Post by echidna on Jun 23, 2011 22:29:10 GMT -5
Cbox Name:Enkashi
Nicknames:Nemo, Enkashi, Veia
Main Account: The Broodmother
Who else do you play?: The Broodmother, Deadlock, Lucast
Category: OC
Name: Emily Rogers
Alias: Ember
Age: 19
Ranking: Superheroine
Physical Appearance: Emily doesn't look all that remarkable - no, she looks normal enough. She's got a head of strawberry blonde hair about the color of cherry 7-up and just slightly wavy. Her pale face is full of freckles, and bright brown-green eyes that brim with emotion like a cup full almost to spilling as they dart and dance. She is expressive - she makes no attempt to hide how she is feeling.
Em dresses modestly, with warmth, comfort, and utility in mind - even in the summer, she'll wear a jacket and long pants, and on the hottest day she might - MIGHT remove her coat. In almost any weather, she'll wear a sweater and a scarf - you'd be surprised how useful and warm a scarf can be!
Emily is a dragon, after a fashion. It's strange and I'll explain later - promise. Her scales are bright red and bronze in dragon form, and she's somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-ish feet long, from the tip of her nose, down that long, graceful neck and to the base of her tail, which extends another five or six feet. Thick bronze horns sweep backward from her head, and a thick, horselike mane grows down from her skull and sweeps down her form, tapering off at the back of her neck. Near the base of her tail, frill-spines grow out in a delicate line down the length, getting thicker as they near the tip to end in three thick horns like a pike. Her underbelly is soft bronze in color, visibly finer than the heavy red plates that cover much of her face and back. In addition to four legs, two alar limbs pull from just behind her shoulderblades to form two mighty wings that, to a trained eye, might seem too small to lift such a creature.
She doesn't need to change fully, though. That's where her costume, where that secret identity, comes full into play, and where she gets much of her flexibility. Thick, beautiful red and golden bronze scales protect and add a kind of style while allowing for modesty - dragons don't let things shiver and shake about. The bronze and crimson scales upon Shimmering wings are better, more stylish, than any cape. Ember's facial features are more angular than her human shape's, and her red hair gets... really, really red, and grows a bit like her dragon form, sprouting all the way from the base of her neck. She can form her hands into draconic claws if she so chooses, though the scales are present regardless.
Any of the three forms are fine to look at - no problem at all... but even she can't stand looking at herself in the mirror as she changes. The myriad of shapes she occupies briefly inbetween shapes are not something you want to see after eating. The change feels unpleasant, a bit like a full body toothache - a dull, nagging pain.
Personality: Emmie is a mild-tempered young woman of nineteen, a daughter of suburban america that doesn't seem to be playing by the rules, yet manages to seem rather unextraordinary. She's quiet and private, but friendly in her way. Em has good humor about her, prone to lighten the mood when gloom and doom rears its ugly head, and find the silver lining if she can.
Emily never really got on well with her own gender - especially girls her own age of a certain... kind of temperment. She just locks up - she's not totally sure why, but there it is. Often, this wrongfully gets mistaken for shyness - I'll be clear, she's not a shy girl.
Thing is, she doesn't LIKE shoes, gossip, shopping, any of that. She grew up around - not to put too fine a point on it - boys: her father was a stay-at-home dad, and her kid brother was - is - her best friend. In high school, when proms, dances and dates were going on, she was pointedly ignoring it all and hanging out with the nerdy guys because they were polite, kind, and played the games she and her kid brother did.
Even now, out of high school, her friends are mostly men. Actually... hell, they're all men. Not her fault that people she likes tend to have dangly parts. There's probably exceptions to her little observation about women her age - but she hasn't met any yet, being a small-town girl, so there it is from her point of view.
Her favorite show is Swat Kats, her favorite food is tamales (she's daffy about mexican food and animation, loves them with the undying passion of a thousand fiery suns), her favorite movie is Howl's Moving Castle. She's the kind that calls shotgun but can't drive to save her life. Emmie hates reality TV, would swerve and hit clowns if only she had a liscence and cared enough to dent metal over them, she won't eat eggs if they're cooked as eggs in any form, and would rather snort a mixture of crushed razors, salt, and mace than go swimming: she's phobic of water. No, don't be daft - she'll drink water and bathe in it, she just hates... bodies of water.
Emily is surprisingly normal, all things considered, but she has hidden depths that you wouldn't expect. This mild, easygoing girl got two suspensions on her sophomore year for "Kicking Ass" - nobody gave her shit or harassed her little brother and got away with it. When she got that fatal, fateful illness, she wasn't supposed to last even a month. She lasted for six - stared Death down and fought him right up to the end. It was her spirit that attracted the notice of Sheikinah, and part of the reason that she was chosen. Ember's mental toughness is her greatest asset.
Powers/Abilities:
Transformation: Scales of steel, fire in the belly, claws, fangs, a couple tons of fiery serpentine muscle - these things make a dragon from man's ancient dreams and nightmares. This power belongs to a teenage girl that watches cartoons on saturday mornings with her little brother. The young human's body yields a small flame - ancient power in the body of an infant.
-----Human form looks normal. There is some enhancement to her, but except for being able to "eat" heat, recieve visions, hunt treasure at short range, and speak the dragon tongue.
-----Hybrid form's flight, strength, and natural weapons are decent, but Hybrid form has the best control of the fire powers. Visions work, treasure hunt is about human-capability, and dragon tongue functions normally.
-----Dragon form has the best flight, strength, and the nastiest weapons, and fire breath is much stronger, while other fire techniques aren't usable. Visions work normally, treasure hunt works at long ranges with great precision, and dragon tongue works at best capacity.
Flight: Her wings fly beyond what they look like they should be able to. The magic inherent in a dragon helps with that. She does need to beat her wings occasionally, but she can hover and flies with little effort. She's not had a chance to stretch her wings out and go as fast as she can yet, though - she's looking forward to it! Flight is a pleasure of hers - and because of that, she's gotten quite skilled at it!
