Gensoukyou:Ludivine

Early Life in Western Europe
Born in the early 1300s in Western Europe, Ludivine was daughter to an angelic nobleman, and a half-angel mother who was an artist. From a young age, she had always been interested in art in all forms; primarily sculpting and painting, with only a limited amount of guidance from her parents. From even as young as the age of five, the moment she laid eyes on the artwork that her mother had created, she desired to create the same thing, as if like a natural gift or an urge. By the age of ten, Ludivine as already creating artwork and carvings of the highest level, outmatching some even more famous artists of her time.

As she grew older, and her paintings became more popular in her small town in Western Europe, odd things started to become of her paintings. Many people reported odd sounds like eerie music for faint whispers coming from the paintings or sculptures they had gotten from her, some going as far as to believe the objects as cursed and herself as some manner of witch or demon, or simply a curse bearer. Despite her parents trying to plead with the humans, none of them wanted to reveal their angelic heritage, and so she agreed to leave the town so as to not cause any further trouble.

For the next several years, Ludivine travelled all across western Europe. As an angel, she required little in the way of food, she still somewhat struggled to find places to stay from town to town. She would, occasionally, sell paintings to merchant caravans whenever she could, so as to make the money to get whatever shelter she needed, but she tried to do so as seldom as possible, as she did not want to create too widespread of a reputation for her "cursed" paintings. One day, however, she was met with a small, rouge caravan that she'd sold paintings to before between towns. The merchants, of course, did experience the so-called "curse" of the paintings, and sought blood from the girl, thinking that she had cursed them something terrible. She tried to run away from the merchants, but ran head first into another traveler and fell back. Her light frame caused little damage to this traveler, and she had thought she was cornered. In a flash of steel, though, she soon saw that the man she ran into was busy slaying the men who cornered her. It was unknown to her just how long the man had been there, to know of the merchants' desires, but she cared only for how she'd been saved. This man, soon revealed as a traveling noble, introduced himself, simply, as Dilith and agreed to accompany the young lady in her travels.

After taking whatever they could carry from the merchants' wagon, "they need it not anyway, lest corpses grow sentience" -Dilith, the two set off. Though the noble said he was to accompany Ludivine, the opposite quickly became true as Ludivine followed only in her "protecter's" lead. From town to town, even through towns that she had already been through, they continued on their journey to nowhere in particular, although this time, the stays in the towns lasted more than only a week or so. Rather, some stays would last up to months. Regardless, Ludivine cared little, not minding following the noble to wherever he lead her. Over time, even, the safety, trust, and comfort that she found while around him grew into even love for this, who she thought was, human. Despite this love, she realized that her kind lived long while his would not, and held off on trying to get too close with him, remaining happy just traveling with him.

Throughout their travels, Ludivine started to notice odd things about some of the towns they were visiting. Some of them were slummy towns, much different than the ones she was used to. When questioning Dilith as to why they were visiting these kinds of towns, she only got a few assuring words, but no true answer. Dilith would often times even disappear within the towns, only returning to the inn where they stayed late into the night. By far, though, the strangest part of their travels that Ludivine was noticing, was not the state of some of the towns they were visiting, but the state of others as they were leaving. Villages and towns that they had left, once clean and calm, were now undergoing crime waves. Even towns they had visited before that they returned to were found to be in dismay. Dilith's disappearances started to become more frequent as well, only furthering Ludivine's suspicion of the situation. More concern was brought about when Dilith started to become more blunt and sinister with his doings and way of speaking. Though, when one would expect this to be influence of the towns, Ludivine felt that the opposite was true; when Dilith became more sinister, the towns became worse.

Ludivine decided she'd had enough unease when one of the towns succumbed to a state of war, Dilith only laughing at the thought of it. Ludivine was almost certain that he'd something to do with the towns' states, and so she decided to not stay with him any longer. However, when she'd tried to leave him one night, she was caught by him. When he queried her of her attempting to flee, she only responded with queries of her own about his doing in the towns and villages. Dilith only laughed at her, and, quite simply, revealed red eyes and toothed grin, telling her of what he really was; a demon. Needless to say, Ludivine was quite shocked by this. She'd heard stories of demons, and particularly of the "relationships" between angels and demons - of how demons were fallen angels, scornful of their angel "ancestors", and how the angels look down on the demonkin. She wished to get away from this demon, but he allowed no such thing, offering her a choice to die or serve him. Naturally and reluctantly, Ludivine complied with the latter, and the lesser of two poisons.

