#bf:lc

“Ren, hey. Hold on a second.” Lugina called out.

“What now?”

“Before we head back to the city, I need to talk to you about something.”

Ren turned and walked back towards him. “Yeah?”

“Uhm...” Lugina fidgeted; he crossed his arms and uncrossed them, put his hand on his hip and scratched the back of his head, hunching over and straightening his back, and tapped his foot frantically, done in no particular order. All the while, he did not even look at his coworker save for passing glances, and she was quickly growing impatient.

“Lugina.” Ren said sternly.

“Give...Give me a minute here!” He shouted. “I-I just lost what I was about to say, that’s all!”

“Well, hurry up and find it. We’re burning daylight.” She started walking away. “This doesn’t sound like an emergency, so you can tell me back home instead.”

“Shut it! Don’t make this harder than it already is!” When he heard Ren’s annoyed growl, he immediately pulled back. “Wait, shit, no. I meant--” He exhaled harshly. “Look. I just want to say I’m so--I want to apologize.” He said, slow and strained, clenching his fist and struggling to even look at her.

Ren turned around, crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow. “Okay? For what?” Her eyes were trained on his, no matter how many times he averted them; critical and watchful, like her death-glares, but also patient, awaiting his answer.

“For...everything...Fuck, since...” He met her gaze again, and stayed. “Since Nebulous, I’ve been having these fucking thoughts...Shitting on you and Karl back then...That...” He closed his eyes and exhaled. “That was just fucking uncalled for. I regretted saying what I said then as soon as I got back to Elgaia. Right after...I just brushed that thought aside, but it kept fucking coming back. Every time I saw you two together, and every time I saw you pissed at me, what I said kept eating at me. It...It’s just that--Aw, gods, this is all gonna piss you off so much...” He groaned.

“You say that like you haven’t already before without even giving a shit. Go on.” Ren replied matter-of-factually. Her expression softened slightly. “I’m still listening.”

Lugina ran his hands through his hair. “It...pissed me off seeing that little--him already with a girl before me, and one who got her fame by fucking killing all the Fallen Gods no godsdamn less. He already has Old Man Grahdens, and nobody shuts up about how ‘great and perfect’ he is. Meanwhile, even though I’m so talented as fuck, I still had to work my ass off to get his level of recognition. So of course I’m gonna shit on him when something goes wrong in his life. And you’re his girlfriend, so I went after you, too. Before Nebulous, I thought all I would ever need are power and connections, and that’d be enough to get me anywhere and anything I wanted. But after, I’ve been doing a lot of rethinking: the Federation I grew up in taught me a lot of harsh lessons, but...I think that’s because of how much Rahnas controlled and influenced by the time I was born; gradually building itself into a war machine with the power to take over the Empire just to show that you fucking can. I saw his shit first-hand when I used to work under him, and I was still a teenager back then. But today’s people in Randall? They’re different. It’s not just power and connections that’ll get you noticed. So, I guess that’s why everyone likes your boyfriend so much; why you like him so much. It’s so clear as day how much you two fucking love each other.” He chuckled. “It’s almost too much to even look at. You deserve to be happy together.”

Silence fell between the two of them after he had finished. Ren had closed her eyes to process his apology, only to open them when she was about to reply.

“It’s nice to see you be actually sorry and full of regret,” Ren finally said, “but, I won’t accept your apology--”

“What the fuck? Come on, I’m shit at this stuff!” Lugina groaned. “I go out of my way to apologize for all the times I’ve been a fucking dick, and--”

“Oh my gods, let me finish!” Ren shouted back. They stared at each other until they both had calmed down.

“I won’t accept your apology until you apologize to him, too.” Ren said evenly. “Also, you’re an idiot if you really thought he was so perfect and had an easier life. I’ve known him much longer than you have, and he has his flaws, too.” She locked his eyes into hers. “He’s a sweetheart, but he keeps his distance with people he doesn’t know well, and has some awareness when people are trying to get close to him for...certain reasons. He can be emotionally dense, but he’s learning to get over that. When he wants to avoid a topic, he gets dodgy. You know that one. And...He saw from the sidelines what I went through when we were kids. Just by choosing to be my friend, it painted a target on his back. His saving graces were that he just is a good person to everyone, and that he had Grahdens, who everyone in our hometown knew was an Elder Summoner.”

Lugina rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I guess...i guess that’s fair.”

A few moments passed.

