[System]
Since a picture's worth a thousand words and because I'm not all that good at describing physical characteristics I'll let these two speak for me. Ragan's 5'8 slight to medium build. Fit and athletic as per her profession. When in civvies she's a casual dresser. Jeans, cargo pants or shorts. Boots, sneakers, tank tops, shirts, t-shirts. She doesn't like skirts, but she does love little black dresses for formal events.

Background: Regan's mother, a member of the surviving Amish community, was raped during her rumspringa by a violent, crazed-with-his-newfound-power young Epic. Since she was badly beaten and bleeding profusely after the rape, she was admitted to a hospital. Her parents were notified and she was quickly discharged and brought back to the community. Because her rape was medically proven, there was no grounds for shunning or excommunication. However the community did not believe in abortion and Regan's mother was made to carry the baby to term.

Soon after, baby Regan was delivered to an orphanage in Epic City, sponsored by the ECPD. Regan grew up under the stern, yet loving, eye of the caregivers in the orphanage. The children were well cared for and well provided for thanks to the patronage of the ECPD and its employees. Regan never wanted for much. She was well clothed, well fed and well instructed and educated. She had daily chores, as did all the children in the orphanage to teach them a sense of responsibility and accountability.

When Regan was about eight years old, well beyond the adopting age... A family arrived. Emily and Collin Murphy. Regan knew the woman as one of the cops who often visited the orphanage to play with the children or talk with them about being good, staying away from strangers and out of trouble, studying and stuff like that. Emily'd always been good to Regan. The girl'd even imagined once or twice that she would one day adopt her. But that never happened and soon she outgrew the silly notion. She didn't mind living in the orphanage. She was told her parents'd died so she didn't wonder why she was abandoned, like some of the other children she lived with. She didn't know how to be sad for them, because she never knew them. She didn't even know their names. But she was a little sad when Emily stopped coming to the orphanage at some point and she had to abandon her dream of the lady cop adopting her.

She couldn't know Emily had stop coming, because she and her husband were trying to have a baby. And that she'd almost carried the baby to term, but after unforeseen complications, they'd not only lost the baby, but she'd lost the ability to give birth. When finally Emily and Collin had started healing from the loss of their unborn child, they'd started thinking of adopting. And Regan was Emily's one and only obvious choice since she'd always loved the little girl.

And so, at eight years of age Regan was adopted within the Collin family. She was ecstatic her favorite lady cop had returned for her. And she quickly grew to love Collin too. He was a warm man. Author of children's books and children fantasy books. So Regan was spoiled rotten come bad time. He would weave the most phantasmagorical stories for his favorite little girl, as he liked to called her. Little Regan would also spend hours upon hours getting into all sorts of trouble around her mother's precinct. She was an inquisitive kid with a bright mind and a penchant for puzzle solving. It was all Emily could do to spare the young girl the more gruesome side to her work.

When Regan was about fifteen Collin and Emily sat her down and told her the truth about her mother and how she'd been conceived. Regan did feel sad then for her birth mother then, because she sorta knew what it meant for a girl to get raped. And she couldn't begin hating all Epics, because of what her birth father did to her birth mother, since she already knew there were good Epics thanks to Emily. She did ask Collin and Emily if her mother had given her away or is she was forced to abandon her, but they honestly didn't know. And that was that.

Regan grew to be a kind young woman. With a quick mind and an aptitude for solving puzzles. From Emily she inherited a love for sports and martial arts and a sense of justice. From Collin she inherited her sense of humor and whimsy, her love for books and arts. Thanks to him she discovered her love for singing. She had a beautiful naturally husky voice which she often used to put the children to sleep whenever she, Emily and Collin would visit the orphanage, where she had spent the first eight years of her life.

Immediately after college Regan joined the ECPD and began working hard toward her goal - PART.

More hard work followed and a couple of years after she was accepted in the Parahuman Action Response Team, she was awarded the honor to be offered a position in the Special Response unit where, to the pride of her mother and father, she climbed to the rank of Corporal in charge of her own small team.

Credit: ihinkaName: Megan Robinson

Alias (if any): Megs

Age: 18

Faction: Normal

Personality: Megan is a vibrant girl despite her disability. She has a very sunny disposition, but can be very serious when the need calls. She is wise beyond her years and is more calm and settled compared to other kids her age. She loves drawing and telling stories with pictures since it's how she can best express herself. She wants to be a graphic novelist. Megan possesses a boundless empathy and understanding towards other people's suffering, being born deaf-mute.

Appearance: At 5'8 Megan is tall and lanky, but certainly not frail. She is pail with gold blond hair and vivid blue eyes. Her nose and shoulders are littered with freckles, which she quite adores. Her facial features are delicate, with straight nose, pink slightly pouty lips and almost translucent eyebrows and eyelashes. She enjoys wearing all sorts of clothing. Pants, skirts, blouses, shirts, Ts. The more vibrant in color the better.

Background: Megan was born deaf-mute to Sara and Jorge Robinson. Her parents went to great lengths to provide everything their girl would need in life as a deaf-mute. Since her father worked as air traffic controller, their family never wanted for money. They were pretty well off. Megan received the best of care and started learning sign language and reading lips early on. She grew up a happy kid despite her disability, and a little bit spoiled being an only kid, but not too much. She was a good kid and respected the boundaries her parents set for her. Plus she couldn't well afford to brake them carelessly. Not in her condition. She needed to be a wise kid, if she wanted to grow up safe and sound.

When her father experienced a burnout at work the doctors recommended rest and relaxation so the family decided to go camping in Missoula Park. They'd been camping for a couple of days and everything was going fine. The three of them were having a blast and Megan's father was getting better with each passing day.

One evening Megan woke up feeling the urge to pee. She knew she was supposed to wake one of her parents and not go alone, but she didn't want to disturb them and she wouldn't go too far anyway. She bravely exited the tent and went in search of the right bush. She knew people feared the forest at night because of all the noises. Animals, birds, insects, but she couldn't hear any of those sounds, so in a way she was fearless. She shouldn't have been. At night, in the dark and without her hearing her balance was off. She tripped and fell in a small ravine, hitting her head and passing out.

When next she woke up, the forest was burning and someone was pushing her into the ground.

When she woke up for the third time she was in the hospital and her parents were sleeping on chairs near her bed. They looked so very tired but relieved and happy she was alive and well. The next couple of weeks Megan visited the hospital often to stay with the firefighter who'd saved her life - Teagan Heyes.
Alias (if any): Khan

Age: Estimated at between 45-55

Faction: Normal

Personality: Ruthless, driven, and polite even when slicing an Epic's throat. Khan holds himself as a businessman, and is genial and charming to anyone he meets. Despite the fact that he irrationally loathes all Epics and Freaks, including the High. He demands respect from his followers, and acts quickly and decisively when he doesn't get it.

Appearance: A large caucasian male. That's how his ECPD document begins and ends. Reports of his blond hair and blue eyes are known from only a few witnesses, and they 'disappeared' shortly after. He's usually clad in a white business suit, with a crimson red shirt and a white tie. Atop his head is a white, wide-brimmed fedora with a red band. His shoes are also white. In fact, the only part of his known outfit that isn't white or crimson is a single gold tie clasp.

Background: Nobody is entirely sure where Khan came from. What they do know is that he's the most terrifying force in Epic City outside of the High. Leader of the gang known as the Kryptonites, Khan is directly responsible for more Epic deaths than any known person, and indirectly responsible for a great number more. His followers use any tactic possible to destroy Epics, and care little for collateral damage. Their stated mission is to "restore the supremacy of humanity".

Credit: BlueTommy2Name: Maria Daniels

Age: 20

Faction: Normal

Personality: Maria is agoraphobic and rarely leaves her home, though a few years without a home has definitely made her a lot less fearful than she was in the past. She is almost as sarcastic as Edward, a factor towards their becoming friends, though she doesn't show this to anyone she doesn't know, preferring to stay quiet and hide in corners. She hates danger, and does all she can to avoid it.

Appearance: Maria is around 5'4", almost too thin, and with very thin limbs. She's very insecure about most aspects of her personality, including her weight, which she believes is too low, and her face, which is pointed and decidedly man-like. She has bright red hair that she wears at shoulder-length. She has bright green eyes. When she does leave the house, she covers up as much as possible, wearing huge jackets and scarves even in the summer.

Biography: Maria is Edward's room-mate.

They met at a bar when Edward first arrived at the city and was looking for love in all the wrong places. She was dragged there by her friends and he was only there because there was nowhere else, so they were both intensely uncomfortable. They got to talking, she found out he was gay but they enjoyed each-other's company and she needed somewhere to live so it turned out well enough.

She's unemployed but works with him on repairing his outfit when it gets damaged. She's very introverted and rarely leaves the house, but Edward doesn't mind because he cares about her like a sister.

She was born in Epic city and has lived there all her life, she isn't uncomfortable with the High's dominance of all parts of the island in any manner, even if she did, she's too agoraphobic to do anything about it, though she's trying to come out of her shell. She was kicked out of her home at 18 by her old fashioned parents, and was homeless for two years, living off of what friends she had before meeting Edward.

[User]
Alto wanted to chuckle a little bit but he felt like it'd be in bad taste. So she was older than him, but she felt younger. He felt like it was good to have time to be young and not have responsibility, but he was well beyond that stage already so maybe he just didn't know what it felt like on the other side.

"I'm 17 you know," He said with a small smile. "I'm younger than you, but I still don't feel like I have much time to be young left."

He wondered what kind of career trajectory he would've had if he'd grown up more normally. What would he be doing right now? There was always the possibility that he'd still be here in this very moment doing just about the same thing he was doing now but the difference between the possibilities were what he carried with him.

