rd app

[hallucinogem]

[ OOC Information ]

Player Name & Pronouns: cel (she/they)
Player Age: catastrophically older than 18
OOC Contact: samielherbei @ discord

Reserve Link: https://royaldecreemods.dreamwidth.org/1774.html?thread=187118#cmt187118

[ IC Information ]

Character Name & Pronouns: Emerald Sustrai (she/her)
Character Age: Early adulthood; I've been going around 20 for her.
Canon: RWBY
Canon Point: The midpoint of volume 8 chapter 6, "Midnight", immediately after her argument with Mercury where she finally starts believing that Cinder doesn't care about her

History: Her wiki page, specifically up to the "Salem has summoned everyone to the bridge" line in the Arrival in Atlas section.

Personality: A practiced markswoman who knows that she's damn good in a fight, Emerald Sustrai has earned the right to be a little cocky. At her worst, she thinks that she's above people that are too soft to understand how the world really works: Everything has a cost, nobody gives or gets anything for free, and if you're not useful then you're nothing. It's led to a healthy suspicion of any kindness extended to her, which has done great things to the way she views personal relationships, thanks. When she has no choice but to make herself useful to someone else, she'll show it by pledging her absolute devotion, doing everything the other person asks, and by all accounts turning herself into a weapon for someone else.

But she saw from infiltrating team RWBY that... maybe the world doesn't have to work that way. Maybe there's something more to it, something that's not transactional. Maybe she can just live. Of course, she has no idea what that looks like, and when she realizes it's possible she's already too deep in Cinder's plans to turn away so easily. But it's enough to plant the seed of hope in her chest that she clutches tighter than she ever thought she would.

Other than the murders, Emerald's biggest crime is that hope. As someone who grew up having to scrounge for food every single day, why wouldn't she take the first chance she gets to never worry about going hungry again? Maybe it was grabbing whatever her hands can carry to pull herself up and away from the hell she found herself in. Maybe she saw a light. Either way, she was young and desperate and naïve and she made all her biggest mistakes in that moment. Emerald longs for stability, for recognition, for love—for some sign that she's a whole person and that she hasn't just been throwing her life into the only empty mouth on Remnant hungrier than her own. And if she just... if she's good enough at doing what other people tell her to do, if she's useful enough then it'll all come back to her eventually.

There is a kindness in her heart, a light that Cinder has never really been able to douse, that shows that she does care about the lives of other people and she doesn't just want to cause meaningless chaos. But her loyalty burns bright enough to blind her, and if she wants to direct herself properly then she'll need to wait for her own eyes to adjust. She's made stupid choices and held herself back from moving forward out of fear that the thing she's leaving behind is the best that she'll ever have it. It's sunk cost wearing love's skin, and it's so terrifying to see it and call it what it is.

Because if she was wrong this whole time and the world can run on people just being kind to each other for no reason, then what was the point of all of it? Will she even recognize who she is without the fire around her?

Abilities: Emerald's two big powers are her Aura and her Semblance. The Aura is a manifestation of her soul that she subconsciously projects around her body to defend her from damage and accelerate the healing of any injuries she does take. You know how shonen heroes can just keep going and going without stopping even though they've been punched into the tenderest beef known to man? It's like that, and everyone on Remnant has one.

Her Semblance, RWBY's answer to Stands and what have you, lets her project images or sounds into people's heads. She can only reliably do it to one person at a time (doing it to more than one is possible but puts a lot of strain on her body and brain). The hallucinations are generally under her control and so convincing that the only person who's been able to break one had to use thermal vision. They can be as simple as changing the color of her hair or as complicated as, like, projecting a giant spectral image of the woman who will end the world to a group of heroes who just brought her to her absolute lowest point in a fit of despair and rage and terror.

Bloom Bond Flower:

Tulip: Emerald's entire adult life has been defined by the unrequited emotions she holds towards Cinder Fall. Any future she could have had has been eaten up entirely by Cinder's flames—but she stands at a precipice that could change everything for her if she just finds the courage to jump. Redemption awaits her for everything she's done and all she has to do is believe in her own strength and in the kindness in the hearts of others to accept her despite everything she wishes she hadn't done.

Geranium: It's easy to call Emerald a fool for the choices she's made in her life. (God knows she'll do it herself enough.) Perhaps the most foolish she's been lately is placing herself directly in the line of fire to defend a wounded Cinder. It's out of misguided love, out of this urge to protect someone who she thought had always tried to protect her, but when the two of them get back safely and she realizes that Cinder doesn't care at all that Emerald saved her, it's a devastating blow to everything she thought was real. It's the final seed of doubt in a trough that she's been sowing for years to actually get her to leave.

Hydrangea: Growing up the way she did, finding problems trusting anybody but herself, it's easy to read Emerald as heartless. Everyone's just looking to get something from you. No free lunches. You know the type. She thaws slowly, though quicker than she thinks, and once she's made her choice to trust someone then she is loyal to them to an absolutely terrible fault. And if she ever wants something from them, then her instincts are to just... stay there, be loyal, keep being Of Use, and with enough patience the other person will simply just divine what she wants and then give it to her.

IC/OOC Permissions & Opt-Out Link: Here

Sample: Current TDM TL

Anything Else?: