| “ | Whatever makes it so I can be a part of her life, I want it to do it. Even if it's small. Because that's what friends do. That's how I really feel.
— Tita Russell
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” |
Tita Russell is was born to a family of prominent engineers in the country of Liberl. As the granddaughter of Professor Albert Russell, and typically in his care due to her parents' work taking them internationally, she learned Orbal Engineering by assisting her grandfather in his experiments. As Albert Russell was one of the students of Professor C. Epstein, the Father of the Orbal Revolution, her instruction was rapid and cutting-edge. Thanks to this, she was a trusted member of Zeiss Central Factory, Liberl's premier Orbal Engineering and R&D enterprise, before the age of 12.
At the age of 12, she meets Estelle and Joshua Bright as they're traveling to Zeiss. They save her from a monster attack, and she shows them to the town as thanks. They next meet as they're trying to get help from her grandfather, and the pair get sucked into his experiments. They stay the night, quickly becoming friends with Tita and pretty much adopting her as a younger sister. Her grandfather's experiments get the wrong kind of attention, and he is kidnapped.
She meets Agate Crossner, a Bracer senior to Estelle and Joshua, as they search for her grandfather. The two quickly bond, the 24-year-old Agate seeing her as a younger sister while Tita develops a crush. They successfully rescue her grandfather, and the group goes their separate ways. They meet up again during Col. Alan Richard's attempted coup, working together to foil it.
Tita spends some time honing her abilities, and reunites with Estelle when she investigates the earthquakes happening in Zeiss. After learning that it was an experiment conducted by the Ouroboros Society, the group of villains Estelle was hunting, Tita decides to join her surrogate older sister on her journey. They head to Grancel, the capital of Liberl, where she meets and bonds with fellow 12-year-old child Renne. Tita is devastated to learn that her new friend is actually a member of Ouroboros, and resolves to help Estelle pull her out of the organization.
She continues traveling with the group, and when a dragon attacks Bose she steps up as one of the few members with a ranged weapon. She helps protect Agate from Loewe, another member of Ouroboros, and sticks by his side until he heals from his wounds. Afterwards, she plays a major part in restoring communications around Liberl during the Liber Ark crisis.
After that is resolved, she reunites with her parents and the entire family begins work on the Orbal Gear, a powered armor meant to help stand up to Ouroboros' own unmanned machines. She also attempts to win Agate's heart though his stomach, inviting the Bracer for meals regularly. While this has strengthened their bond, he still only views her as a younger sister.
Tita is one of the people drawn in when the priest Kevin Graham activates the Recluse Cube. She is one of the first allies he comes across, and she is vital in helping him resolve the crisis caused by the cube. During this time, she gets to meet with Renne again, and confirm that the other girl does care about her as a friend. She returns to her apprenticeship under her grandfather and parents.
She would later enroll in the Thors Military Academy Branch Campus at the age of 16, both to help her friend Olivert Reise Arnor - one of the princes of Erebonia - investigate strange happenings as well as to learn under Professor G. Schmidt, her grandfather's fellow scientist and semi-rival. Her technological prowess, and the upgrades to the Orbal Gear she made as her personal project, prove vital in foiling the plans of Giliath Osborne, the Ouroboros Society, and several others that planned to use Erebonia as a staging ground to end the world. She continues her studies, maintaining her friendship with Renne as the latter heads to Calvard.
Battle vs Laphicet (by Leolab)[]
Two blonde children walk into a large arena, its tiled floor covered in a pristine, matte white sand. The crowd cheers, anticipation for the blood of the young finally released after the weeklong buildup. Tita and Laphicet look at each other, resolute as even the voices of the announcers introducing them fade. The girl has her Orbal Cannon in hand, pointed to the side, while Phi has a slip of paper drawn and held as threateningly as he can. They both await one word, and anything else is simple noise.
“FIGHT!”
