Raineh Daze

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar and Tyaethe

Standing in the afternoon sunlight, wooden sword swung across her shoulder–the runes across its surface flickering with an unnerving red light, because of course the vampire’s idea of “necessary sparring implement” if she couldn’t use live steel was something that still let her swing recklessly and leave nothing more than some light bruising where you fell over–Tyaethe gave Renar a confused look. An improvement from the blank one she’d been wearing, but only just.

He’d wanted to spar. She’d obliged, even with the sun burning her skin. Why, then, did he seem annoyed by it?

Renar picked himself up from where he’d been left prone on the ground, scowling. One blow. He hadn’t even seen it. Evidently, Tyaethe hadn’t been interested in playing along today. She’d even shattered his quarterstaff, snapped straight in two.

”If you truly didn’t want to indulge me with a spar, you could have saved us both the trouble and simply refused, you know.”

She didn’t, that was true. But she didn’t really want to do anything and this was a small ask besides. Spar. Fight without intent to kill, but with enough effort that there was a learning experience in it, or at least good exercise. This… it wasn’t the easiest but it still counted.

Pinching the bridge of her nose for a second, Tyaethe did her best to look Renar in the eye. Hopefully he looked down a bit.

“What were you expecting? I can’t try less with my approach and still hope to teach anything.”

What was Renar going to do, not look down at the person far shorter than him? He resisted the urge to pinch his brow in return and grumble, limiting himself to only a sigh instead as he brushed himself off.

”Something I could learn from. Though I suppose that’s my own fault for not specifying. To tell the truth, I wasn’t expecting you to actually say yes. Fine. If you’re going to go to the trouble of humoring me, once more.”

He took a replacement weapon from the training rack, and settled into a stance again. At the very least, by the end of this, he might even be able to perceive her speed at least a little.

One pass, and Renar was on the ground again. At least the training sword was intact. He planted into the ground, using it as a crutch to lever himself up.

”Incidentally, you’ve been acting strangely ever since we returned from the previous assignment. If I’m wasting my time with this line of questioning, feel free to inform me sooner rather than later.”

“It… is meant to be learned from…” Tyaethe returned, sighing, “My specialty is fighting monsters. So many things in this world, you take a swing at a vulnerability,” Tyaethe once again mimed her telegraphed opening, “And then even if it lands, it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s too tough, maybe it heals, maybe it just doesn’t care what you hurt…”

Not that this really said what to do. She would have advocated for endless movement, or just hitting so hard it can’t be ignored. It wasn’t really a transferable opinion; all that Tyaethe could do here was represent the opposition.

“I didn’t think you’d want me to treat you like Flori or Parv. What would you get from that?” If she could even do it. She was acting… subpar, maybe. Distracted. Focusing on being a good example was far easier reached.

This explained some things, at least. Even Candaeln scuttlebutt never quite mentioned the First and Youngest’s lack of actual technique. To tell the truth, he wasn’t quite inclined to share such, either. Renar supposed he understood. What would be the point for most reasonable people, when she could simply bulldoze through mundane men with physical ability alone? It wouldn’t have satisfied him, of course, but that was why he was here, volunteering to be beaten repeatedly by a vampire.

”That means nothing to me, you know. I’m not privy to how you interacted with the other founding knights. Nor do I have an interest in the subject.” Edwin’s godsforsaken voice almost whispered in his mind as a reminder, and Renar barely kept his scowl off his face.

”I suppose this would also be the part where I call you out on dodging the question, but at this point, you could simply knock me out to stop my asking.”

“I don’t want to but that doesn’t matter.” Fingers tapped on the blade in an erratic pattern. “I have sworn duties to uphold and that includes keeping as many of you alive as possible. If I have to spar a few times…”

Tyaethe shook her head, spitting a few errant hairs out. “What do you want out of this? I’m not a teacher. If I try to go much easier…”

She gestured with the now-lightless sword a few times, arms now shaking with the surprising effort. Without any magic, or the benefit of a weightless blade, it was a heavy length of wood; she was just a child in body and not a strong one.

”Fine, you’ve made your point.” Renar said flatly, lowering his own wooden sword. As driven as he was to improve, this avenue wasn’t getting him anywhere for the moment. ”That doesn’t make this the end of it, of course. We’ll do this again once I’m better able to follow your movements. I’m better able to improve by training with Lilia at the moment, it seems. No affront to you, of course.”

