[X] My Assistant

[Shadow Dragon]

Heat-Haze

In this kind of clichéd story,
There must only be one ending.
Beyond this repeating summer day, it has to exist.

Built centuries ago, a city stood grand on the western shore of a small continent. It overlooked the raging oceans down beneath while strong walls stood around the city to protect it from the dangers lurking within the forest and plains. The Jewel of the Coast became known as Highwick, a technologically advanced city that promised a perfect lifestyle that only a utopia could match. Once, years ago, Highwick was the city everyone wanted to be in. They were diverse in their people. There were people who worked on farms to supply Highwick with produce, those who hunted and fish, those that would craft beautiful jewelry and cloth. Once, almost a century ago, there used to be small groups of people that could perform the most wonderful displays of magic.

Those small groups of people were new to Highwick. Years before, they had traveled on boat and were in dire need of a place to settle after being exiled from their previous homes. Seeing nothing wrong with these people, Highwick allowed them into the city and gave them small grants of land. The people were happy. Soon, the group became known as magic blooded people, the mages. The magic blooded were content with their lifestyle at first. But they soon learned of Highwick’s strict laws and regulations, and harshly learned of the brutal police force. The magic blooded, from wherever they hailed, were used to more freedoms before their exile. But they did not speak out. This was their home now. They would grow used to it.

Life was hard for the mages in Highwick. Magic was uncommon in their world, and the mages were the first in Highwick. Many people simply didn’t trust them. Shop owners refused to give them jobs, thinking that the mages would turn on them. Working alongside hunters and farmers was uncommon, as many believed that those with magic blood could just use their skills and abilities and fend for themselves. Several began to try and get help, to try and make everyone change their minds, yet nothing would work. The older mages simply gave up and did whatever they could do to make money. The younger ones, the ones with fire still in their souls, refused to give up. Soon they went against the government of Highwick. They refused to back down without a fight.

Yet in their attacks, many of the magic blooded population lost their lives. They were young and foolish without any idea of what they were up against. Try as their might, the sheer force of cannons and bullets caught many off guard, and their force of only a handful wasn’t much against a trained military. When they seemed to be defeated, Highwick created a new law. All those that were magic blooded, or those associated with such, were ordered to leave Highwick. Those that did not and were found could and would be punished by death.

Those that were still young and healthy left through the forest, traveling up to the Mountain Eriedge to find a new place to settle. Those that could not make the trip – the old, the sick, the handicapped – were forced to stay. While they left Highwick, they formed a small village on the eastern edge of Highwick’s walls. They called this village Hythe. They wanted to make it as grand as Highwick, but that dream was never accomplished. Those that left towards the mountains, however, formed their own city on the eastern edge of the small continent. They dubbed their city Rosebay.

While Rosebay flourished, Hythe did not. It became ugly in both appearance and life. The buildings were in terrible condition, always threatening to fall. The houses were small, yet two or three families would live in one at any given moment. Highwick, once, considered sending the guard to destroy Hythe. But they saw it as a new opportunity. They seized control of Hythe.

Citizens of Highwick took the exile of the magic blooded people as a reminder. They were not to question and they were not to rebel against the government of Highwick. Rebelling meant imprisonment, exile, or death. Soon, they’d learn of something worse than death. Now with Hythe under Highwick control, they could easily send people to Hythe.

In the current day, Hythe became home to three types of people; those unfortunate enough to have been born in Hythe, those that had been exiled from Highwick and the few magic users that wouldn’t dare to risk their lives to get to Rosebay. Ever since the rebellion, magic had been banned in Highwick. Those caught using magic would be put to death on the spot. Hythe itself was a death penalty. They had no luxuries of the Highwick people. Their only heat came from candles and, if lucky, a poorly made fireplace. Their only water was from the occasional pump, and more often than not most of the pumps would be broken. At times, Highwick guards would be patrolling Hythe. However, they were lowly guards and cared not for Hythe and preferred to drink and use Hythe citizens as target practice.

Hythe received no help from Highwick. If one is in Hythe, they are on their own. Death is common, as is theft, prostitution, and illegal trading. People are lead into killing over food and water, and those know to be of magic blood are targets for black mail and deadly assaults.

Life in Hythe, in the present day, is as normal as it could be. Life in Highwick was not. After almost half a century of planning and gaining forced of exiled mages and other folk, Rosebay had declared war on Highwick. Highwick did not believe their forces would be enough now that they were no longer facing a small group of mages but rather a city filled with them. They considered their options carefully and, soon, turned to what Hythe had to offer.

