Kara "Echo" Fennell, from Playing With Time

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⌜Designation... 'Echo' - Reasoning... Tactical... Hybrid Support Platform...
This one... will serve. What... do you require? Your... orders...?⌟

▩XKara FennellX▩

F A C E XC L A I M
Λ-11- | BlazBlue

H E X C O D E S
Dialogue Color: #B4B4B4 | Thought Color: #DEDE5C

R O L E P L A Y E R
Feyblue
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F U L LxXN A M E
Kara | Echo | Fennell
"Kah-rah" | "Eh-koh" | "Fen-el"
Ambiguous. The origin of the name Kara is likely based on the valkyrie of the same name - a sorceress who shielded her lover with her magic. However, it is also a Japanese word meaning "emptiness." | A standard codename chosen as her designation within the Core. Given her tendency to mimic others, however, it's remarkably appropriate. | A surname originating in seventh-century England. It refers to one who grew and sold the herb Fennel. Not terribly significant.

N I C K N A M E S
Echo || Her codename within the Core. More often than not, the name people know her by.

G E N D E R
♀

S E X U A L I T Y
Asexual | Due to her broken personality, many of her emotions - including love - are suppressed. Although this may change with time, for now, she wouldn't be able to even begin to interpret romantic attraction, even if she felt it.

A G E
Her biological parts are 17. Her artificial flesh and cybernetic supplements, which include parts of her brain and central nervous system, are only 5 to 6 years old.

L O V EXI N T E R E S T
To be determined.

D I V I S I O N
Auxiliary of the Tactical Division

R E L A T I O N S H I P
The individual she seeks to save was the young man who saved her life and took her in following the loss of her family.

B I R T H D A Y
November 2nd.

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▩XPaint Me A PictureX▩

L I S T E N
⌜N-name? Sear-sssssearching... One result; origin... unknown... This one... was called 'Kara.'⌟

A C C E N T
Suffers from a speech impediment. Speaks only with difficulty, usually quietly, in monotone.

S C E N T
Has a slight, but rather unsettling chemical and metallic odor, like a hospital.
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P H Y S I C A LXD E S C R I P T I O N
Echo could best be described as a small, strange woman. Standing at about five feet, five inches, she's just a little shorter than most others around her. Yet, despite this lack of stature, she has a certain formidable aspect to her presence. Always carrying herself in a rigid, upright posture, she moves in a manner that seems just a little too stiff and mechanical to be fully Human. This, combined with her rather bizarre demeanor, makes it a little difficult to look down on her.

Physically, she's only slightly more imposing than she is in stature. Most of her somewhat meager height is slanted towards her limbs, while her body itself is rather lithe, with several notable curves to it that more bespeak beauty than strength. Although she bears some obvious musculature, she does not have the build of a bodybuilder or a soldier. Her physique is that of somebody who just happens to have lived a particularly active life. Yet, despite this, it becomes almost immediately clear that she is a great deal stronger than she looks. Any time she exerts herself physically, a strange, yawning groan of shifting metal can be heard, seeming to come from within her. At other times, her motions are punctuated by a slight, almost inaudible whine, like a motorized pulley drawing on a cable until it is taut.

Her skin is rather pale pinkish-white in hue, while her hair is an equally pale shade of gold. The latter is usually bound back into a long, braided tail, reaching clear past her waist in the back, and tied off with a strange metal object like a blade. In the front, aside from a few unkempt strands sticking out to the sides, it's largely kept short, so as not to obstruct her vision. Amidst the similar, dim hues of her body and hair, however, lie her eyes: twin orbs of a rather uncanny crimson red color, always seeming to be staring blankly ahead, taking in all around them without any comment or reaction. Her pink-red lips are always pursed in a slight frown, with white teeth only seldom peeking out from behind their folds. Her face is rather round - perhaps childlike, even. And, were her body possessed by a different sort of soul, then perhaps she might be seen as attractive, given her lack of prominent blemishes on what parts of her are most often visible, and generally appealing features. As she is, however, there's just something incredibly wrong about her whole image, like she's some sort of doll given the ability to think, speak, and act on its own.

Her most common attire is a simple black jumpsuit composed of some sort of synthetic material. Whatever it is made of, however, it is surprisingly durable, and much heavier than it looks, which begs the question of how it clings so closely to her instead of simply hanging from her body. In reality, the material is bonded to her skin by sub-dermal nanomachines. And, although it can be removed, she doesn't frequently do so, due to the slight difficulty of the processes involved, and the uncomfortable measures required to fuse the suit to herself once again. It is relatively uniform in its design, aside from two oddities. The first is a simple plate of metal fastened to the garment over the crotch area, serving double duty of simply protecting a rather sensitive region from damage and as a removable fly for convenience in the field. It's not like there are bathrooms in the Realm of Reflections, after all. The second is a bit more complicated, taking the form of a metallic harness, protruding from her back underneath the jumpsuit she wears and wrapping around both over and under her shoulders. It seems to have some kind of removable back panel, but this is sealed tightly on, with no visible means of removal. What the purpose of this device is isn't immediately clear, especially since parts of it - like the hoops encircling her body, for example - seem to appear and disappear depending on the severity of the situation, folding into and out of the back panel, along with several other auxiliary armor plates that can expand and contract, seemingly as she wills, including guards for her shoulders, torso, hands, and even legs. Once the panel opens, these guards swiftly dispense, floating around her, suspended by a strange golden mist. They then lock into various slots on her bodysuit, firmly affixing themselves in an apparently pre-designed pattern, as shown in one of the reference images to the left.