“You know, Lugina,” Ren said, “you could use more positive reinforcement when you decided to actually swallow your pride and not be a complete asshole. So, I’m proud of you for going out of your way to apologize. Verbally.”

“Yeah. You’re...being a lot more mature about this than I was expecting. You’re not making any jokes...innuendos...bullshit.”

Ren shrugged. “Give me immaturity, and I’ll give it right back.”

“Yeah, that’s also fair. Explains a fuckton, now that you actually said it. Uh, you’re not like this with your students, are you?”

“Of course not. Only with peers, because my peers ought to know better. Students don’t, that’s why they’re students. And in training. Not everyone’s a born prodigy, you know. You’re gonna have to buck up and slow down if you ever decide to take on a trainee.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

Ren raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“I don’t know? I’ve never...taken one on before. I left behind all that ‘Zelban’ shit and thought I wasn’t gonna pass on anything. I only take the best and brightest from your Academy; ones who seemed like they already know how shit goes.”

“Oh, and one more thing.” She waited to have Lugina’s full attention, her eyes full of severity. “Just because you apologized doesn’t always mean you’ll be forgiven, especially if whoever you’ve wronged doesn’t think you’re worth it. Getting angry makes you seem less genuine to anyone who doesn’t have a critical eye like me.”

1. Elsa (Frozen series): Marena takes a lot from Elsa. The ice powers, the lack of control of powers due to fear of them, the wanting to keep powers under wraps unless absolutely necessary, especially after greatly injuring someone very close to them with their powers, the eventual forgiveness and embracing of their powers. “Let It Go” fits Marena so, so, well.

2. Kratos (God of War series): Specifically his God of War 2018 incarnation. Marena’s weapons are heavily based off of Kratos’ Leviathan Axe. The biggest difference is that Marena uses two smaller axes instead of one big one. Plus the berserker rage. Can’t forget about the berserker rage. And the half-godly inheritance.

3. Nero (Devil May Cry series): His theme song “Devil Trigger” fits Marena astonishingly well. That’s first and foremost. Both of them are also 1/4 demon and descended from one of the most powerful and had trouble coming to terms with their demonic natures for a good while. Oh, and both have a superior whom they butt heads with over that superior thinking they’re basically “dead weight” due to lack of powers/control over powers for a good bit.

4. YorHa No.2 Type B / 2B (NieR: Automata): Headcanon for Marena’s voice. That’s...honestly really it. Marena doesn’t take much else from 2B, except for maybe a bit of 2B’s demeanor.

5. Karl Walker (Brave Frontier): Well, Marena is an OC that’s meant to be his daughter, so of course I had to put Karl in. Mari’s element and powers come from him. But also, there’s a line from him in God Eater’s Web, Fal Nerga that was the catalyst for Marena having her “berserker rage” about how if Karl were to attempt to deactivate his demon powers, he’d go on a rampage, which in of itself implies that this has happened at least once before. So, I went ahead and thought “Okay, but what if he did and what would it look like?” and then applied that directly to Marena. :)

6. Yang Xiao Long (RWBY): Goes hand-in-hand with the above reasons behind Marena’s berserker rage (though that isn’t exactly the nature of Yang’s Semblance (special ability). Yang’s is kinetic energy absorption, storage and conversion) Both their eyes turn red when in their powered-up states. For a time until more recent Volumes, Yang would activate her Semblance on a dime when fueled by anger. Sound familiar?

5. Katie "Pidge" Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender): I’m trying to pinpoint where I got the idea to make Marena a tech nerd, and around the time of her creation/conceptualization, according to the earliest posts about her, I was still really into Voltron and it was still ongoing. Pidge was my favorite character, and still is if you were to ask me today, so chances are, Pidge is the most likely source of Marena’s high interest in technology.

6. Maria Calavera (RWBY): It wasn’t until Maria’s fighting style was shown in RWBY that I had a solid image on how Marena fights. Maria dual-wielded small scythes in her prime, and she can manipulate them at will in mid-air.

7. Lucina (Fire Emblem: Awakening): More on Marena’s actual appearance. I think some of Lucina’s personality got into Marena when it comes to her outward demeanor, but that’s unclear.

8. Makoto Niijima (Persona 5): Marena miiiight take more from Makoto’s personality that I consciously know right now. Appears cool, smart, and collected, but it a huge nerd underneath, don’t piss her off if you value your life, and goes absolutely batshit in a fight when worked up enough.