At that proclamation, Tita levels her Orbal Cannon and fires, while Phi tosses a slip of paper forward. The shell and sheet collide, kicking up dust that obscures the two fighters from each other. Tita circles around to the side, only to spot the glow of magic fading before she’s engulfed in a purple haze. The sudden increase in gravity brings her to her knees, her bones creaking as she shouts in pain. The cloud of dust disperses to reveal a golden glow around Phi, the levitating boy charging his magic for another strike.
The pressure fades as the glow vanishes, an array of mirrors springing up around the girl. Tita acts quickly, diving towards the outer edge of the sphere. She’s a split second short as a laser rips through her ankle, sending her tumbling out as it bounces through the array. She doesn’t quite level her cannon fast enough as a collection of light and dark spheres scatter through the stage, exploding and sending her into the air. Phi lands, needing to recover for a second as Tita aims and fires. He doesn’t react to it, judging it to fly high.
As expected, the shell passes over his head. Where it explodes, knocking him to the ground and freezing him solid. Tita rolls as she lands, leaving red flecks on the sand. She rises after stopping, pointing her mortar straight up and firing Vital Shot, which heals her as the ice around Phi melts. The boy instantly takes stock of the situation and leaps to his feet, loosing another slip of paper forward as Tita fires again. The magicked sheet once again collides with the shell, detonating it and creating another cloud of chilled sand.
Tita, having learned, immediately fires another shell at where Laphect was supposed to be. Her eyes widen as the boy appears from within the cloud as the mortar shell arcs over his head. She takes a half-step back to avoid being hit by a swipe of paper, which bursts into fire. She levels her mortar at the boy point-blank, but he swerves around her just as she pulls the trigger. The shot goes wide as another gout of flames erupts to the side, catching her his time.
The girl shouts in pain again as she stumbles back, taking a deceptively steady shot upwards. She staggers as she swerves around the elementally-charged bursts of paper, and leaps farther back to create distance. Phi notices her aim shifting and dashes forward, only to stagger and cry out in pain as the mortar shell coming from above collides with the new one, blanketing the area in shrapnel.
The glow of magic surrounds Tita as Phi lets loose a burst of energy, healing himself slightly. He dashes forward, creating and exploding two other orbs of energy as Tita finishes casting Tear-All, fully healing her wounds.
“Spirits Release!” he yells, starting to levitate.
“Orbal Gear!” she shouts, summoning the mech and boarding it as a bright magic circle appears in the air.
“I stand in the light of the heavens! Cower before the gates of hell!” Laphicet intones, as a purple circle appears under the starting Orbal Gear, “Come forth, divine lightning! This ends now! Ind—”
He cuts off as a roar of gunfire tears through the stadium, red bursts sprouting on his body as the magic circles fade. Tita and the assembled spectators watch in silence as the child’s body tumbles to the ground with a wet thud, the white sand dong nothing to staunch the spreading crimson pool. A burst of light surrounds him as Soul Distortion fades, some of his wounds closing. He rises to his knees, coughing weakly and groaning as the crowd cheers. A golden circle surrounds him as he begins to cast magic.
“Eat lead!” Tita shouts cutely, leveling the machine guns on the Orbal Gear’s back at her foe. Phi stops casting to run, narrowly dodging the hail of bullets, the shots themselves far more threatening. A wooshing roar sounds behind him as Tita activates the jet thrusters on the Orbal Gear’s feet, sending her forward as she chops with its axe. Phi dives out of the way, and stays on the ground to duck a horizontal swipe. He rolls to his feet, jumping over the return stroke and turning to look at his foe.
The boy’s eyes grow wide as he sees a pair of machine guns pointed at him, the girl in the exposed cockpit staring mercilessly as she presses a button on the console in front of her. Another roar tears through the stadium as they discharge, shredding his body at this close range. The child falls to the floor, dead, as the stadium erupts in cheers.
Expert's Opinion[]
Both characters filled a support niche in their original parties, and were fairly good at them. Tita's Orbal Gear, however, proved to be a far more potent game-changer than Phi's Mystic Arts, allowing her to transform from a squishy support to a frontline tank. Phi can put out decent damage, but not quite enough to compete.