From that point on, they continued on their travels. Dilith acted as if nothing happened, but Ludivine was clearly troubled, and fearful of her life. Soon, though, Dilith began asking questions of Ludivine about her painting ability, questions which were met with hesitant answers from her. Dilith seemed to become interested in the "curse" once she had mentioned it, and offered to help her "refine" it better. Though Ludivine was ever so cautious of such a notion, she'd little choice but to accept. Over time, and many paintings, Dilith seemed to notice the magical properties of the art, noting the sounds and even faint movements of the paintings on the canvas, something even Ludvine hadn't noticed. Soon after this, Dilith had begun to try and train Ludivine to focus on this power, eventually leading her to discover that she did, in fact, have some manner of magic that she imbued into the art. Over the course of a year, Kageki had taught her how to utilize this ability in specific ways, such as to spread, as he put it, "corruption" into the minds of people. Though Ludivine wanted no part in this, she'd no choice but to obey.

Eventually, Dilith had taught Ludivine about more ways to use her power, to the point where she could even make paintings move with a bit of sentience while on the canvas, and even to make music with the paintings. Though she saw this as something amazing, she still held a wariness about what she was being taught, especially in how she was forced to use it. She even planned to, once she'd learned enough about it, hopefully somehow use her power to finally escape - however that would be possible. Though, she'd never get her chance, as one night, while on their usual stop at an inn in between two villages, Dilith has suddenly disappeared after leaving for, as he put it, a "stroll through the woods". Though Ludivine waited for a few days for his return, she saw no sign of such a thing, and figured it safe to run away before he'd return, if he would. As such, she did. She'd heard that there was lands far east, and so, not wanting to stay in Europe anymore, she did go eastward. Not ever thinking about stopping except to eat or sleep occasionally.

Life in Asia
(( Not done, but still pretty extensive. Rest of the backstory will include her travels through China and into Japan, then finally into Gensoukyou. ))

Power/Combat
Though not particularly incapable of fighting, Ludivine perfers to stay her way from conflict when possible. She's not opposed to defending herself, though, often using a more defensive style of combat suiting to her powers.

Ability to paint anything from memory
Not much of a power, though, Ludivine holds a photographic memory and great artistic ability to pair with it. With but a glance, she is able to near perfectly recreate any scene or form she envisions or remembers in the form of art, living or otherwise. Aside from that, she also just holds great artistic ability and can create astounding artwork.

"Manipulation of Art"
The term "Manipulation of Art" is sort of a term that Ludivine uses to describe her unique ability to bring paintings that she creates to life. With this ability, she can draw whatever she wishes for and command it to come from the canvas and become a physical entity. Whether it be as small as a bug, to as large as a dragon, with enough effort, there are few things exempt from her "artistic ability".

Perhaps a slightly better way to describe this power is "manipulation of ink", as not only is she able to bring things to life from a canvas, she can also seemingly paint on thin air, without any sort of canvas or other.

Her power extends, even, beyond just painting or "sculpting". Traditionally, anyway. As mentioned before, Ludivine's paintings are even capable of creating sound. Literally speaking; not only can Ludivine paint living real or living things, she can also "paint" sound. This is most effectively done by utilizing a feather from her own wings to use as a brush or pen of sorts, and then painting a myriad of colors into the air - the magical properties of the ink and the feathers seeming to create a lovely sound like no other. An orchestra of color, so to speak.

Weapons and Artifacts
Being mostly passive, Ludivine carries little in the way of weapons. She does, however, carry some scrolls, a book, and a brush coupled with a jar or two of ink with her in a bag. Should she ever find herself in a bit of trouble, she can simply paint up some manner of defense or open the scrolls or book to reveal some already made artwork, ready to be brought to life from a simple breath. If that fails to work, she can simply paint "danmaku" and toss them at any offenders.

Personality
Having long since gotten over her life in Western Europe, Ludivine is still the same, happy girl that she was when she was much younger. Were there any real stereotypes for angels, she'd be the prime example of it - Happy, carefree, kindhearted, and all around good-natured.

As already stated, Ludivine is very artistic and will spend most of her free time either paiting, drawing, sculpting, creating new entities to converse with, or finding others to admire her art. Speaking of which, she is quite self conscious of her painting skill, and as such is always looking for approval, whether it be given in the form of a smile and a nod, or asking to purchase the painting from her; she adores anything that lets her know that at least someone enjoys her art.

