Shadows Dance
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Shadows Dance | |
| Player: @Rapunzel | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Warshade |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Neviah / Light of Moon Accord |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human / Reformed Nictus |
| Age: | 18 / ? |
| Height: | 5' 0" |
| Weight: | 95 lbs |
| Eye Color: | purple |
| Hair Color: | ruddy brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | unemployed ballerina |
| Place of Birth: | Council base hospital |
| Base of Operations: | King's Row |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Relatives: | mother Rebekah(deceased), father high ranking general in charge of special projects for the Council |
| Known Powers | |
| latent precognition, developing Warshade abilities | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
In Game Notes
Supergroup Affiliation
Shadows Dance was brought into Solace by Eternal Hush, one of the founders of the supergroup. Hush sensed the girl's confusion and need for guidance, and Hush's own experience with sharing her body with an alien entity let her empathize with the skittish girl. Solace has been good for Shadows Dance, she has been living in the base, too scared to return to her mother's apartment or take up her human identity again.
Personality
Neviah and Light of Moon Accord are both quiet, gentle beings, but they share an inner chord of steel forged by their abuses at the hand of the Council. They can be shy as churchmice one moment, and stubbornly, viciously going after what gets between them and their fight with the Council the next. Their determination may be quiet, but it is not to be underestimated as they gain an understanding of their own power.
Neviah
Neviah still loves to dance, and longs for a time when she will be able to take up classes and performing again. She can be found practicing during most of her time not fighting crime, keeping herself in shape. She has a shy humor, though her recent experiences have tempered what was once a very bright and bubbly teenager. Her new maturity is not without its allure, her energy is very focused and she can use that intensity in all of her activities. She has developed a lack of patience with goals outside of her own - she sees her own as overwhelmingly important, which may come to dent her empathy in time.
Light of Moon Accord
Light of Moon Accord is an academic, a wool gatherer, a researcher, scientist, philosopher and wizard. He will often pipe up with complex thoughts and concepts and occasionally make you wonder if he's really all there. He is determined to strike back at the Council and those who have corrupted his work, as only an idealist can be.
Powers and Strengths
Shadows Dance is very agile and graceful, in all her forms. She has the mental flexibility and control to use her different forms strengths and cover their weaknesses. Neviah herself has undeveloped psychic abilities, and is highly sensitive to emotion and memory. Their abilities as a Warshade are developing as fast as they can learn to control them without harming others.
Vulnerabilities
Neviah is a still a young girl who has a lot of trauma in her life recently - loss of her mother, discovery of her father and his activities within the Council, as well as melding with an alien. She can be unsure of herself, suspicious of others and she has very little support in the basics of life. Light of Moon Accord is similarly struggling with his choices and the burden of the corruption of his life's work. This results in a quiet, vulnerable Warshade who can be difficult to get to know.
RP Notes
Neviah is the daughter of a high ranking general of the Council, who has been in charge of various special projects and kidnapped her to be used as a host for a Nictus. Notes about her hereditary psychic abilities and her mother can be found in The Council's files on the failed Sybil project. Notes about her recent past, her kidnapping, and her father's intent to meld her with a Nictus, along with videotapes of her recent, pre-melding performances are in current Council project files.
Current Story
Neviah has met a young fighter named Taran McAllister who shares her dislike for the Council. They have begun to tentatively work together, he is very supportive of her experiments with her newfound Warshade powers. Taran has introduced her to Tetsuryou and MadX, Taran's love interest. Neviah found herself working more and more with Akashi (Tetsuryou), and discovered quite a few things they have in common. Both grew up in King's Row and were homeless heroes when they met. After a rocky beginning, the two have become increasingly affectionate, making a home in the new Overbrook settlement. All is not idyllic, however. Neviah and Akashi, helped by their friend Nate (a.k.a. The Cobalt Streak), have been causing trouble for the Council. Nate decoded some files Neviah pulled from on of the Council's communications centers and found her mother's real name, which led her to the tragedy of her family's ancestral home. Further investigation revealed her father's Sybil project notes. Neviah has not given up on the plan to find and kill her father, though Akashi's influence has made her more inclined to enjoy hero work for its own sake.
To Contact the Player
Send me an e-mail on Shadows Dance or PM @Rapunzel in game - I'd love to RP through a few missions!
Background Fiction
Rebekah's Story
How Neviah came to be, and a lot of the history she has yet to learn, can be found [here].
