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Name: Needle
Nicknames: ???
Gender: Female
Age: 16

Faction/Race Ghost

Personality:
Needle grew up in a very strict household that basically molded her to keep stoic or emotionless in both expression and gestures. As an Engraver she can't have her own feelings interfering with the ink or environment lest it negatively affect the tattoo or drawing, so it was important to keep herself somewhat detached. Don't let her fool you though, she is not as she seems! Underneath that stoic face and the mostly blank body language lies a very curious and somewhat morbid personality, one that is prone to producing a seemingly endless supply of questions.

Ever since she was little, she was always questioning things, feeling the need to have validation as to why things are the way they are; why this ritual is done this way; why does she have to practice drawing in a controlled environment if she's not actually tattooing someone, so on and so forth. A lot of what she does and thinks is based on how her questions are answered; if you ask her to do something and can't give reasoning past 'because I said so', she'll likely not do it and might even think less of you for ordering her around. Exceptions of course being when given by people of obvious authority (Clan Leaders, Teachers, etc), where she will do it but not as well or as timely as possible.

It is actually this questioning nature that gave her the label of 'trouble maker' or 'wild' in the eyes of her clan; they are so strict and so intent on (for lack of better words) blindly following old rituals that her constant need for validation and outside experiences doesn't sit well with them. For the most part they have been able to give her answers that satisfy her or have met her half way on small things, and for the questions they couldn't answer or the behaviour they couldn't squash they found other ways to make her obey. When punishing Needle didn't seem to get very far, they instead turned to punish Lattice instead for her 'crimes'; it was the only thing that constantly got through to her, and over time she made exceptions with herself to ensure that Lattice would no longer get hurt on her behalf. The fastest way to make her listen to you is to bring Lattice into the argument; she'll become putty in your hands after that. However if you do this and you are not a member of the Clan or have no obvious authority, you might find yourself with a very vengeful ghost girl once Lattice is out of the picture! You definitely would not want her to hug you, she's a little prickly in the arms.

The love of her life is tattoos. If you have one, she'll automatically like you, but that doesn't mean she won't still question you to death about it. It's the one ritual she has always taken seriously; she loves doing it. The designing, the process, everything about it. Even just drawing calms her down, though her art us usually designs as opposed to actual pictures. Her dedication to the art is probably the reason she hasn't been disowned for her (in their eyes) 'wild' behaviour. She likes to dance and throw needles (pretend darts) at a homemade dart board when she is alone, usually in her room where nobody but Lattice can see her, and collects odd shaped pebbles or other small rocks. She can't see the colours, but she likes feeling the jagged edges! On the flip side, the sound of bells makes her so uncomfortable she needs to leave the room to stop shaking, and the flash of a camera startles and hurts her eyes.

TL;DR__
- Grew up in stupidstrict household
- Lattice is her twin sister
- Blank faced, little to no body language
- Asks a LOT of questions
- Hungry for new experiences
- Always listens to Authority though how well is the question
- Will hurt anyone who uses Lattice to make her listen to them
- Loves drawing/tattooing, especially the feel of the needle through skin
- Hobbies include dancing, dart throwing (neither of which she is good at) and collecting odd shaped pebbles.
- Scared of the sound of bells and the flash of cameras
- Her mask hinders eyesight to near blindness
- Is bullied by ink and will have a hard time with homework

Mechanics of things__

Needle vs Sight - Unlike Lattice, Needle was born with perfect eyesight. To keep her at Lattice's level and to train her for the eventual eye-removing ceremony, Needle was given a mask that effectively blinds her; she can see only basic physical shapes of larger objects much like trying to see into a dark room, but her ability to see ink is not hindered in any way. Ink she can see clear as day in any colour it possesses, but chalk, paint, pencil or oils are lost on her. Over the years her actual eyesight has deteriorated, however she can still see better when the mask is taken off. However, she refuses to remove the mask while she is awake and will only do so if the head of their clan tells her to.

Needle vs Ink - Needle inherited the empathy to ink in bounds, but she can not control it or bend it to her will as easily as her sister can. Even regular pen ink has the ability to severely 'bully' her, making it difficult for her to write because the ink doesn't feel like it; most of her notes end up nearly completely as doodles or small design drawings, as she has no choice but to appease it before it'll let her write properly. It's like a paralysis; she can't move her hand to write unless it's what the ink wants! Ink that she makes herself is more willing to obey her, but even that is not without it's difficulties. In short, Needle vs Ink is basically Needle vs Stubborn Brat.


Why are they enrolled in Amityville Academy?
Needle found Lattice admiring a poster for the Academy once, and took it upon herself to get them enrolled. She skipped out with Lattice to the Open House, and after Lattice cooled the anger of the Clan Elders, convinced them that the academy was the best place to quickly hone their FEAR. They sent in their own applications, however Lattice was accepted first, as Needle's first application wasn't quite legible.

