[Application Cross post] Laura Valerian's Auth application

[Elions]

Since a lot of people are being dumb about not being able to properly comment on an auth without making a mess of things, here's my auth, crossposted here so you can make as many comments on it as you'd like. Now GO.

EDIT: This auth has been APROOVED, however, I will keep this up here in case anyone wants to make a comment, criticize, or sugguest anything.

(If you need further info on the char, here you go http://www.catalyst-gaming.net/index.php?topic=27966.0 )

Player Section

Steam Name: Elions
Age: 20
How long have you been Roleplaying? (can be any game): 'bout 6 years now
How long have you been playing Serious GMod RP?: ' bout 5 years now

Character Section

Authorization(s):

• Expert of Hand to Hand combat
• Better physique due to being well fed
• Advanced stealth tactic knowledge and ability to conceal identity from others when required
• Advanced/Expert knowledge of City 18, as well as ability to adapt to other cities due to their similar structure
• Knowledge of Scavengers and smugglers in City 18 and their connections, allowing her to get in touch with them if required

Name: Laura Valerian
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Affiliation: Neutral

Write a detailed in-canon back-story how your character obtained these authorizations.

(H2H Combat expertise)

Spoiler for Hiden:

Laura always had a fascination with her father's line of work. It was the closest thing she knew to a real life secret agent. Her father worked as a special agent for Interpol, and she would always ask him about his travels and about the people he met while out "saving the world" as her child like mind would put it.

His line of work meant, however, that he and his wife were always worried about their family's safety. Always looking over their shoulders and worrying about when could someone possibly attempt something against them or their daughter. It was because of these concerns that her father decided to teach her self-defense techniques, working from simple ways to get away from holds to the best places where to hit, where to focus an attack and when to back away from someone to defend yourself or someone else

"Allright, Kiddo... First thing's first... I want you to try and hit me"

"What?" She asked back "I thought you were going to teach me how to defend myself, dad".

"I am." he answered back quickly "Just do it. Trust me"

She shrugged, moving towards her father and throwing a quick punch towards his chest, which he quickly deflected by using his fore-arm, retaliating by putting his other hand's palm against her face now, managing to stop himself before hitting her.

"Wh-Whoa, easy!" She backed away almost as soon as the palm was stopped close to her face, a little frightened at how quickly he had reacted

"Hehe... Relax. That's what i'm gonna teach you to do." he assured her as he put his hand to her shoulder "See, it's easier to react to someone's attack than to try and directly hit them yourself, kiddo." He answered calmly as he took a few steps back, noticing her fist and how she was holding it in order to hit him, sighing

He took her hand on his, and pulled her thumb out of her small fist "Never do this, Laura. You will break your thumb if you hit someone like this". She nodded, paying close attention to everything her father was telling her, a clear excitement and wonderment in her eyes as he mentioned all the basics. She had a long way before she could really defend herself, but it was clear to him that she was eager.

They took their time to work on these after her normal classes, with her paying close attention to her father's every move as he taught her. The small nuances and details of how someone's position can reveal a weakness, such as the typical brute force approach and how it leaves one open for dazing attacks, or the ways to use someone's momentum against them by pushing and pulling them into walls and the like. Little by little, she learned of the importance of where to land a hit, rather than to hit hard, and of course, how to keep a streak of hits going without losing momentum.

Eli and Laura trained together for months. She would cause her father bruises and small injuries from time to time in their training, but he didn't mind so long as she learned the best way to defend herself in the long run. He put particular emphasis in countering people's attacks rather than starting your own, making her try to hit him only to show her specifically how each of those attacks could be fought back, or rather, how it could be used as a new opening against someone.

"I'd really preffer if you didn't teach her those things, honey..." Harley spoke to her husband as they talked about their daughter, Laura. She was concerned about Laura's ability to keep such things under control and not go overboard with it

"Hey, you're the one who said I should spend more time with her... Besides, she likes it!" He smiled mischievously as he said that, knowing full well that it would only worry Harley more, yet he couldn't help himself

She crossed her arms, sighing and putting her hand to her face "I just don't want to hear about it when she breaks someone's arm... Or yours for that matter." He shrugged, relaxing against the wall as he answered back "She won't break my arm... Too small for it still. But don't worry. I'll teach her restraint"

Years later, Eli considered she knew enough to defend herself against almost anything, though they continued to train together as a father/daughter activity. Something to keep themselves occupied and that they could share that was unique. They would attack and counter one another easily, managing to stop their blows just in time if one missed the beat to not harm themselves during their training.

