天下无不散之筵席

[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Shika
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: deer_leisure
IM: OTAShika
E-MAIL: spiffystudios@gmail.com
RETURNING: 1 (Kuina)



[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Chao Lingshen (Romanized from 超 鈴音, which should technically read as Chāo Líng-Yīn, but it ends up as Chao Lingshen)
FANDOM: Mahou Sensei Negima
CHRONOLOGY: Returning to her proper timeline.
CLASS: Anti-hero. She serves as an antagonist, but it's a major point that both sides are in moral gray areas, both fighting for what they think is right, and the main good guy even says he might the evil one in this situation. Put simply, it's complicated, but she's doing everything for a good cause.
SUPERHERO NAME: Cassiopeia
ALTER EGO: Chao Lingshen

BACKGROUND:
First it should be mentioned that, in her world, magic is very real. Magic, dragons, demons, they all exist. However, much like in Harry Potter, their existence is hidden from the mundane world. They even created a separate world for all things fantastic, the Magical World, also known as Mundus Magicus. (That does literally translate to "Magical World," by the way.) Mages and the like still live among humans in the normal world, but a good many reside in this magical world as well.

Despite the existence of such wondrous, sometimes frightening, always fantastical things beneath the surface... to most people, the world is exactly like ours. A normal, modern-day Earth.

Now with that out of the way, the story takes place in a Japanese junior high, which is in itself set in a rather elaborate campus city. The main character is a ten year-old mage acting as a teacher in said junior high. At first glance, despite the oddity for a teacher, Chao appears to be a normal student in his class: a junior high school girl who, while being a certifiable genius, was still nonetheless separate from magic and the like.

But below the surface, Chao Lingshen is a diabolical genius working on a secret agenda: revealing the existence of mages to the entire world. She was working on this plan for two years behind the scenes, working out the details, raising the money, getting the resources, building the equipment, finding the allies.... Ever since she joined the junior high school, she was working on it.

During her third year of junior high, she puts her plan into action. During the school festival, the magic in the school campus's World Tree is at its yearly peak. And once every 22 years, that magic is greater than any other time. Only during this time, she can use that magic to cast a "forced recognition" spell on the entire planet. It's subtle, but it would erase the brain's natural inclination to categorize "magic" as purely "fantasy." Coupled with an advanced technological war to virally spread the word on "magic" across the internet, people would accept mages exist.

However, during the festival, she gives the prototype Cassiopeia, her self-invented time machine, to her child teacher, the main character, Negi Springfield. She wanted to bring him to her side, and in the case she couldn't, there was a trap in place on his Cassiopeia. But getting him involved would turn out to be a bad decision. He made the decision to work against her, escaped the trap set on Cassiopeia to take him to the future, and managed to defeat her before she could successfully complete the spell.

But why was she doing all of that? According to her, she was a Martian... and also from the future. And a descendant of Negi himself. She had come to the past to change the future. However, when asked what event she was trying to change, she replied, "If you want to know my tragedy, open a newspaper. My past isn't any different from the myriad of tragedies occurring every day." But basically, by forcing people to accept mages existed, the mages could then work more openly to help people.

It was a reason Negi could agree with. He acknowledged that his own father, a well-known hero, might even assist Chao. But he couldn't help her. It would upset the balance of the world he knew, and so he stopped her.

OH GOD THIS CANON IS SO RIDICULOUS AAAAAAHHHHHHH

Okay, let's make it... a little less ridiculous. Mundus Magicus, the Magical World... In truth, this world is a separate dimension... over Mars. Very few, even among the top echelon of mages, know this fact. But obviously, Chao does, and when she claims to be a "Martian," she is, in fact, claiming to be from the Magic World.

Also, it's fairly likely that her claim, that she's working to fight a "usual" tragedy... well, most tragedies can hardly be called usual, but the one she's referring to is likely the destruction of the Magical World and the death of its several hundred million inhabitants. So she does have pretty good reasons.


