|
illusion control
 Author
Join Date: Mar 2004
Age: 41
|
While technically my OCs have already been "approved" by one and all, this was in the Old Days, and I don't want to rely on a grandfather clause. Therefore, re-submitting for re-busting.
I've added in a Major Spoiler section to show my actual intentions for the characters. It's really very Major and Spoilery, so read it only if you're absolutely certain that you don't mind the entire story spoiled for you. Having said that, any hax-busting done on the spoiler sections is still appreciated and will be taken into account.
Also, changed "Nova Alto" to "Nova Altmann", since there's already an Alto in canon. Just a Search-and-Replace.
ghazghkull, please use this post as the link for the first two members of the 37th CIAA (Ivey de Lorien and Rancer LaSalle). The other two characters will be in a later post, as apparently putting them all in at once is too much. Cancel that. ghazghkull, please use this compilation post for the first-page archive, thanks.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
-----
Ivey de Lorien, the Chains of Frost.
Spoiler for Ivey de Lorien:
Name: Ivey de Lorien
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Mage Rank: A
Magic Type: Midchilda
Magic Colour: Azure Blue (Hex Code: #10ACD0) ((AN: Yes, I'm nitpicky like that.))
Favoured Element: Ice (in a manner of speaking)
Specialty: Binds
Device: Mistral - Storage Device ((AN: When I came up with the name, I swear I did not, at the time, know of the existence of the Maserati Mistral sports car. This was actually supposed to be a mere City of Villains reference with the character Ice Mistral.))
Rank: Special Investigator (1st Lieutenant)
Unit: 37th Criminal Investigation And Apprehension (Squad A) ((AN: No, there's no Squad B.))
Build: Very slightly but still noticeably shorter than average, somewhat skinny. Not much of a figure.
Hair: Silver; mid-length, not particularly high-maintenance, occasionally tied with a ribbon.
Eyes: Grey; usually bored or sleepy-looking
Clothing:
Usual - Whatever uniform she's supposed to be wearing at the time. Generally starts out neat and professional at the start of the day, degenerating into wrinkled scruffiness by the end of it. For casual wear, Ivey is partial to dresses, either white or blue, with substantial frills and lace.
Barrier Jacket - Black base sleeveless top, white long-sleeved jacket with blue trimmings, white-and-blue shoulder plates, blue armoured gloves, black miniskirt, what I can only describe as that "hip-cape" thing Nanoha and her team has, black boots with blue trimmings. Her hair is tied into a ponytail, and she gains a pair of goggles (which, apart from protection of the eyes, do nothing). I've uploaded the best I can come up with in City of Heroes here, but due to the limitations of the character creator, the blue trimming on the jacket isn't there, and the hip-cape should be detached from the upper jacket. (I had to use the Trenchcoat option, since CoH doesn't even have dresses.) Just use your imagination.
Personality:
Ivey has immense magical talent; that much, everyone can agree on. Sadly, her magical talent may well be wasted on her attitude, which isn't bad as such, but more that it isn't well-suited for the military culture of the TSAB. She is apathetic by nature, often choosing to do things that do not interest her at the last possible minute rather than properly preparing. Interpersonal relationships are seen by her to be a sort of necessary evil, and her social life tends to revolve around a few close friends, while she can often barely remember other people's names.
She is far, far more enthusiastic about things which do interest her, however, sometimes to the point of obsession. Ivey loves to take things apart, discovering how they work, although the occasional inability to put them back together after she's done precluded her joining the Engineering Corps. She has displayed a passion for research, and spends most of her spare time reading up on old cases and analyses thereof. This has given her both an extensive (if highly unreliable) knowledge of criminal methodologies, as well as a great deal of respect for the utter depths of human depravity.
