NightKnight

**Connor**, better known by his online name of **NightKnight**, is a character in *Magical Girl Policy*. He also appears in the MGP Vignettes "Call It A Knight" and "Knight Shift". He is a sophomore at SAU and member of SFEERS, the campus's resident nerd club. He is also a member of the Knights of the Spherical Table, the club's *Aspect Realms* guild. He is part of the ConSpiriters, a group that attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the battle between the Spirit Guard and the monsters in Kessia City.

## Appearance

NightKnight initially appears with a lanky build, natural red hair, and ice blue eyes.

When Robynne encounters NightKnight while promoting SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament, his appearance has noticeably changed. He is slightly taller, has more defined musculature, auburn brown hair with a sort of metallic sheen, and is more well-kempt in general. He claims his change in height is due to improved posture and a late growth spurt like his father had, while his hair changing color is a common phenomenon in Kessia City, but Robynne infers from his response that he's lying, and that the physical changes have some connection to his similarly new aura.

## Personality

NightKnight is competitive, but is noted to not be quite as skilled as he thinks he is, which along with his short temper causes him to be easily frustrated. When he encounters a strategy or element that he struggles against, his gut reaction is to deem it uncompetitive. He is socially awkward, not especially confident outside of competition, and his ego is somewhat fragile. His social difficulties are a notable source of angst for him, as he feels he always manages to ruin things.

When NightKnight appears during Robynne's promotion of SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament, he displays a strong sense of justice as he intervenes to stop a guy who is hounding her, putting aside his grudge with Robynne and ignoring that he wouldn't win in a fight against the larger man. His ability to be courageous in spite of his fear is seemingly aided by the power of his new aura. Robynne believes he is also naturally eager to protect others, a character trait she associates with people like him who play tank characters in *Aspect Realms*.

He is a member of SFEERS, and is very active in the nerd's club. He is an avid *Aspect Realms* player, spending much of his time playing with SFEERS's guild for the game, the Knights of the Spherical Table. In the game, he serves a tank role as a Gargoyle Shadewarden, and is initially the leader of the guild's PvP group, with Rob considering the desire to lead another common trait of tank players. NightKnight is heavily invested in the game's lore, taking the Pact-Accord conflict very seriously.

NightKnight is a member of the Spirit Guard investigation group nicknamed the ConSpiriters, having joined due to his unease over the mysterious Spirit Guard being Kessia City's only means of defense against similarly mysterious monsters that appear in the area. He is skeptical that the unusual abilities displayed by the clashing parties are truly magical in nature, and wonders if there is a connection to be found between them and other strange happenings in the city.

## Abilities

At first, NightKnight appears to have no special attributes, as Robynne fails to detect anything with her empathokinetic perception.

When NightKnight meets Robynne during promotion for SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament, however, NightKnight possesses an aura with the texture of a metallic tightrope. Compared to other textured auras, the affecting of emotional states in those near the user is downplayed; the aura seems to primarily affect NightKnight himself. The aura can connect NightKnight to a person he is focused on, and it appears that as his focus and intensity of his emotions towards the target increases, the aura's connection tightens. Alertness appears to be its default component, but is seen shifting to tension while attached to the meathead he defends Robynne from. In this case, the resulting adrenaline in NightKnight helps him stand up to the man despite fearing it could result in a fight he'd lose. Unlike Cammy, Dale, and Fretribution's textured auras, NightKnight's moves in a more focused manner, suggesting he has some awareness of it. How he acquired these powers is unknown, but Robynne and Vivian believe it must have some connection to his altered appearance, similar to how each Spirit Guard had their appearance change following their first transformation.

## Biography

### Background

Six months ago in "Call It A Knight", NightKnight starts up an *Aspect Realms* PvP session with some Knights of the Spherical Table. One of them, BlackNovember, messes around to antagonize NightKnight, prompting a heated argument between the two. This fiasco is a recurring one, and GalleyGirl calls guildmaster SaltStorm to resolve the issue. SaltStorm has November log off and NightKnight move to another voice channel while he confirms the situation with the other players. Speaking to NightKnight, SaltStorm tells him that his hotheaded reactions to November's trolling only serve to escalate things, so he suggests NightKnight take a break from *Aspect Realms* for the night as well as block and mute November going forward.

### Week 1

NightKnight plays a round of *Aspect Realms* PvP with the Knights. He gets frustrated by his opponent Bluster's stealth tactics and has a prolonged fit of rage.

The day after in "Knight Shift", NightKnight still feels ashamed of his behavior yesterday, so he types up a message of apology to SaltStorm. He is interrupted by SFEERS president Fretribution knocking at his door. Fretribution asks for his help in putting up SFEERS fliers around this part of campus, and also brings up the yesterday's incident. Fretribution tells him that rather than involving SaltStorm, NightKnight is better off speaking to those who were there at the time. Fretribution encourages NightKnight to continue trying to lead and grow the guild's PvP group, but suggests he learn to vent his anger in ways that won't make those around him uncomfortable, even if the solution is as basic as enabling push-to-talk so others won't always hear him rage. NightKnight is unconfident, but Fretribution says the fact that ergoAwesome brought the issue up with the president instead of the guildmaster and continues to join NightKnight's games suggests she must be having enough fun to justify sticking with him, so the situation is not impossible to salvage.

