[System]
Allias: None as yet. She's not a big fan of nicknames in general.
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Parents: Nobody important (abilities come from a more distant ancestor)

Appearance: Rebekah Green is most often seen around the academy wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It is simple, comfortable, practical clothing, which suits her just fine. She is a smidge above average height, with blue eyes, light skin and mid-length blonde hair she keeps tied back in a pony-tail. She sometimes wonders if her nose isn't a bit too long.

Personality: Rebekah is quiet and reserved in most situations, preferring to listen and observe than to speak. When she does speak, it is usually in direct answer to a problem that needs solving or to suggest an action. She doesn't do well with small-talk and doesn't share her emotions easily, except with those she is closest to and trusts without exception. On the other hand, she will happily go on and on about an interesting idea and enjoys being challenged in this way.

She tries to view the world as rationally as possible, and solve problems using logic and reason. She values knowledge and curiosity and holds tightly to the idea that the best superhero is not the one with the strongest power, but the one who knows when and how to apply their abilities to get the best result.

Her personality would be an I-N-T-J on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

Powers and Abilities: Rebekah can change the size of objects around her, growing or shrinking them into perfect scale replicas of themselves. The ability cannot be used on living beings. She is also able to teleport to anywhere she can see.

She alters the volume of an object without altering its density or composition, so the things she changes become perfect scale replicas of themselves. This means that their mass will change with the size, roughly in line with the cube of the scale change. Touch is not required.

At the very small scale, the power does not work to grow/shrink molecules and atoms, because that would require either some serious screwing with fundamental forces or make everything she touches into a nuclear bomb. Rather, her power just creates a bigger pile of the type of atom/molecule that was already there. This means that stuff she has grown will still have all the same physical and chemical properties as a different sized version of itself that had been made by normal means. The cutoff level between macroscopic growing and microscopic duplication is at about the size of living cells.

Bio: Rebekah comes from a family of non-supers, so far as she can tell. Her great-grandmother might have been where she got the magical genes, but the stories about her are pretty murky and often don't agree.

She grew up in New Zealand, in a smallish town near to a national park. Early on in life, she developed a love of books and reading, devouring both fact and fiction alike. A little later on, when she entered her teenage years, she continued with this, though the books gained a rival - the outdoors. Mountain biking, kayaking and walking all held strong appeal for her, leading to a few exciting trips to lakes, mountains and rivers.

Rebekah's powers first manifested shortly before her 16th birthday, while walking the last section of the Tongariro crossing. The school group were all tired, hungry, getting damp from the grey mist that had descended over the mountain, and generally ready for the day's exertion to be over. Coming over the last rise and getting a view of the shuttle waiting at the end of the track, Rebekah suddenly disappeared from among the group to find herself standing up against the white van's windows. Shocked at this sudden transition, she jumped, yelled and tripped over backwards. Her fall would have landed her head on a large rock, but it shrunk down to the size of a pebble underneath her, leading to a much more gentle landing. By the time the rest of the group had caught up, it became clear what had happened and Rebekah was outed as a superhuman.

After finishing school, Rebekah travelled to Super School, the equivalent institution to the Academy for superhumans from Oceania. The school is hidden away from the rest of the world on a small volcanic island out in the Pacific Ocean. Here, students are grouped into small teams with complementary abilities in order to teach teamwork and cooperation, emphasise that all abilities have a valuable place and, most importantly, give young supers a tight-knit group of friends to belong to and support each other from the start of their training.

This turned out really well for Rebekah, and, together with her team, she learned to control her powers and make use of them in a wide variety of situations. She particularly enjoyed lessons from Dr. Arcturus, a self-transmuting super-scientist. Thanks to his tutelage and their own hard work, the team was able to gain third place in Super School's Tournament of Heroes at the end of their first year.

Around half way into her second year, Rebekah had a day off from classes and was using the time to explore the wilder parts of the island. The volcano itself hadn't been active for a long time, but past activity had left a large network of tunnels and caves reaching beneath much of the island.

On this particular day, Rebekah was well into the cave system when she noticed something she hadn't before: a small gap in the rock, not much wider than her finger. Curiosity piqued, she entered the cave on the other side and followed it down for a long way. As she went, she began to see signs that these caves were not entirely natural - there were signs of human use. The caves ended in a vertical shaft, with a narrow steel ladder set into the bare rock. She followed it down, and found herself in a dim, square room. Set into the far wall was a single stasis tube with a man inside. He had electrodes strapped all over his body, over the remains of an old, torn super suit.

Naturally, she freed the trapped man. As he emerged from the tank and began to tear the wires away from his skin, the room's one lightbulb guttered out and arc of lightning leapt from his body, shattering the stasis tube. As more and more of the electrodes fell away, the lightning storm around the man grew stronger, until it seemed he was a living arc of electricity. A bolt jumped towards Rebekah, and she blacked out.

The man she had freed was Power Surge, an insane villain who had been captured a century ago, but in order to keep him contained, it had been necessary to continuously draw off the electricity from his body. In order to kill two birds with one stone, the founders of Super School had decided to use him as the power source for their island.

Now freed, he blasted his way up and out of the mountain, and began to attack the school, which was reeling from the sudden blackout of all of their equipment. Power surge caused a great deal of destruction before Dr. Arcturus rallied a gang of students to defeat the villain, though the professor was badly wounded in the process.

In the wake of all this, Rebekah Green was found to be responsible for unleashing Power Surge upon the school. Since her actions had been very ill-advised but not ultimately malicious, she was spared the usual penalties for freeing a supervillain and causing widespread destruction.

Still, many students had been hurt or had property destroyed in the attack, and teenagers are rarely so kind and forgiving. Rebekah was bullied mercilessly in the days after the attack, and for this reason and others it was decided that she would be expelled from Super School for tampering with its power source. She would, however, be afforded the opportunity to apply to a different institution to continue training as a superhero.

This led her to a move across the world, and to the Academy of Heroes and Villains, where she will be starting at the beginning of the new year.

Other Skills: Rebekah has some pretty good skills in the outdoors, and has good fitness and endurance to go with them. She is reasonably proficient in self-defence, but unlike some of her fellow students, her talent is nothing special.

Where she does excel physically is in her reflexes and reactions, based on her senses which are pretty sharp as well, when she cares to pay attention.

Rebekah has always enjoyed school and done well in her non-super education, so she has a solid grounding in a number of subject areas, particularly the sciences.

Weaknesses: Rebekah can get hurt just as easily as a normal human being. Her abilities don't give her any extra toughness, strength, resistances, healing, or anything like that. Her teleportation is only within her line of sight, which limits its usefulness when it's dark or her vision is otherwise obscured. She can take one other person with her or an equivalent amount of material, but no more.

She really beats herself up over the Power Surge incident. It was a big hit to her confidence and she really misses the close friends she made at Super School.

She wishes she could play a musical instrument, but has never learned.

Other: Rebekah's name is Rebekah, and she would prefer it if others didn't insist on shortening it to Bekky, Bekka, Bex or any other variation they might come up with. It's a perfectly good name already, and it doesn't need shortening, thank you very much! This is something of a pet peeve for her.

[User]
Tsura Eisenhardt
Picture

She watched the fights with mild interest and personal trepidation because as much as she was sure that the teacher could handle themselves she could only hope that the room was equally as able to withstand her power release.

Then Tsura heard Rebekah introduce herself and turned with a smile
"Hello Rebekah my name is Tsura Eisenhardt.

Oh, congratulations on successfully surviving training. I could see by your power release that this wasn't your first performance"

[Assistant]
Arachne sat in the office fidgeting. She didn't mean to skip the first class of the first day; the Beast got hungry, Arachne thought she could feed him with some burgers from BK. Unfortunately, three Whoppers weren't enough and well… She had to ransack the kingdom. No one got seriously hurt, though that restaurant won't have burgers for a while Arachne had hoped to escape that incident without notice, but alas some teachers just so happened to have stopped by, and now Arachne was here.

After a stern talking to, Arachne was allowed to leave the office but with a warning slip. "Jeez, what am I, thirteen?" Arache pocketed the slip and headed to her next class. While she knew where it was at, she had no idea what this actual class was. She was sure she'd know if had her schedule, but she left most of her things back at Burger King before she turned into the Black Beast. The only things she had on her was her wallet, keys, phone, the warning slip. She had a plastic she used to summon forth the Black Beast, but she lost that after her binge. Arachne would have to make due somehow. Taking out the warning slip, she did note that it was roughly as big as her head, and white. If she could get her hands on a pair of scissors and a marker she could make a paper mask. Not the most durable mask, but as long as Arachne was careful it wouldn't matter how thin her mask was.

Arachne arrived to class fairly early. The door wasn't even open yet. Everyone must still be at first class or just now leaving. It wouldn't really matter to Arachne, she felt it was a bit too late for her to just waltz right into first period. Taking a seat Arachne took out her phone and updated a few stories she was in.

[User]
Rebekah Green

"Good to meet you, Tsura" Rebekah said, offering her hand to shake. "Thanks, it wasn't. I've had a year of training at another school, but I'm here for my second. Have you been here long?"

[Assistant]
"It is an interesting experience, the first time." Kalinda said, "My mother says that being of the shadows doesn't make you safe, but that you need to understand them. I don't really know what that means, but I've never had trouble in the shadow world." Kalinda had eaten breakfast, but she wasn't adverse to having something else.

