CHARACTERName: Cherry Chainsaw, born Cherry Bright
Age: 19, 1st of Klever
Species and Gender: Female White Tiger Faunus
Symbol: Black tiger stripes, so jagged they resemble lightning bolts.
Themes: Electroheart-Nightcored Amaranthe,
Hell to Pay-Miracle of SoundOccupation: Rock Star, Professional Stuntwoman, Faunus Rights Activist, Monster Truck Driver, Tattoo Artist, Pyrotechnics Specialist, 1st Year student at Beacon Academy
Appearance: With the right clothes Cherry would have been a pale, ghostly waif with blazing crimson hair and large icy blue feline eyes. Her striped black and white tail would have been kept demurely behind a dress, and her razor canines behind her child-like lips. A large bow would have been sufficient for her snowy-white, striped ears. The shiny black retractable claws still would have seemed out of place, though. As it stands, Cherry’s spare, 5 foot athletic form is taught and wiry at 120Ilbs, and covered from neck to ankles and wrists in jagged black tiger stripe tattoos she inked herself, at least where she could reach. A handful of lucky artists were chosen to handle where it would have been physically impossible for her hands and eyes to venture. A few more stripes grace her cheeks for good measure.
Her clothing tends to heavily involve the color black, although she does like to accent it with blue or red, and very occasionally white. Her style is often ragged and over the top, although rarely she decides to be formal in her own aggressively promiscuous way. When Cherry selects clothing it usually has some sort of midriff opening or slash and bared arms to show off her tattoos. She enjoys frills, leather, and fishnets to accentuate her look, and some sort of fingerless glove is fairly commonplace. Shorts and skirts are preferred over pants or dresses, and if she needs leg coverage the boots or stockings just get longer. Her makeup is always starkly colored to contrast with her skin, and like her clothing and whatever bladed or spiked jewelry she is wearing, is specially designed to handle the rigors of use on a pyrotechnic stage or in the middle of combat. Depending on her mood, her waist length hair is either let loose so that she can headbang or kept up in two large pigtails with some sort of ribbon.
When speaking, she has a dusky, sultry voice that can take on a razor edge in a heartbeat, and she switches from extreme to extreme as she pleases. Her laugh is either a devilish cackle or the wholesome, measured sound of a warm, welcoming young woman. Her singing voice is no less multi-faceted, and she can growl and scream just as exceptionally well as she can twist your emotions with a soulful and haunting tone. Even her movement is a dichotomy. When stationary Cherry sprawls across whatever surface is available, as if claiming the area as hers and daring you to move her, but when active she’s manic enough to keep anyone off balance, and tends to invade people’s personal space on purpose. The more shock the better.
History: Cherry Bright should have had an average life growing up safe and sound in Vale. She would have excelled in the arts and in athletic endeavors, and been doted upon by her parents, Mr. Night Bright and Mrs. Star Bright. The suburbs of Vale were a pleasant place to raise a child, by any estimation, and before high school, everything went exactly as planned. Cherry was in a choral group, she had work displayed at children’s art fairs, she won several track and field medals and enjoyed intramural soccer. Her grades weren’t at the top of the class but she was a solid student.
There were, of course, some bullies, people who didn’t much appreciate faunus and made those statements known. They never bothered Cherry, she could keep her tail safely wrapped and tucked away, claimed she painted her nails black, and avoided toothy grins. She even wore brown contacts to cover her giveaway eyes. Her parents used similar means to avoid scrutiny and were blatantly discriminatory to their fellow faunus, happily counter-protesting events and supporting anti-faunus causes. If they ever felt any guilt or remorse, they never showed her, and after a time she even began to see herself as more human than anything. Lying and hiding had become second nature.
The divorce ruined the facade. Brought on by Star’s affair with a member of the White Fang, it was ugly, public, and effectively terminated any and all social and financial success that the Bright family had found. For an entire year Cherry’s home life was filled with screaming, verbal abuse, the increasingly common black eye or slap across the face, and smashed furniture or thrown decorations. Sleep was rare, and she began avoiding going home, although the strife there was only a step removed from the hatred she now experienced from both human and faunus alike.