And so she lost to Negi and went home TO THE FUTURE. A pretty sad future, most likely. BUT INSTEAD OF THE FUTURE SHE FINDS HERSELF IN THE CITY.


Tl;dr she's a Chinese time-travelling Martian magic-user and tech-genius from the future who's come to the past to set things right and save people but gets stopped because her ancestor is like no bitch plz.

PERSONALITY:
The first thing that needs to be mentioned: Chao is very, very, very intelligent. As a junior high schooler, not only is she the brightest in her class, in the school... it's said she's more intelligent than anybody on campus, which includes everything up to a huge college. She's a member of the college's robotic engineering, life science, Chinese medicine, and atomic research groups, assisting them all with their research and development.

On top of that, you can see her genius shine through in the things she's built: numerous humanoid robots with military power greater than the military has, a powered suit she uses herself to boost her skills to superhuman level, and, perhaps most daunting, a working time machine in the form of an old-fashioned, if somewhat large, pocket watch.

Pretty impressive for a fifteen year-old.

Unlike a lot of other genius-types, Chao isn't a slacker in non-academic areas. She's a star member of the Chinese Martial Arts Club, and while not on the same level as the leading member Ku Fei, or one of the various superhuman fighters with chi or magic, she's still impressive. She's also the founder of Chao Bao Zi, a Chinese food cart that is popular enough to make her a millionaire (well, in yen anyway.)

But Chao's most defining personality trait isn't even her genius. It's her dedication. She makes a plan involving going to the past, putting in years worth of work, all for a payout that she hopes will change the future. She was willing to fight her ancestor, and when push came to shove, she had no qualms with using the glyph to let her use magic, even if it cost her life.

Even with that dedication, though, she has a high standard of morals. Despite doing something that most would consider evil, since revealing the existence of mages would cause an upheaval, she purposely plans to do it in a way that would ease the transition, as well as requiring very little to no bloodshed. When she loses her fight to Negi, and she believes that they'll fall to their death (they were fighting on top of a blimp,), she vows to use the last of her power to protect him. In that vein, she also gets all of her cohorts to agree that, in the case that she is defeated by Negi, that they will withdraw gracefully. She has honor, even as a villain.

That's not to say, however, that she isn't willing to get her hands dirty. While she doesn't want to cause anybody suffering, she has no qualms with lying, manipulating, and even kidnapping. She doesn't want to hurt people, and she'll do whatever she can to minimize that, but she still has the greater good in mind, and her morals tend to fade the "smaller" the sin is.

Chao has a rather happy-go-lucky exterior, one that doesn't seem to match her determined, darker underside. A good portion of that is probably an act, but nonetheless, when people meet her, their first impression will be a happy, slightly goofy Chinese girl. She often acts obsessed with food, and the smile she wears can often be taken for absent-minded. But still, while it's likely exaggerated, it is genuine. It's the Chao that would have been, had she not been forced to grow up by her tragic past. And while she claims it was an act, she did genuinely enjoy her time acting like that with her classmates.

As mentioned, she has a darker side underneath her happier one. This is the side that has seen suffering, and knows that shit needs to get done in order to stop it. This is the side that can lecture, that can look grim, that can channel all of her conviction and put it into words, into action. She rarely shows this side to others, but when she does, they know she's being serious, and she's done a good job hiding this side of herself from them.

But she certainly has an odd sense of humor, regardless of what mood she's in. Her humor is dry, and often she's the only one who can understand her jokes. She loves Cassandra truths, for example: telling the truth in such a way that nobody believes her. Such as in claiming that she's a Martian. What's funnier than telling people she's a Martian, have them believe she's joking, and knowing herself that it's true? It's a rather ironic, perhaps even cynical, form of humor, one that suits both of her "sides" perfectly well.

All in all, she's a very complicated character. Befitting of a time-travelling Martian.



POWER:

Non-Powers
These are just some small notes for skills that shouldn't be considered powers.