"Sure. I could eat" She said, cheerfully.

She led Kyle into the cafeteria, which always seemed to have food of some sort avaliable. "I Think the school thinks if they keep us well fed, there won't be any problems" She said with amusement, looking to Kyle.

[User]
Tsura Eisenhardt
Picture

"Your Second Year?

It seems I need to learn more about the school and it's methods of education because I had no idea that they mixed levels of experience.

I suppose it is in hopes that those more experienced students will be mentors to those less experienced." she says looking at Rebekah with a smile that like the rest of her is a little brighter than the classroom lighting would suggest.

[Assistant]
Rebekah Green

"Yeah, pretty much" Rebekah told Tsura, who appeared to be a firstie. "Or that's what I'm assuming anyway. Like I said, I'm new here too, so we'll both be finding out a lot today. That, plus some students aren't ready in just one year. They're still a bit foolish and need to learn their lesson before they go out into the world."

Why had she brought that up? Best to bury the uncomfortable memory and move on. "So you've already seen me in action, what can you do? I'm guessing something to do with light?" It was a bit hurried, but it did a reasonable job of covering her slip.

[User]
Kyle Grayson

Kyle walked into the cafeteria with Kalinda, and picked up a bunch of breakfast bars. Kyle led Kalinda to a table and they sat down, next to each other. Kyle set his pile of food bars on the table, and began devouring them. That was when he noticed Kalinda ust watching him, and kyle began to blush. Kyle gulped down his bite and offered Kalinda a breakfast chocolate bar. Kyle smiled and in his smile his teeth were covered in chocolate and peanut butter.

[Assistant]
Tsura Eisenhardt
Picture

Tsura pauses a moment after Rebekah asks about her abilities because she's been conditioned by her mom to conceal them or cause her parents worry.

"I am a Photonic Elemental and while I haven't experienced the complete scope of my abilities my dad says I am in his class as a primary.

I am connected to one of the elements that make up the holy grail of the quantum powers of the Unified Field." she says as the light around her dims a little.

"I control light and can become a creature made up of pure energy.

My control at the moment is limited because of my concerns for the safety of those around me because basically I could become one of the most powerful sources of power in our solar system; a living laser that burns as hot as our star."

[User]
Well, if that wasn't a rehearsed answer then Rebekah had never heard one. Nevertheless, it took her a moment to wade through the technical language to arrive at the salient point. Primary class like her dad, electromagnetic radiation, ridiculously powerful, complicated sounding quantum stuff... Combine that with what she knew of super history and a few rumours she'd heard going round, and...

"Holy crap, your dad's Magneto!"


[System]
Evan

_________________________________________________________________________________

Basics
Age: 23
Place of Birth: England
Birthday: August 2nd
Gender: Male
Social Class/Community Status: Right hand man of the biggest gang. Currently undercover for a secret organisation.
Language: English and Spanish.
Family/Friends/Pets/Etc: As far as anyone knows Evan has a little sister who is currently in care. This is a cover story and Evan does have a mother, father and little sister but this is information he doesn't tell anyone.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Physical Description

Height: 6ft
Weight: 159 lbs
Hair: Dark brown/Black
Eyes: Chocolate brown.
Detailed Physical Description: Athletic, strong and charming. Evan has always kept his body in shape, working as a double agent meant he always has to be on his toes and be ready for anything. Evan has a long scar across his back from a previous undercover role he had been in.
Typical Clothing: Smart and casual. Evan loves to wear a good dark pair of jeans and often paired it off with a shirt, it could work at most social events. If not in a jeans and shirt Evan would often be in some sort of suit conducting business, he loved how important suits could make someone feel.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Personality/Attributes

Personality/Attitude: Charming, friendly and has the gift of the gab. Being undercover Evan had picked up quite a few traits, he had learnt how to avoid questions with ease as well as charm the odd person here and there.
Skills/Talents: Lies, Evan could always keep up with a lie but that was another perk of his job. On top of that he quite good at cooking.
Likes: Food, alcohol and active style holidays.
Dislikes: Cats, smoking and daytime tv.
Goals/Ambitions: Evan had always wanted to make the world a better place, from when he was young, he had always stated how he would clean up the world and help in any way possible. He wants to bring down the biggest crime families possible.
Weaknesses: Handwriting and sometimes technology.
Fears: That he will be the cause of an innocent bystanders' death.
Hobbies/Interests: Swimming, gym and archery.
Place/Type of Residence: Currently lives in a small apartment undercover.
Occupation: Currently right hand man of a gang leader.

_________________________________________________________________________________

[User]
With Regis' compliance, the deal was set and Damian honestly wasn't sure how to feel about it. He had agreed to it, even pushed the man to this point, but that didn't mean he was exactly proud to be accepting another human being, especially one that had been an innocent bystander, to pay off a debt. At least it had saved him from hurting anyone though and in the eyes of his family, they likely wouldn't even flinch at the news of him taking this man's daughter. The only two that would disapprove were likely the two besides him in that moment.

As he buzzed his daughter into the room, Damian turned his head to watch as Iris stepped into the room. He dipped his head to her as the mayor introduced them. The leader remained quiet, watching her react to the harsh news of being pawned off to him. Once the situation had been explained, Damian rose from his seat. "Yes, unfortunately your father owed me a great debt... One he failed to pay off so you'll be coming with me." he explained with a careless shrug.

Damian paused and glanced over his shoulder at the other two. "Evan, take Rowan with you and take her back home. I'd like to have a room set up for Iris here once we arrive." he explained.

Rowan glared hostilely at her brother and begrudgingly rose to her feet to follow his orders. "Fine.." she grumbled taking a step towards the door. She paused by her brother's side and gave his arm a pinch. "Just don't be a complete asshat." she added before shifting her gaze onto Iris. Her expression softened to one of pity. Unable to do anything more for her at the moment though, she instead shifted her gaze onto Evan. "Ready to go?" she asked with sigh.

Pleased that Rowan seemed to comply despite her comment, Damian focused his gaze onto Iris. His expression was rather cold, seeming uncaring about the situation. "If you'd like, I can step out of the room for a moment if you'd like to say goodbye." he offered, tipping his head towards Regis. "It'll likely be quite a while before you see him again."

[Assistant]
Evan sighed heavily but nodded at the orders, he held open the door for Rowan so they could head back home and prepare a room as requested. "Yeah, come on then." Shaking his head as he walked down the hall and headed outside to one of the cars, "What is he playing at?" He looked back to Rowan, a concerned look on his face as he was still quite shocked over the whole ordeal. "I feel bad, surely this isn't serious. Perhaps he will even go back on his word? I mean that's highly unlikely."

Grimacing he felt the cool breeze outside, and he ran his fingers through his hair once more. He couldn't quite register what had just gone on. "To sell your daughter like that too… ouch." Getting out the keys from his pocket he unlocked the car. Before getting in himself he held open the door for Rowan, regardless of how he felt he was still a gentleman. "So… well I know he said prepare a room but what will it need?" Starting up the engine he headed off in the car with Rowan still unsure on what had happened.

Regis lifted his head looking over at Damian as he mentioned a private moment to say goodbye, "Thank you." It was nice he was offering the kindness of a private goodbye, though he did want to question on the comment of it being a while until he saw his daughter again. Hearing the door click meaning they were alone he turned to his daughter to say something but stopped.

"I don't care what debt you had, what it took to get this job, but I would give it all up rather than sell out my own family." Her voice was calm even though inside she was fuming, she couldn't believe he had done this. "You have thrown my life away, everything I have worked for because you couldn't keep up your promises." Shaking her head, she turned her back on her father, she couldn't look at him. She honestly felt betrayed.

"You have to understand I did this for us." Regis sighed as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You did this for you." Pushing his hand away as she moved to the door, she was trying her best not to let herself break down over this whole situation. Without even saying goodbye she left the room letting the door slam behind her as she moved to where her own desk was just down the hall, she kept her head held high as she left a stunned looking Regis behind. Opening up her desk drawer she picked up her phone and grabbed her bag, her heart was still hammering away as she didn't really know what would happen now.

[User]
Rowan nodded her head and stepped out of the room as he held the door open for her. She began to walk down the hall, clenching her fists at her side as she was still quite frustrated by the situation. As Evan addressed her, she looked over at him and shrugged her shoulders. "Hell if I know." she responded and then shook her head. "He's definitely serious about this though... I just can't believe my brother would actually do such a thing. I know he can be cruel but usually it's just towards the people that crossed him.."

He wasn't like their father, Rowan knew that as well as Damian did. It didn't matter to him who he hurt so long as he got his money and power. Rowan thought Damian at least took that into some consideration. Perhaps she had been wrong though. Stepping outside, she shivered, more so because of her thoughts rather than the actual cold. She glanced at Evan and gave a mutter of agreement. She supposed that aspect of it wasn't as surprising. Just because you shared blood with someone didn't mean they'd value you more than themselves or their money.

She slipped into the car and leaned her head back against the seat as she took in it all, nothing making sense to her. As Evan spoke up again, she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, most of the guest rooms that are furnished are being used right now so we'll probably have to get out one of the blow up mattress' we have." she groaned. "It's too late to go buy a bed. Aside from that I have no idea. Just clean it up I guess. Honestly I think he just wanted to get rid of us!"

