KAORU NAGAMINE / SCARLET SENSHI
ARCHETYPE
Insurgent
Kaoru wasn't gifted with great intelligence like a Smartass. She's deeply Rebellious, and she maintains her fire lit by being Modest. Kaoru sees the forces of good and evil at play in Kageoga, and she believes the line is so thin that she must stay vigilant -- lest the heroes start imposing misguided justice.
TOTAL PERK LIST
FREE PERKS
Never You
Kaoru is adept at being unnoticeable. Unremarkable. A background character.
Street Smarts
Despite her bookworm appearance, Kaoru is quite socially conscious and is aware of how gangs and organised crime generally work. She can handle herself in streetwise situations, within reason.
Forward
A peerless, focused mind. Kaoru is no born genius, she's simply very, very persistent.
POINT PERKS
Deep Perception
Kaoru is nosy. VERY nosy. She suspects everyone and her suspicions will never be quenched until she finds the evidence she's looking for.
Unshakeable Faith
A good judge of character... simply because she looks too deep into people. Kaoru finds people's secrets because she looks everywhere for secrets.
Savant (special ops/detective techniques)
Kaoru's grandfather gave her some basic CQC training and taught her how to investigate people subtly. Her training is rough, and she wouldn't be able to stand up to actual martial artists, but she can match the skills of properly trained detectives with persistence alone.
Book Smart
As appearances would indicate, Kaoru is a bookworm -- or at least, she would want you to think she is. She's very well-read, on both fiction and non-fiction. Her grades are exemplary and her accounting skills are deserving of the position of Student Council treasurer.
Extra Memory
Anything you say, will be used against you. Kaoru records all manner of small details about her environment, or people, and she'll always write reports after it afterward.
SHSL Detective
Perhaps the second best detective in all of Higan, always behind Yae. What Kaoru doesn't have in natural born talent or expert training, she makes up for by constantly looking for evidence and being extremely distrustful. In Kaoru's world, everyone, ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE, is worthy of suspicion. Not just that, her investigation skills also go further, factoring into her many plans for the future. Kaoru has contingency plans for everyone she deems notable in Higan, strategies designed to subdue them if they are ever a threat to public safety. Perhaps she might still be the bridesmaid in regards to detective skill... but the difference is, Kaoru Nagamine is always watching from the shadows. And she'll act when necessary.
5 ITEMS
Forbidden Permit (free)
Kaoru's grandfather gifted this permit to her on her 13th birthday in order to try and get her out of the house. She started exploring the forbidden and abandoned areas of the city, running wild with curiosity -- and on occasion, choosing a few hideouts here and there.
Club Membership x2
Kaoru was voted Student Council treasurer after a successful campaign, fueled by her high math scores. She's a skilled accountant, keeping track of inventory and budgets with precision.
Tokusatsu Costume (costs 2)
Under the orders of Blakeney, her Idolon, Kaoru created the Scarlet Senshi's costume after asking her grandfather, who owns a motorcycle, for her own motorcycle suit, in case she was ever hurt while he drove her around the city -- of course, when she's older, she'll learn to ride one. The costume is reminiscent of kabuki theatre and rose thorns.
Hideout
As a recent development, due to having her hands full with many of Kageoka and Higan's mysteries, Kaoru has been moving her costume from place to place, making sure no one could discover her secrets. The lie of a cosplay club wouldn't naturally last with her colleagues, after all... Kaoru went back to her old habits and found an abandoned shed in the forbidden areas of the city. She occasionally spends long afternoons there, writing records and hanging her schizo thread diagrams on the walls. Every superhero needs a cool hangout!
DEMI-IDOLON
Yobanashi Deceive
"I may only be the second best detective in Higan... But I can fool even the most savvy!"
Thanks to Blakeney's influence, Kaoru's ability to remain inconspicuous is enhanced. Hiding in plain sight, even her closest colleagues can doubt if she has an Idolon at all -- for a while. Kaoru can remain out of the school's spotlight for as long as she wants, as long as she plays her cards right.
Troubleseeker 3 (1 Perk point used)
"My Scarlet Sense is tingling..."
