Lemons

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

Saffron yawned wide, covering her mouth out of pure reflex, as she pressed herself to the glass. The Atlas airbus was freezing, and she couldn't wait to get outside to what she saw ahead of her:

Shade.

She really was tired; she'd stayed up all night last night, unable to sleep out of pure anticipation. And now it was happening! She'd never dreamed that she'd get to see a Huntress academy in person, much less attend one! Barely withholding a manic giggle, she pressed herself to the glass even harder. At long last, she'd escaped the crushing, stifling cold--both metaphorical and literal--of Atlas, and now she had a whole life spread out ahead of her. And Shade was the first stop on that life. She couldn't wait! It was all she could do to not jump up and down in the cabin as she left her sad old life behind her.

As the shuttle landed, she dashed over to the door, hopping in place a little bit as she waited mpatiently for the thing to open. And when it finally did, it wasn't even fully open before she couldn't take the suspense and waiting, and Flickered out. The heat of Vacuo rolled over her, and she smiled hugely as her feet touched the ground about ten feet from the shuttle, looking around at the myriad people disembarking from all walks of life and regions of Remnant. There were the Atlesians, of course: tall, cold, usually arrogant, ninety percent of them definitely had sticks up their asses. They really like big weapons, don't they? she thought, making sure that both pieces of Checkmate were safely tucked into the fancy orange sash around her waist. She'd worn her nicest clothes today, and she hoped that the short, sleeveless cheongsam, black with brilliant orange trim, would make a better impression than her usual sweatshirt. Not that I'll be wearing that much here, she thought, smiling even wider. She wasn't really even conscious of the fact that her tail was swishing back and forth excitedly until it nearly clipped a tall Mistralese.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, spinning and skipping away from him before a response could be made. Speaking of the Mistralese, there were some of them unloading too, though it looked like fewer to her. Maybe it's too far away, she thought. She saw one or two more cheongsams among them--it was, after all, a Mistral fashion first and foremost. She threw the whole crowd a cheeky wave as they disembarked, all the while walking backwards towards the gate to Shade. There were the Vacuan natives, of course. They were usually distinguishable by how at-ease they seemed in the weather, and what kind of clothing they wore to deal with the harsh climate (to most people) of their homeland. Saffron laughed out loud. Harsh climate? This was great! She felt so alive!

And then there was the kingdom of Vale, and--

A guitar riff ripped through the air, and Saffron's mouth dropped open as she looked for the culprit. Standing halfway between the dock and the gate was a very brown-looking girl, a white tee and tan shorts clearly exposing her faunus tail as she hunched her shoulders, seeming very nervous. A massive smile split Saffron's face, and she darted over to the girl, grabbing her hands in her own.

"That was awesome!"

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

Tori Rauðrgant

Tori almost screamed when the doors on the airshuttle opened.

The interior had been kept exactly as she, and probably most of the Atlesians, liked it: cold. The air conditioner had been going full-blast since they'd let Atlas' airspace, and it had kept the place a delightful chilly temperature. So, when the doors opened and let in the blast of hot, dry desert air, Tori had to stop herself from screaming like a little girl, instead ramming her arms into Sigyn to make her feel more in control of the situation (a quirk that she often indulged in) and getting in line for escape. A line that seemed to take FOREVER, as she was blasted backwards by the hot wind. It was so much that she almost wanted to jack one of her vials of ice dust into the gauntlets, just to spray some out in front of her so she could walk through it.

Of course, that would freeze her solid, something that she wasn't quite in the mood for. So she simply sighed and waited until the front of the line was her, and then disembarked to Vacuo. She'd get used to the heat soon enough.

She hoped.