As it turns out, this harness is an extension of her very spinal cord, which, due to extensive cybernetic modification to her innards, has been almost entirely replaced by bio-machinery. Microprocessors and miniaturized transmittors are built into each disc therein, transferring data wirelessly to and from her external equipment, and then through her nerves and directly into her brain. Her various cybernetics are all powered by a miniaturized reactor on her gut, which runs on a high yield particle decay reaction, 75% of the products of which then decay multiple consecutive times in turn to release even more energy, sustaining the process over a phenomenal amount of time vastly disproportionate to the amount of fuel actually built into the reactor. Although certainly not a source of "infinite energy," it certainly comes close, as its design is essentially a more compact version of a system used to power spaceships during generations-long flights to new worlds. At the very least, unless it were ruptured or otherwise rendered incapable of containing its fuel, it would certainly last longer than a Human lifetime - convenient, since without its energy, the multitude of cybernetics currently sustaining Echo's life would shut down, rendering her incapable of surviving.

What truly makes this power source unique, however, is the form of the energy produced. The output of the reactor comes in the form of charged particles, which, due to unique properties of the particles in question, are incredibly responsive to certain forms of electromagnetic radiation. When subjected to certain EM signals, the particles will coalesce along an arc, which then stretches outward into a semi-triangular, roughly two-dimensional lattice of an ionized substance somewhere between a crystal and a gas, like mist. The process of generating the energy is known as Synchronous Energy Refraction, while the control phenomenon is called Arc Projection, and the resultant crystalline lattices are known as S.E.R. Fields. Her cybernetic control matrix in her spine and brain is thus known as the Synchronous Energy Refracting Arc Projecting Hybrid-use Integration Mechanism, or S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M. The reactor is connected to her spinal column, several of the devices within which are capable of performing Arc Projection through specialized slots underneath the sealed back panel of her harness. By purging this panel, she can thus channel the resultant lattices of energy outward, redirecting them to a more productive purpose, like equipping her armor.

Aside from her jumpsuit and harness, she doesn't really wear much else save a pair of fingerless black vambraces of the same strangely metallic synthetic compound composing her suit. These gloves, like her bodysuit, are fused to her body securely by nanomachines in her skin serving as a tether. Strangely enough, given the apparent defensive focus of her attire, she doesn't usually wear shoes of any sort, aside from the bladed leg-guards dispensed from her harness. There is, however, one other garment that her harness can dispense - a large, three-branched white, yellow and black cloak, made from a remarkably heavy substance that appears to be sewn from metal cables instead of thread. As shown in the GIF above, the cloak simply sweeps out, affixing itself to a large metal collar dispensed from her harness, and instantly attaching itself to her. Despite its tremendous weight, she doesn't seem bothered by it in the least.

What is odd is that, even were she storing pieces of her attire inside her own body, there simply wouldn't be enough room to contain so much equipment inside her harness. As it turns out, her bodysuit's "synthetic fabric," as well as the metallic substance composing her cloak, and her strange, self-assembling armor are all made from the same thing: nanomachines. These machines permeate her body, forming most of her cybernetic components. For example, they compose approximately 25% of her brain's mass, as well as most, if not all of her spinal cord following her transformation into a cyborg. Aside from this, they also have consumed most of her bones, using their mass to replicate themselves and take the place of most of her skeleton. They serve to fight disease in her bloodstream, as the loss of some of her internal organs has led to deficiencies in her immune system. They also augment many of her damaged vital organs, or simply replace those that aren't immediately necessary, breaking down food in place of her stomach and intestinal tract, but using its waste mass to create even more nanomachines instead of allowing it to be excreted once it is of no further use. They also reinforce her skin and musculature, among countless other things, as without them, the weight of her own body with its added implants would be so much that her biological parts would be torn asunder by simple movements.

