'And with a shaking breath, Percival let her fingers dance across the keyboard, commands cutting across the dark space with crisp, white letters...' Narration buzzed in the back of Siena's skull as she listened to the rumble of their transport. To say that Siena was uncomfortable was an understatement--of course it was uncomfortable. She was a subnatural. Not to be trusted--but she took the situation in stride. She had volunteered to present herself after the lines had started blurring, and there wasn't much room for her to complain. Nevermind that she missed her plush blankets and her room of dolls...this was a necessary step. Apparently. 'Only a few lines in, the child felt a surge of doubt. Perhaps stealing information from a friend wasn't the best way to g--!'
The truck came to a stop, sending Siena's slight frame lurching slightly. Hazel eyes opened just in time to see conflict, and a surge of unease settled over Siena's chest. Had she not been bound, the girl would have moved to start pulling at the ends of her hair. Not solely because there was fighting--that was surprising, but not entirely unexpected--but because anyone that ever watched the news would have recognized the abilities of the Precursors. Because they shouldn't have been fighting, and yet they were, and something about that was inherently wrong. More than that, if something went wrong and the truck happened to break open...
Images of explosions, carnage, and overall unpleasantness came to mind.
Fortunately for one anxious Siena Santana, the trucks were quick to move along and away, and after about five pages worth of narration in her head, the girl returned to a placid state of mind until being shuffled out of the frying pan and into the fire. As expected, there were words outlining the wisdom of not resisting, warnings against escaping, and words that, if they were printed on a page, Siena would have rolled her eyes at for being hammy--but she didn't voice that thought out loud. Naturally, there were a few that were less careful about voicing their irritation, drawing another anxious throb and the urge to tug at the ends of her hair.
"...I wonder how rooming will work..." The thought was more for herself and anyone around her more than an actual question. Anything to pull her own attention away from the fact that there were guns pointed at her from every angle and apparently a few bullfighters in the crowd.
Where does one start with an oddity like Siena? Probably with the fact that she's a grade A nerd. It's rare that one can find her without a book or an e-reader on hand in some way, and rarer still are the moments when she hears a subject that she doesn't look up more about. Curiosity burns strong in Siena's mind at all times, and it shows in how she devours new information without a hint of hesitation. It's fortunate for Siena that she was born into the realm of privileged wealth, for her quest for knowledge was never impeded by lack of resources.
Much like others born to the wealthy, Siena has never really been in want of anything in the material world, and it can show. She rarely thinks about money as a problem (never, really), and while seemingly generous, is only so because she doesn't know what it's like to not have the funds. Her idea of normalcy is what most people consider a luxury, and honestly? She is aware of this to some extent, and even tries to dial down her usual lifestyle with conscious effort--something not helped by the way that her parents treat her. One would think that knowing that she has no monetary concerns would make her carefree, but they would be off base. Siena frequently gets anxious, usually assuming a worst-case scenario when left to her own devices. Better yet, it's easy to tell when the stress sets in--just keep an eye out for trademark twirling and tugging at the ends of her hair.
Another notch to the odd? Siena is effectively a chuunibyou in an odd sense of the word. Beside the fact that she's wildly creative (so much that she often feels pain for her own creations), she suffers a few delusions as a result of her powers creating emotions that were never hers. Emotions that went unresolved until Siena created events to match them out of desperation. In all honesty, a large portion of Siena's belief in her past events are inaccurate at best and completely fake at worst. The girl frequently loses track of herself, telling others a history that never quite matches up with what she's said before. Though her power is real enough, much of her supposed angst is not. The fact that her ability to both empathize and sympathize makes connecting to people easy enough isn't exactly a boon in the situation either. How do you tell someone about your emotions when you're not sure which ones are really yours?
โ ๐ ๐ค ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ช :
Siena Santana was born into this world with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her family was rich, her family loving, and she was never left wanting for anything. To her, the world was set behind a rose-tinted lense, and her playpen was just another realm where she could dive into fantasies that her sunshine-filled life couldn't provide. (Yes, that was familiar. That had to be right.) Even before she had been chosen, Siena fully believed that her life was magical.
