info post.
Dec. 2nd, 2019 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hatesdragons    Emille of the 7th Dragon series ❝ My resentment, my anger, have sustained me. I seek neither compassion nor regret. ❞ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 ❝ Ours is a tale of men and Dragons. ❞  CANON BACKGROUNDDragons. It all began with the Dragons. Dragons are the ancient godlike creators of life in the 7th Dragon series. They are the pinnacle of evolution, and the greatest creatures in the universe. They fall under a hierarchy: regular Dragons, stronger and individualized Imperial Dragons, and the intelligent and egotistic True Dragons, of which there are seven. True Dragons create life on empty planets in a process they call "sowing," which will, over millions and billions of years of growth and development of civilizations, eventually be "harvested." It may sound innocuous when using those terms, but the Dragons' harvest involves consuming the very life they brought onto the planet once it reaches peak ripeness. A harvest begins with the blossoming of toxic orange flowers known as the Bloom (or Dragonsbane in III) that cover the land and weaken its inhabitants with disease. Then, the weaker Dragons invade in preparation for the True Dragon to arrive and feast. True Dragons only intervene if the planet's population decides to fight back. It is during these harvesting wars that the 7th Dragon games take place, chronicling humanity's fight against their creators four billion years after they were sown onto Earth. The only other planet known of by the humans to suffer this fate was the Hypnos civilization... Hypnos. The Hypnos planet and its civilization were destroyed by the Dragons tens of thousands of years prior to Earth's Dragon wars. They were a much more technologically advanced society, but still succumbed to the harvest under True Dragon Niara, the mad god. In order to save a remnant of themselves, the Hypnos shed their fleshly bodies and became spirit entities. Through this process, Emille and her sister Aitelle were born. Emille is a spirit entity comprised of the Hypnos' collective hatred towards Dragonkind, and Aitelle is the Hypnos' collective love for those afflicted by the Dragons. They were given the role of guardians of the stars, and spread out across space together in order to find and watch over another planet that will succumb to the same fate as Hypnos. Eventually, they found themselves on Earth... Earth/Eden. Earth has had numerous clashes with the Dragons, the first being in 12,000 BC. The True Dragon Niara came to harvest while the fabled ocean city of Atlantis was at its height, and the Atlanteans were able to drive Niara off with an orichalcum blade they forged, the Dragonslayer, that would return in later time periods to save humanity again. Emille did not help the Atlanteans with their Dragon war -- and it was initially lost until time traveling hijinks in III fixed that -- but she knows of its events and even how to forge the Dragonslayer (but lacks the particular power to do so, as she is not of the cat-eared Lucier race, the people of Atlantis). The Earth of 7th Dragon 2020 and 2020-II (which takes place in 2021) is analogous to Earth as we know it today. 2020 and 2020-II take place in a Tokyo, Japan that is overrun with the Bloom and Dragons, led by True Dragon Niara (2020) and True Dragon Fomalhaut (2020-II). The nations remain the same as they are in the world now, and in 2020, Emille's allegiance is with the Americans and their President Muller. However, in 2020-II, Emille is in charge in Tokyo and contentions arise between the Japanese and the Americans and their new president, David Griffith. 7th Dragon takes place five thousand years after the events of 2020 and 2020-II on a planet named Eden, but it is the same Earth as in the previous games. Eden does, however, have entirely different land masses and cities, implying some major terraforming event had happened since 2021. Eden has regressed into a medieval state, with adventurer's guilds leaving the Republic of Kazan regularly to go questing and fight monsters. Technology has also become quite a bit more primitive, with any sort of advanced technology found instead in ancient ruins or being researched by the scholars of Pleroma, the Academic Capital. Emille is the Chief Scholar of Pleroma in Eden, and is behind much of the technological advances, due to her knowledge retained from the Hypnos civilization. The Tokyo of 2020/2020-II still lingers in 7000 AD, but as the fabled land of Tokyon, existing in a small dimension outside the reaches of time that only the Hypnos sisters can grant access to. It has been reduced to a shrine honoring the memories of all who perished during the 2020/2021 Dragon war. It is also the resting place of Aitelle's beloved, Takehaya, a man who took Dragon DNA into his body and became a human/Dragon hybrid in order to help defeat Niara in 2020. Alongside him is the Dragon Chronicle, a very important tool for humanity's war against the Dragons. It is a mass of information that holds both the history of Dragons' interactions with humanity on Earth, as well as all sorts of biological and observational information on Dragons collected over the centuries. It becomes a key component to victory in each 7th Dragon game, and it is only unearthed when the