ooc: application

[rainbowfishing]

Name: Mhairi
Personal Journal: deathwailart
Contact: aim&plurk: deathwailart
Other Characters Played:
Tanis | drageridder | Original
Desmond Miles | failscendant | Assassin's Creed
Newton Geiszler | kaijupie | Pacific Rim

Character name: Oerba Dia Vanille
Series: Final Fantasy XIII
Age: physically 19, actually 619
History: here
Canon point: leaving Oerba to prance back and make dramatic entrances in Eden
Personality:
❝My name is Oerba Dia Vanille. I'm a l'Cie, from Gran Pulse. And to everyone on Cocoon... evil❞
 
Once upon a time in a place called Gran Pulse, in the village of Oerba, there were two little girls called Fang and Vanille.  And then there was a thing called the War of Transgression and it sucked and those two little girls grew up in an orphanage together and became best friends.  Now Vanille was naive, a crybaby and a scaredycat, all according to best friend Fang so we can take that as gospel.  Which naturally progressed to them becoming l'Cie - humans given magic and enhanced physical powers, bestowed with a Focus to complete by the Fal'Cie.  Fang was the one that wanted to do it, as a way to protect their home but Vanille followed her best friend; they were given the power to become Ragnarok by Anima, the Pulse Fal'Cie, with their Focus being Cocoon's destruction.

But Vanille was scared of that power and in the end only Fang would become Ragnarok but she failed to destroy Cocoon, instead only damaging the shell and out of pity, the pair were frozen as crystals.

Until they woke up.    Centuries later.  Fang with no recollection and Vanille no desire to see others get hurt as she remembers everything but there's a catch: her l'Cie brand is still active and well that leads to more l'Cie, specifically in the form of Serah Farron and Vanille's guilt kicks into overdrive.

But let's back up a little bit. 

When she first appears, Vanille seems to be innocent, naive and almost childlike for someone of her (physical) age and she always looks like she's positive and optimistic and downright sunny - she looks like a child asking for a toy when she accepts a gun from Snow to protect those who didn't follow him to fight soldiers and then pretends to shoot him complete with a 'bang'.  She likes to explore her surroundings, even if her companions aren't so keen, and, again according to Fang, she's very kind to everyone and likes to laugh.

You're some Ragnarok Vanille. 

But that hides so much.  It's not to say that she's not caring because she is - she looks after Hope, tries to get him to talk to Snow and yeah, maybe she shoves him into the Pulse Vestige but she still tells him that when it's too much, he should face it later.  It's sort of a motto really.  There's a stubbornness to Vanille (but really, if your best friend was Fang then it's understandable and unavoidably) but she has to hide so much - her true self because as a l'Cie, let alone a Pulse l'Cie on Cocoon she would be hated and thought of as a monster, her own fears and an enormous amount of guilt.  Her fear of her power is what caused her not to complete her Focus first time around and in doing so Fang was hurt, forgot everything and others were turned into l'Cie, forced into the same sort of struggle as she was: complete your Focus or fall to despair and fail and finally become a shambling Cie'th, always crying out in pain.  It's a lot to carry but she gets through by smiling and pretending it's all going to be sugar and rainbows.  But still, Vanille's caring side can't be understated - not everyone would follow their best friend into such danger and not everyone would comfort a random stranger and look after him without any sort of hesitation.  Oh, the stubborn part?  Well Hope and Sazh see that most: Hope seriously questions her intellgience and Sazh treating her like a kid (more understandable given he's actually older than her and a dad and she does call him Old Man in return) - Vanille refuses to give up and keeps going, sticking to her let's be positive and keep exploring agenda.

But still, that's a lot of guilt to haul around and it's why she tells people to face it later because that's all she can do at that point.  If she really addressed it, admitted it?  Well it wouldn't lead anywhere good.  She loses herself in happier days often, closing her eyes so she can cope with her fears, one instance being when Sazh told her about his son Dajh and how he became a l'Cie.  What Sazh didn't know then?  That Vanille was half the reason for his son becoming a l'Cie, rendering her unable to confide in him.  Her guilt was so strong in that moment that she tried to hide her tears in the rain.  She also tells herself to put on a smile whenever she thinks about her past and the lies and guilt.

The face it later line doesn't come from Vanille though, that comes from Serah and a conversation on a beach.  Serah is there when Vanille falls and hurts herself and she helps as Vanille talks about chasing someone, wanting to apologise but being unable to find the words.  Serah tells her to face it later because things are clearer when looked at from a distance.    Tearfully, Vanille apologises to Serah for her part in turning Serah into a l'Cie but Serah is oblivious.  It's later, as she watches the fireworks in Bodhum, that Vanille makes a wish: the safety of Cocoon and the people, even if it means becoming a Cie'th.  She wasn't going to harm Cocoon.

Eventually though, all the lies catch up with her. 

When everyone splits up from the main group, Snow remaining behind, Lightning and Hope pairing off, Vanille and Sazh head off together.  Vanille teases him, calls him Pops and it's a very father-daughter relationship really.  It's when Sazh tells her that he intends to allow himself to be arrested even if he's executed just so he can see his son again that it really starts to hit her and she tries to admit the truth to him.  But they're attacked and upon fleeing, Sazh gets to see his son just as he crystallises in his arms, his Focus complete.    What was that Focus?  Well Jihl Nabaat of PSIICOM fills him in: to capture the servants of the lower world Fal'Cie and she also reveals that Fang and Vanille were the ones that caused this mess.

