CHARACTERName: Prism Skylark
Age: 19, born 1st of Hua, 61 AC
Species and Gender: Female Hummingbird Faunus
Symbol: A 3-point sniper's reticle inside a 3-prong hurricane.
Occupation: 1st Year Beacon Student, Seamstress by commission
Themes: Let it All Out - Personal Theme
The Phoenix - Fallout Boy - Combat Theme
Appearance: Prism Skylark is a young, lean-bodied woman that stands at the towering height of 4’11” and 124lbs. True to her name, Prism’s hair is a deep sky blue in a choppy windswept bob that ends at her chin, complemented by wide grey eyes and pale skin, dusted in freckles. With a straight nose, thin lips, and a sharply-angled face; Prism is often mistaken for older than she actually is. She has wide shoulders for her height and good muscle definition, especially in her arms and shoulders thanks to a lifetime of parkour and flying.
As a hummingbird faunus of the tropical variety, Prism possesses a pair of iridescent blue-green hummingbird wings that sprout from the center of her back, near the top of her shoulder blades. When extended, she has a wingspan of approximately 14 feet, and is able to beat them at the rate of approximately 10 beats per second. In order to accommodate for such an extreme change in typical human musculature, Prism has a few changes to her anatomy that allows her to take flight. Underneath her pectoralis major, Prism has a tight band of muscle around her chest (essentially a second set of pecs and the corresponding posterior muscles) that correspond with the additional limbs on her back. Their rapid undulation is what allows her to take flight. She additionally has extremely low body fat and a high metabolism.
Day-to-day, Prism wears primarily backless clothing to accommodate for her wings, and has personally tailored her school uniform to fit. Her combat outfit consists of a sleeveless suit jacket in dark blue over a women's dress shirt paired with a white ascot. She wears an ammunition belt for the sake of easy reloading with Hawk's Eye's normal cartridges, alongside individual sniper ammunition, on it, alongside backups in her pockets. The one amenity she allows herself in battle is the high-heeled wedge boots she constantly wears, bringing her height up by a full five inches. The final addition to her combat outfit is a pair of flight goggles that are usually pulled down over her eyes during combat.
History: The world of Remnant has a very good reason to maintain its colorful facade. In a world where darkness is analogous to the destruction of civilized society, ensuring the well-being of humanity is essentially a survival strategy. But the tragedy and trauma of the Grimm cast an eternal shadow for so many people
Prism Skylark was one of those whose former life was lost in the depths of that shadow.
Prism was originally born in a small settlement far south of Vale in a tiny town called Southern Pine Glen. The village was notable only for its train station as the final refueling point for the Intercontinental Sanus Railroad before crossing the border into Vacuan territory. The total population of the village was last accounted at seventy-six.
Among the seventy-six in this tight knit community was Blanc Skylark, a hawk faunus with oversized wings who worked as the local blacksmith. Skylark Steelworks was once the other reason Southern Pine Glen was on the map — Blanc was massively talented for someone who lived in relatively nowhere, and would commonly make and design weapons for hunters. His wife Rose was a hummingbird faunus who worked in conjunction with her husband, with a Masters in Textiles and a market niche designing combat outfits. The two managed to maintain a relatively middle-class lifestyle despite their relative isolation; and eventually started a family in the seemingly sleepy town.
Prism was eventually born as the runt of triplets when Rose and Blanc decided to start a family. Unlike her hawkish siblings — Aiden and Kenna — Prism was a hummingbird like her mother. The three sisters, thick as thieves, had a relatively happy if isolated childhood. All three were homeschooled by Rose, assisting in her sewing and design early in the day. Blanc knew the dangers of having his family live in such a remote location, and taught his daughters to fight against both human and Grimm with any weapon they could get ahold of, placing an emphasis on using their wings for advantage in battle. He constantly pitted the three sisters against each other in friendly competition, betting the night’s dishes on who’d come first in races, obstacle courses, and friendly skirmishes. She rapidly learned how to use her size and speed to her advantage in order to avoid being bowled over by her bigger siblings, and doing dishes for five.
When not at home, the three siblings would explore the thick surrounding pine forests. They’d hone their fathers lessons, scale tall trees, and perilously leap off cliffs to take advantage of their natural gifts. Being the smallest of the three, it wasn’t uncommon for Prism to be left behind by her bigger siblings in the rush of exploration. Thankfully, Prism wasn’t one to pout. She instead learned to slow down, appreciate nature, and occasionally snipe small wildlife with a slingshot thrown together by her father for her 10th birthday. Despite her hummingbird heritage, it was evident that Prism was the child who inherited her father’s eye for detail.
This happy childhood wasn’t something that could last forever, though.