He moved to replace his weapon onto its rack before turning back to Tyaethe.

”And here I was under the impression that most of the order didn’t take advantage of having an immortal swordsman as a sparring partner because she refused them. Still, the degree by which I lose to you will make a good barometer for improvement. Any more advice to share, then?”

Renar doubted he’d get anything substantial out of the question, considering how differently Tyaethe fought and thought about fighting compared to quite literally every other knight, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“Just… bear in mind what I said,” the paladin answered, after a pause, “There are too many things in the world that can attack you even if they leave themselves open to injury. Magic armour, vampires, wild monsters in general…”

She had tried to demonstrate that. Let Renar get a few hits in, hold on just enough footing to swing back unexpectedly when he did hit. In that sort of situation, with enough speed, she didn’t need to escape the offense first.

“Most of what the Iron Roses deal with are normal humans or similar. But you’ll need to be ready for those that aren’t, who won’t be impaired the same way. How you learn to deal with that is up to you, but try not to learn on the spot. Doing it that way hurts.”

”Fair points.” Renar conceded with a brief nod. Obvious ones, but the easiest observations to make were still important ones. ”Admittedly, most of my experience has been against the spoken races, though I suppose orcs are the closest thing to monsters in that list.”

”If there’s nothing else, you never did say anything about what’s been actually bothering you to the point where it’s evident to just about everybody. Was it what the Boars were doing last we marched?”

"Nothing is bothering me," Tyaethe said, frowning and looking away. It was even true, so far as it was worth commenting on. "The pointlessness of the entire fight, of enjoying it until I was about to kill some idiot boy's twin in front of him… that's just a cause."

"It's been this way since before Elionne was even born. I'll get over it, you don't need to be concerned."

”Twin? I take it you refer to that bunch you convinced to surrender?” Renar tilted his head in curiosity. So Dame Tyaethe was one of those kinds.

”At least you managed to find someone worth fighting. The ones who rushed in to die were pitiful compared to the reputation of their oh-so-dreaded company. As for the rest, if you’ve been like this for two hundred years, nothing I say will convince you otherwise.” He shrugged callously.

”I’m not Fionn or Gerard. The Boars were simply an obstacle in my eyes, and nothing more. If you view the matter as pointless, who am I to say otherwise?”

The response was a humourless laugh. "Worth fighting? Only by dint of my own flaws. Everyone there… maybe it would have been too far to challenge them alone? I should have been able to survive that, at least, and convince them to stand down much sooner."

"So many dead, and over what? A piece of something that's rightly the church's duty. Because some monster somewhere had its pride wounded and lashed out, or thought itself better…" Tyaethe took on a bitter tone, fist clenching on the training sword.

"Regardless… nothing is bothering me. It will pass. If that is all?"

Really? After all that, and she still dared to claim nothing was bothering her? Far be it for Renar to give a damn about the First and Youngest outside of her combat strength, but this was just pathetic. He fixed her with a doubtful look that suggested she certainly wasn’t fooling him, but shrugged nonetheless.

”Do as you will, then. Do it enough, and you might even feel better. But who am I to offer advice to someone who’s spent two centuries living like this already?”

By all means, wallow in misery for another century or two. What a waste of immortality. Renar offered Tyaethe a brief salute before turning to leave, taking another quarterstaff from the track to commit to more training on his own for the day.

"'Try something else', 'talk about what's bothering you', 'is everything okay'... you think nobody's ever suggested that?" the vampire muttered, rubbing her bare arms. Too cold… and burnt. She headed off to change.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Saria - Rhine Labs

Despite the change in role, and despite having done her best to train the Defence Section--both before her departure, and since her return--there were still some problems that necessitated a hands-on approach. It seemed to be inevitable that Rhine Labs would, even with more ethical oversight, still have the occasional disaster that the majority couldn't hope to come near in safety.

Maybe that was just the nature of the cutting edge of science. Originium was always going to be volatile, and that still comprised a large amount of their research. When it wasn't used directly, there was still the matter of trying to address oripathy, and where there were Infected... some people were always going to lose control, regrettably, or lash out at the world with weapons that nobody could take from them.

This meant dressing herself for conflict once again, and having someone explain the details of exactly what was going on while en route. Potentially devastating if not brought to a halt in time--unsurprising. And strong enough that the blast containment on the lab would likely fail if not addressed quickly enough. That... eerily familiar to her last incident before leaving, yet an entirely different scenario. Ifrit was nowhere near this building.