In Hythe, the normal day was of adults struggling to make money and kids wandering the streets. But today, the royal guard entered Hythe. Royal guards were never sent to Hythe. They were not armed with dangerous weapons, but rather handguns and clip boards. The people in Hythe were scared. What was happening? What was being planned?

The date was August 5th. The guards began to watch the children from afar; other times stopping children at random to ask series of questions. They were never the same questions and they never made much sense. Adults warn the children to stay far away from the guards. Don’t let them see you. They’re planning something. For days the royal guards did this, jotting down notes each time, until one day they stopped coming.

The day was, then, August 10th. August 10th, early in the morning, eleven children mysteriously died. There were few witnesses and no bodies. The people of Hythe were outraged, believing the guards had killed the children and hidden the bodies. Yet all they search, not one body was recovered. The date is now August 14th. It has been four days since eleven families have been left without their child, without a body to bury. Four days since Highwick brought eleven children to their labs and began to experiment. Only four days and the children have had their run, given steroids and drugs, their old broken body parts replaced with new robotic ones, small black snakes embedded into the chests of each child. Snakes of magical origin, brought by the old mages. Most were dead, several kept in labs. Small black snakes no bigger than a pin head, born dead and brought to life at the taste of blood to embed themselves into their hosts and supplement magic for blood. They shape themselves to their hosts; giving them such abilities that only the most powerful of mages could reproduce.

The date is now August 15th. Five days since their deaths, eleven children reawaken. Eleven children of twisted experiments had reawaken to fight for a war that they never started.

I – Longing
Whoever possesses the snake power of Longing has the ability to sense and summon the other “snakes”, giving the other children a desire to meet with this child. They can combine their power with another snake by touching its host. By touch, this child absorbs their power. The absorbed power is weaker than the original power and in some cases can only be used once before the child of the Longing snake must touch the desired host again.

II – Concealing
The child chosen to have the Concealing ability is able to divert attention away from themselves, another person, or even an object. This renders them almost invisible to the population. However, physical contact will make this power waver for several moments, revealing whatever was concealed.

III – Captivating
The child gifted with Captivating is able to draw all attention to one’s self or to others. When drawing attention to them, the child is able to charm others into doing as they wish no matter their victim’s previous preferences or desires. They are only able to charm one at a time, as charming more and more people at a time lowers the chance of Captivating working.

IV – Spying
With the Spying gift, the child is given the gift of scrying with their mind. As if having a bird’s eye view of the world, the user can see anything and everything. They can choose to spy on certain person. They can choose to spy on an object to find its location. With the Spying ability the child can see and learn whatever they desire.

V – Deluding
The Deluding snake enables the user to create illusions. These illusions are life like and if the child is well versed in their Deluding ability they can even bring them to life. The child will find that using the illusions on themselves is the easiest task, allowing them to shift appearances at will.

VI – Mending
Those chosen to wield the Mending snake are healers. Their bodies have shifted to be able to rapidly heal itself and can even replace missing skin or limbs. This child is hard to kill, as one must kill the snake first. They can heal their teammates of almost any injury; however they cannot regenerate someone else’s limbs. Luckily, those of the Mending snake seemed to have gained a vast medical knowledge.

VII –Prying
Those of the Prying ability have gained the power of telepathy. By just staring or touch someone, they can read the thoughts of any living thing. They can even put thoughts into people's minds and read their memories. Strangely, this allows the ability to talk to animals. Those of the Prying ability can easily understand them, and giving the animal can recognize human words they could communicate.

VIII – Piercing
The Piercing ability allows a slight control over time. While they can not rewind time or go jump around in time, they can temporarily stop time. The Piercing ability must be focused on someone or something in order to work. They can freeze someone or something in time for several seconds to several minutes, as if they were made of plastic and not human flesh.

IX – Replicating
The Replicating Snake gives the user the ability of shape shifting. They can change their entire appearance - from facial structure to voice to even bone structure - to match that of someone else. The Replicating ability will use the host's memories to shape shift into anybody they desire. Using the Replicating ability can cause a physical strain on the user, as it will reshape the body instead of using some fancy illusions.