Shortly after Prism and her siblings thirteenth birthday, a stranger showed up on the doorstep to their cottage. Prism was the one who answered the door to a mountain of a woman demanding to speak to Blanc, and obviously not anticipating children. Prism only got the giant’s name — Rowena — before her mother pushed her back into the house, her father got into the front hallway, and the triplets were banished to their room.
Thankfully, the subsequent argument from downstairs made the floorboards vibrate, so it wasn’t hard to learn the truth.
Rowena Skylark was Blanc’s long-estranged twin sister, having tracked down her brother after nearly fifteen years of no contact. Rowena came with a message and a warning: she was first of the forward guard. The rest of the Skylark clan (originating from Menagerie) had finally tracked down their wayward son, and several of the more pertinent and powerful members of the family were on their way to ‘persuade’ him to rejoin the central clan, including their primary patriarch. The Valish Skylarks had maybe twelve hours to prepare.
After their father yelled himself hoarse and their mother’s staccato screeching ran out, Rowena’s ejection from the household was punctuated by the sound of fist meeting bone and a slamming door. The triplets weren’t allowed any further than their room, and the night eventually ended after the delivery of dinner from their mother. Despite their crowding questions, she just quietly answered it was an issue to address once everyone managed a good night’s sleep.
Prism wasn’t willing to accept that.
In the newborn teenager’s first act of defiance, Prism found herself staying up until 1am and squeezing out through the skylight in the room she shared with her siblings. She managed to flutter down to the street without detection, practically sprinted the mile to the main thoroughfare of the town, tracked down Rowena — at the only Inn in town.
High on her first taste of rebellion, she made the mistake of breaking into the (unlocked) window where the huntress was staying. Rowena nearly threw her back out the window, before recognizing her kid she briefly managed to converse with before Rose intervened. Prism had questions, and Rowena was entirely unprepared to deal with an overly emotional tween with an entire night’s worth of questions.
What proceeded was the most awkward conversation either ever had.
Prism learned her aunt was a huntress, and an extremely impactful one at that. The Skylarks were from Menagerie, and they tended to be… controlling. Rowena hadn’t seen her brother in fifteen years, and… she knew he had a girlfriend when he left. She just didn’t know they had kids.
She had nieces. They seemed cool.
Rowena learned Prism and her sisters were thirteen but she was the oldest by four minutes, she liked hunting (small wildlife), she wanted to visit the city someday, and being a huntress
seemed cool and so did hunter-adjacent things, but she kind of wanted to get into fashion since the trade magazines her mom got seemed neat and she already had to alter most of her clothes anyways so how hard could it be?
They talked until the dawn rose, and the smoke on the horizon became visible in the direction of the Skylark homestead.
Rowena grabbed Prism, stormed out the front door, and burst into the sky with one mighty flap of a wingspan twice as great as Prism’s.
When they finally arrived, they only found fire, ruins, and the Grimm.
The vestiges of the Skylark clan moved faster than Rowena anticipated. Fifteen years let the vestiges of horrors fade and Blanc was unprepared for the horrors they could bring. The family bulldozed the house, let the forge consume itself, and the subsequent distress attracted the Grimm — Beowolves rummaging through the ruins of the house, Griffins pecking at scattered viscera, and a massive Nevermore snapping at her father as he barely dodged through the air, attempting to retaliate with a white and blue sniper’s rifle.
She can only remember the rest in a series of images.
She screamed, Rowena swore, and her father turned to face them both. Rowena dropped the hummingbird, and threw herself through the air. The nevermore’s beak came down on her distracted father. Prism dove, snatched up the rifle, and — completely failed to do anything before Rowena split the Nevermore’s skull.
Prism saw her father’s limp body fall from its dissolving beak. Something in her soul irrevocably twisted. The heavens opened up, the sky matched her screams, and the world went white.
The hummingbird faunus regained awareness hours later, carefully pried from the remains of a high pine half a mile by a recovery crew; still clutching the remains of a bloody hunter’s weapon. The recovery crew made mention of the unexpected storm that had rolled in during recovery, and a passing huntress that had helped them clean the remainder of the Grimm shortly before departing.
Prism Skylark was subsequently left a traumatized shell of a faunus left to the mercy of the Vale foster care system. Rowena disappeared without a trace, and despite all of her best efforts the hummingbird never managed to make contact. In order to survive a past that tended to resurrect itself in her nightmares and a dangerous semblance she could barely control, the hummingbird’s entire being eventually oriented itself towards achieving a single goal:
Becoming a huntress, and never being helpless, ever again.
