Akira can typically be seen wearing a white polo shirt with a dark vest or jacket over the top. A plain, navy blue pleated skirt that reaches mid-thigh is also worn, accompanied by woolen knee-length socks and mary jane shoes, both articles of clothing in black. A single navy blue stripe is also present on the end of her shirt's short, loose sleeves, which to most of Fiore's inhabitants appears to have no significance and is only a decoration / part of the style. In reality, this is the mark of a Bellum Mage Academy graduate and also a higher mage trainee (as opposed to red, yellow, or nonexistent stripes on the same uniform). The entire ensemble is the uniform typical of a Bellum Academy student, but Akira's special status as a blood healer is indicated by the satin red bow tied around her neck.
This and Akira's right eye are typically the only bright colors the girl's appearance possesses. Akira's right eye is a vivid red, which stands out upon her chalk-pale skin. her hair is cut into a short, regulation length style with long hanging bangs, and is left loose, ending a bit lower than the girl's chin. Akira's hair is solid back and adds to her overall bleak appearance. After being prompted by Bellum Academy instructors because of its unsettling overall look, Akira took to wearing a square or rectangular white eye patch over her left eye, which is a slightly glowing, bright green, if left uncovered. In Bellum, eye colors of green or blue are typically taken as a sign of being foreign or part monster born.
Overall, Akira is rather short and has a slim neck, arms, and legs. Despite her extremely pale complexion and ruby eye, Akira's appearance is not considered noteworthy among other citizens of Bellum. While the majority of the nation's population possess tanned or dark skin, as well as brown or yellow eyes, Akira's characteristics are common among mages and healers, especially the trait of red eyes. Additionally, Akira's face normally holds an emotionless expression with her small lips set straight or into a slight frown, her eye blankly staring into space. This combined with her not-completely-unordinary appearance allows the girl to mostly fade into the background. Her looks only are remarkable in countries like Fiore and the Pergrande Kingdom, where most areas are bright and colorful. Bellum is colorful, just mostly raging with war. Blood splatters are a more common sight than wildlife, such as birds.
personality
After spending nearly all of her life in Bellum, the raging country of war, Akira has seen multiple things anyone would rather forget. Especially after going through the government's mage training where 98% of the students die or are disabled for life, the girl has horrific memories from her past. In fact, all surviving Bellum Mage and Warrior Academy trainees either have nightmares for the remainder of their lives, or commit suicide after graduation... and Akira is no exception. The trainees are taken from their homes at a young age, typically one to three yeras old, and anyone with the slightest magic potential or battle potential is forced to attend. Being stolen away from a loving family and having to undergo harsh training shows in Akira's personality.
Akira typically assumes an emotionless or uncaring outward look, but flinches easily whenever threatened with pain or any other kind of punishment. Nonetheless, she does not run away even though her willpower is not great, but only because the result is typically worse if she flees and is caught. Additionally, the girl has developed a much higher tolerance for physical pain. Since the trainees were highly discouraged from forming attachments to one another and were punished if they did, Akira has retained a trust and an ease with making friendships because she has not had any bad experiences from them (the girl always listened to instructions about not making friends). Her magical mind barriers are stronger than most people's though, after fighting off controlling-type magical attacks by the enemy and instructors, and also simply seeing so many things over the years. Akira also has an intense fear of slayers, which is explained more in her history. This includes Dragon Slayers, Lacrima Dragon Slayers, God Slayers, and Devil Slayers.
When alone, such as in her academy dorm room or wherever else, Akira likes to weave friendship bracelets out of red and white yarn. She has never given one of these to someone, but hopes to someday. Composing poetry, especially in blank verse or complicated forms such as sonnets, is another of Akira's personal ways to spend her free time. Although Akira does not have trust issues or bonding issues, she has problems with loyalty, despite her sweet and kind overall personality. Akira hates pain despite having a high tolerance for it, and when threatened she will instantly or very quickly cave. Of course, if at all possible she will apologize to the person she betrayed, after the incident, and also "hold out as long as possible," but the girl has an overwhelmingly strong sense of self-preservation, which of course stems from being a trainee and war mage, as well as a healer, in Bellum.
Besides being a coward, Akira also has has a twisted sense of morals. She is nice and heals animals and people in Fiore because she wants to and feels bad for them, but not because she thinks that it's the right thing to do or anything. Akira has been forced to learn the lesson of those in power controlling everything, and simply chooses to be nice when she holds the power because she feels sympathetic. Nonetheless, the girl can become frustrated and angry if people refuse to understand this life lesson.
