After an unnecessarily long break, Team PRPL is back with another chapter!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54049819/chapters/187517291

Chapter 4 will be released real, real soon!

To be a Star, You Have to Burn Bright and Fly High. Fortunately, No One Knows How to Bring the Heat Quite Like Kieran Neverwinter!

A Top Player From the Beginning

Kieran was born in Vacuo alongside his twin brother, Kari. Their father was a legendary hunter, who was known for his flashy and brash style in combat. Their mother was one of his many admirers, who never missed an opportunity to gush about the brothers\’ father and his greatness.

The Neverwinters lived nomadically, like many within Vacuo. Kieran would travel with his father as he found work around the kingdom, whether that be as a hunter or a performer. His father would go on tour with his team, performing all around Vacuo.

As he grew older, Kieran wanted nothing more than to be more like his father. Fortunately for him, he shared not only his father\’s features, but his athleticism, and talent for the guitar. He trained for years and became the golden boy of his family, overshadowing his many cousins and, unwittingly, his brother.

When he was old enough to begin the last stages of training, Kieran decided to study abroad. He had already seen all of Vacuo going on tour with his father and wanted to see the world at large. As such, he applied to Beacon and traveled to Vale.

Hot, But Not So Bright.

Kieran has a fiery and hyperconfident attitude, as expected of a rockstar. He has no trouble making conversation, whether it be about music, hunting, or girls.

His talent for hunting isn\’t matched by his work ethic, however. Although he excelled when he was younger, Kieran quickly found himself academically outpaced in Beacon. He makes good enough grades to pass, and he excels in physical subjects, but scholarly pursuits evade him.

Underneath a Loud Persona Lies a Deadly Assassin

Kieran fights using his electric guitar, which makes strong enough vibrations to crush foes and propel himself. He can strum his chords with dust-lined picks to add elemental effects, such as gusts of wind or spouts of fire. In a pinch, Kieran is more than strong enough to fight up close, whacking opponents with his guitar and pummeling them with his fists.

His semblance, Slow Burn, allows him to sacrifice his aura to set an opponent on fire. It feeds on the aura of others and is nearly impossible to put out. Combined with his weapon, Kieran can coat his opponents in flame and escape, keeping them at bay with his musical vibrations while they burn to a crisp.

Growing Older, Kieran Faces the Consequences of Stardom

Kieran\’s extraordinary talent led him to be rocketed above his peers. Unbeknownst to him, it would create an emotional distance between him and his loved ones. Fame was a large part of his life, as performing on stage with his father brought him a fanbase of his own. One-on-one training with his father and the pressure of stardom left him little time for his brother, who was often excluded from his escapades.

Alongside that, political differences between his and his childhood friend Yolanda\’s families caused a rift in their relationships. The Kreiss family pushed for an organized, central Vaccuan government, while the Neverwinters sought to maintain a nomadic, hunter-centric lifestyle. These attitudes led the families to forbid them from seeing each other, and the distance made by this decision was sorely felt when the two met again at Beacon. Once good friends, the two are now bitter rivals.

Can Kieran repair these relationships, while maintaining his status as the prime example of a Neverwinter? Only time will tell.

Don\’t know if it\’s just me, but the images are borked.

This is why you use alt text folks

Most Would Say Maya Riaz Lived in a Bubble, But She Seeks to Expand Her Knowledge of the World Little By Little Every Day.

Maya Was Born Near the Heights of Society

Her parents, a popular news host and a doctor, raised her in the floating kingdom of Atlas. She lived a life of luxury; dwelling in a sizable mansion, purchasing the latest fashion, dabbling in many hobbies and pastimes, and having a Faunus servant, catering to her every need.

She was far from the average rich girl, however. She wasn\’t very interested in gossip or politics, nor was she opposed to exploring the great outdoors. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to leave Atlas and study the many different kinds of Grimm present in Remnant.

Even as a child, Grimm fascinated Maya. Where did they come from? Do they need to eat? How do they sense negative emotion? Why are many of their forms so similar to animals? These questions floated around her head, as she read the few books on Grimm biology, alongside ordering all sorts of replicas and models for study.