Leaving her entourage at the exit, Saria entered alone, only to be met with an unexpected white light--

---

Saria - Church

Taking stock of the situation, Saria first tried to place where she could be. A church? Laterano was the first place to spring to mind, yet nobody here had a halo--nor was there an overabundance of guns in evidence--and that moved that far down the list. That made it more likely to be Iberia, and it was possible that everyone here was actually a Liberi despite the eclectic collection of attire. Everyone except the robot, although who could have developed something like that? Raythean's designs were hardly so sleek, and it was still far smaller than Rhine Labs' own power armour...

Location later, first there was the pressing matter of being under attack. The child was using some form of healing arts, which meant she could save her limited first-aid supplies until later. The Higashi-looking girl had created some sort of paper barrier against the arrows, but they couldn't afford to sit here and wait for a plan whilst under attack by an unknown number of assailants. This building was half ruined, and it was only a matter of time before they escalated to something more drastic. Smoking them out. Throwing grenades. Some form of arts.

All of which were harder to deal with if they had no visibility.

"Drop the barrier, we need to push out," the wyvern stated, tone brooking no dissent, already marching towards the heavy, closed doors at the end of the church. No doubt someone would be outside, and as soon as someone realised the way was open, they would try to funnel in. Unless there was an entire army, the ability to (if needed) fall back and use the doors as a choke point born of human ignorance would make the entire scenario easier.

It might be expected that the woman would heave the doors open. But as she came nearer, she focused on the metal hinges. Thick, heavy... and now so very, very brittle.

When she gave the wood a kick, as soon as the paper barrier dropped, the result wasn't therefore the splintering of heavy wood: it was that same obstacle being sent rocketing outwards, the hinges no longer able to take any sort of stress without snapping.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Saria

• Name: Saria
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: Outfit (it's strangely difficult to a picture of it that shows both arms at once). Better idea of her demeanour/tail. 174cm tall.
• Personality: Dour and serious, Saria is a moral person, but her habitual bluntness and honesty obfuscate that. When it comes to soft people skills, she's almost clueless, and it's taken a long time for her to move past her own upbringing to tone it down. Now she's at least somewhat aware of how she's seen--and actually good with children--but she's still a harsh taskmaster if you wind up under her command somehow.
• Brief History: Her father was not the greatest of parental figures, insisting that showing emotion was pointless--and she should just learn to solve her own problems. This attitude did carry her far, both in taking up boxing and all the way through to her doctorate, as well as doing nothing to prevent Saria from first becoming close friends with Kirsten Wright and then founding a research lab with her, where Saria would go to become the Head of the Defence section. It did, however, give rise to the rumour that she was cold-hearted rather than simply impossibly blunt.
  Over time, the research Rhine Labs was pursuing grew more and more ethically dubious, but Saria remained pretty much unaware of this--both through layers of bureaucracy and how it was often subcontracted to outside labs at its most extreme, with her own job being to basically deal with the cutting edge of science blowing up and endangering everyone. Until she rescued Ifrit: not only did the young girl and Olivia Silence finally manage to break some of her frostiness, finding out the truth of the incident lead her to part ways with Rhine Labs. Violently. Not that Kirsten ever actually accepted her resignation.
  She would go on to join Rhodes Island, although her ties to Rhine Labs didn't diminish that much between needing to address favours and going around cleaning up after their experiments anyway.
  Lone Trail Spoilers