-----Wingover: Throw the wight around and shift that wing! Its like an aerial bootlegger maneuver - turn 180 quickly without losing speed.
-----Powerdive: Death from above! Descend to the ground quickly and... pounce! All without taking a scratch!
-----Barrel Roll: Starfox, eat your heart out. Tuck the wings in tight and make a slim profile to get through tight spaces, yet not divebomb right away - its a trick of the tail, mostly.
-----Air Superiority: She's good at attacking other flying things with claw, fang, and fire - its a learning curve, really.
-----Glidewing: Go for long, long distances without a wingbeat, slowly picking up speed in the process.
-----Wingshift: She can shift between dragon and hybrid form midlight and keep herself airborn, though she can't turn while doing so - watch out for that... treeee!
Scales: Emmie's scales are strong like steel plates, even as a hybrid! It takes a great deal to get past them, imperfect though they are. They're good protection, backed up by magic and the age of her draconic life force.
-----Wing aegis: The wings actually make for good shields in hybrid or dragon shape - the scales on teh backs of them are the same as the ones on her back - thus really durable - and the wings are naturally quite hefty - makes for good shields!
Thermovore: Exposure to open flame or any great source of heat, barring other circumstances, energizes her body and stimulates her natural healing processes - In other words, she slowly regenerates and gets stronger when heated. She can't be hurt by heat, in and of itself. Of course, she uses this most to control flames she causes when the dragonfire spreads to stuff she didn't want burned.
Vicious: Claws, fangs, a tail like a morning star, wings balled up into hammer-like fists - these are a dragon's weapons, driven by a strength that, even completely unchanged, could let her lift a passenger sedan. It isn't even like full dragon form is even all that bulky - its sleek, yet it could flip a tank while gifted with serpentine grace and agility at the same time - magic is what does this, not what passes for flesh, blood, bone, and muscle in this world. She fights like a demon by instinct - but not if she has to think about it.
Visions: Dragons see things that lesser creatures do not. If she touches someone or something, she can peer into the past - postcognition - to see strong psychic imprints, and occasionally see snippets, omens of things to come - precognition.
Treasure Hunt: Ember has the scent of things she wants to find sort of... built in. She can literally track precious things by scent... in crime fighting, this becomes useful to find robbers! Who robbed the bank? Who broke into that jewelry store? Who the hell took my Crisis Bag? Well, She shall bloody well find out. Gold works the best, but she can track down any particular object that belongs to her.
Dreaming Flame: Ironstar recieves visions in her sleep from Sheikinah, her pandimensional mistress. It is information that, while always cryptic and open ended, tends to be helpful... or reproachful, if she's not performed to her mistress's standards.
Latest and the Last: Emily isn't the only being inside this body. No... now, she's two people - an ancient dragoness and a spirited teenager. They are one and the same in the paralell of dimensions - one soul. Eiffecede is a mysterious entity - Emily is only barely aware of her existance... but she is ancient. When the chips are down, she just might step forward and protect her little friend. Doing so could overpower the girl - perhaps even kill her... so Eiffecede is reluctant to do this - only when death is certain unless she does. This has yet to happen.
Dragon's Tongue: It is said that dragonkind invented language, and it may be true - her tongue knows words of the first language, that bypass sounds to become meaning in sonic forms. Spoken with authority, they have power. Strong minds resist, and obedience can't cause harm or they won't work... but any who hear them are affected.
-Stop: Derails thoughts, freeze muscles. This word works best spoken in anger, and when not used to protect the speaker from harm.
Heart of the Red: This dragon is a creature of flame and ashes. Terrible destructive potential lies in her deepest center. She can give shape and command to that flame. Having a human mind that's played lots of videogames and watched a lot of anime and movies helps in ways her mistress had not anticipated.
-----Flare: An arrow of fire - she can launch volleys of these from her hands quite quickly. (Hybrid only)
-----Burst: Emmie can snap her fingers to make fire come into existance - think 'Roy Mustang' and you get the idea. Human creativity at work! (Hybrid only)
-----Cannon: She holds her hands about a foot apart as if she's holding a ball. Fire compresses into a sphere that she can launch like a tank shell. On contact, it explodes! Isn't that fun! (Hybrid only)
-----Firestorm: She sprays flame and beats her wings to create whirlwinds of hotter flame - these dervishes are hard to maintain and control, but they can be very, very dangerous.
-----Fire Breath: Should be self-explanatory, really - a roaring tongue of dragonfire. It is less fire than a physical force, like a directed beam of flame.
-----Updraft: A blast of rising heat. It scalds a bit, but mostly produces upward force. (Hybrid only)
-----Thermal Lance: She can make solid streaks of fire into lances that she can use as spears or javelins. They don't hurt her, but have solid force. (Hybrid only)
-----Backdraft: Ember surrounds herself in a sphere of flame that eats up the air inside quickly, storing immense heat within, then breaches, creating an outward blast of force and heat with her body as the epicenter. Good for getting personal space. (Hybrid only)
-----Firewall: Using dragon breath, she overfeeds the flame and creates lines of lasting fire. (Dragon only)
-----Fireblast: RAther than a beam, she can unfocus her breath and loose a cone to immolate areas. (Dragon Only)
Equipment:
Crisis Bag: Might not sound like much, but she's got a "Crisis Bag" - where she puts some first aid supplies, an extra set of clothes, a bit of food (like a burrito, but anything filling), and an energy drink - mana potions, for preference. Wrapped up in the soft portions are a couple bucks, a little gold earring sewn into a part of it (So she can track it down by scent) and a cheap cell phone, as well. She'll often hide her Crisis Bag somewhere out of the way before doing her thing - often on a rooftop or in some spot impossible for a human to reach.
Psychological Flaws:
... Normal?: Surprisingly so. Emmie is remarkably normal, in fact. She's not ujsed to any of this - a couple of weeks ago, she was in a hospital, certain she'd never see her 20th birthday. Magic was fantasy, and dragons doubly so. She understands well that this is no longer the case... but strange stuff still throws her.