They function by breaking the bonds between various atoms and molecules, breaking them down into a default state as energy, and then absorbing and reconstituting that energy in a desired form. This low-level matter fabrication technology doesn't allow for the creation of anything ex nihilo, as it requires energy proportionate to the properties of the matter one wishes to create. It also requires an immediately available template, or else data on hand to use to fabricate the desired item. As such, the only thing her body's internal nanomachines can do is fill gaps in her biological structure, like how they've moved in, excising and replacing damaged bits of brain tissue. They can't, say, allow her to use her blood to replicate objects, or something equally preposterous, since that's not what they're programmed for. The machines contained in her harness, however, are somewhat different. They instead receive blueprints from stored data held on a memory drive in the computerized portion of her brain. These blueprints take on either the form of her cape and collar, or her armor and weapons. To fully transform into her "combat mode," she purges not only her cape - so as to obtain greater mobility - but also her collar. Both of these items, the moment they detach from her, decompose into a formless swarm of nanomaterial, that then slowly reconstitutes itself into a form more suited for combat - body armor, bladed leggings and gauntlets, a face-concealing visor, and a not insignificant arsenal of what appear to be floating sword blades. Although this transformation does take some time - as her new equipment needs to link with her implants and power up - once she changes into this mode, she gains a vast array of new functions.

Foremost are her weapons, the Fin Sabers. Consisting of twelve single-edged blades made of black metal - as well as the sword at the end of her braid, which is fastened to her harness by a wire woven into her hair - they first appear affixed to her body in various places. Two are attached to her legs, two to her arms, and eight are connected to the various vents in the back of her harness used for Arc Projecting S.E.R. Fields. Each one of these blades contains a wireless transmitter linked with one of the transmitters in the twelve discs in the Thoracic region of her spine, as well as a battery capable of drawing a limited supply of S.E.R. Field energy from the reactor inside her body. They then detach from her back, utilizing S.E.R. Fields as a means of propulsion - as there is an equal and opposite reaction against the field that pushes the Fin Saber in a desired direction - and of offense - by projecting a thin field along the edge of the blade, the Fin Saber's cutting edge becomes superheated and begins oscillating rapidly, increasing its cutting and piercing power. In this state, although their trajectories are too complicated for Echo to control manually, she can still pick from a series of pre-programmed configurations for the computer to use to send out the blades to attack remotely, utilizing specific, effective attack patterns against designated targets. This makes their otherwise unpredictable movements somewhat repetitive after a while, but allows for Echo to focus her processing power on other things - largely, on the data transmitted to her visor.

Although the mono-eye on her visor's exterior display might cause enemies to assume that her field of vision is limited, in reality, it is anything but. When her visor connects to her face, it extends cables through the gaps between her eyes and her eye sockets, fusing directly with her optic nerve and transmitting any information it receives from her sensors - built into the fin-like antennae of the helmet - directly to her brain. These sensors, although limited in range, can serve a few different purposes. Firstly, they detect motion, heat, and life signs in the area, allowing Echo to identify and keep track of the relative positions of both friends and foes in the field at all times. Secondly, her optical display is capable of analyzing the composition of objects directly in front of her with a sort of "sonar," allowing her to determine weak points in structures, defenses, objects, or entities. And, finally, each of the transmitters on her Fin Sabers actually sends data on its surroundings back to her, allowing her to use her remote weapons almost like flying cameras, giving her a comprehensive level of awareness for pretty much everything going on around her.

For more details of her equipment's specifications - largely the configurations available for her Fin Sabers - see "Strengths."

W E I G H T
Much heavier than she looks, due to an extensive amount of metal permeating her body in the form of nanomachines. She must weigh at least half a ton, if not more. Overall, it varies depending on the number of nanomachines she's powering at the moment. In combat, she weighs slightly more due to producing additional machines to reinforce her body, while outside of battle, she shuts down several and allows them to be absorbed by others as a power-saving measure.

H E I G H T
Five Feet, Five Inches.

T A T T O O S / M A R K I N G S / S C A R S
Although they are seldom seen, as Echo doesn't often remove her bodysuit, she bears a great many scars concealed beneath it. Large white blotches adorn her skin where her body was torn by the force of her own implants prior to the nanomachines' full permeation throughout her body. A large red swathe spreads across her back where it splits open around the harness protruding from her spine, fusing with the metal. The most significant of these scars, however, runs from her left hip across her stomach to her navel, and then upward from there between her breasts to a point just beneath her collarbone. It is a large, dark red discoloration where the skin hasn't fully managed to grow back, and seems to have been left in the wake of some horrible wound. Given the sheer size of the scar, it's likely that her very body was nearly torn in half both horizontally and vertically. It seems inconceivable that she could even have survived sustaining such a wound. And yet, here she is.

She doesn't have any tattoos or other such voluntary markings. And, worth mentioning is that aside from these wounds left in the wake of both the event that nearly killed her and the various operations, implants, and transplants that saved her life, she doesn't actually seem to possess any more normal blemishes, like pockmarks, freckles, moles, or acne, or even unwanted hairs. Her body is almost disturbingly void of any sort of differentiation in its structure aside from the imperfectly regenerated sections where it was damaged so horrifically that even with the aid of nanomachines, it couldn't be perfectly reconstructed. It does make sense, though. Aside from those spots, most of her skin has been augmented, if not simply replaced by demal nanomachines, since the force exerted by her cybernetics would shred normal skin in a heartbeat - as evidenced by the places where it already has. Even knowing this, though, it doesn't make her doll-like appearance any less disconcerting.

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▩XNow, Tear Down the PictureX▩

L I S T E N
⌜No... wait... my name... Kara... it's what he- Identify 'he'? Data... not found...⌟

F A V O R I T EXXC O L O R
She largely lacks opinions on such matters. "Gold is... pretty... though."

F A V O R I T EXXA N I M A L
She seems to like ALL animals.
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L I K E S
⇾ Interesting Things | Due to the damage both to her brain and soul, she sometimes finds it difficult to encode memories like a normal person would. As such, she can't remember things well, aside from the important things she stores in digitized memory in her implants. Consequently, the entire world excites her curiosity, drawing her to investigate anything and everything around her with the same sense of curiosity and wonder as a child.
⇾ Living Things | This especially extends to animals and people, as their natures can't be so easily discovered at a glance as things like, say, gravity, or a very large building. This, as well as her lack of feelings when it comes to such things as disgust, and her boundless curiosity, probably explain why she's equally fascinated by an insect as by a more traditionally "cute" animal, such as a puppy or the like. She's generally very friendly to most living things, in a strange sort of way. The problem is, when her distinctive scent and strange bearing don't frighten them off, she oftentimes accidentally hurts them, as she's bad at gauging her own strength. As such, although it's fine to let her, say, pat a dog on the head, one shouldn't leave her alone to play with anything.
⇾ Fighting | Due to the suppression of her soul, she lacks many aspects of a normal Human personality. As such, she has very few, if any, driving motivations, and finds it difficult to remember even simple things like who she was prior to her transformation into a cyborg. One thing she does remember, however, is that she HATES the Mirror Monsters. If she discovers one, she will stop at nothing to eradicate it as completely and utterly as she can. That is one of the only things she has left to give her purpose.
⇾ Doing her Duty | Another such motivation was programmed into her implants - to follow the orders she is given absolutely. She would be - and in fact is - willing to march into Hell - Or in this case, the Realm of Reflections - the moment she's asked to.

D I S L I K E S
⇾ Mirror Monsters | Self explanatory.
⇾ Pain | Sustaining physical wounds and seeing her own blood trigger an instinctive fear reaction in her. She has a very low pain tolerance because of this, as the moment she's hurt, she begins to lose focus, remembering something she can't quite place, and becoming terrified by it.
⇾ Being Treated as a Machine | She doesn't often show this, but sometimes, being addressed as a cyborg - especially being referred to solely as Echo - can cause her to suddenly snap, changing out her usual pronoun "This one" for a more normal "I, my, me," etc. In this state, she seems to show a great deal more emotion than she does otherwise, signifying that perhaps, some aspect of her original personality remains following her reconstruction... and doesn't particularly like being treated as something less than Human.

Q U I R K S
⇾ Mimicking | Oftentimes, instead of displaying expressions or making gestures of her own, she simply copies what she sees other people around her doing, like in the gifs to the left. This sort of behavior may be the reason behind her codename.
⇾ Parroting | ...Or, if it isn't, then this probably is. Her usual response to being told something is to repeat it back to the person who told her inquisitively, as though making sure her understanding is correct. Maybe she's trying to memorize what she's told so she doesn't forget...?
⇾ "This One" | She usually refers to herself by this pseudo-pronoun, addressing herself more as a belonging or a tool than as a person. As such, conversations with her can be a little unsettling, like talking to a computer. And, because of the frequency with which she uses this term, it's all the more surprising when she suddenly stops, as mentioned above.

H A B I T S
⇾ Motionless | Echo never wastes energy on needless movements. Unless she needs to do something, or until something piques her interest, she'll stand stock still where she is.
⇾ Floating | She has a tendency sometimes not to walk when she needs to go somewhere. Instead, she uses S.E.R. Fields to carry her where she needs to go. Naturally, in combat mode, when her feet are entirely covered by large blades and she needs mobility more than almost anything, this is essentially her sole means of movement.
⇾ Secretive | She seldom speaks unless spoken to, and, more often than not, lowers her head slightly so as to conceal a part of her face within the large metal collar of her cape. As such, she's somewhat rightly seen as antisocial. Most likely, she just doesn't like having to talk, due to the difficulty she faces in doing so.