She was thirteen when her mother’s beau successfully beat her father bloody and threw him out of the home he had slaved to afford for so many years. He was a banker. His assailant had hunter-class combat training. It wasn’t exactly hard. Cherry’s emotions were a sick mess at that point. She’d grown to detest both her parents, and lashed out at them in any way she could. Her mother was at least taking some kind of stand, though. Her boyfriend was abusive and violent, but nobody gave him Hell for being born a certain way, and Cherry saw him as a ray of hope instead of the destroyer that he was. She found herself quickly getting over her horror as the man who had protected her from monsters in the closet was broken under a brutal and unforgiving onslaught. To be fair, he fought back as hard as any man with no training might. But the end result was the same. He lay shattered and barely alive on his own lawn as his wife and daughter stood triumphant by the man who had taken him down.
The authorities shot and killed Aruven Macross, or “Machete” as he had come to be known in the White Fang, in a bloody brawl that cost four policemen and a hunter their lives, shortly after they arrived on the scene. Star Bright was jailed for aiding and abetting a wanted criminal, and while she tried to hold on to her daughter Cherry would not be tied down to someone she had grown to despise. She hadn’t had the courage to stand up for herself, Machete had been there to do it for her. Just as her husband had been, she was weak. Night Bright had slipped into a coma after his almost lethal fight with Aruven, and Cherry intentionally ignored any attempts by the foster care system to keep her in touch with him. She was bounced from home to home and did her best to wreck every one of them. She never lost her passion for art and music, though her grades tanked, and her athletic interests took on a decidedly more militant flavor.
In two short years she had started running with a crowd that routinely found an outlet for their angst through evocative and edgy music. It was around then when she discovered her semblance and built Mayhem, a task overseen by a few rockers devoted to the craft in her social circle. Shortly after her band Grimm Omen was formed by like-minded faunus, and rocketed onto the Heavy and Speed Metal scene with record-shattering force. With Cherry Chainsaw on vocals and rythym guitar, The Grimmwitch on lead guitar, Raijin on drums, and Knives on base, they were unmatched on stage and in the recording studio. Live concerts were always impressive, as she’d use pyrotechnic know-how she’d received from other musicians and amazing music into one dynamite experience. The Grimmwitch’s fear-inspiring illusory semblance only made the ambience that much better. Add in a little intensive stuntwoman training and she was able to keep up with the best of them.
As Cherry became a household name, and usually not in the best of ways, she branched out into other fields, namely owning a tattoo parlor titled “War Paint” in the roughest part of Vale which strictly catered to faunus, and becoming a Monster Truck Demolition Derby Driver. She was vastly successful in both endeavors, and they provided her with even more means of starting media firestorms over faunus rights. While she and the band never outright called the White Fang heroes, they always made the point that against enemies like the Schnees, faunus had a right to be violent and angry.
Grimm Omen became an outlet for every downtrodden faunus who refused to sit down and shut up, and despite some sentiments dangerously close to being anti-human in their lyrics, they even drew upon a cult following of humans who could identify with the raw emotion in their music. They were routinely at pro-faunus rallies, often inciting louder and more destructive protests than initially intended by the hosts of the event. This of course had them clashing with more peaceful elements of the faunus rights movement, most notably Cheri Chanson, whom Cherry developed an aggressively personal feud with. They verbally struck out against one another on more than one occasion, and had several interviews each in which they tore the other to ribbons. There were a few times where Cherry almost physically attacked her rival, and was only held back by her bandmates’ better judgement. Cheri, unlike many others, including Jack Pettibone, whom Cherry had brutally beaten down for an unprovoked insult, did everything she could to prevent an actual fight, and was content to let it be a war of ideals.
All that changed when Cheri had her press conference announcing her decision to become a Huntress and attend Beacon Academy, with the intention of specifically combatting the White Fang. Cherry was furious. The hotel floor she and the band had rented for that week did not survive. Thankfully, her rage found a new and fantastic outlet. It was Ceramite who had the idea for the rest of them to become hunters and huntresses, just to branch out and stick it to the pop star. They also wanted to show the world what else they could do aside from sing. Grimm Omen would continue as it had, on a heavily reduced schedule, of course.
So they too had their own press conference, and stated that for the advancement of the faunus cause they were headed off to become Huntresses and Hunters. They listed Ceramite, already a Hunter, as their main source of inspiration, and due to his role in the band no one batted an eye. Cherry added, as bluntly as one would expect, that if “that stuck-up whore could fuckin’ do it, so could she, that bitch!”. By that time, Cherry had long since dropped out of school, so taking the entrance exam was the only option. It took two tries, and constant help from Ceramite and Kerri, who either put up with her incessant complaints while studying or forced her to actually read the material for the written portion. Combat was no sweat, and after liberally using her semblance the proctors were actually concerned about how dangerous she might be to teammates or Beacon property as opposed to her safety.