She figured she would need field experience if she wanted to complete her knowledge on Grimm, so she trained to become a huntress. Not wanting to be bogged down by government in her pursuits, she chose to attend Beacon Academy, instead of Atlas Academy, when she turned seventeen.

Maya Possesses A Naturally Curious and Creative Mind

Maya\’s wealth formed her into a scholar, rather than a socialite. The most sophisticated feature of her personality being her taste in music, favoring orchestral pieces and live performances over radio tunes.

Maya maintains an enthusiastic disposition, especially when it comes to hunting. Her favorite subject is Grimm, and she\’ll go on and on about various facts about the beasts if prompted, although few have as much academic interest in the topic as she does.

She maintains a passing interest in fashion, usually willing to go along with Yolanda and Kari on their many shopping sprees.

Maya, the Natural Born Trapper

Though Maya, like all hunters, ultimately seeks the ability to kill Grimm, her powers enable her to more easily capture and examine Grimm than others.

Her semblance allows her to form bubbles from her mouth. These bubbles are reinforced with aura, and are difficult to burst; especially from the inside. Maya herself can burst her bubbles at will. She can adjust the weight, strength, and size of a bubble when she forms it.

Her instrument allows her to manipulate her bubbles from afar. Bubbles formed through her recorder can be modified and popped if she plays certain notes. She can load dust into her recorder as well, giving the bubbles elemental properties.

Beyond the formation of bubbles, she can use her instrument as a direct weapon. Either as a bludgeoning tool, or through soundwaves.

Knowledgeable, Yet Ignorant

Maya grew up in comfort, surrounded by the wealthy. Her personal experiences with the poor are next to none, and the only Faunus she knew was her servant, whom she treated fairly, at least.

This lack of perspective often leads to unintentional mistreatment. Whether it be insensitive comments towards her Faunus friends like Rumo, or cluelessness on the class struggles of peers like Pahi.

She hopes her adventures as a huntress serving the commonfolk leads her to broader understanding.

Even if you\’ve killed hundreds–thousands maybe, can you still recover? Can you still redeem yourself, no matter how far you\’ve gone down the darkest path? Lilac Carmine seeks a definitive answer to this question.

Born with the surname Rabenda, Lilac was the daughter of a powerful hunter. He had worked for the wealthiest and most influential figures in all of Mistral. When he caught wind of all the corruption which flooded the inner-workings of the government, however, he abandoned his team and his work as a hunter.

Afraid he might expose government secrets, many assassins were sent to kill him, including his former teammates. Although all their attempts on his life had been futile, the hunter became worried when the assassins began to target his family. These attacks eventually resulted in the death of his wife.

He had managed to keep the knowledge of his daughter a secret, and hid in a cabin deep in the Mistralian forests. Unfortunately for him, he was traced to this location, and a pair of hired thugs was sent to kill him. He put up a good fight, but the combined might of Morgan Carmine and Verna Vidkinstein was enough to retire the hunter for good.

While ransacking the cabin, Morgan Carmine had discovered the young Lilac. No older than two years, the child was terrified by the stranger invading her home. Suddenly struck with remorse, Morgan began to comfort Lilac. Seeing how Lilac had no one else to care for her, Morgan decided to take her in as her own.

Adopting the surname Carmine, Lilac was trained to be an expert assassin and thief. Accompanying her surrogate mother on jobs, and watching as the gang slowly expanded. She became a fierce warrior herself, displaying almost unnatural talent in the art of combat.

As Lilac grew older, and slowly more independent, she began to wonder more and more about the world outside of criminality. Wanting to be apart of regular society, she figured becoming a huntress would be the way for her to use her learned skills in a moral manner. After a lengthy period of convincing, Morgan agreed to let Lilac apply for Beacon Academy.

Lilac is a glass cannon, possessing incredible agility, but low durability. She weaves from target to target, tearing them apart with her sharpened sai.

She is notably weak against grimm opponents, often finding them awkward to face compared to human ones, as dispatching rival gang members is what she has grown accustomed to.