Homecoming
Her initial adventures as a Warshade are discussed in the short story [Emperor's New Clothes]
Shadows Dance
-I won’t do it. I won’t. I’ll let myself dissipate into the ether first.-
“You will and you know it, we’ve heard those threats before.”
-I’ll never do research again, not for you, not for anyone. I’ve seen what you do with it and I’m done.-
“Also tired, Thought of Galaxy Brilliance, you’ll get over it. Besides, this one should be easy, she’s just a young girl. An artist. You said yourself that you liked when we took you to see the human ballet, we found a dancer for you.”
-I’ve taken too many innocents as it is. You’ve polluted my work… all we wanted was to live longer as a race, we burn so brightly, and fail so quickly…-
“You succeeded. We have found power-“
-But you use it to the detriment of the people! Not to uplift them!-
“We want all the people to be …uplifted. You’re letting yourself get too emotional. Prepare to take the host, we have a team picking her up now.”
-I won’t do it. I won’t do it again.-
The video monitors flickered in the darkness, light playing over the harsh planes of the human general’s face. Most of them showed real time, adjusted for darkness, images of the streets around King’s Row. One was a stark change, looped footage from earlier in the day, a solo ballerina flowing through an expressive piece presented under the Atlas statue for Statesman Day. Delicate and graceful in the mid afternoon light, it was a passionate, ethereal, lively version of the shy girl who picked her way home to a shabby apartment in King’s Row.
The aide coughed softly, “General, sir, the team is waiting for you.”
“Understood. We’ll pick up the package at the house.”
“General… are you sure? We have ignored several good pick up points for this plan-“
“I am not accustomed to my judgment being questioned.” His tone grew sharp and the aide fell silent. “There are strategic concerns beyond you in this situation, Lieutenant. Remember that. I’ll meet the team in the vehicle bay.”
“Yes, sir.” The aide left as silently as he had come, and the general spared another look at the recording. This had been a long time coming.
Rebekah paced the tiny kitchen, working a dishtowel in her hands. She had thought they were finally safe, finally able to stop looking behind them for the man she had married. After 15 years she had thought it was over. She begged forgiveness from her gods, again, for her misjudgment. The dashing military man she had met had turned out to be far colder than she could have imagined. He left the Marines to join this shadow group, the Council, which was not a special branch at all, but a crazed paramilitary organization. He helped with things, did things, bad things, and she had ignored the signs for too long. She tried to keep her little family together, hoped that the baby Neviah could bring her doting father back to sense. She couldn’t ignore them after she found the folder for project Sybil, with detailed genetic history of her mother, her sisters and her with comments on how she could be cloned and her mediocre talent for prognostication could be strengthened, and harnessed. Her husband’s interest in their young daughter took on a terrible cast in her mind. She had confronted him with his project, and his true colors emerged, he threatened to kill her if she tried to take Neviah away from him, and admitted that the child was an important part of his “research”. She responded by telling him that his “research” was missing a key component – the Sight was not inborn, only the capacity for it. Women of her line trained their daughters’ psychic abilities, if he killed her, no one would be able to teach Neviah to use the abilities he wanted her for.
He had tried to keep them prisoner, but Rebekah was determined to get away from him and his plans for her daughter. She leaned on her talents and escaped, fleeing to Paragon City in the hopes that they could get lost in the crowds of people, and that he would not have the resources to come after her. She refused all signs of her old life, her Sight, making her way with the five senses she shared with the rest of humanity, and refused to train Neviah in the old ways. But The Eye, once opened, can never be fully closed, and she had been haunted with visions of her ex husband for days. He was coming for her. He was coming for Neviah.
A key clicked in the lock and Rebekah jumped. “Hi mom! I’m home! Guess what? I did perfect! Statesman shook my hand and called me a blessing for the city!” Rebekah briskly closed and locked the door, checking the empty hallway before embracing her daughter. “I knew you would, and of course he did!” She tried to keep her voice cheery, but Neviah, trained or no, was still a sensitive, and still her daughter. “Nothing went wrong, Mom. Nothing at all.”
Rebekah tried to relax and smile, maybe it was just an anxiety, like everyone gets, not a premonition. Neviah was growing up, it wasn’t her father that would take her away, but merely maturity, a mother can worry about what to do when the children are gone, can’t she? Neviah hung up her coat and went to the tiny kitchen in search of food, rummaging through the refrigerator and keeping up a steady stream of happy commentary on her day. Things felt almost normal, Rebekah could almost convince herself that everything was fine, until a bolt of electric certainty and horror struck through her spine.