---

Damian stepped out of the room to let the two talk. He wasn't sure if they exactly had any nice parting words to say to each other but it was the most he could give them. After all, once she left with him, it wouldn't be long before news got around about the transaction that was just made to the other gangs within the city. He checked the watch on his wrist and let out a tired sigh. It seemed he'd be having a late night.

Barely a moment later, the door suddenly swung open and slammed shut. He blinked and looked over to see that Iris had emerged from the office and was storming off to collect her things. He studied her for a moment before making his way over to her. "Seems like you're ready to go then." he mused. "Let's go." He turned to begin to lead the way out of the building, fishing for the keys to his car in his pocket.

"We'll discuss this situation more once we're on the road.. Oh and I already know where your home is." Damian looked over at her and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he pulled open the car door for her. "My people keep track of my client's families and with your father giving us such a big job, word got back to me of course."

[Assistant]
Evan nodded in agreement, "Yeah… although I don't think either of them really wanted that sort of deal. It looks like two stubborn people not backing down." Shrugging slightly, he leaned back in his chair as he continued to drive on, "I thought as much, most of the rooms were being used so it doesn't leave us with many options." Tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he looked at the roads ahead, sighing as he saw a spot of rain hit the windshield. "I bet you five bucks she tries to run in the night." Giving her a smile, he wanted to make it a bit more light-hearted and betting always brightened the mood. Who didn't love a good bet?

Reaching his hand out to the air con he turned up the heating as the windshield wipers began to move, squeaking with each motion as the rain became heavier on the drive. "Any reason he brought you along to this deal?" Glancing at her briefly before turning his attention back to the road, "Usually he doesn't bring anyone along. Well depends on the meeting I suppose but yeah…" The car journey wouldn't take them too long as long as traffic was good, or there weren't any road incidents as Evan could be quite the hot head when it came to silly drivers. There had been this one time he had ranted a three-hour journey all because someone had cut him up on a roundabout, everyone had heard that story and not dared to mention it for fear he'd go off into another rant about it.

"Have you eaten? I could swing by a fast food place on the way." It was fairly late especially after that meeting and even though Evan had eaten, he could always go for more. He quite enjoyed his food, but it was also a good excuse if Rowan hadn't had anything either. He was sure they would make it back in time to prepare a room seeing as Damian had stated about picking up some stuff for the girl.

---

It was hard to figure out what she should say to him, how she should even respond. Everything seemed quite confusing but at least she remembered basic functions like getting her stuff and following. What do you really say to someone who had gotten you in some sort of deal? Following him to the car she looked back at the office for what she thought would be the last time, she could see the silhouette of a man at a window looking as if they were staring at them and she could only assume it was her father. "Oh.. uh thanks." Taken from her thoughts as he had opened the door for her, she moved inside the car, she couldn't help but be polite as that was how she had been raised.

"Of course you do…" She hadn't really meant to say it out loud, but it was more just a comment on how he knew where she lived. "Makes sense, who would want their money just disappearing." She kept her focus out the window watching as the weather started to turn. To her it felt awkward, but what should she expect when two strangers had been thrown together. "You mentioned I won't be seeing him for quite a while. Is it safe for me to assume I won't be working there?" Taking her eyes from the road she glanced at him, still rather hesitant on this situation. "And what exactly should I be grabbing from my things?" Of course she knew to grab clothes but her question was more directed at if she should think on taking personal items, electronics or for now just focus on clothes to see her through.


[System]
Nickname(s)
"Key," mostly, in work. Sometimes "K." In the eyes of Apex Authority, he is known as "Transportation Technician #3B149," which is the closest thing he has had to a legal name. He is mononymous.

Age
25 (Estimated)

Appearance
Physically athletic and fairly intimidating at six foot-two, Kieran is a little on the leaner side. Both his hair and his beard have a tendency to go on the fritz, as work overtakes time for him to take shears to them. He has several scars on both legs and arms from moving in and out of tight, sometimes sharp spots throughout Apex. He's often dressed in a very simple, muted color palette, and almost always has a satchel with him—containing various documents and necessary paperwork.

Job Duty
Kieran works as a Runner. Technically a "transportation technician," Runners work with the approval of Apex Authority to facilitate a wide variety of essential tasks. While Apex Authority often uses the service themselves, the service is primarily utilized by the middle and lower classes of Apex. Runners facilitate transit for letters, legal documents, cargo, and even people. Off-the-record, runners are also notoriously paid to pass verbal messages between factions, or from Apex Authority to others within Apex. Runners enjoy a few benefits of working for Apex Authority, such as their Runner's Stamp for official messages (which operates as a sort of notary service), and general protection. That is, Apex Enforcement members ("AEs") will investigate the disappearance/murder of a Runner. It is more than AEs offer to regular citizens, but more often than not, Runners that disappear are never recovered.

Faction Information
Runners often keep a distance from each other—working in agreed-upon sectors to keep competition light—so Kieran is more often than not, alone. He lives in District 3, subsection B, and associates most often with Port Apex. While officially, grains, produce, and other materials are brought in from nearby fields via these vessels, unofficially, a host of contraband makes its way to the shores of Apex. This contraband, ordered by the higher and lower classes alike, constitutes most of Kieran's work.

History
Kieran was found aboard one of the many farming ships that travel to Port Apex as an infant. As an unclaimed child, it was suspected that his parents were farmers who either could not afford to keep him or did not want to. Otherwise, he was passed from port worker to port worker until he finally earned his stamp at around age 15, and has been living on his own and working as a runner ever since. His age is self-given, and an estimate.

[User]
Kieran watched as Aura ravaged her way through the food. In a strange sort of shame he felt for even watching, he turned away.

His eyes wandered downward at this own stomach.

He liked to think of food as a luxury, but the truth of the matter was that he was fed--well fed, in fact--and did not hunger much. Particularly these days. What had once been tight, weak abs had fleshed out significantly. Over the past two years, he noticed that he had put on a small amount of muscle--filling out his more lean build. He was not large by any means (at least horizontally), but he wasn't the rail he once was. Kieran thought to all of the meat he had been eating recently. He was sure it had contributed.

But as his eyes drifted back up to Aura, he could easily see the malnourishment. My god, they didn't have much in Atlantic, did they?

She slowly finished up and began to talk. "I'd like to ask for your escort."

"Of course, of course," came his hasty reply. Guilt seemed to drip from him more and more as he interacted with her. It was a strange mix of pity and respect he felt. As if he had lived his whole life a victim only to realize he had been the privileged the entire time.

Oh what it must have been to be in subsection A.

"I'm not sure where to start," he admitted. He forced his thoughts down. It was time for business, after all, and he definitely needed something from her. His eyes wandered to her lips, where they lingered for a moment. The sight of not-so-fresh blood made him grimace. What price was she already paying for sparing him? For coming here.

"I was given a dossier of names and locations. I'd show you but I burned it. It was too valuable to be left anywhere."

Kieran moved to sit across from her--his elbows resting on his knees as he learned it to speak. He went for a drumstick and chewed lightly on it. He swallowed, then spoke again: "I guess the best thing would be for you to tell me the basics. What the organization is. What they do. Who leads them."

He thought for a moment.

"But maybe we can do this another way."

He grabbed a stein of ale and sat back down. Perhaps this could feel less like an interrogation, and more like a conversation.

"I figure we have a little bit of acquainting to do, after last night. So I'll make a statement. If it's true about you, you drink. If it's not, I drink. And if we want to elaborate a little more on the subject, then we can go from there."

Kieran took a swig in a small effort to catch up to Aura. Then:

"Alright, I'll start. You took me to a family member's house last night."

He wondered if that was a good place to start, but it was late, and he didn't want to waste too much time. It was time to skip the pleasentries.

[Assistant]
Was he trying to be...nice?

No, he's here for information. You're here for freedom.

Aura adjusted in her chair until finding a comfortable position, somewhere between criss-cross and fetal, cradling the bottle in her hand. Maybe this wasn't so bad of a set up. She spills a little information, and a full meal and bottle was the payout. It was probably the best deal she'd made thus far. Fuck Gregor, fuck the cause. They just stole and stole from her, telling her she was doing the most trustworthy thing, until she became the shell of a person that was sitting in front of Kieran.

"You took me to a family member's house last night."

The reality of what the cause was, how it could drag the most innocent of people down with you, felt like a blow to the ches. Her eyes mimicked that feeling, windening into orbs as she completely tensed in the chair, unsure of her next move.

Could she lie? Of course she could. Aura could dance her way through a fabricated story without a second thought.

But, paranoia crept in. He wouldn't have asked if he didn't already know, right? And lying to the man who caught her in an apparent act of treason against the AA would be a strike one. She was in way too deep, and everything leading up to this point felt like a cinder block tied to her ankles. She was fucked.

Lifting the ale to her mouth with a shaky hand, Aura took a swig of the ale.

It wasn't two seconds before she slammed her feet on the ground, elbows on her knees. "Look. They have nothing to do with it. Del either. They just deal with it. The cause."

Aura launched from the chair and began pacing, the bottle clutched in her left arm. It took a few strides around the small apartment, but she gained the courage to look Kieran in the eyes again, her own spitting fire.

"I work alone. No one I love is involved. And I only do this so I can leave this shit hole one day."

The ale she'd finished was tossed across the room, not quite hitting the wall and shattering like she'd hoped, but instead rolling across the carpet. In embarrassment, she crumbled in the same seat she began in, clawing at her arm through the hoodie she wore.

"If you're gonna have me here, move faster. Don't bullshit."

[User]
Kieran couldn't help but flinch--just a little bit--as Aura snapped back in defense at his question. Perhaps he shouldn't have been too surprised--it was, in fact, a pretty direct and rude question.

Still, he composed himself and adjusted to match her in kind. Fine, he thought to himself. Let's do it this way.

He watched as her ale toss went awry, offering no pity on his face as she crumbled.

"Okay," he said, setting his ale down on the table between them. "No bullshit."

He recited, in austere detail, the top-level of what he knew. "Apex Enforcement knows of a terrorist apparatus rather simply as The Cause, gestating some time and becoming more and more violent to petty officers and under suspicion of conspiracy against the government. Known associates of The Cause are mononymic in nature. I have a few names. Gregor. Mae. Miranda. This Del you seem quite fond of. Locations too. But I'm going to tell you now no matter what agreement we come to everyone I listed will be investigated and very likely worse if we don't come to an agreement about who is involved, and how."

"So," he continued, straightening his back somewhat, "If Del isn't involved, I need to know why and how he became associated with The Cause so I can clear his name. And if you have any arrangements with The Cause--any information concerning their next moves--I need that too. We can build trust with AA by telling them in advance. If need be, they'll let The Cause continue with their plans while learning more about them. They're not looking to thwart one operation. They want the whole thing decimated, and they're willing to wait to ensure that happens."


[System]
Clan: Shima
Title: Halfling
Gender: Male
Age: 15

Race: Half-Oni
Weight: 90 lbs
Height: 4'10"

Appearance:

Occupation: Blacksmith

Notable Skills: His strength is unmatched by any human which only grows with his anger. He's fair good at running fast and climbing trees and rocky surfaces.

Magical Abilities: Can use his spirit energy as an extension of his body to an extent. Using it to pick up stuff isn't something he's learned and using it too much drains him until he eats or sleeps again.

Ki Techniques/powers: Manipulation of his own spirit and turning it into 'blue fire' energy, a trait shared with certain groups he tries to remove himself from. When he loses control of his temper his inner demon shows itself, advancing his features, increasing his strength and durability. Because of his Oni inheritance he has advanced healing, taking mere days over weeks to recover from injury.

Weapons: "Lion's Tooth" as pictured. A folded steel sword he crafted himself.

Other Gear: None.

Personality: Gin is a small, gentle young man who remains loyal to those he befriends. He goofs off sometimes and be fairly playful but can become serious and focused when he needs to be. He may act pleasant and human most of the time, but he may lose himself to his Oni side and become vicious and difficult to control. Despite not making friends with people not enjoying his company he hides his frustrations well, making excuses that he would have no skill if they didn't make time ignoring him.

Brief history: When he was a young boy he was found hiding in a tree by travellers, malnourished and filthy. The group saw what he was by his distinguishable pointed ears, red tint to parts of his skin and his red hair; however, they couldn't let a child die. It was thought best to take the child to someone to help teach him how to integrate himself into the human world and not with the brutish Onis, the best choice being the neutral Shima clan. With a family assigned to him, Gin found his niche in helping at the blacksmiths; however, the call for battle proved strong in Halfling Gin. He practised for many years in his spare time, learning the ways of the sword before crafting one himself to help balance his strength. Even if those around him didn't trust him because of his heritage he was determined to show he can help protect them from the growing aggressive climate Baji was falling under.

When the sacred relics were stolen away from the Shima clan, Gin knew he had to help take them back. They needed his strength to retrieve them. He had the strength of three warriors, three which would benefit the Shima clan by remaining on their defences. Offering himself as one of the travellers to gather the relics, disregarding his age and background.

Other:  Gin doesn't take a family name; people who took him in were his carers, not his family. Raw meat can be a difficult trigger for him to handle, the smell and sight of it making it hard to control his voracious nature from his Oni heritage. He can eat more than the average human. The symbol on his clothes is the blacksmith's marking which is stamped on everything made there, on his blade it can be found on the hilt.

[User]
Metou was a bit unsatisfied with Gin's response, as he didn't really confirm or deny Metou's plan as a good one, and the old lady didn't think Gin's suggestion was very practical either. Metou felt guilty about dragging Gin around everywhere, but if he wanted guidance, Metou had no choice but to provide some. "If we rely on the observations of anyone we pass by, we'll be asking random people all night," Metou said, "We know where two of our fellows went, so I think we should start searching there, even if I'm sure they've left by now. Just give me a moment to look outside."

After exiting the inn, Metou looked at the sky to see how much time they had left in the evening. It was already late enough in the day that merchants were calling it quits when they got to the town square, and that was before they walked down a few streets to get to an inn and look for the musician. Not only was it too cold for Metou's comfort, and would only get colder, Metou didn't really want to be out on the streets at night when it was just her and Gin. Metou stepped back into the inn and walked back to Gin and said, "On second thought, I think we should just stay here for the night, and look for them in the morning." Metou was about to ask Gin for his opinion on the matter, but figured he'd just give a neutral answer again. "I'm going to go ask if they have any free rooms," Metou declared, and she walked up to the front counter to do so. Even after buying that cheap bauble to win the merchant's favor, she figured she had enough money for a room and some food at least.

[Assistant]
Maybe doing this alone was a better approach, at least then he didn't have to hear people argue over things. There was probably strength in numbers or something like it, yet where he'd managed to go and speak to Lady Ru alone he didn't see any need to go and visit her yet again. Maybe he was thinking too much into things, but he worried if they pestered too much they might lose what little support they had. If they lost support then they failed Lord Shima, and that was the one thing Tetsuya absolutely refused to accept. Watching as Yuudai and Jiang went back and forth for a bit he couldn't help but groan, wondering if it was at all possible for them to cooperate. How were they ever going to chase down the criminals responsible when they couldn't stop fighting amongst themselves?

Tetsuya might have been a bit naive in hoping that these two could work things out, and so he was disappointed to see Yuudai leaving the room. Just because he didn't want to be coddled by the Oni didn't mean he disliked her, and he rather hoped she would stay and at least go over the plan with them. The comment she made about his groan made him feel a little guilty, even if it hadn't been made solely in her directions. Ears folding down he frowned, lowering his gaze as Yuudai left them alone, taking a bit of air out of the room with her. A fine start to this group of theirs, he couldn't even imagine what the others must be like. Looking over at Jiang as he spoke, the young Neko let out a sigh, kind of wishing they could just drop the matter now. "If you won't condemn me or judge me then don't press for information. If I felt it was necessary to tell you then I would," Tetsuya replied, frowning as he looked up at Jiang. If this one thought he was going to be the leader in all of this just because he liked to talk then he was wrong.

It seemed there was more of a story to share, and Jiang was only to happy to be the one to do so. He had no idea that they had been attacked on their way in, or that anything quite that foreboding had happened. Sure, Shima losing her relics was foreboding enough, but hearing other villages might be at risk too only made the situation even worse. Though Jiang surely meant no harm by his words the Neko still felt offended, like he was being slighted in a way. It was a childish thing to think, but in his mind it was almost like this man was trying to look better in front of their Lord. "Don't talk to me like I'm just some child, I know what we'll have to do. And we can't well leave the villages alone, not when we're asking them for help. If something happens we'll help them in turn, we have to." It's what Lord Shima would want them to do, he had no doubts about that.

As if it weren't troublesome enough that Jiang was preaching to him, now Kenji saw reason to do so as well. It felt like he was being undermined here, and where he had been working alone up until now that wasn't a very fun feeling. Expecting more of the same out of Kenji, Tetsuya was pleasantly surprised when it seemed the argument was being made for him, not against him. It was a tad odd being called 'mister' seeing as he was probably the youngest one here, but then he wouldn't make a fuss about being shown some respect. Smiling gratefully he nodded his head to Kenji, turning his attention back over to Jiang. "Look... We kind of got off on the wrong foot there. I am happy to work with you, but I don't appreciate having someone trying to push me aside for this. If you really want to help then you can, but we're doing it together. No one is going solo here." At least, not anymore, that had ended when these three had shown up.

[User]
Baji was going to respond to Kenji and tell him that he trusts Tetsuya's reasons for lying to them just as much as he trusts his own for doing the same to him, but it seems like the person in question completely mistook his words. Jiang simply sighed deeply as another person became hostile and misunderstood him. Tetsuya didn't know the severity of the entire situation that they were in so he kept himself calm by repeating that in his head. He didn't recall treating Tetsuya any less than the next person.

"I have nothing against you, I can even see why you're so defensive, but you have misunderstood my words. I have nothing but respect for you and those that I fight beside. How about we go to sleep on this and you meet me by the town gate at the crack of dawn, because there is something that I want to show you. There is something that I want you to understand and something that I need to understand." He thought about it some more and figured now was also a good time if the neko was more up for it.