  Eventually, with Kirsten finally revealing her true goal, Saria was involved in trying to stop that. Being ultimately unsuccessful, this meant that one of the Rhine Labs founders (and, given their name, probably the only other major owner) was now in space in cryogenic sleep whilst the only one of the Department Heads liable to object to her being in charge was also dead. Which left her, until this unexpected appearance in another world, in charge for the first time since its inception.
• Universe of Origin: Arknights
• Equipment: Well, obviously, she has her shield. It's generally not something needed much for her own benefit--and given everything she can do, might just be more symbolic of protecting other people--save for the fact that it has an arts unit embedded within it, without which her abilities would be rather constrained (since she doesn't have oripathy to use herself as a casting implement). On the other hand, since her skill lies in punching things, and she's been seen using arts without the shield in hand, she likely has another backup.
  Apart from that, she has a rather alarmingly gun-like injector syringe (whatever is in it seems primarily intended for first aid), a perfectly unremarkable combat knife, and... well, those are probably smoke grenades on her belt.
• Abilities: Saria's primary noteworthy ability is her Calcification arts. In the strictest sense, this allows her to control the calcium around herself, which would seem to be quite a simple ability... except that she's a scientist with a very thorough background in preparing for danger and how she can best adapt it. The very simplest approach she uses it for is to make a rocklike barrier around her fists, so that she can hit things with impunity. The other most common usage is to form a protective layer just over her skin in general, which provides astonishingly good protection. But she's also used it to create free-floating barriers in response to attacks, launch a spike as a projectile weapon, and make the equipment of her enemies shockingly brittle. She's even adapted it to assist in emergency first aid.
  Aside from the blatantly supernatural, as a Vouivre, Saria is remarkably strong and tough even by the standards of the Ancients of Terra. She's quite able to smash concrete with her bare hands, and would probably be able to remain standing after most explosions, rather than being torn to pieces. Courtesy of taking up boxing when she was younger, and then remaining particularly active as head of Rhine Labs defence section, she can even punch through armoured glass without Arts assistance. Or powered armour with it.
  As the former head of the defence section, and later an operator working alongside Rhodes Island, she has extensive experience with tactical command and leadership. If she has a particular flaw there, it's that her plans are heavily defensive--although the casualties tend to be commensurately low as well.
  Saria also has a variety of other skills that aren't particularly useful in the current situation, such as being able to pilot a vehicle that doesn't exist here (and drive), as well as being a scientist. Strictly speaking, her speciality and doctorate is in biomedical engineering, but she was part of Rhine Labs since its inception, her role transitioned away from doing science a long time ago.
• Other:

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Form

• Name: Saria
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: Outfit (it's strangely difficult to a picture of it that shows both arms at once). Better idea of her demeanour/tail. 174cm tall.
• Personality: Dour and serious, Saria is a moral person, but her habitual bluntness and honesty obfuscate that. When it comes to soft people skills, she's almost clueless, and it's taken a long time for her to move past her own upbringing to tone it down. Now she's at least somewhat aware of how she's seen--and actually good with children--but she's still a harsh taskmaster if you wind up under her command somehow.
• Brief History: Her father was not the greatest of parental figures, insisting that showing emotion was pointless--and she should just learn to solve her own problems. This attitude did carry her far, both in taking up boxing and all the way through to her doctorate, as well as doing nothing to prevent Saria from first becoming close friends with Kirsten Wright and then founding a research lab with her, where Saria would go to become the Head of the Defence section. It did, however, give rise to the rumour that she was cold-hearted rather than simply impossibly blunt.
  Over time, the research Rhine Labs was pursuing grew more and more ethically dubious, but Saria remained pretty much unaware of this--both through layers of bureaucracy and how it was often subcontracted to outside labs at its most extreme, with her own job being to basically deal with the cutting edge of science blowing up and endangering everyone. Until she rescued Ifrit: not only did the young girl and Olivia Silence finally manage to break some of her frostiness, finding out the truth of the incident lead her to part ways with Rhine Labs. Violently. Not that Kirsten ever actually accepted her resignation.
  She would go on to join Rhodes Island, although her ties to Rhine Labs didn't diminish that much between needing to address favours and going around cleaning up after their experiments anyway.
  Lone Trail Spoilers