Personality: Cherry is a devil-may-care, life is now sort of person. She despises weakness and will happily crush and abuse people who can’t stand up for themselves or others, and has a long history of tormenting people who are unwilling to fight back. It’s not so much that she’s a sadist, but that she wants to get a rise out of someone and have them hit back for once. It also helps draw more attention to her, which she craves. Everything she does is usually provocative or aggressive in some way for exactly that reason. She lives to get a reaction, and the stronger the better.
Being a rockstar has given her a whole new set of vices, a whole new list of ways to cope with the stress of performance and old memories. It’s also allowed her belligerence and aggression to run rampant into every aspect of her life. Like so many others in the profession she’s easy to party with but almost impossible to have a sincere relationship develop, and very few people break through her tough, bladed exterior. Even then she barely lets you inside, and keeps everyone at arm’s length through a mix of cruelty and bravado. She’s not opposed to using people to get what she wants, either, but usually prefers more direct methods.
Everything has to be overwhelming with Cherry, bigger, louder, cruder, and so on, and she’s always looking to try new things or get a new rush. A shameless adrenaline junky, she’ll jump from distraction to distraction just to kid herself into ignoring all manner of past psychological trauma that she’s happily buried under her tough girl act. This act, of course, is so ingrained now she believes it herself, and it’s actually dangerous for anyone to challenge that belief.
Aura and Semblance: Cherry has the ability, when she taps into just how angry she really is, at everything and everyone, to sacrifice her aura at a 20% per minute rate to drastically increase her muscular strength even beyond its already impressive power as a White Tiger faunus and reach the realms of super-human. For as long as her aura lasts she'll be able to run near 60mph, lift near a thousand pounds, and leap incredibly far as her own weight won't have increased at all. Just how telling this ability’s toll on her can be is made readily apparent by the fact that she has an immense reserve of aura and can take quite the beating while shielding herself.
Combat Behavior: Cherry is an absolute demon on the battlefield. With her strength semblance active she can easily add speed and power to her movements and will successfully be able to wield Mayhem one-handed. Small, durable, hard to hit, and extremely aggressive, she’ll hack, slash, blast, and burn her way through anything too dumb or slow to get out of her way. The grenade launcher function in Mayhem is used with no regard for anyone’s safety and with the intent of inflicting as much destruction as possible. She’ll also provide her own soundtrack, often singing or screaming out the lyrics to her own music or a personal favorite tune from another band in the heat of battle. Of course, with this casting of caution to the wind, she burns out quickly, and can easily overexert herself to the point of unconsciousness if she’s not paying attention. If for some reason she decides to play things smart, she can last for a very long time and take gratuitous amounts of punishment. If her patience holds. Which is unlikely.
WEAPONName: Mayhem
Primary Form: An electric guitar that has a metallic crimson body made of two large axe blades coated with superheated fire dust that burns so hot its flames become blue. This effect is achieved by yanking the whammy bar in what would normally be the wrong direction. The neck and body are durable enough that the guitar can be used as a functional battle axe or bludgeoning weapon. When attached to a shoulder strap the guitar functions as an automatic grenade launcher, with the rate of fire controlled by how viciously Cherry shreds. It can hold a total of fifteen grenades, usually filled with fire and propulsion dust for maximum destruction.
Musical Career:
Grimm Omen-The front of the Album is a Beowulf Alpha perched over a rock with a backdrop of a blood red full moon. The rear art is just a bunch of glowing red eyes.
Oncoming Storm-A description of the band itself as a thunderhead rapidly approaching on the horizon. The song starts off with eerie storm sirens and builds slowly into a shredding whirlwind of guitar, vocals, and drums.
Grimm Omen-A song entirely dedicated to the horror of the Grimm. Slow, purposeful, and darkly triumphant in the way it haunts the listener, it’s widely recognized as a musical masterpiece and respected outside its genera.
The Lies that Bind-Stories of racism and discrimination against faunus that were swept under the rug. A slower song, but the scratchy vocals and heavy bass and drums make it just as hard hitting as their faster material.
Forehead Meets Concrete-A song about getting kicked around and getting right back up to swing again. The beat itself is like getting punched in the brain, and Cherry spits out the lyrics like an automatic rifle.
Kiss Me Rough-A fast-paced, provocative, highly gritty song about the self-explanatory title. Raunchy, all over the place, and messy both lyrically and instrumentally, it’s one of their most well-known hits.