Her semblance allows her to turn her hair into vapor. Whenever she is located in the vapor, she can teleport to other sections/clouds of it. For example, if there is a cloud of this vapor at point A, and another cloud of it at point B, she can travel instantaneously to point B, as long as she is within the vapor at point A, and vice versa.

One of her twin sai is infused with wind dust. This dust serves as a small vacuum, pulling the vapor emitted by her hair towards it. This allows her to use the sai for transport.

Lilac is a fish out of water when it comes to social interaction. Only bringing with her vague ideas of politeness inherited from her \’uncle\’ Moates Verde. Many common expressions get misconstrued by her, and peeks at her criminal history can\’t help but show from time to time.

Her social ineptitude results in her being unable to understand how others feel about her. From Yolanda\’s distaste, to Kari\’s fondness, most feelings not expressed in simple terms simply fly past her. Requiring someone like Pahi to explain.

There\’s nothing Lilac wants more than to be apart of society. To be accepted in a friend group. To experience what it\’s like to be \’normal.\’ But she knows that this can never be.

She\’s guarded when it comes to her past, often having to recite cover stories cooked up to prevent others from catching on to her gang affiliations. Although she wants to talk about her past, her upbringing and her current situation, she knows she can\’t do so without risk of exposure.

Exposure, is social death in her eyes. In a academy filled with people training to hunt people like her, the knowledge that she is the very thing they\’re taught to despise would no doubt result in ostracization, if not worse. There\’s a safeguard she maintains to prevent this. Whenever she gets too close to revealing herself, she simply disengages. Much to her own dismay.

But this is the fate she has resigned herself to. That of a spectator. \”What would they think if they knew? Would they treat me the same? Would they still like me? Would they hate me?\” These questions are best left unanswered in Lilac\’s book.

It can be tough when the world constantly reminds you of what it thinks of you. When you\’re put down and belittled, no matter where you go. You can never give up hope, however. Rumo Neve, for example, never did.

Growing up in Argus, Rumo Neve was orphaned when he was an infant. His foster mother, Ms. Klaus, tells him that he was the result of an affair between a wealthy Atlesian and his hired help, but he thinks she says this to make him feel special. Unnecessarily, he felt, because the other kids around the orphanage never failed to remind him he was different.

Rumo was a faunus, born with prominent antlers on his forehead. The kids around the orphanage mocked him for his appearance, and excluded him from most group activities. Often, Ms. Klaus would have to get involved before the other orphans would allow him to participate, and it was usually begrudgingly.

He didn\’t have much luck outside of the orphanage either. Besides his friend, Iris Finch, most of the students of the local academy avoided him like the plague. The few who did take the time to interact with him did so with malicious intent, playing pranks on and insulting him. During his senior year, Rumo and one of his bullies had gotten into a particularly heated fight, which resulted in his eventual expulsion.

Although initially deterred, Ms. Klaus had convinced Rumo to continue to seek training as a hunter, and one year later, he was accepted into Beacon Academy.

Rumo carries with him a calm and kind attitude. Seeing firsthand the results of brash actions, he prefers non-violent solutions, and is the first to try and defuse an argument.

He is a people-pleaser, never directing ire to anyone (besides himself). Some, like Pearl, would even go so far as to describe him as a doormat. Rumo often has a hard time saying no to a request, even if it would be detrimental to him in the long run.

Rumo fights unconventionally. He rides on a rocket-powered lance, charging into grimm and bandit alike. He drops dust bombs as he flies by, allowing him some ranged attacks. On foot, his capability is lacking. The lance can be used as an improvised thrusting weapon, and the exhaust can act as a makeshift flamethrower.

Rumo\’s semblance allows his skin to glow a bright red on command. He can use this to signal to his teammates from afar, or act as a guiding light under low visibility. He finds this ability to be rather useless outside of these contexts, however.

Rumo sees hunters as public servants. Always willing to provide and serve for the folks around them. The unfortunate result, is that Rumo is rarely willing to put concerns of his own health before that of others. He runs himself ragged doing odd jobs and favors around town and the academy. He works so much to the point that occasionally, his grades begin to slip. Much to the dismay of Pearl, his team captain.

