Sheet:Molly Skyline
Molly Skyline's Sheet
Background
Molly was born in a quiet town in England, to parents who, for reasons unknown to Molly, promptly surrendered her into the care of the state. What this began for Molly is what is so often the stuff of very sad movies with very sad beginnings about very sad characters.
For Molly, this was absolutely not the case.
The Orphanage was run by a woman who believed in the work she was doing, and felt it was her duty to give the children in her care the best childhood possible. She was so critical of anyone wanting to adopt a child from her care, that they almost never got adopted -- something her array of kids were generally quite happy with, given their accomodations.
England is a land with beautiful countryside (the parts of it that aren't constantly being eroded by urbanization, anyway) and has quite the history. Molly grew up playing in castle ruins, sneaking into Stonehenge at night (just the once!), retracing the steps of Sir Gawain in his quest to find the Green Knight, playing pirates with her friends on the HMS Victory, and running around on beaches dodging the jellyfish washed up on shore; and when a given adventure was finished, she and her friends would retire back to the orphanage to play games and generally get into mischief indoors until they were told to go play outdoors, and then get into mischief until they were ordered back inside again.
Schooling was likewise provided in a boording school type arrangement, once Molly and her friends were old enough to start. The teaching they received turned out to be as good as their adventures; Molly turned out to excel at mathematics (even though she pretended to hate it, during her obstinate phase). She consistently got good marks in everything, with the exception of her grade eight year -- but we don't talk about that. Math remained her best subject throughout, and she eventually started reading up on the material a year or two ahead of her grade.
Eventually, she and the other kids discovered chess, and played it religiously after school on a near daily basis. At least, that is, until someone came back from a trip to London with some Dungeons and Dragons books, and at that moment a fresh era began.
Dungeons and Dragons caught on rapidly at the orphanage; almost to the point that the adult on the scene had to put her foot down and say "Go outside", which led the children to just... go outside and play Dungeons and Dragons. (If not with books and dice, then with sticks and pinecones, to enact in the world what they'd been playing around the table earlier.)
Of course, life moves on; Molly and her friends got older, and occasionally someone got adopted and their bunk got filled with a new face. The core group of Molly's friends remained tight-knit, and they stayed in touch with their phones and the internet and, when necessary, just with pen and paper. Molly got glasses as her near-sightedness progressed, and she eventually found herself more or less helpless without them. She got second place in a regional chess championship, and eventually she and the group finished a D&D campaign, leaving Molly with the character sheet for a level 20 tiefling sorceress that she treasures.
And then, it finally happened; at the age of thirteen, Molly was adopted.
After several visits to the orphanage, two women -- Samantha Skyline and Kaneko Misako -- found themselves quite taken with the child named Molly, and she the same in return. After a lot of paperwork, Molly was gained two mothers, and after an unacoidably tearful departure from her friends (with a solemn promise to visit and an even more solemn promise to write, text, e-mail, and stay in touch) the newly formed family were on their way to their home in London.
The crowded city wasn't anything new to Molly; she'd been there before. Actually living there, however, was definitely new. Exchanging the wild outdoors for... a wilderness of a different sort proved to be an adjustment, but one that her mothers were all too ready to help her with. Still, she was able to visit her friends often enough, and got her first taste of the public school system -- and the various childish politics that came attached to that. After a couple of altercations resulting in a tearful return home, Misako took the time to show Molly how to throw a proper punch, and the bullying of the country girl promptly stopped.
School wasn't the only place where Molly got some fresh learning; Smaantha ran a business tuning performance cars and motorcylces, and when it became apparent that the child hanging around the place wasn't there just for passing curiosity, started showing her how to pull a wrench or two. At fourteen, they snuck out into the back alley, and Molly got a ride up and down on a dirtbike -- something good to break her teeth on. Figuratively of course, not literally. Being in the city also meant access to things previously much less available, like... movie theaters. Molly quickly found herself a committed movie buff.