What was I doing?: Her dragon self knows how to fight by instinct.. but her human self sure doesn't! If she has to think about it, she slips up.
Homesickness: Emily misses her family, her friends
Physical Flaws:
Frost Bane: Cold is her enemy, in either shape. AS a human, she is quite vulnerable to the cold, and transformed, while she won't be hurt by all but the nastiest natural cold - its otherwise just r-r-r-really unpleasant. Cold/frost weapons are her bane, weakening and harming her, scales or not.
Damplight: Of her fiery powers, only fire breath can be used when she's soaking wet, and she cant use that underwater anyhow.
Slow Transformation: Going from a human teenager to a dragoness doesn't happen in a bloody puff of smoke. Think... wolfman. It takes at least half a minute for a full transformation, and that's when she's not hurt or sick. IF she is, it can take anywhere upwards of ten minutes! Even partial transformations take a few delicate moments, and its not a pleasant sensation.
Vulnerables: Certain parts of a dragon are weaker than others. Her scaled underside isn't quite so strong - she's got scales that are visibly softer than the thicker ones on her back, wings, and head, for example!
Metabolism - Omm nomm nomm! Boy can this one put it away! Emily needs a *lot* of food to keep fit and fiery - enough to satisfy her dragon form, in fact, regardless of her form.
Other Flaws:
Secret Identity: She wants to protect her father, her mother, her kid brother, her friends, left them all behind to go to the city. She doesn't want them hurt because she chose to make a deal with a pandimensional entity and got superpowers and a strange need to wander off at all hours of the night.
Flame Tells: Normally, she can control her shapeshifting. Fire is an irresistable trigger though - a little finger burn or something isn't enough, but a lot of fire, that flips all her switches. She'll change rather than burn.
Geas: Emily is not her own person - not anymore. She belongs to a sorceress in another dimension of space-time. How 'bout that? Her mistress is a decent enough sort, but when she says "Sit", Emmie's legs betray her. She's under compulsion to obey - compliance: required, Enjoyment: Optional. Sheikinah has her own agenda.
Unbidden Terror: Not all the voices that reach out to Ember are... good. There is one, a powerful evil being, that claims to know her, that screams in her head and attacks her across the boundaries of dimensions through her dreams. These dreams could be the death of her... but don't compare to the threat he could pose if he were allowed to come to this dimension. Sheikinah holds this... this entity back, but how long can the sorcoress keep him back? What is he? How does he know
Mistress's Problems Are My Own: Sheikinah didn't fuse her dragoness with a human for altruism's sake, you know... She needs her, and needs her to be strong. Sheikinah has enemies - powerful enemies, and they all want Ember dead. Among them, the necromancer-queen Trescast, and a race of dimension-striding warrior-slavers: The Gith. Ember is hidden for now, but that won't last forever. Someday, the shit will hit the fan, and what then? Ember had better be ready...
Brief History: Emily Rogers is the oldest daughter of the Rogers family. Doctor Agatha Rogers (her maiden name, which says a lot about her home life and who wears the pants in the Rogers family) is a busy woman, so Emily and her kid brother were raised, largely, by their stay-at-home dad. Em was never all that healthy, and never more than an average student.
She got sick - very, very sick, in fact, when she was eighteen. It was bad, but mysterious with no apparent cause known to medical sceince. There was no guarantee that she'd make it through the month, let alone see her 19th birthday. She lasted for a few months on her own until her strength started to give way. They say that you should be careful what you wish for, don't they? Well... she wished.
When she woke, at the last possible moment, she sat bolt upright - she became healthy again, the sickness that had taken her was purged away in mere moments. That was a bit more than two weeks ago. There was no returning to the same highschool after something like that - it wouldn't look right, miracle or no, so Emily got a job in New York.
Her instruction was to get to know her new powers, to become strong and get to know herself. She's chosen the heroine's path - time to take one hell of a last breath.
Reason for being on AM: Ember only got her powers recently - two weeks ago, in fact. She's on a loose leash, encouraged to use her powers how she pleases to get to know them... so she's decided that being a heroine is the best path she could possibly walk - after all, she's dead anyhow, right?
Sample RP:
The Big Apple! The greatest city in the world and it... it...! Boy was Emily Rogers dog tired. She'd been wandering around for the better part of all day, since she got here on the bus at like 7 am, looking for work. Her uncle was nice enough to rent her a loft in his apartment building for peanuts, but... the dragon in her wondered why she didn't just sleep somewhere and spend her time flying around?
Again she reminded herself what she was like when she was hungry - a hungry dragon was an irritable one, and burritos, while cheepcheep, did cost something - and she wasn't a thief. No, she couldn't be a thief if she wanted to be a heroine. And she did. Alot. So, again, she begrudgingly accepted the majority vote.
It was getting late-ish - if she didn't find anything, she'd look for some trouble, get to know the town a bit... but for now, she had work to do, didn't she! She pushed open the door to the next stop of the day - so far, she'd gone to a shopping mall, all manner of grocery stores, she'd even gone to department stores and filled out applications... all for no result so far - her cheap-ass cellphone hadn't even twitched. Mentally, she decided that for now, this convenience store would be the last.
Cheap burrito-stink, glorious and warm, barricaded itself in her mind with a gun and a pack of sandwitches, ready to stay there until she gave in. The trays of veggies and meats behind the counter at one end of the store called to her, and the attendant gave her a big smile... but.. but...!
One burrito and an application, filled out with a bean stain signature later, Emily, unsatisfied but happier than she was, wandered out of the store just as an unmarked white van pulled up. She didn't think much about it at first.
She didn't really notice the masked men popping out of the doors - the three of them ignored her as she walked off, and made their way inside.