"Don't think too much about it," He said. "Just tell me what the date is and where I'm supposed to go."

[Assistant]
The man fell silent and Teagan stared at him long and hard. Her jaw clenching and unclenching. She wasn't all that concerned he would try to take Megan away from her. What concerned her was that if he tried, she would have to fight him tooth and nail and Megan would suffer for it. She sincerely thought child services war not that cruel. Their job was largely an ungrateful one. But when the system worked, they did well. She thought of Regan growing up an orphan. A child service agent was surely involved in her adoption.

 She pulled her phone out of her pocket. Obviously the man was used to such subterfuge, for being able to catch her furtive movements. She squared him with a look and unmuted her mic. "Regan, stay on the line, will ye. I'm gonna put ye on speaker."

 "I'm here." Came the simple quiet reply. She'd heard enough of the conversation and understood why Teagan'd called. Caution was always advised. And she was glad the firefighter had thought of her first. "Mr Smith." She interjected after a moment of silence. "Know that I'm a police officer and you're credentials are being confirmed as we speak." Satisfied, she fell silent again.

 "Ye have my full attention, Mr Smith." Teagan said placing her phone on the coffee table and shifting forward on the sofa. "I hope ye understand that given the hour I'll reserve the right to sign any documents or release and personal information at a later time... Even if it is just a formality."


[System]
Female
Age 24
Appearance
5'6"
Lean flexible athletic build
Light skin (Japanese)
Appears to have shoulder length jet black slightly spikey hair from the front. However her hair splits into parts, taking the longer half and tying it together at the neck into a downwards facing ponytail that reaches her middle back.
Medium sized ahoge, more of angular/rigid spike shape, changes based on their mood/emotions. And electrical charge in battle.
Dark drab blueish-gray/steel left eye.
Yellow right eye with a slit shaped pupil.
Eyebrow over her left eye has a slit break in it towards the outer middle.
Irezumi tattoos:
Right arm- Nagasode style sleeve tattoo extending down to her wrist. Nara black wind bars for a background, with a green snake with a red belly coiling down her arm with it's head ending at her outer wrist.
Left arm- Shichibu style sleeve tattoo extending down to her middle forearm. Nara black wind bars for a background, with a blue snake with a yellow belly coiling up her arm with it's head resting on the front of her upper shoulder. Kanji for Mamushi 蝮 (pit viper) tattooed in black on the inner blank space of her forearm.
Back- Her entire back is covered in large nara black ink clouds for a background. And a large tattoo of the giant 8 headed and tailed snake Yamata no Orochi, various flowers, and lightning bolts in the foreground.
Slightly elongated fang canine teeth on the top and bottom as compared to normal people. Teeth are overall sharper.
Ear piercings- Left: Two slim steel rings on their lobe. Helix cuff.
Right: Circular silver stud on their lobe. Smaller steel cuff at the middle of the outer ear/lower helix.
Black painted nails.

Customized slightly oversized black leather asymmetrical moto jacket. Worn unzipped with belt hanging loose.
Steel curb chain necklace that extends down to her chest. Medium sized silver upside down cross pendant.
Zip-up black hoodie. Worn under her jacket with the hood laid over the jackets collar. Worn unzipped often with the sleeves pulled up to her elbows.
Vintage oversized heavy metal band T-shirts, some with the sleeves cut off. Worn over fishnet shirt. (Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth)
Long sleeve black fishnet shirt. Sleeve extends into a fishnet fingerless gloves on the left but is cut off at the wrist on the right.
Silver signet ring on right middle finger with an upside down cross engraved in it.
Mokume-gane Ouroboros shaped ring with pink jeweled eyes on left index finger.
Steel cuban link chain bracelet on right wrist.
Steel studded black leather belt.
Steel chain hanging down at her right side. One end attached to a belt loop, the other to a pocket watch manadial.
Worn/faded slim dark indigo Japanese selvage denim jeans. (Black or stonewash alt. colors)
Black with white accents Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 running shoes.
Black calf length open toe and heel socks.

Secondary hairstyle reference (Somewhere in between the two)

Close type of ponytail style reference

Raiya specializes in destructive magic. She is a master of electrical spells, and ruinous spells. She has a great foundation in most all Catholic magics as well as some Japanese Zen Buddhist/Shinto magic. As with her fascination of Japan, she also has a great fascination with snakes and has developed snake themed fighting style and magic. Every so often she sheds her skin, this makes her immune to aging. With her magic powers, she also has the ability to control certain light metals.

Raiya's parents, Japanese immigrants, owned a successful Japanese cuisine restaurant chain in New York City. Both parents died in a burglary gone wrong leaving Raiya orphaned in infancy. With a large mana constitution, Raiya was immediately adopted by the Catholic cathedral and put into mage training. Growing up in the New York Cathedral, she always shadowed Felix and thought of him as her older brother. Raiya was always proficient in magic, and her studies reflected that. Raiya achieved the rank Grand-Mage at the age of seventeen. At the age of twenty she was sent with two other grand-magi to investigate the sudden disappearance of a remote village in Italy. The village was razed, not so much as a 2x4 left standing upright. Investigating the trace of mana waves left by the spell she made her way to a nearby mountain where she found on a cliff-side the definite point of origin of the spell. Looking around the point of origin she found footprints. The foot prints looked exactly like the sole tread of a typical Catholic Magi officer. The level of destruction and the fact that the mana waves left by the spell accounted for only one spell, coupled with the footprint meant the evidence pointed toward an Arch-mage or higher to be the cause of the destruction. Once she returned to the Vatican, she provided the evidence in a council meeting. The council thanked her for the evidence provided but stated that they would be conducting the investigation from then on. Even though the council told her to no longer investigate this issue, Raiya continued the investigation on her own. Looking into the records of those who were gone the night of the destruction of the remote village, she narrowed it down to two, Arch-mage Thadeus and Arch-mage Felix. After obtaining this information, Raiya investigated both Thadues and Felix's living quarters. She discovered that Felix had never even worn his uniform boots, as he wore his own more comfortable combat boots. Thadeus, on the other hand, did not have any other pairs of footwear besides the ones on his feet, which were the uniform boots. Learning of this information but knowing the Vatican council would never listen to her, she approached Felix whom she knew was innocent. She told Felix all of the information she had obtained, but Felix brushed her aside saying that the Vatican was conducting their own investigation and to go against their demands to keep the investigation within their selected team would mean excommunication, even if the information was correct. Felix told her that he would not tell anyone about her own investigation, but pleaded with her to keep quiet about the issue until the Vatican completed their investigation. Raiya couldn't believe what she was hearing, that her cold hard evidence was being brushed aside because of protocol. But what's more, that the investigation team was comprised with Thadeus's brother as a member meant surely that Thadeus would never be convicted of this crime. All of this put into perspective Raiya's membership with the magi, and soon after she left the magi and Catholicism altogether. When she left two others left with her, the other two grand-magi that were on her initial investigation team with her. Soon after they left, they returned to NYC. Because the Vatican saw them as Apostates, they froze all their accounts and social security information, forcing them to make money through means less savory. Instead of falling into despair, Raiya and her two peers adopted the shady lifestyle altogether. Through their magic abilities, it wasn't long before they were running the biggest criminal organization in NYC. Raiya still resides to this day in NYC with the other two magi as her right hand women.

Raiya is seemingly devoid of any positive emotion. Her normal demeanor could be described as aloof. She is seen as a hard nosed, unwavering leader. This makes her well respected by her subordinates in the gang she runs. Though, to those who know her well enough she can be lighthearted. She has a short temper and a low tolerance for annoyances. In her annoyed state she has no problem threatening her friends with one of her sushi knives she keeps in her inner coat pocket, or electrocuting them with her magic. She loves Japan, even though she wasn't raised there herself. Her fanaticism for Japan runs so deep that she has Japanese tattoos, and has even taught herself the language perfectly. She is an excellent chef and specializes in Japanese cuisine. Even though she isn't very sociable, the few friends she does have are kept close to her and she protects them.

[User]
"Frankly I could go for another." Nemo replied "Anything to get me out of this sun is welcome, especially if it comes with free cool air conditioning as well." The pale man added, using his hand to shade himself from the sun. Nemo clearly did most of his work at night for a reason.

"I'd calculate we have about fifteen minutes before the workers sort out my diversion. So that should work out just fine." Nemo assured him, turning to wait for the rest of the team to teleport in.

[Assistant] The reast of the team appeared, one by one, in order of Raiya, Zuri, and finally herself. She got there in time to hear Nemo's comment about getting out of the sun, which instantly earned him a tiny fragment of respect. A little bump in her opinion of him. She looked around, seeing they were still alone, and crossed her arms. "Hey, uhh, Nemo? You don't think they'd have protocols if an alarm blares to search their goods for nasties, do you? Or like, we have an overterrified patron who'd want that done in the first place?"

[User]
Raiya felt her weight drop away from her as her center of gravity shifted when she melted into the shadows. This combined with all the alcohol she drank earlier and the dark claustrophobia of it all almost made her vomit. After being spit out at the destination, she huddled over herself, latching onto what little feeling of easiness she had left. After gaining her bearings back she stood back up straight. She saw that Travis was hard at work, and from the look of it, it looked as if he was almost finished.

"Well, I hope he finishes before the ship shows up to load these crates on them, otherwise, we will be in for quite the treat." Raiya said with what sounded almost like hunger.

[Assistant]
Nemo heard Zoey and shrugged in response. "I sure hope not." He replied, looking up to the sky. He entertained himself by watching a small flock of birds fly by above the group. However Nemo's viewing pleasure was suddenly cut short when all of the birds suddenly froze in place, as if somebody pressed pause on a movie. His expression turned from slightly pleased to completely deadpan. Uh-oh he thought. It was a tell tale sign that a realm spell had just been activated.