### Weeks 2-4

Bluster, under the new name Robynne and new handle Waveform, joins SFEERS and the Knights of the Spherical Table. Rob has forgotten her previous encounter with NightKnight, and her new handle and female voice means he can't recognize her. NightKnight finds that the PvP group he usually leads begins to follow the new recruit instead.

NightKnight attends the SFEERS opening social. He and several Knights of the Spherical Table, including Robynne, meet in person here. After listening to ergoAwesome's story of a PvP match she and TurtleSmuggler played under Robynne's leadership, NightKnight's pride is wounded as Rob's tactical skill is clearly superior to his own.

Some time during the next few weeks, NightKnight starts making excuses to skip PvP sessions, as Robynne has taken his prized leadership position. Rob fears he may start drama in the guild if nothing is done to placate him.

### Week 5

After leaving a Spirit Guard investigation group meeting, NightKnight spots Robynne promoting SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament, and notices a meathead refusing to halt his advances on her. When inserting himself into the conversation so Rob can ask the meathead to leave fails, NightKnight confronts him directly. Before the meathead can start a fight, Rob tells him off, reminds him of the consequences of fighting on campus, and stops NightKnight from pursuing the leaving man for insulting her. At this point, Stacy notices the situation and comes over. During introductions, NightKnight and Waveform learn their respective real names of Connor and Robynne. Robynne had noticed NightKnight's change in appearance and aura, and so turns the subject to the former. NightKnight writes off his height as the results of improved posture and a late growth spurt like his father had, and his now auburn brown hair as a result of prolonged residence in Kessia City, as one's hair color changing after moving there is considered normal. He wonders aloud if the phenomenon is connected to the Spirit Guard and monsters, and reveals himself as a ConSpiriter. When Stacy mentions she, Rob, Cory, and Eli were at Buy Bright just before the Cell-celia attack, NightKnight becomes eager to question the two cheerleaders. Needing to protect her secret identity but unable get him off the subject, Robynne makes herself cry and refuses to talk about such a sensitive topic, claiming that being in a city with monsters has been a traumatic experience. Humiliated, NightKnight hastily leaves and berates himself for his behavior.

Later that day, NightKnight is contacted over *Aspect Realms* by Robynne, who assures him that she's not mad at him over their awkward encounter. She convinces him to come to tonight's *Mega Mash Family* tournament.

## Relationships

### SFEERS

NightKnight is a member of SAU's nerd club SFEERS. He is highly active in the club, attending in-person events and regularly interacting on its forums. He is known to be familiar with CannedBurrito and Quack, apparently from the opening social.

### Knights of the Spherical Table

NightKnight is a member of the Knights of the Spherical Table guild in *Aspect Realms*. He is the most active PvP enthusiast in the guild and spearheads a group for it, which frequently includes ergoAwesome, TurtleSmuggler, Xylol, and YetAnotherJeff. Despite his willingness to lead, he is found to be a poor tactician, and his temper can make things awkward with the group at times. One member, BlackNovember, liked to amuse himself by intentionally provoking the hotheaded NightKnight, though November has apparently been booted from the guild for this continued misbehavior. The others like NightKnight enough to continue playing with him without making an issue of his attitude. When the group drifts toward Robynne's leadership instead, NightKnight's pride is deeply wounded.

### Robert Dreese/Robynne Darling

NightKnight first speaks with Robert, who uses the handle Bluster, during an *Aspect Realms* PvP game. When the transformed Robynne joins SFEERS and the Knights as Waveform, the two fail to recognize each other. They share a passion for PvP, but NightKnight is hurt when the more skilled Robynne ends up unintentionally usurping his leadership role in light of her superior social and gaming prowess. When he sees her being harassed by a meathead during her promotion duty, however, he sets his grudge with her aside and comes to her aid. At this point, the two learn each other's real names. They have rather similar views on the Spirit Guard, monsters, and magic, and when he finds out she was at the scene of Cell-celia's attack he believes she'd be a great help in his ConSpiriter work. Robynne, however, shuts him down with fake tears and the claim that living in fear of monsters ever since moving to Kessia City has made the subject highly sensitive for her. Robynne later assures him that she's not mad over this, though convincing NightKnight to not blame himself was difficult.

### Stacy Ambrose

NightKnight and Stacy briefly meet at the SFEERS opening social, but they aren't formally introduced until they meet again when Stacy is promoting SFEERS's *Mega Mash Family Battle* tournament. When she tells him she was at Buy Bright just before Cell-celia attacked, he wants to interview her for his ConSpiriter work, but Robynne shutting him out prevents him from doing so.

## Trivia

* In "Knight Shift", NightKnight's real name is given as John Harvey. When it comes up in the main series in Chapter 55, however, it has been changed to Connor.