Consume-A song targeted at the greed of families like the Schnees and Utsus. Ragged, violent, and heavy on the screaming, it scrapes the ears and burns the blood. Banned in Atlas.
Purge-A song for burning right through everything holding you back in life. Fast-paced, hard-hitting, and seat-of-your pants energetic, this is a song to commit arson to.
To Prevail-A song about overcoming any obstacles life sets in your path. The beat could break bricks, and so could Cherry’s screaming.
Raindance-A song about letting go of your past mistakes in preparation for all new ones. Surprisingly elegant and pretty, the tone is light by comparison to their other music, and the classical end of Cherry’s vocal range shines bright here.
Wash it All Down-A story of reckless alcohol abuse. The flow is jerky and rough, and Cherry’s voice lazily drips hopelessness and ennui throughout the song.
In the Blood-Music about the will to fight being ingrained inside you, and not letting others take it away. A knock-down, drag-out brawl of a song, with secondary vocals added by Raijin for extra depth and range.
Power Overwhelming-A description of a feeling of unstoppable strength and invincibility. While it contains a scattering of shrieks, Cherry’s voice is bombastic and angelic here, backed by an uplifting, stellar lead guitar from the Grimmwitch. It includes what is arguably one of the best modern guitar solos.
Reckoning-The front of the album is a photograph of a mob of faunus with fists, protest signs, and torches upraised. The rear cover is more of the same.
Bullet Atonement-It calls for the violent death of those who would enslave and mistreat others. Pretty standard in other ways for an angry Grimm Omen song, it does include gunfire as a musical instrument.
I Hope to Die Young-Expressing the desire to shine like a shooting star and the wish to burn up early before the light dies out. Another uplifting song, this includes some unexpectedly sweet vocals by the Grimmwitch and relatively light guitar. Or at least as light as Grimm Omen goes.
Taste Your Heart-An accurate, poignant depiction of the desire to want to know someone’s deepest, most true version of themselves. A slow, sonorous, haunting melody where Cherry’s choral training breaks through. There are even portions of the song where her voice is the only thing that can be heard.
Broken Bars and Battered Hearts-A song about the abused breaking free of their chains and finding freedom and strength in one another. Raijin’s drum solo is top-notch, and Knives makes a brief vocal appearance backing Cherry up in the chorus.
Rebar Anthem-A call for rioting in the streets against injustice and greed. Notable both for the wanton destruction of property in its lyrics, musically it stands out because the drums are accompanied by sections of rebar slapping into garbage cans, glass, and concrete. Banned in Atlas.
Shatterpoint-A description of being pushed beyond the breaking point and then pushing back. Alternating heavily between sad, almost weepy tones and sudden explosions of sound and rage, the vocals strained Cherry to her absolute limit.
Bring the Boom-A stylized, powerful depiction of performing on stage. Happy-go-lucky for Grimm Omen, the heavy bass and drums are backed by wailing guitars and vocals that are shouted more than sung. The entire band joins in for the chorus along with the audience.
Roar-A wild, ferocious, upbeat song about faunus liberation and revolution. While in composition nothing new for Grimm Omen, the rest of the band howl and bellow a lot more in the background. Banned in Atlas.
Out from Shadows-A menacing song about slaves swarming their former masters like locusts. The twitchy guitar work emulates that feeling perfectly, and Cherry’s voice, backed by Knives and Raijin growling, brings the point home with sinister, bone-chilling perfection.
Scream for Me-A demanding, insistent call for the audience to join in the music and yell their heads off. The vocals are forceful and commanding, and the musical styling is almost symphonic and has a compelling tune to it.
Wardance-This song starts out slow and eventually builds to a thunderous finale, the lyrics are about preparations for a battle. The instruments are accompanied by a growing number of feet stomping to the tune as Cherry chants out the instructions.
Wasted-A song about being drunk, careless, and sick of everything. Upbeat and jaunty, this raunchy tune has a vigor that gets the audience dancing about and is more of a fun, solid mosh-pit song than anything else.
Walpurgisnacht-The Album art is a close-up of Cherry herself dressed as a scantily clad witch pouring something into a cauldron while voodoo dolls of the rest of the band float in the brew. The back of the album is a group shot of them all posing together in zombie-esque stances.
Walpurgisnacht-A recipe for witch’s brew with the ingredients being all the wrongs and injustices, mostly against faunus, in the world at large. Sung in iambic pentameter and with creepy instrumentals, this song cranks the freak factor past eleven, especially when the chanting starts in.