Emmie didn't even have time to wonder what to do next before the gunshots rang out, and the screams started. She felt the bottom drop out of her world as her heart sank and she spun around, eyes wide with shock. She stood there, stupefied for a moment, then... DURR! She looked around... there had to be someplace... didn't there? It was practically superheroic law that there had to be some place convenient to change!
Bugger.
Finding no such lucky concealed place, she tore off into a nearby alleyway, crisis bag bouncing on her back as she ran like she was on fire into the darkness.
Just as she dissapeared, the men burst out of the store, bags full of loot of the crap-and-cash variety, got into their van, and tore off just as the sirens started to bay the chase some distance off.
Emily tossed her crisis bag into a dumpster of convenience and watched the men peel out and drive away... she'd not have time to change into a proper outfit... so that was the shape of it? Her first time, and she'd have to do it in the full monty? Oh well... scales did the job just fine, after all. She forged into the alleyway's security of darkness - it was the backside of some establishment, closed off and secluded... and nobody was squatting here - not a bad place, not bad at all... So she doffed her clothes and bundled them up as she'd practiced, wrapping everything in her shirt as she shivered in the buff.
How did that go... oh. She shut her eyes and concentrated... it was but the work of a moment for the dragon to start asserting itself. God she felt cramped the last couple days on that damn bus.. it was time to stretch her wings out, get some exercise at long last! With a shudder, the aches started and her skin started to heat up, reddening and growing bumpy, like she was getting goosebumps... but these goosebumps quickly hardened as bones shifted, popping and groaning inside her as she clenched her teeth.
It helped if she didn't think too much while she did this... not thinking let her blank out the ache. Her hands lengthened, her face pushed forward, her feet changed as her ankles lengthened, shifting her weight forward as her arms met her weight halfway, and she stood on claws - claws, that still took some getting used to... she felt vitality and strength surge in her and she grinned with teeth that quickly grew and sharpened.
Wings and a tail sprouted from her back, eyes clenching tight as they started, but opened again when they were well on their way to full size. The transformation was almost complete... goosebumps hardened, grew, overtook smoothe skin to become stony, shimmering red and bronze scales, flooding down her shape from her head to her extremities, just as she grew longer... larger... her neck pushing out, her tail cresting with spines, red hair growing... redder as it sprouted down her neck like a horse's mane.
God she hoped she'd never have to be cooped up for so long any time soon. Slowly, as the world swam into focus, Ember's red-within-orange eyes, slitted like a cat's, darted around the alleyway... how different things looked now! But she had business to attend to... she didn't have time to explore her new home. With a bound, she tore off toward the entrance of the alley, claws scraping at stone as she found purchase in cracks.
By the time she crested the exit, she was already on the wing, giving one easy beat, sending dust and debris scattering away from her. She let out a screeching roar of feral joy, and picked up altitude as she let her wing dip to carry her in the direction she saw the van go.
It didn't take long... not long at all. As she flew high above the street line, she ignored the beautiful view of the city spread before her and focused her attention on the wildly swerving white van, chased at some distance by police cars... Would she need to interfere? Again, she asked herself - why was SHE doing this? Well... they'd stolen a lot from that store - and maybe shot people, too! She had to do something about jerkoffs like them... she was a heroine! It was her job! Her chosen profession and path!
Steeling herself, she dipped her head and let out another wild cry of joy, flaming for the simple pleasure of the fire dancing between her lips!
The dragon came down like a thunderbolt - she wasn't particularly big, but she had a terrible inevitability. To her surprise and the robbers' credit, their driver had the presence of mind to swerve when he saw her rush up at his driver's side mirror - objects are closer than they appear! Right!
Ember's claws scored deep notches in the street, but she beat her wings and regained her balance, tail swishing and rolling with her motion as she tried to catch up to him. The man was in a panic now - this wasn't something you saw every day, to say the least. She managed to get somewhat close, and butted her horned head against the back of the vehicle, making its tail end skip sideways. He sped up a bit, swerved sideways, and caught himself. Drat.
The Red-scaled dragoness cursed inwardly, and picked up a bit of altitude, then glided down at him again. He couldn't exactly see her angle of approach, so she managed to score that time, sinking her claws into the top of the vehicle and getting as good a grip as she could. She could hear the men panicking inside. She didn't expect them to fire at the roof, she didn't see it coming, so she let go in surprise when the bullets ricoched off her underbelly, stinging like beestings at her stomache and chest!
She swore, and it came out as a roar of anger. Gods she should have seen that coming! She wasn't hurt, she knew that... but...
BRIDGE!
She pulled sideways just in time to avoid a steel girder coming at breakneck speeds at her face. She looked back at it and roared at the offensive metal bar, and eyeballed the van. The bridge was a good defense, but he didn't seem to realize it - he was going as fast as he could in blind panic... all she'd have to do is wait for him to come out the other side... but...
AS the Van swerved, he hit another vehicle and sent it careening over the edge of the bridge, smashing through the railings like they were paper! Shit!
Without thinking, instinct took her, and Ember dipped her wings and dove at the falling car. She caught a glimpse of a teenage girl, probably sixteen or so, her face a mask of horror just before she grabbed the vehicle. The weight caught her off guard, and she faltered for a moment, but the car slowed as she beat her wings furiously, roaring out and flaming with the effort. The front bumper, smashed though it was, just barely touched the water, enough to make a ripple, before she bore it aloft again.
Muscles ached, but she was determined not to let go, shifting her grip and wrapping her tail around the vehicle... the bandit would have to wait!
Once the wheels touched down on a side road, and Ember was satisfied that the teen was safe out here - it was an old-folks neighborhood - Ember gathered herself up and took off again, a little winded... but that was something she had to do.
Her wings ached as he mind reeled... she carried a car! She'd actually carried a car! She caught a damn falling car! A CAR! In elation, she did a barrel roll and squeaked happily, then got back on task with a heavy beat, picking up altitude... She had some robbers to catch...!