Her sister was the reason for that. Chosen and blessed with magic, and no wonder why. She was lovely, sweet, and beautiful, and the warmth of her magic even more so. Siena had hazy memories of warm lights, hazier memories of screaming not to be taken away when that sister vanished for good. (Wrong. What was her face? Her name? There was no sister.) Perhaps that was why her family panicked when Siena's own abilities began to come to life. They didn't want a repeat of that event. They didn't want to run the risk of her powers surging, wild and uncontrolled. Her mother and father reassured her that everything would be okay, even when she lashed out. Even when their sweet daughter had struck them hard enough to scar. (No...Siena Santana never raised a hand against her family. The scars came from a boating incident, but the emotion of horror felt so real.)
There was never a question on whether Siena would present herself to the government. Never a question on where the girl would end up. Her family promised to keep in contact with her, to send her supplies and care packages filled with their love and affection while she was surrounded by her own kind. (Correct.) Siena only regretted leaving without her farewells to the sweet neighbor boy that had stolen her heart. (Wrong. There were never any real feelings for him. Only remnants of someone else's grief.)
She can only pray that USARILN East is what she needs to stop the lines from blurring.
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
Literary Manipulation
If she's formed an intimate enough connection to a character in printed media, Siena can literally assume their name. That's not just taking on a name and living as them, it is dragging the name out of the print and taking it on herself. In this state, Siena can mimic one attribute or ability from the character in question--the one most prominent to her. Need a deductive mind? She can take on Sherlock Holmes and bring his keen eye to the scene. Need someone that can run real fast? How about Barry Allens? Useful for a variety of situations, assuming that Siena cares about a character enough.
On the flip side of the usefulness of her ability, Siena's magic is limited by a number of rules. For one, she has to have a source available. Though she doesn't necessarily need a physical book thanks to the advent of technology, while she's taking the name out of the book, the name of the character must be visible. That means closing a book or turning the screen of her e-reader off will effectively disrupt the casting. More than that, Siena can only imitate one attribute from a given name at her current level. What gets imitated is likely to be only what Siena finds the most prominent, and may not be the best thing to imitate. To take things further, if the character should be particularly willful or powerful, they can potentially overpower Siena's own consciousness, effectively turning her into a possessed puppet of said character for however long the effects last.
And what, exactly, dictates how "powerful" a character is? Once again, that's Siena's perception of the character. The stronger she perceives a character to be, the shorter the amount of time that she can take their names for. This perception extends to the point in time that she is drawing them from as well--a character that is out of their prime at the point in the work she takes their name is not going to be as powerful as the same character at their peak. Even assuming she could take a character's name at their prime, control it safely, and maintain the effects for a long enough time, Siena can't push a character past their limits. Did she take the name Achilles? Shoot her in the heel. She's still going to go down, even if she's not vulnerable herself.
Her abilities are also far from subtle too. It takes a bit of time for Siena to take a character's name, and that's nothing to speak of how very unsubtle it is visually. The name literally pulls itself from the page, printing itself neatly across the back of Siena's neck, and using her powers has several visual cues including magic circles (they glow purple), changes in eye color (it varies), even Siena's hair can be affected by the magic itself. In addition, certain characters may have some...unexpected effects on Siena physically.
Also of note, Siena can read fast as a side effect of her magic. When she sees words, regardless of the language that they're in, they transmit their meaning directly to her. In a sense, she's not reading so much as she is listening to the book as she sees the words. However, she cannot listen, speak, or write in languages that she hasn't mastered.
At the cost of potency, Siena can draw two names at once. Both will be weaker, but can widen her versatility. In this state, she has better control over the individual names that she has drawn from. Both names will be printed onto her neck when multiple names are drawn.
Siena can now draw two names without the cost of potency, but they now last far shorter and likely cannot effect anything that would require set-up. She can still choose two draw two names at decreased potency for a longer hold.
Siena can now fully control one name with no mental repercussions at the cost of drastically reduced duration. The stronger the name, the shorter the time, to the point where powerful names she could have normally used for several seconds last only a second or less.
Siena now has the ability to transform a small part of her body (a limb or something) into that of a character of her choice. However, she can only pull one name while doing this and the duration is much shorter.
๐ป ๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
She was a goddess.
