Aka Kuroi, Approval

[Aka Kuroi]

1. I am nineteen years old.

2. I have roughly four years of collaborative writing experience through discord and forum roleplay.

3.

Tension and Release: A symphony of interwoven veins and muscles guides her fist as it erupts against the nose of her foe, a shrill squeal exploding from their gaping mouth as she hits them again and again and again. Soon, the cries faded into whimpers, which were then entirely snuffed out by the low sound of the ocean's waves. She watched with rapt attention the lax body of what was once a bandit, boasting and raving as they threatened and jeered at the elderly owner of the private vessel, intending to make what was his theirs. How fortunate that old man was, she supposed, as she once again tore into the bandit's face with her bony knuckles.

The vivid echo of bone meeting bone was enough to spurn the shaken older man to gasp, cowering behind the low transom as she continuously assured the condition of their assailant. The sound that escaped his mouth seemed to have caught her attention as she snapped her head to glare at him. A pair of bleeding red eyes bore into the man's skull, causing the faint words he had attempted to speak to die out as his throat tightened considerably. Droplets of sweat cascaded down his panicked expression, his body beginning to shiver terribly as the shadowed figure leered at him. A black mass of threads and shadows enveloped the figure as it approached the old man with meticulous steps, blinding him to its true appearance. Pressing his back against the walls of the boat, the old man could do nothing else but pray against the inevitable. A few measured strides later, the figure passed the shadowed veil of the sail and at once let the moonlight envelop them.

The old man nearly cried in relief.

It was not an opportunistic grimm that had so maliciously dealt with the man trying to rob him; it was a woman. A girl, to be exact, if her age did not betray the youthful fullness in her face. Yet, as he gazed upon her visage, he began to notice how...oddly she appeared. Her skin pales like a corpse, her eyes are large and predatory, and her-

"Old man."

Startled out of his trance, the man quickly shambled up to his feet. Despite the gruesome sight, she really did save both his boat and his life. For that, she needed thanks. But as the aging man gathered his bearings and stood to his full height, he noticed yet another peculiarity. The girl simply loomed over him, easily eclipsing even his own height as she looked down on him with those piercing red eyes. "You are the owner of this boat, right?" She spoke in a low yet somewhat high-pitched voice, concrete evidence of her young age. The man nodded at her question, his throat constricted still. "Then you really are lucky..."

He didn't like the subtle shift in her voice.

"...And so am I." With a sudden step, a single one of hers eclipsing the distance between them, the girl appeared right in his face and peered into his eyes as if she were staring straight into his soul. "Since I helped you, you'll help me as well, right?" He understood the implication immediately; she was not asking him. "Using this boat..."

He understood now, as a fissure tore apart her white face and molded itself into a crescent-like smile, what exactly this girl wasn't.

She definitely wasn't human.

"...You'll take me to Vale."

[Professor W B Copperfield]

I like her thematically and her visuals, below are my notes.

1. Age. 15 years old is.. a bit young. That would mean not only is she a prodigious prodigy of insane propotions to be jumping this far ahead, that she was training hard with the sword at 9 years old, and facing off people when 10 years old(via her Education section and Backstory Highlights). Not to mention her incredible height not only for a woman, but for anybody, when most kids' bodies are just starting their growth spurt or figuring out what that means. Not that it's impossible, I just wanted to point this out incase you were under the assumption that most characters here were 15-18, and they are mostly all over the age of 18. And I think she already has enough things to make her stand out and be special without the huge height.

2. Her weapon. Big freaking sword? I'm down. But, "The weapon is coated by a powerful alternating current that keeps the blade vibrating constantly at a very high frequency." Coated in what? Why is it constantly, always, permantently vibrating? A vibrating sword to cut through things is fine(though we can see Huntsman weapons are easily able to cut/break through things with relative ease with no need for vibrating machinery), but, why always? And how? Even if it was Dust powered it would waste so much energy and resources just sitting vibrating away for hours and days without use. A lot of it just seems incredibly needless, like the soundproofed sheath. Just a normal long sword with Dust infusions is cool.

3. Strength/Physicality. While Huntsman can do Aura shenanigans coupled with their anime-ness and lift or wield things that would normally be too heavy or big, Aka is described as being super lanky, but also incredibly strong and having powerful legs. Normally that doesn't lend to being super skinny and lanky. Especially with her unhealthy diet prior to coming to Beacon, as mentioned in her Weaknesses and Backstory. Normally that's called malnutrition and weakness, shakiness of limbs. Having nothing to eat/poor food doesn't make you stronger, it makes you weaker, and it stunts your growth. Lean muscle sure, cutting out fat as there is nothing to store but nothing like the strength you say she should have and her body wouldn't grow to it's epic height if she barely ate, and ate poorly when she did. Also, having lived and survived outside for so long doesn't equate to paleness, it would equate to darker skin tones, having the sun shine on her far more. People get pale by avoiding the sun, not living outside.
If she really is to be strong while having survived out in the mountains for so long she would have tanner skin, covered in scars from fighting wild animals and misadventures in the wild, and thick with slabs of muscle that come from hard survival. Think Huntress from Dead By Daylight.