Theme Songs: My Last Breath - Evanescence, The Worlds Forgotten, the Words Forbidden - Sonata Arctica ((The Latest and the Last theme))
Nicknames:Nemo, Enkashi, Veia
Main Account: The Broodmother
Who else do you play?: The Broodmother, Deadlock, Lucast
Category: OC
Name: Emily Rogers
Alias: Ember
Age: 19
Ranking: Superheroine
Physical Appearance: Emily doesn't look all that remarkable - no, she looks normal enough. She's got a head of strawberry blonde hair about the color of cherry 7-up and just slightly wavy. Her pale face is full of freckles, and bright brown-green eyes that brim with emotion like a cup full almost to spilling as they dart and dance. She is expressive - she makes no attempt to hide how she is feeling.
Em dresses modestly, with warmth, comfort, and utility in mind - even in the summer, she'll wear a jacket and long pants, and on the hottest day she might - MIGHT remove her coat. In almost any weather, she'll wear a sweater and a scarf - you'd be surprised how useful and warm a scarf can be!
Emily is a dragon, after a fashion. It's strange and I'll explain later - promise. Her scales are bright red and bronze in dragon form, and she's somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-ish feet long, from the tip of her nose, down that long, graceful neck and to the base of her tail, which extends another five or six feet. Thick bronze horns sweep backward from her head, and a thick, horselike mane grows down from her skull and sweeps down her form, tapering off at the back of her neck. Near the base of her tail, frill-spines grow out in a delicate line down the length, getting thicker as they near the tip to end in three thick horns like a pike. Her underbelly is soft bronze in color, visibly finer than the heavy red plates that cover much of her face and back. In addition to four legs, two alar limbs pull from just behind her shoulderblades to form two mighty wings that, to a trained eye, might seem too small to lift such a creature.
She doesn't need to change fully, though. That's where her costume, where that secret identity, comes full into play, and where she gets much of her flexibility. Thick, beautiful red and golden bronze scales protect and add a kind of style while allowing for modesty - dragons don't let things shiver and shake about. The bronze and crimson scales upon Shimmering wings are better, more stylish, than any cape. Ember's facial features are more angular than her human shape's, and her red hair gets... really, really red, and grows a bit like her dragon form, sprouting all the way from the base of her neck. She can form her hands into draconic claws if she so chooses, though the scales are present regardless.
Any of the three forms are fine to look at - no problem at all... but even she can't stand looking at herself in the mirror as she changes. The myriad of shapes she occupies briefly inbetween shapes are not something you want to see after eating. The change feels unpleasant, a bit like a full body toothache - a dull, nagging pain.
Personality: Emmie is a mild-tempered young woman of nineteen, a daughter of suburban america that doesn't seem to be playing by the rules, yet manages to seem rather unextraordinary. She's quiet and private, but friendly in her way. Em has good humor about her, prone to lighten the mood when gloom and doom rears its ugly head, and find the silver lining if she can.
Emily never really got on well with her own gender - especially girls her own age of a certain... kind of temperment. She just locks up - she's not totally sure why, but there it is. Often, this wrongfully gets mistaken for shyness - I'll be clear, she's not a shy girl.
Thing is, she doesn't LIKE shoes, gossip, shopping, any of that. She grew up around - not to put too fine a point on it - boys: her father was a stay-at-home dad, and her kid brother was - is - her best friend. In high school, when proms, dances and dates were going on, she was pointedly ignoring it all and hanging out with the nerdy guys because they were polite, kind, and played the games she and her kid brother did.
Even now, out of high school, her friends are mostly men. Actually... hell, they're all men. Not her fault that people she likes tend to have dangly parts. There's probably exceptions to her little observation about women her age - but she hasn't met any yet, being a small-town girl, so there it is from her point of view.
Her favorite show is Swat Kats, her favorite food is tamales (she's daffy about mexican food and animation, loves them with the undying passion of a thousand fiery suns), her favorite movie is Howl's Moving Castle. She's the kind that calls shotgun but can't drive to save her life. Emmie hates reality TV, would swerve and hit clowns if only she had a liscence and cared enough to dent metal over them, she won't eat eggs if they're cooked as eggs in any form, and would rather snort a mixture of crushed razors, salt, and mace than go swimming: she's phobic of water. No, don't be daft - she'll drink water and bathe in it, she just hates... bodies of water.
Emily is surprisingly normal, all things considered, but she has hidden depths that you wouldn't expect. This mild, easygoing girl got two suspensions on her sophomore year for "Kicking Ass" - nobody gave her shit or harassed her little brother and got away with it. When she got that fatal, fateful illness, she wasn't supposed to last even a month. She lasted for six - stared Death down and fought him right up to the end. It was her spirit that attracted the notice of Sheikinah, and part of the reason that she was chosen. Ember's mental toughness is her greatest asset.
Powers/Abilities:
Transformation: Scales of steel, fire in the belly, claws, fangs, a couple tons of fiery serpentine muscle - these things make a dragon from man's ancient dreams and nightmares. This power belongs to a teenage girl that watches cartoons on saturday mornings with her little brother. The young human's body yields a small flame - ancient power in the body of an infant.
-----Human form looks normal. There is some enhancement to her, but except for being able to "eat" heat, recieve visions, hunt treasure at short range, and speak the dragon tongue.
-----Hybrid form's flight, strength, and natural weapons are decent, but Hybrid form has the best control of the fire powers. Visions work, treasure hunt is about human-capability, and dragon tongue functions normally.
-----Dragon form has the best flight, strength, and the nastiest weapons, and fire breath is much stronger, while other fire techniques aren't usable. Visions work normally, treasure hunt works at long ranges with great precision, and dragon tongue works at best capacity.
Flight: Her wings fly beyond what they look like they should be able to. The magic inherent in a dragon helps with that. She does need to beat her wings occasionally, but she can hover and flies with little effort. She's not had a chance to stretch her wings out and go as fast as she can yet, though - she's looking forward to it! Flight is a pleasure of hers - and because of that, she's gotten quite skilled at it!