Blakeney is a tired Idolon, incapable of manifesting too much influence into the real world -- but his boons are very beneficial to Kaoru. In addition to her social cloaking ability, Kaoru can use her danger sense in the real world to a degree. She can sense trouble, and if she or someone else is in immediate danger. Her body can go into auto-pilot to dodge some attacks, within reason.
IDOLON
"You can tremble, you can fear it, but keep your fighting spirit alive, ma cherìe!
"Let the shiver of it sting you, fling into battle, spring to your feet, ma cherìe!
"Never hold back your step for a moment!"
"Never doubt that your courage will grow!"
"Hold your head even higher, and into the fire we go!"
Blakeney is a mysterious Idolon. He claims to have been a hero in the past, someone who only shows himself to those whose hearts are hungry for justice, yet those who are caught up in riddles are his preferred kind of host. Kaoru was a perfect match.
In battle, Blakeney can only keep his physical form up for mere instants, opting to instead transform into a ring that fuses to Kaoru's Scarlet Senshi armour, granting her many wonderful powers.
Origin
Other Person
OOC, it's been retconned that Blakeney was passed down from person to person because of what JITE Anon told me, but I still picked this to show that Blakeney has an identity of his own and he's not entirely a slave to Kaoru's will, even if he can't make her do anything she wouldn't want to do. Blakeney is a voice in her head, a guide, a critic and a tutor.
1 Normal Skill, 1 Category Skill
Type
Incarnation
The ring of the Scarlet Pimpernel sends Idolon Energy through Kaoru's costume and empowers her, giving her the ability to perform great feats.
2 Abilities, 2 Category Skills
8 Category Points
5 Normal Skills
TOTAL CATEGORY POINTS: 13
TOTAL NORMAL POINTS:6
NORMAL SKILLS
Rule Of Cool (Free)
Blakeney works more like equipment than a creature that appears beside the host.
Artistic Anatomy License (Free)
When he does manifest entirely, on rare occasions, Blakeney's body is plant-like, woody and thorny. That form can only be held for around 30 seconds, usually out of battle. Works for giving emphasis to a point during a conversation.
Horseman
Perhaps influenced by her grandfather, Kaoru can summon a motorcycle in Bleeding Zones and the Idea World. She can't drive in the real world, so this bike is controlled by her instinctually. Blakeney's will manifests, and helps her speed into battle.
Absolute Resonance
Kaoru is a perfect match for Blakeney. Their ideals are intertwined, and Kaoru has wholeheartedly accepted the mantle of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The swashbuckling rogue rides again!
Cogito Ergo Sum 3
Much like her real world self, Kaoru is very mentally resilient. This makes her resistant to mental or emotional attacks in the Idea World.
Elemental 1 (Plants)
As a side-effect of her developing powers, Kaoru has started to manifest a certain degree of power over nearby plant life in the Idea World. She can summon leaves and flower petals as projectiles to attack, and her Backstabs emit the same particles when she teleports.
ABILITIES
Garganta 2
An essential trick that Kaoru uses often. She can summon small rifts in between the worlds, and even find the nearest Bleeding Zone at will.
Breakcore 1
A powerful combat technique. Scarlet Senshi can cause fractures to Idolons in combat by targeting specific limbs or body parts.
Freed 3
The mark of a true hero, and the core of Scarlet Senshi's powerset. The sentai heroine grows stronger from hardship, getting back up stronger each time after gettinh knocked down. With grit and showmanship, great feats of athleticism and acrobatics can be performed, giving Scarlet Senshi all the tools for a masked rider to succeed against the forces of evil!
Troubleseeker 3 (2 Drawback Idolon Points used)
Scarlet Senshi can sense danger around her. During a fight, her body can more or less instinctually maneuver around enemy attacks if she's not outsped or surprised. Her body depends on her reaction speed for this, and the danger sense's radar is vague and up to interpretation. Scarlet Senshi's danger sense can also alert her if someone she cares about is in danger, within a reasonable distance (if she's close enough to intervene, she'll be alerted). This skill also lets her sniff out suspicious situations.
Arsenal 1
Scarlet Senshi can summon a metal pipe weapon, with flower thorns wrapped around it. It's a blunt weapon that packs a punch and then some.
