Commander Hikari

A paragon of strength, self-sacrifice, and sheer bloody-mindedness, Hikari is the current Outpost Head of Prisma Lantern. She is a well-known Beacon who is famous for her feats in battle, but her pragmatic and somewhat liberal views can put her at odds with more traditional Beacons.

## History

A 'career Beacon', Hikari doesn't like to talk much about her past before becoming a magical girl, dismissing it as irrelevant. What is known is that she came from a relatively high-technology society, and that she was a soldier of some kind.

Unlike most magical girls, Hikari made her contract with the Beaconchuu directly, immediately joining Beacon. After that she quickly made a name for herself as a natural fighter. In short time she became leader of a special-tactics squad, and led several high-profile missions, though most of them are classified. Around this time she started advocating a more lenient approach against Corrupted beings, which led to conflicts with her superiors. She eventually left her position, apparently of her own choice.

After this she shuffled between various Beacon outposts for a while, usually on mostly-forgotten frontier worlds. By chance, she happened to be present on a particular world for a high-profile incident involving the emergence of an immensely powerful monstergirl. The details are highly classified, but it's known that Hikari single-handedly held the line against hordes of enemies to prevent them from escaping off-world; literally, as she lost her left arm in the incident.

After the incident, for unknown reasons she decided to begin actively climbing the ranks of Beacon. Unfortunately this brought her in contact with old political enemies, who absolutely did not want her in a position of influence. She eventually got fed up and wandered off, dropping off the radar for a while.

During this time the Incident that nearly decimated Beacon occurred. She responded to the general SOS but returned to Central Beacon too late, only witnessing the aftermath of the Incident. Beacon was reorganized shortly after, and some of her old enemies took advantage of the reshuffling to reassign her as Outpost Head of Prisma Lantern, one of outposts hit hardest during the Incident. Ironically, this is almost exactly where she wants to be.

At present she is still finding her feet, juggling Prisma Lantern's recovery and re-acquainting herself with the burdens of leadership. Time will tell what she manages to accomplish.

## Personality

Hikari is an idealist - amazing, considering how long she's been around - but she's also a pragmatist. She's much more flexible than most Outpost Heads when it comes to getting the job done, often saying that a Beacon's only job is to save as many people as possible - whatever they have to do to make it happen. When she draws the line, though, she draws it hard. She may be flexible most of the time, but once she's really decided something, she's impossible to budge.

As befitting her Sanctification, she's very protective of those around her. She's particularly protective of the girls she commands - and often struggles with the fact that she orders them into danger. Much of her career has been spent learning to reconcile herself with the fact that she can't save everyone; it's never stopped hurting, but she's toughened herself enough to compensate. At this point, it would take quite a lot to rattle her.

On a daily basis, she's a fairly easygoing girl. She jokes around and goofs off; she can often be found in the pub taking a "short break" from her duties. She's only serious when it's necessary; but when it is, she almost becomes a different person. And God help you if you manage to make her angry.

## Abilities

True to her name, Hikari is a Light-specialist. It's not subtle, but neither is she; in combat she's a skilled but rather noticeable physical brawler. Much of this is deliberate, as she tries to draw fire from her allies to herself. She wields a single longsword with her right arm.

She is Sanctified according to the Virtue of Protection, and from this and her specialization she draws two primary abilities. The first is a mastery of hard-light constructs. The simplest way she uses these is to generate shields to protect herself and her allies. However, as a practiced user she can use them for very complex applications, though these generally require more concentration and practice to pull off.

Her second ability is the ability to "see things as they are"; or, put another way, to "see the true nature of things". This ability works on multiple levels. It makes her very observant; it isn't easy to deceive her with distraction or misdirection. Disguises and illusions have limited effect on her. It also forces her to see the situation as it is - no biases, no delusions. This is why she is so pragmatic, and it allows her to make difficult choices when she has to. On the downside, this means she does not have the luxury of using delusions to comfort herself, and it often forces her to face those difficult choices even when she would rather not.

But, according to her, the most important aspect of this ability has to do with people. Her ability allows her to see the true nature of the people around her. This goes beyond simply seeing through disguises - it lets her, with time, come to know the person, faster than would normally be possible. Sometimes this forces her to see the monsters that humans are capable of becoming. But sometimes it allows her to see the light inside of people, even when they are surpressing it, even when it's faded to a shred among the darkness. According to her, that makes it all worth it.