Nemo quickly looked down from the spectacle, now on alert. It was just in time to see a large crescent shaped wave of orange energy travel straight towards Travis as he worked on the rune. Despite the high speed which it was travelling, it barely made a noise. Clearly whoever generated it had the intentions of a surprise attack.

With no time to warn Travis, a quick usage of his warp spell placed Nemo in the line of the attack before it could hit Travis. The lack of time also made Nemo's absorption ability not as effective, the runic X he generated from his glove wasn't able to grow big enough to swallow the whole spell, causing the excess to explode around the pair. Smoke and dust surrounded them, but they were unharmed by the attack. Nemo snapped his gloved fingers, using a small spell to quickly swish out the smoke from around them and clear their view.

Across from their container, atop another, were two people waiting. One of them lazily sat down with his legs handing off the side, with the other standing tall. The sitting fellow wore a blue working jumpsuit with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, white undershirt, khaki boots, and various jewelry, including multiple piercings. He had tanned skin and dirty blonde shoulder length hair tied into the ponytail. The ends of his hair were dyed bright orange. Resting on his shoulder was a wooden baseball bat with multiple runic circles burned into it link a brand. The standing man seemed to be much more formal, he had short silver colored hair with bright blue eyes, a thin mustache, light skin, and a dark navy blue suit, white dress shirt, silver tie, and black loafers. Both of the men seemed to be somewhere in their thirties.

The sitting man suddenly dropped down from the container, causing the other to teleport down afterwards. "Well well well, looks like we've got some hooligans in our harbor huh Boslan?" The man asked his partner. He spoke with a noticeable Boston accent.

"Looks like it." The suited man replied shortly with his hands resting behind his back.


[System]
Age: 20

Sex: Male

Appearance:

Alias(es): Prince of Belisio

Description:
* Height - 5'9
* Build - Slender
* Skin Colour - White
* Hair Colour - Dark Brown
* Eye Colour - Brown

Magic type: Ki

Personality:
Brooding and deeply introspective, Corvo is generally a quiet and reserved young man but when stirred he becomes hard headed, passionate and impulsive. In such a state, he is quick to anger and even quicker to act. With strong ideals of justice, he believes in swift action and for better or worse, he never hesitates to back up his words with deeds. He is also prideful and confident in his own abilities, though the arduous experience of awakening his ki has humbled him somewhat and has allowed him to accept that there is still much for him to learn. With the fall of Belisio and the loss of his parents, he is now single-mindedly focused on reclaiming his kingdom and enacting vengeance upon the Vaimese Empire, no matter the cost.

Background:
Before the fall of Belisio, Corvo was a brilliant yet carefree young man whose largest concerns in life were his studies and training as heir apparent to the kingdom. History, politics, economics, religion, military strategy and the nature of magic, all of these things were drilled into him from an early age and though much was expected of him, he took his education in stride and somehow always found time for joy flights, swimming in lakes, travelling the city and other such frivolities.

After witnessing a Knight's tournament where the famous Iron Bear was bested by the Crimson Rider, Corvo developed an interest in cultivating his own ki and when his father learned of this, he was appointed the Knight Commander Chisom Balthair, the 'Black Bull', to be his tutor. Although the old warrior proved to be a strict disciplinarian, Corvo took to his martial training with his customary aplomb and was confident that he would awaken his ki within the year.

That year passed however and then another, followed by yet another and while Corvo developed excellent combat skills under the Black Bull's tutelage, he never seemed to make any progress towards awakening his ki. Frustrated by this, the young prince abandoned all of his leisurely pursuits for the sake of achieving this one goal, but it became increasingly apparent that the conventional methods of unlocking one's ki was simply not working for him. No matter how harsh the training, it seemed it would never happen at all... until that day when Vaimese warships appeared on the horizon and fired their cannons upon the Royal Palace.

Seeing both of his parents being buried beneath the rubble, Corvo let out a shout so fearsome that it shattered every window and cracked the very walls around him. He had finally awakened his ki, but at the cost of his kingdom and now - possessed by righteous wrath and the grief of losing his parents - he will do anything to take it all back and make the Vaimese Empire pay for what it's done.

Abilities:

* Ki Shout - Unleashes a blast of sonic pressure with a shout that can knock back foes or damage the surrounding environment.
* Combat Skills - Highly adept in armed or unarmed combat.
* Piloting - Able to drive or pilot most vehicles.

Extra:

[User]
Owen's vague response only made Corvo more curious as to what an 'Ender' was and he was about to press the matter until Gerhardt spoke up, "Leongarde chose to let Belisio fall, because the relationship between the two countries has been strained for quite some time. In their eyes Belisio had become nothing more than a bully, regardless of how we might feel about such matters."

You dare, the prince thought as he tried to formulate a response, sharing Owen's look of incredulity. A bully? My nation burns and you dare to say it is nothing more than a bully? No... Leongarde. It is from their perspective, but why? What have we done to offend them?

Corvo received his answer soon enough as Gerhardt spoke on of mist harvesters, border disputes and the lives of mages within the Priestdom, which only served to further the prince's ire. So because they decide to shoot themselves in the foot with their own intolerance of magic, they let some minor incident dictate our fates? he wanted to scream, brooding in contempt as the brothers quibbled over mercenary business. Do they not realize that by allowing us to fall, they only stand to be next and all over a few harvesters?

The prince did not make a single sound or movement, nor even a change in expression until he caught the tail end of Owen's words, "... so I suggest you both eat and rest, cause if you're set on this, I'll take you with me tonight."

"No," Corvo said, standing up swiftly as he addressed the master of the house. "No, we've wasted enough time here."

Then with a scornful look towards Gerhardt, he continued, "If what you say is true then we will find no aid here no matter what. More aside, I will not bow and scrape for some blinkered theocrat when we could be back home rallying what remains of our forces, of our people, so that we might mount a resistance while we still can. For Gaia's sake, what are we even doing here in the first place?"

His spirit inflamed, Corvo turned hotly towards the door whilst declaring his convictions aloud, "We fled when we should have fought!"

[Assistant]
"No," Corvo said, standing up swiftly as he addressed the master of the house. "No, we've wasted enough time here."

Then with a scornful look towards Gerhardt, he continued, "If what you say is true then we will find no aid here no matter what. More aside, I will not bow and scrape for some blinkered theocrat when we could be back home rallying what remains of our forces, of our people, so that we might mount a resistance while we still can. For Gaia's sake, what are we even doing here in the first place?"

His spirit inflamed, Corvo turned hotly towards the door whilst declaring his convictions aloud, "We fled when we should have fought!"

A chair fell backwards as three heavy thuds passed by Corvo's ear and embedded into the wooden door in front of him.
There trembling still were three sharp, thin blades, the width of two fingers and as large as a humanhand.
"You want to fight? You miserable arrogant little ingrate, have not enough people died?" Gerhardt cast at him."Thousands have given their lives attempting to protect what they held dear, but guess what?! It wasn't enough. They weren't enough!! Your father, Your Mother blasted to the high heavens never set one foot on the battlefield to bleed with those poor sods that were called on to fight." Gerhardt told him coldly.
"Oi, easy now Brother."
"No. I have been going easy on him too long." He spoke coldly as he pointed to the door.
"If you want to throw your life away go ahead. Don't expect me to save your pompous ass again, if you are truly that blind that you think you actually have a shot at this and know better, by all means, prove me wrong, walk out that door!" He narrowed his eyes.
"But if you do, don't expect me to follow you. It will be your folly and yours alone."
Gerhardt turned around to drink from his cup.
"But I will make you a prediction for what will happen to you...You'll never reach Belisio. Aside from the fact that you have no means to buy passage back to a wartorn nation, the moment your haughtiness gets the better of you any shrewd man with a mind for business will have put two and two together and sold you out to the Vaimese. Now as a slave and a prince of Belisio guess what they'll do to you? They'll parade you through the streets, like a prize, they'll torment ever hour of your life from that point on and ultimately you'll be butchered upon the altar of their choosing. Your head cut off, balmed and preserved, to display as a victory trophy.
You'll become the instrument to break the back of any sort of rebellion, for who would unite them and be able to lead the nation, when the last of the royal line died?!" Anger festered and bubbled to the surface.
"You think I liked leaving those in my care? Those that had come to depend on me for their survival? For their daily bread? You think I did not want to fight a fair fight? That if given the chance I would not rather have stood with my old friend or safeguard his kin, when fate forced me unto a different path when I stumbled upon you? Do you know what went through my head?! That I thanked the heavens for the lady Fortune safeguarding the future, for giving Belisio a chance at all, that there might be some small measure of hope left despite all of it?" Gerhardt threw his cup at the prince's head, making sure he missed him by a hair.
"Go ahead! Go and run! You'd best hurry 'your majesty'." He snarked before adding.
"Grow a spine boy. Save your regrets and anger for when you're actually in a postition to use them. But if I wasted and risked my life for an impetuous ingrate, by all means leave and save me the trouble of actually caring." He picked up the chair and made a dismissive wave to Corvo. "Either you put some faith in us or you fuck off and do whatever you think is best."


[System]
Age: 18

Magic: Necromancy - She is able to reanimate the dead for days at a time. When the dead rise again, they are a lifeless husk of what they used to be and nothing else. She can command them to do anything, but rotting bodies can only do so much. The fresher the body is, the more easily it can be controlled as they still have muscles and tendons to work with, but decaying and rotting corpses are harder to control, however they take less magic to reanimate. Obviously, the longer the body is animated, the more strain it puts on Eve, but she is used to such pain already from such terrors she has faced.