FEAR:
-----Natural: Needle has the ability to empathize with and see ink. Thus she can see print on papers, posters, tattoos, etc that has ink in it. If it is any other medium, for example chalk, charcoal, pencil or paint, she is unable to see it.
-----FEAR: Pain transfer via Ink. The ink stains on Needle's hands are summoned into actual ink, and if this ink touches her opponent's skin it will leave a tingling or burning sensation. On top of that though, if the ink gets on any part of her opponent, including clothing, she'll be able to locate them easier!

Physical Description:

Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour/Style: Black. Hangs straight to the middle of the back, pieces over the shoulder.
Skin Colour: Pale, arms and hands covered in dark red and dark blue wounds and tattoos, plus snake and holly designed tattoos moving up her arms.
Clothing Style/Colours: Up to the artist! Needle Women generally only wear Hakama and an obi, but feel free to go nuts. The only thing I will ask is that any shirt she wears be sleeveless. Her general colours should be predominantly blue with some red tucked in there.
Extra: Constantly wearing a mask that has black fabric covering her eyes, while her forearms and hands are pierced with long, thin needles.
References: It's hard to find decent and clear images of them from the game, but here are a couple of AMAZING Cosplays of them: [X] [X]
Both images are great references for her arms and her mask.

Concept Art by Lucyal - Outfit not final

This is just all very unique and interesting that I have to crit as I go! Apologies if I waffle or take forever...

Firstly, I would be very wary of saying Needle "seems to be like any ghost should be" - because all ghost subraces are going to be different. Is she like a poltergheist should be? A jiang-shi? With so many different ghost types already present in the shop, I think you need to drop that phrase or clarify it somehow, eg. a non-violent Western ghost, a "friendly" ghost, etc.

Possibly you need to explain what comes across, to her, as a commanding or authortative presence? Is this only going to be teachers at the Academy? Or can other students command her if they are imposing enough?

I love the loner artist vibe going on. Appropriate for her subrace and it's something I can totally get as an amateur artist n.n

The inclusion of game mythos/sounds at the end fills me with glee. I'm not all that familiar with Fatal Frame 3, but I can tll what you're doing there and I like it a lot!

You mention a few times she seems to be waiting for something or wanting to finish something... so she's a typical Western ghost in that she has unfinished business somehow? Or is that just her subrace/artistic urges at work, trying to make her keep tattooing?

Regarding FEAR, how much pain are we talking and how many turns is her FEAR in effect? Is the level of pain maybe dependant on the amount of ink, which is dependant on how long she can hold onto them while transferring the ink? eg. if they break away quickly and not so much ink is left on their skin, it's only a light to middling pain, whereas if they can't break away, it'll be much stronger pain? It's an awesome FEAR, but I want some more details XD

Appearance sounds great. Really unique, plus you've left a fair bit of room for the artist/s to work with.

All in all, very cool! I just want some more detail because I'm curious like that ^_~

Updated main post! heart Crits still appreciated.

Needle thinks Tro is awesome for his face tatts but isn't too sure on this whole fighting him thing. His tattoo is up pretty high, he must be huge.

1) Needle is the more passive of the two. She will not use force unless absolutely necessary, but when she is frustrated she will find a time to herself and free style with the ink, getting all of her emotions out on paper until it's gone. The only time Needle would actually lash out would be if Lattice lashed out and the other student fought back. Needle would feel obligated to help Lattice out and not think twice about doing so. Later down the line she will probably learn control over this, but for now she won't think about it and just act.

2) In general and for obvious reasons she will become aggitated if she is forced to use a medium other than ink, or if she asks someone to leave her alone or to leave her room and they don't listen. Outside of that, those that belittle her work or her passion will definitely anger her. But the easiest and quickest way to get under her skin is to use her own personal ink without her permission, even worse to knock it over and to spill it. She made it herself, after all, and how dare they!


Also:

Needle vs Ink: While she can use any type of ink, she has a preferred type, and it is one she can make for herself. First she takes regular ink, and mixes it with the blood of the dead (which means she will also politely adore any blood-donating Undead in the school); the blood magnifies the emotions, and for her this ink is easier to read and use than any other.

Of course, with that comes the downside; the ink realizes that Needle is one of the few creatures that can understand it, and sees this as an opportunity to do whatever the heck it wants. A particularily bratty ink mix might refuse to be put down onto paper unless she draws something else with it first, whereas a more friendly type will be more than willing to go above and beyond for her. This might affect her written assignments as she is unused to using the ink for herself, but hopefully not.

Bumping Needle up as well! Including some pretty awesome arts (most all are thanks to Huni! *u*)


By amburgerandfries on DA!


Needle with Seo by Mustang Sempai!


Needle and Petro, 'reading' by Brujah the Thorny Beauty!


Petro shouldn't give paint to a girl that can only see ink. :C By Ellurt!

Someone baked you a cake!



You wonder if there might be something written on it. Oh well, who cares? It's cake time!