→ IC

□ Name: Campanella Frühling (previously "Naoto")
□ Journal: allbite
□ Series: DOGS: Bullets & Carnage
□ Canon point: Chapter 79
□ History: DOGS Wiki — though this article provides basic information on the canon's world and Frühling's role, it is lacking in more current story events and important backstory, which I'll detail as concisely as possible.

Before Frühling's proper introduction, she had been a mysterious assassin who murdered one of the protagonist's parents and left her for dead; however, a man named Fuyumine rescues the girl from death's jaws and more or less adopts her. Left with both amnesia and a deep x-shaped scar, the girl resorts to hating Fuyumine and believes he'd been the killer solely because he'd been the first face she'd seen, yet for some reason, Fuyumine never clarifies. Instead, he accepts the blame and trains her into something that could survive, something that at least had a purpose to live, even if it is to hate or to kill. Significantly, he names her Naoto, although the girl learns more about the name a little too late, when years later, Magato murders Fuyumine in the beta-kills-alpha sort of fashion. This sets Naoto in a rage, and she defeats him. As a reward, Magato gives her the accursed sword and leaves her with a vital piece of information: the assassin could be found in the "Deep Below" using the same katana, and her name is also Naoto—the original one. Therein a connection is implied and later confirmed, that Fuyumine—also known as "Winter" then—had been Frühling's mentor as well. He had escaped the facility a long time ago with Magato and another man named Herbst.

The next time Frühling is revealed, it is when she spearheads an explosive operation to disconnect the Surface and the Underground by destroying the subway tunnels. Throw in a encounter with a priest (Ernst Rammsteiner, the "First Spine") and little massacre on the side, and the show makes quite a statement, although it really just had been the opening act for Einstürzen's grand scheme: to smoke out the city's mayor Zöllner, truthfully an old colleague-turned-traitor. Amidst all this, Naoto meets Frühling's eyes, and they both remember that night in the dark alley. It reminds the latter of unfinished business of properly disposing of the girl, though it would have to be done in her own time, for the professor's game takes priority.

Thereafter, Frühling defaults to babysitting a new pair of experiments, the twins Noki and Luki (the two actually hinting at Naoto's existence beforehand since they'd played with her and Heine in one of their leash-less excursions). It's when she takes them up to the Underground levels that she coincidentally crosses paths with both Naoto and Magato. Having not seen either in many years, their reunion is revelatory: confronted by the amnesiac Naoto, Frühling reveals to her what really happened that night, that her "parents" were actually runaway scientists trying to protect what was meant to be a "spare" (and to become Einstürzen's new "vessel"); additionally, Magato drops his own bomb, informing Frühling of Fuyumine's death. The news apparently shakes her, but even so, she prevails against Naoto's outbreak of attacks, clearly proving she's skill-wise on a whole other level. Luckily for the spare, the mayor's special forces interrupt their get-together, and Frühling withdraws until another time. Being a connection to Angelika Einstürzen and a lead to the underground facility, Frühling is pursued, but her pent up anger is released upon the guards, and she casually slaughters the lot of them.

Eventually, after deviating from her duties to learn more about Fuyumine's doings in the upper levels through interrogating Herbst—or rather, a unit he manipulates (his powers are rather unclear at the moment)— she runs into an ambush. More unexpectedly, though, she runs into the dead man himself. Murata Fuyumine, wearing the same uniform as the mayor's vanguard, reveals himself to her, confirming Magato's statement but also cryptically saying the man who died might not have truly been him. Nonetheless, he somehow captures Frühling and incarcerates her rather… privately. It is while she is held captive by her mentor—now her enemy—that she would be pulled into Ariel.