Generally described as a cheerful cynic, Ivey works in contradictions: she has little patience for TSAB politics, but is not above using it for her own ends. She believes that everything will be all right in the end, if only because they can't possibly get any worse now. She hates being sent out on a mission, but she will do her utmost best to make sure it succeeds. She is professional and polite to her colleagues, but sloppy and disorganized to her friends. She has a calm facade when faced with immense danger, but she actually panics easily. She stubbornly argues endlessly for her side in disagreements, but easily and honestly admits that she's wrong when proof is provided.
And even though she often prepares for the worst case scenario, she has a deep and innate belief in the best case.
Ivey's biggest dream, as she tells others, is to someday visit the 97th Non-Administered World (aka Earth), or rather to visit it in very specific circumstances: namely, to repeat Yuuno Scrya's feat of finding a talented mage of the opposite gender in a suitably dramatic manner. She also realizes that this makes no sense whatsoever. (Chances are her actual dream is something completely different, but she's not telling.)
Background:
Born to a wealthy family, Ivey was "scouted" for her magical talent when she was a young child (around the time of the Precia Testarossa incident). Her rise through the mage ranking exams was remarkable mostly in how her examiners all noted that she could be more powerful than she was bothering to be. She displayed an aptitude for battle tactics in a way that minimized the effort needed to win for maximum results, although she sometimes makes some incredibly bone-headed moves for some reason.
Ivey formally enlisted at age sixteen. Her time in the TSAB is marked by personality evaluations expressing frustration at her inability to work well with others or with paperwork, as well as glowing praise for her success in apprehending dangerous criminals and bringing them in alive. Ivey was passed around from department to department, with many wanting her skills but not many wanting her personality. Finally, she was dropped into the 37th Criminal Investigation And Apprehension unit, where she seems to have found a temporary home, at least.
Ivey maintains a close friendship with one Rancer LaSalle, whom she had met through circumstances both describe as "unusual". The two dated for a while before breaking up, but are still seldom seen apart. In fact, if one transfers to a new unit, the other will almost certainly request a transfer there as well. Oddly, the two do not work especially well as partners, even if they are passably competent enough.
Armament: Mistral generally takes the form of a small clear crystal hanging from a silver chain on Ivey's neck. Ivey has to activate it with the following pass phrase:
" As all things fall into order, so shall all deeds be done. I cast in the name of justice; release your power to me! Mistral, set up!"
Ivey has, by now, learned to say it as quickly as possible, but getting interrupted is still a problem. Ivey is currently training to activate Mistral without the pass phrase, but little progress has been made.
When set up, Mistral takes the form of a long chain made of (unbreakable, or at least not easily damaged) ice of variable length, which it can change on the fly. Ivey is highly skilled at manipulating this chain, and can also protrude spikes from any number of links on the chain at her choosing. The chain can undergo an immense amount of transformations and configurations, sometimes appearing to defy the laws of physics or even pass through itself. One chain may turn into three, and then eight, before going back to two, coming back the way it came.
Ivey also has some advanced training in what may be broadly called martial arts, but are mostly concentrated in evasion techniques. She's quicker than most, but not superhuman.
Powers
Ivey does not so much use ice as ice crystals. The ice is merely a convenient way of obtaining crystals, which are the real point of her powers. By the time the crystals get repurposed, they bear a resemblance to solid water only in appearance, and have more in common with diamond in indestructability. Adding more crystal links to the chain depletes Ivey's magical stamina bit by bit: fifty links is perfectly fine. Five thousand links at one go would exhaust her for a week.
Ivey works best as a close-range combatant, and her long-range capabilities are weak at best. Ivey relies a great deal on dodging attacks rather than blocking them, but since her Device does not provide her with any speed upgrades, she is at a marked disadvantage against speedy melee fighters like Fate or Signum.
Ivey's abilities may not seem that impressive on their own, but Ivey has learned to do them very well. Her binds often take less than a second to execute.
Offensive:
- Hitting things: Ivey can use Mistral to smack things around. Being whacked with anywhere from ten to fifty feet of spiked chain can be painful, especially if you don't know where it's coming from.