A name printed on the back of her neck, blocked by trails of wispy light and strands of dark hair, her hands wrapped around a dusty tome with no title on the cover. A familiar book with a name that she had always been drawn to, but never brave enough to call. Her eyes were green, flecks of hazel and gold visible for the light that dared to peer through them. Trasncendent. She was powerful and confident, sure of herself in ways that the present version of her couldn't understand. A smile crossed her face, her hand pressed softly against the chest of an ailing man, his heart weak from injuries that should have overwhelmed him. On cue, a faint glow washed over the woman's hand, and Siena could feel a soft heat pulse through her fingertips. A warmth that she passed onto the ailing man. She could help people. She could be much more than the girl with a silver spoon.
She could be a goddess.
โ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ :
In the face of opposition, there was an army. Her army stood strong, friends that she knew well from the countless pages she devoured. Friends that, unlike those that she could remember, wouldn't leave her side. Her eyes, a noxious green flecked with shards of black, didn't see the unworthy. A single movement of her hand was more than enough to send a legion of monsters to level her enemies to the ground. The world was at war against her, and somehow, this demon of a woman didn't care.
Siena the devil, she could hear the whispers. She didn't have to separate the two worlds she loved so dearly with pages and words. These worlds were hers for the taking, and it would be worth every drop of blood spilled. Every scream and desperate cry. It was worth it. She flicked through pages of a book, looking unimpressed and uninterested. There was nothing for her in a book found in joy and peace, only monotony and weakness. Dropping the tome into the dirt, she waved a hand, ordering a prisoner to her side with yet another of her rosters.
To bring these worlds under her control, it was worth it.
๐ธ ๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
Arbiter
๐ธ ๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ ๐ค :
xxx
You have none, yet. You will get some as the story progresses. Keep track of them here. Some of them might be really important or something, I don't know.
**It should be noted that these are Siena's perceptions of her friendship, animosity, attraction, and repulsion. Also attraction and repulsion is more like "are you hot or not" in Siena's view.
"Show your fangs."
Back against the wall, heart pounding, eyes staring at emerald--grey. Emerald? Emerald. It had to be emerald. She feels heat rise, and anger pounds against its confines, and she knows that something is trying to break free. She knows he wants it to escape, shatter its prison so that they can run wild, but she holds the inferno back with a nervous smile. Hides her fangs because a lady should never bare them.
And he is not disgusted. Only disappointed.
"Who deserves to pay?"
It floods her senses and she can't respond to the question because she knows the answer. Emerald eyes. Hazel-tinted grey eyes. Scars. Both. Neither. It's hard to separate them, but it doesn't change the answer.
She knows who deserves to pay.
Chris
"Coward or beast. I don't know what the fuck you are, but I know what I wish you would be. You need someone to keep you anchored, but you chose the wrong person. It's hard, isn't it? To make that decision. Are you really that fucking desperate? I understand. Don't worry. I understand. I can't bring you back every time. I can't. But I can keep trying. I can't do it. But I'll try. So stop. It's better for you to stop. Please. But if you need me, I'll keep playing this part. I have to do it. Stop."
Angรฉlique
"I don't know where you are anymore, but I know they are looking for you. I'm sorry I didn't do anything to help you. I won't bother saying words to someone that isn't here. But I will say them when I see you again. You'd better still be alive when we get to you."
Zoe
"I'm not afraid of you because you're not the worst I've seen. You hurt and kill, but you don't break people the way they are meant to be broken. People are fragile, after all. So fragile, so easy to break. Shatter, break, and repeat. That's what I do. That's what anyone I've known has always done. I can keep them there for longer than you can fucking imagine, and that shit feels good. I think you would agree, but I don't want to have to hear it out loud. I'm not afraid of you because I know I can be worse. Would you feel better? Knowing that you're far from the bottom? But you don't have to take my word for it."
Marcus
"You're supposed to be better. That fucking heart of gold is supposed to be stronger. You're our face, so get your shit together and do your job right. And I know that it hurts. I know. I know. You forfeit your rights to being a person and not a symbol the second you took that fucking mic. You are more to this world than one lonely subnatural swept along by the tide. Feels like shit, doesn't it? I understand. I understand. Get it through your fucking skull, you're getting the hard job. If I have to be shit to make it easier, then I can do it. Even if I have to hurt us both to do it. I have to. Don't worry about me. Don't worry. I don't mind. It's the only thing I can do."