Personality: When first encountering Prism Skylark, your immediate impression of her is frugal professionalism. Her good posture and confident carry give a feel of discipline and authority, and she speaks in a tactical and delegated way, preferring not to waste precious time or resources - she’s too goal-oriented. While this behavior goes over wonderfully with teachers and figures of authority, it has the tendency to isolate her from peers her age.
This veneer doesn’t go away when you get to know her, either.
Prism’s abject professionalism isn’t just about first impressions: it's a lifestyle. An air of discipline necessary to maintain at all times, because she has a goal that’s necessary to achieve. She wants to be a huntress, and she’ll insure she’s a huntress by any means necessary. So she’s practical and aloof — not one to be bogged down by little things like hobbies, attachments, or sleep. She’s intelligent and observant, with a constant eye towards the world around her and a 4.0 backing up a near-eidetic memory. And she’s always thinking one step ahead, because it’s so easy to lose everything in the single second you look away.
In truth, this thin veneer of professionalism is the only thing holding together the remnants of a very traumatized young woman with struggles with terrible nightmares and a subsequent near-phobia of sleep. She’s terrified of losing everything. So she’ll do everything in her power to ensure she’s never helpless again.
Buried underneath the control freak and the trauma are the remnants of someone who’s quite kind, if you’re willing to wait to see the good in her. Prism Skylark can be endlessly patient in matters outside her chosen career path. She adores learning and is always happy to teach in turn, and subsequently loves in-depth conversations about people’s passions. And even if Prism doesn’t allow herself time for ‘restful’ hobbies, she still has a handful that classify as passable thanks to their practical applications — gardening, baking, sewing and yarn work, and on truly indulgent occurrences, origami.
As a result of seeing her father die at such a young age, Prism suffers heavily from PTSD. She typically doesn't sleep more than 2-4 hours a night before being woken up by nightmares, and therefore survives primarily on caffeine or sugar until she literally collapses from exhaustion for an extended period of time. She also shows signs of hyperarousal - constantly being on the lookout for danger, startled by loud noises/surprises, and constantly needing to have her back to the wall alongside near an exit. Flashbacks to the events of her father's death aren't uncommon, and are triggered by a variety of things, including the sight of carnage, fire, and most primarily Nevermores.
Prism additionally has a tendency to inadvertently channel her semblance when emotional. Getting stressed out will channel a slight breeze, while panic attacks will trigger full blown gusts of wind. It especially has a tendency to manifest as the result of her nightmares, and she tries to avoid falling asleep around other people at the risk of starting an indoor hurricane while unconscious.
Aura and Semblance:Prism’s aura is unusually large for someone her age, manifesting in
bright white. When intensely channeling it, it will manifest as white "steam" that drifts off her form, caught in whatever breeze she creates. To help compensate for her lack of physical strength, she's learned to channel her aura to help pack a harder punch, manifesting in either aura-enhanced blows or flinging aura-enhanced crescents off her glaive with a large swing.
Prism’s semblance is something she privately calls ‘Hurricane’s Herald’, but she publicly refers to it as ‘Gust’. Gust allows her to control the air currents in her immediate vicinity, generating everything from mild breezes to massive gusts of wind. With her refined control, she’s capable of creating concentrated ‘bubbles’ of air or small whirlwinds. Prism routinely makes use of her semblance to generate updrafts and minor gusts of wind to maneuver in combat and keep herself hovering when she takes to the air.
The extent of Prism’s semblance extends beyond controlling air currents — a fact she prefers to keep under wraps, because her control of anything
outside air currents is ultimately piss-poor. With concentrated effort and the right kind of dust, Prism’s capable of controlling the temperature and subsequent moisture content in the air. This currently means she’s capable of summoning clouds of fog and mist to provide concealment, small bursts of rain, and hypothetically larger storms and even hail.
Prism knows her semblance can generate lightning by emulating the right storm-like conditions, based on her semblance’s initial manifestation. It’s currently a capability far beyond her control.
Combat Behavior:Prism’s a cutthroat sniper with a near-perfect aim, her own motto being to never waste a bullet. When in combat, she prefers to find a high place and set up a nest, waiting and scanning the battlefield for the perfect moment to strike. She uses her wings, semblance, and natural small size to assist in her mobility and agility, allowing her to reach unsuspecting perches and often surprise the enemy. She furthermore never stays in one place, knowing a stationary sniper is a dead one Thanks to extensive practice using her semblance, she's grown to understand her own limits well, and manages to budget her stamina well enough to stay in the air for extended periods of time.