Magic Level: A

History:

Eve used to be such a happy little girl when she was young, she played with her pets and parents with also making friends with almost everyone in her little village. There was something peculiar about her though, she always said she heard something in her head, not like an imaginary friend, but some whispers telling her to go to some place. Her parents dismissed this as her imagination going wild as usual, but Eve always could feel the pressure in the base of her skull that it wasn't fake, but a real force.

She was only around the age of twelve when she started to sleep walk, trying to get out of the house, but her parents always waking up as her sleeping self was rather clumsy. When she woke up to her parents shaking, she always looked surprised, as if she wasn't in the place she wasn't supposed to be. It took only a few seconds every time for her to laugh it off and her parents to tuck her in once again. Her parents did try to get her checked, as her sleep walking and her supposed whispering was getting worse on each day. However, no one could find anything wrong with her, she was just a normal human being that was growing at a steady rate.

On her fifteenth birthday, it was the time to finally arrive at the whispering place that seemed to echo in her mind every night. She hasn't told any sense as it might make people think she was weird and didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. She told everyone at the party that she wanted to go play hide-and-go-seek, it was harmless and no one would be worried of her disappearance for a period of time. As everyone ran towards their hiding spots, Eve ran towards the sound of the whispers, getting stronger and stronger each step out of the village. It took only mere minutes before she arrived at the place that seemed eerily familiar, a place where years of whispering had finally taken the toll and arrived at the scene.

She was inside of the woods, surrounded by trees and wildlife. Her body was suddenly struken with some sort of unknown force and made her start digging at the ground ferociously. The ground was tough and her fingers were bleeding by the time she had found what she was looking for, and it was just some rotten and old book. Out of curiosity, she opened the book before suddenly a great big explosion of unholy energy came from the book and the resulting force knocked her into a tree, making Eve pass out.

She awoke with a throbbing body and messed up vision as everything around her seemed to be, dead. She was just in a lush forest a couple minutes ago, a whole forest can't die like that. She started to look around and the impossible happened, several acres of land had just died with no reasonable explanation. Eve started to panic, but her heart stopped when she thought about her little village. What can be said about her village? Everyone was dead, everything they were doing, they had died right on the spot. The bodies were fresh, still warm and nothing rotting yet. Eve was struck with many emotions, guilt, fear, anger, confusion, but the strongest thing she felt was despair. She gave out one huge wail of sadness before something activated and she sent a shock wave of unholy energy around the place.

Eve was rubbing her eyes before she began to see that everyone started to rise from their death, but that was impossible too! She felt most of their pulses and they were non-existent! However, she can believe in miracles! The young girl hugged her mother and she looked up to see her face, her mother had a face with no expression, the eyes were glazed, and Eve could feel that there was something wrong. She tried to let go, but her mother continued to hold her with a firm grasp and soon, everyone in the village started to move towards her, arms outstretched for a hug. The girl started to scream and scream, but nothing could help her and she was soon covered in reanimated corpses.

At that point, all the bodies slumped to the ground, dead as they once used to be as the magical strain to reanimate every single person in the village could not be taken anymore and just vanished. When Eve finally woke up, she found that she was still covered in the bodies of her village and she quickly escaped the grasped, feeling disgusted with her surroundings and herself. She looked around from where she was standing and found that every single person had walked over here, she recognized every single face and name. Eve started to began to weep again, she was crying until she had no more tears to shed before something in her snapped. She snapped her head up, a big smile on her face with her face still stained with tears and she revived her mother and father.

One year had passed after the incident, the town was never visited as traders who visited saw such a horrible scene of rotting bodies put into one pile. The bodies were buried in one gigantic pile as everyone who knew these people were dead, however, no one noticed the girl hiding in the various houses of the abandoned village. The bodies of her parents were rotten and destroyed from decay, but she still treated them like normal human beings. She laughed at their faceless expressions, responded to their non-existent questions, and ate with her parents of scavenged food. She also began reviving the others buried in the ground, their rotted corpses were easy to work with as it took no work in reanimating almost nothing. Eve placed them around the village like a person dose with dolls and she lived her life normally.

It was only eventual that someone would enter the town, and see the horror of what Eve had created. It was soon called the village of the damned as rotted corpses continued living. Eve found the name quite distasteful, but she saw that she was not wanted in this part of Fiore. She wanted to bring happiness and cheer she felt with her magic and knew that people would love her for it. She kissed everyone she had reaminated which was about half of the village and went on her way to find new friends.
Personality: She is strangely cheerful and happy-go-lucky for a person who uses such dark magic and usually hanging out with dead bodies most of the time. She greets people with a friendly wave and ask about their day with so much enthusiasm, you can't really say no to someone like her. Ironically, she cares about life and all things, she thinks people living is the best thing a person can ever do in their entire life. Eve also has quite the troubling quirk of not letting things go, which does actually account for her magic. However, even though she acts happy almost every single second of her life, deep down she wallows in her misery and sadness. Eve just can't let go of things and puts her trust into things quite easily, and when they finally die, she can't really handle it. She copes by acting happy all the time, she forces herself to believe that no one she cares about will ever die and the corpses she reanimates are the actual thing, but deep down knows that no one can escape death.

Three Strengths:
* Eve is very kind to all types of people, both evil and good.
* Her magic is very strong and potent.
* She will always try to make people happy, no matter the situation. (However, that can be bad if you think about it.)

Three Weaknesses:
* Eve is very hesitant to use her magic to harm another person.
* Eve does not understand the complexities of human emotions anymore.
* If you somehow break through her facade, she will become more mentally unstable and unpredictable.

Greatest Love: Everyone

Motivation: To make everyone feel as great as she feels with her magic.

Appearance:

[User]
Eve - Dragon Fang Guild Hall

Eve could tell that this man was being sincere in his words, but she had no idea what he meant about some kind of alternate personality, she only had one, and that was herself. She looked at her handcuffs and then back towards the Rune Knight with her trying to contemplate the situation at hand here. She could already handle her special powers as she had managed to bring back her town to life and they seemed to be fine, and she has never hurt anyone with her magic before ever in her life. Eve suddenly sat down on the floor, her mind still trying to decide her fate and after a minute or two of silence from her, she had made her mind. She was still sitting down, but she looked up at the Rune Knight Captain with a smile. "If you remove my cuffs, I can swear to you that I will be peaceful. However, I can't come with you, simple as that. I've set my sights to bring some smiles on a lot of faces and I will not be able to do that if you take me away." Eve looked hard at the Captain before looking back at the guild hall, she was trying her best to be serious, but the glomping right in front of her was on the verge to into making her laugh.

[Assistant]
Lazarus

He sighed, opening his window. "We don't have time to eat down there. Lets go." He formed his wings. "We'll catch our own food." He bluntly stated. "Come on then." He offered her his hands, ready to take off.

Shujin

He was taken aback. "M-master... she's just a little girl!" He complained. "I've sat through countless meetings with the likes of these men. They will not help her!" He looked down. "I've killed so many. This isn't the right way to handle this trust me master. This isn't what I signed up for!" He clenched his fists passionately. "If this guild is supposed to be a family, bring her into that family and help her that way! She doesn't need magical atonement!" He pleaded with the master. Prince came in. "Prince, help me." He looked at him with pleading eyes.

[User]
@Invisible Man@Caits@Silver Fox@YipeeXD

Zephyr
Dragon Fang Guild

Zephyr watched the guild master bring Shujin over and started discussing that they were just as capable as the royal guard was at detaining magic. Yet said the girl was a necromancer that was too unstable to help out. Zephyr frowned further as he heard the knights talk and heard what the girl had to say for herself. What she said was all Zephyr needed to take her side on matters. "Yeah real unstable. Sounds more like you are just don't want to bother with her master. Besides what did she even do wrong in a single day?? She certainly wasn't around when me Mikey and Prince left. Yet currently it sounds like she wants nothing to do but help others out and you are sending her off." Zephyr then clamped his hands together and looked at Jack. "Please master, re think this. Shouldn't you at least give her a chance first?"

[Assistant]
Prince
Fiore || Shirostume Town || Dragon Fang Guild Hall
@Caits @Zarkun @Invisible Man @YipeeXD

Prince happily huggles the Master before letting go with a cheery smile, his ears twitching as others continued to speak. Shunin speaking to Master Jack before pleading to Prince for assistance. As Zephyr piped up his two jewel, the tall feline hummed softly before his eye flickered toward the girl in question. She smelled of the dead and rotting corpses, not exactly the most pleasant smell and probably wasn't the most tasteful magic. Still, the tall red head tipped his hat a little, still smiling a little.

"Well first, you two need to understand this little predicament. Both sides at least. There are several reasons Necromancers are not quite the favorite. Many find such a thing quite disturbing and if it was in he wrong hands, it could lead to chaos and panic. Another is the law and religion. Defiling the dead isn't exactly in the code of conduct and in religion many believe it is morally wrong and the soul of the corpse is eternally damned. Blah blah blah etcetera etcetera. But, she can't help her magic and might know any better. So, question is if she did do something bad and if she meant to and if she is a danger. Minus human belief. the tall feline said before turning moving closer to the girl and Rune Knights.

Leaning a little closer, he sniffed to examine the decayed scent before slightly bending down so he was face to face with the young girl. Despite the knowledge and the smell that this was a Necromancer, his smile was still as bright as ever.

"Hello there beautiful! You can call me Prince. Can you tell me how exactly you bring smiles to everyone?" Prince asked with a bright gentle smile.