But life moves on, and all things change; a fantastic opportunity arose for a move to Japan. After updating her friends to what was going on, and with a life packed in boxes, Molly and her Moms eventually disembarked off the plane in a place on more or less the opposite side of the planet. They bought a place with space for two businesses in the bottom (a tuner shop ran by Samantha, and a sushi bar managed by Misako), and a tight but comfortable living space upstairs, complete with attic. Molly got herself enrolled at the Radiant Heart Academy after researching which school looked like the best (and with the grades to have her pick).
Luckily for Molly, in the time since her adoption she'd been taking lessons in Japanese at school in preparation for the possibility of moving to Japan, and had been getting help at home too from Misako, but as of her arrival actually in Japan and seeing signs in Japanese all over the place, she definitely did not find herself feeling ready to be in a place where the majority language is not her first language.
Molly was, for the sake of her adoptive motheres, more than willing to tough it out; but they both noticed her unease, so before the first day of classes they took her out for a day; they let her try out a much faster bike than her dirtbike (which had to be sold before leaving England), eat some wonton soup from a street vendor, and pick up some clothes and jewelry (after finally getting her ears pierced two weeks previous). Amongst the latter, Molly picked out a single dangly earing; a single, straight silver needle hanging from a star-shaped, pale blue jewel dangling from her right earlobe, which she decided looked pretty punk.
The day before school started, Molly was walking home through a park after a solo outing on the town, whereupon the absolute impossible happened; she was attacked by a floating monster with a lot of eyes, which can't happen because those don't exist outside of Dungeons and Dragons, but it was happening anyway and she had to run for it; at least, until she found herself cornered in a back alley.
And that's when the earring spoke to her.
The jewel -- Starcrash -- detached from the earring, and after giving Molly a series of instructions (all a bit stressful while the eyeball monster was bearing down on her), it transformed into a large staff. Next thing Molly knew she was actually fighting this horrible monster, and with a lot of flashy magic and broken tiles and craters in the ground, actually defeated it! And somehow nobody noticed, which really was the real victory, since breaking the city the day before school in a new country feels a bit gauche.
Molly came home after a bit longer of a walk, to clear her head; but didn't really find anything at all clear, except that she can certainly never wear any other earring. But the full range of questions, from 'what do I do with this power' to 'how do I tell Mom and Mom' remain entirely unanswered.
Personality
Molly's personality is at first blush that of a happy and bubbly person; she doesn't present herself as a shy person once she gets into a conversation, and does her best to be friendly, outgoing, and cheerful. Her first experience with bullying left its mark however, and underneath the bubbly experience, she lugs around a simmering cauldron of worries with her everywhere she goes. Is she good enough? Is she smart enough? Will people like her? Was that thing that person entirely innocent, or is she being made fun of?
Molly loves other people, but her outlook has been damaged, and she's almost invariably a mix of friendly and outgoing, and guarded and cautious, at least at first. Trust can still be quickly earned, however.
Molly's spare time is still a bit of a mess; she loves Dungeons and Dragons and brought all her books with her, but hasn't currently got anyone to play with, but that doesn't stop her from flipping them open to read and imagine, and pull her most cherished character sheets out for a look from time to time. Movies and video games take up a fair bit of her free time as well, once homework is finished; Tron is a major favorite, both the original and the sequel (no matter what anyone says about it it's awesome). When she's not helping one Mom in the sushi shop (she gets to wash up and occasionally is allowed to watch the rice being cooked, when she's been especially dilligent), she can often be found in her other Mom's tuner shop, getting a much more hands-on experience, while trying to work out how to butter her Moms up enough to let her get a fast motorcycle, and not some dirtbike this time.
Molly doesn't currently have any friends in Japan, but has lots back home in England; Sarah, Amber, Kira, Aaron, and William being the core group that she used to play D&D with, and the people she stays in the closest contact with. They keep a chat group open that they talk to each other with constantly; and whenever Molly needs helping thinking through a problem or someone to bawl to about school or jerks or whatever, she goes to them. She's still working up to telling them about Silbernadl, though; that might be pushing the boundaries of believability, even for her friends. Or at least, she's worried that it does. Won't know until she tries of course!