▩XPick Out The PigmentsX▩

L I S T E N
⌜Combat mode... initialized. Engaging S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M. RT-HSP Type-ECHO... eradicating targets...!⌟

M A I NXXW E A P O N S
Fin Sabers x8

O T H E RXXW E A P O N R Y
Detachable Limb Sabers x4, Auxiliary Saber x1.
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S T R E N G T H S
⇾ Versatility | Given that each of her swords, once detached from her, is controlled independently by its own sub-processor unit based on a manually input algorithm, Echo is both capable of utilizing her weapons remote-attack ability to the fullest by choosing roughly how they will behave in battle, and concentrating her own attentions on micromanaging tactical data at the same time. Because of this, she can essentially use her Fin Sabers to fill any combat role that may be useful while also fulfilling her own duties as adjutant tactician to the squad. The S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M. has essentially five configurations, the pros of which will be outlined in the sections below.
⇾ Shroud Configuration | S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M.'s default mode. In this state, all combat-use nanomachines are bound in the form of a heavy, metallic cloak and a thick metal collar that both protects the wearer's neck and holds up the weighty mantle. Because no S.E.R. Fields are being actively Arc Projected, it is very power efficient, while also offering respectable defensive capabilities - as the mantle alone is capable of withstanding a great deal of damage before it is destroyed, serving more like a physical shield than a worn garment. Furthermore, Mirror Monsters usually target the throat when trying to suffocate and possess a target, which, with the addition of the heavy collar, is made rather difficult for them. Finally, in the event that a weapon is needed, the Auxiliary Saber wired through Echo's hair and into the base of her neck is always available. Pictured as her "default mode."
⇾ Blitz Configuration | The default state of S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M.'s Combat Mode. In this form, the mantle gives way to eight swords affixed to Echo's spine via her harness, to armor overlaying itself over her body, and weapons covering her limbs, while her collar is replaced by her mask and visor. In this state, the eight main Fin Sabers cannot be deployed due to their direct connection to her reactor. However, they are still capable of projecting S.E.R. Fields, something the Limb Sabers can also do. As such, in this state, she is capable of almost instantaneous acceleration in any direction she wills. And, due to the lack of complexity involved in simply moving herself instead of independently controlling up to twelve flying weapons, she can assume full manual control of her movement. Given the sheer weight of her cybernetically enhanced body, if she collides with someone or something at top speed in this form, it's probably not going to be her that gets hurt. And, since the Limb Sabers are now fully operational, she can utilize them in melee combat in addition to her Auxiliary Saber, giving her additional attack power. This mode is shown in the first picture on the left of this section.
⇾ Phalanx Configuration | While Shroud Configuration focuses on efficiency and Blitz Configuration on speed, this form focuses on full forward assault. Detaching all eight Fin Sabers, she directs all of them toward one target, forming a wall of four Sabers on either side of herself, and then beginning a continuous barrage of flying thrusts from all eight, one right after the other. Whenever one passes by or is deflected, it circles back around and strikes immediately from behind. In this fashion, she transitions from an advancing wall of swords to one sword on each side of a target, until it simply can't defend against the continuous attacks from all directions, and falls. Preparation for such an assault is shown in the second image on the left.
⇾ Assault Configuration | This form focuses on long range fire support. Detaching the Fin Sabers like in Phalanx Configuration, Echo connects them in pairs, forming floating "guns" similar in shape to a tuning fork. Concentrating S.E.R. Fields between them, she uses dual Arc Projection to form an ultracompressed crystalline lattice out of one field, and then propel it with another, functioning similarly to a particle beam cannon and a railgun. This thus forms four Fin Cannons, which she can direct to prioritize certain targets, allowing her to lay down supporting fire to assist her squadmates. One such Fin Cannon preparing to fire is shown in the third image to the left.
⇾ Spiral Configuration | The final form is a balance between the offensive power of Phalanx Configuration and the efficiency of Shroud Configuration. Surrounding herself with all eight Fin Sabers, she causes them to circle around her, targeting and slashing at anything that gets close. In this mode, it's very difficult to approach her from any direction, forcing combatants away from her and into ranged combat, where she can swiftly target and eliminate them by shifting Configurations to either Assault or Phalanx. This is shown in the fourth and final image to the left.
⇾ Extra Sabers | In a pinch, she can also detach and reconfigure her Limb Sabers, giving her even more vectors by which to attack at a range. However, this leaves her largely without any means of protecting herself in close quarters aside from her small Auxiliary Saber, and as such, must be used judiciously.
⇾ Misc. | Also of note is that she's very difficult to possess. For the most part, her conscious thoughts and actions, rendered vague and incomplete by her soul's disconnection from her body and the damage it has sustained, are largely filtered through the computer part of her brain, resulting in her tendencies towards very robotic movements and speech patterns unless particularly roused by some intense emotion. As such, even were she possessed by a Mirror Monster, it would likely have difficulty fully controlling her until it could completely subjugate her mental programming. This delay would likely be long enough for an emergency countermeasure to come into effect, and her Auxiliary Saber to take immediate action to plunge itself directly into S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M., causing her reactor to rupture, and her body to violently explode before it could be used against her will to harm anyone else, thus preventing the Core's Human weapon from being used against it.