First off, she's a skilled martial artist. Not to the level of one who's mastered chi, but very much on what a normal human would be considered "master" level. When supplemented with technology, she becomes very dangerous.

Secondly, but perhaps more importantly, she's a genius in building robots and equipment. As mentioned, she built a combat suit to augment her strength and speed, as well as having lasers. (She will have lost this by her point in canon, but she possesses the know-how to build it again.) She can build a lot of things, and she's very good at it.

Third is Cassiopeia, but it's such a powerful technological item, I figure I'm better off registering it as a power...

Cassiopeia
The instrument she uses for time-travel. It looks like an old-fashioned, if somewhat large, pocket watch.

It uses a large amount of power to travel through time. Generally speaking, anything over 24 hours requires such a high amount of power that it's infeasible. In game terms, it'd never go over 24 hours unless she, like, gets with Tony Stark and hooks it up to his biggest and best battery or something.

It can go either way in time, forward or back. Dials determine how far back or forward. Not anybody can use it; only those with magic power. Speaking of...

Magic
Chao can use magic. However, she's not actually a mage. She has zero ability to use magic.

How does this work, you ask? Simply, she has a glyph on her body which allows her to use magic. However, since her body is not meant to handle magic, it slowly kills her every time she uses any spell. Using it for an entire battle would pretty much kill her.

In addition, while it grants her a rather large amount of power, she's not a natural mage, which also means she doesn't have much training. She seems to have an affinity with fire, but she couldn't learn anything more than a few spells in it. While she does know some powerful spells, they're very limited in scope.

To be more exact, she knows the generic magic missile spam spell (of the fire variety,) a few large-scale fire spells (too many kills,) a summoning spell (spectral Valkyries, can only attack,) and a few larger rituals (such as the forced recognition spell, which only works once every 22 years at a specific point, in other words can never be used in game.)

Magical Battery
This is her only non-canon power, and a rather simple one. Simply put, she can power anything mechanical she is in contact with.

It's something that fits her character (and lets her use Cassiopeia without a lot of ambient magic and/or dying.)

A few notes:

Cassiopeia would never be used to forewarn of a plot or such unless talked over with somebody running it, etc. (In other words, usual permissions would apply, just like if playing a psychic or clairvoyant.)

Her magic, as it is, would likely never be used, or if it is, would be incredibly rarely and not without consequence.

And, finally, if asked to cut down, I'd rather cut the magic than the others.



[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:

[ There was a rather unassuming, and rather wide, grin on the face of the Chinese girl as she turned on the video feed. Other people may have floundered around with their communicator for a while, trying to figure out how to get it to work, but she had already taken the device apart and put it back together. Obviously she could figure out how to turn it on. ]

Good morning. I'd like to get things started off on the right foot, so tell me how you're all doing today!

[ Nice words, but the fact is they're coming from a girl who looks like she's been dragged down the road and back. Her outfit, or what's visible of it, is torn and shredded. One side of her hair is still in its signature braid and bun, but the other's been yanked free of it. The words didn't match the picture. What kind of girl was cheerful while looking like that? ]

As for me, I'm doing pretty well, all things considered. I certainly didn't expect to find myself in a place like this, but [ she pauses a moment ] it's best to take these sorts of things in stride.

[ Her smile falters a little bit, and her face looks forlorn for a moment, but that moment quickly passes. ]

That machine called me a hero, though! That was nice! I've never been called that before. I doubt many junior high girls have, right?

But I do like helping people. If anybody here needs any help, just say that word! I'll help you out with the amazing power of meat buns! They're delicious and good for you, ne?

Ah, but I don't have a kitchen. So I guess that'll have to wait.

[ Awfully chatty for a girl who looks like she does. But that's the impression she hopes to give. ]


LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE: To be perfectly honest, at least to herself... making the decision to leave was a tough one. Negi made a tempting offer. To stay in the past, stay with all of the friends she had made... To change the future with her own hands, working toward her goal in a different way.