Although he\’ll claim otherwise, deep down Rumo serves others in an attempt to garner respect, love and affection. Believing that, if he worked hard enough, and helped enough people, they would like him. Even though his friends tell him he doesn\’t need to work so hard to impress them, Rumo can never be too sure. Service is the main thing he\’s good at, and he\’s willing to do whatever it takes to maintain the new friendships he\’s acquired at Beacon.

A hatred for grimm, an iron will, and a lack of self-preservation… With these traits, Pearl Navi was the perfect candidate for the role of huntress.

Pearl was born in Vale, although she didn’t stay there long. Her father was a treasure hunter, and after a disagreement with her mother, he took her abroad on his ship. Life at sea was all Pearl could remember. Either travelling to distant lands in hopes of treasure, or occasionally taking on odd jobs like delivery and transport. Her crew was everything to her. Pearl’s fondest memories were that of her and her crew swapping tales and singing sea shanties. Life was hard, but good. That was until one lead on a legendary artifact, led the crew of the ship towards their doom.

Pearl’s father had heard of a desert island that was once inhabited by faunus, mainly amphibious and aquatic. Legend said that they established this civilization to escape the subjugation and slavery faunus were subjected to in ancient times. Although it seemed small on the surface, there was an abundant dust reserve underneath, and the majority of the population lived in underwater chambers. These marvelous chambers held mysterious technologies, tech that could be sold for a fortune. What the rumors don’t tell, however, is why the island was eventually deserted. Unfortunately, the reason soon became very apparent to the ships crew.

The trip was long, and the crew on the ship was incredibly weary. Pearl’s father remained adamant that treasure was soon upon them, but when they arrived at the island, they were unable to find the chambers, or access any of the treasure he promised. Enraged, some members of the crew decided to stage a mutiny, and all the unrest that came after attracted the attention of a gigantic, monstrous grimm. The same grimm that wiped out the civilization in the first place. The ship was torn apart, and the last of the crew compiled whatever dust they had left to try and defeat the monster. In the end, the remaining crew sacrificed themselves to ward off the beast. Left as the sole survivor, Pearl, at age twelve, had lost her left hand alongside her entire family.

Pearl floated adrift in a seemingly endless sea, directionless in a dingey raft. With the rations she had been given before departing slowly dwindling. Fortunately, she was rescued, and brought to the underworld of Mistral. Pearl was at first shocked at the drastic change in lifestyle, but seemingly uncharacteristically, a corrupt merchant took pity on her. Providing basic necessities for her, and eventually inducting her into a local gang of sorts. Nothing big, simply runners of contraband and other illicit goods. The mark of a runner being red neckwear.

As a result of her past, Pearl grew an obsessive hatred toward grimm, and focused all her efforts on becoming a huntress. She saved up all her earnings to purchase and customize a cybernetic hand, and used the rest to travel to Beacon Academy.

Pearl maintains an authoritative and harsh attitude. She is dead-set on her own improvement as a huntress, and scoffs at any recreational activity, seeing them as pointless. With such an attitude, she maintains few friends, but those who she does consider close see a softer, but still serious Pearl. One who enjoys quips and sarcasm. Her verbal jabs and pokes being a sign of endearment.

Pearl is never afraid to speak her mind, and critique what she considers inadequate, a habit that often gets her into arguments. Especially with her teammate, Pahi. Pearl sees her as lax in her training as a huntress. Too focused on socializing than being effective in combat. Although Pearl could describe flaws in Pahi’s technique all day, what she cannot explain is why she cares so much about her. Seemingly having an instinct to coach and protect Pahi. She still sorting out what she sees in her, and keeps a watchful eye on her development.

Pearl has trained herself from the ground up to be a war machine. She has a high pain tolerance, incredible athletic ability, abundant technical knowledge, and consistent tactical brilliance.

Her cybernetic hand can detach and retract, allowing her to perform oblique attacks and possess advanced mobility. She can also fire pistol rounds from the finger tips, giving her mid-range capability as well.