W E A K N E S S E S
⇾ Master of None | Echo's main problem is that she doesn't SPECIALIZE in combat. Although she's capable of filling many secondary roles in a battle scenario, she isn't particularly adept at any of them, having most of her equipment specialized to information gathering and tactical deployment - her visor and sensor suites, and her Fin Sabers' data gathering abilities, for example. Although her cyborg body is much stronger than a Human, none of her armaments really take advantage of that - as her Limb Sabers can't apply much leverage, and her Fin Sabers are of no use while connected to her. And, although S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M.'s varied Configurations do allow for re-specialization mid-combat, they each also come with their own major flaws.
⇾ Shroud Configuration | Lacks offensive options, mobility, and tactical utility. It's a form that's simply resilient and power efficient, and nothing else.
⇾ Blitz Configuration | The Sabers don't run out of power due to being hooked up to her reactor. On the other hand, using this form runs the risk of draining her reactor to the point where she'll have to revert to Shroud Configuration or else risk running out of energy to utilize.
⇾ Phalanx and Assault Configurations | Both of these modes suffer from short durations, as the Fin Sabers have to return to recharge themselves after expending so much energy moving and attacking. Furthermore, while active and seeking a certain target, they concentrate most of Echo's "eyes" on a single individual, while leaving her distanced from most of her weapons. It's possible that while attacking one enemy, she might be cut off by another, thus rendering these modes somewhat dangerous to use.
⇾ Spiral Configuration | The mode itself doesn't leave her open or split her offensive power, and the swords can easily be recharged. It's just that this form isn't terribly useful so long as there isn't anybody right in her face trying to attack her directly, making it somewhat overspecialized.

F E A R S
⇾ Being Touched | Ever since her near-death and subsequent transformation into a cyborg, even if she can't remember the circumstances, she's still put greatly on edge whenever someone tries to manhandle her. Doing so can and will result in her Auxiliary Saber finding its way towards one's throat.
⇾ Loud Noises | Although she doesn't react very visibly to them, they put her immediately on edge, especially if completely unexpected.
⇾ Reflections | She tends to instinctively avoid reflective surfaces, and watches them closely for anything lurking beneath the surface, as though ready to leap into action at the slightest provocation.
⇾ Blood | She greatly dislikes the sight of blood. This is one of the few things that's enough to immediately get a reaction out of her despite her stoic exterior. Upon seeing it, she tends to freeze up, and oftentimes will begin to shiver or shrink back. Usually, when this happens, she tries to get as far away as possible, visibly terrified. She reacts even more strongly when the blood is her own, as mentioned above under Dislikes. Oftentimes, simply injuring her in a tremendously bloody fashion is enough to paralyze her with fear, or else drive her to rout. However, it's just as effective if one were to, say, eviscerate one of her allies in front of her eyes. Either way, her first instinct is panic.

▩XNow, Paint It Again...X▩

P E R S O N A L I T Y
It's rather difficult to describe Echo's personality since, on the surface, she doesn't seem to have one. She stays still, listens to her orders, and then does what she's told. At a glance, you'd be tempted to say that was all there was to know about her. But, as you may have guessed, things are... somewhat more complicated than that. When it comes down to it, Echo seems almost to have two separate identities - one as Echo, and one as Kara Fennell. When her soul was partially disconnected from both her conscious mind and body, she lost access to a large portion of herself. The brain damage she sustained at the time only exacerbated this issue. Although the damaged portions of her brain have since been replaced by cybernetics, the programming of these implants tends to interfere at times with conscious thought on her part. Meant as a hedge against possession and other forms of treason, as mentioned above - since her implants, acting independently of the controlling influences of both her own mind and any Mirror Monster, could terminate her before she could be taken over - they filter any commands and feelings received from her mind, acting only on the basis of those that are prioritized. As such, her soul is separated by not one, but two degrees from her body. It's very difficult for her to either feel or will anything, and even if she does, it's unlikely her implants will allow it, since due to the initial disconnect, very few of her feelings or desires are powerful enough to be deemed important by her implants' programming. However, oddly enough, when a Human being observes someone else experiencing or acting out a strong emotion, most often, the areas of the brain producing that emotion in the person they are watching also light up in their brain. Due to this empathetic phenomenon, it's actually quite likely that Echo, seeing somebody else passionate about something, might "feel" that same thing independently of her soul, with enough strength that her implants would register it as a strong feeling of her own, and thus act upon it. Thus is born Echo's most distinctive trait: her mimicry. However, it isn't difficult for this to be her most distinctive trait, as aside from it, she has very few others. Due to her difficulty remembering things, she oftentimes recites things she is told, repeating them out loud both to ensure that her brain successfully encodes them, and to confirm that her understanding of the information is correct. And, naturally, when given an order by a member of the Core, her implants immediately prioritize this objective, making it nearly impossible for her to disobey. In theory, this was to prevent her from rebelling against them, but in practice, it just means that in the heyday of the Core, she usually just ended up being flagged down by cadets and commanded to perform meaningless tasks, like cleaning their rooms or doing their laundry.