4. The profile mentions a lot of discipline and training, yet she doesn't know what Dust is, or how to use her own Semblance? These seem to contradict. Dust is a pretty constant for life on Remnant, like matches probably have Fire Dust at the end of them instead of our chemical counterparts.

Overall, her physicality is just bonkers and hard to believe, her strength given her deit and lifestyle, and her absurd height given the same and her age.

Also, she committed murder at least once, if not more. She generally beat the crap out of people and I find it hard to believe she doesn't have some sort of bounty or warrant out for her, or at least a trail of bodies made out of people who came to stop the infamous "Daughter of Grimm" who was terrorizing the villagers, at least a mob made up of those same villagers. Doesn't quite match someone who would be allowed to study at Beacon.

[Alexander Kate]

Alex proceeds to read Aka's file, being interested in that unusual person...

- Such strength with a slender body... Well, I suppose it could be compressed muscle tissues inside of her body, though weight is not changed. Must be an error in the file. With the age as well. Young lady with enormous height, hell, a doorways should be her greatest enemies.

Shooter scrolls down, taking notes about Aka's biography and Semblance with a bit stress.

- Unhealthy relationship with father... Tales about the bloodline superiority... Locals discrimination... Delusional father... Yeah, that's adds up to her personality with the tricky Semblance. Interesting, how much energy she can redirect? It will be funny, if she can push away a giant falling rock. Must be pretty draining though.

- A-and another sword user. Interesting weapon, but some describes are missing here, I suppose. Suddenly, it must have turn on/off function to save the charge, with the device to provide vibrations, such as electricity dust current. But without knowing what dust is? Hm, maybe another error in the file, or tricky circumstances how she got her weapon. Anyway, she would be a hell in close quarters combat.

- So, as the student of the Beacon she will be a big trouble, but I think eventually she will turn out better. Though some corrections would be nice. Or... Maybe some of the info is falsificated, which will be even more interesting. Waiting for updates, then.

[VOTE: uncertain due to the file's potential errors, but most likely "yes"]

Alexander closes the file on the computer.

[Aka Kuroi]

I like her thematically and her visuals, below are my notes.

1. Age. 15 years old is.. a bit young. That would mean not only is she a prodigious prodigy of insane proportions to be jumping this far ahead, that she was training hard with the sword at 9 years old, and facing off people when 10 years old(via her Education section and Backstory Highlights). Not to mention her incredible height not only for a woman, but for anybody, when most kids' bodies are just starting their growth spurt or figuring out what that means. Not that it's impossible, I just wanted to point this out incase you were under the assumption that most characters here were 15-18, and they are mostly all over the age of 18. And I think she already has enough things to make her stand out and be special without the huge height.

2. Her weapon. Big freaking sword? I'm down. But, "The weapon is coated by a powerful alternating current that keeps the blade vibrating constantly at a very high frequency." Coated in what? Why is it constantly, always, permantently vibrating? A vibrating sword to cut through things is fine(though we can see Huntsman weapons are easily able to cut/break through things with relative ease with no need for vibrating machinery), but, why always? And how? Even if it was Dust powered it would waste so much energy and resources just sitting vibrating away for hours and days without use. A lot of it just seems incredibly needless, like the soundproofed sheath. Just a normal long sword with Dust infusions is cool.

3. Strength/Physicality. While Huntsman can do Aura shenanigans coupled with their anime-ness and lift or wield things that would normally be too heavy or big, Aka is described as being super lanky, but also incredibly strong and having powerful legs. Normally that doesn't lend to being super skinny and lanky. Especially with her unhealthy diet prior to coming to Beacon, as mentioned in her Weaknesses and Backstory. Normally that's called malnutrition and weakness, shakiness of limbs. Having nothing to eat/poor food doesn't make you stronger, it makes you weaker, and it stunts your growth. Lean muscle sure, cutting out fat as there is nothing to store but nothing like the strength you say she should have and her body wouldn't grow to it's epic height if she barely ate, and ate poorly when she did. Also, having lived and survived outside for so long doesn't equate to paleness, it would equate to darker skin tones, having the sun shine on her far more. People get pale by avoiding the sun, not living outside.
If she really is to be strong while having survived out in the mountains for so long she would have tanner skin, covered in scars from fighting wild animals and misadventures in the wild, and thick with slabs of muscle that come from hard survival. Think Huntress from Dead By Daylight.

4. The profile mentions a lot of discipline and training, yet she doesn't know what Dust is, or how to use her own Semblance? These seem to contradict. Dust is a pretty constant for life on Remnant, like matches probably have Fire Dust at the end of them instead of our chemical counterparts.

Overall, her physicality is just bonkers and hard to believe, her strength given her deit and lifestyle, and her absurd height given the same and her age.

Also, she committed murder at least once, if not more. She generally beat the crap out of people and I find it hard to believe she doesn't have some sort of bounty or warrant out for her, or at least a trail of bodies made out of people who came to stop the infamous "Daughter of Grimm" who was terrorizing the villagers, at least a mob made up of those same villagers. Doesn't quite match someone who would be allowed to study at Beacon.