Her semblance turns her eyes into a deep blue. It allows her to hyperfocus, processing events and information at an astounding rate. It suppresses her emotions, allowing her to keep calm and cool in tense situations. It also gives her advanced reflexes and motor control, allowing her to dodge and react lightning fast, as well as perform intensive and precise physical techniques.

Pearl feels a lot more than what she lets on. On the inside, she’d like to get know people better, talk about something besides training or grimm, maybe even start a relationship. But she can’t, at least, she can’t allow herself to.

Her quest is more specific than simply killing as many grimm as…[Read more]

Who would look at a little girl and assume she held such anger and strength within? Underneath those bandages, Taupe is a ball of the purest flame.

Born in a stray commune in Vaccuo, under the given name Sinai, Taupe toiled tirelessly alongside her fellow community members to maintain the rare plot of viable farmland they\’d stumbled upon. She was the child of a hunter, who was the commune\’s sole protector. Despite the reputation granted by his role, he was a terrible man. A constant drinker, lazy farmer, and abusive father. Taupe was regularly beaten and reprimanded by him for every slight mistake. His abhorrent nature was known by all in the community, but no one dared to do anything. Either out of fear of what he could do to them, or out of fear of what would happen if they ever were to lose their only hunter. So they kept quiet, never taking the risk of a confrontation with the hunter. It wasn\’t all bad for Taupe, however. The few commune members who were sympathetic to her plight did their best to provide comfort and support outside of her home. She especially looked up to one of the women in the commune who was always the best to her. Taupe aspired to be more like her, an idea that her father was vehemently against. After catching wind of such ideas, the most heated argument between the pair ensued, and resulted in a beating worse than Taupe had ever experienced before. Furious at his child, who was now unfit for work, the hunter became progressively more and more intoxicated. And unfortunately for the members of the village, he was blackout drunk when he was needed most. A grimm attack, with no hunter to protect against it, quickly wiped the small commune off the map. Miraculously, Taupe was the only survivor, although she had suffered severe burns and bone fractures from the onslaught. She managed to remain alive, even if just barely, until Moates Verde and Verna Vidkinstein of the Carmine gang, stumbled across the remains of the commune. Out on a hunt for a potentially powerful relic, they passed through the wreckage. Using every ounce of strength she had left, Taupe began to follow them. Annoyed by her presence, Verna began to tease Taupe with her canteen of water, much to Moates\’ chagrin. She raised the canteen higher and higher as Taupe struggled to reach it, when suddenly, the wraps around her arm slinked out and snatched the drink from Verna\’s clutches. It seemed Taupe\’s persistence earned sympathy from Moates, who offered her a drink from his water supply, alongside some food. Taupe joined the pair as they made a trip into the central city of Vaccuo, and eventually was inducted into the Carmine gang proper when they returned to Mistral, citing her near-impossible resilience and strength as grounds for recruitment.

After years of abuse from her father, Taupe has built a hardened shell around her feelings. She is seemingly cold and disinterested in conversation, only ever expressing great emotion in the form of anger. Although she doesn\’t show it, she considers her induction into the Carmine Gang to have been life changing. Being among the gang was one of the few places she could express herself freely. She started going solely by the name \”Taupe\” ever since, and adorned a pretty pink bow on the top of her head. Her troubled past prevents her from being able to show it, but there\’s nothing she loves more in the world than the gang, and she\’d do anything to protect it.

Taupe is the muscle of the Carmine group. Although her body is small and frail, her semblance gives her the ability to control and strengthen the bandages which laces her body. This allows her to indirectly express immense physical power, alongside strangling and manipulating the bandages at range. She can weave dust into her bandages, allowing them to have elemental effects, such as freezing ensnared opponents, and packing an explosive punch from afar.

For the longest time, Taupe and Lilac got along well enough. But, Lilac\’s growing interest in the world of hunting has raised suspicion in Taupe\’s mind. She worries that Lilac is becoming more and more unloyal to the gang, and that one day she might betray them. She hopes she isn\’t right, but she can never be too sure.