[Assistant]
Gin hoped they weren't going anywhere without them, even if there was no real reason for the others to leave them behind. He did wonder if the others went on ahead and they were left to head back to Shima just how much trouble there would be whether for them or the ones who left them behind. They were supposed to be working as a team, after all, but who knew if they actually wanted them along. Gin hadn't made any companions so he did worry he might get forgotten about, even if he slept in for too long. Maybe it was just anxieties building from the possibility of being alone and left behind because of how young and 'inexperienced' he was.

Watching Metou head on out he let out a disappointed sigh, feeling terrible that he was essentially making it difficult for others. He just wanted to feel useful. Sighing as he rubbed his neck, waiting for Metou to return as he stared at the people, watching them all interact with each other and how strange some of them got in the process. This was probably why he never went to this kind of place before, too many strangers for his liking. When Metou returned he gave her a hopeful smile, but when she spoke of her decision he frowned, looking down with a sigh. "Stay here? But what if…uhh…" He couldn't say much, at least not when Metou suddenly declared her decision to be a good one. "Wait, but it's only a little bit of darkness! I'm strong, I can protect us in the dark", he spoke quickly, following on after Metou, "Have a little faith in me, please? Yuudai has a particular smell, maybe I can pick it up…"

[User]
Gin brought up an objection to Metou's new decision, and Metou immediately paused and turned to hear him out. Getting stuck out on the streets late at night was still a very unappealing possibility to Metou, even if this town didn't seem too bad. However, Metou respected Gin's abilities and decisions, or at least felt obligated to respect them despite not knowing him very well yet. More importantly she would hate for Gin to think he wasn't taken seriously, and bring down his confidence even lower than it already seemed. "I suppose I might be giving up too early, and we'd want to give Kiko a prompt response," Metou said, though with the slightly frustrated tone of someone who just had an early night's sleep ripped away from them for the sake of the greater good.

"Two of our companions went to see Lady Ru, so I know of a place they've been, at least," Metou said, "But Yuudai ran off to get food, so I have a fairly good idea of where she went too. If you're confident in your nose, we could try and track her down first."

[Assistant]
Gin was sure he could use his senses to help find the others, or at least one of them if they got unlucky. He didn't want everybody to split up like this and with the group all in different places it seemed as if they were going to have trouble communicating with each other to where they were going and when they were going to head out. They had to pick up this musician too on the way out which could be a problem if they were all properly split up. The musician could wander off or get impatient with them and decide to strike off the deal which would be a disaster.

Staring at Metou with hopeful eyes he smiled slightly when she admitted the danger wasn't too much of a big deal quite yet. He would do what he could to protect her and was fairly confident he would do a good job too. He had practiced for a long time and did manage to slice up that strange stony man's legs so he couldn't be that bad at fighting. Sighing happily when Metou gave him some direction to look for he nodded quickly, looking to the door. "I won't let you down! If we follow a trail from where we last saw her, it should be easy! Right?" he spoke quickly, looking back to her, "Then if we can track down the other group, we can stay at the inn together, right? Or maybe even sleep under the stars…like adventurers!"

Heading quickly to the door, Gin couldn't help but feel excited and anxious about doing this, hoping he might achieve this difficult task. He was fairly good at smelling out others, even for a half-Oni. He figured it was his hunger that made his sense of smell better, but using that to track down people shouldn't be a problem. He wondered if he should be looking for the group that went to Ru first just to see what the place they had the Lady in was like, but that might be a little suspicious at this time of day. Heading out the door he looked around, his first thought being to head back to the marketplace where all the people were before once Metou was ready to go.


[System]
Appearance:

Age:
Eighteen Years Old.

 Profession/Status:
 Lower Class Citizen, Maid.

Personality:
⚜ Kind ⚜ Stubborn ⚜ Blunt ⚜ Intellectual ⚜

Born the eldest of five siblings, Alessandra is more of a mother figure, which is why she was very calm, kind, and generally a warm person toward younger people, or ones she feels the need to take care of or protect. Despite being the perfect representative of an older sister, a mom second in command, she is very stubborn and blunt, which had gotten her into trouble more times than not. She didn't know when to shut up or hold back; therefore, she had gotten in trouble with older, or rather richer, citizens. She always managed to step away from the trouble-- even after causing it.

She is also a lover for knowledge, but because of her status and slightly weak reading skills, she suffers to feed that need and love for knowledge, which is the exact way anyone can bribe her into anything--They could read her a book, or even tell her of the old myths that go around the country.

Brief History:

Alessandra was the oldest sibling of five, and after their youngest brother, their mother had fallen very ill and almost always bed ridden. Alessandra was raised to be a perfect stay-at-home wife like her mother, bearing children, cooking, keeping everything in place, and helping the household in whichever way she can, but with a little twist of stubbornness and pride.

Alessandra's Father, Alexander, was working his best to feed his five children and get the medicine needed for his wife, which wasn't really working. The mother had continued to get worse and worse, which caused Alexander to try and spend more and do more in order to get his wife the help he thought she needed-- Which wasn't really working due to the poor knowledge of the people he sought out for help.

It didn't matter that the money and things he spent were to waste, they still put him in debt.

The best thing he thought of to pay back the royalty was to offer his eighteen-year old daughter, perfect age, good looks, and a somewhat good personality to be one of the queen's ladies, a court maid, or a mistress. He didn't care once they had taken him up on the offer, as he continued to obsessively look for something to cure his wife.

[User]
Alessandra returned Adrian's smile with a larger smile of hers. She scanned the crown Prince carefully as he nodded curtly at Amelie and stepped ahead of both women. She felt slightly warm inside-- Adrian made her feel special; He really did treat her differently than any other handmaiden around court. It must be the months of taking care of him and not leaving his sideShe thought with a fond smile. She actually liked taking care of Prince Adrian more than she probably should, no matter how tired and exhausted she was, running on little sleep and little food with lots of reading and talking in between: She still loved their time together.

Alessandra followed closely behind Adrian, realization of Hye Jin's presence hit her, for a weird reason it bothered her. She didn't feel comfortable with the idea of the arranged marriages from the beginning, and she just-- She couldn't see anyone taking care of her prince like she did. She instantly mentally scolded herself as a blush crept on her cheeks. She must have grown too used to being by Adrian's side. She kept her distance as they walked into the sitting room. She smiled pleasantly at the foreign princess, while letting her eyes scan and analyze the future wife of Prince Adrian carefully-- Something just didn't settle in right.

Alessandra mentally shook it off as silly possesiveness over her newly formed routine that was bound to go back to place or change eventually with or without the presence of the foreign Princess.

Alessandra raised an eyebrow in surprise-- She had not expected him to be that direct with his future wife. She found it almost offending the tone he carried and the way he said it, but she instantly averted her eyes away from the royal couple. The princess obviously found it amusing and endearing, but Alessandra couldn't help but feel her blood boil, possibly for more than one reason, as she tried to bite her tongue back.

Alessandra found the next question by Hye Jin even more offensive. She inwardly rolled her eyes-- Just like Adrian, she, too, looked down on us.  She thought as she felt tears sting her eyes a little. Why was she so offended by them? She was already used to Adrian and had learned to keep her mouth shut, but she felt like a little child that had been robbed of joy and teased about it. She shook away the thoughts-- they were nonsense. She just served Adrian. Nothing more.

Her eyes widened a little at Hye Jin's pointed look. It was already happening-- She was no more the only female in prince Adrian's life, as she had been for the past few months as he healed. She gave her a sweet smile before following closely behind.

''Arrogant. Perfect match.'' She mumbled as she walked closer to Adrian rather than Hye Jin.

[Assistant]
The day went by smoothly as Adrian showed Hye Jin around WhiteHaven. Adrian had been the perfect gentleman while Hye Jin played the perfect shy and demure future queen. Once or twice, Hye Jin had been unpleasant to Alessandra but Adrian had always distracted her from making a big fuss about it.

They were at the central park when Henry finally broke the silence and leaned his head slightly towards Alessandra. "She looks beautiful but I am not sure I like her," he whispered and then looked at her face, a thoughtful look on his face. "I don't think you do, either. Do you think she is fit for our Prince Adrian?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement. He had been constantly at both Adrian and Alessandra's side that he had guessed that the young handmaiden was beginning to look differently at the crown prince.

[User]
Alessandra was at the edge of bursting at Hye Jin with her several trials to offend Alessandra, let it be a look or a word. She had physically bit her tongue to distract herself from the princess that was also her future Queen.
Instead of focusing even further on Hye Jin and everything she disliked so far with more reasons to dislike her, Alessandra enjoyed the tour of WhiteHaven as she really didn't get the chance to see it.

Alessandra looked up at Henry; She had grown to his presence and even liked having him around, not only because then she was assured that no harm would come to Adrian but alwo because he was generally a good person. She was more than glad when Henry announced his dislike of Hye Jin; I am not the only one!

"Is she fit? Of course. A far away kingdom, stronger connections. She is beautiful, she seems to already be crazy about Prince Adrian." She noted then paused.

"Do I see her fit? Absolutely not. She is a snake. A hypocritical snake. I definitely am not comfortable with having her around." She added as she huffed out a frustrated breath.

[Assistant] Henry chuckled at how fervently Alessandra described the Princess that had her arm linked through their Crown Prince's. "A snake? This is our first time laying our eyes on this foreign princess yet you've already labeled her as such," he looked around. "It is a good thing that there are no royal guards around. If they heard this conversation, I fear we might not be treated pleasantly," but despite his warning, he continued on. "I am, however, more curious about what you think of her FOR Prince Adrian," he emphasized the word for. He lowered his voice further. "What I am saying is, are you not at all jealous?"

