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[beauman]

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Name: Infy
Age: 30+
Contact: Infychu
Timezone: CST
Other Character(s): N/A


« « « IC INFORMATION

Name: Rook Hunt
Canon: Twisted Wonderland
Canon Point: The VERY beginning of book 7, the night before Lilia's farewell party

Age: 18
Appearance: Appearance write up | Image gallery

History: Rook Hunt's past is shrouded in mystery by his own design, as he reveals very little of his personal life before he enrolled in Night Raven College to anyone. He is known to be the third oldest child of six, and hails from the Sunset Savannah. His family owns villas with warp panels in multiple different countries--a technology which requires special international clearance, due to their ability to cross borders instantaneously. In spite of how affluent his family seems to be, this doesn't prevent him from experiencing significant danger at a young age, as he nearly died after being lost alone in the jungle for a month at the tender age of six.

At some point during his childhood, he broke free of his initial struggles with hopelessness and emotional expression, when he attended a deeply moving performance of King's Road: The Sword of Majesty, starring the child actor Neige LeBlanche. This in turn sparked a lifelong adoration for the actor, and helped formed Rook's foundational obsession with all things beautiful, to go along with his passion for hunting. By the time he enrolled in Night Raven College at age sixteen, he had grown into a highly dangerous, exceptionally expressive (if rather unnerving) hunter, committed to the dream of seeing and safeguarding all the beauty in the world.

Upon enrollment, he was initially sorted into the Savanaclaw dormitory, a rugged and wild group which houses students that embody the King of Beasts' (Twisted Wonderland's version of Scar from The Lion King) spirit of persistence. At some point during his first year, he met Vil Schoenheit, an internationally acclaimed model and actor considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. The pair quickly struck up an unlikely but deep friendship, and Vil took Rook under his wing, teaching him about how self-affirming it could be to beautify himself, rather than only look for beauty in the outside world. Rook took Vil's mentoring to heart so profoundly that he reinvented himself, adopting countless means of self-improvement as he learned how to become just as beautiful as the things he loved. He even chose to pursue the difficult and complex process of transferring between dorms to be closer to Vil. He joined Pomefiore, a sophisticated and fashionable dormitory housing students that embody the Fairest Queen's (Twisted Wonderland's version of the Evil Queen from Snow White) spirit of tenacity. He joined the Science Club in order to be more useful to Vil's acting career, and once Vil became Pomefiore's Housewarden, Rook stepped up to support him as his Vice Housewarden.

At the beginning of Rook's third year of Night Raven College, a mysterious person from another world appeared during the orientation ceremony. They and a strange monster named Grim threw the ceremony into chaos, as Grim attempted to force the Headmaster to accept him as a student so he could learn to become the world's greatest mage. As Grim refused to leave, and the mysterious otherworldly arrival had no way to be sent home, the Headmage decided to accept them both into the school--but only as one student rather than two, as the otherworldly visitor had no magic, and Grim was not a human. The pair were placed in a haunted, abandoned Ramshackle Dorm, and the otherworldly arrival declared its Prefect. In the following months, Grim and the Prefect became embroiled in one crisis after another, involved each time in catastrophic Overblots (potentially lethal and supposedly rare mental breakdowns, causing the victims to go on rampages burning through their entire magical reserves) involving the members of each dorm one after another.

After returning from winter break, Night Raven College began to prepare to host National Wizarding Boarding School Joint Culture Festival, an annual festival gathering students from arcane academies from all over the country to show off their work and compete in various contests. The only contest receiving extensive media coverage was the Vocal & Dance Championship, where groups of students would compete to win a five million thaumark cash prize for being voted the best song and dance number, and possibly even be scouted to become professional musicians. This year's VDC was set to receive massive amounts of attention, as two of the world's foremost celebrities, Vil and Neige LeBlanche, would both be participating. As a master entertainer and influencer, Vil headed Night Raven College's group, and hosted auditions alongside Rook to determine who the other members of the team would be. Although nobody auditioning met Vil's standards, Rook convinced him that the raw potential of unpolished amateurs could be the key to their victory; as a result, Vil selected Ace, Deuce, Kalim, Jamil, Epel, and Rook to be his supporting members. Although Grim was not chosen as a dancer, the Headmage asked Grim and the Prefect to act as the NRC Tribe's managers, and let them live at Ramshackle Dormitory to train until the event in return for much needed rennovations.