[System]
* Age: 17
* Appearance Serrica carries herself confidently as if she could do no wrong with her tendency to wear beautiful if not expensive dresses that tend to be strong, powerful colors like red and purple. For the majority of her life she's kept her brown hair short though, lately, she's tried to grow it out longer.
* Gender: Female
* Personality: Serika or Serrica is rather selfish person and carries herself with a sense of superiority over others. If one were to notice her taking an interest in a particular human being outside of social situations, it's quite likely that she has an idea on how to use that individual. She is highly fueled by greed and a wish to be even more rich than she already is. With that in mind, she treats the commoners of her family's territory very well, after all, the success of the common man is the success of her territory. She has invested in more than a couple of merchant groups for a cut of the profits.

In social situations much like a party or a ball, she likes to be the center of attention and spreading her influence where she can. Those that pay attention to her, she treats fairly well, those that pay no attention to her are ignored but those that badmouth her tend to have things happen to them, There are rumors that she merely enjoys the company of women and that's why she holds many tea parties and attends as many parties as she can when it's not time for school.
* Abilities/Skills: As a noble daughter, Serrica had much education in the domain of proper manners, though admittedly, she has plenty of times where she ignores those lessons when people she dislikes are involved. Sometimes, spending just the right amount of money spent in just the right way can solve those types of problems.

She's also very knowledgeable about the fluctuating prices of the market though a lot of this is due to her knowledge of the game more than any formal training. Once again, the right amount of money in the right place is bound to bring forth a great amount of profit.
* History: Serika was once a girl from a somewhat poor family. While her family did care for her and did what they could, both her parents had to work constantly to keep up with all their debt, leaving Serika by herself most of the time. Through-out elementary school, she was bullied by a few of the other kids and, once she moved on to middle school, started to do the same to others. Over time, she started to bully kids for their money and figured it was her own way to make money, much like the amount of time her parents spent working.

Once in High School, she didn't have any easy targets so she eased on the behavior. Instead, she just felt depressed. She had no friends to the mixture of the bully or be bullied attitude she held towards life and had no real goals towards life besides living. Trying to find her own hope for more in life, she entered a free lottery at a local supermarket where she won a game system and with it an apparently popular game called "Cross Heart Academy". A cursory look at the game made her call it "stupid" but upon actually playing it, she felt herself engrossed with it. Especially in the "Merchant" route of the second half. She learned many of the ins and outs of the game's trading system that she practically was a master at it.

One day at school, she insulted one of the popular girls at school for being a "dumbass". After class, she was accosted by some of the girl's friends before getting into a small scuffle and being pushed down a set of stairs…

The next thing she knew, she woke up in a fancy bed. It took a small amount of time but she quickly realized that she woke up in the body of the character Serrica Haldblum, a character from Cross Heart Academy! Albeit, she was quite small compared to the scenes in the game. Logically, she had time to settle into her own greedy and selfish very of Serrica Francesca Haldblum. A second, selfish lease on life.
* Original Role and Background:
In the original story, Serrica was a kind and graceful noble eldest daughter of the Haldblum Ducal family, which even the royal family couldn't just outright ignore. Serrica herself took part in a couple of different routes, typically as an ally of the Heroine. Most notably in a few routes where she used her status to cover for the Heroine after they became friends.
* Other:

[User]
Elastasia

Ribbon... check. Stockings and shoes... check. Hair neatly brushed (and even years after gaining a second lifetime's worth of memories, the ease with which magic simplified dealing with that still gave her a warm feeling), and not all done at the last second because she'd gotten too wrapped up in a book to remember. For once, Elastasia had managed to prepare for and show up to an event without prompting! Okay, it was also a huge event everyone at the academy was going to, which made it hard to miss, but she could still have ignored all that and missed the ceremony.

But then she would miss seeing Terys on his first day, relegating the younger boy to trying to seek her out somewhere amidst the school. For all his diligence, he didn't know the way around just yet. Besides, she missed the years where they'd see each other daily (even if the her that missed them wasn't the same as the her of now), it'd be a great opportunity to say hello.

Actually listening to the speech, Elastasia wished that she had chosen to skip after all. Not only was it boring and denied her the chance to read, being situated at the back with all the other third-year students meant that she couldn't see anything. Bored face after bored face in every direction, a speech regurgitated by rote to the point she was sure some of the better orators here could copy it verbatim...

It wasn't a fun experience, all in all.

Nor was fighting against the current of people leaving the courtyard, the occasional too-tall boy walking into her and having to make a hasty apology. Really, it was bad enough that by the time she actually got to the first years, the area was half emptied already, and trying to find her also-short brother amidst this sea of giants.

So, she relocated to just outside the entrance instead. Maybe Terys would have better luck finding her.

Hmm... already, there were a few familiar faces, bringing to mind how significant the upcoming year would be. That green-haired mop was undoubtedly the tutorial merchant, liable to run into the heroine soon more often than not. Whether he'd be quite as helpful in reality as in the game was debatable; a few of the individuals she'd met seemed quite distinct from their written personalities--Serrica always stood out as being rather different, for whatever reason.

And there was no way to tell what actual personality Anne would come into the world with. Bland? Exciting? Her looks were Elastasia's type, as generic as they were, but she hoped to avoid any hopeless confessions in her actual life.

[Assistant]
This was really happening, wasn't it?

This was actually real.

At first, when she suddenly remembered everything, she hoped it was some sort of strange dream. Then, when it became clear it wasn't, she hoped that it was some kind of bizarre coincidence and she hadn't actually been reincarnated as the protagonist of an otome game after having previously been a very much male university student. Maybe it was just a coincidentally similar world.

Those hopes were dashed when she entered the school. When she saw the people here. When she set foot in the courtyard.

The entrance ceremony was exactly as she remembered it from the intro to the game.

Matsuoka Ryouji, or rather Anne Marielle as she had been known for the past sixteen years in this world, now found herself standing in the aftermath of the intro to Starveil Academy.

In the world of the otome game Cross Heart Academy.

As its protagonist.

What this meant was hardly lost on her, as she anxiously eyed the crowds around her.

Perhaps being the 'generically cute every girl' would work to her advantage. Nevermind the fact that being a girl in the first place was a tremendously awkward experience(in away she was thankful for those sixteen years she spent without remembering her old life, because that meant that she'd not had an even rougher adjustment period). In the real world, she wouldn't be that noticeable. And this was real now, not an otome game where every guy was destined to notice her.

Surely it would work out differently, right? Even if that entrance ceremony had been identical.

Anne wasn't the type of person who had played this game for guys to fawn over her. If anything, back when she was Matsuoka Ryouji, it was only natural he was much more into some of the female characters. The protagonist herself was cute, albeit deliberately generically so. And there was that one teacher too.

There was no way she wanted to end up marrying some guy.

She wasn't going to pursue any route. This was absolute in her mind. This was a zero route game. She'd think about the other stuff when she had the chance, but the most immediate problem was ensuring none of them would approach her.

It couldn't be hard, right?

Anne sighed inwardly, relieved at her own hopefully-true assumption. That's right. In real life, as long as she made a good, solid rejection, guys like that would let it go, right?

Of course she'd have to be careful, in this world where status mattered so much, but all the protagonist's romance options were at least decent guys, right?

They practically had an ocean of other girls to choose from, too.

Right?

Somehow her optimism was crumbling by the second.

Well, maybe if she made her way out of the courtyard as quickly as possible, to avoid even the slightest chance of a flag raising...


[System]
Age: 24
Height: 6'-0"
Weight: 170lbs
Allegiance: Aspirian Royalty
Distinguishing Traits: Wherever the party is, Cas is bound to be there also. He's a free spirit with a tendency to act without thinking through the consequences, although due to his cushioned upbringing and high status, he rarely has to face them. Despite his wild lifestyle, however, he has a soft side and has been known for taking in stray and injured animals he finds in the streets of the capital city.

Short Bio: As the son of the reigning king, Atlas Maydestone, Caspian has lived the entirety of his life in the capital of Aspiria. He was born with a silver spoon in hand, enjoying the finest luxuries the country had to offer even when he was as young as five years old. This experience shaped him as a person. He grew up seeing the glass half-full and believing Aspiria was every bit as perfect and amazing as his father wanted him to think it was.

As a child, he spent most of his education being groomed to take over as the next king but never really took his future duties seriously. In his mind, it was so far off, there was no reason to worry about it. That is, until his father's health took a sudden decline when he turned eighteen. Suddenly slapped in the face by the reality that he was actually going to be the next leader of an entire country, he began to pay more attention to his teachers and did his best to understand all the different jobs he would have when his father died. However, the more he studied, the more he realized how unqualified he was for such an important role.

To deal with his rising sense of insecurity, Cas delved back into any and every social event he could find around the capital city. Partying and drinking with friends took the edge off his fears and helped him to forget about the impending future of his kingship. Deep down, he knew his coping strategy wouldn't change anything, but for now, it was good enough to keep him from getting absorbed in the weight of it all. He would just continue to put it off until he had to face it, the same way he handled the Scourge.

The rebellion (better known as the Scourge by everyone who lived in the capital) was the other big, glaring problem he tried not to think about. To make the enemies seem less imposing, he and his friends would make crude jokes about them and discuss all the creative ways the king could punish them for treason when they were eventually defeated by the state, but secretly, he was always on the lookout for anyone who seemed suspicious. As the crown prince of Aspiria, he'd heard the threats the rebels spat about himself and his family, and he was concerned about what could happen if they ever managed to get inside the stronghold walls.

He just hoped the military was strong enough that he would never have to find out.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

[User]
Taking the glass of water offered she took a sip only to realise how thirsty she had been, draining the cup quickly she hadn't noticed how dry her mouth was, but she doubted she had been able to drink much before now. Holding the glass in her hands she could feel the burning sensation to her side reminding her of the wound and she was certain no hospital had been involved, not when she felt this tender to the pain, and she had been lucky enough to receive care at the top-notch hospitals they had here in the Capital. Cas was safe, but not here. Could she blame him? The way she had left him had been cruel. Maybe he had already move on and didn't care for her now and that was why she was in Jacob's condo, not the palace and not a hospital but it still left the question as to why Jacob had saved her of all people.