However, despite the fact that she is a coward and caves easily, Akira has a strong image of the ideal world, of what she wants, buried deep within her. This has created a sense of drive, and Akira is secretly unwilling to let others control her path any longer. It's very difficult for her to express this though, and typically she acts exactly the same as always, caving in to everyone's demands. Now though, she is biding her time. This girl can put up much more resistance than it often seems, but some kind of event will have to bring it to the surface. Akira also possesses a desire to find a purpose in life, as up until she got to Fiore all she did was follow others’ orders.
Akira was born in the country of war, also known as Bellum. As a newborn and child she was lucky, since there were not many stable and peace-loving families left after the countless battles that raged throughout the country all the time. But unfortunately, this only heightened the shock when at age two, just a day after the girl healed a scrape on her arm from falling, Akira's mother reported the girl's magical potential to the Bellum Government and Mage Academy out of fear for her and her husband's lives. Rather htan hating her family and especially her mother for this, Akira still loved them but accepted the fact that if her mother had attempted to keep Akira's magic a secret, eventually the entire family would have been killed after Bellum found out. This event first triggered the start of problems with standing by people, which Akira developed while in her first year as a mage trainee.
After six years of training at Bellum's Academy, Akira "graduated." along with four other students out of over nine million participants over the course of those six years. She was sent to be a healer on the battlefields, and was stationed there for a few more years, with breaks few and far between. On the way back to the dorms of the academy (for healers and mages were to be supervised at all times), a kind young woman who had recently moved to Bellum encountered the girl on the streets and was sympathetic to who she believed was a "poor lost school child," inviting her to stay at the woman's house. Any regular citizen would have recognized the blue shirt stripes and most importantly, the red bow. Unfortunately the woman did not, but after arriving at her residence, Akira asked if she actually knew who the girl was. Upon receiving a negative response, she explained and the woman's kind heart immediately resolved to help Akira escape.
So, the girl quietly left the woman's house during hte night, for although she was not on battlefield duty, Bellum was keen on knowing her whereabouts and something terrible would have happened if she did not arrive at the dorms precisely on schedule. Akira reported the woman for treason, since she had stated that she wanted the "poor girl" to escape, and an opportunity was sure to appear after turning her in. Despite the fact that the Bellum Government was corrupt and weakened, they wanted to keep their mages and other trainees under control. Rewarding them for voluntary services was one way that they could do this, and also since the government was largely in shambles and was trying to reinforce its power by removing any rebels or out speakers, they were glad to be informed.
A few days later when her break ended, just as she had predicted, the country of war offered her more time away, with the expectation that the girl would be inspired to come back and also feel grateful and willing to turn in anyone else who opposed the government's methods. Akira accepted and used the time to run across the border of Bellum into the country of Iceberg, which was exactly what the name suggests-- a solid block of ice. The border was not guarded at all since everyone knew and could see that even if their chances of survival were extremely bleak in the war torn country of Bellum, there was absolutely nothing alive in Iceberg and they would die almost immediately.
But Akira was a healer, and she also had been trained to go without food for weeks in the case of a seige or such. The nature of her healing magic also meant that instead of being drained of energy, Akira lost something else, which was actually more precious: her life force. So, by healing herself and continuous moving as quickly as possible, Akira was able to escape through Iceberg and into Stella, where she rested in the nature-loving and peaceful country until she was healthy enough to continue through Bosco, where the slave trade was prominent and the girl had to be much more careful. Akira had no idea where she was going, but she boarded an unknown ship, hoping of the best, and ended up in Fiore.
After finally escaping into Fiore after darting around in the shadows of Bosco, Akira was able to be out in the light and fresh air. Fiore was similar to Stella, but much the people were much more rambunctious, and many more practiced magic.
Akira was uncomfortable for a while, since she stood out a lot with her ghastly complexion and overall morbid appearance. There also weren't the same kind of schools in Fiore, so her uniform puzzled many of the inhabitants, bringing the girl much unwanted attention. She had finally managed to get a job of a very mundane type at a bar, where she swept the floors and washed dishes. Akira didn't really mind, even though it hadn't been what she was expecting. But one day, a woman entered the bar, who noticed the girl cleaning and struck up a conversation. Akira was very polite, but became afraid of the attention she was being given and the reason behind it (which was that the woman was simply friendly).
The girl couldn't help but be a little bit anxious after living in Bellum for so long, where everything was chaotic and nobody trusted anyone unless they wanted to be betrayed. It wasn't that Akira didn't trust the woman not to hurt her, but she feared her and tried to run away as a precaution. Puzzled, the woman followed, and Akira suddenly lashed out with the self defence spell all healers of Bellum had been taught: Blood Rupture, which caused non-serious pinpoint damage to joints and muscles by sending lines of magic through the bloodstream. The woman reacted immediately and used her own magic, dragon slayer magic, to knock Akira out and leave the scene. (This woman was Kotone. Akira doesn't know her name, but will most likely recognize her if they ever meet again; OOC: I have Araliss's permission to use Kotone's name here).