Ernie
"I fucking liked you, but I know you're not the normal person I want you to be. You know how, don't you? How to be cruel because it's a fucked up world out there? And you fit right into it, don't you? When did this world change you? Was it your first day or your hundredth? But I'll shut the fuck up. I won't say anything. I don't want to break whatever illusions we've created. I'll keep teaching you piano. Until my hands are just like his, and my fingers are too clumsy to show you how. I'll keep pretending I don't know how much shit you can cause. Until you can't keep pretending yourself. Until I've forgotten why I'm pretending. That's fine for now, isn't it?"
Cal
"You always want to do the right thing. You can fight, you can do what you need to, right? So stop finding ways to make yourself wrong. Stop looking for shit that you can pin on yourself because you can't fucking fix everything. Just look forward and charge, and one of us can pick up the shitstorm behind you. I wish I could be more like you. You're supposed to be the goddamn hero. If you break, then what the fuck do you think is going to happen to the rest of us?"
Brent
"Stop trying to help me. Stop trying to fucking fix me and figure out what you want from me. How the fuck am I supposed to help you if I don't know what you want from me? Do you even know what you're looking for here? Please...please tell me you know. I can't keep being honest with you, so just figure out what the fuck you want from me. Just fucking tell me what you want. I want to understand. I want to help you. I don't know what I'm doing. Please just tell me what to do. I don't know how to do this. I can't fix you if I don't know what to fix. Just give me something to fix. Something that I can do. I can't help. But I'll keep trying. I can't. Not if I don't know how. I can't. Not if someone doesn't tell me what to do. I can't. Not if I don't know what's broken. Just fucking tell me what you want. Because I don't think I understand. I don't know how to do anything else. So let me help. Don't make me fumble blindly like this. Just fucking tell me. Because I only make mistakes, and I don't want to break you too. Tell me so I can leave first."
Chris
"โโโโโโ โโ โโโโโโ I don't know what โโโ โโโโ you areโ but โโโโ โโโโ โ โโโโ โโโ โโโโโ โโโ You need someone to keep you anchoredโ โโโ โโโ โโโโ โโโ โโโโโ โโโโโ
Are you โโโโโ โโโโ โโโโโ desperate?
I canโโ bring you back every time. โ โโโโ
I canโโ do it.
โโ โโโโ
โโโโโ
โโโโ"
Angรฉlique
"I โโโโ know where you are โโโโโ โโโ I know โโโ โโ โโโโโ โโ โโโ
You'โ โโโโ โโll be alive when we get to you."
Zoe
"I'm not afraid of you โโโโโ โโโ โโ โโ โโโ โโ โโโ. You hurt and kill, but you don't break people โโ โโ โโโ โโ โโโโ โ โ โโโโโ
โโ โ โโโโ โโโ โโโโโ โโโโ you're getting the hard job. If I have to โ โโโ โ make it easier, then I can do it.
I have to.
It's the only thing I can do."
Ernie
"I โโโโ likeโ you, โโ I know you're โโ the normal person I want โโ to be. You know โโโ don't you? โโโ โ โ โโโ โโโโ โโ โ โโโโโ โ โโโโ โโ โโโโ And you fit right inโ โโ โโโ โโโ
"You always want to do the right thing. You can fight, you can do what you need to, โโโโ So stop finding ways to make yourself wrong. โโโ โโโโ โโ โโโ โโโ โโ โโ โโ โ โโโโโ โโโโโ you canโ โโโโโ fix everything. Just look forward and charge, and one of us can pick up โโ โโโโโ behind you.
"โโโ โโโ โ โโโ โโ โโโ โโโโโ โ โโโโโ โโ โ โโโ โโโโโ โโ โโโ โโ โโโ โโโ โโ How โโ โโโ am I supposed to help you โ โ โโโ โโโ โโโ โโ โโโ โโโ โ? Do you โโโ know what you're looking for โโโ?
I โโ keep being honest โtโ โoโ โ โโโ figure out what โโ โโโ you want โโโ โโ โโโ โโโโโ โโโ โ โโโ โโ โโโ.