The second her feet touched the landing pad, she immediately bolted for the buildings of Shade Academy, praying to anything that would listen to her that they would be air-conditioned and that she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life in the sweltering heat. She almost wanted to go back to Atlas, despite everything. Almost. But no, she admonished herself, she was here; she had waited to get here; and she would make the most of it, hellish climate or no. She took a deep breath of the scalding air and turned back to the crowd, diving in and preparing to mingle with the rest of the (mostly younger, she noticed) new arrivals as she could. Maybe the Vale shuttles would bring someone interesting. She'd always kind of liked the idea of Vale, but Beacon academy had given her a hard no, and a Huntress training was on top of her list. It was fairly disappointed to her: before she'd left Atlas, she'd voraciously read of the famous Hunters and Huntresses of the other kingdoms, and there seemed to be more from Beacon academy than anywhere else.

And so she found herself leaning against the side of the Vale airbus, watching as people disembarked. The sweltering, ever-present heat pressed down on her, and she pulled her arms, still clad in enormous metal gauntlets, over her head and stretched with a groan.

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

@Thundere While I'm not a GM in any capacity and I agree with what Tobiax said, he's still a hot piece of ass that I want on a team with Saffron.

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

@Senseless

"Glaring problem"

You cheeky little fuck

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

@KiwiTime I think it's still chillin', just kinda running in background mode.

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

Wow, Raye and Saffron have some real strong parallels in their backstories. It's like a distorted mirror. Would you mind terribly role-playing with her in the future?

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

We donkin' the swole bae here.

Tori

Name: Tori Rauðrgant
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Phenotype: Human
Appearance:

Worth mentioning, she's VERY tall, a full six feet even. She's also covered with corded, rippling muscle from working out extensively.

Nationality: Atlesian
Weapon: Weapon: Sigyn - A set of DBPG, or Dust Barrier Projection Gauntlets. With her usual straightforward self, Tori styled it in the fashion of two massive, enormously heavy full-metal plates of armor that encase her arms all the way down up the elbow, heavier than most could lift with one hand. They possess no ranged capabilities, and no special way to augment her punching force (whether it needs augmenting at all is debatable). However, she can insert vials of dust in the side and project the dust in front of her hands to form a barrier. As would be expected, different types of dust produce different types of barriers; red dust will burn what hits it to cinders, light blue dust will freeze it, etc. While she only needs a single hand to create the barrier, a one-handed shield is relatively small and fragile. With hands linked, however, she can create a much more substantial breathing-room space, able to handle even a short volley of artillery fire. If she wants to further bolster the defensive capabilities of her gauntlets, she can encase the barrier of dust with her aura, leaving her personal self with less defense, but everything behind the barrier pretty damn safe. They don't collapse at all, so whenever she's not using them, she straps them to her back. That's quite a feat in itself, as the fists of these gauntlets are about half the size of her torso.

Semblance: Bulwark - Tori can see auras, and can consciously move her aura around to other people or objects.

Aura Color: Brilliant scarlet-red.
Emblem:

Personality: Tori is, in more ways than one, a guardian, and allergic to bullshit. Generally brusque and gruff to those that she finds even the smallest bit suspicious, she's extraordinarily protective of her friends and team members, and will not hesitate to get up in your face if you try something that endangers those that she cares for. That’s not to say she doesn’t have a fun side; in fact, she thrives on attention and loves being at the center of things, especially parties. If she views you as a threat, though—to herself or her friends—she will not hesitate to drop you. As a byproduct of this straightforward nature, she is brutally honest to everyone, and has no stomach for liars. No matter the motive. In her mind, lying is, without exception, a bad thing to do. As much as she wants to protect people, she has a tendency of not taking care of herself, and often ends up sleeping through the day because she’s so exhausted from pushing herself past when she already should’ve rested.

Background: What’s that? You want to hear about my past?

Sure, I guess. Order another round, I might be a little while.

I was born way up north in the far northern reaches of Mantle. Real little town called Svartheim, barely a blip on the map. Mostly farmers, and some retired hunters like my dad. So me, my dad Bjorn, my mom Frej, and my younger brother Ander—wait, really? I never told you guys I had a brother? Weird—we all lived together in this big house in the middle of town, right? Think about that for a sec. Poor town, wilderness all around, big mansion with one family living in it, mostly malnourished, weak peasants. Svartheim’s the kind of place that draws bandits.