- Shard Stream: Mistral can lose several links of its chain to be flung at enemies. This is relatively slow and weak, and Ivey generally uses it mostly as a distraction tactic, or in preparation for Mistral Bind. Ivey has limited control over the direction and speed of the projectiles.
- Shard Rain: An upgraded version of Shard Stream, with Mistral losing even more links to cover the battlefield with small spiky projectiles. Velocity and penetration power remain the same; the upgrade is in volume only.
- Mistral Bind: Mistral can reconfigure its links to turn into a separate binding chain on enemies. For example, Ivey hits an opponent with fifty feet of chain, and twenty feet of that suddenly turns into a bind, while Ivey collects back thirty feet of chain. Binds can also be made from the severed links from Shard Stream/Rain, even those seemingly discarded on the ground. Breaking the bind would require both a Bind Break spell to overcome the A+ rank bind, as well as enough physical strength to break (or loosen) the diamond-hard chains.
- Mistral Cage: The upgraded version of Mistral Bind, with the target(s) being completely immobilized and covered in chains.
- Spikes: At any time, even when the links are being used for a bind, Ivey may extend spikes from them. She has been known to "seed" a site with links beforehand, and then spike them for instant caltrops.
Defensive:
- Chain Intercept: Ivey may intercept any attack by deflecting it with her chain. (Whether this attack stays deflected is another matter.) She has been known to do this easily against bullets and other physical projectiles. This does not help if the projectile explodes on impact, which makes things like Vita's Swallow Flier a significant danger.
- Dispersion Field: Ivey maintains a field of special tiny crystals which will help dissipate some of the energy of ranged magical attacks. This does nothing for melee, and things like Divine Buster will cut through it easily, but anything D-rank and below will find itself at least slowed down, if not completely negated. (Imagine it to be a very low-powered Anti-Magic Field.) It is possible for Ivey to accidentally move too quickly for her field to catch up.
- Crystal Cube: Ivey encases herself in a thick coccoon of crystal (which, despite the name, is not exactly a cube, or even a hexahedron). This is able to deflect most magical and physical attacks up to AA+ rank without taking any damage. (Barrier breaker attacks have a distinct advantage.) The drawbacks to this are that Ivey has limited air inside the cube (about seven hours), is unable to receive any communications while inside the cube, and is unaware of what is going on outside the cube: she has to guess for herself the best time to de-cube, which will give a free shot to anyone waiting for her outside. Also, the cube is all-or-nothing: either it (and Ivey) will take no damage, or it will shatter and Ivey will be hit with almost the full power of the attack. Ivey only uses this as a last resort, when she is absolutely certain the enemy will not simply pick up the cube and dump it into the ocean.
- Crystal Wall: Like the Crystal Cube, except a wall. This is formed more slowly than the Cube, and generally Ivey can erect a wall two meters square (and half a meter thick) on a moment's notice, but anything more would take something like one round of combat per addition.
Support:
- Flight: Ivey can fly. She can't fly very quickly, but she can fly. So far she has not developed any acceleration spells, although she is experimenting with a few. She does not need to have Mistral set up to fly.
- Quick Bind: If Ivey does not have time to set Mistral up, she can still bind targets with a regular magic bind. This is rather weaker (C+ rank), and has to be a direct binding rather than tricky delayed binds or such, but can work in a pinch.
- Reform: Ivey is able to completely reform Mistral from just a single link. She does not actually need any water or water vapour to do so. Ivey can also discard any and all of Mistral's chain links as she wishes, and either let them melt (well, more accurately vapourise into ambient magical energy rather than water) or leave them there for a future Mistral Bind.
Excerpt:
Spoiler:
Ivey continued sketching diagrams on the paper. "No, you see, you cannot deny the possibility that in some unknown and uncertain part of the vast multiverse to which we are tasked to protect, there is a portion of reality that is just correct enough to- oh, hi, Rancer."