Special Mentions:

Both can manifest in childhood, but elemental abilities become trainable during puberty ages while Summoning can theoretically be trained at any time after awakening. It’s just that it’s easier within the system to train them simultaneously. The nature of one’s elemental powers can be traced through their genetics, and is most likely to be the same element as one of their parents. From which parent is a 50/50 chance, though there are also those who claim that there is still more likelihood in a child inheriting the element of their opposite-sex parent.

As for the Summoning ability, it is known to be obtained via receiving a vision from the Sealed God Lucius, though as of the god’s death, this is no longer applicable. Other known ways is through accompanying one with the Summoning ability through Lucius’ Gate into Grand Gaia and through training, but these methods have shown to not always work. 

This calls into discussion theories about other ways the Summoning power is obtained. It is theorized that the Summoning ability could be passed onto a child if their parent receives it before they are born. It is also theorized that the Summoning power could be bestowed in-utero if the mother passes through Lucius’ Gate before the child is born. However, with the many different ways tried to obtain the Summoning ability, with varied successes, there is still not enough evidence to support these.

Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4): It’s the androgynous appearance and stoic/serious front they both put up. Not to mention, neither are really taken seriously by several of their work colleagues. They also happen to be incredibly competent in their respective fields at young ages. 

Killua Zoldyck (HunterxHunter): First and foremost, Killua is my English voice headcanon for Ren. And the more I look at him, the more Ren’s hair becomes like his. Also, both are assassins/have assassin-like skills learned from young ages, but would rather not have that association for one reason or another. Both also have low opinions of themselves and feel unworthy of their friends’ affections.

Bayonetta/Cereza (Bayonetta series): Hair color, bit of the style, way of speaking most of the time, and taunting enemies so casually, but has a more serious side when appropriate. The casual-ness gets a lot more pronounced in Brave Frontier 2. Have I mentioned that Bayonetta was also a social outcast? It’s due to her lineage, and that’s all I’ll say.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin’s Creed franchise): Ren’s battle gear took the most inspiration from Ezio, though I’ve never actually played an Assassin’s Creed game. Ezio was also the first inspiration for Ren having an assassin-like fighting style/moveset.

Dante (Devil May Cry series): Like what I’ve just said for Bayo, it’s the flippant, taunting attitude attitude against opponents, but serious when need be. Quite a bit of the personality made it into Ren, just overall. Plus a bit of his battle attire on Ren starting in Arc 2.

Ringabel (Bravely Default and Bravely Second): I feel he was the first to inspire me to give Ren a more flirty/romantic side, albeit subconsciously. Also, Ringabel used to be an orphaned and angry street urchin with abandonment issues until someone came along and gave him guidance and a better purpose in life. How he got from Point A to Point B with all of that is...complicated.

Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto series): What hasn’t Ren gotten from Naruto? Child of famous parents, check. Parents die in an attack on hometown caused by a powerful malevolent entity, check. Gets powerful being made of energy sealed inside them as a baby, check. Gets fucking blamed for said attack on hometown that claimed their parents lives and grows up mostly a social outcast, check. Turns to delinquency as a coping mechanism, check. Eventually gets into stable contact with the entity sealed inside them and becomes a renowned hero, check.

Anodites (Ben 10 series): One subconscious inspiration for Ren’s Awakened Mode. Beings made of pure energy with tendril-like appendages. I suppose that’s by extension Avatar inspiration as well.

Celestialsapiens (Ben 10 series): A subconscious inspiration for Ren’s True Proxy Form. Not does Ren have the omnipotence (that also needs to have permissions/conditions fulfilled in order to execute...), but the marks that appear on Ren in that form take on that starry-sky coloring that is Celestialsapiens’ skin.

Penny Polendina (RWBY): Describing Penny’s weapons is probably the best way I can describe Ren’s weapons in her True Proxy Form. The black-bladed swords float around and can be controlled by the user. They are also able to fire energy beams from them.

Notable mentions that didn’t make it into the template before the others:

Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist series): Ed is my Japanese voice headcanon for Ren.

Avatar Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender): The glowy eyes and tattoos that comes with tapping into greater powers.

Roxas (Kingdom Hearts series):

First and foremost, Ren’s fighting style when not in assassin mode takes the most inspiration from Roxas. Brutal, aggressive, and acrobatic dual-wielder with a lot of Light magic and summon-to-hand weapons. I think some of his personality got into Ren as well, but I’m not entirely sure on that.