So I was sitting by the windowsill embroidering—hey, don’t laugh, I wasn’t always this unfeminine—when I looked out the window and saw a plume of smoke. I didn’t think it was much, but it slowly spread until there were six or seven pillars rising into the sky. I don’t know what’s going on, so I go to ask my dad, right? And he’s lying there in bed, not paying any attention. I try to talk to him, but if you think I’m stubborn, you’ve never seen my dad. I swear he rolled his eyes when I ran off too.

Outside, I ducked out of sight, just wanting to find out what was going on, when I see it: Ander is on the ground, a man with a huge sword just raising it above his head for the killing blow on my brother. And you all know me. You know that won’t stand. Feeling powerless, I reached out my hand to Ander for what I thought was the last time, then fwoosh! I felt my aura whiff right out of me, and I watched the sword swing down at Ander’s neck…

And it bounced.

It bounced right off him, leaving him even more confused than that highwayman.

Soon after, the bandits left permanently, if you catch my drift. Very permanently. And good riddance. So after I saved Ander’s life, my dad finally got a clue and enrolled me in real education. And, well, now I'm here. Much as I love Atlas and the mountains and snow, if I stay there all my life, I'll never get anything done, y'know?

Damnit, I've been talking too long and now my throat’s dry. Where’s the second round?

Likes: Tori likes it when people are honest. That's a big one. Beyond that, she finds polishing Sigyn very therapeutic and, in general, enjoys being clean. She's very fastidious, keeping all of her things scrupulously clean. She really likes nature, especially the mountains and cold air (so Vacuo has been rough on her). As mentioned, she likes being the middle of things and tends to thrive off of attention. While it's not something she really likes, per se, she enjoys exercising, and is quite proud of her fitness.
Dislikes: Though it contrasts heavily with her general cleanliness, she can't stand studying, as she can never focus on schoolwork for very long. Thus, she doesn't much like academics and usually doesn't do very well in them, despite being rather good at retaining information. As a rule, she generally doesn't like chaos and disorder. Her greatest dislike, however, is duplicity. She vehemently hates two-faced people, and finds it difficult to even tolerate being around them.
Favors:
- Tori is...buff. Really buff. And big. As a byproduct of constantly training and working to strengthen her aura, her physical body also strengthens. She's very, very strong for a girl her age, easily enough to wrestle most grown men to the ground without much trouble.
- In her own words, "I dare you to try killing me." Between her own skill at combat, her defensive weapon and she sheer volume of aura that she possesses, she can take a lot more punishment than you might think before taking anything approaching real harm.
- While if you don't know Tori she's stubborn and frustrating, to those she's close with, she's a rather easygoing person, ready to go with the flow. Because of this, she's also very, very good at thinking on her feet and improvising.
Disfavors:
- Though she does have a pretty huge amount of aura, it's usually split up; anywhere from ten to fifteen percent of her aura goes into everyone that she guards with it. Even with a normal sized team, she's still losing out on anywhere from a third, to nearly half. In addition, she doesn't have any fine control over her aura over "put it on that thing" or "hit it really hard."
- Tori has zero ranged capabilities whatsoever. If she wants to contribute to a fight, she has to get up close and personal, which can end poorly a lot of times.
- Tori, despite the hardass attitude, is super sensitive to people she likes or teammates being hurt, and if she thinks it's her fault (even if it's not), she'll tear herself apart with guilt.
Relationships- Tori has...strained relationships with her parents and family. The only one that she's even remotely close to is her youngest brother Ander, but even then, they're somewhat distant. No, most of the people that she's close to are those that reside here in Shade.
Other: Hex Code: #ff2400

Shade of Vacuo: Bleeding Hearts

We yeetin' the weasel girl here.