-----Wingover: Throw the wight around and shift that wing! Its like an aerial bootlegger maneuver - turn 180 quickly without losing speed.
-----Powerdive: Death from above! Descend to the ground quickly and... pounce! All without taking a scratch!
-----Barrel Roll: Starfox, eat your heart out. Tuck the wings in tight and make a slim profile to get through tight spaces, yet not divebomb right away - its a trick of the tail, mostly.
-----Air Superiority: She's good at attacking other flying things with claw, fang, and fire - its a learning curve, really.
-----Glidewing: Go for long, long distances without a wingbeat, slowly picking up speed in the process.
-----Wingshift: She can shift between dragon and hybrid form midlight and keep herself airborn, though she can't turn while doing so - watch out for that... treeee!
Scales: Emmie's scales are strong like steel plates, even as a hybrid! It takes a great deal to get past them, imperfect though they are. They're good protection, backed up by magic and the age of her draconic life force.
-----Wing aegis: The wings actually make for good shields in hybrid or dragon shape - the scales on teh backs of them are the same as the ones on her back - thus really durable - and the wings are naturally quite hefty - makes for good shields!
Thermovore: Exposure to open flame or any great source of heat, barring other circumstances, energizes her body and stimulates her natural healing processes - In other words, she slowly regenerates and gets stronger when heated. She can't be hurt by heat, in and of itself. Of course, she uses this most to control flames she causes when the dragonfire spreads to stuff she didn't want burned.
Vicious: Claws, fangs, a tail like a morning star, wings balled up into hammer-like fists - these are a dragon's weapons, driven by a strength that, even completely unchanged, could let her lift a passenger sedan. It isn't even like full dragon form is even all that bulky - its sleek, yet it could flip a tank while gifted with serpentine grace and agility at the same time - magic is what does this, not what passes for flesh, blood, bone, and muscle in this world. She fights like a demon by instinct - but not if she has to think about it.
Visions: Dragons see things that lesser creatures do not. If she touches someone or something, she can peer into the past - postcognition - to see strong psychic imprints, and occasionally see snippets, omens of things to come - precognition.
Treasure Hunt: Ember has the scent of things she wants to find sort of... built in. She can literally track precious things by scent... in crime fighting, this becomes useful to find robbers! Who robbed the bank? Who broke into that jewelry store? Who the hell took my Crisis Bag? Well, She shall bloody well find out. Gold works the best, but she can track down any particular object that belongs to her.
Dreaming Flame: Ironstar recieves visions in her sleep from Sheikinah, her pandimensional mistress. It is information that, while always cryptic and open ended, tends to be helpful... or reproachful, if she's not performed to her mistress's standards.
Latest and the Last: Emily isn't the only being inside this body. No... now, she's two people - an ancient dragoness and a spirited teenager. They are one and the same in the paralell of dimensions - one soul. Eiffecede is a mysterious entity - Emily is only barely aware of her existance... but she is ancient. When the chips are down, she just might step forward and protect her little friend. Doing so could overpower the girl - perhaps even kill her... so Eiffecede is reluctant to do this - only when death is certain unless she does. This has yet to happen.
Dragon's Tongue: It is said that dragonkind invented language, and it may be true - her tongue knows words of the first language, that bypass sounds to become meaning in sonic forms. Spoken with authority, they have power. Strong minds resist, and obedience can't cause harm or they won't work... but any who hear them are affected.
-Stop: Derails thoughts, freeze muscles. This word works best spoken in anger, and when not used to protect the speaker from harm.
Heart of the Red: This dragon is a creature of flame and ashes. Terrible destructive potential lies in her deepest center. She can give shape and command to that flame. Having a human mind that's played lots of videogames and watched a lot of anime and movies helps in ways her mistress had not anticipated.
-----Flare: An arrow of fire - she can launch volleys of these from her hands quite quickly. (Hybrid only)
-----Burst: Emmie can snap her fingers to make fire come into existance - think 'Roy Mustang' and you get the idea. Human creativity at work! (Hybrid only)
-----Cannon: She holds her hands about a foot apart as if she's holding a ball. Fire compresses into a sphere that she can launch like a tank shell. On contact, it explodes! Isn't that fun! (Hybrid only)
-----Firestorm: She sprays flame and beats her wings to create whirlwinds of hotter flame - these dervishes are hard to maintain and control, but they can be very, very dangerous.
-----Fire Breath: Should be self-explanatory, really - a roaring tongue of dragonfire. It is less fire than a physical force, like a directed beam of flame.
-----Updraft: A blast of rising heat. It scalds a bit, but mostly produces upward force. (Hybrid only)
-----Thermal Lance: She can make solid streaks of fire into lances that she can use as spears or javelins. They don't hurt her, but have solid force. (Hybrid only)
-----Backdraft: Ember surrounds herself in a sphere of flame that eats up the air inside quickly, storing immense heat within, then breaches, creating an outward blast of force and heat with her body as the epicenter. Good for getting personal space. (Hybrid only)
-----Firewall: Using dragon breath, she overfeeds the flame and creates lines of lasting fire. (Dragon only)
-----Fireblast: RAther than a beam, she can unfocus her breath and loose a cone to immolate areas. (Dragon Only)
Equipment:
Crisis Bag: Might not sound like much, but she's got a "Crisis Bag" - where she puts some first aid supplies, an extra set of clothes, a bit of food (like a burrito, but anything filling), and an energy drink - mana potions, for preference. Wrapped up in the soft portions are a couple bucks, a little gold earring sewn into a part of it (So she can track it down by scent) and a cheap cell phone, as well. She'll often hide her Crisis Bag somewhere out of the way before doing her thing - often on a rooftop or in some spot impossible for a human to reach.
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws:
... Normal?: Surprisingly so. Emmie is remarkably normal, in fact. She's not ujsed to any of this - a couple of weeks ago, she was in a hospital, certain she'd never see her 20th birthday. Magic was fantasy, and dragons doubly so. She understands well that this is no longer the case... but strange stuff still throws her.