"6 counters before you received a direct hit... I'm impressed, Laura." He joked at the end of one of their sessions, taking a small drink of water as she answered back, relaxing and stretching out "Pah... You're just going easy on me, old man. Admit it"

He put the bottle down, shrugging "I'm not, actually... Kind of hurt that you're getting better than me, really." He smiled as he said that, he wasn't lying, but rather than being hurt he was proud.

It took a while before Laura had to actually put her skills to the test however... When she did, she was glad that it all came back to her so quickly. So fluent and easy to remember it was almost second nature.

She was walking towards her dormitory in campus, when she heard the loud noise of a metallic object hitting the ground. At first, she considered just walking away, but the sudden scream of a girl for "help" just demanded her attention. She ran towards the area where she had heard the noise, and found two people

One girl, pressed against the wall and attempting to struggle away from the clutches of a man, almost 6 foot 3 of height and clearly muscular. He was intimidating to say the least, yet something drove her to quickly move towards them.

"Hey!" She yelled out as she put her backpack on the ground "What the hell do you think you're doing?" As she came closer she noticed that the metallic noise she had heard was the man's knife falling to the ground during the struggle

The man looked over his shoulder, easily dominating the girl against the wall as he noticed Laura. He huffed "Just run away, girlie. This ain't your problem". She was ticked off by this, and couldn't help herself anymore. Any sort of restraint she had just evaporated in that moment

"You've got 10 seconds to walk away from her before I do something drastic". She wasn't thinking clearly, almost blinded by rage at this step as the guy looked back to her, amused at how this small chick was trying to defy him.

He tossed the girl aside and stood tall against Laura, grinning "You want it that badly huh? Okay... I've got enough for 2" He picked up the knife from the ground, walking towards her menacingly. It was at this point that her father's words replayed in her head

"Always wait for the first strike if you can. Dodge it and counter it quick". The man took the knife in his right hand and attempted to quickly stab at Laura's chest, an action which she responded to by quickly dodging towards her right and forward, putting her hands over the man's left shoulder and bringing him down onto her knee, hitting him square in the crotch with it.

It was enough to bring him down to his knees as she moved away, giving herself space between one another and to prepare for any other attack he might attempt. By this point the girl had scurried away and was calling the police, so it was only a matter of staying in one piece by now.

The man got up, fueled by rage as he now attempted to strike at Laura with the knife several times, using all of his energy to swing the knife wildly at her. She kept herself mobile, dodging the attacks by moving towards her left or right, strafing and keeping a safe distance, delivering small but precise blows towards his weakest bodyparts whenever she could, weakening him little by little. At one point she was stuck against the wall. The man grinned as he tried to stab directly towards her face, only for her to counter by moving towards the left and using her hands to grab at the man's arm and direct the attack towards the nearby window.

The glass shattered all over his hand, stabbing him deeply and forcing him to drop the knife in pain. He tried backing away, but Laura saw this as the only chance she had to stop him before he tried to run away.

As the man tried to recover himself she used both palms to strike at his inner ears, making him disoriented enough that he wasn't able to walk straight, the pain of all the previous injuries was finaly hitting him after the surge of adrenaline, forcing him to kneel down on the ground to try and recover. As he tried to look up towards Laura and get a good point on her location, she threw a swift and precise kick towards his jaw, effectively breaking it and knocking him out unconcious on the floor.

She kept a combat stance for a few seconds, expecting him to get up or even for someone else to come and try to help him as her father had taught to maintain her awareness at all times. Yet the only sound she heard was a loud "Freeze!" from behind. It was the police, and they had seen most of the action.

She slowly turned around, finally realising that help had arrived, yet it took her a few seconds to relax and finally place her hands up to show she was no threat to anyone. The girl testified about how Laura had come to her aid, and the police had recorded a large part of the entire incident so it was clear that there was murderous intent on the part of the attacker. She was cleared of charges soon afterwards.

It was at this point that Laura had realised how gratefull she should really be to her father for teaching her... and how terrified she was of how much she had learned from him.