true Dragon Hunters appear... Dragon Hunters. These are the humans (and/or cat-eared Lucier) who are chosen by the stars to stand up against the Dragons during their respective Dragon invasion. Or, in other terms, the fated Hunters are the party you play as in-game. Each group of Hunters is able to unite the rest of humanity behind them, and incite humanity's true weapon found deep within all of them: willpower. As long as the Hunters are making headway against the Dragons, the rest of humanity begins to have hopes for the future, and that hope feeds back into the Hunters, giving them a reason to keep fighting and remain resilient. The True Dragons are cruel and cause so much misery and pain for humanity, but as long as the Hunters pull through, humanity's willpower is unconquerable. Unfortunately for the Hypnos people, they lacked this uniting willpower and thus perished. It is further postulated that humanity's willpower comes from the planet itself. It is Emille and Aitelle's goal to find the true Dragon Hunters during each war and lead them to victory. Emille does so through tactical and technological advisory, while Aitelle supports them as she can through love and guidance. In 7th Dragon 2020/2020-II, the Dragon Hunters are called the Murakumo Unit 13, and in 7th Dragon III they're merely Unit 13 as a throwback to the 2020 group. In 7th Dragon, they have a guild name given by the player. The End. During the course of 7th Dragon III, Emille and Aitelle come to their end. III's Unit 13 time travels to Kazan in Eden 100 years after the end of 7th Dragon, in the year 7100 AD. The Dragons have returned under the True Dragon Haze, and Emille is on the warpath once again, actively chasing after Haze with the intention of destroying him with her own hands (and then, later, by using the Dragonslayer). Unfortunately, Aitelle's spirit has nearly vanished, and it is Aitelle's love that balances Emille's hatred so that it does not consume her. But with Aitelle fading, Emille's hatred builds to the point that she herself begins to evolve into a Dragon, hinted at by Emille's outbursts causing deadly blue Bloom to spread around Kazan, and made definite by True Dragon Haze's comments immediately upon seeing her. As the Hypnos sisters are ancient spirit entities comprised of two strong but balancing emotions, the weakening of Aitelle's love causes Emille's hatred to overpower both of them, so that their spirits are forcefully joined under Emille's prevailing revulsion, exacerbated by Haze's taunting and the reality that Emille is morphing into the very thing she would give her life to annihilate. The two spirits merge and evolve into the Fourth True Dragon Hypnos, which the last of Emille's consciousness asks Unit 13 to kill so that Hypnos does not go on a rampage and attack the humans she and Aitelle so loved. During the battle, the song 「終撃のイグニト」 plays, and the lyrics (found in the comments) reflect Emille's bloodied past and wishes for defeat. Upon Hypnos' death, the sisters' spirits still urge humanity to defeat the Dragons and protect the planet before finally disappearing for good. CANON PERSONALITYIn the 7th Dragon series, Emille is seen at three points of history: 2020-2021 AD, 7000 AD, and 7100 AD. As she is literally an embodiment of hatred towards Dragons, created with the mission to annihilate them for revenge, she remains relatively the same in each canon point. Of course, there are some differences and specifics between games, which will be highlighted below. Emille internally. • Eternal hatred. • Instead of becoming full-on angry, Emille becomes more annoyed with herself in 2020. First, she is annoyed for not considering the possibility of a human wanting to take Dragon DNA into themselves to become a Dragon/human hybrid, as an antagonist does about two-thirds of the way through the game. It's understandable for her to not consider this -- why would anyone want to become one of those, in her mind, despicable creatures? This even causes her to admit that America will probably lose the war, as she has no experience fighting Dragon/human hybrids. Secondly, one of the only interactions the player party has with her involves her getting frustrated at her body for being unable to magically process some materials: • Another thing that really frustrates her is when people cannot come together in order to fight the Dragons, citing "national interests" instead. In both 7th Dragon 2020-II and 7th Dragon, separate nations remain closed off to one another, and she is extremely opposed to this ideology. • By the time 7th Dragon occurs, Emille has been at her mission to destroy Dragons for tens of thousands of years, and it shows. Her hatred has risen to its peak; likely because True Dragon Niara has the gall to try consuming humanity again for the third time, and it's Emille's third chance to wipe him from existence. It's obvious that she is trying her hardest to contain herself, but her patience is definitely wearing thin. For example, when her subordinate Nowari tells the player party that just defeating one Dragon would help the Lucier people in their struggle, Emille bursts with, • In 7th Dragon III a hundred years later, Emille is no longer listening to reason. She goes after True Dragon Haze herself, armed with nothing more than a rapier and her overwhelming rage. She eventually