SKILLS
Backstab
Scarlet Senshi can see openings in her opponents. She can dash or teleport to an immediately available close position that would let her attack from the back, in order to do so. Might be somewhat dishonourable, but when your enemies have no qualms with such a thing, why not get your hands dirty?
Monkey Wit
The masked rider doesn't fight mindlessly -- far from it. Scarlet Senshi's melee fighting style is unorthodox and unpredictable, making her a difficult opponent for trained martial artists.
Trading
When Scarlet Senshi is in an equal, trading sequence with an enemy, her resistance to pain spikes, and her damage output with it.
TOTAL POINTS USED: 15 (13+2 Drawback IP)
MISSIONS
Death Mark
Upon discovering her Death Mark, Kaoru made it her personal mission to find out what exactly it was, who caused it, and how to stop the culprit. Turns out, her life tragedies still haunt her, even now... The ability to sense other Death Marks took her a little longer to develop, as she came to terms with the Death Mark and what it means for her to have it.
Hollow Ataraxia
Kaoru's nightly outings as a superhero have increased in recent times, as she looks out for Bleeding Zones and faces any evildoers, human or Nightmare.
Serial Killer
A side gig for Kaoru. While she mostly focuses on the actual mysteries and possible corruption in Higan's clubs, as well as other assorted mysteries, Kaoru occasionally looks into the serial killer mystery on her own. She knows Yae has probably investigated to a great degree already, but revealing her own theories might make her seem too competent.
DRAWBACKS
Death Marked (1 Perk)
When her parents were assassinated during the riots, Kaoru was indeed fated to die as well -- her survival ensured that the Idea World would place a bounty on her soul. Otherworldly forces await to make a claim for her...
The ‘Tism (2 Idolon Points)
Kaoru's lucky to have the Student Council. Most other people probably wouldn't tolerate the idea of someone making contingency plans for taking them down if they became evil. Kaoru doesn't act secretive and nosy out of malice, but simply because she was very, very badly hurt in the past. Only time will tell if she'll manage to grow to trust others on a larger scale.
BACKGROUND
Kaoru was born to some manner of psychologists, who were clearly in a privileged position due to mysterious research. She had a childhood friend, who was actually a mole implanted by the other girl’s parents, a band of supposed revolutionaries. The conspirators got close to Kaoru’s parents and used the riots as an opportunity to kill them. Kaoru blamed herself for the death of her parents, choosing never to trust a friend again, and she lived as a shut-in for most of her life up until her recent time at Kageoka. Kaoru was raised and homeschooled by her grandparents. Her grandfather was a special operative in WW2, so he too felt betrayed by the death of his son, and he taught Kaoru many of those special ops techniques.
One day, while Kaoru began to shake off her shut-in habits with her grandfather’s old city pass, she stumbled upon a Bleeding Zone. She was about to die, but she managed to survive thanks to Blakeney, a mysterious Idolon that snuck her out of danger. Blakeney was a cheeky spirit, an Idolon that claimed to have been a great hero in the real world once, and reacted to rebellious hearts with a desire for justice. However, most of his power had been lost to time, and he could only keep a physical body for a small amount of time – in order to form a contract with Kaoru and save her life, Blakeney turned into a ring, bearing the mark of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a mysterious outlaw from the time of the French Revolution. Thus, they were bonded.
With Blakeney’s voice in her head, Kaoru decided that, in order to heal from the wounds of the past, she would have to understand the potential that had been brought into her hands – and keep those who share it in check. Anyone can call themselves a hero… but who watches the watchmen?
By the time she was 15, she had built a whole superhero outfit, as suggested by Blakeney. In the Idea World, it would be him who would reinforce the suit into a combat armour that would elevate Kaoru’s combat abilities to unimaginable heights, as well as supply her with centuries of combat experience, and a weapon in the form of a metal pipe, reinforced with thorns.
“Every rose has its thorns – and the Scarlet Pimpernel is the most dangerous of all flowers! Scarlet Senshi – watcher of the watchmen! SCARLET BLOOM!!!”