I don't know what I'm doing.
โ โโโ โโ โโ โ I don't know what to fix.
I canโ help.
I canโ.
I canโ.
I canโ.
Just โโโโโ โโโ โโ โโโโ โโโ โโโโ
Screams loudly about PMing Jan about all the limiters I slapped on my baby's power. Screams even louder over how long my magic section had to be as a result. Gonna throw this down before I gotta run for chores for all the critical scrutiny.
Where does one start with an oddity like Siena? Probably with the fact that she's a grade A nerd. It's rare that one can find her without a book or an e-reader on hand in some way, and rarer still are the moments when she hears a subject that she doesn't look up more about. Curiosity burns strong in Siena's mind at all times, and it shows in how she devours new information without a hint of hesitation. It's fortunate for Siena that she was born into the realm of privileged wealth, for her quest for knowledge was never impeded by lack of resources.
Much like others born to the wealthy, Siena has never really been in want of anything in the material world, and it can show. She rarely thinks about money as a problem (never, really), and while seemingly generous, is only so because she doesn't know what it's like to not have the funds. Her idea of normalcy is what most people consider a luxury, and honestly? She is aware of this to some extent, and even tries to dial down her usual lifestyle with conscious effort--something not helped by the way that her parents treat her. One would think that knowing that she has no monetary concerns would make her carefree, but they would be off base. Siena frequently gets anxious, usually assuming a worst-case scenario when left to her own devices. Better yet, it's easy to tell when the stress sets in--just keep an eye out for trademark twirling and tugging at the ends of her hair.
Another notch to the odd? Siena is effectively a chuunibyou in an odd sense of the word. Beside the fact that she's wildly creative (so much that she often feels pain for her own creations), she suffers a few delusions as a result of her powers creating emotions that were never hers. Emotions that went unresolved until Siena created events to match them out of desperation. In all honesty, a large portion of Siena's belief in her past events are inaccurate at best and completely fake at worst. The girl frequently loses track of herself, telling others a history that never quite matches up with what she's said before. Though her power is real enough, much of her supposed angst is not. The fact that her ability to both empathize and sympathize makes connecting to people easy enough isn't exactly a boon in the situation either. How do you tell someone about your emotions when you're not sure which ones are really yours?
โ ๐ ๐ค ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ช :
Siena Santana was born into this world with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her family was rich, her family loving, and she was never left wanting for anything. To her, the world was set behind a rose-tinted lense, and her playpen was just another realm where she could dive into fantasies that her sunshine-filled life couldn't provide. (Yes, that was familiar. That had to be right.) Even before she had been chosen, Siena fully believed that her life was magical.
Her sister was the reason for that. Chosen and blessed with magic, and no wonder why. She was lovely, sweet, and beautiful, and the warmth of her magic even more so. Siena had hazy memories of warm lights, hazier memories of screaming not to be taken away when that sister vanished for good. (Wrong. What was her face? Her name? There was no sister.) Perhaps that was why her family panicked when Siena's own abilities began to come to life. They didn't want a repeat of that event. They didn't want to run the risk of her powers surging, wild and uncontrolled. Her mother and father reassured her that everything would be okay, even when she lashed out. Even when their sweet daughter had struck them hard enough to scar. (No...Siena Santana never raised a hand against her family. The scars came from a boating incident, but the emotion of horror felt so real.)
There was never a question on whether Siena would present herself to the government. Never a question on where the girl would end up. Her family promised to keep in contact with her, to send her supplies and care packages filled with their love and affection while she was surrounded by her own kind. (Correct.) Siena only regretted leaving without her farewells to the sweet neighbor boy that had stolen her heart. (Wrong. There were never any real feelings for him. Only remnants of someone else's grief.)
She can only pray that USARILN East is what she needs to stop the lines from blurring.
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
Literary Manipulation
If she's formed an intimate enough connection to a character in printed media, Siena can literally assume their name. That's not just taking on a name and living as them, it is dragging the name out of the print and taking it on herself. In this state, Siena can mimic one attribute or ability from the character in question--the one most prominent to her. Need a deductive mind? She can take on Sherlock Holmes and bring his keen eye to the scene. Need someone that can run real fast? How about Barry Allens? Useful for a variety of situations, assuming that Siena cares about a character enough.