Saffron

Name:Saffron Merganset
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Phenotype: Faunus - Long-tailed weasel
Appearance:

Saffron

Add a long, black-tufted tail, as well as a full compliment of fangs and canine teeth. Strangely enough, unlike many faunus, she doesn't have any kind of ear differences; she has normal humanoid ears. It can be very off-putting; an innocent-looking teenager opens her mouth and you think you've seen the devil. Because of this, she can't actually eat plants; she's entirely carnivorous. Worth mentioning, she's got a very slim build, and is rather tall for her age; perhaps 5' 9", and weighing no more than 110 pounds.

Nationality: Vacuan, originally Atlesian.
Weapon: Saffron's weapon, called Checkmate, has two major forms. The first is a pair of chunky knives with tanto points, blades perhaps ten inches long and two inches thick apiece. More short swords than anything, really, but she uses them like knives, flurrying them with intense speed. Whenever she wants to, though, she can transform Checkmate into its other form, a pair of machine pistols (think of an Uzi) with a low range and reasonably small rounds, but a fire rate that dwarfs most other weapons entirely, fitting Saffron's fast-paced fighting style. It may not be able to one-shot a Grimm like a sniper rifle, but at close range, fifteen shots a second will drill a hole through pretty much anything she needs to. Checkmate is largely saffron-orange, which is, unsurprisingly, her favorite color; however, in an interesting quirk to drive home the name, the accents on one are white and the accents on the other are black.

Semblance: Flickerswitch - Saffron is capable of moving unbelievably, eye-blinkingly quickly for just a fraction of a second, covering maybe thirty feet maximum with each "flicker."
Semblance Details: (GM Only. Tell me exactly how your Semblance works.)
Semblance Development: (GM Only. Things you'll want to be able to do in the future. They'll be up for consideration.)
Aura Color: Saffron orange. Surprise surprise.
Emblem:

Guns!

Personality: The first thing to remark on Saffron is that she's smart. Really smart. But it's not a steady kind of intelligent-smart. No, her smarts come in what people have called, in the past, "gunpowder knowledge." She has seemingly-random spurts of insight and inspiration. She's not particularly good in school; not particularly good at studying, she relies on remembering things as they happen, taking no note and trusting her memory to bring up what she needs to know at any given moment. It doesn't always work; hence, not good in school.

What this mean outside of school, though, is that she's an excellent fighter. This is for a number of reasons, but none are strategic. Her weapons' name is ironic by intent: she called it Checkmate because she's an awful strategist. The relevant one is unpredictability. One moment, she'll be chewing people up with Checkmate's pistols from a distance, the next she'll be bolting in as fast as she can to cut them up with the twin knives. Because of her slight, quick build, it's hard to tell what movements she's going to make. She's a particularly good tournament fighter because of this, especially with her Semblance further reinforcing it, but it's just as effective against Grimm and bandits.

Finally, the last relevant piece of personality: how she interacts with people. Saffron is, well...'frenetic' would be a good way to describe her. She has a hard time sitting still, and while she's a bundle of happiness, her self-control could use some work. That whole 'gunpowder knowledge' thing is even more pronounced in her interpersonal interactions than it is in her schooling, except that here it results in gunpowder smiles, where she randomly decides that this thing is going to happen, and good like trying to stop her. She doesn't like being told 'no,' and she has a bad habit of dragging other people along on her crazy whim-driven escapades. If she's doing things like that, there's no reason to really be concerned about her. The same goes for if she's crying, or of she's yelling, or really, anything that's loud. No, the time when you really need to worry about her is when she's being quiet.

Background: Saffron never expected to be a Huntress.

Saffron never really expected to be much of anything.

Born to a family of mustelid faunuses (fauneses? fauni? Hmm) in, of all places, Atlas, she wasn't the most popular kid in school. Her parents would have loved to move away, but they never could; poor laborers for the Schnees, they could barely scrape by enough money to Lien to live on as it was. Still, they tried their best for their baby girl so that she could have the childhood they never could, taking on more and more debt to send her to the best schools and programs.