obtains the Dragonslayer and tries to go on a Dragon-killing rampage, but is stopped by Yuma, a Dragon Hunter and rival to Unit 13. It is shortly afterwards that Emille merges with Aitelle to become Fourth True Dragon Hypnos. • Hope, then emptiness. • At the beginning of her in-game history, especially in 2021, Emille clings to hope. She tells Unit 13 that, • However, her many failures in completely eradicating the Dragons lead to disappointment, frustration, rashness, and inevitably more hatred. As her hatred grows stronger, it takes over all other aspects of her being. This is especially obvious in 7th Dragon and 7th Dragon III. In 7th Dragon, after the player party goes to Tokyon and receives the Dragonslayer, Emille admits: • In 7th Dragon III, Emille's emptiness just makes room for more hatred. She is constantly fighting against Aitelle, even asking her loving sister to assist her in killing Dragons. Aitelle asks Emille, Emille externally. • True leadership qualities. • Charismatic. In 2020, Emille is mostly off-screen, in charge of America's Dragon defense plan, while the player party is in Japan with Aitelle. However, Emille was able to convince the U.S. President into promoting her to Secretary of Defense. The President doesn't quite understand or believe Emille's talk of Dragons, but her knowledge and technological prowess impressed him. When America is about to fall to the Dragons, the President decides that he will forego hiding in the emergency bunker and instead go down with the country. One of his last musings is that he would rather be dying with her. It's never stated who he is talking about, but if it's Emille, then she charmed him pretty hard. • Proactive. In between the events of 2020 and the beginning of 2020-II one year later, Emille admits to having traveled the world, checking on survivors and comparing research with information gathered by other country's leaders in preparation for the next True Dragon attack. True Dragon Niara was only one of seven, and Emille was fully aware that the others would try their hand at consuming humanity. She's almost always at least one step ahead with planning the next move, unless there's been an unexpected or unforeseen change. Even when Dragons are not in the world, you can bet that Emille is working on some counter-measure. • Quick to take charge. In 2020-II, Emille immediately steps in and takes charge when the Murakumo president is unable to continue with his duties, and is very effective at establishing command. She obviously knows what she's doing, though her reputation as the American Secretary of Defense one year earlier precedes her. Even so, she is very good at rallying the troops, as seen in her dialogue from before the first mission: • Bossy. When Emille is allowed to lead, she does not hesitate to take full charge of the situation. If she has people willing to take orders, she will give them, no question. Her knowledge and level-headedness grants her respect in the eyes of her subordinates, and this allows her to bark orders at them. She does not do so disrespectfully, but she can be forceful and impatient, like how she always wakes Unit 13 and calls them into a meeting immediately. She also cannot stand it when her orders are disobeyed. In 2020-II, she asks for American soldiers to wait and listen to her, but when they head off anyway, she huffs a • Responsible. Later in 2020-II, Emille shines as a leader once again when the Diet Building, where humanity has made its base, is under a full-on attack by the Dragons. The humans are chased far into the underground levels of the building, with True Dragon Fomalhaut's extremely dangerous black Bloom filtering through the airways and slowly suffocating everyone. A tough decision needs to be made, and Emille makes it without flinching: some people will need to be sacrificed in order to close the bulwarks between levels to prevent the miasma from filtering in. Everyone else is shaken and on edge, but Emille gives everyone twenty minutes to assemble a suicide squad -- and then she reveals that she will also be going with them. • Usually level-headed and understanding. Emille wants things done, but she does concede at times. In 2020-II, during the first mission, Emille tells Unit 13 to retreat, leaving the Japanese SDF troops in the fray. Unit 13 argues against leaving their comrades, and Emille responds: • Unrelenting to the point of madness. As is obvious, Emille is willing to do whatever it takes to annihilate all Dragons. Because of this, her methods may end up being morally questionable or completely rash, especially if plan A doesn't work out, or a drastic measure is deemed necessary. In these cases, Emille tends to become even more hateful and pushy than before, even to the point of losing favor with those she works with. In times like those, she also has a habit of suggesting to throw all soldiers/warriors available at the Dragons, but those plans are never well-received. Examples of specific questionable and/or rash decisions Emille makes over the course of the series: • 7th Dragon 2020-II. An Imperial Dragon descends upon Tokyo that emits extremely acidic rain, wounding and outright killing many civilians in the process. However, Unit 13 had been tracking a stolen anti-Dragon weapon shortly before the Dragon began its attack. Emille actually