When forced into close combat, Prism can make efficient use of her rifle’s secondary form. The glaive’s staff keeps Prism from making direct contact with her opponents, and relies primarily on her wings and semblance to boost her agility to stay at least two steps ahead of the enemy. Hawkeye is still capable of firing bullets when in glaive form, only through the pole of the polearm itself; and Prism tends to use the recoil as an additional means to propel herself. The various elemental crescents that Prism creates from her glaive's secondary form can furthermore be bolstered by her winds, giving her the ability to create almost "waves" of fire, ice, etc.
The disadvantage of focusing on long-range combat, agility, and her small stature leave Prism with especially noticeable weaknesses. Firstly is a lack of a familiarity with close-combat situations even if she does have a weapon for the situation, leaving her at a natural disadvantage to anybody who specializes. There's also her small stature and a lack of physical strength, which makes it easy to throw her off-balance, especially with harder hits that send her staggering. If attacked head-on relentlessly, Prism doesn't have the option of playing defense: she either needs to put distance between her and her opponent, or easily succumb to the assault. While she does have mid-range capabilities, they're incredibly limited, and mostly dust-reliant or aura-reliant, and therefore aren't dependable. Finally, if facing absolutely ruthless opponents, there are specific triggers that will cause Prism to essentially become useless as she'd downed with flashbacks and a panic attack, assuring victory for her opponent - after dealing with the resulting windstorm, of course.
WEAPONName: Hawk’s Eye
Primary Form: Hawk’s Eye’s primary form is that of a semiautomatic sniper rifle with added scope that’s accurate up to 800 meters, the metal white with blue accents. Hawk’s Eye has a 5-round internal magazine that Prism can quickly change, but it also has the ability to load individual shots in the form of standard sniper ammunition to be chambered via a bolt-action lever. The barrel has a length of 24 inches, with the added body bringing it up to 44 inches. Hawk’s Eye has a internalized scope and bipod that allows it to stick to any surface for added balance, including uneven ones. The total weight of the rifle totals up to 16 lbs, allowing for Prism to carry it in flight. Prism carries two ammo belts at once, both slung around her hips; one devoted entirely to normal ammunition, while the other is has dust-tipped ammunition, usually carrying two cartridges of most types of dust. A separate pouch in the back holds the dust cartridges necessary for her rifle's secondary form.
Secondary Form: When close-quarters combat is necessary for Prism, Hawk’s Eye primary form can transform into that of a glaive by extending the barrel to become a handle up to 6 feet long, with the body of the rifle folding in to form a one-sided blade 20 inches long. The staff of the glaive stiff functions as a long-distance rifle in this form, as the space for the magazine does remain in the glave’s blade. The blade of the glaive can take on different applications of dust in this form, done by loading a dust-filled cartridge into the back side of the blade.
Fire: Lights blade on fire, can create sweeping crescent of flames that expands outwards when swung. Can be used to create 5 crescents or individual strikes.
Ice: Covers blade in ice, creates a freezing crescent when swung filled with small ice particles - useful to blind enemies. If stabbed into the ground, can create an ice-slicked surface expanding in a straight line from the point the blades strikes. Can be used to create 5 crescents or individual strikes.
Lighting: Electrocutes blade of the glaive and enemies on contact. Lightning can leap off the blade in this form, with an effective range of 100 meters, but it's only good for one charge.
Wind: Creates crescent-shaped gust of wind when glave is swung (not depleting aura). Good for 5 crescents or strikes, and can create minor whirlwinds if thrust forwards/upwards.
Earth: Creates a sandstorm when swung, used to blind enemies/provide cover.
Gravity/Kinetic: Increases the force of the glaive when swung, effectively doing 1.5x more damage, but only good for 3 strikes.
Tertiary Form: When not in combat, Hawk’s Eye is able to fold up its internal components to form a shoebox-sized steel box that Prism can carry at her waist on her back.
Dust Functions: Hawk’s Eye’s sniper form has none, accept when loaded with dust-tipped bullets, which then would carry the predicted effect (fire-type dust creating a flaming bullet, ice-typed bullet freezing a body part on impact, etc). In it’s secondary form, a dust cartridge can be loaded into a slot at the base of the blade of the glave, allowing the blade to take on the dust’s intended effects. This manifests in the blade being covered by the corresponding dust effect (fire dust lighting on the blade on fire, ice dust causing it to freeze, etc) and when slashed through the air, send out crescent-shaped waves that correspond with the dust’s intended effect, giving Prism a small range of secondary attacks.
History: Hawk’s Eye was a sniper rifle created by Prism’s father for an unknown client shortly before his death, and was used by Blanc to attempt to defend himself from the Nevermore that attacked his house and family. Prism managed to rescue the rifle but failed to save her father; and it’s now one of the last remaining pieces she has of her family, making her value it dearly.
Topic: Prism Skylark (Read 11848 times)