However, occasionally, a tremendously powerful feeling of her own has enough intensity to register as important to her implants, even through the haze of her damaged soul. When this happens, she's capable of briefly using this as a foothold to bridge the gap, and temporarily, a little bit of her actual personality shows through. In general, though, these sorts of occurrences are as rare as they are brief, and seldom give more than tiny glimpses at what Kara Fennell must have been like prior to her transformation into Echo.

If one were to describe her attitude as Kara in one word, it would probably be "desperate." Whenever she manages to regain full control of her mental faculties, she always seems to be fighting desperately to retain them. She will always insist upon her Humanity, affirming that she, as a person, still exists, even if the predominant portion of her adolescent life has been spent either on life support or inside Echo. Kara is, perhaps because of these lost years, generally a very childish person. She wants to know about the world around her, wants to remember who she is, wants to be able to live her life as herself instead of as a mere ghost locked up inside an unfeeling machine. This trait manifests itself sometimes even when Echo's programming is in control, in the form of her insatiable curiosity, and otherworldly naivete. Aside from this trait, she usually seems very kind, but also lonely. Whenever she emerges, she'll almost invariably plead those around her not to leave, to keep her mind engaged for as long as they can. But when the emotion that drew her out in the first place begins to subside, she becomes lethargic, eventually lapsing into a blank state of semi-consciousness that slowly transitions back to Echo's stoic facade. However, the more times she emerges, the more frequent these occurrences become, and the longer they usually last for. Her implants don't seem to be failing, which can lead to only one conclusion. After years spent recovering after her near-death, Kara's soul is beginning to reconnect with her consciousness. If it will succeed is anyone's guess, and what will happen when and if it does, only time will tell...

▩X...But Add More Detail This TimeX▩

B I O G R A P H Y
Echo was created from the near-dead body of a young girl - the daughter of two agents of the Core. Although the circumstances surrounding the tragedy that resulted in the deaths of her parents and her own horrific mutilation are unclear, there are a few things that can be inferred from the information recovered after the fact. Layla and Arthur Fennell were found deceased. The cause of death in both cases was determined to be the latter's firearm. A broken mirror was also scattered across the room, with damage to the wall behind it evidently caused by the same weapon. It is presumed that one or the other was possessed by a Mirror Monster, and then murdered the other before committing suicide. Kara Fennell, at the time 11 years old, was found with her body nearly ripped into four pieces. Her stomach cavity had been partially ripped open from her left hip to her navel, evidently by sheer force. This sort of damage is completely inconsistent with the physical capabilities of the agents in question, and of the weapon employed in the struggle. As such, it's assumed that this was some sort of hitherto unknown effect of a failed attempt at possession, a fact which has been taken note of. A similar "tear" ran upward from there almost to her collarbone. Were her organs not largely held in by her ribcage, she doubtless would have been completely disemboweled. As it stood, much of her digestive tract was completely destroyed, although, miraculously, her vitals, and many of her body's secondary organs such as her reproductive system and the like, could be salvaged. She had, however, suffered a major skull fracture that had resulted in bone shards penetrating her brain. She could only be saved by excising the damaged tissue and replacing it wholecloth with cybernetics, a process that had to be repeated with much of her disemboweled body, utilizing nanomachines to slowly consume that which couldn't be saved and replace it with a mechanical replica, effectively reconstructing her entire body from the inside out. She survived for over a year on life support while this process was performed, and, after the conversion into a cyborg was completed, was finally resuscitated. During this time, she was largely comatose. When she did wake, she showed no signs of awareness, and was completely unresponsive. It was thus determined that her soul had largely been severed from her body, as her current state was similar to a newly possessed victim, prior to a Mirror Monster assuming control. However, instead of lasting for a few seconds, it lasted over three weeks of quarantine. Eventually, it was determined that she was not possessed, but a close watch was kept over her regardless. In her vegetative state, her cybernetics' emergency programming assumed complete control of her actions. Without any personality save that which she mimicked from others, she was given the codename Echo. And, her body viewed as a potentially useful experimental asset by the Science Division even if she herself had been deemed legally braindead, she was taken under their wing despite the protests of the agent who had initially found her, bringing her to the Core to be saved in the wake of her family's deaths. This man had largely cared for her during her recovery period, conversing with her even when she showed no signs of understanding or responding to him. And, when her awareness began to re-appear, she seemed to vaguely recall him. However, he did not manage to regain custody of the girl from the Science Division, and died some time thereafter when he was re-assigned to the Fighter Division and sent to the frontlines, so the matter was dropped - although his death was kept from the newly designated "Echo" for quite some time.

Testing began on her, replacing the inefficient "battery" system that had initially been implanted in her to power her cybernetics - and which periodically needed to be surgically extracted and changed, a process which caused the subject a great deal of discomfort, and caused the Core's researchers no end of difficulty - with an experimental particle decay reactor, and suitable control mechanisms to employ it, which eventually became known as S.E.R.A.P.H.I.M., following Echo's designation as a "Hybrid" of Human and machine to distinguish her from more basic Cyborgs - Humans with just a few cybernetic enhancements. Applications of this system, including weapons and armor technology, was worked upon thereafter, resulting in the development of her first armaments package, Shroud Configuration. Researchers noted with some alarm that once equipped, she never seemed to turn it off, remaining in a perpetual state of caution. As such, her implants were reprogrammed just in case to add extra restrictions about harming members of the Core.