mulls over continuing to look for the weapon over stopping the acid rain, but decides to send Unit 13 into the Dragon's den without any plan or without doing sufficient research on the rain beforehand so they could continue the search as quickly as possible. This is contested against, and Emille's response: • 7th Dragon 2020-II. The anti-Dragon weapon turns out to be a Lucier clone named Marina, created in the lab by Emille herself. She realizes that her method of bringing false life into the world to be used as an anti-Dragon weapon can be seen as unethical by humans, as she admits: • 7th Dragon. During events that happened off-screen, a giant anti-Dragon cannon was constructed with Hypnos tech outside of the Lucier capital, called the Soulcannon. Emille's aide Nowari tries several times to dissuade her from relying on it, because in order to use it, thousands of souls must be sacrificed and shot out of the cannon as a beam of energy. However, Emille had convinced the Lucier King to sacrifice his people on her command, and once True Dragon Niara appeared in front of humanity, it was time to strike. Before the Soulcannon fires, Emille cackles in madness: Emille with others. • Hides her past. Emille's job is to destroy the Dragons, not tell everyone her life story. One must earn her respect and trust first, and that takes quite a bit of time and proof of abilities. It is usually not for a while into her stories that she bothers telling people that she is not human but Hypnos, and it takes even longer to get her entire backstory out of her. Aitelle, on the other hand, talks about their past relatively freely; but this is not Emille's goal and she considers her past irrelevant until it's necessary to mention. In 2020, the Hypnos backstory is never mentioned until a post-game dungeon. In 2020-II, Emille tells Unit 13 about herself during a late night visit about halfway through the game, after proving themselves reliable. In 7th Dragon, Emille ends up in dialogue about Hypnos with True Dragon Niara, and her subordinate Nowari asks her to explain, having no idea about her past despite having worked with her for at least some years before the beginning of the game. • Confides in very specific people. In each game, Emille picks specific people to serve as her subordinates, usually in a research context, but not always. These hand-picked people are the ones she leans on the most, and ends up confiding in. She learns most about true humanity from them. They are the ones she genuinely cares about. • 7th Dragon 2020-II. Emille begins bossing Shizuka around nearly the moment she meets her, and after the first mission, suddenly says, • 7th Dragon. Scholar Nowari and Scholar Faro are Chief Scholar Emille's chosen subordinates for her to bark directions to. They are high-ranking scholars of Pleroma, and Nowari takes charge after Emille is imprisoned. Emille has this to say about them: • 7th Dragon III. In III, Emille is in Kazan with three other Edenites: a Mirossian knight, a Pleroman scholar, and a Lucier warrior. The Lucier, Nagiri, is very obviously Emille's chosen one, and Nagiri takes that role very seriously. Emille almost completely ignores the other two, especially the knight as she is clueless 90% of the time, and Emille has no patience for her. Nagiri even stays at Emille's side as she is turning into a Dragon, eventually getting blasted when trying to stop her from leaving. Nagiri remains bedridden through the rest of the game, but still asks about Lady Emille. • Of course, Emille also confides in the player parties, but less as aides and more as tools to fight Dragons with. As she tells Unit 13 in 2020-II, What others say about Emille. • In 2020-II, an American soldier named Izumi Sakuraba calls Emille "the ice queen." • In 2020-II, during the acid rain attack, an NPC says this: "If you're too driven, you lose sight of reason... When I look at President Emille these days, that's the feeling I'm starting to get." • In 7th Dragon, this is the first description of Emille seen in game: "Chief Scholar Emille is driven and severe." • In 7th Dragon, a description of Emille: "I think she isn't human. Her looks never change. She's cold and unfeeling, but looks like a young girl. If you look close, though, she's got a skirt, and she's careful about her hairpins... She must have some cute clothes somewhere!" • In 7th Dragon, Aitelle describes Emille: CANON ABILITIES• Immense knowledge. Emille is not a figher, but a researcher. Her Hypnos history, immortality, and access to the Dragon Chronicle, the history of Dragons and how to fight against them, has imbued her with more knowledge than anyone in existence on how to deal with Dragons. The Hypnos were technologically advanced, and she brings that tech to Earth. Examples of Hypnos tech include Dragon-sensing radars and the Soulcannon super-weapon. In 2020-2021 Tokyo, Emille is familiar with current technology such as computers and laboratory devices. In 7th Dragon, Emille is Chief Scholar of Pleroma, and they have a lot of impressive technology for a medieval world, but it is not stated how much of the technology was created or modified by Emille. • Leadership ability. In each game she's in, Emille is in a leadership role. She knows how to take command, even if her decisions can be harsh. Unfortunately, she tends to become too ruthless