Vanille runs and Nabaat allows Sazh to chase after her to see what happens and that's when Vanille reveals who and what she is, begging Sazh shoot her.  However he can't and then his eidolon triggers so they have to battle that.  Once they defeat it, he points his gun at her again but he can't follow through with it - Vanille is sure she'll be killed and accepts that but Sazh can't forgive himself for hurting a kid and so forgives her.  During their captivity at Nabaat's hands, he realises that since Vanille is no longer a crystal then that means the same for Dajh. 

When the party all reunite and after Fang decides to casually check out Vanille's brand in front of everyone, they head off to Pulse in order to go fight win.  After all those years as a crystal, Vanille finally gets to go home.  It's the first time Fang and Vanille have spent time together since they awoke from their crystals because despite Vanille lying about not remembering anything to protect Fang, Fang's the one protecting her on a more practical level - their separation on Cocoon was caused by Fang shoving Vanille into a lift to fight off their pursuers and she says she'd tear down the sky to keep her [Vanille] safe.  As they travel around a deserted Gran Pulse, devoid of human life and instead just populated by chocobos, monsters and Cie'th stones, Vanille says that she became Ragnarok and scarred Cocoon's shell.  Fang is confused by this because she became a crystal too, despite doing nothing but Vanille keeps lying about things, still trying to protect Fang.    This forces Fang to trick Vanille - she says that she was the one to become Ragnarok, not Vanille.  The shock of being exposed (or thinking she was exposed) causes Vanille's eidolon Hecatoncheir to manifest and she finds out that Fang lied to get the confession from Vanille.  When the battle is over there's the standard cooldown hug as Fang tells her that they're not alone: they have a new family in their friends from Cocoon.

Finally, don't mess with Vanille: she knows the death spell.  Oh and she killed a bear and still wears the skin so y'know, let that be a warning.

Skills and abilities:
Vanille uses a weapon known as the binding rod. The binding rod looks as though it's constructed of antlers (head piece) with a body consisting of four long wires with hooks that are able to deal damage by way of latching on and pulling, similar to a fishing rod. Vanille can use magic and casts from a distance unlike close range fighters Snow and Lightning.  Basically it's a fishing rod of doom for more than just fish.

Vanille's primary roles are Ravager, Saboteur and Medic.

As a Ravager, she is able to learn all the element spells up to the rank ending in –ra with Fire and Ice being her –ga specialities.
As a Saboteur, she possesses many abilities the majority of enemies are weak to.
As a Medic, she rivals Hope and is less likely to be killed by powerful attacks.

Ravager
Saboteur
Medic
Crystarium

Oh and she can basically summon a Jaeger


First person sample:
I know this isn't actually Gran Pulse - I've seen it from the back of a dragon before - but wow, how did they manage to bring a whole place here?  [Yes, the rune is on and yes, she knows how to work it but actually realising just where she is trumps her actually greeting to the rune.  The reply from the moogle is muffled because Vanille isn't staying still and the poor thing has to rush off to catch up with the renegade flamingo.]   Oh, right!  Hey there!  [Pan, zoom and that's one cheerful young lady grinning and waving at the rune.]  My name is Oerba Dia Vanille and I'm on the Archylte Steppe - don't worry, I'm from here, well not here here but here, I'm not in any danger - the northern highplain!  Um...if there's anything I should know then let me know but it's pretty much: dragons pick you up and bring you here to save you, right?

Um...  [A nearby sheep bleats at her and wanders off but the moogle that greeted her upon arrival remains, finally perching on her shoulder as she stops to think, a finger pressed to her lips.]  Oh!  If you've seen or know the following people, let me know!    They're Lightning, Hope, Sazh, Snow and/or Fang!  Ciao!

[Flamingo out.]

Third person sample:
She missed Fang here.

That was pretty much a constant though - it was hard to remember a time when Fang hadn't been in her life and they'd only so recently been reunited with one another, Vanille forced to face the truth and she'd been brought here from Oerba.  From home.  Covered in crystal dust but still just like she remembered down to Bhakti.  All those hundreds of years of crystal sleep and it was down to just her and Fang, the only humans from Pulse left alive.  But maybe she wouldn't have missed her so much if it weren't for the reminders in the form of the Archylte Steppe where she spent perhaps more time than she should but it was home or close enough and monsters weren't ever hugely much trouble really. 

Sometimes it was just too hard to be around her friends even if they'd been good enough to let her live in their new home.  Serah alive and happy and smiling and married.  Hope all grown up!  And Lightning...

And her, as if she'd been in crystal sleep again, excited to see them until they didn't look just as she remembered.  It wasn't that she was unhappy - this place was too exciting, maybe it meant they'd all managed it if Hope was that grown up now and Serah was safe and married but something nagged at her anyway, the sort of something that made her miss Fang.  A pat on the head from her, bumping their forearms together or better yet, encouraging words that no soothed her no matter how hopeless the situation was and a warm huge would be perfect right now. 

Instead she wandered along, swinging her binding rod with a moogle flying along after her, the ground shaking as an adamantoise lumbered along.  She could see a Cie'th stone from the corner of her eye and sighed, her free hand going to the still active brand on her thigh.

"Face it later," she murmured to herself, "Remember what it used to be like here.  It's safe now."

But it was hard not to dwell on things - after all, the last time she'd come here on a dragon, it had been Fang's.