[User] At the mention of the royal guards, Alessandra frowned; She did do many things that should have gotten her beheaded at the least. She smiled as Henry continued on the conversation anyway, but at his elaboration, all emotions faded off her face as she blushed deeply at his question. She laughed a little humorlessly. "jealous? Ha. I? Not at all---- Maybe just.. You know I have been the only female around the Prince lately, a new one is not always welcomed, especially not rude, arrogant ones." She answered honestly as she shook her head a little, the feeling of disappointment growing in her-- Was she jealous?

[Assistant]
Henry listened to Alessandra, gave her a knowing look and then stayed silent. He turned his attention to the royal couple.

"When my father told me about this marriage, I could not contain my excitement on both meeting a handsome prince..." Hye Jin lowered her head and looked shyly at Adrian through her lashes. "...and being able to finally see WhiteHaven. I have only read about it in books, seen it through paintings. I never imagined it to be this beautiful,' she praised.

Adrian chuckled at Hye Jin's praise of him. He looked around, pleased that WhiteHaven was to his future wife's liking. It was truly magnificent. With a smile on his face, he looked back at the princess. "I, myself, have never been to Gyeongsang and like you, Princess, have only seen it through paintings and books. I imagine, however, that it is bigger and more magnificent than WhiteHaven."

Hye Jin shook her head. "Gyeongsang is vast but we do not have the splendid harbors that you do. Seeing the ocean is a treat for me," she said as she turned a whole 360 degrees to take in the scene. "I'm sure, though, that my kingdom will delight you, Adrian. Perhaps we can visit it before our wedding? she suggested.

Adrian turned with her and his eyes fell momentarily on Alessandra. Her cheeks were flushed, probably at something Henry said. He glanced at Henry. He had a smile on his face. Is there something going on between the two of them? he thought as his eyes settled back on his handmaiden.

Hye Jin had been chattering about the scenic places she planned on taking Adrian to when she noticed that the Prince was distracted. She frowned and followed his line of gaze. Her frown deepened when she saw that it was Alessandra that he was looking at. She cleared her throat and raised her voice a little louder. "Do you not think that 6 months is a little too long to wait to be wed?" she asked, making sure that her voice carried over to where Alessandra was standing.

Adrian blinked and then turned back to Hye Jin. He raised an eyebrow. "6 months is just enough time to familiarize ourselves with each other. Do you want to push forward our wedding?" he asked, his attention again fully on the Princess.

Hye Jin smiled up at the prince. "We can always familiarize ourselves with each other even after we are wedded," she giggled shyly. "I merely want to assure myself of my place by your side," she stood on tiptoe and pressed a light kiss on Adrian's cheek. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink at her bold actions and she immediately lowered her head again. "I like you," she admitted shyly.

Adrian looked surprised at what the Princess did. He chuckled. "I am glad that you do. I can not imagine how difficult it would be if my future queen did not like me," he said.

A small frown crossed Hye Jin's lips at Adrian's response. She was hoping he would say that he liked her too. She did want him to like her too but at the moment, it was more for the sake of Alessandra. A woman of her low rank had the guts to even look straight back at her prince. It made her angry. She replaced the small frown with a charming smile as she looked back up at Adrian. "I hope in time you will find me likeable too."

Adrian returned the smile. "I am sure I will."

[User]
Alessandra was also admiring WhiteHaven as she thought of her conversation with Henry. Was she jealous? Or was it really the shift that bothered her? Was she jealous that Adrian was treating Hye Jin like a human being from day one? Of course, Alessandra inwardly scoffed, she was a princess and his future wife. If he didn't treat her well, it would be his doom on so many levels. She sighed softly. He seemed to take a liking to Hye Jin as well, so that was a bonus. Alessandra couldn't help the feeling of disappointment and jealpus grow in her; She quickly shook away the thoughts-- She was happy for her Prince! He must be excited for such an event in his life.

She looked up to find Adrian's gaze on her; The blush on her face grew deeper as she gave him a fond smile of reassurance that he was definitely doing well, as if he really needed it, but Alessandra did so anyway. She was confused as to why he didn't return the smile or even move his eyes off her that was of course until Hye Jin interrupted him by seeking his full attention once again.

Less than six months?!

Alessandra cleared her throat and looked up at Henry eith a look that clearly said--- I don't like this.


[System]
Age: 25

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Appearance:

Unmasked. Fully Armored. Fleuri stands 5'10'' without his armor.

Personality:
The Jodeau family is known for its devotion to Reon, and originally, Fleuri was no exception. Tutored by priestesses and paladins, he was brought up to be honorable, selfless, and devoted. During the last few years, however, he cast many of these values off, becoming proud, materialistic and glory-seeking, desiring above all else to obtain the fame and wealth that his family no longer possessed and to capture the glory that he missed by not being involved in the War of the Red Flag. After being humbled by his near-death experience, he has returned to his old ways as a faithful worshiper of the sun goddess, along with a few pangs of guilt of having fallen so far. He does, however, miss the friends he made in his tournament days, and even if he has parted ways with them and no longer shares their values, he hopes that they'll come to understand his decisions to rededicate himself to Reon and to join the Iron Roses.

Those who have met him can attest that Fleuri is a man of action. He is hot-blooded and quick to act or speak, but not necessarily foolish or impulsive- his experience fighting in tournaments taught him the importance of quick thinking and decisive action when windows of opportunity appear. When he speaks, he never makes claims he cannot back up and never makes promises that he does not believe he can keep.

As an Iron Rose Knight, Fleuri is fiercely loyal to the order, to its customs, and to its captain. Serving in the order is an honored tradition for his family, and he pays no attention to the criticism of the order or its traditions. As far as he's concerned, Fanilly was chosen the goddess just as Elionne was, and one need only look at the deeds and valor of the previous captain- a woman who be enshrined in history as one of Thaln's greatest heroines- as proof that the soundness of their means of selecting a captain.

Brief Backstory:
The Jodeau family is a once powerful, now minor noble family in northern Thaln. Over a century ago, its head at the time, Armand Jodeau, dedicated himself and his house wholly to Reon. As proof of his devotion, he gave most of his family's then-considerable land to the peasants that worked them as a gesture of piety and lack of materialism. Armand would go on to serve a Paladin of Reon and later an Iron Rose Knight before embarking on a quest which he never returned from. Ever since then, the Jodeau family has remained close to the Church of Reon, both to honor Armand and because in their considerably diminished state, they have become reliant on the charity of the church.

Fleuri was the second child of the Jodeau family and was thus raised to become a knight. His family had little in terms of wealth or holdings, but the church provided that which his family could not. Consequently, Fleuri received an education from Reonite priestesses and was trained in knightly combat by Reonite paladins. While the rebellion raged, Fleuri served as the squire and later accompanying knight of a paladin of Reon, battling necromancers that sought to capitalize on the bloodshed and death. As noble as it was, and as important of a duty as it was, he was frustrated by the unsung nature of their behind-the-scenes quest while others were gaining fame and prestige on the battlefield. Their quest would last until shortly after the end of the war, with their final defeat of the necromancer coven taking place just a few days before the final battle. Fleuri was, at the time, greatly distressed at not having been able to participate in such a historical moment for Thaln, all because he was undertaking a quest that few people would ever hear about. After the war ended, he parted ways from his mentor, seeking opportunities for a knight to make a name for himself.

During his travels, he began entering the tournaments in the lands he passed through, where, with many of Thaln's knights dead or disgraced as a result of the war, there was a shortage of contenders. Utilizing the training he had received from the Reonite paladins, Fleuri proved himself a capable tournament fighter, and as time went on, the "Flower of the North" had much success in the competitions. With the winnings, he was able to replace his hand-me-down armor and weapons, and considered buying back some of his family's ancestral lands. He pushed out the virtues and lessons of piety and humility that he had once been taught, and reveled in the attention and prestige of the competitions. He stopped aiding those in need, and became focused solely on gaining fame and money.

While traveling to a major tournament, he fell deathly ill from a fever and sought aid from the Church. As he laid there, tended to by the priestesses, all he could think about was how he had fallen from his path, more concerned with gold and glory than helping others, and now faced the prospect of dying before he could make amends and correct his mistakes. When he recovered, he attributed it to the will of the goddesses. He renewed his vows and vigil at the church, rededicating himself to fighting evil and aiding the innocent, and wrote a letter to his former mentor apologizing for his actions and promising to make things right. Fleuri may not have died, but he was reborn.

During the next tournament, he fought harder than he ever had before, and when the dust settled, he was the last man standing in the infantry melee. Hailed as a champion, and standing on the precipice of fame and glory, he proved himself a changed man when he donated the prize to the church and soon afterward petitioned to join the Iron Rose Knights, following in his ancestor's footsteps. Since ending his tournament career, Fleuri has served the order faithfully.

Equipment:
Fleuri's suit of armor is a dark silver plate harness, purchased with tournament winnings to replace his old hand-me-down armor, and accompanied with a white cape. His primary weapon is a two-handed sword, his preference for which he picked up as a squire, having come to appreciate its effectiveness at dismembering undead that'd otherwise shrug off stab wounds and shallow cuts. His other possessions include a dagger as a backup weapon and a gray warhorse for transportation and mounted combat. When riding into battle, he often additionally carries a cavalry lance and attires his horse with a white caparison, both bearing his family's livery.