What was I doing?: Her dragon self knows how to fight by instinct.. but her human self sure doesn't! If she has to think about it, she slips up.
Homesickness: Emily misses her family, her friends
Physical Flaws:
Frost Bane: Cold is her enemy, in either shape. AS a human, she is quite vulnerable to the cold, and transformed, while she won't be hurt by all but the nastiest natural cold - its otherwise just r-r-r-really unpleasant. Cold/frost weapons are her bane, weakening and harming her, scales or not.
Damplight: Of her fiery powers, only fire breath can be used when she's soaking wet, and she cant use that underwater anyhow.
Slow Transformation: Going from a human teenager to a dragoness doesn't happen in a bloody puff of smoke. Think... wolfman. It takes at least half a minute for a full transformation, and that's when she's not hurt or sick. IF she is, it can take anywhere upwards of ten minutes! Even partial transformations take a few delicate moments, and its not a pleasant sensation.
Vulnerables: Certain parts of a dragon are weaker than others. Her scaled underside isn't quite so strong - she's got scales that are visibly softer than the thicker ones on her back, wings, and head, for example!
Metabolism - Omm nomm nomm! Boy can this one put it away! Emily needs a *lot* of food to keep fit and fiery - enough to satisfy her dragon form, in fact, regardless of her form.
Other Flaws:
Secret Identity: She wants to protect her father, her mother, her kid brother, her friends, left them all behind to go to the city. She doesn't want them hurt because she chose to make a deal with a pandimensional entity and got superpowers and a strange need to wander off at all hours of the night.
Flame Tells: Normally, she can control her shapeshifting. Fire is an irresistable trigger though - a little finger burn or something isn't enough, but a lot of fire, that flips all her switches. She'll change rather than burn.
Geas: Emily is not her own person - not anymore. She belongs to a sorceress in another dimension of space-time. How 'bout that? Her mistress is a decent enough sort, but when she says "Sit", Emmie's legs betray her. She's under compulsion to obey - compliance: required, Enjoyment: Optional. Sheikinah has her own agenda.
Unbidden Terror: Not all the voices that reach out to Ember are... good. There is one, a powerful evil being, that claims to know her, that screams in her head and attacks her across the boundaries of dimensions through her dreams. These dreams could be the death of her... but don't compare to the threat he could pose if he were allowed to come to this dimension. Sheikinah holds this... this entity back, but how long can the sorcoress keep him back? What is he? How does he know
Mistress's Problems Are My Own: Sheikinah didn't fuse her dragoness with a human for altruism's sake, you know... She needs her, and needs her to be strong. Sheikinah has enemies - powerful enemies, and they all want Ember dead. Among them, the necromancer-queen Trescast, and a race of dimension-striding warrior-slavers: The Gith. Ember is hidden for now, but that won't last forever. Someday, the shit will hit the fan, and what then? Ember had better be ready...
Brief History: Emily Rogers is the oldest daughter of the Rogers family. Doctor Agatha Rogers (her maiden name, which says a lot about her home life and who wears the pants in the Rogers family) is a busy woman, so Emily and her kid brother were raised, largely, by their stay-at-home dad. Em was never all that healthy, and never more than an average student.
She got sick - very, very sick, in fact, when she was eighteen. It was bad, but mysterious with no apparent cause known to medical sceince. There was no guarantee that she'd make it through the month, let alone see her 19th birthday. She lasted for a few months on her own until her strength started to give way. They say that you should be careful what you wish for, don't they? Well... she wished.
When she woke, at the last possible moment, she sat bolt upright - she became healthy again, the sickness that had taken her was purged away in mere moments. That was a bit more than two weeks ago. There was no returning to the same highschool after something like that - it wouldn't look right, miracle or no, so Emily got a job in New York.
Her instruction was to get to know her new powers, to become strong and get to know herself. She's chosen the heroine's path - time to take one hell of a last breath.
Reason for being on AM: Ember only got her powers recently - two weeks ago, in fact. She's on a loose leash, encouraged to use her powers how she pleases to get to know them... so she's decided that being a heroine is the best path she could possibly walk - after all, she's dead anyhow, right?
Sample RP:
The Big Apple! The greatest city in the world and it... it...! Boy was Emily Rogers dog tired. She'd been wandering around for the better part of all day, since she got here on the bus at like 7 am, looking for work. Her uncle was nice enough to rent her a loft in his apartment building for peanuts, but... the dragon in her wondered why she didn't just sleep somewhere and spend her time flying around?
Again she reminded herself what she was like when she was hungry - a hungry dragon was an irritable one, and burritos, while cheepcheep, did cost something - and she wasn't a thief. No, she couldn't be a thief if she wanted to be a heroine. And she did. Alot. So, again, she begrudgingly accepted the majority vote.
It was getting late-ish - if she didn't find anything, she'd look for some trouble, get to know the town a bit... but for now, she had work to do, didn't she! She pushed open the door to the next stop of the day - so far, she'd gone to a shopping mall, all manner of grocery stores, she'd even gone to department stores and filled out applications... all for no result so far - her cheap-ass cellphone hadn't even twitched. Mentally, she decided that for now, this convenience store would be the last.
Cheap burrito-stink, glorious and warm, barricaded itself in her mind with a gun and a pack of sandwitches, ready to stay there until she gave in. The trays of veggies and meats behind the counter at one end of the store called to her, and the attendant gave her a big smile... but.. but...!
One burrito and an application, filled out with a bean stain signature later, Emily, unsatisfied but happier than she was, wandered out of the store just as an unmarked white van pulled up. She didn't think much about it at first.
She didn't really notice the masked men popping out of the doors - the three of them ignored her as she walked off, and made their way inside.
Emmie didn't even have time to wonder what to do next before the gunshots rang out, and the screams started. She felt the bottom drop out of her world as her heart sank and she spun around, eyes wide with shock. She stood there, stupefied for a moment, then... DURR! She looked around... there had to be someplace... didn't there? It was practically superheroic law that there had to be some place convenient to change!