"If you change the future while living as a friend in our era, I won't let anyone make an objection."

But that was the kind of thing she should have expected of Negi-bouzu. She had already made her decision, and she would stick to it.

She had lost. She had been defeated, and her plan was done for. The plan she had devoted all of her energy, her time, her resources, her life towards.... But she couldn't hold it against him. Not Negi, her precious teacher and ancestor. All she could do was bow out gracefully and return to her own time.

Besides, if she missed this chance... only the magic of the World Tree at its peak could power Cassiopeia enough to make such a large leap in time. And it was only at its peak once every twenty-two years. Missing this chance would mean she wouldn't be able to return to her own time until she was thirty-seven. Surely, she could change the world she returned to in that time, but... if that was how she was going to be doing things, she'd rather try and do what she could in her own time.

Even more importantly... it was possible her future had already changed. Her plan might have failed, but she did succeed in opening Negi's eyes to the world around him. She could entrust the future to him.

And so she waved goodbye. Her friends were there to see her off. She wanted them to see her with a smile in her last moments in the past, so she made sure she was smiling wide. "Let's meet again!" she called out. Anything was possible, and it truly was a dear hope.

She clenched Cassiopeia in her hand as she was enveloped in white light...

....But it didn't take her long to realize something was going wrong. The light, that was expected. But there was a tugging, a pulling, as if her body was trying to move in every direction at once. She didn't panic, but she knew that was not normal. Time travel with Cassiopeia was seamless, it was natural, it shouldn't feel like anything. Even the light was only due to moving in such a large jump and pulling in a large amount of magical energy for it.

This was different. Something was going wrong, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

It didn't last long, though. She found herself having to rub her eyes, her vision blurry after the trip. "Where...?" She didn't normally vocalize her thoughts, and she cut it short as soon as she could see well enough to make out her surroundings.

In some ways, it looked more like her own time than the past she had come from. The platform she was on was glowing, and there seemed to be a machine in the middle of the room... but it was otherwise barren.

The monitor on the machine was glowing a rather typical blue, and she wasn't all that surprised when a feminine voice spoke up. "Welcome to the City, Hero."

"Interesting," Chao replied, smiling. Inside, she was half-torn: on one hand, this was all very interesting, and she was itching to take apart that machine and see just what it did. On the other, this was very much a potentially dangerous situation. Something had interrupted time-travel, and then brought her here, wherever this was. That took a lot of power, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of reason. Definitely not something to be taken lightly. "Do you mind telling me more?"

There was no reply forthcoming, however. Chao's smile faded into a thoughtful frown as she dropped her act. It was most likely an AI: was it too simple to respond to questions? Was it programmed to simply remain silent? Or was it even more primitive, nothing but a recording?

There was a loud clunk, followed by a few shorter, lighter clinks. Something dropped in the machine. She moved forward to investigate.

First was a pair of dog tags. One had a number – it didn't mean anything to her, so she moved on to the next... it might be important, but right now she had more to worry about – and the other had a single word emblazoned on it. Cassiopeia.

She glanced down at the watch in her hand. Its weight suddenly felt heavier. Did whoever bring her here want it? Did they want Cassiopeia? She resisted the urge to suddenly shove it into a pocket, that'd be too obvious. She doubted she could use it here, without the World Tree nearby, but she wasn't about to hand over that kind of technology, either.

What was the heavier object, though? She picked it up and examined it. A simple glance could tell her it was a communicator. She'd need to take it apart and see what else it had in it: if there was a GPS, she would need to disable it. And then she would need to see what sort of network it connected to.

That voice spoke up again, which actually startled the girl. So it was still going to speak? "Be sure to pick up a brochure on your way out." That was followed by laughter which quickly faded.

That was it? That was all it was going to say? That wasn't creepy at all.

Still, a brochure.... she needed more information. She did put away Cassiopeia this time, and a determined look fell on her face. It was possible somebody was waiting in ambush nearby. Why had she been brought here?

She'd find out one way or another.