Maestro Punkt
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
A good example of of Amy Lee's voice for Maestro for you!...Yes, it's seven minutes long, you don't have to watch ALL of it.
Contents |
The Past
Kricket Punkt’s life became eventful during the end of her high school year. Like Frylord, she couldn’t get into a college because of her insectoid appearance and an (accidental) murder by her Screech Torrent. Yet unlike Frylord, she didn’t turn to the streets, but her grandmother. Though her grandmother seemed to have nothing to do but rant on and on about women’s rights and tell the mailman to get off her lawn, Kricket knew that her impatient grandmother had great wisdom--she did have a longer lifespan than the regular human, of course.
Kricket’s grandmother had the answers she needed. She knew that Kricket had grown up playing the violin whenever she got the chance, and gave Kricket her Stradivari violin, telling her that she should go into the music career. A shy insect girl, Kricket wasn’t sure about performing in front of big crowds at first, but would later find it wasn’t really a big deal. With the gift of her grandmother’s precious violin, Kricket knew that she and her grandmother had a stronger bond than she’d thought, and promised she’d protect it with her life.
And then her grandmother told her to get off her lawn, but that’s not the point.
At first Kricket only performed for a single friend at a time. But then the crowd grew and grew over time, and after nearly a year she found herself performing on the local stage, breaking out of her shy shell. And then that stage grew, and she found herself climbing the ladder of success, her name known nationwide. She even got herself her signature suit and conducted for big operas and shows.
Kricket Punkt was at her prime, finally back on track with life and rather rich and famous. She even took up the title “Maestro” from her friends for it. Life couldn’t get any better or worse for her, and she stayed that way for the years to come.
Frylord Punkt (The Past, Continued)
And suddenly a massive chitin-covered fist punched straight through Maestro’s ladder of success, snapping it in half.
The last thing Maestro expected to see was a giant, drunkard, sailor-tongued, male, Goliath Beetle, her, making googily eyes at her. At 37, Maestro found herself suddenly kidnapped into another dimension by her counterpart from that dimension (Primal Earth), Riskant Punkt, better known as Frylord Punkt. She learned that, on Primal Earth, the genders were switched around compared to her dimension. Rather disgusted with what she saw as a failure of a counterpart, Maestro tried to leave, but Frylord Punkt kept her by her own will in his grill/bar (Risky’s) in Arachnos Tower.
A few weeks passed. Maestro found herself gradually growing more attached to her strange counterpart and enjoying the feeling she had on Primal Earth. During a certain incident, when she had gotten out of Frylord’s sight in an Arachnoid cave, she found that she didn’t want to return to her dimension, at least for right then. This moment decided Maestro’s place, and still growing closer and closer to Frylord, Kricket freely chooses to stay in Primal Earth’s dimension, her Stradivari violin and her suit still with her.
Personality
Maestro Punkt is…Well, she could be taken as bi-polar, though she isn’t really. One minute she’ll be calm and cool, and the next making you think that she needs to go to rehab for her anger issues. But when you go to inquire she go to rehab, she suddenly breaks down and looks like she’s going to go cry in a corner. She’s very confusing, and unpredictable, especially if you find her with Frylord.
However, there’s still a shy and “weakling” air over her. Part of it comes from her still being new to this dimension, but the rest comes from her in general, from her being a shy type of girl.
Anger issues. Maestro’s aware that she has them, and yet she couldn’t care less. She’s smug about knowing that she can take you out with her violin if you get on her nerves, and knows that she packs a punch just as strong as Frylord. She’s relentless when she needs to be.
Whenever Maestro breaks down, she breaks down hard. She’s threatened to go back to her dimension several times when she’s being treated horribly or feeling down. There was a time when she went back to her dimension for a little “vacation”, and returned a week later to find Frylord at his lowest about it, and Maestro decided that she wasn’t needing any more vacations.
She’s unpredictable. She’s crazy. She’s hateful. She's lovable. She’s social. She’s excitable. She’s calm. She’s outrageous. And yet, you’ve just gotta love her.