How did they know where she was? It wasn't a coincidence that Jacob had saved her of all people, but she doubted he had kept an eye on her movements when leaving the Capital before. Iris knew that Ethan had been texting Cas, winding him up even though he had promised that he would leave him alone because she had returned to the districts to him. It had been stupid of her, but she had hoped that it would mean Cas could focus on the more important stuff, like running the kingdom. Yet, she had been saved. Maybe Cas wasn't angry with her? But he wasn't here so maybe he just didn't want her life on his conscious?

"Dead…" Repeating the words to herself, confirming for herself that Ethan was dead and wouldn't be there to harm her or Cas anymore. His vengeance had been somewhat personal, poisoning those around him making them believe it was for the rebellion. It wasn't over, sure Ethan was dead, but the rebellion wasn't and now she didn't have any insight on what could potentially harm the new King, but they now knew of a potential weakness in the fact that the King would send a strike team out for a hostage. "He shouldn't have sent anyone… you shouldn't have saved me."

Without thinking her hand went to her side pressing the white fabric into the wound and she felt a wetness beneath it, pulling it back to reveal blood underneath. "I can't stay here." Whispering more to herself than anything, she couldn't be here in Jacobs condo regardless on if she needed to heal or not. Sighing it was all too much, the pain in her side wasn't helping her think straight either and she didn't feel comfortable asking for pain relief. Rest would be good, but she wasn't comfortable in the slightest. "Is Cas mad at me?" It was the only explanation she could think of, and it made sense as to why he wasn't here. Glancing back at Jacob as he looked to leave so she could rest, not that she wanted too. Being left to her own thoughts wasn't what she wanted in the slightest, but she doubted Jacob wanted to stick around.

[Assistant]
At Iris's quiet objection to Caspian's role in her rescue, Jacob stood beside the bed with pursed lips. "No, he shouldn't have," he agreed after a moment, though there was no anger in his voice. The statement was made just as calmly as if he'd agreed that chocolate cake was better than vanilla. Maybe it was harsh to say so, but she wasn't wrong in her assessment. Ethan had used her to bait the king out and exploit his weaknesses, and his plan had worked. Now, as the head of security, he was going to have to double down on his efforts to ensure it didn't happen again, and there was a chance that Caspian had lost favor in the eyes of the military members who knew about the strike team to rescue one politically unimportant girl. The whole campaign had been a mistake.

"But he did."

Sliding his hands into his pockets, Jacob concluded his thought in the same casual manner with which he'd spoken the first half. No matter what he thought about it all, he knew his king wouldn't have had it any other way. Plus, he had seen the video Ethan had sent for himself. He'd only gotten a taste of the rage Caspian must have felt, and it had been enough to push him over the edge to obey the order to assemble the soldiers. "And I don't regret saving you," he added with a frown. "What Ethan did to you just to provoke King Caspian… it was abhorrent. I'm glad you're away from him now."

Watching Iris inspect the wound in her side, he hovered for a little while longer. She didn't look like she was going to lay back down yet, and he didn't want to walk out and leave her alone to hurt herself unintentionally. When she whispered, he shook his head. "There is nowhere else for you to stay in the capital, and I'm not going to release you back into the districts in that condition," he said firmly. "Until you're well enough to be on your own and no longer at risk of infection, you need to stay here."

The question she asked next was a touchier subject, and the guard shifted his weight slightly as he considered how best to answer it. "No," he said after another pause, lifting his gaze from the corner of the bed to the former rebel's eyes. "The king believes Ethan kidnapped you from the capital. He isn't aware you left of your own volition, which is part of the reason why he organized a rescue team. However… he also doesn't know you're still alive."

Studying her carefully, he explained: "When my team found you, you were barely clinging to life. I wasn't even sure if you would last the next hour. If King Caspian found out the condition you were in, I knew he would do everything in his power to bring you back to health... but he would also be so worried about keeping you alive that he would lose sight of his other duties as the ruler of Aspiria, so I made the decision to bring you back here quietly—without his knowledge."

[User]
"I should have known better, he promised to leave well alone with the Capital and Cas if I returned, but… well." Sighing softly at the realization it had ultimately been her own fault for believing he would honour his promise. It hadn't been the first broken one he'd made, nor would it have been the last. Except now he was dead, so it would be the last promise he could break. Frowning as she heard him admit that he didn't regret saving her she had to wonder why, he had no personal relations to her. Sure, there was Cas, but that wasn't enough. Yet, this was now the second time he had saved her.

"Twice you have saved me now. I'm building up a debt I can't repay." Iris winced at his next words, there was nowhere else for her to stay. That and he planned on releasing her back to the districts, but only when she was well enough. Which by the looks of it was going to be a while before she'd be up on her feet. Curling her hand into a fist to hide the blood from pressing her wound she watched him shift his weight, this time meeting her gaze. Moments later she felt her heart drop upon learning that Cas thought she was dead.

"Dead?" At first, she sounded outraged because Cas had lost so much lately to death. The first being his father and now he thought she was dead? Trying to move herself she couldn't help the whimper leaving her lips still tender and sore for the wound, it wasn't her best idea to try and move but she soon stopped finding it taxing on herself. Whether or not she agreed with the fact he had told Cassian she was dead she couldn't leave his place and go tell him herself, she wasn't ready for that.

"Why bother going to all this trouble? If you'd have walked away, I'd have died ending the problem. What's to say I now won't tell him about the lie?" It was plausible enough, when healed even if returned to the Capital she could find a way to get his number again. Deep down it was for the best, initially she had wanted him to focus on being a ruler knowing she would only bring him down. Sighing again he was right; it was probably better this way.

"I'm sorry…" Looking back up at Jacob she knew he had the Kings best interest at heart, after all he had agreed to sneaking her back into the districts because he knew how distracted Cas was over her. "It's probably for the best this way…" It hurt to say, she had been ready to accept her death but then she'd be free of the guilt and upset lying to Cas because she would have been dead. Even if the decision was the right one, it didn't stop her from hurting at the thought because she was certain he would blame himself for not knowing sooner. Especially if he now believed she had hadn't left on her on accord.

Settling back down on the bed she felt exhausted, energy spent from her little outburst and trying to move. It would be wise to rest, there was nothing else to be gained right now and she couldn't exactly run. "I might get some more rest if that's okay?" She doubted he would mind, he probably had a bunch of things to be doing than babysitting her right now.

[Assistant]
"I don't need repayment for following orders," Jacob said simply, folding his arms across the t-shirt he was wearing. "My king asked me to rescue you, so I did. That's all there is to it." Technically. Caspian had been the one to assemble the strike team and assign him to lead it, but seeing the video from Ethan and watching her nearly die in the house had been the deciding factors in the rest of his actions. In fact, he was disobeying his liege by harboring her in his condo, risking the loss of his job and even a potential prison sentence for keeping this secret from the Aspirian ruler. He never would have asked or expected a common girl from the districts to repay him for that though. She had nothing while he had everything he wanted out of life as a respected capital citizen and leader of the monarchy's elite security team.

The anger in Iris's voice didn't faze the guard when she reacted to his announcement that Caspian thought she was dead. Holding her gaze unflinchingly, he just stayed where he was, leaving her to process the news however she needed to until she asked him why he was going to so much trouble for her sake. "Honestly? Spite," he replied with a half-smirk on his lips. "I didn't want to give Ethan the satisfaction of taking you with him when he died, and…" he trailed off, averting his gaze to look out the window with a shrug of his shoulders. "I suppose you could also say that I care when I see someone get hurt who didn't deserve to be."

He didn't care to elaborate more than that though, so he turned back to her again when she mentioned telling Caspian she was still alive. "I know you won't, because you know just as well as I do that it's for the best that you two never see each other again." Once again, he was blunt with her, but he'd never been the type to beat around the bush. Holding her eyes without wavering, he watched the emotions flicker across her face as the initial burst of anger faded. She might not have been capital-born, but he could tell she was a smart girl. Given time to think and process, he trusted her to make the right decision. She had been a brief chapter in the king's life that needed to come to a close, both for their sakes and for that of the country. He wouldn't be changing his mind about that.

Their conversation seemed to be draining on her, and he wanted her to recover as quickly as possible, so when she requested to get some more rest, he nodded. "Please do." Turning to the door, he took a few steps away from her and only glanced over his shoulder once more as he took the knob in his hand. "I need to check in with my men at the palace, but I left a sheet with a number you can call if you need something. First aid supplies are in the washroom, and food is in the kitchen if you have an appetite. Just try not to move around too much while I'm gone."


[System]
Quote: "There's nothing for me to do but to walk straight, walk right."
Age: 23

Gender: Male

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 175 lbs

Ethnicity: White

Sexuality: Straight

Religion: Agnostic

Occupation: animal rehabilitator

Ability: Biological Manipulation - Jack has the capability to control life on a cellular level, including but not limited to, genetic alterations and physical distortion and/or augmentations of biological functions. He also has the capability to cause cells to augment to induce advanced or declined biological healing, induce diseases like cancer, induce appearance alteration, manipulate pheromones, and even increase physiological maturity.

Personality: Jack is a happy character and tries to see the good in everybody. He's very patient and understanding. He's also very care free and lives day to day. Lover of the earth and animals, and avid smoker of the chronic. Jack doesn't get angered very easily, but when he does he's a force to be reckoned with. He is either peaceful or furious there is no middle ground.