X – Aligning
The Aligning Snake grants the user the power of teleportation. The user can now switch places with other people or objects vaguely their size. There must be something or something that the user can switch places with, or the Aligning ability will not work. Transferring is its nature, and without an equivalent transfer it will not work.

XI - Awakening
Those gifted with the Awakening ability have a gift of knowing. While they don't have knowledge of everything in the world, they simply know things. They know when someone is lying. They know when someone is faking it. They can see through any illusion, no matter how real. By connecting their minds with someone, they can show that person what's real. Yet, in the same way, they are able to overload someone's mind, rendering unconsciousness or even death.

I. Follow all GTS+ Rules
II. No bunny/god-modding/any other type of RPing taboo
III. Try to have the best spelling/grammar you can, and try to keep posts to a two paragraph minimum
IV. When using OOC in the RP topic, use (()), [[brackets]], or some other type of distinguishing factor. Try not to have an only OOC post in the RP topic as well, since those aren’t very cool.
V. Please try to be active! As much as one can’t be online everyday, don’t just post and disappear!
VI. Everyone is allowed up to two characters! Yay!
VII. The powers are first come first serve, but they can be reserved for up to a week before they’re up for grabs again.
VIII. Characters are not allowed prior magic before the events of the RP.
IX. They are allowed weapons. Highwick has weaponry as advanced as tanks, guns, and cannons while those in Hythe are more dependent on bladed and blunt weapons from lack of gun circulation. It's basically Technology vs Magic vs what Hythe would be categorized as, for reference.
X. Please be respectful and have fun! Having fun is what RPing is all about, like a magical girl anime that’s not Madoka.

On the southern tip of the continent, Highwick stands on the eastern shore and Rosebay on the western shore. Highwick, known as the Jewel of the Coast, is an economically advanced city that is surrounded by high walls on all four sides. The walls are at least forty meters high and made of thick stone and reinforced by steel and iron. The people of Highwick are all treated to a comfy lifestyle. In Outer Highwick, bordering the walls, the people have cozy modern homes with heat and plumbing. Outer Highwick would be the equivalent to modern day homes. In Inner Highwick, closer to the center, they’re treated to the latest gadgets and have more hi-tech homes than others.

They are ruled by the Highwick Government, a council of ten with a council leader as voted by the people. They have absolute control and are in control of the top level of guards, known as the Highwick Royal Guard. They’re easily identified by their black clothing and a crest of roses on their backs. The Royal Guard is in charge of protecting the government building and carrying out any orders from the council. The second tier of guards is simply known as the City Guards, dressed in navy blues with a crest of a lion on their backs. They are protectors of Highwick, guards of the borders, and ensure that everything is peaceful. They all have orders to stop anyone suspicious and ask for their identification, either in the form of a card or an electronic bracelet. Anyone without either is brought to one of the stations and from there the outcome varies.

The third tier of guards is considered the lowest. They’re dubbed Hythe Patrol and dress in grays and brown. Their crest is of an eagle, but not many guards wear them. The Hythe Patrol is a guard system set up to keep Hythe peaceful and under control, but most of the guard does nothing more than drink and gamble all day. Unlike Highwick, Hythe is lawless, filled with people that left Highwick for their own reasons or people kicked out of Highwick. Highwick is quick to send people to Hythe. The people themselves have to ensure “justice” is served, from cutting off the hands of thieves to merciless killings of cheaters in casinos.

While the population of Hythe is plenty, Hythe is only a small town where there are often three families in a small two storied house, where there’s plenty of spaces to hide and even more to commit crime. On occasion, one can wander into one of the old skyscraper-like buildings, built back when Hythe was trying to be its own city and not part of Highwick. Several parts of Hythe aren't even inhabited, considered to be too dangerous in the crumbling buildings. Life in Hythe isn’t pretty, and when people are desperate enough they try to move to Rosebay. Although discrimination against mages is strong, even in Hythe, Rosebay is considered a safe haven from Highwick and Hythe.

Not many people actually reach Rosebay. Many are not prepared for the long travels through the mountains or forest and will die on the way or turn back to Hythe. The Mountain Eriedge is a mountain range stretching across the eastern shore to the western shore north of the three cities, filled with large predatory animals and home to freezing night temperatures. The forest that separates Rosebay from Highwick and Hythe is a large and wide forest known as Fowey, or as Firelight Forest in old wives tales.

Fowey is split in the middle by the River Shade, a wide surging river that comes from the mountains and spills into the ocean. In the eastern Fowey, there’s an abundance of animals to hunt from bear to deer. In western Fowey along with the normal hunt are creatures of magic, such as the black snakes. Those of Highwick and Hythe have no knowledge of these animals – all those on their side had long been driven to extinction. It is said that the original mages brought these animals with them when they arrived in Highwick.

Those of Highwick and Hythe do not know much of Rosebay. Their knowledge knows of Rosebay being a large city with walls bordering all but the western side, which opens right up into the ocean. It is home to predominantly magic users, along with the people that have luckily traveled from Hythe and those that arrived from across the ocean. While it is not advanced as Highwick, many believe it to be better than Highwick.

Username: (Your current username, or whatever you wish to be called)
Name: (Character's name - please included both first and last!)
Gender: (Male/Female/Ect)
Age: (Any age between 12 and 18 is acceptable - remember, they're kids!)

Snake: (List the number and title of the power your character has gotten! As well as the description if you desire, but I'm just looking for a name and number)

Appearance: (Character's appearance can have a picture, but it needs to be written out please! Include things such as their height, body type, hair, eyes, ect. Also, anything else that seems important, such as scars or artificial parts. Please have at least a paragraph!)

Personality: (Describe the character's personality in as much detail as you can. Are they the happy kind of kid or has reality set in for them? Are they the loner type or do they enjoy company? A paragraph is enough, but give a decent image for the character's personality.)

History: (The character's history of being in Hythe. Where the born there, or were they forced to live there at an early age? How was it like living there? How was their "death" like? At least two paragraphs here, please!)

Other: (Anything else you want to put that doesn't fit anywhere else! And now you're done!)

Username: Shadow Dragon
Name: Ernest Janvier
Gender: Male
Age: 15

Snake:
Aligning Snake, #10
The Aligning Snake grants the user the power of teleportation. The user can now switch places with other people or objects vaguely their size. There must be something or something that the user can switch places with, or the Aligning ability will not work. Transferring is its nature, and without an equivalent transfer it will not work.

Appearance:
Seeing himself as a rather plain boy, standing at 5’6”, Ernest doesn’t care much for his appearance. He often lets his mousy brown hair get rather long and dirty, often clumsily cutting it to just below his chin. His eyes are a similar brown, dull and dark, and will constantly have dark rings under them. At first glance it’s obvious that Ernest isn’t in the best of conditions, being terribly underweight and often very sickly looking, but he often pushes himself to the limit with work. His sun-tanned skin is riddled with both sun burns and cuts and is almost always bruised, but Ernest covers them up well enough.

Considering his situation, he isn’t always best dressed, often wearing just whatever he could get his hands on. More or less, he'll just go around home with a pair of old brown combat boots and a pair of ripped blue jeans on. He's not one to wear shirts, but he'll wear a red tank top if he's made to. Like his jeans, the tank top is a little ripped and washed out, looking more like a pale red over a bright crimson. When chilly, he'll force himself to wear an old brown jacket and a black scarf. Ernest doesn't carry much with him at a time, but he has a long knife he keeps for protection. It's secured to his left hip.

Due to prior childhood injuries, Ernest had gotten a permanent limp in his left leg. It caused some difficulty, but up until he was taken there was no way to help it. But since then, he's found that there's been a metal brace on his leg, and he isn't very happy about it.

Personality:
Ernest was raised to only speak when spoken to, always be respectful, and to keep his head down low. Ernest follows those three rules closely. He keeps his mouth shut and stays out of the way to the point where most people forget if he’s in the room or not. Even if he talks it’s very short and to the point, and he’s dreadfully honest. Although he doesn’t talk much about himself and will often just give vague descriptions of himself. Likewise, even as he’s honest, he tries hard to treat everyone with respect no matter how much he’d want to punch them in the face. If dealing with someone unpleasant he’ll bite his tongue and do as told.

Unfortunately for someone that tries to keep his head down, Ernest has strong morals and isn’t afraid to speak his opinion if given the option. He strongly believes in what he considers “justice”, yet he’s often intimidated and too scared to actually do anything. Ernest doesn’t put much belief in himself like he’ll put belief in others, believing himself to be a weak coward. If he sees anything happening, he’ll just turn away and keep on his way. At least if he’s told to do wrong, he’ll almost always figure out a way to just work around it instead of directly hurting anyone. Ernest tends to avoid confrontation at all costs, thinking it’s better to work things out peacefully before getting himself hurt in a fight.