The Violin
As a Weapon
Maestro’s grandmother was a bit insane--But then again, the whole Punkt family is crazy, aren’t they? One of her grandmother’s old ways of standing up for women’s rights was to shoot the opposing force with an arrow. Ironically, the bow-and-arrow is the violin’s bow.
The bow for the violin has a secret button or lever that causes it to extend or shrink, from a violin’s bow to an arrow’s bow. Maestro keeps a numberless amount of arrows in her suit (like Frylord, who’s coat has innumerable large pockets in it) whenever she wears it, and keeps her violin nearby its bow at all times. Not only is she a professional player, but also a good archer.
As an Instrument
Maestro is a complete professional at her violin playing. The mood of the song that she plays tends to effect the people around her. You could ask her to play a song, and she’d play it as though she’s been practicing it for the past few weeks. She loves to have requests in the Pocket D, and if she can find somebody to play with it makes her day. And rarely, rarely does she ever hum or sing a song while playing. She has a good singing voice, but...She just doesn't like singing in front of people.
The Ruk'Mel
The Ruk'Mel (pronounced 'Ruck-mell' and is Ruk'Meli/'Ruck-Melie' as plural) are actually an Insectoid-like species from another unknown planet, resembling Longhorn Beetles and, in special cases, other insects. The commons were never to look upon the Queen, and if allowed to it was considered a great honor. Their name is similar to the scientific name for the Longhorned Beetle, which is Necydalis melita. They have rather horrific mouths that are covered with tendrils, resembling Prawns from District 9. The tendrils actually assist in speech, acting almost as a single tongue and allow them to speak the language that they are native to, and humans are unable to pronounce the language due to having no tentacle-mandibles. It's rather unique and disturbing at the same time.
Maestro and Frylord used to consider themselves Insectoids, until an army of Ruk'Mel invaded Earth by Einen's hand. They stopped the attack and beat Einen to a pulp, however now they can no longer consider themselves only mutants. Though Frylord's grandfather and Maestro's grandmother were born on the Ruk'Mel's planet (in seperate dimensions of course), and Frylord and Maestro were born on Primal Earth, they considered their grandparents "senile" when they tried to explain where their species came from.
The Ruk'Meli are broken up into the five groups they are in, and how they function.
Queens:
The Ruk'Mel, on their home planet, worked similar to bees, wasps, or ants, as hive-minds with a queen in command. The Queens could be considered advanced regular Ruk'Mel, physically and mentally. Naturally, there was only one Queen at a time, and that Queen was always unimaginably respected.
The Queen Ruk'Mel controls her guards with phermone-spraying glands on the back of her neck, and possesses a higher intelligence than all other Ruk'Mel. The distorted mouths which all Ruk'Mel possess appears not so horrific on the Queen.
Queens were often seen in long silk purple robing, in a style similar to the Priests, with a golden crown similar to the Ascention Mask adorned with rubies. Also like the Priests, their eyes are always golden, and slightly segmented. Her shell and chitin color is unique to the metallic brown, taking on the appearance of a pearl--So shiny and white that the reflection appears pink. Unlike most Ruk'Mel, her antennae curled into a swirling motion.
Priests:
The Ruk'Mel Priests were the Queen's Advisors. They took most of their time in meetings with the Queen. Priests appeared similar to Praying Mantis-Longhorn Beetles, and were considered mutated Ruk'Mel. They were stick-thin, therefore stronger in mind than in body. Their mouth tendril-mandibles were longer than the average Ruk'Mel, and had a few extra spikes on the chitin armor on their cheeks. They had the longest antennae of all, golden segmented eyes, and were the next on the list for the most intelligent of their species.
The Priests wore purple robes with gold trimming. They were easily enraged with the "lessers" of their species and were often found shouting Ruk'Mel curses down at them from a balcony...only to turn to their Queen and whisper quietly to her.