Background: Growing up, Jack and his family were not well of in terms of money. His mother got by but just barely. In school he would always have low grades until the very end of the school year, then he would always finish with a GPA of 3.5 or better. Nothing special ever happened in Jacks life, it was a very average life to live. He had a few close friends he would spend time with, he would occasionally drink, but often smoked. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to him until his 21st birthday. Being his 21st birthday he had a big birthday bash, plenty of weed and alcohol for all. After having many drinks he decided it was time to play five finger fillet. He grabbed a kitchen knife and gathered people around and began while singing the new song that had become all the craze. Once things started speeding up he lost control and stabbed one of his fingers. There was a small panic at first but Jack quickly reassured every one that it was just a cut and everything was fine. He bandaged himself up and went on as though nothing had happened, the party continued. The next morning he woke up to find that there was no wound from the previous night. This is when Jacks normal life became interesting. Knowing full well he should have had a gash from that knife he immediately went to google for help. At first he thought he just was able to heal incredibly fast. Super human in fact. Jack tested himself to see if this was the case. He would cut himself on his upper arms to see how fast he could heal. As time passed he learned he could do so much more than heal. He figured out that he could change his body in a way that nobody else could. He could change features of his face, colors of his hair and eyes. It was then that he figured out he could manipulate his own biology. Once he figured this out he really started to progress. Being a fan of video games he knew of someone who could do the same thing as he could. He used this for reference when testing his powers for manipulating his body. This power gave him the mind set that he could finally make a difference in this world. And that's what he was going to do.

[User]
Matteus Suomalainen
The Viper Pit car shop

The shop was buzzing with action today. Matteus's crew were busy working at two cars that needed to be done fast. One tomorow, the other two days from now. Matteus was in the office not doing anything important. He was sitting on the seat, looking at the TV and watching the news regarding the tragic death of Claire Bennett. He wasn't particulary happy about that despite hating her for exposing EVO's to the world. As he was paying attention to the news on TV Wesley comes inside with a satisfied look on his face. Matteus noticed him and turned around while still on the chair.

"Hey Matty listen up, remember that guy that the police interogated last week regarding your girlfriend?" Asked Wesley while gesticulating.

"The owner of that black Chevy Impala that Sarah was dragged in?" Said Matteus, responding to Wesley's question with another question.

"Yup, that guy. I got his address just like you asked. Whathaya say we pay him a visit and see if we can squeeze more information from him, prefferably the truth. Because my instinct's telling me that guy is a big fat lier." Responded Wesley.

"Yeah, whatever you say." Matteus said with a rather uninterested tone.

"What's wrong with you? Who knocked the wind out of your sails?"

"Haven't you watched the news today?"

"Not really! Was I supposed to?"

"Claire Bennett was just shot in the head on live television while giving a speech."

"Oh my God! You gotta be kidding me. And what are you so sad about? I thought you hated her." Asked Wesley shocked by the news and surprised by Matteus's surprising sadness regarding the subject.

"Yes, and I still do. But from that to wanting her dead is a long way. And besides that...this incident can become a very dangerous precedent." Said Matteus, visibly concerned about the whole thing while Wesley was struggling to find his words.

"Sooo, are we going after that guy or not?"

"Yes! I have a feeling he knows more then he wants us to think." Said Matteus as both he and Wesley got out of the office and out of the car shop.

"Mine or yours?" Asked Wesley obviously reffering to whose car they take.

"Well you're the one that knows the address so lead the way my long braided friend." Said Matteus pointing towards Wesley's car, an orange, customized, 1969 Pontiac GTO that he was using for both street racing and regular everyday driving. Matteus got on the passenger seat while Wesley started the car and drove away to the guy's address.

[Assistant]
Jennifer Henderson
Los Angeles California

Jennifer nodded her head before walking briskly to the bedroom. She needed to put on some clothes, even if walking around the house naked made her feel free. Jennifer picked out a pair of denim shorts and a white with "Young and Reckless" written stylishly across it in pink. She didn't really care how she looked, because her clothes would be gone the second she used her ability. Sometimes she wished she could somehow get her clothes to convert like her body could, but she figured that wouldn't make any sense. This was the thrill she needed. She turned on the television and figured she'd watch something on Netflix till Noah arrived.

"The Office should be good." It was a comedy that she and her husband often watched together when they had the chance. Jennifer couldn't relate to it, but she always found it great to see Michael enjoy it so much.
-------------------------

Michael Henderson
Olympus Testing Facility; Medical Wing

Michael stared at the door of the room he was pushed out of before he saw three other medical personnel heading to the room with a stretcher. They looked at Michael as if he was out of place.

Am I supposed to just continue working?

With the door now open, Michael watched the three who had just entered lift the lifeless body of the doctor onto the stretcher. Michael couldn't believe the man was dead. Everything had happened so fast... He looked at the security personnel who were looking down at the now sleeping patient.

"We gotta radio this in." One of the men said.

"Stross is gonna be pissed. The geezer was the head of the medical wing.

"He's replaceable..." The man who seemed a lot colder than his partner looked at Michael who seemed pretty lost to the situation. "You! Tell us what went down in here."

Michael entered the room and sighed before speaking.

"I came in here to assist the doctor... While his back was turned the Evo grabbed him and..." Michael turned to the stretcher making its way out with the deceased doctor on it. "Did that to him. Then I pressed the button on the wall." Michael lied to keep himself safe.

"Well shit. I guess the doc should have used more sedatives like he's supposed to. If your good, continue your work. Mr Stross may want to have a word with you about this incident." The man said before grabbing his radio to get ready to report what had happened.

"All channels, all channels, this is Officer Sykes. We have a Code Black in the medical wing involving Dr. Lorenz..." That was all Michael heard as he exited the room and headed to the next. What had he gotten himself into...

[User]
Having Ditched the General's Car at the Colorado Bus station, Alexander had taken the Dash apart, removing the GPS device, he rigged it up to run on a battery. then he'd attached it to a departing bus.. or Five departing buses.. he'd created five identical signals, all going in different directions. with a smile on his face, and some quick fingers on his tablet, he had a bus ticket printed out, straight from the bus database.. "here you go" holding the ticket to the driver, who checked it. "alright, get on" handing it back and Alexander climbed up, and sat down in a seat. "Las Vegas.. should be fun!" he said to himself.

 Turns out, Las Vegas was fun, to much fun.. the City of Lights was not a place for someone like him, not at all.. damn near everything was ran Electronically, and it called to him, the whole city sang to him in a way that only he could hear. yes, he'd learned at the base to ignore the "song" of the devices, but in a city like Vegas, it was impossible and he became lost. with his shoulder bag with him, he'd first entered an casino, a fake id was no problem for him, though he was using his printer to much, it didn't have limitless supplies. with the ID he'd first found the slots, the lovely slots. their song was the sweetest and he was instantly hooked. taking a whole isle, he stood and stared, letting his power work directly, with no tricky device or gadget. time slowed down as his brain kicked into overdrive as the machine's lovely digital song spoke to him, and he to it. in his eyes, a holographic representation formed and he began disassembling it, learning each and every piece and what it did, why it did what it did, how it was programmed. his eyes were moving fast to anyone that looked. and in a matter of seconds, though to him it had been minutes he knew how the slot machines worked... a little to well, as he blinked, and every slot machine in a twenty foot radius engaged, the dials spinning, shocked those that were sitting in front of a slot machine, as the lever wasn't pulled, but when the lucky sevens hit on every single one, and quarters began falling, all hell broke loose.. needless to say, he left that casino, but know he knew all he needed to about slot machines, and his mind was already working out a way to improve it in every aspect. that wasn't all the trouble to hit Vegas, following him a wake of trouble followed.. Atm's spitting out money, big slot machines with cars for prizes, going off, along with the police reports of an individual. a young male, being seen dismantling things in various locations all over the strip or being involved in drunken altercations. after a week of that straight, he boarded another bus, looking tired, he crashed, clutching his bag as he was driven to LA.

Getting off the bus, he groaned as he stretched. opening his pack, he rummaged around til he found the rolls of hundreds, fifties and twenties he had in the bottom.. he learned in Vegas money was a necessity, on the base he got whatever he wanted, in the real world it didn't work like that. taking out the roll of twenties, he looked around for a place to eat at, he was hungry and thirsty.. not knowing that his escapade in Vegas had made more then local news.

[Assistant]
Jack Harper, Los Angeles apartment

Jack looked down at his bowl of frosted flakes, then to an open letter next to his bowl. A lot of bad shit was happening ever since the world found out that some people were... Different. Ever since Jack had discovered he was special he knew he had to keep low and develop his abilities. So far he had done a good job hiding from the world, but last week he received this letter telling him he needed to come in and get his blood checked. Ever since he got the letter he had been working on changing his DNA to read up normal on the test. He was nervous because he had no way of testing it at home. Today was the last day he had to go in and get tested, he was leaving right after he finished his cereal. He took his last bites then grabbed his letter and left.

As he drove to the address he thought about what might happen if he wasn't able to change his DNA, and what he might have to do to ensure his freedom. Random thoughts of escape plans ran through his head when he heard a ladies voice speak.

"Turn right in 500 yards and your destination will be on the left." He looked down at his phone in the seat next to him and closed the GPS, he could find it from there. As he walked into the building he looked around. It just seemed like a medical facility, nothing too intimidating. There were a few people rushing down one of the halls, it made him wonder what had happened. He walked up to the front desk to check in.

"Hello, I'm Jack Harper, I'm here to get my blood tested, prove I'm just your every day human heh" The lady behind the counter didn't look amused. She handed him some papers to fill out and told him he would be called back for testing in a moment. He filled out the papers and soon enough he heard his name called. He followed a cute girl to the back where they would test his blood.