(Part about her better/maintained physique and stealth/smuggler knowledge)

Spoiler for Hiden:

Laura had grown tired of the "sludge" that the CCA called food, much less of Breen water, which she was more than suspicious of from the very beginning of things. Unfortunately for her, there were not many options available for her. Unlike many other people, she had no connection the outlands, and with no real intention of working as a smuggler either due to the sheer ammount of wrong-doings they were also tied into, it was hard for her to get any sort of food.

She had heard over at the clinic of a man who had been found with some stabbing injuries. He had been found with some contraband as well, and was slated to be taken into custody as soon as he had recovered. It was the only lead she had, but wherever that man had been found there was the possibility of finding something better to eat and drink than the "official" food of the CCA.

She took what she had heard and exited the hospital with a clear determination. She wasn't going back home untill she had found these guys and gotten something out of it. It took her about an hour before she found the supposed "scene of the crime", a crude bloodstain against the city's dirty brick walls. She looked around the area carefully, making sure to stay inconspicous as she tried to find any indications of smugglers or the like.

"H-Hey come on. We ain' got time for this, bro" A man tried to whisper to someone else in an alleyway, barely able to overhear it, she slipped into the alleway herself and took advantage of her small size and the apparent darkness of the area, hiding in an open grate nearby to overhear the situation calmly.

"It's just one bottle, Noa. They ain't gonna fucking notice." An asian man spoke to a jittery caucasian male as he opened what looked like a crate of supplies, taking out a bottle of soda from before the war "If they do... I'll just pay up. It's fuckin' worth it" He opened the bottle and took a few swigs. She listenened carefully as they spoke quickly, inadvertently giving her clues to their location. The complains about the smell and heavy footsteps implied they were in one of the abandoned sewage plants close to the bridges in the other side of City 18.

She made quick way towards the location when she could, looking for any indications of work in the area. dumped old cigarretes and the marked footprints in the dust of the area showed her the way into an old store-house nearby. She could hear trouble brewing inside from the little stunt the package carrier had done earlier.

She decided to sneak inside, trying to minimize what attention she would call out in there and avoid identification. She ripped her jacket and made an improvised hood for herself to cover her face, taking off her shoes and socks as well to make as little noise as possible. When she was ready, only her eyes were visible, and her black citizen shirt would keep her inconspicous in the dark. She looked for ways inside the storage-house, finding a way through the roof's old and rusted ventilation system.

It was easy for her to crawl into the ventilation system due to her small height and body, slipping inside and overhearing the conversations underneath her.

"Look boss. I'll pay up for it, okay? Here. I've got the t-" The man who had taken the soda bottle and drunk it got hit in the face hard before he could finish the sentence. An impossing russian man with a bulletproof vest and tattoos all over yelled at him

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE SUPPLIES, YOU IDIOT!" he was angry, gripping at the man's shirt collar and shaking him "YOU DO NOT DISOBEY MY ORDERS. YOU DO NOT ENDANGER OUR OPERATION. AND YOU DO NOT FUCKING TREAT THIS CASUALLY!" While the man was clearly angry, you could see in his actions that it was more out of concern for the rest and the desperation to make everything work right than blind rage. He pushed the man away, huffing as he let him took a breather "... You know where to leave the money. And don't let find you doing this again... Or i'll drop you off in front of their nexus myself."

She knew that he wasn't to be messed with after witnessing that conversation, knowing full well now that she had to find where they stashed things and grab some stuff for herself. She took care to not make much noise as she went through the old ventilation system. Pulling her shirt up slightly to cover her mouth and nose from the accumulated dust inside.

she finally found herself above a darkened room. All the other areas in the storage were well lit except for this one. She opened the ventilation and slowly crawled underneath. feeling her way through the darkness untill her eyes adjusted to the area. When they finally did, she realised she was surrounded by crates and boxes, some of them stretching up to the ceiling and marked with different tags. Food, water, milk, soda, etc. Some of the men's equipment was there as well, though the only thing she was interested in was using their backpacks.

She decided to work quickly before anyone came to check, taking one of the extra backpacks in the area and quickly trying to fill it up with some more decent food and milk, caring not for soda or beer due to how little help they would be to her body's health. She thought smart, only taking things that she could actually gain something from eating rather than out of taste. She completely skipped some of the junk food these men had somehow salvaged and took more traditional and healthy souvenirs. As she was preparing to leave the door opened. One of the men was going in to check on their supplies when they noticed Laura's legs entering the vent. The man quickly pulled an axe that he carried around for defending the perimeter and attempted to jump at her, though his axe wasn't able to penetrate the ventilation's metal properly.