Unfortunately, faunuses as a whole aren't looked on very favorably in Atlas. That goes double for the upper class, quadruple for spoiled upper-class children and adolescents, and octuple if there's something obvious about them to make fun of. For Saffron, it was, predictably, her teeth. She hated it. She hated every second of it. But her parents were so proud of her for going out and getting educated like they'd never been able to, she grit her teeth and smiled through it despite the jibes, the laughter, even the weasel skulls placed on her desk. Yes. Skulls. Plural. Multiple times.

Eventually, she graduated from her school and the runty little kid that she had been was now beginning to turn heads because of her grace and fluidity of movement. Not the heads that she wanted to turn, though. Not at all. The heads that she turned were combat teachers. They offered her something that she'd always wanted: the ability to go somewhere more...suited for her. Vacuo, the land where if you can survive, you're accepted, whether you're a human or a faunus. And when she told them that she couldn't because her parents had no money, they sent her anyway. She's no fool; she knows that this favor is going to be cashed in sometime, and she's going to need to do things for Atlas that she might not find altogether savory. But she's always been one to think in the moment. For now? She's happy. And that's what matters.

Buried Backstory Goodies: (GM Only. Things that happened that aren't public knowledge, willingly shared, or known to your character specifically.)
Likes: Saffron adores the heat. She loves it, revels in it, wishes it could last forever. That's her favorite part about Vacuo: it's nice and hot all the time, and she couldn't be happier. Other than that, her biggest love is being treated like a normal girl. She went through complete ostractization and discrimination in Atlas. The fact that, even if it's not all the time, she can be treated like a girl instead of an animal? It's her favorite thing ever. Beyond the profound stuff, she really likes chocolate, and it saddens her immensely that she can't eat it; like I said, she inherited the dietary restriction of weasels, so chocolate is toxic to her. Sad day.
Dislikes: Going hand in hand with what's up above: Saffron cannot stand the cold. She hates it with a vehemence rarely seen in her. On winter nights, or even spring and autumn nights, it's common to find her bundled up in a comforter on her bed grumbling to herself. It makes her lethargic and grumpy. Equally terrible to her, but in a different way, is being treated like a...thing, I guess. Being treated like an animal. It doesn't really make her angry; she got so used to it during schooling in Atlas that she's almost numb to the anger now. No, it just makes her really sad. If you want to depress her, that's the fastest way to do it. Finally, it rubs her the wrong way that while Atlas sent her to Vacuo, they didn't extend the same courtesy to her parents. She feels very alone all the time.
Favors: Saffron is a close-quarters-combat specialist. Her weapon is pretty much designed for it, her Semblance lets her close the gap rapidly and, combined with her natural flexibility, fluidity and athleticism, allows her to dodge around most everything that threatens her. Speaking of flexibility, that's another of her talents: she's like a gymnast, almost. She's very good at acrobatics, and she can contort herself extremely well. She sleeps curled up in a ball like a cat or ferret. It's adorable. Finally, and in a strong departure from the others, she's very empathetic. Because of how much she wears her emotions on her sleeve, she's also pretty good at telling when something is bugging others, and she's not half bad at puzzling out what it is, either.
Disfavors: She has almost no ranged capabilities. Her piddly little bullets don't do much past a hundred feet, so she's certainly no sniper, and it's a waste of her talents regardless. And going hand in hand with her flexibility and mobility is the fact that, well, she's fragile. She's slender and fine-boned and doesn't have a huge amount of aura, so a single good hit will do a lot to knock her out of a fight. She's no tank. And finally, similar to her bones, her emotions are fragile. She's built her personality and normalcy out of stone on a foundation of glass; she has a massive inferiority complex and has a real problem with, when she's made fun of for being a faunus, retreating back into a shell.
Relationships- Saffron is a bit unused to social interaction because of her utter lack of friends back in Atlas, but she and her parents are extremely close. She calls them on her scroll every single day, talking for at least an hour about...well, everything.

Other:
Hex Code: #f4c430

RWBY based RP

Unrelated, will there be teams?

RWBY based RP

To be fair, there are a few very loose color names in the show.

*laughs in Nora Valkyrie and Jaune Arc*