Einen Punkt, Frylord's grandfather, was a Priest, and so was Maestro's grandmother, Eina.
Frylords:
Yes, there is actually a rank of Ruk'Mel called Frylords. This is the category that Frylord falls under, and it is also where Riskant got his one-of-many titles. Frylords acted as the Queen's bodyguards and went into hazardous conditions regular Ruk'Meli couldn't go, and did their job well whilst surviving. The Frylords too are mutated Ruk'Mel, resembling Goliath Beetle-Longhorn Beetles. They are absolutely massive, and their exoskeleton-chitin is a dull grey color. Their heads are slightly flat, and they are strangely missing two tendrils on their mouths. They have outrageously large arms and fists, yet somewhat scrawny legs. Their eyes are completely black, and have red irises, and are less segmented than the Priests' eyes.
For some odd reason, the Frylords were outstandingly significant cooks, and incredibly aggressive for their kind. This explains our Frylord's knack for cooking things and desire to punch something every five minutes.
The Frylords wore very little armor--but with bulky chitin like that armor isn't necessarily needed. They wore red helmets with glowing golden designs, which matched large red and golden-glowing shoulder pads and a chest guard. The guards carried around bulky hammers with jets on the ends of the handles. Again, Frylord was born on Primal Earth, therefore he does not have this armor or hammer.
Conducts:
This type of Ruk'Mel I came up with myself to find a place for Kricket, as well as the Conductents. They are on the opposite side of the spectrum from the Frylords. Don't worry, Grunt approved of all of this.
Now, special Ruk'Mel, referred to as Conducts, were born with a specialty in music. These were sharp-tongued creatures, in more ways than one, and had advanced vocal chords compared to the others of their kind. Many of these were chosen to preform serenades for the Queen to please her on special occasions, and others played or sang on stages for entertainment. Conducts appeared as Grasshopper- or Butterfly-Longhorn Beetles. Similar to the Frylords, they are grey in color. The females have smaller mouth tendrils than the male, and the male has the same-sized tendrils as the Frylords--therefore the female Conducts and Conductents had the smallest tendrils of all. The eyes for both genders were exactly like the Frylords'. While they were often thin in muscle, their vocal chords were strong, and they were randomly excellent jumpers, explaining the Grasshopper bit.
All Conducts picked an instrument from their toddler stage to work with and play for the rest of their life. Maestro's grandmother was a Conduct, and she chose the Stradivari violin that Maestro now possesses. They often wore blue and white conductor-like suits in public.
Looking at Maestro's parents. It's likely that her mother was a Conduct and her father...Well, he doesn't matter. But down the side of the female line, her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother were all Conducts. It's understandable how Maestro turned out as a Conduct.
Conductents:
These Conducts are...dark, or so considered by most other Ruk'Meli. They are mutated further than the advanced Conducts, born with such advanced vocal chords that they are gifted with an earth-snapping scream translated to English as "Screech Torrent". They are incredibly rare, rarer than Conducts, and that's thankful, considering that it's excruciating trying to take control of their own Screech Torrent. Not one of their kind has been able to accomplish taking control as of yet. Conductents appear to be Cricket-Longhorn Beetle creatures.
While they have voices of an angel, even more impressive than the Conducts, the risk of permanently deafening the audiences is too overwhelming for many of them, and therefore they are shut off from their own talents.
Maestro...is a Conductent. Her little cricket chirps and locust growls and other various insect noises aren't just for show. Einen has told her a bit about the Screech Torrent and her place as as a Conductent, but she is determined not to let this dimension know what danger she possesses.
The Screech Torrent
(NOTE: This power is not publicly known to exsist. And yes, it is a godmodding move, which is why Maestro absolutely never uses it in Roleplay except for special occasions and given permission. She has not reached Magnitude 9 or 10 yet, and I do not plan for her to.)