Let's address the issues one at a time! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

1. Age and Height: First, I'd like to address what I believe to be a small misunderstanding in her timeline. Aka started learning basic swordplay the moment she could hold one, which was when she was four years old, not nine years old. She started learning the basics of aura management at nine years old and continued to improve over the years with practical experience. Going back to the main subject of this paragraph, let's discuss her age and height. The period of time in which she scoured the countryside of Southern Mistral to test her strength was her early adolescence, starting when she was ten years old and ending when she turned fifteen. It certainly is improbable to imagine someone so young fighting bandits and wandering mercenaries, but I don't believe it's impossible. Miyamoto Musashi (the tale I based Aka's story on) killed a wandering swordsman at age twelve, being described as physically larger and longer-limbed than his opponents. I took this idea of "Someone young but physically gifted" and cranked it up to an extreme to fit my needs. I really should have stated this in her backstory (I'll amend this when I edit), but one of the main reasons Aka is able to keep up with older opponents at this time is due to her height. At twelve years old, she stood at 195cm (6'5") tall, far and above most men and women. It isn't the tallest a person has been at twelve; after all, Robert Wadlow was 213cm (7'") at twelve. Though it seems a little disingenuous of me to compare her to the tallest man that ever lived,

I felt like I was rambling for far too long, so I'll just get to the point: Aka's height is mainly a narrative tool to build on one of the themes I wish to explore with her character, which is "Growing up too fast." I don't believe it's too much of a stretch to have her be that tall. Also about the age thing, I believe we talked about that in discord and reached a decision that I should add to her profile that she lied about her in order to attend Beacon.

Y'know, it's funny. I actually had the whole lying about her age thing written down before I submitted, but deleted it because I didn't think it'd be all that important.

2. We talked about that over discord! I'll edit the weapon to have the sheath generate the blade's vibrations.

3. Strength/Physicality: I'll have to disagree with the notion that super-lanky people cannot be strong or generate power. Though this may be a strange example, I'd like to direct your attention to many of the fighters in our world who possess enormous power despite their thin frames. I'd especially like to draw your attention to one fighter specifically, Thomas Hearns, whom I based Aka's gangly frame off of. Though he was especially thin nearly everywhere, he was one of the most destructive fighters in his era and would consecutively knock people unconscious. All of this is to say that thin, lanky people can generate a considerable amount of power. This is mainly due to both leverage and knowing how to use your weight efficiently. I'd also like to clarify that Aka is more "explosive" than she is just straight-up strong. Explosive power refers to great force production over a short period of time, such as in fast leg kicks and jumping, which she excels at. What she struggles with is strength endurance, or the ability to repeatedly exert force against a form of resistance. Her type of strength fits her frame, and though she may be powerful in one situation, there are many other situations where her frame will put her at a disadvantage.

Next, I should clarify her diet. Aka did not suffer from a poor diet; she just did not eat frequently. Having no other method of catching food other than accidentally stumbling upon an animal and chasing it down, Aka would sometimes go days without eating. I acknowledge that I wrote this as an explanation for her lean frame, but now I realize that I really didn't have to write it in such a way that others may think she was on the edge of starvation every other day. It should be written in a better way, like "She ate well when she did catch something, but the frequency of her meals combined with her genetics led her to develop a lanky frame." That's definitely my fault, and I'll edit that in order to be more nuanced.

Finally, to address the concerns about appearance, Aka's is just naturally pale. Both her father and mother are naturally pale, so her genetics don't really allow for tanning, unfortunately. The most she's ever gotten to tan was reddish pink, but then her skin immediately peeled and she was back to being pasty. She also doesn't have many scars due to her aura protecting and healing her.

4. When I mention training in her profile, I mean swordplay training and aura management. Also, her ignorance about dust is in reference to her lack of ability to properly use dust in combat, not everyday life. I should have probably clarified, but when I say "She really doesn’t know how to use dust at all," I mean "she doesn't know how to apply dust to combat."

5. History of Crime: Aka's criminal history, or lack thereof, is due to:
- She lived far and away from any city or governing body, in the backcountry of Southern Mistral. 
- The village where she first killed a man was very behind technology-wise, and she immediately left after that. 
- She mainly lived in the mountains during her adolescence and attacked people of ill reputation, such as bandits and wandering mercenaries, making sure to not let a single one escape her. 
- She stayed away from villages and people due to her distrust of everything that wasn't her sword. 
- She only recently visited a city, which she immediately left after gathering enough information about Beacon Academy.
- She's never told her true name to anyone but her father, and she uses a fake name in the present.
- She doesn't even have a birth certificate or ID photo. (I should probably add this to her profile)

[Nero Zine]

Why the fuck not. She seems fun, and we need some villains. Though I might have missed it, but you keep talking about her 'ideals and truth', and I wonder what it is.
Be warned that my characters will probably dislike her

[Professor Wednesday Haptasnytrir]

Approved! Moving this to the Approval Archives now. Please claim this character in the #Who is Who? channel of the Discord and you may begin roleplaying.