after a while, and this either destroys her or strips her of her command. • Immortality. As a spiritual entity, Emille doesn't really "die." Instead, she returns to a spirit form when her body is wounded beyond repair, or otherwise destroyed. It is unknown how long it takes for her body to re-materialize, though she is still able to communicate telepathically while in spirit form. She does eventually die for good, after merging her spirit with Aitelle's to become the Fourth True Dragon Hypnos, and being stabbed by the Dragonslayer afterward. Something about the magical properties of the orichalcum blade utterly destroys Dragons, so Emille is technically only killable in Dragon form by the Dragonslayer. • Teleportation. This skill is only shown off once in the series, when Emille teleports from America to Japan near the end of 7th Dragon 2020. When Emille arrives in Japan, however, her physical form had diminished from an adult's into a child's, and she is also limping. This implies that her teleportation skill is risky for her to use, and explains why she doesn't use it more often, such as when she's imprisoned in 7th Dragon. • Able to extract energy from materials. It isn't fully described in-game, but we do see Emille try to extract energy from items dropped by enemies near the end of 7th Dragon 2020. Perhaps she is trying to restore her full body, or bodily strength, after her teleportation? Is it how she keeps herself from physically falling apart? In any case, it seems that she is able to use the power of her soul to manipulate magical items to some extent. • Able to use a sword. Emille can at least defend herself with the rapier she carries around in her belt. She is by no means an expert, but she's been around long enough to have an idea as to what to do with a sharp pointy thing. She does hold her own in swordfighting in 7th Dragon III, but she is also using a Dragon's strength, so it's doubtful that she is that skilled normally. AU BACKGROUNDThis AU background was created within the universe of ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small} daybreakacademy.Emille was born as a regular human girl in America to a regular family. A year later, her younger sister Aitelle was born. The family moved to Tokyo, Japan when Emille was ten. This left Emille with a grasp on the English language, but also was the beginning of her descent into an aloof, cynical, hateful teenager. Her Japanese classmates poked fun at her for her blonde hair, red eyes, and short stature; and it caused her to withdraw into herself. Aitelle managed to make friends, regardless of her blue hair and red eyes, and she helped lift Emille out of absolute despair with her sweet personality and genuine sisterly love. Life progressed as normal, up until one year ago. Emille and Aitelle were still in Tokyo; Emille finishing up a research opportunity with a state-of-the-art biology lab, and Aitelle making preparations for spending her life together with her sweetheart, Takehaya. The two women planned to spend a month at home together over summer with their family, likely for the last time before their lives went their separate ways. And then, on one unnaturally dark and foggy night, something happened to their neighborhood in Tokyo. Official reports will claim there was a mass chain explosion caused by flames entering the neighborhood's gas lines, but that was nowhere near accurate. No, a rash of winged, scaled creatures converged on their neighborhood; spreading toxic orange flowers, burning houses, and feeding on any humans they could capture in the hour they wreaked havoc in Tokyo. Emille, thanks to her four-foot height, was able to hide successfully from the onslaught, but she could not shut out the sounds of pure destruction and death, nor the smell of fire and flesh and blood. Even once all fell silent, Emille refused to leave her hiding spot. She was pried out the next morning by rescuers, who mistook her for an elementary student (not an unusual occurrence) and tried to reconnect her with her family out of the survivors of the "accident." However, the search just confirmed what she'd known all along: her family was dead, torn to bits and eaten by the invaders. In the span of one hour, Emille's life went from "coming together" to "absolutely fallen apart." The people she loved most in the world, especially her precious sister Aitelle, were suddenly gone. At this point, only two things kept her going: her desire to know what exactly happened, and an overwhelming hatred towards the creatures that ruined her life. In the past year, Emille has been able to gather, through her scientific contacts, that what really happened was likely some sort of paranormal occurrence. Through even more snooping, and the aid of Aitelle's fiancee Takehaya, Emille learned of a secret branch of the Japanese government called the Murakumo, which trained humans with S-class abilities to fight back against supernatural threats. Her dogged determination allowed her one Q&A session with a Murakumo member, who explained that the event she was involved in was a very concentrated attack by Dragons. Dragons? Dragons are daemonic creatures from the Outlands, which may come to Earth on particular nights filled with dense fog. There's something in the fog -- or the mist, if you will -- that allows them to descend and feed. Upon