The Black Flag-A song about the banner of oppression certain factions of people hold high as they go about their day making use of those weaker than themselves. Meant to mimic a patriotic anthem, the music and vocals have a very light and noble tone that stand starkly opposite to the lyrics.
Darkness-A song about madness portrayed as Grimm stalking through the shadows of your mind, with the narrator eventually falling in with and leading the hunting pack involved. Cherry lets her voice take on an almost childlike quality for this song, and gradually becomes grittier and more guttural as it progresses until she’s just snarling at the end.
Strike to Kill-A song about the brutality of the Atlesian military and some of the bloody work it’s done on behalf of the Schnees. Tragic and moving, its plaintive tones give way to outright anger towards the final rendition of the chorus. Banned in Atlas.
Where We Belong-The song points out all the sins of man and faunus alike, and suggests that we’re most likely all meant for eternal fire with the way we behave.
Alley Rose-A surprisingly tender, but still provocative story about love between two faunus living life fast and hard on the streets. Upbeat and raunchy, this irreverent tale thumps its way through the song and rolls with the steady, almost folksy beat.
Bullet with Your Name On It-A revenge fantasy after a grievous betrayal. Slow and menacing, Cherry’s voice slides through your ears like a silk cloth cleaning the gun mentioned in the song.
Knuckle Sandwich-A description of mercilessly kicking someone’s ass. Cherry and the rest of the band do little but growl to a beat with their instruments and voices in this song.
Doomsday Device-A lyrical description of the band’s rise to fame. Essentially a bombastic heavy metal power ballad.
Countdown-A musical countdown to an unspecified revolution against an unknown, vaguely described military state. It starts of slow but picks up the pace steadily throughout until it reaches its hard-hitting crescendo. Banned in Atlas.
Lie to Me-Sarcastic and bitter depictions of fake alliances and publicity stunts in showbusiness. Sarcastic, edgy, and flippant, the song doesn’t take itself or its subject material too seriously.
Murder Most Foul-The story of a Faunus shanty-town in Atlas left to die as it was overrun by Grimm. While highly stylized, the events depicted are factual. Performed as a mournful funeral dirge, the most powerful elements are the wail of the Grimmwitch’s guitar and Cherry’s agonized, near-weeping voice. Banned in Atlas.
Relatives and Associates (NPCs):
Mr. Scratch: Not much is known about the faunus who goes by this name. He may be some sort of large cat, or maybe a mustelid of some kind, but there really isn’t much to go on. He first cropped up in an underground fighting circuit several years back, and after some initial setbacks, clawed his way to a championship bout which he soundly won. He then promptly killed the other fighter, who was a known member of the White Fang. Since that point, he’s made a habit of leaving dead activists and enforcers belonging to that group where the police and press can easily find them, and has been accused of twenty-four deaths so far. Most of his victims had combat training, and some have been exceptionally skilled.
He’s also taken up skulking around Cherry and the band until noticed, after which he will flee before the authorities or even security can be called. A lean but powerful man, with heavy but retractable claws on his hands and a rough, tan body he usually conceals with grimy sweats and a hoody, he disappears into a crowd or an alleyway in an instant. The only sign his burning amber eyes were ever watching you from beneath his mop of shaggy brown hair and his hood are the distinct memory they leave behind. Some stories say he has a tail, others don’t, some say he has weapons, others say he fights hand to hand. Much is unclear beyond the fact that Mr. Scratch is a menace to everyone, especially the White Fang.
Aurelius Ratchet, a.k.a. Lil’ Killa: An ebony skinned loris faunus, Lil’ Killa is very ponderous and methodical in everything he does. A small but athletic man, he has covered every inch of himself in tattoos, ranging from the raunchy to the rebellious, and often goes about his business in not much aside from a backwards ballcap and jeans. His deep voice is friendly, and helps him soothe people into their first tattoo experience. It’s an invaluable trait to have when you manage a parlor for Cherry Chainsaw. Under his supervision, War Paint has grown by leaps and bounds.
Mr. Zeus Cobalt : Grimm Omen’s manager, a tall, pasty, sallow-complexioned man built like a reed with an orderly patch of red hair on top. A fastidious dresser, this human’s scruples are nowhere near as neat, and his oily charm greases the way for the band to get off scott free for a lot more than they ever should. A superb legal specialist and financier, he makes sure he gets his own cut and finances a niche but luxurious lifestyle for himself and his family. He has a slow, even way of speaking, and often pauses for a breath, as if talking required too much exertion.