On the flip side of the usefulness of her ability, Siena's magic is limited by a number of rules. For one, she has to have a source available. Though she doesn't necessarily need a physical book thanks to the advent of technology, while she's taking the name out of the book, the name of the character must be visible. That means closing a book or turning the screen of her e-reader off will effectively disrupt the casting. More than that, Siena can only imitate one attribute from a given name at her current level. What gets imitated is likely to be only what Siena finds the most prominent, and may not be the best thing to imitate. To take things further, if the character should be particularly willful or powerful, they can potentially overpower Siena's own consciousness, effectively turning her into a possessed puppet of said character for however long the effects last.
And what, exactly, dictates how "powerful" a character is? Once again, that's Siena's perception of the character. The stronger she perceives a character to be, the shorter the amount of time that she can take their names for. This perception extends to the point in time that she is drawing them from as well--a character that is out of their prime at the point in the work she takes their name is not going to be as powerful as the same character at their peak. Even assuming she could take a character's name at their prime, control it safely, and maintain the effects for a long enough time, Siena can't push a character past their limits. Did she take the name Achilles? Shoot her in the heel. She's still going to go down, even if she's not vulnerable herself.
Her abilities are also far from subtle too. It takes a bit of time for Siena to take a character's name, and that's nothing to speak of how very unsubtle it is visually. The name literally pulls itself from the page, printing itself neatly across the back of Siena's neck, and using her powers has several visual cues including magic circles (they glow purple), changes in eye color (it varies), even Siena's hair can be affected by the magic itself. In addition, certain characters may have some...unexpected effects on Siena physically.
Also of note, Siena can read fast as a side effect of her magic. When she sees words, regardless of the language that they're in, they transmit their meaning directly to her. In a sense, she's not reading so much as she is listening to the book as she sees the words. However, she cannot listen, speak, or write in languages that she hasn't mastered.
๐ป ๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
She was a goddess.
A name printed on the back of her neck, blocked by trails of wispy light and strands of dark hair, her hands wrapped around a dusty tome with no title on the cover. A familiar book with a name that she had always been drawn to, but never brave enough to call. Her eyes were green, flecks of hazel and gold visible for the light that dared to peer through them. Trasncendent. She was powerful and confident, sure of herself in ways that the present version of her couldn't understand. A smile crossed her face, her hand pressed softly against the chest of an ailing man, his heart weak from injuries that should have overwhelmed him. On cue, a faint glow washed over the woman's hand, and Siena could feel a soft heat pulse through her fingertips. A warmth that she passed onto the ailing man. She could help people. She could be much more than the girl with a silver spoon.
She could be a goddess.
โ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ ๐ฃ ๐ :
In the face of opposition, there was an army. Her army stood strong, friends that she knew well from the countless pages she devoured. Friends that, unlike those that she could remember, wouldn't leave her side. Her eyes, a noxious green flecked with shards of black, didn't see the unworthy. A single movement of her hand was more than enough to send a legion of monsters to level her enemies to the ground. The world was at war against her, and somehow, this demon of a woman didn't care.
Siena the devil, she could hear the whispers. She didn't have to separate the two worlds she loved so dearly with pages and words. These worlds were hers for the taking, and it would be worth every drop of blood spilled. Every scream and desperate cry. It was worth it. She flicked through pages of a book, looking unimpressed and uninterested. There was nothing for her in a book found in joy and peace, only monotony and weakness. Dropping the tome into the dirt, she waved a hand, ordering a prisoner to her side with yet another of her rosters.
To bring these worlds under her control, it was worth it.
๐ธ ๐จ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ :
Arbiter
๐ธ ๐ฃ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ ๐ค :
xxx
You have none, yet. You will get some as the story progresses. Keep track of them here. Some of them might be really important or something, I don't know.
@January I wholeheartedly admit that half the reason I finished those so quickly once I sat down was because I really just wanted to work on my dumb character.
@January "I'll work on my CS after I finish your banner," I said, not realizing that three days later I still haven't had a chance to sit my ass down and actually work on this banner. (/loud screaming)
@banjoanjo Could I ask where Mitsuru is at the end of the post? I had Xander jump from the platform, and I believe Lucas made it back onto it before KOing, so they wouldn't really be in the same place to interact. Just wanted to be sure!