Bugger.
Finding no such lucky concealed place, she tore off into a nearby alleyway, crisis bag bouncing on her back as she ran like she was on fire into the darkness.
Just as she dissapeared, the men burst out of the store, bags full of loot of the crap-and-cash variety, got into their van, and tore off just as the sirens started to bay the chase some distance off.
Emily tossed her crisis bag into a dumpster of convenience and watched the men peel out and drive away... she'd not have time to change into a proper outfit... so that was the shape of it? Her first time, and she'd have to do it in the full monty? Oh well... scales did the job just fine, after all. She forged into the alleyway's security of darkness - it was the backside of some establishment, closed off and secluded... and nobody was squatting here - not a bad place, not bad at all... So she doffed her clothes and bundled them up as she'd practiced, wrapping everything in her shirt as she shivered in the buff.
How did that go... oh. She shut her eyes and concentrated... it was but the work of a moment for the dragon to start asserting itself. God she felt cramped the last couple days on that damn bus.. it was time to stretch her wings out, get some exercise at long last! With a shudder, the aches started and her skin started to heat up, reddening and growing bumpy, like she was getting goosebumps... but these goosebumps quickly hardened as bones shifted, popping and groaning inside her as she clenched her teeth.
It helped if she didn't think too much while she did this... not thinking let her blank out the ache. Her hands lengthened, her face pushed forward, her feet changed as her ankles lengthened, shifting her weight forward as her arms met her weight halfway, and she stood on claws - claws, that still took some getting used to... she felt vitality and strength surge in her and she grinned with teeth that quickly grew and sharpened.
Wings and a tail sprouted from her back, eyes clenching tight as they started, but opened again when they were well on their way to full size. The transformation was almost complete... goosebumps hardened, grew, overtook smoothe skin to become stony, shimmering red and bronze scales, flooding down her shape from her head to her extremities, just as she grew longer... larger... her neck pushing out, her tail cresting with spines, red hair growing... redder as it sprouted down her neck like a horse's mane.
God she hoped she'd never have to be cooped up for so long any time soon. Slowly, as the world swam into focus, Ember's red-within-orange eyes, slitted like a cat's, darted around the alleyway... how different things looked now! But she had business to attend to... she didn't have time to explore her new home. With a bound, she tore off toward the entrance of the alley, claws scraping at stone as she found purchase in cracks.
By the time she crested the exit, she was already on the wing, giving one easy beat, sending dust and debris scattering away from her. She let out a screeching roar of feral joy, and picked up altitude as she let her wing dip to carry her in the direction she saw the van go.
It didn't take long... not long at all. As she flew high above the street line, she ignored the beautiful view of the city spread before her and focused her attention on the wildly swerving white van, chased at some distance by police cars... Would she need to interfere? Again, she asked herself - why was SHE doing this? Well... they'd stolen a lot from that store - and maybe shot people, too! She had to do something about jerkoffs like them... she was a heroine! It was her job! Her chosen profession and path!
Steeling herself, she dipped her head and let out another wild cry of joy, flaming for the simple pleasure of the fire dancing between her lips!
The dragon came down like a thunderbolt - she wasn't particularly big, but she had a terrible inevitability. To her surprise and the robbers' credit, their driver had the presence of mind to swerve when he saw her rush up at his driver's side mirror - objects are closer than they appear! Right!
Ember's claws scored deep notches in the street, but she beat her wings and regained her balance, tail swishing and rolling with her motion as she tried to catch up to him. The man was in a panic now - this wasn't something you saw every day, to say the least. She managed to get somewhat close, and butted her horned head against the back of the vehicle, making its tail end skip sideways. He sped up a bit, swerved sideways, and caught himself. Drat.
The Red-scaled dragoness cursed inwardly, and picked up a bit of altitude, then glided down at him again. He couldn't exactly see her angle of approach, so she managed to score that time, sinking her claws into the top of the vehicle and getting as good a grip as she could. She could hear the men panicking inside. She didn't expect them to fire at the roof, she didn't see it coming, so she let go in surprise when the bullets ricoched off her underbelly, stinging like beestings at her stomache and chest!
She swore, and it came out as a roar of anger. Gods she should have seen that coming! She wasn't hurt, she knew that... but...
BRIDGE!
She pulled sideways just in time to avoid a steel girder coming at breakneck speeds at her face. She looked back at it and roared at the offensive metal bar, and eyeballed the van. The bridge was a good defense, but he didn't seem to realize it - he was going as fast as he could in blind panic... all she'd have to do is wait for him to come out the other side... but...
AS the Van swerved, he hit another vehicle and sent it careening over the edge of the bridge, smashing through the railings like they were paper! Shit!
Without thinking, instinct took her, and Ember dipped her wings and dove at the falling car. She caught a glimpse of a teenage girl, probably sixteen or so, her face a mask of horror just before she grabbed the vehicle. The weight caught her off guard, and she faltered for a moment, but the car slowed as she beat her wings furiously, roaring out and flaming with the effort. The front bumper, smashed though it was, just barely touched the water, enough to make a ripple, before she bore it aloft again.
Muscles ached, but she was determined not to let go, shifting her grip and wrapping her tail around the vehicle... the bandit would have to wait!
Once the wheels touched down on a side road, and Ember was satisfied that the teen was safe out here - it was an old-folks neighborhood - Ember gathered herself up and took off again, a little winded... but that was something she had to do.
Her wings ached as he mind reeled... she carried a car! She'd actually carried a car! She caught a damn falling car! A CAR! In elation, she did a barrel roll and squeaked happily, then got back on task with a heavy beat, picking up altitude... She had some robbers to catch...!
Theme Songs: My Last Breath - Evanescence, The Worlds Forgotten, the Words Forbidden - Sonata Arctica ((The Latest and the Last theme))