The NRC Tribe spent a tense and grueling month together training, honing their showmanship skills and teamwork. In spite of that, they struggled enormously with morale and team spirit, as Vil was an extremely harsh taskmaster--members' luggage was searched, their diets were strictly regulated, and their training regimen was extreme, with complaints harshly crushed as Vil pushed them all to bring out their true potential. After a disagreement between Vil and Epel broke out into battle, Epel and Deuce ran away from the group to vent their frustrations; after advising Vil to show Epel how to wield both beauty and power in a way he would be able to understand, Rook took Kalim to go give Deuce a pep talk. Recognizing that Deuce and Epel both want to change but don't know how, he advised Deuce that he has a special talent that only he possesses, one that he'll never be able to develop if he gives up on himself before he even tries to grow into his true potential. They convince Deuce that he'll never be able to grasp what's uniquely great about himself if he only focuses on what he's lacking and bad at, and Deuce borrows a blastcycle (a one-wheeled, magically powered motorcycle) from Ignihyde Dormitory, taking Epel to the beach so they can have a heart to heart and raise their spirits enough to come back. While they're at the beach, Vil chooses to advertise Epel's home town's apple juice on Magicam, (Twisted Wonderland's social media site) causing their sales to go from struggling to through the roof in a matter of hours, showing Epel the true intangible strength that beauty can bring to bear. With their resolve restored, the NRC Tribe returns to training in earnest until the festival.

Once the festival begins, the NRC Tribe watches their main rivals, Neige's group from Royal Sword Academy, rehearse their routine: a popular children's song that absolutely everyone knows, performed with charming imperfection alongside Neige's dwarf friends. Vil realizes that they've been outplayed when he sees that the crowd's hearts are moved by how sweet and wholesome the performance is, and in a moment of weakness over being denied the recognition he's worked so hard for, for so long, Vil curses a bottle of apple juice to be deadly poison. Rook takes the juice and sends Neige away, preparing to knowingly drink the poison himself in a demonstration of how much he trusts Vil and his integrity, only for Grim, the Prefect, and Kalim to arrive and break the bottle and save him. Overcome with horror over the ugliness of his own attempted murder and unable to forgive himself, Vil loses control of himself and Overblots. Jamil hypnotizes Neige to dance and sing to draw a crowd outside of the coliseum, while sending Ace, Deuce, and Epel to evacuate everyone who didn't leave to see the show. Swooping in on Kalim's magic carpet, Jamil rescues the group confronting Vil, who pursues and attacks them. Thanks to Deuce developing his Unique Magic, repaying damage he's taken all at once, the NRC Tribe is able to defeat Vil and bring him back to his senses.

They decide to wait to tell the faculty about what happened until after the performance, as nobody witnessed it since Vil's curse cut the inside of the coliseum off from the outside world--however, the stage is completely destroyed from their battle. Malleus appears and repairs the stage for them as thanks for the Prefect inviting him to attend the competition. In the end, the NRC Tribe loses the competition due to a single vote--Rook voting for Royal Sword Academy as the most beautiful performance, as their own group lacked the conviction in their own beauty and faith in themselves and each other that Neige and his friends did. The NRC Tribe is shocked by this, and by the revelation that Neige recognizes Rook as one of his most dedicated fans. Rook thanks him for everything Neige has done and everything he means to him, and (much to the NRC Tribe's displeasure) the two groups all dance and sing to Neige's song together for the crowd.

A few days later, Vil called together the NRC Tribe to apologize for nearly endangering so many people, for failing them as a leader, and for causing them to not be at their best when they performed. He acknowledged that only Rook had voted impartially, out of all of them--that thanks to them all being so exhausted, they poured their hearts out into their performance, but they still didn't do as well as they were capable of when they were at peak condition. He explained how Neige and his dwarf friends support each other without parents to help provide for them, and that since everyone on stage had their own stories, results were all that mattered in show business, so he was going to pay the group the prize money they would have earned from his own pocket as a way of taking responsibility. Everyone except Ace and Deuce chose to donate their shares of the money to rennovating Ramshackle Dormitory for hosting them while they trained together, but their meeting was interrupted by the Ferrymen invading the school: members of Charon, a special technomantic security force with Styx, an independent research institute that has studied Blot for generations. The Ferrymen abducted Jamil, Vil, Grim, Riddle, Leona, Azul, and Crowley, and took Idia and Ortho with them as they returned to the Island of Woe. All remaining Housewardens and Vice Housewardens assembled in the Headmage's office to talk over the emergency with Professor Trein, and dispersed to tend to their own dorms' students.

Rook rushed off to track down the kidnapped students to the Island of Woe, ostensibly to give Vil skincare products; the Prefect and Epel chased after him, firing off spells to force him to surrender and demanding to be taken along on the rescue mission. Though upset with himself for failing to believe in them and acknowledge their tenacity, Rook took them with him, and revealed that he cast his unique magic on the Ferrymen, allowing him to track them down to the Island of Woe. To help them cover ground faster over the course of the next day, they used his family's villas equipped with warp pads, and Rook deflected Epel's questions about them, as well as his family. After pretending to fight and losing upon locating the Island of Woe, the three were brought underwater to the island proper, where Idia and Ortho questioned them. They weren't allowed to see the captured students, but Rook convinced them to deliver the skincare products he brought, while Ortho took them elsewhere to wait for the captured students' testing to be finished, and questioned them over how and why they came. Rook voiced how deeply upsetting Vil's Overblot was to him, and his regret over being powerless to save him even if he had realized the danger in time and reached out to him, explaining to Ortho that he acted even in a hopeless situation to do whatever he could, for the sake of his own principles and peace of mind.