A side effect of her time with the demon nobleman, however, she's somewhat wary of becoming too attached to someone and she is especially fearful of demons or any of the related. Another result of said encounter is that she has grown a sort of dark sense of humor at times, perhaps a result of the demon's manipulation. Though she doesn't act all to often on way of thinking, she can still be somewhat mischievous at times.

As well as having a passion for art, Ludivine also has a love for music, and will often "compose" her own music while painting. Unfortunately, this music is short lived and only lasts while she paints. She has tried to even record the music before, using some technology in the outside world, but she has long since not bothered to do so, finding more value in the music as it's created, rather than replayed.

Spellcards
Though unfamiliar with Danmaku, Ludivine does have an artistic sense extending to even her "spells" that she uses, either for idle practice and enjoyment, or for the rare case she finds herself in some manner of conflict. Despite her lack of familiarity with the concept of spellcards, though, her artistic ability does make her rather rather dangerous in this aspect, despite her lack of direct power.

Art of Nature - "She Who Paints The Petals"
Ludivine "paints" several cherry trees around her, the petals of which become danmaku that will flow towards the opponent in sweeping patterns - like blossoms falling to the ground. Meanwhile, Ludivine will dance among the petals, stirring them up and creating larger flowers that will explode into more pedals.

This spellcard was one of the first that she had thought up and was based on the first cherry blossom viewing she attended in Asia.

Art of Peace - "Life is Art; War is Burning Canvas"
Based off the time she had spent with Dilith and the violence she'd seen as a result, this spell is treated much as if Ludivine was painting a scene: starting off with painting weapons of war and soldiers and the like, Ludivine sends the things after her opponent int waves while the same is created behind the opponent. As the two sides clash, they explode into flower-like danmaku that extend outward and disappear before reaching the end of the field. The scene ends with a blooming of flowers across the field.

Art of Deception - "Uncanny Likeness; Look Closer"
Something kept from the things that Dilith had taught her, Ludivine paints a clone of herself that is intangible. Together, the two beings begin to dance about, painting brushstrokes of danmaku that seems to impossibly fill the field. The trick to this card, however, is to find the one that is not real - their danmaku is also intangible. All the while, flowers start blooming around the field, sometimes pulling in the fake danmaku before exploding into all too real petal danmaku as the two beings switch randomly with eachother.

(( More to come at some point.))

Major
Character::Amaya Kuroku: Even having only just met recently, it would seem that Ludivine and Amaya have taken to each other quite well. Though Ludivine was wary of the ghost at first, her hospitality led her to invite the ghost for some tea. The revelation that this person she met was a ghost led to an interest in her that made her want to know more about her. To make a long story short, speaking with the ghost led them both to find numerous common interests, and one stray, admittedly joking comment led them to sharing a blanket on a bench while reading books and talking. It was through this they learned more about each other and became rather close friends, both finding how much they enjoy snuggling up together and relaxing. She also may have a sort of "crush" on Amaya, but certainly tries not to let it influence how she acts.

Minor
Dilith - Being her former master and mentor, Ludivine does appreciate what Dilith has taught her and how he's helped her, but despite this she still shows a bit of resentment towards him and, by association, demonkin in general. She does, sometimes, wonder what happened to him, but doesn't much dwell on the past too much.

Trivia

 * Ludivine's name, Ludivine Arcenaile, is, quite obviously, french in origin. Ludivine means "Divine Light" while Arcenaile, or Arc en Aile, means "Rainbow Wings"


 * Despite their spiritual look, Ludivine's wings, inherent within her family bloodline, are actually constructed of feathers much as a normal angel's wings would be. The feathers, however, are transparent like glass and hold a prism-like aspect to them - hence her family name
 * These feathers also hold a very magical property to them. As such, Ludivine finds it easiest to paint or draw using her own feathers as pens or brushes. Though they don't work so well on actual canvas, they work perfectly when painting on air.


 * Ludivine's favorite foods usually contain cherries. She even enjoys making cherry tea quite often.
 * To this extent, Ludivine will actually take such things as cherry pie as trade for her own paintings, not much one to hold such a high value to her artwork.


 * Despite living in the modern world, Ludivine stays her way from technology too much. She claims it ruins the natural beauty of life.
 * Even with that said, she does tell some stories about the "internet", from time to time.