Skills:
Fleuri has been trained in the use of a variety of knightly weapons, but he is most experienced and proficient in the wielding of greatswords. He employs an aggressive and surprisingly fast-paced fighting style not atypical for devotees of Reon, moving and attacking far more swiftly than his armor and heavy weapon would suggest. He is additionally skilled in horsemanship and in the use of a lance, owed to frequent travel and the many jousts he has participated in. While he lacks the fire magic of the Reonite clergy that mentored him, he will sometimes carry vials of Reonite holy water if he expects to face undead.

[User]
Fionn MacKerracher

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Fionn stood impassively behind the bandit as he spoke as to the state of their camp and what might be found within it, though he did give a small nod at Renar's swift execution. "Good strike," he murmured approvingly. Not that the man had been likely to last long anyways—Fionn was almost certain he could smell the wine mingling with the blood pouring out the man's abdomen—but not everyone to sustain a gut wound was lucky enough to have it be immediately fatal...most were left begging for their comrades to end them instead, after a few days.

He shook his head at the thought, glad for the mail under his cloak.

However, at least that was a known possibility. Animals being captured and used by the slavers wasn't one he'd thought to keep in mind, beyond the usual horses and dogs. Larger than a bear, fed on rabbits, and quite literally kept under wraps. He pursed his lips as he bent down, picking up the head that Renar had so cleanly severed. He weighed it thoughtfully in his hand for a moment, before twisting to see where the others were piling the bodies. It was a bit far for a toss, but midway along...

"Sir Gerard!" he called out momentarily, before spinning on one foot and putting the head in his direction, where it would land and roll to the younger man's feet. He'd drag the rest of the body over in a moment, but first, he needed to see what information he might be able to gain for his own personal peace of mind. Fanilly seemed unharmed, luckily, so one of his possible worries was stricken out.

"Captain, as you're no doubt already aware, I'm still somewhat unfamiliar with Thaln. Is there some sort of odd and rare animal that makes its home around here, or that you've known to be brought through on trade? One that would actually interest these villains?" The possibility of rushing into a trap was one that always remained at the front of his mind, and he was even more focused on it than usual after the skirmish they'd just experienced; he somewhat doubted that these bandits were inclined to expand into exotic poaching when their speaking prey had proved so profitable for them.

That meant that the animal was, most likely, a weapon, by his estimation—and if it was larger than a bear and made some unrecognizable shrieks and other noises, he could only imagine how thick its hide might be, or if it was possessed of some sort of natural armouring. Everybody knew dragons were real, of course, but there were other beasts he'd always thought were mere myth...

Could he be wrong?

"Even if this advance party was ill-prepared, given what the bandits have already been dealing with, I can only imagine they've been putting in preparations to deal with continually escalating force, whether that be larger numbers of soldiers or sending in people like us. I've not made much study into what is and isn't used, but I don't like the thought that they've procured some obscure beast of war to harry us, especially as we've had to abandon our mounts and lances in this forest."

[Assistant]
Morianne

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@HereComesTheSnow

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The troubadour smirked upon hearing the bandit give up so easily. Usually this spell took a bit of work to function properly as Morianne hadn't quite mastered it.

"Palisades," he said, "there's palisades set up around the camp, but it's not a complete wall... a watch-tower too…"

Jackpot! Morianne thought.

The troubadour could only guess as to how long this sort of information would have taken to get if Gerard had his way. Judging by his looks, Morianne assumed Gerard would simply kill the bandit if he refused to talk. Morianne couldn't help but think such behavior would be… unbefitting of a knight and just downright vile.

"Oh my," Morianne exclaimed with a theatrical gasp, continuing her little show while Gerard, having conceded to Morianne's way of doing things, walked off. "I can only imagine what other dashing plans you have it st-"

 Her act was cut off by a biting jab from the 'Murderhobo'.

"If you're gonna smooch him, wipe your mouth after. Don't know where he's been."

Morianne looked back at the bandit, only now beginning to notice the grotesque, swollen features of the bandit's face. She gagged, just now realizing what she had initially promised the spellbound bandit. Revolted, she slammed the man's head into the ground with a resounding thud. He was out cold.

"Alright. My fun's over," Morianne said. The troubadour pointed at the, now unconscious, bandit. "Somebody help me lug this damn ugly bastard into a ditch or something! I can't carry his fat ass by myself!"

However, it seemed that the other knights were going about their duties disposing of the bodies, leaving Morianne's demands unanswered.

[User]
Fleuri watched as Morianne cast a spell of charming on the bandit. Any resistance the prisoner had seemed to disappear as he explained the fortification that lay ahead. Fleuri was impressed at this feat of magic, but found himself a little unsettled at the notion of playing with someone's mind. Would he be able to resist the effects of magics, if they were cast upon him? A few years ago he would probably would've been easy to put under such a spell. In the present day, by contrast, he hoped that his rediscovered piety would serve him well enough.

Fleuri wouldn't be standing around to think about it- Tyaethe ordered Fleuri, among other knights, to dispose of the corpses. As he began to look around for a body to move, however, Morianne asked the knights for help moving the now-unconscious prisoner.

"I'll help you out, Dame Morianne," Fleuri answered as he picked up the bandit and threw him over his shoulder. He'd much rather handle the living than the dead, and Tyaethe had already gathered plenty of corpse-movers from among the Iron Roses.

"Speaking of him, that was a rather impressive trick, getting him to talk like that," he complimented her.

Morianne was an oddity among the knights. She was a wood elf and troubadour, neither of which were particularly common in the order. She wasn't known for having a particularly pleasant personality, as evidenced by her subduing of the bandit as soon as she had gotten what she needed out of him. Still, Fleuri never made a point of antagonizing her- as an ageless elf and a bard, it was quite likely that if she didn't die in battle, she may very well live to write songs, romances, and poems of the Iron Roses, and to become her enemy would be to risk being portrayed in a less-than flattering light to future generations.

As Fleuri carried the unconscious prisoner to their rear rank to be bound, he noticed the corpses being piled up. As the pile was built up, Fleuri thought back on his past. During the War of the Red Flag, he and his mentor visited the aftermath of a few battles. During this time, the duo witnessed firsthand what could happen when the dead of a battle were left unattended. He learned the importance of cleaning up the fallen, even those not judged worthy of a proper burial. There were many reasons to do so- to prevent the spread of disease, to give the most basic dignity to their enemies, to keep potentially dangerous scavengers from amassing in the area- but the most important one was to ensure they didn't get back up as undead. The Iron Roses were more than capable of handling a few shambling corpses if the need arose, but was much better to prevent the raising of the dead than to undo it after the fact.

Loser


[System]
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Disposition:
Sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, Elaine is almost a classical example of the fiery redhead. While she may be small in stature, she makes up for it with a larger-than-life sense of (occasionally dark) humour. Despite this, she is a professional when it comes to her skill for reconnaissance and observation.
Her humour also serves as a skin of armour around her more fragile heart, marred by past experiences she doesn't dwell on and only shares with those who have been around long enough to get to know her, and vice versa. Despite her barbed sense of humour, she is always careful to make sure those around her know her jibes and insults are only meant in good humour, and are not intended to be taken seriously, and to make sure that any positive thoughts and feelings she has toward other people are felt first.
Elaine is mostly compassionate and quite moral when dealing with others and conducting her duties to the Panthers and their clients. She hates to see others suffer, and will ruthlessly and efficiently deal with those who prey on the weakness of others, and use them to their own advantage. However, she has little sympathy for those who are unwilling to defend themselves or others when they have the ability.

Background:
Born in the UKE, Elaine grew up in a family with a smattering of military service on her fathers' side. He served in the Royal Estovian Navy, as a Fleet Air Arm pilot at first, before moving into a more desk-based role after the birth of Elaine and her brother Thomas. Elaine's mother was - and still is - a journalist, who was reporting from the field during a peace-keeping and disaster relief operation where Elaine's dad was part of the multi-national force sent.

Elaine grew up fascinated and intrigued by stories from both her parents, and her joining the RKE military was a given. She signed on with the Land Forces, captivated by a parade and demonstration some short years ago by FRAMES, showing off their agility and capabilities in a variety of theatrical and daring stunts and manoeuvers.

Elaine quickly turned from an gangling, awkward teenager into a competent and attractive woman and one with a strong set of personal and professional dedications and skills. Earning respect among her comrades and peers, she served in a small-scale operation overseas, seeing short, but violent bursts of combat, as well as more complex moral and political conflicts up close. The experience kindled a turbulent mass of thoughts and emotions within her, before her rotation back to the RKE. She carried the things she had seen with her for a long time, and went through a very rough patch of hard-drinking and destructive behaviour for several months, before one of her older and more experienced colleagues bought her around with hsi own stories and experiences, as well as a few short, sharp lessons. Learning from his example, she cleaned herself up and turned into the soldier she had always wanted to be and admired. Her second and third tours of duty were, as a result, some of her finest work, and those that earned her the notice of her superiors outside of her unit, after using her reconnaissance expertise to pinpoint enemy movements and positions with great accuracy and refinement.