“We need to leave, now. Use the fire escape-“ She hadn’t made it across the room to the confused teenager when the front door broke in and lethal, quiet men filed into the main room that functioned as dining/living and her bed room. Rebekah’s throat closed, unable to even scream. Neviah dropped the loaf of bread she was holding in surprise. The men moved quickly, restraining the young dancer and her mother. Rebekah began to struggle as an efficient masked soldier injected Neviah with a syringe. Neviah’s protests became slurred and slow, and Rebekah found her voice as the men picked up her unconscious daughter and moved her to the door.
“You can’t take her!”
“She’s mine. And I can.” His voice was a shock, rich and gentle, it was captivating she felt herself go weak as the memories flooded her.
“She’ll never be able to do what you want her to.”
“You have no idea what I want her for.” The small noise made no sense, the pain was immediate and out of proportion with the tiny pop, and Rebekah died confused and angry. The general unscrewed the silencer and reholstered his weapon, looking at the limp body of his wife for a moment before turning back to his men.
“This was a robbery gone wrong. Make it happen. Leave the mother, get the girl back to the site.”
She felt like she was floating, a star hanging still in dusky twilight, she stretched and shifted in her semi consciousness.
–Dancer-
The voice startled her into full wakefulness, sitting up and barely taking in the odd environment. “Who’s there?” She couldn’t see anyone. She couldn’t see much past the edge of the … bed … she had been laying on. It was an oval of silk covered down the color of candlelight, sheer drapes framing the sides, hiding the room and holding the dim light over her. She fought to the edge of the softness and realized she was no longer dressed in her ratty jeans and sneakers, but a costume. One for a ballet she had never performed in, but an elegant take on the classic White Swan, flowing ribbons of translucent silk falling to her knees, a bodice heavily brocaded with feather patterns, her hair collected in intricate dark braids, contrasting with the white feathers they were secured with. She stared in wonder at her feet, the pristine white satin pointe shoes had never been touched by a dancer – the box wasn’t broken in, and the fabric on the toe was untouched, probably lethal to try to dance in, but obviously new. Obviously just for her.
-I told them not to bring you, child, I am so very sorry.-
The voice reminded her to look around again, and made the unformed dark again a place of fear.
“Where am I? Who are you?” She curled her knees to her chest, suddenly far less eager to leave the soft circle of light.
-I won’t hurt you. I won’t.- The disembodied voice shuddered with fear, determination, and a sadness bordering on anguish.
“I…I believe you. I won’t hurt you either. Where are you? Can you come where I can see you?” Silence answered her.
“Are you there?”
-I’m here.-
“Why are you scared?”
-I…- the voice let loose a very human sigh –Move back, please, child. And don’t be afraid.-
“I’m not a child, I’m eighteen!” she protested as only teenagers can, but she slid back to the center of the queer mattress. And then she fell silent at the shadow that separated itself from the overall darkness and seeped into the air above the bed. Its dark tendrils buzzed and snapped and she pressed herself back against the pillows. The dark ball dipped and retreated at her fear.
-I’m sorry. I’ll go.-
“No. No…its okay. I just… I wasn’t expecting a…whatever you are.” She finished lamely and blushed, but managed to sit up a bit.
-I’m a Kheldian. Or I used to be one, Thought of Galaxy Brilliance. Before I made my great discovery and messed up everything.- The being’s pain was palpable.
“I’m Neviah. You knew I was a dancer.”
-I saw a ballet on television in my last host. It was pretty.-
A pregnant pause hung in the air.
“Host?”
-I… we… Kheldians.-
-We don’t live very long. We can live longer by…sharing…bodies with beings who have them.-
“You don’t have a body?”
-My host died. He got old.-
“Uh-huh. So you need a new one.” Neviah began edging further away, looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon.
-I’m not taking another one. Don’t worry. I’ll die first. They brought you here for that, yes, but I won’t hurt you, Neviah. I won’t.-
“It…hurts? Sharing, I mean.”
-There’s a way… Not if its actually sharing. Not if it’s a willing melding of souls.-
The girl’s eyes narrowed angrily at the energy ball, so downtrodden that it had contracted to a small point of deepness.
-its not meant to be a bad thing. I never meant it to be. But there’s… I found a way…but its an unwilling…host.-
“Like a zombie.” Her voice was cold, her father coming out in her delicate frame.