obtaining that information, Emille tried to beg her way into joining Murakumo as a scientist. She had been working on a PhD in the biological sciences, after all, and she had been exposed to the paranormal through the Dragon attack. Eventually the organization relented, and Emille was brought on to join the research team. She was able to quickly work her way up the ladder by proving herself a capable, decisive team leader, and became head of the Dragon research department. Part of the reason Emille excelled so well within Murakumo was that she was surrounded by Dragons. Dragon tissue, Dragon blood, Dragon specimens... It became an absolute obsession. And the more she learned about those fell creatures, the more she hated them. Despised them. Wished them all dead. It caused a fire to ignite inside of her, building and building until it would erupt and Emille's body would feel as if it was entering another dimension. Her senses were heightened, her reflexes were improved, her strength was increased, and all around her moved in slow motion. Most unusually of all, she could hear the voices of the dead crying out, those killed by Dragons -- including her sister Aitelle. The first time it was only for a second, with Aitelle's voice lovingly questioning, "sister?" Hearing Aitelle broke Emille's concentration and rage and left her shaken. After mentioning this experience with others in Murakumo -- leaving out the portion about communing with her dead sister -- they explained that her willpower, her reason to fight, her Flame, had finally awoken. With their help, she has been able to train her rage powers into a controllable state. She can more or less choose when her anger flares into a state of hyper-awareness, but this hasn't been tested in an actual combat session or Dragon confrontation yet. She has also learned how to tune out the otherworldly voices for the most part, but depending on the phase of the moon, they may be too loud for her and break her concentration entirely, rendering her unable to enter hyper-awareness. The nearer the moon is to being full, the less Emille is able to silence the voices. However, because of this, it is not unusual for her to lock herself in her room on nights of full moons and focus on trying to listen to the voices, or commune with Aitelle. The voices moan in anguish and hatred, but they also talk about the Dragons that killed them. Emille has learned tiny bits and pieces of Dragon history from these voices, but as they only speak in one or two whispered words at one time, she has been left to piece together the stories herself. She does keep a notebook and pen handy on her for these occasions, a notebook she has jokingly referred to (mentally, as she does not speak of this gift-slash-curse to anyone else) as the Dragon Chronicle. She hopes that the more she learns, the more she will be able to help fight against the Dragons during Nightfall. The Dragon Chronicle also holds her conversations with Aitelle, which may last for a couple of minutes, but are never long enough. They usually try to put their heads together and talk through the hints left by the voices. Emille will present Aitelle with her newest puzzle pieces, and they will try to fit them together. She thinks of it as sisterly teamwork for the most important goal of Emille's life. In all actuality, Aitelle is always with Emille, following her around in spirit form, but unable to reveal herself except on full moons. One day, Emille was asked to meet with higher-ranking members of Murakumo. She thought nothing of it beyond it being a research briefing. Upon entering the conference room, she was handed a stack of papers that mentioned a school in France. The Murakumo had recently allied themselves with this Academy, one that specialized in fighting the paranormal by preparing students for a potential cataclysmic event called Nightfall, and it was decided that Emille would be sent to the school as the representative from Murakumo. Emille just frowned and asked why she couldn't just remain in Japan, in her lab, doing what she does best. They returned that the Academy would be good training for her new powers, and it might be good to get out of the lab every now and then. Oh, and they had some pretty state-of-the-art lab equipment, and an extensive library of materials, with some possibly on the history of Dragonkind. That did it for Emille. She took the registration papers and filled them out that evening after speaking with Aitelle (it was a full moon, after all). Aitelle said to go, for the sake of the world. However, Emille had no idea that she was asked to go to Daybreak because Murakumo wanted to keep tabs on her, but from afar. They had surreptitiously planned her over-exposure to the Bloom that led to her developing her powers, solely so they could test the flowers' effect on human DNA. As a human with no supernatural ability suddenly developing supernatural skills, Murakumo deemed her both a success and a threat, and sent her to a place where many eyes could keep watch over her, just in case. AU PERSONALITYEmille internally. • Emille's AU personality is similar to her canon personality: serious, studious, focused. She is determined to continue her Dragon research and tell everyone she can about the dangers of the Dragons. They are, to her, an extreme threat that must be dealt