"Morning, Ivey," Rancer said, stepping through the doorway. "Morning, Reiz."
"Anyway, as I was saying, if the multiverse is infinite, then, almost by definition, it should have everything in it, and that includes everything we can conceive of. And this, in itself, contains the subset of the concept of a mechanical genius or a scientist of some sort who wishes to, shall we say, have a clean laboratory while enjoying something pleasing to his eyes."
Reiz whimpered.
Rancer looked at her with sympathy. "You tried to doubt the existence of robot maids, didn't you?"
Trivia:
Spoiler:
Potential Voice Actress: Ryou Hirohashi (Izen, Gadget Trial)
Character Analogue: Konata Izumi from Lucky Star, except less otaku-ish and more laid-back. Doesn't take much seriously, and thinks that life is a comedy, so one might as well laugh.
- Ivey is able to pilot and operate a surprising number of vehicles and machinery. This appears to be a natural talent, since she has never bothered applying for licences for most of them.
- Ivey has a motorbike she is moderately fond of, and which she actually has a licence for.
- Nobody, and this means absolutely nobody, has thus far been able to beat Ivey in a drinking contest. Her tolerance for alcohol is well-nigh infinite, and very probably superhuman.
Spoilers:
Spoiler for Major spoilers inside:
Be warned: clicking the spoiler button will result in extreme spoilage. If you do not want your enjoyment of the story to be completely and utterly removed, then go no further.
I speak from the viewpoint of a spoiler-seeker myself. This is not the sort of thing you want to be reading lightly, as it constitutes all the major plot twists of the story.
Spoiler for Really major spoilers:
This is your last chance.
Only go further if you are absolutely certain that you are willing to have the entire plot of the story revealed.
Spoiler for Final barrier:
You have been warned.
Ivey's progress through the Time-Space Administration Bureau was not as random as it seemed. While the first few departmental shuffles were indeed due to Ivey inadvertantly irritating whoever her superior officer had been at the time, her raw talent had been noticed by certain units, which was why scarcely a few months after enlisting in the TSAB, Ivey became Second Lieutenant Ivey de Lorien, TSAB Strategic Intelligence. It was then that Ivey received her first and last assignment as an Intelligence officer, which was to monitor a sullen and mysterious young man named Rancer LaSalle.
In accordance with her orders, Ivey pretended to befriend him, while sending regular reports on his activities to her handlers. Over time, however, Ivey's friendship turned genuine, and soon became affection, especially when Rancer clung to her as his only friend in the world, gradually opening himself up to others, excelling in his career. Ivey felt that she could no longer spy on the person who had effectively become her boyfriend, and prepared a resignation letter to Strategic Intelligence, ready to defend her decision against official disapproval.
Unfortunately, Rancer discovered the truth just after she sent the letter, and only hours before a dangerous mission. Despite Ivey's efforts to convince him that she truly did love him, he would have none of it, and told her never to come near him again. Disobeying orders, he went off alone to the mission, and recklessly endangered himself in a fit of rage and despair.
Needless to say, the mission went horribly wrong. Just as Rancer was about to be killed by his own folly, however, Ivey rushed in to save him from the traps he had set off, suffering grievous injuries in the process. It took her a full year to recover, by which time the two of them had come to an understanding. Rancer no longer held any anger over Ivey's deception, but the wounds from the betrayal ran too deep for them to be in a relationship anymore. Ivey accepted this, even though her feelings for him still remained unchanged.
The mission having been declared a failure due to serious human error, Ivey and Rancer were ejected from their unit. Intelligence was faced with the problem of an ex-agent who knew far too much to be discharged from the TSAB refusing to be parted from the high-priority target of her former investigation, and so the two of them quietly but rapidly drifted from low-key unit to unit, until they finally ended up being assigned to the Criminal Investigation And Apprehension department, unit 37. There, Ivey and Rancer finally seemed to have found a home, and a string of successful duo missions resulted in their promotions.