The Screech Torrent. Maestro's biggest fear. She fears her Screech Torrent so much on the inside, that it just might be what makes her so frail and shy under her mask. The strange insect sounds she is capable of making is enacted by the Screech Torrent. In fact, any chirp-squeaks or buzzes she makes? Those are the lower levels of the Screech Torrent being used, and she is capable of controlling Levels 1-3, occasionally 4. If she gets to the end of Level 4...well. Let's just say that she's lost her voice for a week trying to drag herself back under control once she reached Level 6.
The Screech Torrent is brought on once certain three emotions are too overwhelming and adrenaline is pumping through her, setting her in Hyper Mode (Levels 6 or 7-10). The emotions are blind rage, unbearable agony, and possibly the two combined, considered being called torture, which is the most dangerous. There are ten levels to the Screech Torrent, and the Screech Torrent becomes a godmodding move at about Level 8 (It gets used with permission, don't worry). Maestro has Sonic Resonance, of course being renamed Screech Torrent and doubled in power in RP.
The Levels and Magnitudes:
(Level 1) Cricket Serenade: The first Level has no danger. It's just a harmless cute little cricket chirp.
(Level 2) Cricket Click: This sound is a cross between a cricket and a click beetle's wings making that abrupt clicking sound. It's almost like a small yelp.
(Level 3) Bumble Buzz: This sound is a bumblebee's buzz. While it is still harmless, it's a growl, and it's a sign you shouldn't push her much further.
(Level 4) Cicada Buzz: This is Maestro's full-out growl. It's the sound of her voice combined with a cicada's rumbling wings. It's foreboding.
(Level 5) Locust Growl: The Locust Growl is the time when you should consider running before the Levels grow any higher. It's unnerving, sounding like a cross between a lawnmower and a locust, and it's fairly loud. It's at this time when Maestro's voice begins to faintly echo.
(Level 6) Locust Scream: If Maestro hits this Level, it's most likely she's not going to stop. It's her voice, now doubled, where the locust-lawnmower becomes a scream. The sounds sharply bounce off the wall and easily makes the opposing force's ears pop and quietly buzz.
(Magnitude 7) Wailing Agony: This power Maestro renamed from Locust Wail, because it's where her fear goes rampant in her head, and her Levels (renamed Magnitudes due to the intensity) maxes out due to the fear. It's the lawnmower-locust now edged with bumblebee buzzes and cricket chirps, and her voice is now tripled. This is where her power really begins to hurt her as well, and that's visible by the pulsating veins on her throat and the black blood spewing out of her mouth. Once it reaches this level, it begins to hurt herself. She cannot regain control once she has hit this level, and any attempts to fight it will result in loss of voice for a month, and the Levels max out.
(Magnitude 8) Forest of Sound: Literally. It sounds like thousands of bugs in a forest acting as a single roaring voice. This is the level that Maestro went to with Horace McArthur, and she nearly deafened him permanently, but due to the wounds she had gained before she used her Screech Torrent she literally went out cold before the Magnitude could rise further. Maestro's actual voice becomes tripled with a strong echo at Magnitude 8. You are temporarily deafened--or even permanently--if she gets to this Magnitude. If Maestro grows too exhausted and stops at this Magnitude, she goes out cold, and has temporary Amnesia of everything. Once the Amnesia fades, the last two hours that included the Screech Torrent, those memories are erased from her. Forever.
(Magnitude 9) World of Sound/Death Song: Thousands upon thousands of insect sounds--clicks, buzzes, chirps, you name it--are thrown together. You have a few seconds before you go permanently deaf, and in those seconds you get the chance to hear what sounds similar an orchestra of insects singing you a serenade Death Song. Maestro's voice is no longer heard over the buzzing, but her voice is quadruplized with a monstrous echo. The earth under your feet would shake violently. Maestro gains longer temporary Amnesia, though it's likely to be permanent Amnesia.