Focus
Molly's favorite character class in D&D is the Sorceress, and her favorite way to play is with the big flashy spells, and this informs her use of Starcrash as well. She firmly believes that the best defense is a good offense, and the best way to protect her friends is to come out swinging as hard as she can. It's certainly her who supplies the magic, but it's Silbernadl that focuses her raw energy into something useful -- and more often than not, something that hurts.
That's not to say a little utility doesn't enter the picture; she certainly learned her lesson about not taking stuff like Feather Fall or Invisibility, back around the gaming table. But her primary focus is to claim the battlefield with shock and awe.
Style
See: Device Mages
Powers
Following Molly's experience as a daimon host to the dastardly Seriss Nyx, while beginning her recovery it has fallen to her best friend Rashmi Terios to both repair and rework Starcrash, following his own rescue from being forced to serve as the Cygnus Lich. As part of the rework, Starcrash has had a realignment of damage types, and attack modes, and a new name; Starcrash Nova.
Artillery Mode: In this mode, Starcrash's active form is a staff. This set-up prioritizes ranged damage dealing, including buster class spells for area denial (or, well, removal), and involves the use of extreme heat to this end. This mode uses only basic shielding, and relies on Molly's speed and her Barrier Jacket most heavily for defense.
Templar Mode: In this mode, Starcrash's active form is a sword and shield. In this set-up close range fighting and defensiveness are prioritized, with a heavy emphasis on using extreme cold, both to damage (and hinder) enemies and to protect Molly.
Along with the rework, Molly's Barrier Jacket will be getting a change in appearance; the new version will be sleeker and more mechanical, with more robotic inspired trappings (like the wings, for example). In addition to vents on both Starcrash and the Jacket, the new version will include thermal circuitry to help dissipate heat that glow when Molly is using a lot of mana (giving an appearance reminiscent of the programs from Tron).
Universal Spells (available to all configurations):
Attack:
Starfall -- Molly descends at up to her maximum flight speed, and Starcrash uses a destructive burst of mana to soften her landing -- and damage targets in the landing zone in the process.
Defense:
Breakwall -- An Emergency shield, charges up by diverting a small amount of mana usage to a small canister, can generally be used once (per battle) as a very strong but very brief shield.
Round Shield -- It's a shield, it stops things from hurting, nothing fancy (and nothing overly powerful either).
Vulcan Defense -- An active defense, manifesting as a magical 'turret' that unloads small, rapid-fire barrets into incoming enemy attacks (Or incoming enemies if Molly is feeling cheeky)
Utility:
Battle Visor -- Gives Molly a HUD imposed over her vision that tracks friendlies and hostile targets, as well as giving targeting information and keeping track of alerts.
Flier Fin -- Molly can fly! It's more of an always-on sort of thing, but does drain mana over time.
Neutrino Flash -- Basic short-range rapid movement, reads very similar to a teleport.
Time-Space Barrier -- Makes a safe zone for fighting, so the real world doesn't get turned into rubble.
Artillery Mode Spells:
Attack:
Solar Flare: Fires a brief, unguided beam of superheated energy that can be chain-fired.
Plasma Flare: Fires a sustained heat beam that can be locked onto a target and will curve to a limited degree to stay on target.
Stellar Barrage -- Molly's standard barrets. They come extremely hot, and home in by default.
Stellar Pulse -- Solar barrets that replace the homing quality with rapid fire, generally good for area suppression.
Starburst Barrage -- Unguided barrets that explode to produce a brilliant flash of light but little damage.
Buster:
Binary Flare: A pair of overcharged, unstable beams of energy intersect at the target location to set off a large explosion.
Stellar Collapse: Six to ten barrets move to a safe distance from Molly, and coalesce into beams that ignite a powerful explosion at the target location.
Defense:
Aurora Barrier -- Faceted shield, deflects incoming attacks. May be hazardous to use around a team.
Finisher:
Coronal Overload: Molly sparks a brief molecular fusion, unleashing as much energy as Starcrash can handle in one go without melting both himself and Molly in the process, and unloads that on whatever target has earned Molly's ire.