โXander, you just got back...youโre leaving already?โ
Damn, caught sneaking out.
โYeah, I said Iโd help a friend with work. I dunno if Iโll be back tonight,โ Iksander claimed after a masterfully placed yawn. Srebrenka was perceptive, he reminded himself, and though heโd been careful to cover his tracks, the boy knew sheโd never fully believed the stories he wove. Judging from the way the girl was peering at him from behind the silvery strands of hair swept in her face, she didnโt believe him then either. Still, no better way to sell a lie than to keep going with it when there was doubt about it. Giving a helpless shrug, Iksander gave the smaller girl a ruffle of the hair with an uncharacteristic softness. โDonโt wait up for me, Shorty. You gotta get more sleep if you wanna get taller.โ
โFineโฆโ The note of dejection was not lost on the Prince. He made a mental note to make it up to her by taking her out for crepes after she finished cram school the next day, but covered the guilt by holding his smile steady.
โGood, Iโll see you tomorrow, Branka.โ Without waiting for a response that might hold him for longer, the boy crammed his feet into a pair of sneakers, stepping on the backs in his haste, and swept out the door. Perhaps it was because they were twins, but he knew that getting one too many sad looks from Srebrenka would have him caving like wet tissue paper.
Iksander groaned as he bolted down the less crowded streets, taking detours from his usual patrol route and wondering why he had allowed himself to get roped into extra cleaning duties. Most nights, he was already well into his routine before cram schools let out, but noooo, not that night. Though he should have clattered noisily along with his armor, the Prince of Valor darted through the backstreets of buildings like a shadow--an oddity that came with being filled with magical prowess that he was still not used to.
โPlenty of action out and about tonight, I guessโฆโ Iksander muttered under his breath while glancing at his surroundings. If he wasnโt wrong--and it was getting much less common for him to be wrong after three years of kicking Shadow ass--then just beyond the next building, there would be plenty of work for him to handle. People to meet, Shadows to kill...fun times for all.
โI bet I can make the jump over this building if I try. Might be better for the element of surprise.โ And more fun. Definitely more fun than just running around a building. A quick look told Iksander that it would take more than one extra boost upwards for him to clear the height, even accounting for significantly higher physical performance. The boy picked up speed, calling on his favored method of attack a few meters from the side of the building. It took three of the four blades heโd conjured acting as stepping stones (and propulsion thanks to the quick blasts) for him to clear the top. Good, he was still getting a little better at judging his own strength.
It was unfortunate that luck was not on Iksanderโs side that day.
โAre you kidding me?! Welp. This will suck for someone.โ And indeed it would because there was a platform directly in his path to the ground. Directly. In. His. Path. With people on it. Maybe he should have just gone around the damn building.
โLook out below!โ As if that warning was any help when someone in armor was hurtling towards the standing ground. With four people on one platform, and none of them in armor that would prevent an unpleasant collision of metal and soft flesh, the Prince of Valor had to come up with a plan, and fast. Thinking on his feet (or...off them, he supposed), the brunette conjured a blade of condensed light beneath his feet, landing on the flat of the blade. The resulting burst slowed his fall enough to allow for some less-than-graceful mid-air lurching, which resulted in Iksander crashing at one edge of the platform, shoulder driving into it. The impact quickly turned to a roll thanks to the boyโs athletic sensibilities...which unfortunately didnโt help his initial goal of not hitting anyone on the platform.
There was a collision. Thankfully not at terminal velocity, but with Iksander being a hefty 178 cm and sporting metal plates for protection...well, needless to say, the force would have been enough to knock most off balance, but certainly not a--โ...heโs gone. He fell. Son of a crap.โ One look down. Casual clothes. He wasnโt even a Prince.
โ...crap. So thatโs why this platform was up here. Well, I got this.โ Iksander glanced at the others present on the platform, and gave a small salute. โSorry โbout that. Shoulda done that look before ya leap thing.โ Following those words, Iksander promptly threw himself off the platform to perform Operation: Donโt Let the Civilian Die. Fun times for all, really.