with as soon as possible. Her hatred is a bit muted, but is still evident and will physically manifest itself through her Flame powers. She does cling to hope, especially when surrounded by the many competent and aware inhabitants of Daybreak Academy. • Because she is not an eternal hell-on-wheels of hatred in AU, Emille will be able to display emotions other than disappointment and hate. It would still take a lot to make her cry, but she would be able to sympathize with others who have lost everything to otherworldly threats. She may even laugh if the situation calls for it. Emille externally. • Physically, Emille will be about four feet tall, making her look as if she is about seven or eight years old. Her actual age is 26. She is used to jokes about her height and being mistaken for a child, and they don't usually affect her unless they are purposefully mean. • Emille displays a somewhat entitled confidence bolstered by her intelligence and past leadership roles, but this is dampened by her physical inabilities. Her height and child-like strength frustrate her. Yet this is something she would never admit to, as she's very prideful and gets sulky when her pride is wounded. • Emille is entering Daybreak as a faculty member, allowing her to reign over at least her classroom. Even so, she will continue to try and hold as many leadership positions as she can, especially in the laboratories. She would not be opposed to leading a group of researchers or maybe even a school-sanctioned club if she needs to. • Even though Emille is extremely intelligent in the natural sciences, she is still very new to the supernatural realm, and therefore will need some time to pick up on concepts that others likely have been familiar with since childhood (magic, Candles and their Flames, fae, etc.). She enjoys learning about these things, and appreciates anyone who takes their time to fill her in on them. It would not be surprising to see Emille sitting in on other faculty members' classes if the topics interest her enough. Emille with others. • Emille keeps to herself, because she considers others obstacles to her research, unless they help her or are willing to fight for her against the Dragons. When introducing herself to others, she will call herself "Emille of Murakumo," or some other way that ties her with the Japanese government group that she is associated with. It gives her authority and helps her feel less out-of-place. • If she finds herself within a group of like-minded individuals, or others dedicated to destroying Dragons, Emille will take them under her guidance and do her best to serve them and protect them. These would be the people that she would open up to and become less distant with. • As a Japanese citizen, Emille has an inclination towards being respectful and polite to others, especially her superiors. Respect goes a long way, and Emille wishes to build positive relationships with everyone she encounters. She also has a long memory when it comes to owing favors, either if others owe her or vice versa. • Emille would strongly prefer to be addressed as "Miss Emille" by students, and will push it if a student purposefully calls her by her first name only. She is okay with faculty or other peers calling her "Emille." • Emille's speech is normally a little antiquated, a little stuffy, and possibly even overly-polite. However, when enraged, she becomes much more blunt to the point of being spiteful. She especially would not hold back towards Dragons, if she were to ever find herself staring one down. • Any character who is able to sense or see ghostly spirits will notice that Emille may have a blue aura or spirit orb following closely behind her at all times -- this is her sister Aitelle. Those with very sharp ears that are perceptive to spiritual matters may hear faint jingles of bells at times, also signifying Aitelle, as one of her treasures while living was a necklace of bells. Aitelle is unable to interact with anyone besides Emille, but others are free to point out to Emille that she has a ghost following her. AU ABILITIESEmille is part Candle, part Seer. Her Flame abilities were awakened the first time she tapped into her rage towards Dragons, and as she is a human in AU, they are the abilities tied to her human willpower. When her rage builds up to a certain extent, her mind goes into a hyper-aware state, granting her superhuman abilities for a limited amount of time. They include: • Heightened reaction time/reflexes. The rage feels as if Emille is passing through time at a super-high speed, leaving everything else slowed down in the process. She would be able to dodge attacks, make an attack, or even have a few moments longer to think of a way out of a situation or the answer to a problem. • Heightened senses. Emille would be able to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell more precisely while in her enraged state. This would help her, for instance, detect a stealthy enemy who would otherwise be invisible (unless they're magically able to hide themselves beyond what a human eye could possibly perceive). Or, she could hear large objects coming from miles away, or the highest-pitched sounds that humans would typically not be able to hear. • Increased strength. Though Emille is frail, she would be able to pack a punch while under her hyper-aware