Thanks to Rook and Vil inadvertently teaching Ortho hope in the face of impossible odds, Ortho heard the voice of Phantom Ortho from the Underworld, what remained of Idia's dead brother that he was built to replace. Ortho and Phantom Ortho took over the facility, and Idia rushed to join them, overblotting alongside Ortho. Rook revealed that he cast his signature spell on Vil's skincare products, and his group left to find the captured students, running into unmanned Charon suits trying to kill them. There were too many for Rook to protect them all with his barriers, but Epel unlocked his unique magic, allowing him to lock the Charon suits in stasis. Once everyone met up and assessed the situation, they collected some supplies from the Styx employees before heading down to Tartarus to save Grim, and stop Idia and the Orthos from flooding the world with Blot and Phantoms, including activation keys for taking the Thunder Spears so they can fight the three Titans--considered the first ever Phantoms, sealed away during the Age of the Gods. Everyone divides into teams to go through Tartarus, leaving Pomefiore and the Prefect together, and Rook drags them all into a team huddle before they depart.

While the other two teams struggle with the power dynamics between them, the Pomefiore team works well together, even in spite of Ortho toying with them as though they're in a video game, setting tests like forcing them to play nearly impossibly difficult video games to allow the elevator to function, deregistering their ID cards, hiding access cards they'll actually need within Phantom containment units, and locking researchers into phantom containment units to force them to search for and rescue them. In breaks between battles with Phantoms and the Titan, Vil and Rook tell Epel and the Prefect the story of how they met, charging their Thunder Spear whenever they can. Finally, the teams met up and found Overblotted Idia had opened up the gate to the Underworld, where all the most dangerous Phantoms were kept, and massive quantities of Blot were escaping. He was joined by Overblot Ortho, who had absorbed countless other Shadows to become an enormous embodiment of the Underworld itself, and had a berserk Grim with him. While Azul and Riddle kept them busy, Leona's team and Vil's team went to rescue the Styx employees who were attempting to close the containment gates. None of the teams managed to fully charge their Thunder Spears by the time they faced off against Overblot Idia and Overblot Ortho, so each of them made up the remaining charge with their own magic reserves as they fought one by one.

Finally, Vil dove into the Underworld to rescue Grim and Idia from falling to their deaths, so Idia could close the gates to the Underworld and clean up the mess he made. While Riddle was only moderately drained of his life force, Vil suffered significantly more, thanks to such extensive exposure, and became extremely old. They saved Grim from choking on Ortho's technomantic memory card, demanded that Idia accept responsibility for repairing everything the Charons wrecked at school, and went back to school to get medical treatment, with Vil sobbing over his lost youth the whole trip. Once they returned, Lilia convinced Malleus to restore Vil to his rightful youthful form by sharing his magical energy with him, replacing what had been drained. Rook and the rest of Pomefiore welcomed Grim and the Prefect to stay in Pomefiore until the Ramshackle Dormitory could be repaired from all the damages, and the Headmage returned from being called before parliament in the Land of Dawning to explain the string of Overblots that happened on school. Idia reenrolled, Ortho was formally accepted as his own student as he now had a "heart", and everyone had a housewarming party at Ramshackle Dormitory to celebrate its rennovations, playing video games together and giving Idia and Ortho a taste of having a normal life.

Some time later, the third year students attended an assembly to let them know that they would be going to apply for their internship placements for when their next term started in September. While everyone discussed their options, Rook declared that he intended to intern at an archaeological research institution, and pursue higher education. He wanted to explore historic ruins, see more of the world, and find beauty that nobody had ever seen before. Soon after the assembly, Lilia distributed invitations to a farewell party for himself to the entire school, as he was dropping out due to losing his capacity for magic. Was it luck or fate that whisked Rook away to a strange new world before things could go so terribly wrong?

Personality:
Positive Trait: INSIGHTFUL: Rook displays an incredible amount of skill at not only observing people and seeing through to the heart of situations, but also high levels of emotional intelligence to go with it. He comforts and mentors his underclassmen on many occasions, offering sage advice and constant support to help them overcome obstacles both in the world around them and in their own hearts. Although occasionally so honest as to be hurtful, Rook tells people what he knows they need to hear, focusing on pushing people to be true to their principles, unlock their hidden potential, and find the courage and conviction to be their best and most authentic selves.