The girl is now terrified of slayers in general, just because she has no idea why the woman was coming after her in the first place and fears that the Bellum government is searching for her. (In reality, they gave up even though she was an important asset. They didn't think that Akira could have survived going through the country of Iceberg, which was to the extent that they tracked her.) Even though Akira's trustful nature is not any different towards slayers, she is immensely afraid of them and attempts to avoid them just so no one gets hurt.
A bit after this incident occurred, Akira joined Red Blades upon the request of Truth Ayres, the guild master. They needed a healer and promised that she would be treated fairly, the young woman had promised. And, since Truth was determined to have Akira join Red Blades, the little girl might get hurt if she declined the offer... Or something else would happen. Akira, not being a particularly willful person and actually more of the opposite, agreed and joined the dark guild. At least it was better than the conditions in Bellum had been.
Primary Magic
Name: Blood Touch Description: This is a healing magic, but Akira can use it offensively if pressed to do so. In these spells, Akira heals herself or another person at the expense of life force or blood. Her trip through Iceberg shortened her life span since there was nothing else to draw energy from, but typically Akira uses a different source besides herself and the healing's target, for the cost. This source can be anything living, but the girl usually uses people or plants, as she feels very sympathetic towards animals. People too, but in Bellum she was trained to drain the energy from their enemies. The drawbacks to using this energy include her mental stability being effected, her magic becoming contaminated, and successive healings costing more life force. As Akira heals, she remembers everything that she underwent at the Academy in Bellum, as well as everything that she's seen over the years in the wars. She may be unable to speak or interact with the world after or during a healing, since her mind will be reverting to a damaged state. In Bellum, the war officers didn't care and forced her to heal anyways.
However, if the second drawback comes into effect, she can no longer heal properly, so they try to limit her healings at least a little bit. In the case of the second drawback coming into effect, Akira's magic can no longer heal and instead her magic damages anything living that it interacts with, including Akira. Friend or foe, basically anything within a meter is going to be effected. The damage is moderate, but cannot be healed normally. Arteries and organs will be cut off temporarily, and a person could die if they stay in contact with her magic for too long. If the second drawback is triggered, the effects of the first are doubled, and Akira's mind becomes even more unstable, rendering her absolutely powerless to control her fears and memories. Once the third part, the cost of more life force, is in effect, Akira is likely to not recover, and if she does it will take a long time and the girl will most definitely be restored to a deteriorated state. The reason Bellum cared was because the less control Akira has over her mind, fears, and body, the less effective her healing is and the more dangerous it is for this around her.
If Akira is using her magic offensively, she has two options as far as spells and types go. She can either use Blood Rupture, in which case pinpoint parts of the target's joints' mobility is frozen, or she can do damage over time by targeting the opponents's blood with her magic and then physically causing a wound. Because the enemy's blood has been affected by Akira's magic, the wound will be much more difficult to get to stop bleeding. This will weaken the target, but not cause serious damage by itself. Although the enemy cannot take serious damage from this spell alone, the opponent can die by this type of attack or be critically injured if they are already injured heavily by something, and more bleeding will cause them to asphyxiate. Basically, Akira's only offensive options are only good when used with another person's attacks and can cause no serious damage alone (the girl will probably be killed on her own after the opponent recovers from being weakened or momentarily frozen by Blood Rupture). This is why Akira was very useful in the wars of Bellum, because plenty of people were also fighting and causing damage to the affected targets.
Signature Ability
Name: Infusion Element: Life Description: Akira channels the life energy out of one source into another, causing negative effects and even death to the energy source while healing the target of the spell. This magic is primarily best for flesh wounds and broken bones, anything that can be mended. However, this spell can also offset magical drainage, and was often used in this way when Akira was in Bellum supporting the offensive mages. Alternatively, a blood cost can be payed, which was also often used by simply standing around those bleeding out and skipping having to channel the life force out of them. Akira can also use this method with her own blood without taking time off of her life. The exchange rate of costs is increased when paying a blood cost, however.
"But I've come too far, can't look the other way..."
Everyone is a moon and has a dark side they do not wish to show anybody. For those that rest in the darkness, this side is different than the one they show all the time. For them-- no, for us, we keep our bad showing and our inner good hidden deep within.
I guess I'm nothing more than a marionette, with no will and no heart.