Ivey retains a marked distrust and dislike of TSAB Intelligence, since it caused her to be estranged from the one she loves. The necessities of her job has dulled her original distaste, but she remains distant and cold towards any of the Intelligence brass.
The failed mission where she saved Rancer's life has also taken a toll on her: Ivey's eyes and optic nerves are artificial, and large portions of her internal organs, including her heart and spinal column, have been modified with medical implants. The net result is that Ivey tends to be a little short of breath, and sufficient physical trauma in apparently unrelated locations can temporarily (if not permanently) blind and paralyze her.
Rancer LaSalle, the Cyan Shield.
Spoiler for Rancer LaSalle:
Name: Rancer LaSalle
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Mage Rank: AA
Magic Type: Midchilda
Magic Colour: Aquamarine Blue (Hex Code: #7AD7AD)
Favoured Element: Energy
Specialty: Barriers
Device: None
Rank: Special Investigator (Captain)
Unit: 37th Criminal Investigation And Apprehension (Squad A)
Build: Best described as "healthy", in that he's not too thin or too buff, but he evidently works out regularly. A bit taller than normal, with a wiry frame.
Hair: Black, kept neat
Eyes: Pale blue
Clothing:
Usual - When not wearing his uniform, Rancer chooses to don nondescript clothing, preferably something with lots of pockets. He doesn't have any colour preferences, but usually gravitates towards plain white or black. He is also one of the few people who really know how to look good in a suit.
Barrier Jacket - Basic white shirt and slacks, over which is a dark long coat, trimmed in blue. Matte-grey metal gloves and round shoulder plates, with a vambrace on the left forearm. Sturdy boots, with the same matte-grey steel toes and heels.
Personality:
Some people are made to be heroes. They charge courageously into the fray, inspire armies with impassioned speeches, and generally provide an example for more impressionable followers.
And then there are those who are made to watch over these heroes and make sure that they don't fall over from forgetting to eat.
Rancer is a very serious fellow, who would treat humour as some sort of inefficient aberration to be pointedly ignored, if he hadn't already resigned himself to the basic absurdity of the world. Rancer views life as a sort of bad movie, and the only way he can stay sane is by copious amounts of sarcasm. He's usually too polite to vocalize any of his mental comments, although standard mage telepathy can pick them up as a sort of low-volume muttering. Occasionally he loses control and snarks in public.
In more relaxed situations, Rancer likes to speculate and hypothesize on random things, mostly because he simply likes to let his mind wander. When duty calls, though, he is no-nonsense, organized, and very sarcastic. Rancer tries to solve situations without resorting to violence as much as possible, preferring negotiation and compromise.
Background:
Little is known about Rancer's life prior to joining the TSAB, and he refuses to talk about it. He did, however, join at a relatively young age, just after the Book of Darkness incident. He was sponsored by a mysterious "relative" who did not appear to have left any records of his existence, did little more than fund Rancer's education through a secure anonymous account, and then disappeared entirely when Rancer passed his A rank certification exam. For all intents and purposes, Rancer does not appear to have a family.
Rancer's career in the TSAB can be summarized as "distinguished, yet unexceptional". He has a reputation for doing almost everything by the book, but has been known to temporarily set aside the rules if he feels it is justified. Described largely as a loner, he somehow met and dated one Ivey de Lorien, but the two technically broke up, although they remain somewhat close friends. Neither Rancer nor Ivey are willing to talk much about it; "it didn't work out" is the usual reply given to any queries.
His transfer to the 37th Criminal Investigation And Apprehension unit was entirely following Ivey, and he was quickly made the vice-commander of the (very small) unit. He seems to be happy enough in his current position, although sometimes it is hard to tell.
Armament:
Rancer has no special Device he can call his own. He has been trained to use the standard staves issued to Midchilda mages, but he has not shown any particular talent or proficiency in such. In fact, his ranged blasts are weaker than the standard, but his barriers tend to be slightly but noticeably stronger when using a standard-issue Device.