Top Negative Trait: OBSESSIVE: When Rook is interested in something, he throws every fiber of his being into it, for better or worse; whether that sort of passion is admirable or terrifying depends on the subject, and the perspective. He strives to learn everything about people he's interested in, often considering them his "prey", and thinking about how useful information would be to hunt them down. Even for his best friend, he strives to stay as close as possible so he can watch Vil's beauty from his best vantage point, declaring him "my beautiful Vil" and noticing nigh imperceptible changes in his body that even Vil hadn't realized had occurred. He even showers him with overwhelming and intimate gifts on his birthdays, such as writing one hundred poems extolling his beauty, or getting other students to help him put on an opera for Vil to enjoy.

Negative Trait: INVASIVE: Rook often turns his powers of observation to distinctly unsavory ends. When he takes a pointed interest on someone, it's likely they'll have little privacy, and no secrets they can hide from him--Vil has declared that Rook reads him more accurately than any scale or mirror, and Rook himself has admitted to recording even such intimate details as a classmate's eating habits, idiosyncrasies, sleep schedule, heart rate, and more. He makes very little effort to hide how thoroughly he studies people, going so far as to mention nearly imperceptible weight gain or hair growth, or gifting them tailored clothing that fits perfectly without needing to ask their measurements.

Negative Trait: DEVIOUS: Rook is, to put it bluntly, shady as hell. Though he's often honest to a fault and acting with the best of intentions, his methods tend to be underhanded and unnerving. He's not afraid to press people for secrets and weaknesses, extensively stalk them to learn their secrets, outright refuse to answer questions about himself and his life, manhandle people with overwhelming strength, or act cruelly or abandon his duties if he believes it's in their best interests. He seems to actively enjoy shaping people's perceptions of him--typically at first presenting as overwhelmingly eccentric but harmless at first to ensure people underestimate him, then becoming increasingly frightening as people learn just what he's capable of.

Powers and Abilities:
Elemental Magic: All students in Night Raven College seem to be proficient in various types of elemental magic, most notably water, plant, fire, and "typeless" cosmic energy--in Rook's case, his cosmic magic manifests as light, rather than the darkness magic most other students use. He's also noted to be skilled with ice magic, as he is capable of freezing a platform of ice on the ocean's surface large and thick enough to support several people's weight.

Magic Schooling: All students in Night Raven College are educated in a wide variety of subjects not only connected to magic, but which also support it by virtue of having a broad and well-rounded skill set. These include P.E., art, cooking, the history of magic, alchemy, flight, and many others.

Flight: Rook is noted to be exceptionally skilled at flying on a broomstick, to the point where he is working towards being able to control his flight so precisely that he can shoot a bow accurately while in midair.

Signature Spell: Rook's unique magic is called Arrow Afar, a type of magical tag so weak and unobtrusive that it can be cast on a target without them even realizing that they've been marked. Once a target has been so marked, Rook can track them from any range, so long as they don't escape into a different dimension, or his ability to sense the mark isn't fully blocked by anti-magic materials or techniques.

Science: As a member of Pomefiore, (and a member of the Science Club) Rook is exceptionally talented at creating alchemical poisons and potions, and somewhat experienced at creating things like magical dyes and smoke that can help with movie and stage productions. As Vil prefers to use bespoke cosmetics, he also has experience with making things like makeup and skin care products, especially sunscreen.

Hunting: Rook has been an avid hunter for most of his life. As such, he's cultivated a wide range of skills to support himself in such an endeavo, such as archery, tracking prey, incredible powers of observation and memorization, concealing his presence and footsteps, and following people undetected.

Heightened Senses: Although he appears to be a normal human, Rook is noted to have sharp senses far beyond what most other students display, including excellent hearing, a keen sense of smell, and being able to read the text on a book so far away that someone else could barely recognize who was holding it. He also appears to be able to tell what time it is and how long he's slept within about a 10 minute margin, and is capable of controlling his typically involuntarily biological processes such as respiration and heart rate. Even a highly advanced android scanning his vital signs like a sentient lie detector is unable to pick up on signs of surprise or falsehoods.

Art: As a lover of all things beautiful, Rook is passionate about all things artistic as a hobby. He's a gifted enough photographer to win a festival contest, he can compose whole poems on a whim, he can act, he can create extremely detailed and lifelike sketches, he can sing and dance, he can act, and he is extraordinarily passionate about theatre and film. His knowledge of acting and music is so extensive that he can converse with centuries old ghosts familiarly about the productions they saw during their lifetimes, is familiar with even the most obscure of operas, and can talk fluently about every facet of acting, from scripts to directing.

Inventory: Magical pen, bow, Rook tsum