In that sense, many people tell Ernest that he’s almost an adult with his maturity. Perhaps he is in his serious quietness. Yet, when he’s in his element with dogs or just genuinely having fun Ernest acts like he’s a happy little kid. He didn’t have much fun during his childhood, getting put into the harsh world early, and getting to have fun is one of the few sensations he loves. It’s one of the few times he’ll genuinely laugh and smile.

History:
Unfortunate enough to be born in Hythe, Ernest was a baby when he was adopted by an older couple by the name of Jane and Daniel Janvier. He didn’t know his parents, as his mother had died shortly after childbirth due to her crippling sickness and the poor conditions in Hythe. Jane and Daniel didn’t know much either, as they had only taken in Ernest’s mother just a few weeks before she gave birth and most of what she’d say was complete nonsense. As far as they know, she was a sickly woman that was forced to leave Highwick and go to Hythe on charges of conspiracy that she’d never explain. She had told them her name was Diana, and that she had wanted to go to Rosebay. She never explained why, and had taken that secret to the grave with her.

However neither Jane nor Daniel worried too much about it, since Ernest appeared to be simply a normal, healthy baby. Sometimes, their eldest son Jonathan, would be found trying to get Ernest to do something that proved that he wasn’t a normal child. All these attempts ended in failure and sometimes injury, such as when Ernest got his leg injury from being dropped out a window as an experiment, but luckily Ernest doesn’t remember that incident very much.

Ernest ended up being the youngest of the Janvier children, having two older brothers and an older sister. The eldest was John, and then came Ivy and Will as twins. While Ivy and Will had left to seek opportunities as craftsmen in Hythe, John had stayed behind to help their parents with their small farm. As soon as Ernest could walk, John would take him out into the small field the Janvier family had. They were lucky to have inherited the tiny plot of land, and grew whatever they could in order to make money. While they hired only one farmhand for below minimum wage pay, it was John’s duty to oversee that they were doing their job as well as protecting the borders. Thieves were common in Hythe, and their field was a big target. To decrease his workload, when Ernest was around eight John began to train him on using the guard dogs. There were about a dozen dogs of several breeds that would scare off thieves and, on occasion, attack and injury anyone that comes too close. The dogs would sleep out in the fields, and would come up to the small three-roomed house only for food or to be washed.

As soon Ernest learned all their names and learned how to handle them, John sent him off with the dogs to do border control. He had to repair the fences, scare away anyone, and dispose of anything harmful lying around. Ernest ended up picking up his knife that way, finding it hidden in the wheat plants. He’s disappointed that, so far, he’s only been able to use it to cut ropes for repairing the fence. Not that it could do much good, being rather dull already.

And now, as the ripe age of fifteen, Ernest is a master at handling the dogs and well-worn by working with the farmhand every other week. On August 10th, he went out early as always to see what the dogs had done over the night. It was early enough that the sun hadn’t risen yet, but there was enough light to see around the farm. While doing inspections, he found that a section of the fence was broken and one of the dogs, a St. Bernard named Lucky, was sniffing the broken wood.

As Ernest came closer, Lucky looked at him and barked before taking off into the woods next to the farm. He followed her in, becoming lost until she began to loudly growling and barking. She was with pair of the guards from Highwick, rigid as if ready to attack. When Ernest stepped forward to call her off, one of the guards had raised his gun. It made a terribly loud bang.

Other: N/A

~Subject Data~
[ 11/11 Cases Located, [start] ]
I – [Longing] Yui Captor (Flamefiends)
II – [Captivating] Fai Captor (Flamefiends)
III – [Concealing] Saoirse Kanem (Inosyc)
IV – [Spying] Regulus Deleo (Aura Dynasty)
V – [Deluding] Elluka Chronre (Asphoxi/Water1997)
VI – [Mending] Ebisu Kiruko (RexG124)
VII – [Prying] Irina Chronre (Asphoxi/Water1997)
VIII – [Piercing] Rhea Kokinos (Shadow Dragon)
IX – [Replicating] May Lazarus (Kill Me)
X – [Aligning] Ernest Janvier (Shadow Dragon)
XI – [Awakening] Faith Crody (Huntress Wizard)

This post has been edited by Shadow Dragon: Sep 20 2013, 10:32 PM