Scarlet Senshi is a heroic warrior that takes justice way too seriously. Battling is one of the only moments in which Kaoru is at all happy. She flips, she's a tricky combatant, she takes cheap shots and loves aura farming. She has huge strength and speed, and her metal pipe is a fearsome weapon. On top of that, Scarlet Senshi has some form of danger sense -- which means that she'll join a battle precisely when she thinks she has to, since she would've already known about it months ago. This ensures that the heroes she is suspicious of are genuinely trying their best to protect the innocent. Or she's just trying to be cool and mysterious. Not just that -- Scarlet Senshi has a BIKE!!! A vehicle that Kaoru would normally have no idea how to drive otherwise. This crimson superhero arrives in the nick of time, with style, and has been known to even take a few shots at monsters WHILE riding her bike! Sugoi desu ne!
Kaoru joined the Student Council upon suspicion that its members possessed the same kind of abilities as her. She does her tasks quietly and diligently, but keeps everyone at arm's length, simply claiming she has to take care of her grandparents when proposed to hang out outside of school. However, Kaoru keeps as much information as possible on everyone else, and if she's truly sensing that someone's up to no good, she becomes a scary interrogator -- but for the most part, Kaoru is tragically unremarkable to others. By design.
Kaoru is not a gifted genius by any means. All her skills were brought upon by study and training, and she specifically learned to figure out as much as possible from other people and, at the same time, keep as much information about her hidden as possible. Kaoru uses huge glasses to keep her face distorted, she is silent and unremarkable as can be, all by design. All her detective skills are a result of her complete and utter distrust for most people. She is not a genius of investigation – simply, extremely distrusting and inquisitive, as well as clever enough to hide her methods and avoid suspicion. She is far more competent in street smarts than she lets on.
The true Kaoru, hidden under that facade, is extremely damaged. She can barely find joy in things. She barely enjoys life at all, with her thirst for justice and burning motivation to keep those that call themselves righteous in check. Of course, this is a self-protective barrier created by her ego. Kaoru was hurt by the trust she placed on someone, and that trust led to the death of her parents – but especially egregious was the cause. Rebellion can take any name, any banner, any cause, and those who rebel will always believe themselves to be righteous. This is the exact concept Scarlet Senshi rebels against – good and evil hide not in names, but in actions! Let those whose cause is ruination be ensnared in the vines of truth and justice!
However… not all is fun and games for Kaoru Nagamine. Many spirits of the Idea World have marked her for death, as she was the only survivor of the Nagamine family. Those whose ideas of personal rebellion hold a grudge, and now that she has joined up with the one and only Scarlet Pimpernel, Blakeney, that battle would now take place on equal grounds. Can Scarlet Senshi stand atop the rubble victorious? Will she get over herself and learn to trust others? FIND OUT NEXT TIME, ON JITE!!!
CHARACTER THEMES
Casual Theme - Morning In Higan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_apxEg52qA&list=PLeGr-0VnmGodV8nE9y1Br3JUOSXhAzj-k&index=8
Morning sunlight seeps into the Student Council room. The usually inconspicuous Kaoru performs her work in a very matter-of-fact way. Her watchful eye notes down anything suspicious about her peers... But as the morning goes on, the time shared with her is warm.
Mystery Theme - Caught In A Lie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xofg8Eg9rII&t=1008s
As the second best detective in the academy, Kaoru is a difficult one to stay hidden from. Direct confrontation with suspects, interrogations and accusations -- Kaoru's hands-on work is performed smoothly and with a cold exterior. Deep inside, her fire burns.
Dramatic Theme - Investigation Start!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5jBXYxAN3I
The superheroic ambitions of Kaoru Nagamine aren't just limited to the Idea World. When her mask slips and her inner passions rise, Kaoru's true self might shine through the cracks. It's time to crack the case!
Scarlet Senshi Theme - Let Justice Bloom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ2cONTUtGw
When Kaoru enters the game and action breaks out, she'll transform into the spectacular Scarlet Senshi. Flower petals surround her as the rider of justice blooms into battle! Beware, evildoers and traitors alike -- Scarlet Senshi is here!
Tragic Theme - Secrets Laid Bare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiJVS5hztFI
Forced to reveal a secret, or perhaps discovered. Her secret identity breached. Or what's most painful -- her heart, exposed and vulnerable. Forced to trust in someone else. Is that trust placed in the right hands?