors? She frowned. It was supposed to fit together somehow. Puzzle pieces, but they didn't make any sense. She tried to ponder what it could mean.

And then the lights went out.

Curfew is now in effect. Non-pilot personnel please exit the floor.

And Quinn suddenly had the terrible feeling of someone—something—behind her. An instinctual and crushing feeling that she wasn't alone. And whatever was here now was dangerous. Just like the voice, it was...wrong. The darkness stretched out, and it felt somehow like a living thing. Her breaths came short and sharp.

Go.

And all at once, galvanized by the sudden voice, she snapped into motion, and she ran.

She sprinted through the hall, driven onward by that horrible feeling of something. The lights came on as the power began to cycle, and she spared a moment to glance behind her.

It was still dark. And as she ran, the darkness raced after her, suffocating the fitful nascent light. She didn't know what would happen if the darkness caught up with her, but she was in no hurry to find out.

Doors flew past, and she kept her eyes glued to them as best she could. Everything looked the same here! And just as she felt herself flagging, felt the thing in the dark creeping up behind her: Quinnlash Loughvein. She skidded to a stop, nearly passing the door in her desperation, and at her gaze, it opened—thank god, THANK GOD that still worked—revealing the lights still barely working. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It was RIGHT BEHIND HER she bolted in and slammed the button hard enough to sting her hand. It shuttered closed again, and she raced over to the opposite wall, pressing herself to it as she stared wide-eyed in fear as the thing in the darkness...

...didn't follow.

But still, she could feel it. Waiting, hunting, just outside of her door. She knew, sure as anything, that if she opened it, whatever was out there would find her. Her breaths refused to slow. Her whole body shook. As tears began to stream from her eye, she hugged herself tight, digging tense clawed fingers into her biceps. Please, please, please, leave, go away, let it be over—

And then the lights flashed back on, bright enough to hurt her her wide, scared eye. The thing in the shadows was gone. And it was over.

She uncoiled herself bit by bit, and her body, no longer so tense her muscles ached, fell limp from relief. She slid down the window glass, falling to the floor with a thump. She stared at the door still. The fear lingered inside of her; both her own, and another. The instinctual fear of whatever had been out there. The escaping tension and fear bulged in her throat. She clenched her head between her hands like it would fall apart if she didn't hold it in. The tension in her throat grew too great to hold, and wrenched her mouth open.

Quinnlash screamed.

Amygdala Circuit

At some point during their study session, Quinn had excused herself to take the dress off so as not to mess it up or something, hanging it up and reclaiming the ubiquitous t-shirt and sweats. So when the curfew announcement suddenly chimed out—she definitely jerked and made a surprised half-sound, what, it had really been that long already?—she was more than happy to take any excuse to spend as much time with Tillie as she could.

"Uh huh, for sure! I'd love to do this again!"

So, walking over to the door, she slapped the button and waited for Tillie to leave before she hopped out herself and let it close behind her.

They walked back in companionable silence. Every so often one of them would say something and the other would respond in turn, but there was something about the hushed ivory halls that seemed to exert a hush on whoever walked through them. Even Tillie.

So instead of speaking, Quinn mulled over what she'd learned. It was...a lot. The text document was more than a few pages long, and there was a disorganized pile of scribbled-over scratch paper clustered around her bed like a nest. Energy. Singularity energy. Weapon-pulling energy. Modir regeneration. Whatever was going on with Ablaze's eye. It was an interesting way to think about it: her—her...?—just doing to the Modir what Modir had always done to their pilots instead. She wasn't sure whether to be proud, intrigued, or terrified; but she found it...slightly off-putting, all the same.

The walk passed quickly enough, lost in thought as she was. In fact, she nearly missed the lift altogether, pitched backwards, and conked her head on the wall. But with that embarrassment out of the way, she looked up into the glass globe that hung above the polished steel door, similar to the one in front of her room, and as it lit up green, the door dinged open. As Tillie boarded, Quinn waved back with enthusiasm to mirror Tillie's own until it finally slid closed, and the silence asserted itself once more.

Heaving a drawn-out sigh, she began the trek back to her room again.

...Felt a little longer that time.