If all else fails, Rancer is perfectly willing and able to pick up the nearest heavy blunt object and beat his opponent about the head with it.
Powers:
Most of Rancer's powers are traditionally defensive, but Rancer has managed to vary them enough that he can hold his own offensively. Rancer has a gift for improvisation, and he can generally come up with new spells on the fly. In fact, these spells will be so improvised that it is not a given that Rancer remembers how to do them the next day.
While Rancer's barriers are top-notch, his barrier- breaking skills leave quite a lot to be desired. He generally resorts to brute-force assaults on opponents' barriers and shields.
Offensive:
- Barrier Blast: Like the usual Barrier Purge spells (which voluntarily dispels one's own barrier violently to deal damage), except upgraded by a few orders of magnitude. Any unfortunate enemies surrounding the barrier and in the blast radius are likely to be thrown back with great force. This has been known to cause significant damage to the environs (craters et al). This can be applied to almost every form of shielding Rancer uses, except for Sanctuary.
- Barrier Inverse: Rancer uses a barrier to keep something in, rather than keep things out. While essentially an innovative use of barriers to capture enemies or contain explosions, Rancer can also use Barrier Blast on an Inversed barrier. This would theoretically reduce the contents to some chunky salsa and a fair amount of paperwork, which is why Rancer has never actually done it.
Defensive:
- Barriers: Rancer is able to put up any number of protective barriers (or shields, if he wishes) at any time, and even at range. Also, Rancer has the relatively rare ability to stack barriers.
- Force Barrier: Rancer can set up a barrier that repels physical objects and forces. Generally this allows only forces larger than a hundred newtons to penetrate, but Rancer can weaken or strengthen (the latter taking more magical energy) it as needed. The repelling causes objects to bounce off, as though elastic. This works best against "instant" impacts, rather than sustained application of force: a concentrated effort on a person's part can penetrate, although it is very difficult. Also, Rancer is unable to differentiate the barrier to let in some things (or people) but not others.
- Sanctuary: Rancer encases himself (and only himself) in a near-impenetrable shield, capable of withstanding S rank magical strikes. Unlike Ivey's Crystal Cube, Rancer is able to see (and hear) everything that is going on, and move around freely (theoretically, anyway). This uses up a great deal of magical energy, and Rancer cannot keep it up for very long. Sanctuary cannot be Barrier Blasted.
Support:
- Flight: Rancer can fly.
- Repulsor Fin: Standard acceleration spell. Faint rings the colour of Rancer's magic form around his legs.
Excerpt:
Trivia:
Spoiler:
Potential Voice Actor: Tomokazu Seki (Touya, Card Captor Sakura)
Character Analogue: A mix of Kyon and Koizumi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The Straight Man of any team, but willing to consider the impossible.
- TBA
Spoilers:
Spoiler for Major spoilers inside:
Be warned: clicking the spoiler button will result in extreme spoilage. If you do not want your enjoyment of the story to be completely and utterly removed, then go no further.
I speak from the viewpoint of a spoiler-seeker myself. This is not the sort of thing you want to be reading lightly, as it constitutes all the major plot twists of the story.
Spoiler for Really major spoilers:
This is your last chance.
Only go further if you are absolutely certain that you are willing to have the entire plot of the story revealed.
Spoiler for Final barrier:
You have been warned.
Rancer LaSalle is merely the name he wears in this reality. His true name is more a concept of his nature: the Cyan Knight Lancer of the Seventh Order of Guardians, of a society that had disappeared from the multiverse in times long past, and which knew no name that can be recognized today, and which TSAB Intelligence has code-named "Babel". He is the 1,453rd individual being who had "escaped" from Babel, making him a member of the shadowy collective known as the Children of Babel.