(Magnitude 10) Liquefy: It's everything, all of the levels, thrown into one. The sounds abruptly halt, turning into an unbearably high-pitched 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeee' sound. The last time she used Magnitude 9 back in high school, she blew the other person's head up, so it's likely you would get something far worse than just a head exploding. The earth itself cracks violently underfoot and plates jut up from the ground. If she were to use it on a cliff's ledge, the cliff is most likely to break apart completely. Literally. It's that powerful.
There is a 5 out of 100 percent chance that Maestro will live through this, and with permanent Amnesia of everything. There is a forty percent in that five percent chance that she won't have permanent Amnesia overall--but it's promised that she will have permanent Amnesia over that last week during the time of the Liquefy. The Liquefy is her ultimate fear, and it has the right to be.
A Few Fears on Primal Earth
Everyone has their weaknesses. Everyone. These are Maestro's top three, put into deep detail in categories. And it seems that her Screech Torrent has made its way into all three fears, proving that it is the strongest.
Horace McArthur
What was supposed to be a regular day in Pocket D with Frylord became a nightmare for Maestro. A technomancer and serial killer by the name of Horace McArthur had heard Maestro and Frylord conversing, ending up following them both. Frylord and Maestro faced Horace, who himself was an archer. He ended up planting five arrows into Maestro's back, sealing his escape from Frylord and promising Maestro as his next target by a single note. Maestro was rushed to the Medical Bay in the Tower after this incident. While she recovered physically, she did not mentally. She had a stalker on her heels, of course.
One night, weeks after the attack, Kricket confronted Frylord about him wanting her to stay longer or not, since the two hadn't been getting along at that time. However, this was not the real reason she wanted Frylord to talk to, and Kricket broke out of her shell and confessed her feelings for him. Afterwards, she set out to St. Martial. It was there under The Tree that Horace made his attack, and kidnapped Maestro off to his abandoned lab. There he tortured her, and shot her several times before Maestro was forced fear against fear, using her Screech Torrent and reaching Magnitude 8 before passing out. She gained the Amnesia of the last two hours, thus forgetting her talk with Frylord and ever being kidnapped. However, security tapes reminded her of her's and Frylord's talk.
Horace was all of her fears thrown into one, and that made her weak towards him. First fear was, he breaks her mask apart and forces her frail shy side to emerge, therefore weakening her, as said. Second fear, he seemed invincible with his two robots Boa and Claymore, and she felt only her Screech Torrent could stop him; however, if Magnitude 8 did not stop him, and if she pushed her Screech Torrent further the next time he kidnaps her, she could have very well died along with him. Third fear was, Frylord. Horace is becoming more and more capable of actually defeating Frylord, and it's visibly hurting Fry. Kricket desperately didn't want to see him get hurt, and she fought to hide it behind the mask she wears, also becoming more determined and hateful against Horace.
But with one last strike, to erase one from the other, Horace nabbed Maestro for the fourth and last time. He temporarily erased all of her memories, but (planned to) permanently her memories of him. Horace and Casvel and Boa and Claymore no longer existed in Maestro's life. But before she lost it all, she realized, Horace never fully got the best of her. She had won. She really is stronger than she thinks. And then it all went black. Maestro's memories have now returned, and just recently Horace has decided to flip the switch back on her--which she flipped out on and nearly Screech Torrented him once again. She had liked where she was not remembering him.
The Screech Torrent Itself
It's more than tragic for Maestro to bear the burden of the Screech Torrent. She's afraid of it, therefore afraid of herself. Every once in a while she wonders, 'What if today I kill all the ones I love because of something I can't control?' 'What if I die?' 'And, most of all, what if I kill Frylord by accident?' The Screech Torrent, when used on certain levels, does actually hurt Maestro, and no one likes pain. And as said, the more agonized pain she feels, the stronger the Screech Torrent gets. And the feeling of being unable to control that is pretty unnerving and weakening.
Maestro is outcasted locally, or so she was back in her dimension. All because of a power that she was born with. She does not want it known to Primal Earth that she contains such a power, because she doesn't want everyone she knows to turn their backs on her.