□ Personality: Tall, dark, and mysterious—that's one way to describe Frühling. She has the allure of something dangerous, like fangs and fire and blood on steel. Given those comparisons, she isn't for faint of heart. Both a military commander and previously an assassin, she is a cold, disciplined, and unreadable woman who carries herself with a high sense of pride, not only because she is self-confident but also because she knows she is powerful. (She warns Ernst that all who see her do not live to tell the tale.) Maintaining that power is among her primary motivations, its being the key to her survival, and perhaps her greatest value. In the structure of her city, she is an apex predator, a beast born to ruin and built to have no equal (though this last may be due to her eliminating all competition, including her "spare"). Even the immortal soldiers perfected by a mad scientist's hand are meant to fall under her rule, her order, and her blade—and what a strict one it is! So much so that her subordinates tremble at the prospect of disappointing her and earning a "demerit"—that is, death. Like her master Einstürzen, she has a low tolerance for imperfection (perhaps something she rubbed off), and it is part of her job to pull out the weeds.

Though seemingly quiet and composed, Frühling actually has a sour temper. Strike a nerve, and she strikes down. She favours challenge but approaches it smartly and carefully, understanding that intelligence often conquers strength. Cunning and calculating, she makes every move count, and if one way brings her closer to her objective, no matter how unpleasant or how initially bitter it might be, she would come out of her comfort zone, determined to rise above it. However, there are a few things she'd never do, such as pretending to be weak or missing a chance to condescend the weak and assert her superiority over them (example: Giovanni). Regardless, she does investigate before she initiates; then, when her plans are concrete, her methods are direct, relentless and riling if not outrightly cruel. She might play out sympathies and act out basic courtesies, but killers don't have hearts—or, at least, they no longer do.

Before "Frühling" was "Naoto," or "straight blade." It was a name given to her when she'd been nothing more than a lump of clay, when she had human vulnerabilities and no other goals than to grow stronger. Her wildness was pure, driven by fiery ambition and unsullied by emotional complexes. Her knife, though at times unsteady, had been "honest." Murata Fuyumine, or "Winter", had been her instructor as well as an old (and successfully kept) test subject. He taught her by example, but over time, without his realizing, he might have taught her more than just fighting. Eventually came the inevitable verdict: Einstürzen bored of the children. No matter how good the results they yielded, defeating every kind of nightmare thrown at them with monstrous speed and skill, she ordered their disposal. Fuyumine had grown attached to this batch and did not want to see them destroyed, and thus he, with Herbst, hatched a plan for escape, one that for some reason Naoto could not be included in. Left behind, she remained in hell's maw and executed that which she learned: survival.

No longer able to hold on to (relatively) noble virtues, it is assumed she casts away her old name together with her "heart" and scales the necessary obstacle to obtain the moniker and title "Frühling" (interestingly, "spring," the season that comes after winter), but in spite of burying that past and those feelings to become someone else—someone much stronger, just like she needed and wanted—the process has not covered all the cracks. She may hide them the same way she hides her scar, the one crossing from the upper side of her face and over her right eye, but those parts of Frühling grip onto a regrets that make her fragile. Failing to kill the second Naoto is just testament to her arrogance, but longing for Fuyumine made him her ghost. So when his name is invoked by Magato, it unsettles her to the point she chooses to abandon her iron-clad principles and postpone her task as Einstürzen's operative to seek him out, if just to confirm his death. Her weakness to him not only allows Fuyumine to thwart her sword but also to take her captive. When he watches her with pity, she asks him questions that reflect her secret grief: Why was I not chosen? Why did you love me? Why… are we still alive?

Such frailty, however, would sooner disintegrate before being revealed. Bottom line is Frühling is a woman who seeks dominance with utter power. She wraps herself in wolf's skin, mighty yet self-involved. It is implied she seeks to rebel and win her own battle in this war, her loyalty to Einstürzen potentially delicate (seeing as she had wanted to get rid of her but then decided to use her for her designs of longevity), but whatever agenda she has, she silently bides her time until the best opportunity presents itself. Cunning, remember? Her struggle to survive will not be cut short by a stroke of recklessness. Although lifting her head so high with hubris she overlooks her own flaws, she's tempered herself into as fine and formidable a weapon as possible. She is surely someone not many—if any at all—would feel safe around because the rumours are true: she doesn't offer much of a bark before she bites.

□ Age: Unknown, though estimated around mid-20s.

□ Gender: Female, physically and mentally.