The ancient society now known as Babel was an offshoot of the Al Hazardian civilization. They had uncovered the underlying workings of magic during the dying days of their civilization, and their foremost scientist-mages, including their then-ruler, convinced their assembly of elders to allow them their last desperate hope for survival and immortality: converting their very beings into pure information, tapping into the basic framework of their reality and magic. The immense ritual succeeded, and the civilization became one with the hypothetical "information dimension" which, modern theory goes, informs the very nature of magic.
The ritual, however, was not done with the consent of all of the people affected. Most of them were in no position to argue, having lost themselves in the collective whole. A few, however, managed to retain their individuality, and it was one such who managed to break free of the information dimension, re-corporating himself into physical reality. He found himself with far greater ability (if not raw power) in magic than other practitioners, due to his contact with the thaumaturgic fabric itself. Knowing that there were others still trapped in the information dimension, he plunged back inside, and helped bring them out one by one. Perhaps decades or centuries would pass between each liberation, but the Children of Babel discovered that they were ever-living and unaging. They could still suffer illness or violent death, but time was a commodity they had in abundance.
The original escapee had long been killed, in a relatively minor war. As far as anyone knew, he was but a somewhat talented mage of Belka, with nothing else distinguishing him from any other. Even his name has been forgotten, to both official history and to the Children of Babel. But among the survivors of the Children, there would invariably be a few, even if only one, who would be willing to make the journey back into Babel to free their brethren. The rest of them took up lives among the populace; some of them used their unique talents to do well for themselves, funnelling much of their profits into a secret fund, while others remained, by choice, unnoticed and ordinary.
Rancer was liberated roughly two decades from the present time. He spent several years learning how to control and hide his considerable powers in this reality, as he had originally been one of the elite guardian knights in the old lands, wielding magic capable of defeating a hundred men. He had not actually been averse to remaining in the information dimension, and his sudden status in this unfamiliar reality, utterly alone, terrified him. In near-desperation, he enlisted in the Time-Space Administration Bureau, seeking order and regimentation in his life. Finding individuality alienating, he withdrew into himself.
All this changed when he met Ivey de Lorien. As he opened himself up to her, he realized that he had fallen in love with her... which made her subsequent apparent betrayal all the more painful, when he discovered that she was an Intelligence agent planted to observe him and report on any leads on the Children of Babel. Despite her pleas, he rushed headlong into a trapped and mined area, not caring if he lived or died through the mission. This led directly to Ivey sacrificing herself to protect him from a direct blast, from which she barely survived.
Rancer had a full year to reflect on his actions, while Ivey recovered in intensive care. He realized that Ivey's feelings for him were genuine, but he could not bring himself to forget her original deception, even if he ultimately forgave her. Ivey accepted this, while vowing to try her best to make up for her guilt.
Intelligence, meanwhile, had lowered the threat priority on Rancer significantly, focusing instead on other matters. It was suspected that during the year Ivey was recuperating, many of the officers in charge of the Babel investigation had been transferred out or retired for unrelated reasons, but later events would show that this was a direct result of manipulation by Zachariah Aarons.
After undergoing significant unit shuffle, Rancer and Ivey found themselves in the 37th Criminal Investigation And Apprehension department, where Major Nova Altmann quickly learned their history, despite Rancer's and Ivey's best efforts. The unit distinguished itself with a string of successful missions, resulting in promotions for Rancer and Ivey to Captain and First Lieutenant respectively.
As one of the Children of Babel, Rancer is technically able to manipulate magic of any sort, even when it is directed at him, but his early training and indoctrination after his liberation has made him very reluctant to use this ability. Of the liberated Children of Babel, Rancer is one of the most powerful, if he sets his mind to it. More often than not, he treads carefully, as much to maintain the fiction that he is a normal human as to prevent others from being hurt unnecessarily.
Careful scrutiny and inspection of Rancer's Midchildan magic may or may not reveal that he's faking it; Rancer is usually fairly good at the disguise, but occasionally (especially in high-stress situations) he slips up.
Continued here.
Last edited by dkellis; 2008-06-07 at 01:26.
|