"Me and my big mouth" is one of Maestro's self-pity lines. She never wants to sing in front of people, afraid that that will trigger her Screech Torrent and she will cause mass destruction. She prefers to keep rather personal thoughts locked with a several keys inside of her, with the idea that if she says anything then it will either A. Bring out the Screech Torrent or B. Make the other person consider her strange and outcast her like everyone else seems to have. However, Frylord once told Maestro that he would rather hear all the things she has to say that she doesn't tell the world, the thing she leaves unsaid, and then die from her Screech Torrent, instead of never hearing what she has to say. And to Maestro, that only strengthens her fear of hurting anyone close to her. The thought crushes her.
The Mask
The mask that Kricket wears, gives her the edge everyone expects. But in reality, she doesn't always have that edge. She's weakened by her own Scream, and when all alone she is a completely different person. No one said she had to be emotionally matched to Frylord. In fact, stored safely and hidden in her room, Maestro has written dozens of songs on how she really feels about the world around her. Half of the songs are about her Screech Torrent, and they come straight from the heart. Kricket never wants to let weakness show, and therefore it's highly doubtful that you will see the realistic her, due to it being so rare.
However, don't get the impression that she's only shy. Her personality still varies.
"Maestro is..."
(NOTE: This section is for people who have met Maestro to put their in-character thoughts about her. Go ahead and put in a thought if you have one!)
"Purdiest li'l fing ah ever done seen...Dash right, she's SO PURDEH dat she makes meh speak like an UNEDUCATED TEXAN." -- Frylord Punkt
{Response:} "But you talk like that normally..." -- Seige Spider
{Response:} "Shut yer *bleep* mouf." -- Frylord Punkt
"Maestro is FUN! She's always ok with hugs and stuff, and doesn't get mad when I get extrahyper! She also makes nice music, and that funny cricket thingy she does in awkward silences is hilarious!" -- Seige Spider
"…the best, most frickin’ sexy and talented bug ever. But I’m not a brat, which makes me even more awesome, so I won’t say I’m better than everyone talking about me. I doubt I am anyways…
…Also. Why does everyone keep using the word “nice” and not use their brains to find better words to describe me?!" -- Maestro Punkt herself
"Maestro. Hmm... *clears throat* Well, Maestro was nice to me, when I couldn't talk. And so I guess she's pretty good. And besides, now that she's not wearing the cheetaprint pants, she looks much better.
...I mean, she still has pants! Geez, I'm no peeping jaybird thank you." -- “Whark”
"Maestro is…Maestro. She’s the life of the party with Frylord. She’s aggressive, she’s loud, yet never obnoxious. Absolute ten-out-of-ten. I don’t regret letting Frylord bring her back to our world; it was way worth it." -- Angelfish
"…Mm…N-Nice? Und…friendly?" -- Engel auf Holle
"Frau Kricket ist ein kind soul, almost contrasting Herr Frylord...Sometimes I wonder how de two could ever get along...but she ist a kind person" -- Pale Professor
"The big bug says she has muffins in her butt...Not sure why she'd do that, but they sound DELICIOUS!" -- Cackling Oblivion
"...better’n Frylord. ’Nuff said." -- Agent Shubby
"Ha! Your faster than I though! But don't go a'thinkin' you've seen the last of me, baby!"-- Boa
"Time to light this 'ole flame again. Gonna kill ya and that Fry-guy this time!"-- Prototype Aegis
"It's time we settled the score. You don't stand a chance against me."-- Horace McArthur
"She has a kind heart, and I respect this. However, she lacks control and needs to learn to control herself." -- Einen Punkt
"Hail the Queen!" -- Cpt. Cockroach
Maestro Fanart!
(NOTE: If by chance you want to make some art of Maestro of some sort, please send me a tell to @Photon Cannon before you post anything. I do have boundaries and rules revolving around drawings and I prefer to give permission first. But I'd love to see people making art of her!)
-- Made by Emerald Shade
-- Made by me/@Photon Cannon!