  Eventually, with Kirsten finally revealing her true goal, Saria was involved in trying to stop that. Being ultimately unsuccessful, this meant that one of the Rhine Labs founders (and, given their name, probably the only other major owner) was now in space in cryogenic sleep whilst the only one of the Department Heads liable to object to her being in charge was also dead. Which left her, until this unexpected appearance in another world, in charge for the first time since its inception.
• Universe of Origin: Arknights
• Equipment: Well, obviously, she has her shield. It's generally not something needed much for her own benefit--and given everything she can do, might just be more symbolic of protecting other people--save for the fact that it has an arts unit embedded within it, without which her abilities would be rather constrained (since she doesn't have oripathy to use herself as a casting implement). On the other hand, since her skill lies in punching things, and she's been seen using arts without the shield in hand, she likely has another backup.
  Apart from that, she has a rather alarmingly gun-like injector syringe (whatever is in it seems primarily intended for first aid), a perfectly unremarkable combat knife, and... well, those are probably smoke grenades on her belt.
• Abilities: Saria's primary noteworthy ability is her Calcification arts. In the strictest sense, this allows her to control the calcium around herself, which would seem to be quite a simple ability... except that she's a scientist with a very thorough background in preparing for danger and how she can best adapt it. The very simplest approach she uses it for is to make a rocklike barrier around her fists, so that she can hit things with impunity. The other most common usage is to form a protective layer just over her skin in general, which provides astonishingly good protection. But she's also used it to create free-floating barriers in response to attacks, launch a spike as a projectile weapon, and make the equipment of her enemies shockingly brittle. She's even adapted it to assist in emergency first aid.
  Aside from the blatantly supernatural, as a Vouivre, Saria is remarkably strong and tough even by the standards of the Ancients of Terra. She's quite able to smash concrete with her bare hands, and would probably be able to remain standing after most explosions, rather than being torn to pieces. Courtesy of taking up boxing when she was younger, and then remaining particularly active as head of Rhine Labs defence section, she can even punch through armoured glass without Arts assistance. Or powered armour with it.
  As the former head of the defence section, and later an operator working alongside Rhodes Island, she has extensive experience with tactical command and leadership. If she has a particular flaw there, it's that her plans are heavily defensive--although the casualties tend to be commensurately low as well.
  Saria also has a variety of other skills that aren't particularly useful in the current situation, such as being able to pilot a vehicle that doesn't exist here (and drive), as well as being a scientist. Strictly speaking, her speciality and doctorate is in biomedical engineering, but she was part of Rhine Labs since its inception, her role transitioned away from doing science a long time ago.
• Other:

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Tyaethe

On their return, Tyaethe had disappeared briefly before returning to her usual window spot. That, on its own, was perfectly normal. Expected, even; it was stranger to find her some place else, especially immediately after leaving for a few weeks. What made it a bit less usual was that she had seemingly chosen to not move at all since then, eyes looking over the relics arrayed in the entry hall. Or at least in their general direction, with the lack of correction there was basically no chance that she could see any of them.

Continuing the departure from norms, she was actually dressed in something other than a light dress, with or without accompanying shawl or the like. For reasons known only to the vampire, she'd gone for the full robes of a Reonite priest... which, whilst something she was perfectly entitled to wear, was not the sort of thing a paladin was expected to go about in for their day to day business. Still, the red and gold attire wasn't even the strangest thing: she'd brought out the stuffed rabbit.

The only thing that really indicated she wasn't doing her best statue impression was the way her thumb was idly moving back and forth across the toy's head.

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

also what does venom-snake-pretending-to-be-big-boss bring that... big boss doesn't?

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Gisela

Gisela turned when the door opened, giving Liletta a small smile, "Oh, I had just been planning a new summoning circle. But Krysia and Mr. Antiac here were certain that one would be a bad idea."

Crossing the room, the Hundi lowered herself slightly to inspect the doll. Definitely the same Anisette as before, she didn't seem to have been harmed in any way, so... "She can speak, but I don't think she wants to. Or maybe she just didn't want to talk to you?"

Maybe a bit like dealing with an intelligent but surly child. She'd had to deal with some of those when she was still around the college, although mostly in passing--Gisela had very little talent as a primary instructor for anything. Although, this one was a lot cuter than most of those. Probably because she was a doll? And doll-sized?

Reaching out, the summoner waited for Anisette to be transferred to her instead, then started absent-mindedly patting the doll's head. Still, now there were more people around... "Are any of you any good at architecture? I'm trying to design a cottage."

"Indeed, common sense is in terribly short supply. Mages, especially, don't seem to have it." Krysia noted, stage-whispering and smirking at the flick of Gisela's tail.

If she was going to keep being so easily distracted, why not tease?

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Well then.

Lappland or Saria...

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Tyaethe

A slight tilting of the head, listening to something that wasn't there--

And small fingers closed around Gerard's wrist. Strong for only a second, but only the strength of a child after.

"You needn't do that, not here," Tyaethe said, eyes flickering over to meet Gerard's for a second, "Anyone still breathing can be healed. Will be healed.

"Rest. We have the time."

@HereComesTheSnow

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Interest Check)

Maybe.

As with any crossover, dependent on finding the right person.