state. Her raw strength would be increased to an amount equal to a trained soldier's. Combined with her heightened reflexes, this would enable Emille to quickly and handily wound an opponent. • The ability to expel a blast of force. On top of having more strength, Emille would be able to send out a shockwave of dark blue, almost black energy towards a target. This blast would have the strength of a gale of wind, but would also be slightly disorienting due to having some Bloom-related toxicity tied to it. It may not knock a larger target over, but it would certainly make them dizzy. While in her rage mode, Emille's eyes will go a deep red, with a black spiral circling her iris. Her sclera will turn black. Her hair will fan out, signaling her entrance into a slow-motion state. Her body will subtly glow with a Radiance that may burn brighter the stronger her rage is. This entire sequence's duration is dependent on a couple of factors: • First, while Emille is in her heightened state, she hears voices in her head. This is a side-effect of her Seer powers, and they can be overwhelmingly distracting, especially the closer the heavens are to a full moon. Emille likely cannot even go into her rage state on the night of a full moon, nor for a few days leading up to and following it. Normally, however, she has learned to shut them out for the most part. • Second, if Emille's rage is allowed to build up extensively, for example if she was already in her heightened senses mode while confronting a Dragon and her ire kept building anyway, she would begin to suffer physical pain, and possibly physically expel toxic blue Bloom in the vicinity around her. When Emille's rage reaches the physical pain point, Aitelle will try to echo in her mind in order to try and calm her. This may or may not work, depending on circumstances. Aitelle may try to calm Emille even before that point if she realizes that Emille is about to blow up and is able to tap into her state of being without Emille mentally blocking her out. It's still up in the air whether or not Aitelle's interference will do anything, but about 90% of the time it will. Emille does not particularly enjoy going into her rage state, as it gives her a splitting headache and vertigo afterward, so she tends to reserve it for more dire situations. Her Seer abilities, unbeknownst to Emille, are tied to overexposure to the Dragon-emitted orange flowers called the Bloom while doing Dragon research. They cause a hallucinogenic effect with slight exposure, but somehow Emille has been so exposed that she is able to tap into a spiritual liminal space where Dragon victims can be heard from beyond the grave. At times, she is also able to commune with her dead sister, Aitelle. Emille still does not know that these powers are Seer powers, and just calls them "the voices." Anyone who can pick out these kinds of powers, such as the Watchers, would know that she has Seer powers immediately, however. The way this Second Sight works: • The voices. The voices in Emille's head are like a droning static that usually begin when her ire is kindled, but they also happen with no provocation the closer the skies are to a full moon. They will mostly moan and wail incoherently, but Emille can discern words from their cries from time to time. This is usually limited to a word or two, which Emille will write down in a notebook that she carries with her. This notebook, the Dragon Chronicle, is her key to discovering the history of the Dragon daemons and hopefully the ticket to destroying them. • Aitelle. On occasion, Emille will be able to hear her sister Aitelle through the other voices, especially when Aitelle has a reason to warn Emille, such as when her rage is going too far and would end up hurting her. Aitelle's voice is soothing to Emille, and the love projected in her voice tends to snap Emille's concentration and bring her back to a calm state. Emille is acutely aware that Aitelle's spirit is physically with her, so she may mutter things out loud at times in an attempt to talk with her sister. It is still unknown whether or not Aitelle can actually hear Emille's spoken words. • Full moons. On the nights of full moons, Emille would much rather be locked in her room, listening to the voices and trying to decipher the history of the Dragons. On these nights, Aitelle is able to make a clear connection with Emille, so they may work together on the Dragon Chronicle. At other times, if the voices aren't being as helpful, Emille may just confide in her sister, though these conversations never last quite long enough. These powers do come with a price, which manifest themselves through the voices and through Emille's rage -- the more Emille learns, the more she hates; creating a positive feedback loop that brings her closer to becoming a Dragon herself, which would happen if she absolutely completely gives herself in to hatred. The blue shockwaves with Bloom spores are the first sign of her transformation, and if she ever gets to the point of physically expelling blue Bloom, that would be the second sign. The threat of Emille's transformation is why Aitelle remains with her, and she tries her hardest to prevent her sister from losing her humanity. It's a delicate balance that Emille must be aware of at every single moment. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