She panicked, scampering through and trying to make it out alive as the men inside screamed about a thief. Orders were barked left and right, and everyone was told to keep away from using firearms as to not attract the CCA. Laura quickly tried to get away through the roof, jumping down through the fire exit and grabbing the stash with her things she had left behind. It was a close call, too close for her liking... But she had food now, and they had no info on her thanks to her quick thinking and the considerably small ammount of things she got.

She continued to try and rob smugglers and the like with these same methods for a while, to good success and slowly improving her knowledge of the city's layout and the different smuggling group's supplies. some of them came to despise her, even setting up rewards for the capture of the mysterious thief, while others decided to break a deal with her. Information on the other smugglers to be left in a small piece of paper for the price of a week's supply of food. She never met them in person, and they never met her either, but they communicated by small notes in their storage, left when she would usually come by to rob.

They would detail for her where to go, who to follow, and of course, what information they needed. Through these notes she was able to understand the dire situations that some of these groups were in, how some of them were not necesarily evil, so much as they existed out of necessity, and of course, how some of them would rather help one another than to hurt each other, but with the lack of supplies and cooperation, there was little to no choice. She would always stay away from the politics and simply gather the information required, learning a lot about all the groups in the process. some stuff that they would proably not want an outsider to even know.

She refined her tactics, and hid her identity much better for the next few times, making sure that no one would recognize her even if she got seen during her robberies. It was a dirty way to make a better living, and yet it was the only one available to her. She made a point to only trade in information, and never in lives. That's not to say that she wasn't willing to fight someone, as she was forced more than once to knock out a guard before they could raise the alarm for the rest, and truth be told, she did like the thrill of almost being caught at times, though she played her cards as close to her chest as possible, never risking herself too much and going for easy, unprepared targets that wouldn't be too much trouble even if they caught her

Laura understood better why someone would go through lenghts to be a criminal, she didn't despise the smugglers, but this was her only way to live without being caught in the crossfire of bandits, gangsters and criminals inside the city.

A neutral party in a world where everyone tries to backstab one another. Still... It was better than being a loyalist.

What will these authorizations give your character in regards to perks or defects?

Perks:

• Hand to hand would allow her to effectively defend herself as well as help people who are being physically attacked
• Having a steady ammount of supplies on her side would help her maintain a good physique and thus not falter on her H2H skills
• Having contact with smugglers would allow her to adquire materials, given time and effort of course
• Being able to sneak around and hide her identity for her stealing gig helps her maintain a low profile and not be chased when it would be inconvenient, or become a target for the CCA

Defects:

• She cannot use these H2H skills unless it's absolutely necesary, as such a thing attracts a lot of attention.
• Due to her smaller size, she cannot just punch someone once and be done with it. Her skills are more about keeping a streak of blows going and attempting to exploit someone's weaknesses, giving the other person plenty of time to also fight back and land a few blows on her.
• Smugglers would be on the lookout for someone like her, making it difficult for her to keep hidden at times, meaning she cannot carry her stuff with her at all times, or even have to fake being less than what she is when not disguised, even having to knowlingly take a beating from a mugger or two at times.
• It's hard to keep up the appearance of someone who doesn't know about something when you're, unlike the rest of the city, well fed. meaning that she'd have to avoid going to District 1, forcing her to stay in the "bad area" of the city.

What do you plan to do with these perks/defects?
Create interesting and more varied roleplay by creating a character that has to balance out what she knows to do, what her morals tell her to and what she knows is "smart" to do in the city. She cannot go around being a vigilante, she cannot save people, and unfortunately, she has to act selfishly or even despicably to survive in the city, making it difficult for her to keep up with herself at times in that regard, questioning wether she puts her skills to good use at all.

Will anyone else need these auths? (If so, list OOC and IC name(s))
Nope.

Extra Notes (optional):
You may be worried due to the expert H2H knowledge, but I do believe anyone who has combat RP'ed with me in the past knows that I can balance the knowledge in combat as to not be overpowered. This gives her an edge. It does not make her invincible.