-Or a puppet. But I’m not doing it again! I told them that!-
“Then why am I here, Brilliance?” the girl was almost sneering in her own anger and fear.
“Because it lies. And the Council needs it.” Bright lights erupted from the high ceiling, revealing the bars of her cell and a subtly shimmering energy field beyond it. The man who had answered took another step closer, his left eye cut with an ugly scar, but his words terrified Neviah more than his appearance. Her mother had warned her about the Council, not telling her what it was, only that it was dangerous, and it was why they had to run away and leave Daddy behind.
“Its work is too valuable to the Council to lose. Its too afraid of death to lose its life over some piddly moral objection. And I will have you near me, Neviah.”
The ball of energy had grown again, snapping darkly in its anger. It flew through the bars at the man until it touched the shimmering curtain, where it screamed in a cacophony of voices and horrors that could never be emitted from a human throat. Then, merciful silence, and the alien puddled on the floor.
“You killed him!” her voice was shrill with fear and anger.
The man hefted a staff, the tip glowing a bruised purple and stepped through the shield, using the tip of the staff to shove the shadow being back through the bars into Neviah’s cell.
“It will regain consciousness. Hungry for energy. And soon, it will take you. The combination will be more pliable than the separate parts. The Council will benefit.” His smile held no joy and Neviah recoiled reflexively even as he turned to leave.
“He said he wouldn’t. You can’t make him.” Her voice was a bare whisper.
“You sound like your mother. She was also wrong.”
“Mom? What did you do to her? How do you know her?”
“I found her, I took her, and I made her mine, so I could have you Neviah. And she tried to keep you from me. She destroyed my project, my life’s work, and shamed me with failure. I had to work my way back up to power to find her, to find you.”
“What did you do to her?”
“She destroyed my life. I was merciful in return.”
In a shock like ice down her spine Neviah saw, all too clearly, what had happened to her mother, and why. The words poured from her in a rush, seeing the truths as she spoke them.
“You killed her. She married her and you killed her because you couldn’t control her. Because you wanted me. You’re my father.”
“You can see. She did train you.”
“You can’t own people like that. I don’t belong to you.”
“You will. It will take you, and it belongs to me. I wonder if you will still be able to see. Or dance.” The cold man left, and darkness followed him.
-I’m sorry child.-
“You’re stuck in here too, I guess.”
-It’s set up like that on purpose. A physical body can’t get out of the cage, but an unbound Nictus can’t get through the ionizing field.-
“Nictus, I thought you said you were that other thing… Keld-something?”
-I was. I am. I… I changed myself. The new ones, the ones who changed became Nictus, parasites. They take without giving.-
“So… we could get out together?”
-Oh child… yes. If I do what they want, I can get your body outside of the bars, and your body will get me through the field. But you’ll be a puppet, remember? And I don’t know how to dance.-
“If you…do what they want… What if I let you?”
-Neviah. You don’t know what you are offering. Melding… I don’t know if I can any more. I don’t know what it would do to you. After everything I’ve done….done for them…I’m not worth that.-
“I could teach you to dance.”
-It’s not like loaning someone a sweater, Neviah. We would become one being, you would not be Neviah, I would not be Thought of Galaxy Brilliance, we would be something…someone different.-
“But not owned by my father. Neither one of us. We could escape, Bril, we could run and hide forever.”
-No. No, not hide, Neviah. What you are suggesting, a true melding, makes a being stronger than you or I would be alone. If we can meld successfully, they would hide from us.-
“So you agree?”
-If we don’t meld successfully…-
“Will I notice?”
The alien considered the question carefully. –Probably not-
“Then I don’t want to know. What do I do?”
-Relax. You might want to sit down.-
"Its hard to relax when you're going to take over my brain."
-I know. I'm sorry, Neviah.-
"It's okay, everything's alright, Brilliance." She smiled, bravely and as warmly as she could, trying to reasure him...and her.
-No its not, child, it hasn't been right for a long time. We'll make it right though. We will try. And... don't call me that. I'm not. I'm not that any more.-
"Not what?"
-Brilliant. I'm Bringer of Darkness.-
"No, no you aren't, you're hope. That's light."
-Maybe a little. But its not my hope, its your hope, I just reflect it.-
"I'll make you a deal, I'll keep hoping if you do."
-Reflected light. Light of Moon Accord. That is who you will meld with, child. Thought of Galaxy Brilliance will never leave here, it became too dark and lost. Light of Moon Accord will escape and grow strong. And hopeful. And learn to dance.-