"So we'll just give you a little prick, take some of your blood and run it through the machine over here and then we'll know whether you're normal or not." the nurse said. These last words disgusted him. Normal? What is normal, and who's to decide what is normal and what is not? He hid his disgust and put on a fake smile, nodding to show he was ready. The nurse pricked his finger then took a small amount of blood then went over to the machine. Once she placed it in the machine, Jack stared intently at it. For a moment it remained red, and his heart skipped a beat. Then it began to change blue, meaning it had worked.

"It looks like you're all clear" The nurse said as she started throwing away used materials. "You're good to go Mr. Harper, just make sure to sign out at the front desk."

Jack left the room and made his way to the front desk to sign out and be on his way. Now that they thought he was normal he could continue to progress unnoticed.


[System]
Age: 17

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Weapon:
Twin Daggers - Twin daggers, they respond to aura more easily than other material, allowing him to make his imbued strikes.

Dust imbued coat - The coat creates an after-image of him whenever he uses his Semblance. It looks really cool, and can be disorientating to fight, and makes it harder to keep track of him.

Lightning Pins - Throwing knives with a unique design to attract electricity. Using these knives he can set up his Lightning Rod skill's directions, giving him more versatility of approach. They can be used as ranged weapons as well, although they are weak in that regard. Due to their small size, he can carry a large amount of them, and throw a large amount of them with relative ease, and can dash to each one mid-flight, allowing him to really mix things up.

Specialty: Fast, i
ncredibly fast, coupled with his lightning-speed semblance, Jack Orpheus is nigh impossible to hurt or catch. His speciality is in distraction work, anti-personnel and duels. His incredible speed allows him to force opponents on their toes, and eventually pressure them until even a split second opening is created, which he will exploit, or against larger opponents, he can reach harder-to-strike areas much more quickly than others. It is reported he is fast enough to assault one opponent from more than 5 directions (thanks to his Lightning Rod skill he created). Obviously, even a little bit of damage on him will hamper his mobility, so even a minor strike on him can be a big thing.

Semblance:
 Midnight Lightning - Only called so because of it's black and navy blue appearance, it appears to eat the light around it, creating an ethereal or unnatural appearance. This semblance allows Jack to zip in straight lines at lightning speed, and usually without pause. As he passes opponents with it, he is able to slash at opponents, and can even imbue his blades with his Semblance in order to make his strikes sharper and deadlier. He has a special technique with his Semblance called "Lightning Rod", allowing him to do multi-directional dashes as long as he hits a reference point, such as a tree, poles, etc. Against larger opponents, he can even use their limbs, allowing him to deal extra damage as well as maintain mobility.

Midnight Railgun - By zipping around with his semblance, he builds up his aura and eventually glows slightly. The brighter he glows, the stronger the attack. Railgun is executed as a long range rushing attack in a straight line, and it's maximum range is a sniper rifle's. He can charge it manually like a power-up stance, allowing him to prepare an entry, or charge it in the midst of battle by using his semblance.

The move has an insane amount of power, and when used he becomes essentially a living light-speed bullet when fully charged, but can still be used at low charges, but that would mean he would have to charge it up again once used.

Full charge is shown by a change in hair and eyes, as well as his aura becoming very visible around him.

Personality: An incredibly fast mind equipped with wit and mouth that talks fast enough to keep up with it. He is often seen as an idiot due to how he is usually unable to read atmosphere, possibly because he sets his own pace, which turns out to be faster than many can keep up with. He can be seen as tactless, but he is not without merit. He doesn't seem to mind the little things, and he is able to work together and cooperate, on the other hand, others may find him disagreeable. He handles himself and others in a largely informal way, so he also comes off as rather rude.

Appearance: I'm gonna draw a new one. You're gonna have to wait till next week though due to assignments.

Color: Midnight Blue

Emblem: Twin lightning bolts in a V shape.

[User]
Oswald Connoly- Survival

As more Itzamna came out, Oswald realized that he wouldn't be able to keep up with the others, only having one usable arm and two weapons to wield with it. He could try to fight with one arm, but against more than three or four enemies, he'd be overwhelmed after even the smallest mistake. Deciding to move to the rest of the students, he narrowed his eyes and watched as the others cooperated. Goodwitch's assistant managed to save one of their classmates who was in a bind, Gren made a call out to everybody, alerting them to the presence of Salamanders in the area.

Cursing, Oswald nodded at Abel, who had appeared near him after having eliminated some Grimm. "Stick by me, if you would. Only using one arm has made me quite the easy target." As he spoke, a group of five Itzamna charged them, moving to surround the pair of boys in a pincer attack. "I'll take the left." Hoping that Abel could handle the larger share, Oswald turned to the pair closest to him, staring the creatures down.

Both advanced at once, trying to get him between the two, but Oswald teleported to the side of one and stabbed into its side, causing the raptor to leap away, wounded but still alive. Grunting, Oswald stepped out of the way of the other Grimm, which had used the distraction to make an attack. Oswald threw his cloak onto the Itzamna and stabbed straight through it, piercing the monster's shoulder, then turned his attention back to the first raptor, which was now stalking over towards him, even more angry. Repeating his original attack, Oswald teleported directly in front of the Grimm, stabbing upward into its throat.

Turning as one creature disappeared, Oswald smirked as he watched the second Itzamna free itself from his cloak and leap at him. A shoulder roll to the right, and he'd flanked the raptor, slashing downwards with his sword, slicing its tail free from its body. Now heavily wounded and bleeding, the Itzamna let out a guttural screech, causing some salamanders to make their way towards the pair. "Dammit, they're just gonna keep calling for the others! Abel, we need to find the rest of the students and form up!"

[Assistant]
Sangue Naga - Survival

Sangue coughed when the Itzamnas stopped pulling on her claw. Her grip on her blade loosening when Sarina helped her, the red-haired woman shakily stood up, giving the helpful woman a respectful nod.

Suddenly, the woman saw something fly straight towards her, causing the swordswoman to jerk her head and barely dodge a fistful of venom. Glaring at the skies, she frowned. A salamander had decided to bully her by preparing to send another streak of venom.

Fortunately, fire could not fight easily against fire. Sangue's semblance, after all, would be useful against Salamanders.

Flailing her claw up in front of her, Sangue loosely defended herself from another streak of acid, coating the Apophis Claw with venom. The Apophis Claw seemed to keep the venom sticking to itself, though it was evident that the poison would only be used in a few attacks before vanishing. And even if she got hit, the venom would heal her.

...She would probably be unable to keep up with the Salamanders due to her lack of proper far-ranged weapons, however.

While she was paying attention, several more Itzamnas appeared and headed for both her and Sarina. Her open eye squinting at the sight of Grimm surrounding everyone, Sangue whispered to the dark-haired woman,

"Please take care of the beast in the skies. I will cover you as much as possible."

The red-haired woman prepped her blade by her waist before slashing through an Itzamna that got too close to her by itself. There were approximately four Itzamnas headed for Sangue, and one Salamander and several other Itzamnas apparently deciding on whether to attack Sarina or Sangue. She decided to save the Apophis Claw's newly coated venom when she was given the chance to face other Salamanders that decided to attack her.

[User]
Robert Fallson - Practice

Robert continued standing at attention, waiting for the other students of the class to get to the range so Ms. Vanhomrigh could start the next part of the class. He was slowly getting impatient though. At first, he started rapidly tapping his foot on the ground. Then he began rocking back-and-forth on the soles of his feet. After a while, Robert decided that he'd risk getting in trouble with Ms. Vanhomrigh, if only to give himself something to do. He'd talk to one of his classmates. "I wonder how the guys in Survival class are doing. Probably something boring like learning how to build fires and pitch tents and stuff," Robert said to no one in particular. He hoped someone would still hear him even though everyone had their ear protection already on.

[Assistant]
Jack Orpheus | Survival

For a good portion of this fight, Jack was absent. In fact he was coming out of the woods, with a bundle of sticks, announcing his return, before he realized he was tailed by a bunch of Itzanmas. He turned as they charged him, and in that split second that would normally force anyone to block or even just take the hit, Jack was fast enough to weave to the side. With an unchanging expression he dropped the sticks and drew a single blade all in one movement, before plunging it down the neck of the Itzanma that dared charge him, beheading it. As he side stepped the Itzanma, he out of the corner of his eyes saw the other two, and the moment he confirmed the hit on the first one, already made use of his Semblance to zip around and strike the other two. Finishing that, he turned to the clearing, where the camp was... And...

"Okay, so-... I guess everyone's kind of busy...", and had it under control too. That was until he saw the Salamander join in from the other end of the camp.

"Yep. Definitely busy". He was a little elated, a new opponent oh boy, enough that he charged the Salamander instantly. The other students only saw a blue lightning and what seemed to be multiple strikes upon the Salamander from multiple directions. The trees in the area let him use his Lightning Rod special move, but that extra speed meant nothing in the face of the Salamander's armour, his strikes barely did any damage. After several strikes upon multiple parts of the armour, he dashed back to a sliding halt alongside the other students. There were also a bunch of Itzanmas too on the way. Hmmm... Should he dispatch the Itzanmas and let everyone else handle the Salamander? Or should he try and get the Salamander's attention and try and keep it from moving too much so the others can take it down...? After a moment he came to a decision. He announced to the others,

"Don't worry about the Itzanmas. You guys just handle the Salamander", and with that he was off. In a blue flash one was cut down as he passed by it with his Semblance, before coming down on another from above by jumping directly out of his dash. He decided he will hold back the Itzanmas, try as they might, these raptor Grimm weren't going to catch him under normal circumstances.