□ Appearance: In one word, Frühling looks "sharp." Standing at 5'8" (plus 2.5" with boot heels), she is a tall, long-limbed woman, almost exclusively seen wearing a double-breasted pinstripe suit that is doubtlessly tailored to her slender yet well-developed figure. Beneath the long blazer, she wears a plain white dress shirt which lacks the first few buttons, exposing some breastbone, clavicle, and neck.

She wears her hair loose, dark brown sheets falling straight like curtains past her waist, and her chiseled features are framed with a nose-length fringe, the ends cut in upward angles and parted to the side, covering half her face. It may seem like an edge into the mysterious, but she secretly conceals a fairly large scar that spreads beside and over her right eye. Nevertheless, it does focus attention on her one visible steel-blue eye and the strong, predatory gaze it casts.

Frühling wears no other accessories besides her most important asset of all—her sword, strapped to a holster around her hip. An ominous black blade sheathed in an ebony but otherwise nondescript scabbard, an intricate silver decoration on one side of its hilt—certainly, no other physical aspect is more vital to her than the essence of this katana, which is much more than a weapon but a symbol of her pride and her power. She is a wolf, and it is her fangs.

To the average person, she is beautiful, but definitely frighteningly so, with an elegance akin to a fine blade and just as deadly for its deceptive simplicity.

□ Abilities/Powers: It is unclear exactly what Frühling's powers are, but she is indeed another one of Einstürzen's experiments. Though her batch lacks the Cerberus Spine (the device implanted into the Rammsteiners like Heine or Giovanni), their "brains were messed with" too, their past wiped from their minds to make room for a greater "memory capacity" that would hypothetically allow them to learn more and learn better. Her training involved practical lessons from veteran soldiers, and the enhancement possibly allowed some advantages such as increased speed and improved reflexes, but her kind neither regenerates nor goes berserk in exchange for maximized superhuman power.

This difference is most probably designed for a reason, for Frühling's purpose and specialty is to be the force keeping the "deathless dogs" in check. Her weapon, a black-bladed katana with an ornate silver hilt, loosely named "Dog Bite", is the fundament of her power over other characters as it is the only weapon that can permanently injure or kill a Cerberus subject. The science behind it involves viral neurotransmitters engineered into the metal, and these acts as a poison to the Cerberus system, primarily ceasing their regenerative abilities.

Frühling stands out among her colleagues as a master of the sword, both terrifyingly quick and deceptively strong, capable of cutting into blocks of cement as easily as she can cut into flesh, but aside from that, there seems to be nothing else remarkable about her, which is saying much compared to all the other colourful characters in the cast. As mentioned, her strengths do not risk her parameters of control; therefore, outside her unpredictable temper, Frühling is only harmful at will, even if she hardly, if ever, separates herself from her sword.

□ Personal Items:

1. "Dog Bite"—a unique katana with toxic qualities towards Cerberus units
   
2. Sword maintenance supplies
   
3. Two sets of her pinstripe suit
   
4. A personal agenda

□ First Person Sample: [ Assassins spend considerable amounts of time training to hide their identities. unless a mission requires it, they do not speak, and as such, despite having already walked the streets in broad daylight, Frühling begins her digital crusade in written word. Faceless, bodiless, voiceless—the most versatile mould for manipulation.

Of course, she doesn't know whether or not she can be traced, but it is a risk she is willing to gamble. to her, the ends often justify the means. ]

Pray tell, what secrets does this impeccable City of Ariel hold? No matter how polished and regulated it poses itself to be, nothing is without its cracks. Surely, there have been exploits. If not, then there ought to be something brewing. Perhaps you think my style too direct, but not everyone has time to dawdle with delicacies.

Whether it's for the sake of a so-called greater good or purely for recreational purposes, peace is an illusion meant to be shred by nature's more visceral necessities. Kidnapped, do you choose to remain sedate as sheep in a pasture?

If you trust the law of man, then be reminded that there is no greater law in any universe than that of survival.

[ There she ends, eager to learn what her words arouse—and to pick whatever ripe fruit is offered. ]

□ Third Person Sample: February TDM