In the mean time, several anomalies began to crop up surrounding Echo herself. For one thing, several cadets took notice of her programming of absolute obedience, and so decided to see how far exactly it would go. With the approval of certain unscrupulous members of the Science Division, Echo was given over to them temporarily. They started simple, ordering her to do things like clean rooms, cook food, or otherwise perform basic housekeeping tasks. When she showed no signs of objecting, they decided to go bigger, ordering her to play pranks on other agents, or to do ridiculous things like floating into the main lobby from the ceiling and singing. She followed without complaint, resulting in an inquiry into the project as a whole when its prized subject was found doing such bizarre things. This inquiry, as it happened, uncovered something almost immediately. One particular cadet, deciding to take advantage of her inability to refuse, had tried to force her to sleep with him. To the surprise and great worry of many, Echo had, instead of complying, immediately broken free of the restrictions placed upon her by her programming, entering Shroud Configuration and deploying her Auxiliary Saber and cutting off the man's hand when he tried to bodily force her into his room. The Agent's wounds were treated, although he was later discharged from the Core for disorderly conduct. Echo herself was once again quarantined after a brief chase, as, apparently horrified at the sight of the blood she herself had shed, she had begun to flee in a panic. Although eventually a tribunal saw fit to acquit her and allow research to continue, she was kept on a much tighter leash from that point onward.

Noting her uncharacteristic panic at the sight of blood, some of her supervisors decided they'd try to condition her to overcome this fear, since, given her armaments, some bloodshed would be inevitable in the event she saw active combat. So, she was ordered to enter a small, circular room, approximately five feet in diameter, with an upraised platform in the center. Once inside, she was ordered to stand at attention, and to not move or make any sound under any circumstances, and most importantly, to remain within the room. Then, a pipe in the ceiling was opened, releasing a steady drip of fake "blood" into the room. To the surprise of the researchers on staff, Echo immediately disobeyed all orders she had been given, and began frantically trying to force open the door, at first with her hands. But, when that did not work, she began employing her Saber and attempting to cut through. Attempts to calm her either through spoken command or through remote control of her implants proved futile. Reinforced bulkheads were deployed to slow her advance. However, when her saber proved ineffective, she purged Shroud Configuration and, accessing blueprint data of her Saber remotely, forcibly converted her mantle into additional weaponry, creating the as-of-yet incomplete Phalanx Configuration on the spot and utilizing its increased offensive power to begin forcing her way out. Lockdown was initiated, and an electronic pulse was employed to neutralize her. However, she actually remained conscious for almost ten minutes, even after her implants suffered a cascade failure, shutting down most of her nervous system in the process. Although paralyzed thus from the neck down, she began to scream incoherently, tearing most of her vocal cords in the process, for several minutes at a time, until she finally passed out due to lack of oxygen. Further attempts at "conditioning" were expressly prohibited under order of the administrators of the project, and Echo was once again put under quarantine for the next month while her damaged implants were repaired and her self-inflicted injuries were treated. During this period, she remained almost completely unresponsive. However, she eventually returned to her default state as "Echo," and demonstrated no memory of either that incident, or the agent's failed coercion that had preceded it.

Originally deemed mentally unstable, she was kept off of active duty, simply serving as a testbed for advanced cybernetics the Core hoped to one day employ in their agents. Additional configurations were created according to various deficiencies in her performance during certain tests, eventually resulting in the rather impressive arsenal she bears to this day. Furthermore, her implants demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for micromanaging data, thus prompting the project to begin modifying her basic templates with advanced sensory packages that could be used to better control a combat situation. As such, she was transferred to the Tactical Division in order to field test her new equipment. Before this could be done, however, half of the Core's members revealed themselves as traitors, and brought about the downfall of the entire organization.

During the chaos that followed, Echo ended up discovering the death of the man she'd remembered saving her. Hearing about a group with a plan to save those who had fallen into the Realm of Reflections, she joined up with them immediately, offering to serve as adjutant tactician to their squad now that most of her handlers were dead and she had no other duties to fulfill. And so, she set out, hoping to once again meet with the mysterious figure who had saved her and had treated her with such kindness...

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C R E A T O R
Fear the Cat.

Do not use, steal, or copy this without my (Fear the Cat) permission or I'll probably fucking cut you.
^-^

M O D I F I E DXXB Y
Feyblue

Made some slight alterations and tidied things up here and there. Hope you don't mind, Cat!

Kara "Echo" Fennell

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a character in “Playing With Time | Reboot”, as played by Feyblue

Description

So begins...

Kara "Echo" Fennell's Story