Eclair Delamar

Eclair Delamar is a former Signal Academy student who was displaced by the Battle of Beacon. She is now on her way to becoming a member of the Caravan of Song's security force.

Appearance
Eclair is average height, and a little skinny. She wears most of her hair in a ponytail, but the very front is left free. She has a slight tan. Eclair is a Faunus whose trait is a cheetah tail.

Eclair wears a light red sleeveless shirt. On her lower half is a simple sand-colored combat skirt with black shorts underneath. She wears canvas high-top shoes in dark gray. Eclair wears a pair of amber-tinted aviator sunglasses on days when the sun is bright.

When the Caravan of Song is traveling the harsh Vacuan desert, Eclair dons a loose denim jacket for protection from the elements. She also swaps the shorts for light, slightly baggy pants.

Eclair’s weapons, Rags and Riches, are worn on her hips: Rags on the right in cinquedea form, and Riches on the left in SMG form.

Personality
What you see is what you get. Eclair isn’t afraid to fly her colors. The outer her is the real her. As for the real Eclair, she’s a person who defends the defenseless. She’s a girl of her word, and despises liars. People who don’t do their fair share are also rarely in her favor. Doing the right thing is what she does.

Despite not initially seeming like one, Eclair claims to be an extrovert. This is backed up by the fact that she never shies away from talking to people. Nevertheless, she’s the quietest extrovert you’ll ever meet, mostly observing her surroundings for trouble. She generally only speaks when spoken to or when she has something significant to say. If you can get her flustered (or if you're painfully wrong/rude), you may just witness the once-in-a-blue-moon moment when she interrupts someone.

Eclair isn’t one to try new things. A change in environment or company is tolerable, but she won’t go out of her way to do something she doesn’t know the outcome of.

Background
Eclair Delamar was born in Vale. The Delamar family lived in poverty due to anti-Faunus discrimination. When Eclair expressed an interest in becoming a Huntress, her parents saw potential. A job as a Huntress would be well-paying, and Faunus Hunters tend to be more respected than their civilian counterparts. And so the family agreed that Eclair would join Signal Combat School when she was old enough. She didn’t get to graduate before the 40th Vytal Festival.

Eclair was spectating the Vytal Tournament when Vale fell under attack. As if witnessing a “murder” wasn’t enough, the city just happened to be overrun with terrorists, man-eating monsters, and malfunctioning battle-bots all at once. Ugh. She knew that something was going on, and that the only way to coordinate such a massive operation was to have a base of operations. Being a dumb teenager, she snuck away and fought her way to Beacon Tower because she just knew that’s where the bad guys were. When Ozpin’s office exploded and Eclair got showered with shrapnel, she noped right outta there. She’s not that dumb of a teenager.

After the Battle subsided and Eclair was released from the hospital, she found out that the Delamar family’s home was demolished in the chaos. Being officially homeless, because they couldn't afford another house, all hope seemed lost. A week later, her uncle Mignon came for a surprise visit. He said that the Caravan of Song* had put out an invite to family members in need, and that he could vouch for them to join. Ecstatic, they went with him right away. Maybe there is a hopeful future for them, after all.

During the application process, Eclair made frenemies with the interviewer, but she was offered a future position with their security force. She has undergone training equivalent to Signal Academy’s, and is a new recruit of the Caravan’s security force.''*Caravan of Song: A nomadic group of refugees-turned-society, traveling the continent of Sanus since the Great War. Many families actually feel safer traveling with the Caravan than living in a settlement, and for good reason: the Caravan takes care of its own.''

Weapon(s)
Rags and Riches are a pair of dual SMGs (IRL reference: stockless Uzi). Rags looks like an old, scuffed and unpainted gun, like you’d find in a long-abandoned armory. Riches is meticulously detailed with green and white over a silver base. Both are chambered in 9mm. Rags and Riches transform into a pair of cinquedeas, whose appearance mirrors that of their gun form. The weapons cannot fire in blade form, but this can be solved by transforming only one at a time.

Rags and Riches each have a slot for a Dust vial. This allows them to coat bullets with Dust or preform Dustcasting techniques. The vials sit under the barrels in SMG form, and at the base of the blades in cinquedea form. The vial size is large (more of a removable reservoir), and can coat 2 magazines worth of bullets, or allows for 10 high-power (or 30 low-power) “spells”.

Eclair is also learning to operate the Dark Winter modular weapons platform, in case Rags and Riches are rendered inaccessible in a combat scenario. Ideally, though, her personal weapons would never leave her person.

Semblance:
Eclair possesses a low-profile Semblance. She can instinctively feel the intentions of those around her: People, animals, and even Grimm. She only feels the intentions, however; for example, she often won’t be able to tell exactly what kind of attack is incoming, but she knows when to prepare for it. This Semblance can be confused by mind-blanking techniques.

1.5% Aura is expended to maintain this Semblance for 15 seconds. It can be set to run on constant, or to stop at the next 15-second increment.

Upgraded Version (Unlocked 1.5 years after BoB)

Eclair’s Semblance has developed an additional effect. She can now read verbal thoughts (thoughts in the form of coherent speech) while it is active. This can sometimes reveal more about a human/Faunus opponent’s plans, or even allow for silent, close-range, one-way communication. The whole of the Semblance remains counterable by mind-blanking.

Other abilities:
Eclair has surprisingly accurate situational awareness for a teenager. This could indicate a natural aptitude towards the “sixth sense” that Aura often provides.

Eclair is very agile and can jump surprisingly high. This allows her to use her environment to the fullest in combat. Her Faunus trait, a cheetah's tail, allows for precise balance.

Eclair has a natural affinity for Dust manipulation which has been passed down through her mother’s family for generations. She has mastered brute force Dustcasting, but has yet to get good at more precise techniques.