Around her 33rd year of age, news came to her that her father had been captured overseas, after the country he was working in as part of the embassy staff had been consumed by a violent uprising. Despite her urging and her moderate level of accomplishment and achievements, she could do nothing to spur any form of action. All too late the word came to launch an operation to recover those held hostage; late enough that she had to hold her mother and brother as her father was executed live, for all to see.
Disgusted, jaded, and hollow inside, she went AWOL for weeks, before finally being picked up after being found wandering some backwoods town, so drunk she didn't know where she was, or what was even happening. Embarassed by everything to do with the situation, the RKE land forces quietly paid her and her family off, and discharged Elaine.
Bitter and still burning inside with the need to do something, Elaine forced herself into a second round of clean-up and travelled for a while, trading on her skills as a pilot to do cash-in-hand construction or other mundane work. Over the months, she found herself missing the military life, and it was after one of these jobs she got talking with a pilot, who pointed her in the direction of Mercenary life. After a bit of quiet scouting, someone recognized her, and offered her a position with the Panthers.
She mused over it for a while, before - surprisingly - her brother and mother both pushed her gently toward the role, seeing that as much as she missed her father, there were other things missing in her life too.
That was three years ago, and she hasn't looked back since. She still carries memories of her father with her, and keeps in regular touch with her family, using them as a grounding point for herself to the 'real world' out there.

Appearance:

Short, at barely scraping 5' 3", Elaine is petite and slender. Despite her age, she has a youthful complexion and appearance, looking like someone several years younger than her. Her bright red hair has only a few streaks of grey-white in it, and the mass of freckles masks the lines of her face. Her eyes are particularly bright and piercing, marking her skill as an excellent observer.

Inventory:
* Combat/survival knife
* Pilots' suit with ballistic armour and equipment harness
* Pilots' helmet
* Military-spec datapad strapped to right forearm
* Dust/Glare Goggles
* SMG with holographic sight, laser module, flashlight and detachable suppressor (shares suppressor with pistol).
* Standard semi-automatic handgun with underbarrel flashlight and detachable suppressor

[User]
While his fellow pilots asked questions his mind was wandering thinking of how much he should try to make contact before the first mission as the odds are, it's a very optimistic result to expect everyone to be up to the job. Maybe even he himself would not make a cut.
His attention snapped back when when he heard a very important question asked:
 He heard a woman say, immediately noticing the very burring nature of her pronunciation of 'R' and judging by her smile, she was a veteran of the Panthers.

Then before he got to give it any more thought her question was answered and he wanted to hear it well;
He felt that there was something odd with the number of FRAMEs escorting the truck. what is worth 4 million in credits that is protected by roughly double the FRAMEs to transports. He did not get too long to linger with that question as another Person started to ask a question,
but it turned more to a rant not long after and he stopped paying attention to it. but still breaking a little smile as he knew that at least there would be chatter to lighten up the mood.

as prompted he went off and he wanted to make sure that his FRAME was up to the task so he went up to check on it, on his way when he came to the FRAME hangar and his what drew his attention was when he heard:

he saw a man that was not at the briefing but he decided to get off the scene, he didn't want to make bonds before he knew they would make a cut, or if he did for that matter, feeling a little down about how he did turn his tail at the enemy while rest of his squad was slaughtered but reminding himself there was nothing he could have done for them, aside from living on in their stead. He pushed those thoughts aside as he came to 'Revenant', his own frame while not very personalized yet, he felt that naming his FRAMEs deepened his connection to it.

He went inside and looked over his equipment one more time, also running test on components so there would be no nasty surprises on the field. After looking over his FRAME he decided to have his cockpit open and wait for GO, casually looking over the frames of the others.

[Assistant]
Jason leaves the briefing room feeling energized, 8-10 enemies verses what seems to be an even force of mercenaries. 'Could be diecy' he thinks to himself as he enters the hangar with his FRAME. To steady his nerves and calm his mind he begins maintence of his FRAME. he field strips his dual Auto-cannons and oils them up well, to assure himself that there will be no unexpected complications in battle. Once he finishes with the Guns he checks over the missile launcher, making sure that there is no chance for a misfire. once all these checks had been completed he looked at the clock, 15 minutes until the mission. He loads all the ammunition into the FRAME and climbs into the cockpit. running several systems diagnostics that only take a few moments.

Once his FRAME checked out to his satisfaction Jason powers it on and moves around lightly. He tests the range of motion in his arms and legs, it was the same as it always had been, but its a good reminder that the FRAME doesn't quite move the same way as a human. checking the on board clock it's 10 more minutes until the mission starts, he mutters to himself "Come on! Im ready for the fight!." with nothing better to do, he shadow boxes for a couple minutes to get the engine and himself warmed up for battle, with only five minutes remaining he stops and just breathes deeply, waiting for hell.

[User]
Ryder filed quickly into the room where the FRAMEs were held. She stopped only for a slight moment, as if admiring her machine. She hadn't been a FRAME pilot for long after all. The hulking metal war machine was still a bit awe-striking. Ryder approached her machine putting a hand on its metallic armor. Theta, she called it. Well... There was a small Theta symbol carved right into the FRAME's back, so if fit. It was subtle, and that suited her. Ryder picked up a nearby cloth, cleaning some dirt from the FRAME.

Ryder's attention snapped to the music emerging from the opening cockpit. A veteran of the Panthers, it seemed, came into sight from within the FRAME. Her blank stare was short lived, for after he greeted the group, she simply turned back to Theta. As her gaze fell onto the FRAME, her mind started to wander. Their Commanding Officer seemed nice enough, though the Field Commander seemed a bit harsh. Nothing Ryder wasn't expecting to deal with. She wasn't one to get on people's bad sides anyways.

Then her thoughts moved on to the mission. She was simply planning ahead and thinking over each of the pilots that spoke up during the briefing, trying to analyze their personalities to figure out how they would act in combat. It was almost a habit for her. Throughout all her time in thought, passing the Panther's little test didn't really cross her mind. Ryder had just planned to do what she normally did. That has gotten her this far.

Ryder then activated her FRAME, opening the cockpit and peering inside to make sure everything was in order. With a quick sweep of the interior, she sat inside with the cockpit still open. She brought a hand to her hair brushing it to the best of her abilities with just her hand for now. From there, she simply waited, watching each of the other pilots, silently. It was almost as if she was silently sizing up her fellow recruits, but she really had no opinions on them. Ryder never really liked or disliked any of her co-workers before, unless they got cocky. Ryder had a very set in stone 'Prepare for the worst' mentality.

Ryder then went through each of the recruits that spoke at the briefing, forming her opinions of each. First off, there was the man that asked about payment, Jason. Ryder figured it was typical mercenary behavior, but felt this could lead to him putting himself before others. There was also another who spoke up, asking about the details of the mission. She was comfortable with Cecilia, so she must have been a veteran. Ryder gave herself a silent nod. She figured she could trust this girl when things went bad. Finally, came the talkative one, Harold. He sure hadn't gotten off well with Cecilia, not to mention he had said he was better supporting then fighting. That was worrying, but Ryder pushed it out of her head. She'd have to watch him to make sure he wasn't directly attacked. That was everyone who spoke at the conference. The only other person Ryder had heard speak so far was the man that was in his FRAME during the meeting. He must also have been a veteran, but he fell asleep in his cockpit? Ryder, absent-mindedly started wondering if that had ever happened during combat, sending Bernard a perplexed look, but shortly looking away.

She quickly went back to routine checking of all her FRAME's systems until moments before their mission was to begin. Ryder always made sure to be early, so she was in her FRAME and secure a few minutes beforehand.

[Assistant]
Elaine arched an eyebrow at the attempt by one of the newcomers to explain himself in depth, and the subsequent dressing down by Cecilia. His emphasis on battle management and support turned the thought in her that she would likely end up working a lot with the new pilots; her own role of reconnaissance and observation was very much along the same lines. Between them, they'd likely end up providing most of the tactical picture for the rest of the unit while on the field. Hopefully, though, he'd be a bit more assured and competent while they were under the guns of the 'bad guys' out in the real world.

Everyone seemed to be filing out and heading for the FRAME hangar, with little else left to say. Taking it as her cue to do the same, the redheaded pilot followed her comrades down the corridors and passages of the landship to the cathedral-like space that the machines occupied. Everyone set to work adjusting and checking their machines. It was a slight shock as Bernards' FRAME opened up to reveal him looking sleep-dishevelled inside the cockpit and greeting everyone. Elaine simply shook her head and gave a smirk toward the fellow pilot, adding a wave of acknowledgement.
She climbed up into her machine, fondly named 'Raven' and with a stylised image of the bird by the same name on one shoulder. She didn't close the hatch, but instead powered up the onboard computer systems for a self-test, and began to run through checklists, preferences and checks, making sure links were clear and established between her machine and the others, and also back to the ship. Likewise, she ran diagnostics on all onboard systems and weapons; no use being caught short in the field, and even if the techs had checked everything, double-checking was always worthwhile, and she liked having the piece of mind of knowing it was done.
As she worked, she glanced up and looked around at the others; they showed a range of reactions. Some eager to get into the fight, other showing cautious and measured approaches to their preparation. How much of that would show once they were out and into the thick of things? She was curious to see how it would go.